Tag: jackherer.com

The Crazy, Unfair Ways People Are Being Screwed by Using Legal Pot

Jeannie Herer

National Cannabis Coalition / By Doug Fine

Photo Credit: Shutter Stock
 
In September, 2011, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms banned state law-abiding medical cannabis patients from owning firearms. A bureaucratic decider simply swiped away hundreds of thousands of Americans’ Second Amendment rights by way of an added item on a pre-sale questionnaire.
Using an ancient herb as recommended by your doctor, one that any law enforcer will tell you makes people less aggressive? Sorry. Whacked on Oxycontin? Fire away.
My friend Carl, a Vietnam veteran, concealed handgun permit holder, political conservative of the John Wayne school and New Mexico medical cannabis patient, is apoplectic about the policy. “I can’t believe I lose my rights because I’m receiving treatment. I defended this country’s freedoms.”
This is just one example of key ancillary details that need to be fixed as America’s Longest War limps to its federal demise. Another is arbitrary limits on or zero tolerance of bloodstream THC when driving, even by locally-Kosher cannabis fans: if you legally used cannabis three weeks ago at the Ziggy Marley concert in Washington, you can, absurdly, be found to be impaired today.
In addition to the mining of the harbor that such unacceptably policy represents among those sore losers, the retreating Drug Warriors, this again shows the risk that any cannabis enjoyer faces. These unscientific THC policies must be squashed in courts and state houses, and fast.
 
Full Article:
http://www.alternet.org/crazy-unfair-ways-people-are-being-screwed-using-legal-pot

Patient Starts 29th Year in Federal Medical Cannabis Program

Jeannie Herer


by David Guard
{Fort Lauderdale, FL} — Irvin Rosenfeld is one of only four medical cannabis patients in the country that receive cannabis legally from the federal government.  Irv will celebrate his 28th anniversary in this unique program on Saturday, November 20, 2010.
Irv is a 57 year-old successful stockbroker from South Florida.  Irv uses medical cannabis to relieve chronic pain and muscle spasms caused by a rare bone disease. When he was 10, doctors discovered that his skeleton was riddled with more than 200 tumors, due to a condition known as Multiple Congenital Cartilaginous Exostosis.  Despite six operations, he still lives with scores of tumors in his bones.
After a long struggle with the federal government, Irv Rosenfeld won the right to access medical cannabis in 1982. Thirteen people with debilitating conditions were allowed into the Compassionate Investigative New Drug (IND) Program to receive federally-grown medical cannabis.  In 1992, President George Bush discontinued the program, but Irv still receives 9 ounces of cannabis rolled into cigarettes every 25 days from the federal government. The cannabis is grown by NIDA at the University of Mississippi.  Over the 29 years in the program, Irv has received more than 120,000 medical cannabis cigarettes and is in good health because of it.
Irv will be speaking about the federal program and his participation in it at KushCon2 in Denver, CO December 17-19, 2010.
Irv’s book is called “My Medicine: How I Convinced the Federal Government to Provide My Marijuana and Helped Launch a National Movement”.  Copies of the book may be purchased by visiting www.mymedicinethebook.com.  Proceeds from the book help to cover expenses while traveling to educate people about medical cannabis.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/trenches/2010/nov/19/patient_starts_29th_year_federal

Cannabis Excellent for Deworming?

Jeannie Herer
French farmer fined for giving cannabis to ducks

ROCHEFORT, France — A French duck farmer has been given a one-month suspended sentence and fined 500 euros (680 dollars) after feeding cannabis to his birds, saying it was an excellent dewormer.
The farmer from the village of Gripperie-Saint-Symphorien on France’s Atlantic coast admitted that he smoked some of the drug himself but said most of it was given to his 150 ducks for medicinal purposes.
“There’s no better worming substance for them, a specialist advised me to do it,” the farmer, Michel Rouyer, said, without being able to identify the specialist in question.
“This is for real, not one (duck) has worms and they’re all in excellent health,” said Rouyer’s lawyer, Jean Piot, in an effort to convince the court.
Police arrested Rouyer after discovering 12 cannabis plants and around five kilos (11 pounds) of the drug in a bag during a visit to his home following a theft.
“It’s the first time we’ve heard something like this,” police said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jd01_yskLvgrk_aTTxWKOoGqDNNw?docId=CNG.d858fa983b3a6712833f625e87e1bd58.3f1

