DHHS releases reasoning behind denial of medical marijuana use for Tourette’s syndrome

The Department of Health and Human Services denied the use of medical marijuana to treat Tourette’s syndrome last month because of a dearth of large-scale studies into its effectiveness and side effects, according to a document provided to the Bangor Daily News on Thursday.

A panel of doctors who advise the department’s Bureau of Licensing and Regulatory Services said in the written decision that they wanted to see the use of marijuana to treat Tourette’s syndrome studied under standards used by the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Dustin Sulak, one of the state’s leading medical marijuana proponents who led the failed effort to add Tourette’s syndrome to Maine’s list of ailments legally treatable by medical marijuana, criticized the state’s reasoning. He said Thursday that many of the medications already prescribed to Tourette’s syndrome patients are not approved for that purpose by the FDA and that because of federal laws prohibiting the use of marijuana for any reason, the FDA rarely if ever studies the medical use of cannabis.

The four-doctor Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee is made up of Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control; Kevin Flanigan, medical director for the Office of MaineCare Services; Lindsey Tweed, medical director for the Office of Child and Family Services; and Christopher Pezzullo, medical director of population health at the Maine Center for Disease Control.

The panel met to discuss the issue on Dec. 11, 2013, and rendered its written decision two days later. The Bangor Daily News has been requesting the document since late December. Sulak said he also had not seen the document until recently.

“Whereas this application is for the use of marijuana as a medication, all four physicians agreed that the principles used by the Food and Drug Administration to assess applications for new medications should form the basis for decision-making,” reads the document. “The FDA looks closely at both safety and efficacy data before approving or disapproving a medication.”

The panel ruled that studies provided by Sulak in his application were not long enough in duration and didn’t involve enough participants.

“Any treatment for Tourette’s, therefore, must be safe when used on a long-term basis,” reads the panel’s decision. “Furthermore, the safety must be demonstrated for children and adolescents as these are the age groups in which Tourette’s syndrome is most prominent.”

Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscular and verbal tics and outbursts. Sulak, as well as 28-year-old Peter Hasty of Sullivan, who is a Tourette’s syndrome sufferer who testified in favor of using cannabis for the condition, said marijuana is very effective in controlling the tics.

“This denial is what I was expecting,” wrote Sulak in response to questions from the BDN. “The philosophy behind the denial, however, contains many errors.”

Sulak said in addition to federal laws against marijuana use, FDA-quality trials are prohibitively expensive; marijuana is an herb, not a drug, and thus should not be regulated like a pharmaceutical; and that federal law is “full of inherent contradictions” about medical marijuana.

Sulak said this marked the first time that DHHS has been directly petitioned to add an ailment to its medical marijuana list. The other process involves legislative action.

“The decision to treat a patient with an off-label medication or natural herb should be in the hands of the physician, not the DHHS,” wrote Sulak. “The medical board is already in place to ensure the safety of this practice. The DHHS process of adding conditions has been broken since 2009, and now that it is finally functioning, it is using standards that are inappropriate. I cannot see how the denial of this petition is protecting public health in any way. Almost none of the other conditions currently accepted for medical cannabis treatment in Maine would pass ‘FDA standards’ either, yet medical cannabis has helped thousands of patients in this state improve the quality of their lives, avoid more dangerous treatments, get back to work and much more.”

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Maine DHHS denies bid to make marijuana legal for Tourette’s

Advocates say they will keep trying for approval after an Ellsworth man’s request to make the syndrome a qualifying condition is rejected with no explanation.

Peter Hasty said if he couldn’t use marijuana to control severe muscular tics caused by Tourette’s syndrome, he would be confined to his home in Ellsworth.

“I would not be able to go out the door,” Hasty said. “It (marijuana) has vastly improved my quality of life.”

Although medical marijuana is legal in Maine, Tourette’s syndrome is not one of the conditions permitted for treatment, so for now Hasty has to obtain marijuana illegally if he wants to use it to control the disease.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services this week denied a request by Dr. Dustin Sulak to add Tourette’s syndrome to the list of qualifying medical conditions that marijuana use is allowed to treat.

Sulak, who prescribes medical marijuana out of his Falmouth practice, said a denial letter signed by Mary Mayhew, health and human services commissioner, arrived on Christmas Eve without any explanation for the decision.

A panel including four doctors gave a recommendation to Mayhew, after a hearing that Sulak and Hasty testified at in November.

Sulak said no one from the opposing side testified.

DHHS offices were closed on Tuesday, and Mayhew could not be reached for comment.

