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VA approves medical cannabis with a minor catch!

7/26/2010

     The Department of Veterans Affairs will officially permit patients treated at VA facilities to use medical cannabis, according to a new department directive set to take effect within the next week. The only catch...It's only allowed in the 14 states where it is legal.
     The directive is meant to clarify the discrepancy between federal and state law regarding the use of medical cannabis.
     Under VA rules, veterans can be denied services if they are discovered to be using illegal drugs, which until now included cannabis.
     According to some experts, the policy led many patients to distrust their physicians or avoid the VA health system.
     The new guidance does not allow VA physicians to begin prescribing medical cannabis and applies only to veterans in states like California, which have legalized the herb’s use.
     Physicians still may alter a patient's treatment regimen to account for cannabis use, or choose not to prescribe additional pain medication based on possible drug interactions
     VA Undersecretary for Health Robert Petzel has sent a letter to Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access, which has worked closely with VA on the issue, outlining the new policy. The guidelines will be distributed to the department's 900 facilities within the next week.

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Hold Wal-Mart to States Laws in Michigan!

7/10/2010

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     Employees should have the right to use medicinal cannabis while not on the job and not get fired for doing so? A Michigan man agrees and has filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart last week to prove it. Joseph Casias, 30, argues that the retail giant wrongfully fired him for using medical cannabis, which is legal in Michigan, to treat the pain of an inoperable brain tumor and cancer. Similar lawsuits in California, Montana, Oregon, and Washington State have been filed with the courts generally siding with employers, holding that they have no obligation to accommodate medical cannabis users since using or possessing pot remains illegal under federal law.
     The Michigan case could however be very different. That's because the state's medical cannabis statute specifically includes language designed to shield employees from adverse employment actions connected to the use of medical cannabis. The laws in the other states where employees have challenged their medical cannabis use as the basis of their termination do not offer similar protections.
     The Michigan employee also makes for a very sympathetic plaintiff. Joseph Casias, 30, manages the Battle Creek, Michigan store and was the 2008 Associate of the Year. He was fired after testing positive for marijuana, even though he was registered to use it under Michigan's medical marijuana statute. According to Casias, he never smoked pot at work nor did he come to work stoned. Instead, Casias used marijuana in his off-hours to manage the sever pain associated with his brain tumor and cancer.
     The use did however collide squarely with Wal-Mart's no-drug in the workplace policy. Casias showed the retailer his state medical cannabis card but the company refused to recognize it when it fired him. Wal-Mart's official position has been to express sympathy toward Casias' condition but feels like his use places the safety of its customers and associates at risk. According to a released statement, whether or not the drug was prescribed by a doctor is irrelevant- it has a zero-use, zero-tolerance policy and intends to abide by it.
     Perhaps the retailer could sense how insensitive and misinformed its approach really is, because the statement also called on local lawmakers to create clearer legal standards for employers on how to manage a sensible workplace drug use policy as more states adopt medicinal cannabis laws while the drug remains illegal at the federal level. I don’t believe we should cut Wal-Mart any slack here, or any other big-box corporations that are firing their employees over the use of a medical substance to treat a valid illness. People aren’t getting fired for the use of hydro codeine, morphine, Prozac, adderall, or other prescription drugs!

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A little more retaliation at a federal level!