How Marijuana Got Mainstreamed

Jeannie Herer


Even with a decent supply of high-grade pot in her walk-in freezer, Jenelise Robinson, 35, can scarcely keep up with demand. The growth of her 16-month-old Denver business, Nancy B’s Edible Medicine, has come with the explosion in the number of Colorado’s medical-marijuana dispensaries, or centers. Coloradans who are recommended by a doctor and approved by the state go to the centers to buy their pot, either in traditional bud form or as an “infused product” like Robinson’s lemon bars, which are 100% organic and laced with a marijuana concentrate.
Robinson’s loyal customers depend on her to “medicate”. Euphemisms like medicine, medicate, caregivers and patients are an important element in the larger movement to bring marijuana use out from the shadows, as advocates say, so it can take its place innocently on Americans’ nearly infinite menu of lifestyle preferences, from yachting to survivalism to macrobiotic cooking. So far, the strategy is working. Colorado and 13 other states, along with the District of Columbia, have legalized medical marijuana in the past 14 years. More than a dozen other states are considering the idea. In some parts of California — where marijuana is the biggest cash crop, with total sales of $14 billion annually — medical pot has become such an established part of the commercial base that cities are moving toward taxing it. (See pictures of the legally hazy world of marijuana and its users.)
It’s not clear that even political setbacks discourage, much less stop, the mainstreaming of marijuana. Anti-pot forces cheered on Nov. 2 when voters in four states apparently rejected pro-pot ballot initiatives — including California’s Prop 19, which would have legalized possession of an ounce (28 g) of pot or less. But by Election Day, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislature had already rendered Prop 19 moot. A month earlier, he signed a bill that reduced possession of up to an ounce from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction. (See pictures of cannabis conventions around the country.)
Medical marijuana has helped make all this possible. In a short time, pot has gone from being a prohibited substance to one that is, in many places, widely available if you have an ache or a pain and the patience to fuss with a few forms. This did not take place by accident. In fact, medical marijuana’s emergence has many of the attributes of a product rollout. As with any hot commodity, dope is now accorded the same awed regard in some Colorado retail establishments as fine wine, dark chocolate and artisanal cheese. Only now it takes place under the cover of medical care, wellness and pain management. And so what is emerging in many places is a strange, bipolar set of rules: dope is forbidden for everyone but totally O.K. for anyone who is willing to claim a chronic muscle spasm. Does anyone take such farcical distinctions seriously? And can a backlash be far behind?
Ferguson is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard. His new book Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course on Getting His Kid into College will be published in March by Simon & Schuster
Watch TIME’s video “An L.A. Medical Marijuana Odyssey.”
See pictures of the great American pot smoke-out.

This is an abridged version of an article that appears in the Nov. 22, 2010, print and iPad editions of TIME magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2030768,00.html

Reciprocity clause in new AZ law links 6 state Medical MJ programs

Jeannie Herer

MADISON: Like the mythical Phoenix the state’s largest city is named for, Arizona Proposition 203 managed to rise from the proverbial ashes to stage a comeback from an apparent close loss to a narrow win by about 4,300 votes, state election officials confirmed Sunday. Arizona, with a population of about 6.6 million, is now the 15th U.S. state to pass state legislation.
Of the 15 states, 10 have done so by ballot initiative (CA, OR, AK, WA, NV, ME, CO, MT, MI and now AZ.) and 5 by state legislatures (HI, NM, VT, RI, NJ).
With all precincts reporting, the “yes” votes on Proposition 203 had 50.1 % of the vote with “no” votes at 49.8 %.
Passage of Arizona’s medical cannabis law also expands the list of states that will honor other state’s medical cannabis program ID cards.
According to the Marijuana Policy Project, whose Arizona affiliate scored the win:

In Arizona, out-of-state ID cards or their equivalents will provide protection for the amount of marijuana allowed in Arizona (2.5 oz) and within the restrictions included in the Arizona law (no public use, etc) IF the patient has a debilitating condition that qualifies under the Arizona law. However, dispensaries in Arizona cannot sell to patients with out-of state ID cards. — Karen O’Keefe, Marijuana Policy Project.

