Kamloops Daily News, 11 May 2013 - There's a tantalizing 10-page gap in the B.C. government's response to a freedom of information request. An unidentified media outlet asked for any records in the Justice Ministry dealing with the possible impact of decisions in Washington state and Colorado to approve recreational marijuana use.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 11 May 2013 - This week, the Colorado General Assembly put the finishing touches on legislation aimed at taxing and regulating the commercial distribution of marijuana for recreational use. The process has been haunted by the fear that the federal government will try to quash this momentous experiment in pharmacological tolerance - a fear magnified by the Obama administration's continuing silence on the subject.

The Steamboat Today, 11 May 2013 - Just in the nick of time last week, Colorado lawmakers came together to pass legislation establishing the regulatory framework for retail marijuana business in the state. While much remains in the air - including, for example, whether Colorado voters will approve this fall marijuana excise and sales taxes that will raise money for school construction and pot industry oversight, respectively - there are some fundamental positives about the bills approved Wednesday. Significantly for Steamboat Springs, Routt County and other municipalities, the laws provide at least a regulatory foundation on which they can build. Last November's passage of Amendment 64 very clearly legalized the possession and use of small amounts of cannabis for adults 21 and older, but the constitutional amendment left it up to the state to work out regulations for the operation of recreational marijuana businesses. The state was up against a July 1 deadline to create such regulations.

Packet & Times, 11 May 2013 - The possibility of a medical-marijuana facility has caused a big stir in a small Muskoka town. About two weeks ago, the 700 residents of MacTier, located about an hour north of Orillia in the Township of Georgian Bay, learned their council was considering converting their only community centre and arena into a medical marijuana research and development plant.

Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 11 May 2013 - This week, the Colorado General Assembly put the finishing touches on legislation aimed at taxing and regulating the commercial distribution of marijuana for recreational use. The process has been haunted by the fear that the federal government will try to quash this momentous experiment in pharmacological tolerance - a fear magnified by the Obama administration's continuing silence on the subject.

Packet & Times, 11 May 2013 - The possibility of a medical-marijuana facility has caused a big stir in a small Muskoka town. About two weeks ago, the 700 residents of MacTier, located about an hour north of Orillia in the Township of Georgian Bay, learned their council was considering converting their only community centre and arena into a medical marijuana research and development plant.

Daily Review, 11 May 2013 - (MCT) BOGOTA, Colombia - Marijuana has long been accused of being a gateway to deadlier vices. But could cannabis be a swinging door that might also lead people away from hard drugs? That's what this capital city is trying to find out. In coming weeks, Bogota is embarking on a controversial public health project where it will begin supplying marijuana to 300 addicts of bazuco - a cheap cocaine derivative that generates cracklike highs and is as addictive as heroin.

The Macomb Daily, 11 May 2013 - LANSING (AP) - Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says parents who use medical marijuana aren't disqualified from having custody of children or visiting them. But Schuette says the immunity isn't absolute. He says it's appropriate for a judge to determine whether there are unreasonable dangers for children, similar to a parent's approved use of other controlled substances.

In a recent presentation given at the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research, investigators from the university of California, Los Angeles provided the latest data reaffirming that cannabis consumption is not associated with an elevated risk of lung cancer. Below is a summary of the findings from The Oncology Report:

The study included data from six case-control studies conducted from 1999 to 2012 in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, with a subject pool of 2,159 lung cancer cases and 2,985 controls. All of the studies were part of the International Lung Cancer Consortium (ILCCO), an international group of lung cancer researchers with the aim of sharing comparable data from ongoing and recently completed lung cancer studies from different geographical areas and ethnicities.

Dr. Zhang of the University of California, Los Angeles, performed two analyses. One compared all lung cancer cases and all controls, regardless of concurrent or past tobacco use. Then, to reduce confounding by tobacco, she restricted the analysis to those who had never smoked tobacco.

… When compared with cannabis smokers who also used tobacco, habitual pot smokers had no significant increase in cancer risk. In an analysis of marijuana smokers that excluded tobacco smokers, there were no significant differences in any of the comparisons, including habitual vs. nonhabitual use; number of joints smoked per day; duration of up to 20 years or duration of more than 20 years.

The abstract of the presentation, which concludes “Our pooled results showed no significant association between the intensity, duration, or cumulative consumption of cannabis smoke and the risk of lung cancer overall or in never smokers,” is available online here.

Numerous preclinical studies have documented that cannabinoids possess potent anti-cancer properties, including the inhibition of lung cancer cell growth.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A bill which would legalize the medicinal use of marijuana in Illinois cleared a key Senate committee vote on Wednesday.

The medical marijuana bill was approved on a 10-5 vote by the Senate Executive Committee late Wednesday night, reports Monique Garcia at the Chicago Tribune.

The bill was approved over the objections of members of the law enforcement community, who claimed the bill wouldn't prevent medical marijuana patients from driving while under the influence of cannabis. (Statistics from states where medical marijuana is legal has shown they have fewer fatal auto accidents than before medicinal cannabis laws were passed.)

The bill now goes to the full Senate, which approved similar legislation in 2009. The proposal already cleared the Illinois House last month, and Gov. Pat Quinn has said he is "open minded" on the subject.

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By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A Denver attorney is threatening a lawsuit if Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signs House Bill 1317, the marijuana regulation bill that includes a requirement for marijuana magazines to be kept behind store counters.