7/9/2010

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     A two-year investigation has led to another attack on anti-prohibitionists with the arrests of 14 people on the Big Island of Hawaii in connection with an alleged marijuana growing and distribution network.
     The leader of the group has openly said cannabis is a religion for him and that he's proud to spread what he calls the sacrament. How he did it, however, has run afoul of federal authorities.
     Roger Christie of Hilo speaks openly about his religion, the THC Ministry, and of the wealth that has flowed from it. "The nickname for it is ganja-nomics,” he says on web videos he made promoting his services, “the natural economy that happens when you have freedom and cannabis together."
     He claims a state license to be a wedding minister is his license to provide the herb. For donations of varying amounts The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry based issues a “Religious Use of Marijuana” ID card, ordainment, legal defense kits, and what the founder calls the sacrament “cannabis.”
     "We use cannabis religiously, and you can too," Christie says. “Raise the level of acceptance for having the blessings of cannabis in our life. I know you want it. I wanted it, I was hungry for it. I got it."
     Thursday he got arrested, along with more than a dozen others, picked up in various locations from Hilo to Honokaa. Drug enforcement agents, sheriffs, county police, immigrations, customs, and even postal agents were part of the bust. Sources say 14 people in all were taken into custody.
     “They were only after people that they had federal indictments for,” said Nathan Clark, who lives in the THC Ministry building called The Moses Building. “They left all my things alone. They told me I was free to go." Clark said he is from Iowa and has been out of jail himself since May 11th.
     “The DEA, it’s one of their last hurrahs in their failed drug war, the war against cannabis,” Clark said.
     The suspects were put on a Coast guard c-130 plane bound for Oahu. Authorities declined to comment.
     In the past associates of Christie have been arrested as far away as the East Coast. At the time of a high-profile raid in Florida 2 years ago, Christie told the news his religion is a defense against prosecution.
     "Everyone in the USA is born into the right to cultivate and to use cannabis," he said. “Every state in the United States guarantees religious freedom for each of their citizens, and the federal government does, too.”
     Christie openly guided his followers about a Hawaii County law directing low-priority for low-quantity marijuana busts. "There is no more budget for the county police or prosecutors to go after people who are in the misdemeanor amount of cannabis,” Christie claims, “and that's the 24 plants and 24 ounces.”
     Feeding what Christie told the news was a demand that exceeded supply, he developed a system where ministry members could grow pot at home, make a donation of cannabis to the ministry, and get a monetary donation in return. Though 14 are now in custody, the ministry boasts more than 60,000 members.
     "May your garden grow green and plenty,” Christie says. “We'll see you at harvest time."

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Law Enforcement Retaliates Against Anti-Prohibition Activists!

7/5/2010

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   Time and time again Law Enforcement Agents (LEA) retaliates against pro-cannabis activists.
     Actor Tommy Chong was arrested in 2003 under “Operation Pipe Dreams. Chong was sentenced to nine months in prison, a fine of $20,000, and the forfeiture of about $120,000 in assets. He plead guilty to charges of "conspiring to distribute drug paraphernalia," after a sting operation in which federal agents ordered his bongs over the Internet, to ensure that the items were sent across state lines. The bust was part of a larger anti-bong police effort called “Operation Pipe Dreams”, which involved over 2,000 federal, state and local law enforcement officers. The operation culminated on February 24, 2003, with simultaneous raids against multiple paraphernalia retailers, distributors and manufacturers. Chong was the first of the Operation Pipe Dreams defendants to plead guilty, and also the first to receive jail time. Chong’s lawyers claim he was convicted because of his pot-friendly media persona.
     Country singer Willie Nelson and four others was issued misdemeanor citations for possession of narcotic mushrooms and marijuana after a traffic stop on a Louisiana highway when a trooper smelt the strong odor of cannabis in 2006. There were enough drugs to merit a felony charge of distribution if they had been found in one person’s possession, but all five claimed the drugs as their own and the drugs were not packaged for resale.
     Randy Credico, who heads the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, was charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly trying to prevent police officers from arresting two teens outside of his house in 2008. Randy told the Post, "I'm constantly warning kids not to smoke pot on that street. These cops are making Mickey Mouse pot arrests - what a waste of time and money."
     Abbotsford Police arrested marijuana activist and recent political candidate Tim Felger at his store. Wielding a warrant issued under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, patrol officers and the drug squad busted the Da Kine shop on Essendene Avenue in British Columbia. As Felger was escorted out of the store by a drug squad officer garbed in a black balaclava, Felger was vocal in his assessment of the situation. “Remember the drug war and all the kids that died!” he yelled. “This is just killing the kids left and right, and they’re arresting me for marijuana.”
     Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ordered that his country's most famous marijuana legalization advocate be extradited to the US to serve a five-year federal prison sentence. Emery and two employees, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams, were arrested in Vancouver in 2005 by Canadian police acting at the behest of US authorities, who had indicted the trio in Seattle for selling pot seeds over the Internet to customers in the US. However this arrest should have never happened under sovereignty, and postal laws. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to make sure that these purchases abide by their state and federal laws. It became clear that Emery was the true target when Rainey and Williams were offered plea bargains that allowed them to stay in Canada, and Emery himself pleaded guilty to one count of marijuana distribution in exchange for a five-year sentence. He had faced up to life in prison for his pot seed sales.
     The Huffington Post stated that a group of civilly-disobedient hemp farmers and business leaders were arrested while digging up the lawn to plant industrial hemp seeds at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration. David Bronner, the president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, a more than 60-year-old company that does tens of millions of dollars of business annually, was among those arrested.
     A Washington State medical marijuana activist, Phil Mocek, was arrested at the Albuquerque airport after refusing to show ID to TSA screeners. Mocek is one of many Americans who believe Americans have a right to travel freely between the states without showing their papers to the federal government. Mocek was tabling at the 2009 International Drug Policy Reform Conference for a Seattle-based activist group called the Cannabis Defense Coalition. The event was attended by over one thousand people, including New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and former Governor Gary Johnson. At the Albuquerque airport for his flight back to Seattle, Mocek politely refused to show his ID to a TSA screener, who called in a supervisor. Mocek started recording with his digital camera, which caused the TSA supervisor to become extremely agitated. The police were called in, with six officers arriving on the scene. Mocek was immediately arrested. Another Seattle activist, Jesse Gallagos, was traveling with Mocek, and was driven in a police cruiser to the edge of the Albuquerque airport, dropped off, and told he was banned from flying for 24 hours. Like many Americans, Mocek has flown for years without showing ID to federal officials.