Once Prop. 203 officially becomes law, six states will have reciprocity: Maine, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Arizona.
Here is the relevant section of the new Arizona law:

36-2801.  17.  “VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT” MEANS A PERSON: (a) WHO IS NOT A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA OR WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS. (b) WHO HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION BY A PERSON WHO IS LICENSED WITH AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE DRUGS TO HUMANS IN THE STATE OF THE PERSON’S RESIDENCE OR, IN THE CASE OF A PERSON WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS, THE STATE OF THE PERSON’S FORMER RESIDENCE. 18.  “WRITTEN CERTIFICATION” MEANS A DOCUMENT DATED AND SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN, STATING THAT IN THE PHYSICIAN’S PROFESSIONAL OPINION THE PATIENT IS LIKELY TO RECEIVE THERAPEUTIC OR PALLIATIVE BENEFIT FROM THE MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA TO TREAT OR ALLEVIATE THE PATIENT’S DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION OR SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION.  THE PHYSICIAN MUST: (a) SPECIFY THE QUALIFYING PATIENT’S DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION IN THE WRITTEN CERTIFICATION. (b) SIGN AND DATE THE WRITTEN CERTIFICATION ONLY IN THE COURSE OF A PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP AFTER THE PHYSICIAN HAS COMPLETED A FULL ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALIFYING PATIENT’S MEDICAL HISTORY.
36-2804.03. C.  A REGISTRY IDENTIFICATION CARD, OR ITS EQUIVALENT, THAT IS ISSUED UNDER THE LAWS OF ANOTHER STATE, DISTRICT, TERRITORY, COMMONWEALTH OR INSULAR POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES THAT ALLOWS A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT TO POSSESS OR USE MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES IN THE JURISDICTION OF ISSUANCE HAS THE SAME FORCE AND EFFECT WHEN HELD BY A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT AS A REGISTRY IDENTIFICATION CARD ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT, EXCEPT THAT A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO OBTAIN MARIJUANA FROM A NONPROFIT MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY.

Wisconsin AB554/SB368, the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act contained reciprocity language.
Had the JRMMA passed, Wisconsinites visiting Arizona with medical cannabis would have had their Wisconsin registration respected.
However, as I reported, “State MMJ Program loopholes offer possible protection to Wisconsin patients” (08/09/10), the Oregon and Montana medical marijuana programs are currently accepting applications from out of state patients. Thus, a Wisconsin patient holding a valid Oregon or Montana medical marijuana registration card would theoretically enjoy the same reciprocity with other MMJ states that offer it.
http://www.examiner.com/norml-in-madison/reciprocity-clause-new-az-law-links-6-state-medical-mj-programs

Safer Texas Campaign Calls on Texas Politicians to Abstain from Legislating Under the Influence of Big Alcohol

Jeannie Herer

DALLAS, Nov. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — With Texas politicians collecting a significant percentage of their campaign contributions from the alcohol industry after the November election, the Safer Texas Campaign (a project of ProtectYouth.org) is renewing its call on elected representatives to stop accepting such money until Texas passes legislation allowing the regulated use and sale of marijuana as a safer alternative to alcohol.  
According to campaign records provided by the nonpartisan, nonprofit FollowtheMoney.org, the five Texas politicians who have received the largest contributions from the alcohol industry are Governor Rick Perry, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, and Attorney General Greg Abbott, all have so far received a total of $1.4 million during the 2010 election cycle. 
Governor Rick Perry and the Texas State Legislature passed House Bill 1199 in 2003, a bill that made it significantly easier for alcohol industry groups to pass sales initiatives in “dry” cities. Despite the tremendous social and economic cost of alcohol use on families and communities, the legislation received no opposition from law enforcement or substance abuse prevention organizations.  
Since HB 1199 took effect, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission reports at least 391 local alcohol sales initiatives have passed statewide (compared to only 71 initiatives approved by voters during the eight years prior to HB 1199), and the number of “dry” counties has dropped from 51 to 26. 

Studies show that alcohol use contributes to aggressive and risk-taking behavior potentially leading to acts of violence, whereas marijuana use does not. The US Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey reported that two-thirds of victims who suffered violence by an intimate (a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) reported that alcohol had been a factor and that drinking is a factor in 75 percent of domestic violence incidents involving spouses. A Harvard School of Public Health study reported in 2004 that 72 percent of college rapes nationwide occurred when the female was too intoxicated by alcohol to resist/consent.  
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of alcohol poisoning deaths in the United States is shockingly high, consistently between 300 and 400 each year; whereas, there are no records of deaths from marijuana poisonings.  
The recent California effort towards legitimate regulation of the marijuana market, Proposition 19 (also known as the Regulate, Control & Tax Cannabis Act), was opposed by the state’s largest alcohol industry group, California Beer & Beverage Distributors. 
The Safer Texas Campaign states that it is not anti-alcohol, nor does it advocate the use of marijuana. “Our campaign works to address increasing public safety concerns that our state laws prohibiting the marijuana market are sending a dangerous message to the public that alcohol is more acceptable than marijuana,” said Craig Johnson, coordinator of the Safer Texas Campaign. “Every objective study on alcohol and marijuana has shown marijuana is a much safer substance than alcohol to both the user and to society, so our legislators should not be driving more Texans to drink by prohibiting the safer alternative of marijuana.” 
More info online at http://www.SaferTexas.org
http://www.sys-con.com/node/1617857

