Latest Medical Marijuana News

"And you're going to provide a fair and balanced overview," I said. Fagan said yes, that was his goal -and wasn't it a shame that Fox news had appropriated that slogan. Fagan said he had already talked to someone at NIDA and was due to talk to them again at length the next day. He'd heard I could tell him about the "pro-pot studies."

So I told him about Donald Tashkin's finding that smoking marijuana does not cause lung cancer. I called it "the greatest story never told" and promised to send O'Shaughnessy's piece about Tashkin, a distinguished UCLA pulmonologist who is hardly "pro-pot." (The piece first appeared in CounterPunch, BTW.) And I told him about Steven Sidney's review of 65,000 Kaiser patients' records showing that marijuana use does not cause lung cancer or increase mortality -another suppressed blockbuster. I told him about the data that Tom O'Connell and other California doctors had compiled about cannabis-using patients, and about the International Cannabinoid Research Society...

Given that the medical marijuana movement was a local story of national importance, I opined, the Chronicle's coverage over the years had been meager and superficial. Fagan said they were on it now -he was one of four reporters assigned to cover Prop 19.

I emailed him my report on Tashkin's findings along with some advice about how to pursue the story:

"When you're talking to the NIDA rep tomorrow, why not ask about the decision not to feature Tashkin's findings in NIDA Notes back in 2005? Who made that decision? Which editor(s)? Did they run it by director Nora Volkow? Tashkin's findings are big news indeed on the science side. But who suppressed those findings is an equally big story (on the political side)."

Fagan's piece ran on the front page Sunday July 12 under the headline, "Healthy or Harmful? Pot debate rages on." More than twice as many column inches were devoted to the NIDA line than to studies showing beneficial effect. Neither Donald Tashkin nor Steven Sidney was mentioned. I was quoted saying that (Tashkin's) photomicrographs of bronchial tissue damaged by cannabis smoke could scare the daylights out of you -but not quoted saying that (to Tashkin's surprise) the damaged cells don't metastasize, they die off; or that (Tashkin had concluded) the protective effects of cannabis more than make up for any collateral cellular damage.

The San Francisco Chronicle should not have to assign a reporter in July, 2010, to do a quick study on the state of the research on marijuana as medicine. The Chronicle should have been the paper of record all these years. And journalists should be fair, of course. But there's nothing admirable about giving equal weight to the truth and to the lies in the name of "balance."

New O'Shaughnessy's

The medical literature is increasingly replete with peer-reviewed studies establishing the benefits of cannabis-based products in treating various diseases. "Between 1975 and the present, at least 110 controlled clinical studies have been published, assessing well over 6,100 patients suffering from a wide range of illnesses," according to an article by Arno Hazekamp and Franjo Grotenhermen," in the new O'Shaughnessy's. "The mechanisms of action are becoming increasingly clear since the discovery of the endocannabinoid system and its physiological functions."

The issue also includes a piece by Martin Lee on the discovery of the endocannabinoid system; "A Novel Approach to the Systematic Treatment of Autism" by Lester Grinspoon, MD; "The Changing Nature of My Practice" by Christine Paoletti, MD; "On Issuing Cannabis Recommendations" by Stacey Kerr, MD; "The Inadvertent Inventor of 'Spice'" (an interview with John W. Huffman); "Cannabidiol as a Treatment for Acne?" (interview with Tamas Biro); "A Gardener Walks into a Bookstore" by Jorge Cervantes; "A Call from Nebraska" by David West; "Prospects for Legalization in California" by Dale Gieringer; "Medicating with Edibles and Potables" by Joanna LaForce; "More a Medicine Than a Dope" by Louis Armstrong, "On Pot Pulp" by Michael Aldrich; and a piece by Michael Krawitz on efforts to get the VA to commit to a policy that allows cannabis use by veterans. To get the 64-page print edition -all content, no jive- send $6 to p.o box 490, Alameda, CA 94501.

