– The Washington Times
A Democratic state senator in Nevada is sponsoring a bill that would allow pet owners to treat their sick animals with medical marijuana.
Tick Segerblom’s bill would allow veterinarians to certify when sick pets should be given cannabis to alleviate pain and suffering.
Full Article:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/18/pot-pets-nevada-state-senator-sponsors-medical-mar/
Month: March 2015
Is 2015 the Year for Medical Marijuana in Texas?
by Kelsey Jukam
Kelsey Jukam
Vincent Lopez, is founder of the Patient Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics.
Timothy Dasher’s 12-year-old daughter, Felicity, has epilepsy and suffers from frequent seizures. She usually has to wear a helmet to protect her head from the sudden falls, which have bruised and broken her small body. Today she wore an enormous pink-and-white bow in her hair as she and her father stood with dozens of activists at the Capitol in support of legislation that would allow Texans to legally access medical marijuana.
Dasher and other activists are getting behind House Bill 3785, and its companion Senate Bill 1839, legislation giving patients who have a doctor’s recommendation to acquire and use marijuana. Proponents of the legislation say that medical marijuana has many of the same treatment benefits as prescription medications without as many of the harmful side-effects.
Dasher says his daughter tried 15 different pharmaceutical drugs over 10 years to try to stop the seizures. None of them worked, he said. If anything, they seemed to make the condition worse. But when the family moved to Colorado, and started using medical marijuana. “We found her miracle,” he said. He hopes that medical marijuana will be legalized this session, so they don’t have to leave their Granbury home again.
Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso), author of HB 3785, said in a press conference this afternoon that Texas needs to take a “scientific and reasoned approach” to medical marijuana, and allow patients and doctors to choose their best treatment plan.
“The support we see here today is a clear indication that the Legislature needs to take the suffering of these Texans seriously,” Marquez said.
Full Article:
http://www.texasobserver.org/is-2015-the-year-for-medical-marijuana-in-texas/
Dasher and other activists are getting behind House Bill 3785, and its companion Senate Bill 1839, legislation giving patients who have a doctor’s recommendation to acquire and use marijuana. Proponents of the legislation say that medical marijuana has many of the same treatment benefits as prescription medications without as many of the harmful side-effects.
Dasher says his daughter tried 15 different pharmaceutical drugs over 10 years to try to stop the seizures. None of them worked, he said. If anything, they seemed to make the condition worse. But when the family moved to Colorado, and started using medical marijuana. “We found her miracle,” he said. He hopes that medical marijuana will be legalized this session, so they don’t have to leave their Granbury home again.
Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso), author of HB 3785, said in a press conference this afternoon that Texas needs to take a “scientific and reasoned approach” to medical marijuana, and allow patients and doctors to choose their best treatment plan.
“The support we see here today is a clear indication that the Legislature needs to take the suffering of these Texans seriously,” Marquez said.
Full Article:
http://www.texasobserver.org/is-2015-the-year-for-medical-marijuana-in-texas/
Marijuana Legalization In Italy: Motion To Legalize Cannabis Receives Bi-Partisan Support
Lawmakers in Italy have taken a bold stance on marijuana legalization, signing a motion Monday to legalize cannabis across the country, according to the ANSA news agency. The proposal, introduced by Sen. Benedetto Della Vedova, was backed by 60 politicians, mostly from the ruling center-left Democratic Party but with some support from the right. Della Vedova himself, a senator who also serves as the deputy foreign minister, was a longtime member of Italy’s small but influential Radical Party, which has campaigned since the 1970s to liberalize marijuana laws.
“It is a bipartisan proposition from members of the parliament of different political backgrounds,” Della Vedova told reporters, according to The Weed Blog. “This shows that even in Italy, a pragmatic approach, based on a rigorous cost-benefit analysis, is now increasingly popular in the political and cultural debate, not only outside but also inside the parliament.” The proposal hasn’t been turned into a bill yet, but Della Vedova promised it will be soon.
Full Article:
http://www.ibtimes.com/marijuana-legalization-italy-motion-legalize-cannabis-receives-bi-partisan-support-1849824
Hemp Industrialization Equals Jobs for New Mexico
By SENATOR CISCO MCSORLEY (D-16-BERNALILLO)
I am pleased that my bill, Senate Bill 94 (SB 94), designed to help New Mexico lay the foundation for hemp industrialization, has passed the Senate and the first committee in the House of Representatives.
The U.S. Congress recently legalized hemp for research purposes in last year’s agricultural bill. SB 94 creates the New Mexico Industrial Hemp Research and Development Fund for the agricultural, agronomical, ecological, processing, sales and marketing research purposes of hemp growth. The research will be carried out by New Mexico State University (NMSU) and research funds will be collected by the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA). Once the Federal Government fully legalizes hemp growth for all purposes, NMDA will already have established rules for hemp farming in the state, including requirements for licensure, training of law enforcement personnel, inspection, record keeping, and fees.
It should be noted that hemp is different from marijuana in that most of the psychoactive elements in marijuana are not contained in hemp, therefore rendering it harmless as a recreational drug.