If Tourette’s syndrome had been added to the list of qualifying conditions, patients would have been able to legally obtain marijuana through a dispensary or a licensed caregiver.

Sulak said that a number of studies point to the effectiveness of marijuana in controlling Tourette’s syndrome, and that traditional medication is often ineffective in treating Tourette’s syndrome.

“Tourette’s syndrome does have human studies showing that (marijuana) helps, and it’s not like there’s other good options,” Sulak said.

Two doctors with the Yale School of Medicine wrote on the New York Times web site that there is some indication marijuana could help those who have Tourette’s syndrome, but research is far from definitive.

“The most comprehensive review to date of the efficacy of cannabinoids in Tourette’s comes from a research group in Britain, the Cochrane Collaboration, that reviewed all the available data.

They found that “the improvements in tic frequency and severity were small and were only detected by some of the outcome measures.”

The group concluded that there is not enough evidence to support the use of cannabinoids in treating tics and obsessive-compulsive behavior in people with Tourette’s syndrome,” wrote Dr. Robert King and Dr. James Leckman for the New York Times.

But Hasty, 28, said marijuana is the only medicine that works for him, and he uses it one to three times per day. Hasty said sometimes he smokes it, but he also uses vaporizers and tinctures.

“It is not a miracle drug, but it allows me to function with no side effects,” Hasty said.

Sulak said his request to the state was the first attempt he knows about to add a qualifying condition through the administrative process rather than legislation.

The state Legislature this year added post-traumatic stress disorder and other conditions to the list of permitted conditions, which include chronic pain and Crohn’s disease.

He said he’s not sure if he’s going to challenge the decision.

Paul McCarrier, a lobbyist with the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, said the legislative process has been more effective in adding approved medical conditions and relaxing some of the medical marijuana rules, while DHHS is more resistant to change through rule making. McCarrier said if DHHS doesn’t allow it by 2015, the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine will lobby the Legislature to add Tourette’s syndrome to the approved list.

Maine is one of about 20 states with medical marijuana laws allowing use of the drug for certain conditions.

Marijuana legalization advocates hope Maine will vote in the coming years to legalize marijuana for recreational use by adults, something Portland residents voted for in a November referendum.

Portland’s vote had little practical effect as marijuana for recreational use is still illegal according to state law.

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Maine DHHS: Marijuana can't be used for Tourette's

Maine public health officials have denied an Ellsworth man's request to use marijuana legally to treat his Tourette's syndrome.

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services this week denied a request by Dr. Dustin Sulak to add Tourette's syndrome to the list of qualifying medical conditions that marijuana use is allowed to treat.

Sulak said a denial letter signed by agency Commissioner Mary Mayhew arrived on Christmas Eve without any explanation for the decision.

Sulak and his patient, Peter Hasty, had testified in November that marijuana helped Hasty's muscular tics caused by Tourette's.

Hasty tells the Portland Press Herald that marijuana allows him to function in society.

Studies that looked at the effectiveness of marijuana use to treat Tourette's are inconclusive.

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Canadian teen with Tourette's Syndrome permitted to use medical cannabis on campus

The teenage years are an awkward time for everybody. High school can be especially tough, just trying to fit in, particularly if you have any sort of disability. 15-year-old Noah Kirkman, a 10th-grade student at Western Canada High School knows about these pressures all too well, growing up with attention-deficit disorder and Tourette syndrome.

While he is far from the first high school student to have to deal with such issues, he appears to be one of the first students to have been granted permission by his school to use medical marijuana, while on campus, to treat his ailments. That's right, three times a day the young man walks right past the Principal's office, and into the Vice Principal's office for a quick rip, or two or three, off of his handheld herbal vaporizer. 

Before school, at lunch, and after school, Kirkman is able to gratefully pass up ineffective prescription pills in favor of inoffensive vaporized cannabis, which he says, "doesn't have any withdrawal effects and I can't (overdose) on it."

"It helps me keep calm, it helps me keep focused," he added in his interview with the Metro in Calgary.

Kirkman has been a licensed medical marijuana patient since September, and he and his mother immediately approached the local Calgary school board to try to determine how he could legally and discreetly get his head right a few times a day while on campus. Apparently, "hotboxing the Veep's office" was the best plan.

Kirkman was cool with puffing on his vaporizer out in front of the school, but cold Canadian weather and fear of controversy led school officials to invite him inside the administrator's office. He doesn't see what all the fuss is about, saying, "Usually, I'm not that discreet about it. My friends are very accepting of it, I've dealt with no discrimination or anything like that."

