Alaska: Marijuana Legalization Initiative Halfway There With Signatures

For more than 30 years, Alaska was the only state in the U.S. in which it was legal -- under some circumstances -- to smoke marijuana for the fun of it.

Then Colorado and Washington voters last November passed initiatives legalizing cannabis for adults and setting up systems of production, sales and taxation.

Now backers of a legalization initiative in Alaska say they are moving toward making the same change there, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The group is about halfway to reaching their goal of 45,000 signatures by December 1, about 15,000 more than the number required to get the measure on next year's primary election ballot, according to main sponsor Timothy Hinterberger.

"In a free society, prohibition of popular substances is just bad public policy," Hinterberger said.

The initiative would add a seven-page statute to the books in Alaska, legalizing marijuana for adults and setting up a state regulatory body to oversee cannabis farms, dealers and advertising.

The initiative would impose a hefty $50 per ounce excise tax that would be collected between the greenhouse and the store or factory.

Employers would still be allowed to prohibit their workers from smoking or possession at work, and prevent employees from being high while on duty. Driving under the influence of cannabis would still be illegal, and local governments could outlaw growing and sales -- but not possession.

Police would have to stop their current practice of seizing small amounts of pot when they find it. The measure would authorize retail pot shops, but not parlors or bars; that is to say, on-site consumption would be prohibited at the shops.

The legalization measure has been gaining support since Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell on June 14 ruled that the initiative could proceed to the signature-gathering phase. The August 29 Justice Department announcement that it wouldn't sue to stop legalization laws in states which legalize cannabis added momentum to the cause.

"I've had a lot of people talk to me about that since then," Hinterberger said. "I think that shows that we are on the right track in thinking that things are really changing, both in federal policy as well as in public sentiment. It eliminates one of the arguments you sometimes hear against an initiative like ours -- it doesn't matter what we do locally as a state because the feds will step in."

The advisory, while noting that marijuana is still a "serious crime," directs federal law enforcement authorities on the local level to focus on larger priorities, not simple possession or legalized marijuana grow and sale operations. In the case of states which have legalized pot, the Justice Department expects them to prevent interstate sales.

After Alaska voters in 1972 passed one of the most important amendments to the state constitution -- a right to privacy -- Homer resident Irwin Ravin arranged for police to arrest him with two joints in his pocket.

The Alaska Supreme Court dismissed Ravin's case in 1975, making Alaska the only state with legalized marijuana. The court ruled 5-0 that the state law banning cannabis possession violated the newly approved right of privacy, at least for small amounts inside a person's home.

The state could still ban the use of pot in public or by minors, the court said, and could restrict the sales and quantity, but not private possession. In 1982, the Legislature set the legalized "small amount" at four ounces or four plants; anything more than that was a misdemeanor.

But with the War On Drugs coming to Alaska during the Reagan years, the state Senate, then dominated by the GOP, wanted to recriminalize. Legalization opponents sponsored a ballot measure in the 1990 general election which restored criminal penalties for possession of any amount of pot. It won with 54 percent of the vote.

In 2003, the Alaska Court of Appeals ruled that law was unconstitutional. The Alaska Supreme Court refused to hear it, letting the Court of Appeals decision stand.

Gov. Frank Murkowski, in office from 2002 to 2006, vowed to recriminalize pot AGAIN, and directed the Legislature to pass a new law criminalizing all pot possession. The law passed in 2006 and was quickly struck down by a Juneau Superior Court judge.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the judge had acted prematurely, since nobody had been arrested yet. But apparently nobody has since, and that's where the law stands now: a ban on possession of small quantities is still the law, but the law is clearly unconstitutional, according to Joshua Decker, acting executive director of the ACLU of Alaska.

If officers encounter a small quantity of marijuana, according to Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew, they will seize it as contraband and eventually destroy it, but the Ravin decision effectively blocks the state from prosecuting possession cases involving less than four ounces.

Source

CBD Provides ‘Long-Lasting Protection’ In Multiple Sclerosis

Research shows cannabidiol could protect neurons from further damage in multiple sclerosis.