VA Does the Right Thing

O'Shaughnessy's went to press just late enough to cite the July 6 letter to Krawitz from Robert. A. Petzel, MD, undersecretary for health in the Veterans Health Administration, stating: "If a Veteran obtains and uses medical marijuana in a manner consistent with state law, testing positive for marijuana would not preclude the Veteran from receiving opioids for pain management in a VA facility," Petzel stated.

Krawitz and Martin Chilcutt of Veterans for Medical Marijuana Access deserve full credit for this meaningful reform. The New York Times broke the story July 24. "Those pain contracts in place in the Veterans Health Administration will need to be rewritten," says Krawitz. "Those overzealous VA doctors will have to change their approach. A vet in Montana just told me he's going to show the letter from Petzel to his doctor and say, 'How can you deny me when this is the VA policy?'"

Krawitz is a disabled Air Force vet, a pro-cannabis organizer, and a civil libertarian. His story in O'Shaughnessy's recounts his effort to get the VA to respect state law on cannabis use, which began in self-defense:

"As I was checking out of the clinic after a routine appointment at the Salem, Virginia VA hospital in 2004, I was handed a 'pain contract' by my doctor's assistant and told to sign. I insisted on taking the documents with me so I could show them to my lawyer, as I would with any other contract. My lawyer advised that the document didn't qualify as a contract because I wouldn't get anything and only stood to lose by signing.

The so-called contract made a host of demands, such as requiring that I submit to illegal drug tests and never run out of medicine on a weekend. Many common problems that patients experience, such as the dose becoming insufficient to control the pain, are defined as violations that could result in "being reported to other authorities" and being denied necessary pain treatment. I flatly refused to sign. The doctor, much to my surprise, discontinued my pain medicine and said my prescription would be renewed when I signed the forms.''

Fred Gardner can be reached at fred@plebesite.com

Support this morning among the City Council, which met to finalize the proposal and several other measures, was not unanimous. Councilmembers Nancy Nadel and Jane Brunner abstained despite weeks of drawn-out discussion about the plan.

But support among the eight-member council was unanimous for laying the groundwork for labor, environmental and product safety standards. It's better to iron out the details now than have to send something back and "start from square one," Councilmember Pat Kernighan said during the last meeting before the council's summer recess. Some of the standards, including fire safety, were included in the original proposals for large-scale medical marijuana growing.

Under the new plans, bidders would also have to meet guidelines for reducing electrical use, greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use in order to obtain one of four permits that will be available.

The permits are not limited to Oakland bidders, which could open the floodgates for outside groups and investors from across the nation. Councilmember Desley Brooks said she wants to keep the door open to local business owners and minorities. Few minorities are dispensary owners, she said.

Brooks also called for employee certification and continued education for staff of medical marijuana growers.

The discussion was limited to what the council would like to see included in the plans until members return in September. Meanwhile their staffs will continue to hone the details based on today's discussion.

"We want to make sure the process is absolute clear," Councilmember Jean Quan said.

Becky DeKeuster, with Northeast Patients Group, said she has a vision for what she would like her medical dispensaries to be.

DeKeuster said, "In each district, we've identified at least two or three properties that we think could work. Each city is in a different spot in its zoning process right now."

DeKeuster's non-profit will operate four of the eight medical marijuana dispensaries allowed by the state, which were approved by voters in November of last year.

In the town of Hermon, outside of Bangor, the town as enacted a temporary medical marijuana moratorium. That is where Dekeuster said she hopes to turn a warehouse into a marijuana cultivation facility. She said it would be big enough to provide for all of Northeast Patients Group's dispensaries.

Tim Smale has been chosen to run a dispensary in Franklin County. Smale said he is still trying to find an exact location, possibly in East Wilton -- but Smale said setting up a dispensary isn't cheap.

"(It) depends a lot on the facility, but my estimates are that it would cost anywhere between $350,000 and $500,0000 initial investment," he said.

To outfit these facilities with security systems similar to banks and pharmacies, it would cost between $25,000 and $35,000.

Smale said, "I think the thing you really have to look at with security is how can I make my facility very secure, and also feel secure to the people that are coming in there, to feel like they're just buying Aspirin at a pharmacy." Smale said he also wants to be a good neighbor and contribute to the local economy.