Mind-Blowing Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce

Jeannie Herer


Kristen Suzanne is a raw food and fitness guru who incorporates healthy ingredients into everything she makes. In today’s post, the star ingredient is hemp seeds.  Hemp is often labeled as a complete protein with all of the essential amino acids as well as essential fatty acids (ah yes, those popular Omega-3’s). In terms of taste, hemp seeds add a nutty flavor to baked goods, and in this case sauce, but they can be a tad expensive. Be sure to shop around both locally and online to find the best price.
Kristen Suzanne ~ Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce is so delicious (and non-dairy!). It’s perfect anytime; including showing off at the next party you host or attend. Every time I make it, my husband licks the bowl. My step-dad wants to eat it like a soup because he loves it so much (and he’s not even vegan)!
But don’t take my word for it. This recipe has made the Internet rounds and the result is always the same… people LOVE it and they love sharing it with non-raw and non-vegan people!
Here are just a few serving suggestions from my own kitchen and from others who have enjoyed this recipe:

  • Use it for dipping fresh veggies (my favorite way) or corn chips (raw or not, it’s up to you)
  • For those eating cooked vegan foods, this is an awesome sauce on top of veggie burgers
  • It makes a delicious raw vegan dressing on a hearty salad with romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and cucumbers; you could even sprinkle on raw vegan taco meat and raw dehydrated corn chips for a tortilla type salad
  • Season those homemade kale chips: Chop kale leaves into pieces, coat with Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce, and then dehydrate

Enjoy the recipe below (however you serve it!) and check out my video where I show you how to make this mind-blowing sauce.
Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce

  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 cup hemp seeds
  • 2-1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons tamari, wheat-free [can optionally use regular soy sauce]
  • 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt [can optionally use regular sea salt]
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. Cheezy Hemp Nacho Sauce will stay fresh when stored in an airtight container (I like using a glass mason jar) for up to five days.
Makes approximately 1-1/2 cups
Kristen Suzanne is the voice behind the blog, Kristen’s Raw, and author of numerous raw food recipe books and e-books. Kristen was a competitive natural bodybuilder in her early 20’s and has been 100% vegan since 2002. Since 2006, she has also been 95% Raw.
http://www.godairyfree.org/201011164754/News/Nutrition-Headlines/Kristen-Suzanne-Shares-the-Recipe-for-her-Mind-Blowing-Cheezy-Hemp-Nacho-Sauce.html

Arizona voters approve medical marijuana law

Jeannie Herer
By Michael Martinez, CNN
November 15, 2010 — Updated 2251 GMT (0651 HKT)

Arizona became the 15th state, plus the District of Columbia, to pass a medical marijuana law since 1996.

Arizona became the 15th state, plus the District of Columbia, to pass a medical marijuana law since 1996.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • Close vote takes almost two weeks to tabulate
  • Results will become official after the state certifies vote count on November 29
  • Arizona becomes the 15th state with medical marijuana law

    • (CNN) — Almost two weeks after polls closed, Arizona voters have approved a medical marijuana law, state officials said Monday.
    The close vote — by a margin of 4,341 votes — will be certified by the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on November 29, said spokesman Matthew Benson. A ballot count from Maricopa County over the weekend allowed state officials to provide the results, he said.
    Arizona becomes the 15th state, along with the District of Columbia, to have passed a medical marijuana law since 1996, said a spokesman with the advocacy group Medical Marijuana Project. The Arizona law will allow patients with “debilitating medical conditions” to use cannabis if they have a recommendation from their physician.
    “Voters in Arizona have sided with science and compassion while dealing yet another blow to our nation’s cruel and irrational prohibition on marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. The group funded and supported the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project, the local group that ran the Proposition 203 campaign.
    “Arizona’s law now reflects the mainstream public opinion that seriously ill people should not be treated like criminals if marijuana can provide them relief, and that doctors should be able to recommend marijuana to patients if they believe it can help alleviate their suffering,” Kampia said.
    Arizona’s Proposition 203, approved 841,346 to 837,005, will allow about 120 clinics to dispense marijuana to patients with prescriptions, project officials said. Patients who live more than 25 miles from a dispensary can grow their own marijuana.
    The other states with medical marijuana laws are Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, project officials said.
    “Sadly, patients in 35 states still have no legal protection if marijuana is the medicine that works best for them,” Kampia said in a statement. “We will continue working in the years ahead to ensure that others are awarded the respect and compassionate care that seriously ill patients in Arizona will now enjoy, thanks to this law.”
    http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/11/15/arizona.marijuana/

    Happy Father-To-Be Celebrates By Smoking A Joint, In The Hospital!