TruthOnPot.com – Multiple sclerosis patients are well aware of the potential for marijuana to help when it comes to dealing with symptoms. Since 2005, Sativex – an oral spray made with natural cannabis extract – has passed clinical trials and received approval from over 20 countries for the treatment of MS-related spasticity.

But is it possible for cannabis medicine to actually slow progression of the disease without getting you high? The answer is yes, according to new research out of Spain.

Using cell culture and animal models, scientists at the Cajal Institute found that treatment with cannabidiol (CBD) – one of the major chemicals found in marijuana – reversed many of the inflammatory responses associated with MS and provided “long-lasting protection” against their effects.

In fact, mice treated with CBD for 10 days showed “impaired disease progression” and better motor abilities compared to the untreated group. Writing in the journal Neurobiology of Disease, the researchers concluded that CBD has the potential to slow various aspects of MS.

“This compound can limit the harmful effects of an exacerbated inflammatory response… and prevent the development of secondary and irreversible damage.”

While studies have also found THC to have anti-inflammatory effects, CBD is non-psychoactive. As a result, medicines that contain just THC or even both – such as Sativex and most strains of medical marijuana – are limited in therapeutic potential, according to the authors.

Unfortunately, CBD is difficult to study in humans since it remains illegal in most parts of the world. But with more research (or policy reform), there is hope that one day MS sufferers will have access to this promising, cannabis-based treatment.

Grow Cannabis Indoors

University Study Finds Marijuana May Combat Depression and Lead to Higher Self-Esteem

thejointblog-A comprehensive four-part study conducted at the University of Kentucky has found marijuana to be helpful in reducing the pain associated with social exclusion, and that it may combat against depression, and may lead to higher self-esteem.

“The current research provides the first evidence that marijuana also dampens the negative emotional consequences of social exclusion on negative emotional outcomes,” stated Timothy Deckman of the University of Kentucky in the study.

The four-part study, which included 7040 participants and three methodologies, began with a study using data from the National Comorbidity Study – it found that marijuana consumers who reported being lonely had higher levels of self-worth, as well as overall mental health, compared with non-marijuana users who reported being lonely.

The second study used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, and found that those who use marijuana relatively frequently and experienced social pain were less likely to experience a serious episode of depression over the course of the past year.

The third study surveyed high school students, examining levels of depression, loneliness and lifetime marijuana consumption. The students were surveyed again two years later. Researchers found that marijuana use predicted lower levels of depression among students who were considered to be lonely.

The final study had participants play a computer game called Cyberball, which wasreprogrammed to consistently ignore the participant, in order to evoke social exclusion. Researchers found that marijuana users had a smaller decrease in self-esteem after the game was finished.

You can find the study published online in Social Psychological and Personality Science byclicking here.

Grow Cannabis Indoors

New Hampshire Legislature passes medical marijuana bill

The N.H. Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday legalizing medical marijuana. But the vote did not fall entirely along party lines among Monadnock Region lawmakers.

House Bill 573 sailed through the N.H. House, 284-66. The Senate also passed the bill on a voice vote.

In the region, it passed by a 27-3 vote in the House.

State Rep. William Butynski, D-Hinsdale, who voted against the bill in March, switched his vote on Wednesday.

“The Senate changed the bill to incorporate changes recommended by the governor,” he said. “And so, I’m not sure I felt good, but I felt OK voting for it.”

Butynski said his main concern about passing such a bill is “the message it sends to young people. I don’t want them to think, ‘Well, it’s OK to use for medical (purposes) so it’s OK for me to use it,’ because that’s really not the case.”

The bill makes it legal for people with serious health conditions to possess up to 2 ounces of marijuana for therapeutic use with a doctor’s prescription. Medical conditions or diseases that qualify people for medical marijuana include cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS, muscular dystrophy, Crohn’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis.

Post-traumatic stress disorder was removed from the list during legislative negotiations over the final version of the bill, as was a provision that would have allowed patients or their caregivers to grow their own marijuana.

