Israeli researchers say more doctors should recommend marijuana to cancer patients

By Dan Even
More than two-thirds of cancer patients who were prescribed medical marijuana to combat pain are reportedly satisfied with the treatment, according to a comprehensive study conducted for the first time in Israel.
The study – conducted recently at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, in conjunction with the Israel Cancer Association – involved 264 cancer patients who were treated with medical marijuana for a full year.
 

Medical marijuana leaves being sorted - Dan Keinan Medical marijuana leaves being sorted.
Photo by: Dan Keinan
 

 
Some 61 percent of the respondents reported a significant improvement in their quality of life as a result of the medical marijuana, while 56 percent noted an improvement in their ability to manage pain. In general, 67 percent were in favor of the treatment, while 65 percent said they would recommend it to other patients.
The findings were presented earlier this month at an Israeli Oncologists Union conference in Eilat. The study was led by Dr. Ido Wolf, the director of oncology at the Sheba Cancer Center, with the assistance of researchers Yasmin Leshem, Damien Urbach, Adato Berliz, Tamar Ben Ephraim and Meital Gerty.
According to the study, the most common types of cancer for which medical marijuana is prescribed are lung cancer (21 percent ), breast cancer (12 percent ) and pancreatic cancer (10 percent ).
Researchers found that an average of 325 days passed between the time that patients were diagnosed with cancer and the time that they submitted permit requests to grow or possess medical marijuana. About 81 percent of those requests cited pain resulting from the illness. Some 8 percent of patients requested medical marijuana to combat nausea, while another 8 percent complained of weakness.
Most cancer patients who are currently being treated with medical marijuana are advised of the option only in the advanced stages of the illness, according to researchers. “The treatment should be offered to the patients in earlier stages of cancer,” the report notes.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-researchers-say-more-doctors-should-recommend-marijuana-to-cancer-patients-1.409918
 

The Organic Elite Surrenders To Monsanto: What Now?

Ronnie Cummins

Director, Organic Consumers Association
 
February 3, 2011 – Ronnie responds to reader comments with a new article (submitted but not yet published here at Huffington Post): Monsanto Nation: Exposing Monsanto’s Minions
“The policy set for GE alfalfa will most likely guide policies for other GE crops as well. True coexistence is a must.” — Whole Foods Market, Jan. 21, 2011
In the wake of a 12-year battle to keep Monsanto’s Genetically Engineered (GE) crops from contaminating the nation’s 25,000 organic farms and ranches, America’s organic consumers and producers are facing betrayal. A self-appointed cabal of the Organic Elite, spearheaded by Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, has decided it’s time to surrender to Monsanto. Top executives from these companies have publicly admitted that they no longer oppose the mass commercialization of GE crops, such as Monsanto’s controversial Roundup Ready alfalfa, and are prepared to sit down and cut a deal for “coexistence” with Monsanto and USDA biotech cheerleader Tom Vilsack.
In a cleverly worded, but profoundly misleading email sent to its customers last week, Whole Foods Market, while proclaiming their support for organics and “seed purity,” gave the green light to USDA bureaucrats to approve the “conditional deregulation” of Monsanto’s genetically engineered, herbicide-resistant alfalfa. Beyond the regulatory euphemism of “conditional deregulation,” this means that WFM and their colleagues are willing to go along with the massive planting of a chemical and energy-intensive GE perennial crop, alfalfa; guaranteed to spread its mutant genes and seeds across the nation; guaranteed to contaminate the alfalfa fed to organic animals; guaranteed to lead to massive poisoning of farm workers and destruction of the essential soil food web by the toxic herbicide, Roundup; and guaranteed to produce Roundup-resistant superweeds that will require even more deadly herbicides such as 2,4 D to be sprayed on millions of acres of alfalfa across the U.S.
In exchange for allowing Monsanto’s premeditated pollution of the alfalfa gene pool, WFM wants “compensation.” In exchange for a new assault on farmworkers and rural communities (a recent large-scale Swedish study found that spraying Roundup doubles farm workers’ and rural residents’ risk of getting cancer), WFM expects the pro-biotech USDA to begin to regulate rather than cheerlead for Monsanto. In payment for a new broad spectrum attack on the soil’s crucial ability to provide nutrition for food crops and to sequester dangerous greenhouse gases (recent studies show that Roundup devastates essential soil microorganisms that provide plant nutrition and sequester climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases), WFM wants the Biotech Bully of St. Louis to agree to pay “compensation” (i.e. hush money) to farmers “for any losses related to the contamination of his crop.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ronnie-cummins/the-organic-elite-surrend_b_815346.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
 

Washington marijuana legalization measure certified

The Associated Press
 
The secretary of state’s office has certified an initiative to legalize marijuana, and unless the Legislature takes action, the measure will appear on the November ballot.
The office of Secretary of State Sam Reed announced Friday that sponsors of Initiative 502 submitted nearly 278,000 valid signatures, more than the 241,153 necessary to qualify.
 