That is certainly no shocker, that his friends think that him seshing on kush three times a day while they stand in line for juice cups and taco snacks is cool. Marijuana use among high school aged American kids continues to rise, and the trend only goes...ahem...higher when you look at Canadian teens. Still, though, Kirkman's is the only case we could find where a teenager has been permitted to use medical marijuana on campus, in any country.

Back in the U.S., even for adult college students, aged 18 and up, on campus marijuana use - for any purpose - is strictly prohibited, more often than not. Any school that receives any federal funding is forced to respect the fact that marijuana is still a Schedule I controlled substance on the federal level, or risk losing much needed federal funding.

Signed into law in 1990, the Clery Act requires all colleges and universities that get any form of federal aid keep, and disclose to the feds, detailed records of all crimes committed on or near their campuses - including the buying and selling of crappy dorm-room dimebags.

In most cases, the best you can hope for is that your school allows you to at least carry your meds on you at all times. Unfortunately, the more common route is to completely ban any and all marijuana possession anywhere on school grounds - even for students required to spend their first year living on campus.

This ridiculous dangling of federal funds in front of cash-strapped universities like a carrot on a stick is evenhappening on college campuses across Colorado, where in the 2012 election, more people voted to legalize limited amounts of weed for adults 21 and up than voted for Barack Obama, who trounced his opponent in the state.

The bravery displayed not just by Kirkman, but by the school board who is allowing him to make such history, might end up being the template eventually used to end the widespread cannabis prohibition on campuses at all levels of education, across the globe.

With luck, stories like Kirkman's will continue to make headlines, simultaneously downplaying the fabricated threats of marijuana use, and further instilling its legitimacy as a true medicine in the mind of the general public.

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Alabama Cops Pot Busts, Stealing Seized Assets

Like many local police agencies, the West Alabama Narcotics Task Force (WANTF) receives federal grant money to make drug arrests. This year, WANTF has worked hard to combat the drug menace by conducting a record-setting raid of college kids who smoke pot. Then the commander of WANTF was found guilty of stealing $125,000 in seized drug funds for himself.

In February, WANTF completed a two-month investigation at the University of Alabama. One witness described teams of “officers wearing bulletproof vests with hand guns strapped to their thigh,” arresting 74 people, including 61 students, mostly for charges of sale and possession of small amounts of marijuana. The University newspaper, The Crimson White, reported the bust as a record number of arrests in one operation, according to Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steve Anderson. Those students all face “sanctions up to and including expulsion,” explained UA President Dr. Judy Bonner in a statement on the arrests.

As we’ve explained numerous times, the arrest for marijuana is usually the least troublesome aspect of a bust -- it’s being “in the system” as a “drug criminal” that creates the most problems for cannabis consumers. About half the people netted in that record bust in February are still in limbo, yet to see their cases resolved. Almost all of those arrested had their names printed in the newspaper story of the record bust. We don’t know how many were expelled, suspended or lost a scholarship. All who are convicted will lose any federal student aid. Many of them will have to check the “convicted of a crime” box when they seek employment. Others will face discrimination when the Google search of their name brings up the article and their mug shot photo.

Those mug shots, by the way, tell us an important fact about these marijuana arrests in black and white -- literally. Our recent survey of simple marijuana possession arrests in 2013 on a popular mug shot website shows almost twice as many black faces as non-black faces arrested in Tuscaloosa County. However, there are more than twice as many white people as black people living in the county and both groups use marijuana at roughly the same rates.

The marijuana arrests feed the grant machine that keeps paramilitary groups like WANTF funded. In 2004, Tuscaloosa News reported that WANTF began in 1988 with a $100,000 grant, which had to be matched by $100,000 in taxpayer funds from the city council. Then-Police Chief Ken Swindle (yes, really) bragged “It hasn’t cost the city… a dime since,” as WANTF was receiving a $310,600 grant.

Swindle explained the 2004 grant required the city to pitch in one-fourth that amount in matching funds. That $78,000 came from the cash and assets seized from earlier marijuana arrests. In 2011, another $210,000 grant funded WANTF with another $70,000 in asset forfeitures to match. Simply put, these grant matching funds incentivize drug task forces to make arrests to seize money to make money, not necessarily stop drugs.  The more arrests they make, the more money they take, the bigger grants they get, and the more arrests they have to keep making for the money to keep flowing. In 2011, that was more than 1,500 people arrested by WANTF in just one Alabama county. In 2013, that meant sending armed teams of cops into college dorms to roust pot smokers.

