Medical Marijuana

If a medical marijuana initiative makes Florida's ballot next year, it could pass with an astonishing 82 percent of the vote, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday that finds voters also favor outright legalization as well.

 

Support for the proposed constitutional amendment is strong among voters of every political stripe, age and income level, with independents lending the most support: 88 percent, the poll shows.

 

The overall 82-16 percent support for medical marijuana is the biggest to date. The previous high-point for Florida approval was about 70 percent in a poll taken earlier this year by the medical-marijuana advocacy group, People United for Medical Marijuana.

 

There are some differences in wording between the initiative and the Quinnipiac poll; the amendment says doctors can "recommend" marijuana, the poll asks if a doctor should be able to "prescribe" it.

 

Still, medical marijuana is clearly popular. And marijuana legalization is becoming more-liked as well, albeit narrowly.

 

Nearly half of Florida voters favor it — 48 percent — while 46 percent oppose pot legalization for personal use. That's within the margin of error, but it's a leading indicator of a shift in public opinion. Support for legalization is again strongest among independents (57-37 percent), and then Democrats (55-39 percent).

 

Read more: http://www.bradenton.com

Three Utah doctors, including a neurologist from the University of Utah, have announced their support for allowing medical cannabis extracts (such as tinctures) and oils to be used by children who suffer from seizures.

 

In a letter sent to the state’s Controlled Substances Advisory Committee, pediatric neurologist Dr. Francis Filloux said that liquid forms of medical cannabis high in cannabinoids are a promising option for treating children with epilepsy. He says that refusing to legalize the substance would be “making the decision to limit access of our children to a potentially life-improving therapy”.

 

State Representative Gage Froerer, a Republican from Huntsville, will be introducing a measure in the upcoming legislative session which would legalize medical cannabis extracts for children with epilepsy. His proposal would allow cannabis products such as cannabis oils to be imported and exported in the state, as long as they have relatively low levels of THC.

 

Advocates in Utah should be contacting their lawmakers – which they can look up by clicking here - and urge them to support this commonsense move towards allowing children with epilepsy to use a natural, nonlethal and nonnarcotic treatment to their condition.

 

Source: http://www.theweedblog.com

Puff, puff, but don’t pass.

 

In August, Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, making Illinois the 20th state to legalize medical marijuana, effective Jan. 1, 2014. However, the state has some of the strictest regulations.

 

According to section 10 of the act, patients will be allowed to be in possession of 2.5 ounces of cannabis every two weeks, which can only be purchased from a cultivation center that has been registered with the Department of Agriculture.

 

Patients will not be allowed to be in possession in a private residence that is also used for child care, are not allowed to use in the presence of a child or anyone under 18 years of age and are not to perform any activity under the influence that would constitute negligence or malpractice, per section 30. Sharing and unauthorized selling are also illegal.

 

The approximately 40 debilitating medical conditions that qualify for medical marijuana use include cancer, HIV, AIDS, Crohn’s disease, agitation of Alzheimer’s, muscular dystrophy and severe fibromyalgia, among others.

The program will be on a trial basis for four years with many of the rules and dispensaries yet to be determined.

 

However, the legalization of medical marijuana has not impacted the regulations for DePaul students.

 

“It’s extremely important for students to understand that they will not be allowed to use medical marijuana on campus,” said Rebecca Aronson, alcohol and substance abuse prevention specialist from the Office of Health Promotion and Wellness.

Under the Smoke Free Illinois Act, smoking is prohibited in all campus buildings. Furthermore, DePaul University must also adhere to the federal Drug Free Schools and Communities Act and the Drug Free Workplace Act—both of which prohibit any drug use on college campuses, Aronson added.

 

For the first time in history, Americans favor legalizing marijuana. According to a recent Gallup poll, 58 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana. This comes only a year after Washington and Colorado became the first to legalize recreational marijuana.

When asked if medical marijuana should be smoked on campus, Christina Brown, a second year graduate student in journalism, was against it.

 

Read more: http://www.depauliaonline.com

New polling conducted by the Western New England University Polling Institute has found that 61% of adults in Massachusetts are in support of having a medical cannabis dispensary in their community, with only 30% opposed to the idea.

 

The poll also found that, a year after medical cannabis was legalized in the state, support for medical cannabis has risen substantially. In 2012 voters approved medical cannabis legalization with 63% of the vote; this new poll has found that 74% in the state are in support of medical cannabis, with only 30% opposed.

 

Support for medical cannabis has the majority support of every age group, including 83% of those 18 to 34, and 61% of those 65 and older. Those 65 and older were the only age group in which support for having a medical cannabis dispensary in their dispensary wasn’t above 50%, but regardless, more were found to be in support than opposed to such a move (48% to 38%).

 

Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com

I remember when I started smoking marijuana in the mid 90′s marijuana strain names weren’t that important. Finding marijuana was not as easy as it is now, and there certainly weren’t any dispensaries, so you were just glad to get anything.

 

Back then, at least in my area, marijuana was lumped into one of three categories – bammer, beasters, and kill bud. There was rarely a strain name attached to the marijuana I bought back then, and even if it had a name, there was no telling that the strain name was accurate.

 

The first marijuana strains were ‘landrace strains’ or wild strains. Did cavemen or indigenous people name their strains? Who knows. Seed historians seem to agree that the first modern day marijuana seed breeding started in the 1960′s. The Brotherhood of Eternal Love brought seeds to America from Afghanistan, Nepal, and other regions, and people starting breeding them.

 

In the early 1970′s the first official seed company started in Holland – Sam Skunkman’s Sacred Seeds. The art of seed breeding spread from there. There are now numerous marijuana seed companies around the world, and many, many breeders operating in the United States (some better than others!).

 

If you get seeds directly from a reputable seed bank, the strain names are reliable. Obviously if you get seeds straight from the breeder, the strain names are reliable. But if you score a sack from someone that is not a breeder, or not the grower, who knows if the strain name is accurate.

 

There is an increasing importance to market strain names to marijuana consumers these days, which is leading to a lot of inaccurate strain names out there, especially at dispensaries. If a customer walks into a dispensary and is given the choice between a well known strain name and a jar full of un-named bud, the customer is much more likely to choose the one with the popular name.

 

Dispensary owners know this, especially shady ones. So they will slap a name on a jar and not care less if it’s accurate. All they want is to sell more bud. I had a friend work at a dispensary where the owner had a bunch of old outdoor from several harvests over the course of multiple years. The owner had no idea what strain it was, but put it on his shelves in a jar stating it was OG Kush. The nugs didn’t sell at all before they were marketed as OG Kush, because after all it was old outdoor. But within a week of putting a fake name on it, all the outdoor was gone. I guarantee this is a common thing at dispensaries across the country.

 

Read more: http://www.theweedblog.com

MODESTO — Parents of children who suffer from seizure disorders told harrowing stories of their debilitating effects in an appeal for help from Modesto City Council members at this week’s Safety and Communities Committee meeting.

 

They gave testimonials about a specific type of medical marijuana they say has been more effective than any pharmaceutical drug they have used to treat their children’s seizures, and they asked the three council members on the committee for help bringing its safe access to Modesto. The committee was divided.

 

Countless times, the parents have watched helplessly as their children struggle to breathe through seizures that have resulted in cognitive loss, behavioral issues and incontinence, they said. The side effects of the pharmaceutical drugs prescribed to the children are almost as bad, leaving them in a catatonic state.

 

“I didn’t pick medical marijuana; medical marijuana picked me,” said Jason David of Modesto, whose son Jayden, 7, started having seizures as a result of Dravet syndrome when he was 4 months old.

 

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com