Patients will be allowed to buy marijuana at four dispensaries across the state whose locations are yet to be determined. Those sites are expected to open in 2015.

The House passed an earlier version of the bill in March, but Gov. Maggie Hassan expressed concerns about the home-growing provision and other aspects. After that provision was dropped in the Senate, she promised to sign the bill into law.

Before entering politics, Butynski, who has a Ph.D. in psychology, worked for 35 years in alcohol and drug treatment and prevention, he said.

“Marijuana, in fact, can be a dangerous drug, particularly for young people,” he said. “People can get addicted to marijuana. A number of people will say, ‘Oh that can’t happen,’ and those were people who maybe tried it 10 or 20 years ago, when it wasn’t the same potency.”

Still, Butynski was swayed by the bill’s restrictiveness.

“It may even be the bill can be improved over time,” he said. “I certainly recognize that some people believe very wholeheartedly that they are helped by using cannabis in a therapeutic way.”

State Rep. Henry A.L. Parkhurst, D-Winchester, was the only Democrat in the region to vote against the bill, as he did in March.

“There is still a federal ban on marijuana, and that’s my biggest sticking point,” he said. “I took an oath to uphold the United States Constitution. It’s a sticky wicket here. There are those on both sides that are very passionate with it.

“If a doctor prescribes it, then I think it should be legal, and as soon as the federal government says OK, you’ll have my vote,” he said. “I hate to hear about people suffering, and that something that can help them is illegal and criminal, but let’s do it legally,” at the federal level, he said.

State Rep. Charles F. Weed, D-Keene, however, believes the bill doesn’t go far enough.

“I think that our craze against marijuana is a kind of prohibition, so I’ve been in favor of ending that policy against many drugs for a long time,” he said. “I’m disappointed that we did not provide ways of taking care of those people who have the need in the next few years until we have dispensaries (in 2015), so they could use prescriptions to go to Maine or Vermont,” states that already passed medical marijuana laws.

State Sen. Bob Odell, R-Lempster, whose district includes the local towns of Acworth, Antrim, Bennington, Langdon, Marlow and Stoddard, did not support the bill.

“I’ve been very straightforward from day one,” he said Wednesday night. “I think it’s wrong to set up a separate system for just marijuana.

“It baffles me why ... we can’t come to the table and do something responsible,” he said. “Whatever the benefits are, have it come through the regular drug distribution system, including your local pharmacy, and have oversight and regulation and FDA approval.”

While Odell said he’s supportive of the concept of medical marijuana, “particularly for people in late stages of life ... I can’t imagine why we’re putting in 50 little drug businesses across the country.”

State Rep. Steven Smith, R-Charlestown, said it was easy for him to say “yea.”

“When you look at somebody that’s suffering and it isn’t ever going to get better, it’s hard to deny them that comfort,” he said Wednesday night.

Smith said that while some lawmakers had concerns that “we’ll get a lot of 20-year-olds who will go to the doctor and say, ‘Dude, my back hurts,’ “ he’s much more concerned about the problems presented by legal prescription medication such as Oxycontin.

“Others felt this would be a gateway (to legalization), but you have to vote on the bill that’s in front of you,” he said. “If we find the restrictions in this bill aren’t tight enough, we can work on it again next session.”

Susan M. MacNeil, executive director for AIDS Services for the Monadnock Region, said she was thrilled to hear the news of the bill’s passing because it will help her agency’s clients.

“The most important consideration for anyone who is HIV-positive is being able to tolerate their medication regimen, and if our clients can be helped in that regard, then that is something we certainly support,” she said.

Typical side effects for HIV and AIDS medications include extreme nausea, vomiting and inability to eat, she said.

“That’s the key with HIV meds; you don’t start and stop, you have to keep taking it,” she said. “This is just one more tool in our toolbox to help keep people with HIV as healthy as possible ... so to know the Legislature has done the right thing, the compassionate thing, that’s all good.”

Read More

Grow Cannabis Indoors