The benefits that New Mexico would reap from the hemp industry are tremendous. Not only would our agricultural industry get a healthy boost, but it would also open up the doors to an industrial vitalization New Mexico desperately needs. New Mexicans are ready to work and this bill creates jobs.
Full Article:
http://krwg.org/post/mcsorley-hemp-industrialization-equals-jobs-new-mexico
Pot-smoking stockbroker has a steady supplier: the feds
TNS REGIONAL NEWS
The interior of Irvin Rosenfeld’s Toyota 4Runner reeks of marijuana. A tin stuffed with hundreds of joints lies in the trunk, and a bag full of them is stored in the door pocket.
On a recent weekday, the 62-year-old stockbroker stopped at a red light and took a drag. His exhale filled the cabin with smoke. It was his fourth joint that day. It wasn’t yet lunchtime.
“This car has 80,000 miles on it,” Rosenfeld announced between puffs, stray ash landing softly on the battered towel he drapes over his pleated brown trousers and red tie. “I haven’t gotten into one accident.”
Rosenfeld would smoke five or six more joints by day’s end. In between, he would trade tens of thousands of dollars in stocks. Some days, the broker moves millions around, pausing occasionally to steal drags of marijuana from the smokeless vapor pen that tides him over indoors.
Clients have given their blessing to his 10-joint-a-day habit.
So has the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Full Article:
http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/6516316
Texas lawmakers introduce bills to legalize medical marijuana
Texas lawmakers introduced comprehensive medical marijuana legislation Friday that would allow patients suffering from serious conditions — including cancer and seizure disorders — to access the plant with a doctor’s prescription.
Rep. Marisa Márquez, D-El Paso, introduced House Bill 3785, and Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, introduced a companion bill in the Senate to remove barriers between patients and treatment, according to Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy.
“By continuing to deny access to patients, we limit the rights of families to seek the best possible treatment for conditions that do not respond to other drugs or therapies,” Rep. Márquez said in a news release. “We should create paths, and not obstacles, in allowing doctors to recommend medicine that has been shown to work.”
Full Article:
http://news.yahoo.com/texas-lawmakers-introduce-bills-to-legalize-medical-marijuana-153717000.html
California Lawmakers Give Up On Marijuana DUIs — For Now
By Chris Roberts
Legalization is still in California’s future, but marijuana is occupying state lawmakers’ minds in the present.
About 20 bills that deal with cannabis in some regard were introduced in the Legislature before the deadline for new laws last month. These include the latest attempt at regulating the state’s billion-dollar marijuana industry, regulations of synthetic marijuana packaging and how much seized weed police can destroy.
But what’s not included, for the first time in three sessions, is a bill imposing criminal penalties for drivers with cannabinoids in their systems. After two straight losses, lawmakers have decided against crafting laws cracking down on stoned drivers — and this is a good thing.
Full Article:
http://www.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2015/03/12/california-lawmakers-give-up-on-marijuana-duis-for-now
How Medical Marijuana’s Chemicals May Protect Cells
By David Noonan
Aleks Sennwald
Edward Maa did not plan to become a marijuana researcher. But a few years ago, when the neurologist and epilepsy specialist surveyed his patients about their use of alternative medicines, he discovered that more than a third had turned to marijuana to try to control their seizures. “I had no idea,” says Maa, who is chief of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Denver Health.
Now he is trying to impose some scientific rigor on what has become a very big and unscientific ad hoc experiment in his state, where medical marijuana use is legal. According to the Epilepsy Foundation of Colorado, the widely reported case of Charlotte Figi, a child whose nearly constant seizures were dramatically curtailed with cannabidiol, a marijuana ingredient, has helped trigger an influx of families from around the U.S. seeking similar treatment for their children with seizure disorders. Maa wants to move beyond anecdote and into data. He is monitoring 150 epilepsy patients who all take a product derived from the same strain of marijuana that Figi used, provided by the same source. Over the course of a year, he intends to compare dosage to seizure activity and side effects, as well as patient characteristics, to see if any patterns suggest the drug is effective—or not—in particular situations. “My position is, let’s see what’s going on,” Maa says. “Let’s see if this is helpful and try to understand what we are seeing.”
Full Article:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-medical-marijuana-s-chemicals-may-protect-cells/
Here’s What Marijuana Looks Like Under The Microscope (Photos)
Jordanna
Ever wonder what marijuana looks like up close and personal?
Now you can see how cannabis appears to the scientists who study it, thanks to a new book called Cannabis Under The Microscope: A Visual Exploration of Medicinal Sativa and C. Indica by Ford McCann.
The book features over 170 images of cannabis in its full glory, taken with optical and scanning electron microscopes.
Full Article:
http://americanlivewire.com/2015-03-07-heres-marijuana-looks-like-microscope-photos/
First government-run recreational pot store opens in Skamania County
Katherine Cook, KGW News
The country’s first government-run recreational marijuana store opened in the Columbia River Gorge.
The Cannabis Corner, opened Saturday in North Bonneville. The city’s mayor, Don Stevens, made the first purchase.
Full Article:
http://www.kgw.com/story/news/2015/03/07/government-run-pot-store-skamania-county/24559835/