    Jeannie Herer

    “A Pennsylvania man celebrated his baby`s birth by lighting up a joint in the hospital smoking area, police said.

    Uniontown police Sgt. Jonathan Grabiak told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review a nurse smelled marijuana when she took a cigarette break in Uniontown Hospital`s designated smoking area, an enclosed shed, Tuesday.

    weed

    She saw two men in the shed, but she did not see either smoking marijuana.”

    UPI

    Nobody passes out cigars anymore to celebrate the birth of his child, this dude was merely trying to start a new tradition.

    I commend Grabiak for obeying the rules of the hospital by going to the designated smoking area to enjoy his joint.

    Grabiak will be a good dad who will teach his son to obey the rules, and how to properly roll a doobie.

    No charges have been filed against the proud father.

    Follow Robert Paul Reyes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertpaulreyes

    http://thesop.org/story/20101111/happy-fathertobe-celebrates-by-smoking-a-joint-in-the-hospital.html

    Medical marijuana from the feds? Meet Irvin Rosenfeld, whose MMJ is supplied by U.S. gov’t

    Jeannie Herer


    by Michael Roberts
    The differences between the federal government’s marijuana laws and MMJ rules in Colorado are vast. Ask Chris Bartkowicz, who faces years in prison for growing cannabis he said was for medical purposes. So why are the feds supplying Irvin Rosenfeld almost 300 marijuana cigarettes every 25 days? He’ll explain during an appearance in Denver this weekend.
    As noted in the Cannabis Therapy Institute release, Rosenfeld won the right to use marijuana medically way back in 1982, and while rule changes have been made since then, his access has been grandfathered. He’s reportedly among just four people in the country to have this right, as he explains in his new book, My Medicine.
    Rosenfeld will promote this tome during a free talk and book-signing on Saturday afternoon at the Oriental Theatre. Get details from the aforementioned release, on view below along with a video of Rosenfeld.
    Cannabis Therapy Institute release:
    Federal Marijuana Patient Promotes Book in DenverDenver — Irvin Rosenfeld is one of only 4 medical marijuana patients in the country that receive cannabis legally from the federal government. Irv will be in Denver for a speaking engagement and book signing on Sat., Nov. 13 at the Oriental Theatre in Denver at 3:00pm.
    Irv is a 57 year-old successful stockbroker from south Florida. Irv smokes the marijuana to relieve chronic pain and muscle spasms caused by a rare bone disease. When he was 10, doctors discovered that his skeleton was riddled with more than 200 tumors, due to a condition known as multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis. Despite six operations, he still lives with scores of tumors in his bones.
    After a long struggle with the federal government, Irv Rosenfeld won the right to access medical marijuana in 1982. Thirteen people with debilitating conditions were allowed into the Compassionate Investigative New Drug (IND) program to receive government-grown marijuana. In 1992, President George Bush discontinued the program, but Irv still receives almost 300 marijuana cigarettes every 25 days from the federal government. The cannabis is grown by NIDA at the University of Mississippi.
    Irv’s book is called My Medicine: How I Convinced the Federal Government to Provide My Marijuana and Helped Launch a National Movement. The book will be available for purchase and will be signed by the author.
    Irvin Rosenfeld Talk and Book Signing
    Oriental Theatre
    4335 W 44th Ave, Denver, CO
    Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010
    3:00 pm to 5:30 pm
    Schedule
    Talk: 3:00pm to 4:00pm
    Book Signing: 4:00pm to 5:30pm
    The event is FREE and open to the public.
    The book makes a great HOLIDAY GIFT for the patient or advocate on your list.
    SPONSORSHIP
    The talk is sponsored by the Cannabis Therapy Institute Patient Advocacy Project. Click here to support CTI’s mission of protecting patient’s safe access to medicine:
    http://www.cannabistherapyinstitute.com/donate.html
    http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2010/11/medical_marijuana_from_the_feds_meet_irvin_rosenfeld_whose_mmj_is_supplied_by_us_govt.php