Smale said, "We want to pay people a livable wage. We want to give them benefits. We want to give them all the things that they need to live on, but primarily it's going to take a lot of investment to get one of these facilities up and running."

Unlike a public for-profit business where profits are dispersed to stock holders, these non-profit dispensaries are required by law to pump all profits back into the business.

Smale said he has a plan in place to do that once his dispensary begins to turn a profit.

Smale said, "I planned in my business plan to have about $700,000 within about three or four years that we are giving away in patient-donations, in medicine to patients that can't afford it. A third of our patients in one of our market areas are in the poverty level, so we need to have a large patient-donation base."

Dispensary operators said they hope education will have a worthwhile payoff for the community.

DeKeuster said, "It's important that patients have choices, whether that's ingestible medicines or teaching somebody about vaporizing versus smoking a joint. These are important educational pieces to have in there. I think we'll be having a very different conversation in a year and five years down the line. We are a non-profit, and we are here for Maine patients."

Smale said he is contemplating submitting a new application for a dispensary in York County.

During the first round of the application process, only six of the eight dispensary licenses were granted. York County and Downeast Maine still need dispensary operators.

The state reopened the application process for those areas with a new deadline of August 20.

Those who have already been awarded licenses by the state said they plan to have their dispensaries up and running by late this year or early next year.

Democrats are more likely to throw their support behind the prop than Republicans. 62% of Democrats, 37% of Republicans and 55% of Independents support Prop 19.

African-Americans are the strongest supporters of Prop 19; 68:32, followed by Whites who support it 53:37. The black community’s strong support for Prop 19 may be closely related to the disproportionate number of African Americans in prison on marijuana charges. Despite representing 7% of CA’s population, African Americans represent 50% of prisoners in California on marijuana charges.

There is little discrepancy between generations. 65+ is the only age group that opposes the legalization of marijuana; 39:47. I must say it’s a little ironic that the Baby Boomers, the generation partly known for their epic marijuana use is against the legalization of the drug that colored their youth.

While I am a little skeptical that everyone responded truthfully when asked if they smoked, those who were willing seem to have been truthful about their smoking behavior. 66% of those who said they’ve smoked marijuana said it was always recreational, 11% said it was for medical proposes and 23% said it was for both.

Legalizing marijuana has favor in the public eye and finding an effective way to control and tax the drug may be good news for the California budget in more than one way. With increased income from taxes the budget will get a boost. The state will save millions, from prisons to resources spent on stopping marijuana trafficking. This poll reaffirms that isn't about wanting access to marijuana its a much deeper political issue that Californians understand-- marijuana is tied to immigration, prisons, the economy and much more.

The commissioners, with a 5-0 vote, approved on final reading an ordinance to the Weld County Code pertaining to zoning that prohibits the cultivation, manufacture, distribution or sale of medical marijuana or medical marijuana-infused products. The exception is those primary caregivers or patients who were licensed by the state prior to June 1 of this year.

The commissioners said the while the state legislature approved medical marijuana during the last session, it remains a federal violation.

"Until the state gets in line with the federal government or the federal government gets in line with the state, there's not much we can do,"Commissioner Barbara Kirkmeyer said in voting to pass the ordinance. But all the commissioners also recognized that the state legislature will address the issue next year and the ordinance could be revised at that point. All of them also recognized that there are current illegal growing operations throughout the county which has drawn the attention of county, state and federal law enforcement agencies when they are notified and have caused "serious problems," said Commissioner Dave Long. "My biggest concern is that (marijuana production) is still against federal law," Chairman Doug Rademacher said

The ten percent medical marijuana tax, if approved, would give San Jose the highest medical cannabis tax in the state. Proponents say this would put an undue burden on patients.

Other ballot measure proposals would limit pay hikes that outside arbitrators can give police and firefighters when contract talks stall; would increase the city's sales tax by a quarter of a cent; and would reduce retirement benefits for new city workers.

The ballot measure proposals will be considered by the city council next month. August 3 is the deadline to get measures on the fall ballot.