May 17th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: Medical Marijuana, News
Providence, RI — The Senate approved legislation yesterday that would create “compassion centers” where chronically ill patients enrolled in the state’s medical marijuana program could openly purchase the drug.
Despite the 29-to-6 vote, the bill faces opposition in the House of Representatives and is not expected to become law this year.
“I would really have to have a sock over my head if I didn’t know that,” said the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence. The legislation is named in part for her nephew, Edward O. Hawkins, who died of complications from AIDS and cancer.
“What I think is important is to show movement,” Perry said of yesterday’s vote. “I think getting it out of a chamber is movement. It’s showing that there is a level of understanding and a level of acceptance.”
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May 11th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: Medical Marijuana, News
USA — Each month Irvin Rosenfeld goes to his pharmacy and picks up a special prescription, supplied to him by the U.S. government: a canister containing roughly 10 ounces of marijuana in pre-rolled cigarettes.
Rosenfeld, a Boca Raton, Florida stockbroker, suffers from a rare illness called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, a painful genetic disease that causes tumors to grow at the ends of his long bones, causing unbelievable pain. He is also one of four surviving patients receiving government-supplied medical marijuana, in a program that was closed to new applicants by President George H.W. Bush in 1992.
That program marks its 30th anniversary May 10. That’s right, our government has been supplying medical marijuana to a small number of patients — the program peaked at 34 approved participants in 1991 — for three full decades.
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May 10th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: News
Washington, D.C. — The United States prison system keeps marking shameful milestones. In late February, the Pew Center on the States released a report showing that more than 1 in 100 American adults are presently behind bars — an astonishingly high rate of incarceration notably skewed along racial lines. One in nine black men aged 20 to 34 are serving time, as are 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men.
Now, two new reports, by The Sentencing Project and Human Rights Watch, have turned a critical spotlight on law enforcement’s overwhelming focus on drug use in low-income urban areas.
These reports show large disparities in the rate at which blacks and whites are arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses, despite roughly equal rates of illegal drug use.
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May 9th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: Medical Marijuana, News
May 8, 2008 - Davis, CA, USA
Davis, CA: Cannabis significantly reduces neuropathic pain compared to placebo and is well tolerated by patients with chronic pain conditions, according to clinical trial data to be published in The Journal of Pain.
Investigators at the University of California at Davis, in conjunction with the University of California Center for Medical Cannabis Research (CMCR), assessed the efficacy of inhaled cannabis on pain intensity among 38 patients with central and/or peripheral neuropathic pain in a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.
Researchers reported that smoking low-grade (3.5 percent THC) and mid-grade (7 percent THC) equally reduced patients’ perception of spontaneous pain.
“[A] significant … reduction in [a 100-point visual analog scale of] pain intensity per minute was noted from both 3.5 percent and 7 percent cannabis compared to placebo,” authors wrote. “Separate appraisals using the patient global score and multidimensional [eleven-point neuropathic pain scale also] revealed that both active agents alleviated pain compared with placebo.”
Investigators added: “[N]o participant withdrew because of tolerability issues. Subjects receiving active agent endorsed a ‘good drug effect’ more than a ‘bad drug effect.’”
They concluded: “In the present experiment, cannabis reduced pain intensity and unpleasantness equally. Thus, as with opioids, cannabis does not rely on a relaxing or tranquilizing effect, but rather reduces both the core component of nociception (nerve pain) and the emotional aspect of the pain experience to an equal degree.”
The study is the second clinical trial conducted by CMCR investigators to conclude that inhaled cannabis significantly reduces chronic neuropathy, a condition that is typically unresponsive to both opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen.
Commenting on the study’s the findings, NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano said: “With the results of each published study it becomes increasingly apparent why the US government has tried consistently to stonewall clinical research on the therapeutic effects of inhaled cannabis. Each new trial the Feds approve provides additional evidence undermining the government’s ‘flat Earth’ position that cannabis is without medical value.”
For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: paul@norml.org
Full text of the study, “A randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of cannabis cigarettes in neuropathic pain,” will appear in the Journal of Pain.
April 25th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: Medical Marijuana, News
Source: Bay Area Reporter
Washington, D.C. — Two bills introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives last week would put a serious dent into federal prosecution of medical use of marijuana and offer protection to patients who use it.
Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) is a leader on both measures, which were introduced April 17. The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act (HR 5842) would reschedule marijuana a from a Schedule I to a Schedule II drug under the Controlled Substances Act. The change would allow physicians to recommend use of marijuana under conditions set by state law.
The other bill, the Act to Remove Federal Penalties for the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults (HR 5843) would eliminate federal penalties for the possession of small amounts (up to 100 grams) or not-for-profit transfer of small amounts (up to one ounce, 28.3 grams) of marijuana. It would create a civil penalty of $100 for the public use of marijuana.
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April 24th, 2008 by Peter Bonginelli
filed under: Pictures
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