Cannabis Hemp News

Source: Kenai Peninsula Online Juneau -- Lt. Gov. Loren Leman stopped an initiative drive seeking to decriminalize marijuana, ruling Tuesday that hundreds of signatures collected were not valid. Leman, a former state senator who sponsored a bill in 1999 to turn back the state's medical marijuana laws, said in a statement that the pro-marijuana group will have to begin from scratch to get its measure before voters in 2004. The proposed initiative would have asked voters in the August 2004 primary ballot to decriminalize and regulate marijuana. Backers submitted 484 booklets containing signatures of Alaskans who supported putting the measure on the ballot. But of…

Source: Canadian Press The chief of Ottawa's medical marijuana program has been putting the brakes on a Health Canada proposal that would give needy patients direct access to government dope. A newly released document shows that Cindy Cripps-Prawak has been fighting a proposed policy shift that would deliver government-certified marijuana to chronically ill Canadians. Currently, Health Canada will provide its standardized marijuana only to accredited researchers, who would then dispense it to select patients in clinical trials. Patients not enrolled in such trials can seek federal authorization to possess marijuana to alleviate symptoms - but they have to get the…

International policies on the use and possession of marijuana underwent some major reforms in 2002. Canada and England are leading the way to decriminalization while the United States remains reluctant to accept medicinal uses of the currently illegal drug. Although the issue remains hotly contested, pro-marijuana organizations say they are steadily making ground. Decriminalization, eh? On Dec 9, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon announced Canada could do away with criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use as early as this spring. This statement came days before the release of a special House of Commons report recommending P…

Source: Stockton Record In California, Prop. 215 was passed in 1996, making it legal for people suffering from AIDS, cancer and other serious diseases to use marijuana if they have a doctor's prescription. But since 9/11, the war on drugs has been subsumed by the war on terrorism. In the last year, with the rationale that the drug trade may fund terrorism, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency has taken action against more than 35 medicinal marijuana patients, cooperatives and providers in California. The most recent incident in September pitted Santa Cruz pot growers Michael and Valerie Corral, who run the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana, against federal ag…

If most parents knew there was a federally funded organization lying to their children about the effects of drug use, they would likely be appalled and seek to have the organization's funding removed. Yet the frightening truth is that such a group exists, operating under the family-friendly monicker, Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA). In its newest line of Public Service Announcements (PSAs), the group equates marijuana use with wrongful death, rape and even murder...crimes that sensible people realize marijuana usage alone would never lead to. Last year, the American public was misled into thinking that every joint they smoked contributed to international ter…

Portland, Ore. -- A quadriplegic Vietnam War veteran sued the U.S. government on Monday, saying the Drug Enforcement Administration illegally seized medical use marijuana he grew under a license from the state of Oregon. The suit filed in federal court on behalf of Leroy Stubblefield, 55, and two of his caregivers, who are also licensed to grow marijuana, is the latest challenge by liberal Oregonians to what they see as a heavy-handed federal government pushing a conservative agenda. "The federal government doesn't tell the state of Oregon what to do and the state doesn't tell the federal government what to do," Stubblefield's attorney Anne Witte said at a press conf…

http://www.green-aid.com/news.htm No Talk of "Medical" to be Allowed in Federal Medical Marijuana Trial of Ed Rosenthal Judge Grants Prosecution Motion to Exclude State Law, City Programs, Federal Immunity Statute Monday, January 13, 2003 - Despite passionate pleas from defense attorney Robert Eye for consideration of the context of marijuana activist and author Ed Rosenthal’s involvement in carrying out the City of Oakland’s program for supplying medicinal marijuana, Federal Judge Charles Breyer ruled in favor of the prosecution’s motion to exclude all discussion of medical issues, the City of Oakland’s marijuana ordinance, California’s Compassionate Use Act legalizi…

Ottawa - Marijuana advocates don't expect the drug to be decriminalized any time soon, despite promises from Justice Minister Martin Cauchon. Skeptics predict Cauchon's promised legislation will die on the order paper, and suggest it is being introduced as a time-buying sop without backing from the prime minister. "There won't be enough time to pass it," said Alan Young, a professor at Osgoode Hall law school, in an interview Monday. "He (Cauchon) knows it's going to die on the order paper." Last month a Commons committee recommended that people be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of marijuana without risking criminal penalties. Cauchon welcomed the recommendation…

