Medical marijuana petitions won’t require as many signatures as expected

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON Missoulian State Bureau missoulian.com
HELENA – Medical marijuana advocates preparing to mount a signature-gathering effort to suspend a soon-to-enacted law restricting the industry won’t need to collect nearly as many names as they initially believed.
They will need to obtain between 31,238 and 43,247 signatures, depending on which state House districts they use, but they don’t need to gather a total of 73,010 signatures as some originally believed.
Once Gov. Brian Schweitzer lets Senate Bill 423, by Sen. Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, become law without his signature, they can take the initial steps needed to launch a signature-gathering effort. Suspension backers first must file documents with the secretary of state’s office, which triggers a review by several state offices.
Secretary of State Linda McCulloch’s office concluded Tuesday that any efforts to suspend laws need only the signatures of at least 15 percent of the registered voters in at least 51 of the state House districts as the Montana Constitution specifies.
They do not also need to obtain the signatures of 15 percent of the total number of people who voted for governor in 2008, said Jorge Quintana, the office’s chief legal counsel.
That will make a huge difference in the signature-gathering efforts.
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http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_654a6152-7b71-11e0-8964-001cc4c002e0.html

Mother Worries Son Will Struggle to Find Marijuana

By Kyle Midura

BILLINGS – A Montana woman says medical marijuana helps her autistic teenage son communicate. She’s concerned all his progress will be for naught if the bill to reform medical marijuana legislation makes it past the governor’s desk.
Coral Campbell says in 2001, her son was uncontrollable. “I have a 14-year-old son that has high-functioning Asperger’s,” she said, “Nick was never able to sit still and play Legos, or color in a coloring book.”The family took up sign language because he only spoke gibberish. Desperate, Campbell signed him up for a Canadian experimental drug trial.”It totally changed his life,” said Campbell, “at the end of 19 months, we found out was taking THC capsules.””Not only was I ecstatic to hear ‘I love you mommy,’ but to be able to understand it,” she said.These days, Nick will eat a cannabis cookie, or have a sucker before bed. He’s capable of attending school, if only for a few hours, and has been able to stop taking prescription drugs that hurt his kidneys.”It’s very disturbing to me to know that I might not be able to get (edible marijuana products) for him,” said Campbell.
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http://www.kulr8.com/news/local/Mother-Worries-Son-Will-Struggle-to-Find-Marijuana-121603614.html

25,000 Attend Toronto Marijuana March

On Saturday some 25,000 people amassed in downtown Toronto, Canada for The 6th Annual Global Marijuana March and Freedom Fest. In an awesome display of unity, the crowd is possibly the biggest for a city in Global Marijuana March history.
It is perhaps a backlash to the Conservative Party’s gains in the last election, but you have to wonder how the Conservatives won in the first place if a marijuana march can put up numbers like this.
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http://the420times.com/2011/05/25000-attend-toronto-marijuana-march/

Need for weed: Seniors smoking marijuana


WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — There is a growing trend of seniors lighting up and smoking marijuana because they believe it is better than their prescription drugs with fewer side effects.
“I call it the new don’t ask, don’t tell,” said Amy Cavinaugh.
Cavinaugh started using marijuana five years ago after having a double mastectomy from breast cancer. She used the illegal drug to fight off nausea from chemotherapy.
“I did find it to be very effective,” said Cavinaugh.
At the time she was living in a retirement community in Ocean Ridge called Crown Colony, and behind the gates, she says more seniors are using pot than you might think.
“I knew people who were 90-years-old and 70-years-old and were getting it from their children or grandchildren,” said Cavinaugh.