When a one dollar seizure gets WANTF another four dollars in grants, eventually someone can’t resist the temptation of all that free money. The FBI began an investigation of WANTF’s books back in December 2012, coincidentally around the same time WANTF was sending in informants to snitch on college kids smoking pot at the University of Alabama. In May, the former commander of WANTF, Jeff Snyder, was found guilty of embezzling at least $125,000 of the funds WANTF seized between June 2010 and June 2012. According to a plea agreement that would get him just 18 months in prison, Snyder was simply “pocketing some or all of the funds seized during various arrests, and then failing to correctly account for those funds.”

The indictment doesn’t include the funds seized from those college kids in the record bust in February 2013, but even if Commander Hand-In-The-Cookie-Jar didn’t grab some for himself, who knows how many of the arresting cops did? According to court records, $9,498 was seized from 12 people, ten of them UA students who lost a total of $8,636. None of the rest of the 74 arrested seems to have a record of anything seized but pot and paraphernalia and the Tuscaloosa Police Department won’t comment.

The grant funding machine continues, with another report this week of “an overactive week for drug arrests” in Tuscaloosa. At least 20 people were jailed, with the most significant charges relating to marijuana trafficking by two of the men. The other 18 were charged with petty crimes like possession and drug paraphernalia. WANTF’s leadership refused to comment on the sudden surge in marijuana arrests.

This is a story of just one drug task force in one county in America. There are 258 more of them in this country just waiting to spend over $200 million to take down the cannabis consumer who boosts their arrest figures for the next grant application.

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Man 'picked up cannabis consignment to pay £700 drug debt

David McCaughan's lawyer said he had admitted his involvement

A man allegedly agreed to collect £400,000 worth of herbal cannabis smuggled into Northern Ireland to pay off a £700 drug debt, the High Court has been told.

David McCaughan, of Ghent Place, Belfast, picked up the consignment from a lorry driver in Belfast after it was shipped from Scotland, a judge heard.

Mr McCaughan's lawyer said he had admitted his involvement.

But he added that he was only a "runner" for other more senior figures.

Mr McCaughan, 57, was one of three men arrested in a police operation in April.

He faces charges of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs and possessing herbal cannabis with intent to supply.

Five boxes of cannabis were seized after being moved from the lorry into a waiting Volkswagen Passat car at Boucher Retail Park.

According to the prosecution, the car belonged to Mr McCaughan.

Twenty kilos (44lb) of the drugs, with an estimated street value of £400,000, was recovered in total.

Arthritic condition

Telephone evidence allegedly links the three suspects to the case.

As Mr McCaughan applied for bail, defence counsel said his client had made full admissions and provided police with details.

"He suffers from an arthritic condition and started to smoke cannabis years ago and got into debt," the defence lawyer said.

"He owed £700 to one of the gentlemen involved in this enterprise and he was asked to go and do this message to pay for that debt. He did that."

The barrister added that it was accepted by Mr McCaughan that he was facing a jail sentence.

But he contended there was no risk of any reoffending.

"The police attitude is that in the hierarchy he is simply a runner, performing a message on the day," the defence lawyer said.

"There is no suggestion he himself is involved in the drugs trade."

However, Mr Justice Burgess adjourned the bail application for another judge to decide whether there had been enough of a change of circumstances.

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Two men released after Cork cannabis seizure

Gardai recovered 280 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity during a raid on two houses near Kanturk, Co Cork.

Two men have been released without charge after being questioned over the discovery of cannabis worth an estimated €250,000 at two houses in north Cork.

Members of the Kanturk District Drugs Squad found the drugs when they raided two houses in the Lismire area between Kanturk and Newmarket at about8.30am yesterday morning.

Officers recovered 280 cannabis plants at various stages of maturity and about 2kg of harvested cannabis at the operation, which was located in sheds near the two houses.

Gardai described the operation as highly sophisticated with specialist lighting, heating, extractor fans and hydroponic feeding systems installed to cultivate the cannabis.

Detectives arrested a man in his mid-50s and another man in his late 70s at the two houses and brought them to Kanturk Garda station for questioning.

The men were arrested under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act which allows gardai detain suspects for up to 24 hours but they were both released without charge late last night.

A Garda spokesman said samples from the plants and the harvested cannabis would be sent to the State Laboratory for analysis and a file on the matter would be prepared for the DPP.

As pot laws shift, Oaksterdam U continues to educate

As marijuana continues to be legalized in increasing capacities across America, Oaksterdam University in Oakland, Calif. has a question: Do you take us seriously yet?

Founded in 2007 by medical marijuana activist Richard Lee, Oaksterdam University is an unaccredited trade school that describes itself as America's "first and premier cannabis college."