HB 1317, recently passed by the Legislature, also contains other regulations on the sale of marijuana and the licensing of cannabis businesses, report Lindsey Sablan and Phil Tenser of The Denver Channel. Gov. Hickenlooper has said he intends to sign the plan into law.

David Lane, a veteran criminal and defense attorney based in Denver, threatened a lawsuit over the marijuana magazine rule. He is representing two cannabis publications, the Daily Doobie and the Hemp Connoisseur.

"My own personal belief is that this is a blatant First Amendment violation," Lane wrote in a letter to Colorado Attorney General John Suthers. "It has apparently passed muster with the House and Senate and the governor will be signing it shortly. Please inform Governor Hickenlooper that if this is signed into law, he can expect a First Amendment law suit filed promptly."

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By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

More California cities are planning to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries following a state Supreme Court ruling that such citywide bans are legal.

San Bernardino authorities raided a dispensary on Thursday, seizing 30 pounds of marijuana, 80 plants, a 12-gauge shotgun and $9,000 in cash, and citing four dispensary employees, according to City Attorney James Penman, report Richard K. DeAtley and John Asbury at the Riverside Press Enterprise.

The city also sent closure notices to about 30 shops, threatening fines of $1,000 a day. By Wednesday, 17 of the shops had voluntarily shut down.

"Most were very friendly; their lawyers had contacted them and they were in the process of removing their signs, their green crosses," Penman smirked.

"We're treating these businesses as illegal drug houses and drug businesses," Penman bragged. "What we hope to find today and every day is that these stores have closed. Our goal is to shut everyone down." Eleven shops were still operating by the end of thursday, Penman said.

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By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Voters in the city of Los Angeles have a decision to make on May 21, with the fate of hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries at stake. Angelenos will have to choose between three medical marijuana measures on the ballot. Estimates of the number of dispensaries in town range between 850 and 1,600.

Widespread confusion among voters appears to be the norm, reports KPCC, as they prepare to decide which of three measures -- D, E, and F -- should be used to regulate medicinal cannabis dispensaries.

Their decision is slightly simplified by the fact that backers of Measure E have abandoned it and thrown their support behind Measure D.

Measure D would shut down most of L.A.'s hundreds of dispensaries, only allowing about 135 of them -- the ones that first registered with the city six years ago -- to continue operation.

Measures D and F and alike in several key ways. Both require dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet form schools. Both raise taxes on the shops from $50 to $60 per $1,000 in gross receipts.

The biggest difference is that Measure F would allow an unlimited number of dispensaries. That's more fair than limiting the number to 135, according to political consultant Garry South of the Measure F campaign.

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Earlier this week Alaskan Congressman Don Young announced, in a press release, that he’s joining a growing list of bipartisan sponsors who support H.R. 1523, the Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2013. The measure would explicitly protect marijuana consumers and businesses from federal prosecution if they’re following state law, such as in Colorado and Washington [Continue Reading]

In this interview, Cato Institute’s Caleb Brown talks with Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) about the federal government’s reaction to the end of marijuana prohibition in Colorado and Washington and the future of marijuana policy reform. Take a few minutes to watch this: Rep. Cohen is a great ally to reformers, whether he is sponsoring legislation to stop federal [Continue Reading]

By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director Members of the Senate this week approved legislation to significantly reduce marijuana possession penalties. On Tuesday, Senators voted 24 to 6 in favor of a House measure that amends penalties for the possession of personal use amounts of marijuana and/or marijuana paraphernalia by a person 21 years of age or older [Continue Reading]

In Texas Monthly, there is a great article on the subject of “trace cases” that quotes Former DA Pat Lykos’ presentation at the Baker Institute that I was a part of in 2012: To help explain her reasoning, at an appearance at Rice University’s Baker Institute, she held up a package of Splenda, which weighs [Continue Reading]

Venue Fears Governmental and Social Backlash By John Payne On Monday, a representative from The Point (KPNT 105.7 FM) contacted Show-Me Cannabis to tell the public advocacy group that Verizon Wireless Amphitheater had refused their vendor application for Pointfest on May 12. Since then, Show-Me Cannabis has been working to resolve the issue with the [Continue Reading]

By Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director Colorado lawmakers made history Wednesday by approving first-in-the nation regulations governing the retail production and sale of cannabis to those age 21 and older. The Huffington Post has the story here: On the final day of the legislative session, Colorado lawmakers finally passed two historic bills to implement recreational marijuana [Continue Reading]

Daily Herald, 10 May 2013 - On April 17, the Illinois House of Representatives passed HB 001, often referred to as "medical marijuana" legislation, by a vote of 61-57 in favor. The legislation has passed a Senate committee and is next expected to be called for a vote in the Senate sometime during the next few weeks. As a law enforcement official for 37 years and the chief of police in Deerfield for 12 years, I find it imperative to voice my concerns concerning this pending legislation with members of the community. As proposed, the legislation includes the following provisions: allows 18-year-olds (high school seniors) to get medical marijuana cards without a parent's permission, allows qualifying medical marijuana patients to get 2.5 ounces of marijuana every 14-day period or 13 "joints" per day (with this much marijuana, diversion of the extra will become problematic), allows a qualified medical marijuana patient to drive under the influence of marijuana unless found to be "impaired" (enforcement of "impaired" becomes very problematic), and does not allow local government to prohibit the cultivation, dispensing and use of medical cannabis as authorized (a dispensing site could come to your community).