     The most recent of these targeted retaliation attacks is on the infamous rogue cop Barry Cooper who turned himself in on a warrant for allegedly making a False Report to a Peace Officer. Cooper, once one of the Permian Basin Narcotics Task Force's most successful agents, has refashioned himself an anti-prohibition activist. Cooper says that as a result of legal research put in by his team, Yolanda Madden, an Odessa woman jailed in 2005 on possession of methamphetamine, was freed from federal prison in December of 2009. With the help of a benefactor who hoped to embarrass the Odessa Police Department, Cooper and a team of researchers, videographers and lawyers staged a high-media assault on the west Texas cops in late 2008. After setting up a faux cannabis grow-house retrofitted with small pine trees and high-heat light bulbs, then ensuring the delivery of an anonymous tip about the home to a local pastor, a trap was set. Cooper says he suspects police peeked into the home with infrared cameras, after officers received the tip from the pastor, which is illegal without a search warrant. They would have seen the numerous hot bulbs, and what appeared to be plants growing; these could not be verified as cannabis though. A local judge then signed a warrant based solely on the anonymous tip, a practice which has also been barred by the Supreme Court, and officers raided the home; only to discover that they’d been set up in a reverse sting operation. Over a year and a half after his stunt, the Texas Rangers issued a warrant for the arrest of Barry Cooper, along with his wife Candi, accusing them of the Class B misdemeanor. The Coopers contend that delivery of an anonymous letter to a religious leader in the community is not the same as making a false report to police, but authorities in Texas are determined to let that be decided by the courts. The Coopers both have a separate charge of making a False Report to a Peace Officer that's connected to another Kop Buster’s sting in Williamson County.

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Another lesson on medical cannabis!

7/4/2010

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     Cannabis as medicine is nothing new, despite the current groundswell of laws making pot legal for medical uses. Here's a quick fact file on cannabis and its medical history, makeup, and legality.

1.   "Marijuana" is a Mexican term that originally was applied to low-quality tobacco.

2.   The plant was cultivated in China for therapy and recreation over 4,700 years ago.

3.   More than 20 prescription medicines containing cannabis were sold in U.S. pharmacies at the turn of the 20th century. Pot-based medications were commonly available until 1942, when cannabis was stricken from the U.S. Pharmacopeia, the official compendium of drugs considered effective. From 1937 to 1942 the federal government collected a tax of $1 per ounce for such drugs.

4.   More than 20,000 studies on cannabis and its components have been published, according to NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), an advocacy group. Of these, around 100 have looked into therapeutic value on human subjects.

5.   The federal government is in the pot-growing business. Under a federal contract, the University of Mississippi in Oxford cultivates cannabis for use by researchers, who have to be cleared by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

6.   The plant has nearly 500 chemical compounds, more than 60 of which are called cannabinoids.

7.   Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. Patients in these states may still face federal prosecution for using, growing, or possessing pot for medical purposes.

8. Federal law prohibits physicians from prescribing or otherwise actively supplying patients with the drug. But in 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court backed an appellate court ruling that physicians who discuss it with patients, or provide oral or written recommendations, are protected.

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