Chancellor Dale Skye Jones says the school, where more than 15,000 have attended, aims to offer "quality training for regulating and protecting the cannabis industry" in order to make legal business transactions safer and more accessible to the public.

"Some people may disagree with cannabis, but the bottom line is that we're changing, and the American people are speaking," says Aseem Sappal, the college's director of operations, in regards to the growing number of states legalizing medical marijuana."If you're going to give them the keys to the car, you're going to have to give them driver's ed."

Sappal says people think the college is just stoners hanging out in a dark, smoky room, but it's the same as any other university — including course work, assignments and deadlines.

"I try really hard to make our university just like everyone else's ... Harvard, Cambridge," Sappal says. "People laugh when I say that, but we try to have the same professionalism as any school. All the professors have graduate degrees."

Offering semester-long programs as well as weekend seminars, Oaksterdam's curriculum includes a variety of traditional academic classes, such as horticulture, the science of marijuana, business legality and history of the "marijuana movement."

Students in a class at Oaksterdam University.(Photo: Nickolas Perry)

The student body is diverse, ranging in age from 18 to retirement. Many of the students are entrepreneurs, while others are battling chronic painful diseases such as Crohn's disease and seek information on how to obtain medical marijuana, Sappal says.

During the recession after the housing market's collapse, there was also a large influx of real-estate agents who decided to use their sales ability to enter a new market, Jones says.

Robert Grove, a 44-year-old graduate of the 13-week "classic semester" program, says the university is filled with "normal people."

"It's not some mystical, medieval lair," he says. "Everyone's interested, intent, quiet, studious and mindful of the education that they're receiving. They're dedicated to what they're doing."

Originally from Oklahoma, Grove though Oaksterdam was a "novelty thing" until 2009 when he moved out to the Bay area.

Grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder after working as a paramedic for 10 years, Grove was unsure of his next step in life. But when he realized the medical marijuana industry was beginning to "emerge," he says he saw an opportunity.

“The world is not the 80s anymore; you're not sitting on a dumpster smoking a joint”

— Robert Grove

"Here I am, 44 years old, too late to start a whole new life. There's no going back and redoing undergrad or grad school … I have to live," Grove says. "We've seen hybrid cars, electric cars and now the face of cannabis is changing, too."

Grove's completed the college's 13-week program (currently priced at $1,195), and now aspires to be a grower or perhaps even work on legislation.

His dreams hinge on marijuana's legality and acceptability.

"The world is not the 80s anymore; you're not sitting on a dumpster smoking a joint," he says. "There is now a strong need for regulation, for quality assurance and the quality of strains. We need to be able to do that without impunity."

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Revenue arrests man who swallowed 80 pellets of cannabis resin

A MAN SWALLOWED 80 pellets of cannabis resin worth in the region of €6,000 but was foiled at Cork Airport yesterday when Revenue officials arrested him.

The Romanian man, 36, was selected for examination following his arrival on a flight from Spain on Friday night as part of routine profiling by Customs officers.

Officials seized between three and four kilos of cannabis resin which had been ingested in the form of sealed pellets in an attempt to avoid detection.

The final pellet was retrieved in special facilities used by Revenue’s Customs Service at Cork Airport yesterday afternoon.

The man’s medical condition had been assessed at Cork University Hospital yesterday morning.

Revenue said he was arrested by Customs Officers and removed to a Cork Garda Station, where charges were brought against him.

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Medical Cannabis Provides Dramatic Relief for Sufferers of Chronic Ailments, Israeli Study Finds

Though controversial, medical cannabis has been gaining ground as a valid therapy, offering relief to suffers of diseases such as cancer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ALS and more. The substance is known to soothe severe pain, increase the appetite, and ease insomnia where other common medications fail.

In 2009, Zach Klein, a graduate of Tel Aviv University's Department of Film and Television Studies, directed the documentary Prescribed Grass. Through the process, he developed an interest in the scientific research behind medical marijuana, and now, as a specialist in policy-making surrounding medical cannabis and an MA student at TAU's Porter School of Environmental Studies, he is conducting his own research into the benefits of medical cannabis.

Using marijuana from a farm called Tikkun Olam -- a reference to the Jewish concept of healing the world -- Klein and his fellow researchers tested the impact of the treatment on 19 residents of the Hadarim nursing home in Israel. The results, Klein says, have been outstanding. Not only did participants experience dramatic physical results, including healthy weight gain and the reduction of pain and tremors, but Hadarim staff saw an immediate improvement in the participants' moods and communication skills. The use of chronic medications was also significantly reduced, he reports.