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http://www.cbs12.com/articles/need-4732339-weed-.html

Interview: Chef Mike Delao of TV’s Cannabis Planet

Flash Rosenstein

I never met Resident Chef Mike Delao of  TV’s Cannabis Planet but I consider myself a fairly decent judge of character. Years of being left alone in a car in the middle of the Bronx for hours on end during my prepubescent years, I acquired the skills necessary to dissect a person purely by their physical qualities. Over the past 4 years of viewing Chef Mike on LA’S  KJLA 57 he always came across as a jocular fellow permanently bearing a content smile that suggests a soul doing exactly what he was created for. This exuded blissful aura made Chef an obvious target for one of my long emails detailing my virtual anonymity within the cannabis scene along with my strong desire to enter said scene by conducting interviews with those active in the movement. Was I really expecting a reply? Perhaps. I was pretty blown away however by an invitation to a taping of his cooking segments. Pretty blown away morphed into unrelenting above board hospitality when I arrived.

I rang the door bell. Introductions, Exchanges of friendly expressions, handshakes, smiles, hash pipe. I barely made it through the living room and into the kitchen before I was greeted with a pipe packed with chunks of hash. I tried to refuse, I’m not always the most secure soul surrounded by strangers while indulging in the altering of consciousness. Nobody needs to see me start hacking up undigested remnants of past childhood dares while interrupting every take as I do my best to aim my expelled saliva so that it doesn’t land faultlessly within someone‘s eyebrow, just light enough not to be noticed by the victim but heavy enough to slowly drip onto a cheek. All this while I cling to life by relying on my inhaler to open up my lungs. This is usually about where my glasses fall off and as I bend to get them I take out grandma‘s walker. Of course she lands on her surgically repaired hip. Ah, but who was I kidding, thoughts of free THC soon replaced paranoia. Four hits. “Keep hitting that, I’ll refill it when it’s done.” Heh? Who said that, Chef is was over there. Turn head to the right. Whoa who’s this dude? I don’t know but I like him. He filled the hash pipe. Wave high, say thank you but I’m good for now. No need to tempt self fulfilling prophecy.

Finally, now that  all pleasantries and tokes had been exchanged it was time to observe and talk. Chef chopped and blended as he described his Medicated Living Raw Sushi Roll ( a blended mix of sesame seeds and other goodies into a pâté accompanied by vegetables all rolled into a sushi roll) and the many reasons he started to combine his love of food and grass.  There was his mom, a diabetic who couldn’t enjoy any of the medicated edibles sold in collectives because of the high sugar content, his grandmother who suffered from kidney failure, along with an ex girlfriend who had major physical problems and became addicted to pills. Later as he became a  public figure the strong desire to be a role model for the cannabis community emerged.

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Wisconsin Activist Ben Masel Has Died, RIP To A Great Activist

By: Bill Egnor Saturday April 30, 2011 7:57 am
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Ben In Madison

 

Ben Masel has died. You may or may not have known him but he was an activists activist. When I think about what it means to be out there fighting the good fight I think about Ben.
He had run for office several times in Wisconsin and was going to be mounting another independent Senate campaign this cycle. Unfortunately lung cancer claimed his life yesterday.
He was a believer in direct action and never was one to be shut up for one second. I knew Ben through Daily Kos and got to meet him at the ’08 Democratic National Convention. He was steadfast in his beliefs and was active in the protests in Wisconsin, even though he was dying of cancer at the time.
If you did not know Ben, it was your loss. If you did it is now your loss too. He was too good for this world, too soon gone. But he does not have to be gone completely. If each of you who would class yourself an activist takes Ben’s lesson to heart, gets out there and performs some kind of direct political action, just once a year then he will never be truly lost.
I have many people in whose name I fight for economic, political and social justice. My Father, my cousin Ryan who died to young to be a force in politics, my Uncles Kenny and Otho along with my Grandfathers who were Union men their whole lives, today I add one more to that list. Ben, I know you can’t read this, but I will be speaking up and acting up in the future and when I do it will be in your name and from your example.
Rest in peace, Brother, we who remain will continue the fight you fought, we will not let it lag.
The floor is yours.
http://my.firedoglake.com/somethingthedogsaid/2011/04/30/wisconsin-activist-ben-masel-has-died-rip-to-a-great-activist/