Mother caught drug running By BOB WATT Court Reporter January 14, 2003 A mother-of-five found guilty of taking part in an attempt to smuggle nearly 300g of cannabis was sentenced yesterday to four months' jail. Darwin Magistrates Court heard Maurisa Luanna Henwood tried to remove a backpack containing the cannabis when her luggage was about to be searched at a Territory airport. Police found the ``football-sized pack of cannabis'' in the backpack, which Henwood tried to put into a motor vehicle. Magistrate Anthony Gillies, after a hearing in December, found Henwood, 26, of Gray, guilty of possessing a traffickable quantity of cannabis (291.9g) on February 6 las…

About.com The Office of National Drug Control Policy has teamed up with the National District Attorneys Association (NDAA) as part of its escalating war on marijuana. In recent letters sent to every prosecutor in the United States, NDAA president Dan Alsobrooks and the drug czar's Deputy Director for State and Local Affairs, Scott Burns, hoisted the battle flag against pot, signaling prosecutors that they should make the prosecution of marijuana crimes a high priority and urging them to fight efforts to reform the drug laws. While Alsobrooks portrayed the latest push as a matter of public safety, he also made it clear that the effort was inspired by attempts to refo…

Time Magazine The crowd is young, hip and thirsty. But there is plenty of cold beer around and the spirits are, um, high, especially when the word gets out that the brew is made with hemp — marijuana's non- psychoactive cousin. Despite the rowdy comments about getting stoned, this is not a seedy bar in a back alley, but the respected Salon of Taste in Turin, a gourmet fest organized last October by Slow Food, a worldwide organization promoting healthy eating. Here the message in the bottle is that since hemp is rich in nutrients and essential fatty acids, beer containing this fibrous plant is good for what ales you. It is also controversial. The hemp used in the bee…

SierraTimes.com With the onslaught of television commercials now running on the airwaves staring "Nick and Norm" at the dinner table, I wonder why no one has really challenged the notion that the "war on drugs" causes terrorism. Yet it continues unchallenged. A script written to counter it might sound something like this: Two men are sitting at a table in a restaurant, both nicely dressed. Nick, the younger one, begins the dialog. "So, let me get this straight: The drug war supports terrorism. And I should just believe that??" Norm: "yes" "Why?" "Because it's true" "It's true??" "Yes, it's true." "Fine, let's say - hypothetically - I pay taxes" "Let…

Capital News "Marijuana is a gateway drug." A phrase almost as recognizable as "Just Say No." But a study by the private, nonprofit RAND drug policy research center may be underpinning many US anti-drug policies and educational campaigns. Robin Barkenhagan, who favors the legalization of marijuana, said this is old news. Barkenhagan said, "I've known all along that marijuana is not a gateway drug. Gateway drugs are cigarettes, alcohol and hopelessness, to be frank about it." The study states 50 percent of teenagers tried marijuana by the time they were 16, while the majority had no exposure to cocaine, heroin or hallucinogens until they were 20. He said the four-…

Halifax Herald Toronto - A series of recent court rulings that have left Canada's marijuana law in limbo isn't providing relief for those with illnesses, say people who need to use the drug for medical reasons. "Pot possession laws, decriminalization, whatever the government is doing, whatever the courts are doing, is not helping us at all," said William Palmer, an HIV sufferer, who can legally smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. "They are still not helping the sick. Where are the priorities here? I don't care if they decriminalize it tomorrow, we need pharmacies that can sell marijuana and we need them now." Those who have exemptions from the Controlled Dr…

The only medical-marijuana case to end in conviction in Long Beach Superior Court has been overturned on appeal, and prosecutors have not yet decided whether to retry the case. Marie Rutledge was charged last year with possessing marijuana in her car but claimed it was medically prescribed to treat her asthma, muscle spasms and migraine headaches. Her Long Beach jury disagreed, finding her guilty of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana and public intoxication. After reviewing the case and hearing oral arguments in Los Angeles last month, the Second Appellate District Court of Appeal reversed the jury verdict based on a recent California Supreme Court decisi…