Klein's research team includes Dr. Dror Avisar of TAU's Hydrochemistry Laboratory at the Department of Geography and Human Environment; Prof. Naama Friedmann and Rakefet Keider of TAU's Jaime and Joan Constantiner School of Education; Dr. Yehuda Baruch of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and director of the Abarbanel Mental Health Center; and Dr. Moshe Geitzen and Inbal Sikorin of Hadarim.

Cutting down on chronic medications

Israel is a world leader in medical cannabis research, Klein says. The active ingredient in marijuana, THC, was first discovered there by Profs. Raphael Mechoulam and Yechiel Gaoni. Prof. Mechoulam is also credited for having defined the endocannabinoid system, which mimics the effects of cannabis and plays a role in appetite, pain sensation, mood and memory.

In the Hadarim nursing home, 19 patients between the ages of 69 and 101 were treated with medical cannabis in the form of powder, oil, vapor, or smoke three times daily over the course of a year for conditions such as pain, lack of appetite, and muscle spasms and tremors. Researchers and nursing home staff monitored participants for signs of improvement, as well as improvement in overall life quality, such as mood and ease in completing daily living activities.

During the study, 17 patients achieved a healthy weight, gaining or losing pounds as needed. Muscle spasms, stiffness, tremors and pain reduced significantly. Almost all patients reported an increase in sleeping hours and a decrease in nightmares and PTSD-related flashbacks.

There was a notable decline in the amount of prescribed medications taken by patients, such as antipsychotics, Parkinson's treatment, mood stabilizers, and pain relievers, Klein found, noting that these drugs have severe side effects. By the end of the study, 72 percent of participants were able to reduce their drug intake by an average of 1.7 medications a day.

Connecting cannabis and swallowing

This year, Klein is beginning a new study at Israel's Reuth Medical Center with Drs. Jean-Jacques Vatine and Aviah Gvion, in which he hopes to establish a connection between medical cannabis and improved swallowing. One of the biggest concerns with chronically ill patients is food intake, says Klein. Dysphagia, or difficulty in swallowing, can lead to a decline in nutrition and even death. He believes that cannabis, which has been found to stimulate regions of the brain associated with swallowing reflexes, will have a positive impact.

Overall, Klein believes that the healing powers of cannabis are close to miraculous, and has long supported an overhaul in governmental policy surrounding the drug. Since his film was released in 2009, the number of permits for medical cannabis in Israel has increased from 400 to 11,000. His research is about improving the quality of life, he concludes, especially for those who have no other hope.

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Court Decision Okays Production of Marijuana Edibles and Extracts

A BC Supreme Court Justice on Friday followed his decision in the Owen Smith trial, handed down April 13, by denying an application by the crown to maintain the status quo and thereby allowing designated medical marijuana growers in BC to produce and sell cannabis extracts to their patients.

Last year, Justice Johnson ruled that the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations were unconstitutional because they did not allow patients to make derivatives of the product without breaking the law. However, he gave the government one year to create regulations to control the sale of these products by licenced suppliers. With that year over, Justice Johnson determined the government was not stalling to adjust the regulations to accommodate his decision but only wanted to delay until the appeal, and so he finally allowed DGs to make derivatives for their patients.

The case will be heard before the BC Court of Appeal on Oct 17. Lawyer Kirk Tousaw is keen to see the case go all of the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, partly so the decision is fully binding across the country. In the trial, expert witness Dr. David Pate did an excellent job explaining to the judge how the worst possible side effect from a cannabis overdose is sleep.

Owen was arrested in a downtown Victoria apartment making food and skin products for members of the Cannabis Buyers Clubs of Canada. He was charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking THC, the most active chemical in the cannabis plant. That charge was dropped in January when the crown determined that a jury trial was not likely to convict him.

The MMAR, and the proposed Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, only authorizes patients to use dried marijuana. Before the decision last year, patients and their caregivers that made butter, hash, tincture, tea, honey oil or any other product that extracted the cannabinoids from the plant material, could be charged with a criminal offense, even if they bought the herb from the government.

Synthetic THC is available on the market, sold in Canada at approximately $8 per pill. In its written submission, the crown claimed another reason for Justice Johnson to maintain the status quo was to protect the financial investments made by companies that have put cannabinoid drugs on the market. Many patients claim using whole-plant cannabis products helps more than the synthetic derivatives. The monopoly on cannabis-based medicines has been broken.