Read complete article here:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017355245_apwaxgrlegalizingmarijuana.html
 

Should marijuana be legalized for medicinal use in Alabama? Our commenters say yes.

By Amber Acker, al.com
marijuana leaf.JPG
Though many doubt it will pass, our readers voice their supportive thoughts on the legalization of medical marijuana in the state of Alabama.
An Alabama lawmaker says it’s time for this state to enact a law similar to those in place in 16 others that would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana as treatment for certain ailments and protect patients using  medicinal marijuana from prosecution.
K.L. Brown, R-Jacksonville, has filed the bill for consideration in the legislative session beginning next month.
An opinion piece submitted by the leader of a group advocating such use notes that recent UAB research has dispelled some longstanding objections.
Our commenters seem convinced. They say they would like to see the legislation passed, but have their doubts about the bill making it through.
 
Read complete article here:
http://blog.al.com/montgomery/2012/01/should_medical_marijuana_be_le.html

Schedule of Neill Franklin Appearances | Hawai`i News Daily

Neill Franklin, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), will be in Hawaii next week.
Franklin is a retired police major and a 33-year police veteran who led multi-jurisdictional anti-narcotics task forces for the Maryland State Police. After seeing several of his law enforcement friends killed in the line of fire while enforcing drug policies, Neill knew that he needed to work to change these laws that cause so much harm but do nothing to reduce drug use. Read his bio here.
There are several opportunities to hear him speak!
 
Read complete article here:
http://hawaiinewsdaily.com/2012/01/schedule-of-neill-franklin-appearances/

Bill Calls for Inclusion of PTSD in State’s Medical Marijuana Law | Navy SEALs Blog

Rep. Jim Masland of Vermont has introduced a bill that will amend the state’s medical marijuana law, in order to include the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The bill, according to Masland, was introduced at the prompting of constituents who were using marijuana to treat PTSD symptoms.
The medical marijuana law in Vermont took effect in 2004, which allows people who are suffering from a list of debilitating diseases to use medical marijuana, with the recommendation of their health care provider. At this time, there are 411 patients and 68 caregivers in the medical marijuana registry in Vermont.
Rep. Masland shared: “I understand that these unnamed individuals, at least a couple, haven’t been able to find relief any other way or at least this is the best way for relief… So I would say they are quietly, surreptitiously using marijuana, but they would much rather do it legally.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://blog.usnavyseals.com/2012/01/bill-calls-for-inclusion-of-ptsd-in-states-medical-marijuana-law.html
 

Missouri Drive to End Marijuana Prohibition Gets Going

By A Missouri campaign to place an initiative to end marijuana prohibition on the November ballot has entered the signature-gathering phase, and petition-toting volunteers across the Show Me state are hunting for registered voters as the campaign looks for funds to help it get over the top. The effort is off to an enthusiastic start.
“Nearly 500 trained petitioners have now hit the streets,” said campaign director and Kansas City area coordinator Amber Langston. “I’m happily overwhelmed with the enormous response we’ve received since launching our initiative.”
The campaign is called Show-Me Cannabis Regulation (SMCR), and was put together by attorney Dan Viets, a long-time marijuana reformer and a member of the national NORML Legal Committee and board of directors, Missouri NORML chapters, and other marijuana legalization advocates and supporters.
The initiative, a constitutional amendment, calls for marijuana legalization for persons 21 and over, a process for licensing marijuana production and sales establishments, and allows the legislature to enact a tax of $100 a pound on retail sales. It also includes a provision lifting criminal justice system sanctions against people imprisoned or under state supervision for nonviolent marijuana offenses that would no longer be illegal and the expunging of all criminal records for such offenses. The initiatives would also allow for the use of marijuana for medical reasons by minors (with parental consent).
 
Read complete article here:
http://cannabis.hawaiinewsdaily.com/2012/01/27/missouri-drive-to-end-marijuana-prohibition-gets-going-feature/
 

Letter of the Day: Drug dealers

In the midst of the federal crackdown on our medicinal marijuana industry, a British pharmaceutical company is looking for the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration to bring in the marijuana drug called Sativex (“Pot-based medicine seeks OK,” Monday).
This is not synthetic but derived straight from the plant itself. It’s already being used in several prominent European countries, as well as Canada. My question is, what is the difference between our state-regulated growers/dispensaries and this foreign drug? All I see is our federal government taking away local jobs and livelihoods in favor of the multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry — and not even an American one.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120127/OPINION/120129525

Cannabis initiative captures place on ballot – Washington

An initiative to license, regulate and tax marijuana sales in Washington has collected enough valid voter signatures to go before voters in November, if the Legislature does not enact it first.
Washington may be in the unusual position this November of voting on both same-sex marriage and legalization of marijuana.
 
Read complete article here:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2012/01/27/cannabis-initiative-captures-place-on-ballot/#2646-2