After the court decision last year, police informed the Canada Revenue Agency that CBC of C founder, Ted Smith, no relation to Owen, was not collecting HST or employee deductions. The CRA eventually handed him a bill for about ¼ million dollars, forcing him to declare bankruptcy and sell the operation to a newly formed non-profit society, the Victoria Cannabis Buyers Club. Ted is now solely employed by the International Hempology 101 Society and is the author ofHEMPOLOGY 101: The History and Uses of Cannabis Sativa.

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Cop David Bratzer pushes for marijuana leniency

While off duty, constable collects signatures for Dana Larsen’s marijuana initiative.

David Bratzer believes that prohibition of drugs is wrong.

DAVID BRATZER  is unlike other canvassers in the ongoing initiative campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C.

Depending on the time and day, he could be asking someone on the street to support the petition or possibly slapping the cuffs on another for pot possession.

Bratzer is a Vancouver Island Capital Regional District police officer who believes that drug prohibition is wrong.

“When I’m on duty, I’ve always been clear that I will enforce the law as it stands,” Bratzer told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I’ve sworn an oath to uphold the law.”

But after the uniform comes off, the constable aims to sign up about 1,000 people during the 90-day signature drive that started Monday (September 9).

Because of his job, there may be occasions when the 36-year-old cop has to arrest people for drug offences. “But when I’m off duty, I advocate to change these failed policies around cannabis prohibition,” said Bratzer, who is also the president of the Canadian chapter of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

LEAP is an international organization of active and retired professionals in the criminal-justice system that calls for an end to the so-called war on drugs. It supports the initiative spearheaded by pot activist and Sen­sible B.C. spokesperson Dana Larsen.

As far as Bratzer knows, he’s the only cop who is a registered canvasser in the campaign to amend provincial law so people will no longer be busted for simple marijuana possession. It’s a role that he said he’s “comfortable” in because even the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is now seeking changes in the enforcement of cannabis laws.

At its annual meeting last August, the association, led by president and Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu, proposed ticketing and fining people with small amounts of marijuana as an alternative to either looking the other way or laying criminal charges that will only burden the courts.

It’s an idea that former police officer Kash Heed brought up in November 2001. When he appeared then before a Senate committee on illegal drugs as an inspector with the Vancouver police service’s vice and drugs section he talked about “limited prohibition with civil penalties”.

In an interview on September 9, Heed expressed some irritation that it has taken police chiefs such a long time to catch up. “This is going back 12 years ago,” Heed told the Straight by phone. He recalled that the failure of prohibition was recognized decades earlier, in the 1970s, by a federal commission of inquiry into drugs that was chaired by law dean Gerald Le Dain.

“What irks me a little bit is you have these chiefs coming out and saying they’ve got this innovative way to deal with the marijuana situation,” Heed said. “Well, come on. All they had to do was go back…and look up what Le Dain said. Le Dain came out and said our policies are failing.”

Following a long career in policing, Heed entered politics in 2009 and served as a controversial one-term Vancouver MLA.

Heed, as someone who preceded Bratzer in his cause, knows the kind of pressure brought to bear on a police officer who speaks on marijuana policy. “You’ve got to have a thick skin because you’re actually going against the culture,” Heed, a sessional SFU criminology instructor, said. “You’re going against, most likely, the chief of the department. You’re going against many people within the department. The people that do support you are silent on the matter because they fear that their careers will be limited.”

Bratzer, a family man with a young child, is in his eighth year wearing a badge. His two brothers are also police officers.

“Being a police officer who advocates for legalizing and regulating drugs, it can bring some challenges at times with my career, and so it’s a balancing act,” he said.

Bratzer works four shifts and gets three days off a week. He figures that if he can gather an average of more than 10 signatures a day, his goal of signing up 1,000 people by December 5 is doable.

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Ship nabbed carrying 20 tonnes of cannabis

A French navy boat tows the Tanzanian merchant ship Luna-S in the direction of the port of Toulon on September 12, 2013 (AFP, Franck Pennant)

The French navy says it has made a record cannabis seizure in the Mediterranean sea after intercepting a ship carrying 20 tonnes of cannabis worth up to 50 million euros.

"To the best of our knowledge it is the biggest seizure by the French state in the Mediterranean," vice-admiral Yves Joly told a news conference in Toulon on Thursday.

The market value of the cannabis was "between 40 and 50 million euros ($53 and 66 million)," said regional customs head Hugues-Lionel Galy.

The Luna-S, a Tanzania-flagged vessel, was intercepted by the French navy on Sunday in international waters between Sardinia in Italy and Algeria.

The eight-member crew, who claimed to be Syrians, set the cannabis on fire and a part of the clandestine cargo was destroyed.

The ship was towed by a French vessel and arrived in the southern port city of Toulon on Thursday.

The men will be tried in France and could face up to 10 years in prison, if convicted.

Tanzania had authorised French authorities to stop and inspect the ship and try the suspects.

The Luna-S left Morocco and appeared headed for Egypt.

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U.S. Attorneys Say Marijuana Memo Won't Affect Their Anti-Pot Work

In my Forbes column last week, I cited reasons to doubt the Justice Department's newfound respect for state marijuana laws—in particular, its fork-tongued record on medical marijuana. Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority notesseveral recent comments from U.S. attorneys that reinforce the case for skepticism. The gist of their reaction to Deputy Attorney General James Cole'sAugust 29 memo, which was widely interpreted as a green light for legalization in Colorado and Washington, is that they plan to proceed pretty much as before. Here is what a spokeswoman for Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, had to say (emphasis added here and later):

The office is evaluating the new guidelines and for the most part it appears that the cases that have been brought in this district are already in compliance with the guidelines. Therefore, we do not expect a significant change.

That is pretty telling, since Haag's crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries has been one of the most aggressive in the country, featuring the closure of city-supported outlets in San Francisco and a forfeiture actionaimed at shutting down Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the state's largest dispensary. In a February 2011 letter to Oakland's city attorney, Haag declared, "We will enforce the [Controlled Substances Act] vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law."

Haag has argued that Harborside's size makes it an appropriate target, saying it "is not complying with California's law because it is a large-scale operation that processes millions of dollars worth of business." More generally, she says, "the larger the operation, the greater the likelihood that there will be abuse of the state's medical marijuana laws and marijuana in the hands of individuals who do not have a demonstrated medical need." Yet California law allows collective cultivation by patients and caregivers, and it does not impose a limit on how many people can participate in such organizations. Furthermore, Cole's memo instructs U.S. attorneys that "in exercising prosecutorial discretion, prosecutors should not consider the size or commercial nature of a marijuana operation alone as a proxy for assessing whether marijuana trafficking implicates the Department's enforcement priorities." The statement from Haag's office implies that she will continue doing just that.

Michael Cotter, the U.S. attorney for Montana, likewise says the Cole memo would not have been an obstacle to his prosecutorial crusade against dispensaries, which included a case that threatened one co-owner with life in prison. "I don't think it would have changed how we conducted business," Cotter told the Associated Press. "I think we have to see how it evolves over time....It's not going to affect the way we do business here in Montana."

Jenny Durkan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Montana, alsosees no reason to change her approach to enforcing the federal ban on marijuana:

We have consistently focused on federal enforcement priorities in Western Washington, and have worked with our state and local partners to ensure the safety of our communities. That will not change. We will continue to enforce the Controlled Substances Act. 

While Durkan has been less aggressive in targeting dispensaries than Michael Ormsby, her counterpart in the Eastern District of Washington, in 2011 she co-signed a letter with him warning then-Gov. Christine Gregoire that "we maintain the authority to enforce [the Controlled Substances Act] vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law." The letter threatened to prosecute not only growers and sellers but also "others who knowingly facilitate" their actions, which Gregoire interpreted as a threat to state employees who license and regulate dispensaries. Gregoire cited that legal danger when she vetoed a bill that would have clarified the rules for supplying marijuana to patients.

Dispensaries in California, Montana, and Washington operate in a legal gray area, since they are not licensed and regulated by the state. Hence Haag, Cotter, and Durkan can always argue that the dispensaries they target are not really authorized by state law, although they also have made it clear that compliance with state law is not a shield against federal prosecution. Colorado, by contrast, has licensed and regulated (in theory, at least) dispensaries since 2010. But that did not stop John Walsh, the U.S. attorney there, from targeting more than 50 of them for closure, based on the claim that they were too close to schools. Then again, Walsh has let hundreds of dispensaries throughout the state continue to operate, even though they are equally vulnerable to seizure and prosecution under federal law and even though shutting down the others required nothing more than threatening letters. So when his office says "there's not going to be a substantial change" in the wake of the Cole memo, that could be interpreted as good news.

As Angell notes, activists such as Rob Kampia of the Marijuana Policy Project "have pointed out that it seems to be the case that federal prosecutors have largely not interfered in states that have robust regulatory systems to control the marijuana industry and that the harassment mostly seems to occur in states that do not have clear regulations in place, such as California, Montana and Washington." Walsh's relatively light-handed approach may be the best example of regulation's value as a talisman against federal meddling, since a nascent cannabis industry has been openly operating in Colorado for years.

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