Medical Marijuana

Monday marks one year since Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana program into law and a state-wide fully operational medical marijuana program may be yet another year away.

But the sponsors for next weekend’s World Medical Marijuana Conference and Expo say the time to prepare is now.

“This conference is for anybody interested in medical cannabis. They could be an investor, someone interested in a new career, a provider or a patient,” said Melonie Kotchey, chief operating officer and co-founder of Compassionate Certification Centers along with Armstrong County physician Bryan Doner.

Read More:http://www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2017/04/16/medical-marijuana-world-conference-Pittsburgh-convention-center-physician-Pennsylvania-law-patients-Parkinsons/stories/201704160084

Non-profit and community programs often spring up when there’s a gap to fill, and with the cannabis industry as young as it is, there are still a lot of gaps.

Shelter from the Storm, a project launched by Jetty Extracts, is doing what it can to fill the cannabis treatment gap.

Jetty, an Oakland-based extract company, launched the Shelter Project to provide free medicinal cannabis oil and other services to California cancer patients who register with the program.

From pretty early on in the process, it was clear that philanthropy should be incorporated into the business model, said Matt Lee, co-founder of Jetty Extracts. They began by giving oil to people they knew who were suffering from different ailments which would benefit from cannabis as a treatment plan. Soon after that, they realized they wanted to expand to all of California.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/medicinal/california-extract-company-gives-free-pot-to-cancer-patients/

West Virginia Legislature Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

From our colleagues at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP):

Gov. Jim Justice is expected to sign SB 386 into law, making West Virginia the 29th state to adopt an effective medical marijuana law

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A medical marijuana bill received final approval in the West Virginia Legislature on Thursday and is headed to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice. He has publicly expressed support for legal access to medical marijuana and is expected to sign the bill into law, making West Virginia the 29th state to adopt an effective medical marijuana law.

Read More:http://www.theweedblog.com/west-virginia-legislature-approves-medical-marijuana-bill/

Insys Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company that poured lots of money into opposing weed legalization in Arizona last year just got its payoff—thank you very much.

That payoff came in the form of this week’s preliminary approval from the DEA for its synthetic marijuana drug, Syndros.

Just A Little Reminder

Insys forked over a cool half-million dollars to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, which represented roughly 10 percent of all money the anti-pot group raised to scuttle Arizona’s popular Prop 205 to legalize weed.

Insys was the only pharmaceutical company known to be giving money to oppose legalization last year, according to a Washington Post analysis of campaign finance records.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/news/shady-pharma-company-sabotages-legal-weed-and-gets-dea-approval-for-synthetic-thc/

An infamous Arizona pharmaceutical company that spent a half million dollars fighting the state’s marijuana legalization efforts has just received approval from the DEA for its synthetic substitute for the natural plant.

Insys Therapeutics, Inc. is the producer of Syndros, an oral spray that contains THC. The drug is used to treat nausea and vomiting in cancer patients, as well as weight loss in those battling AIDS.

Syndros is a brand name for the company’s formulation of the generic drug dronabinol, which has been available since 1985 as a capsule under the brand name Marinol.

In 2016, Insys donated $500,000 to Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, a group campaigning against Proposition 205, which would have legalized adult recreational use of marijuana in Arizona. The proposition failed to pass by a 52 percent-48 percent vote in last November’s election.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/medicinal/big-pharma-trying-to-corner-the-mmj-market/

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Rep. Eric Bedingfield once shunned all marijuana use, but when his eldest son’s six-year struggle with opioid addiction ended with his overdose a year ago, the conservative Republican co-sponsored medical cannabis legislation.

“My mindset has changed from somebody who looked down on it as a negative substance to saying, ‘This has benefits,'” Bedingfield said recently.

The 50-year-old teetotaler believes marijuana may effectively wean addicts from an opioid dependence. Ultimately, the Marine veteran hopes medical marijuana can be an alternative to people being prescribed OxyContin or other opioid painkillers to begin with, helping curb an epidemic he’s seen destroy families of all economic levels.

Two decades after California became the first state to legalize medical marijuana, efforts to let patients legally access pot are slowly taking root in the South.

Read More:http://hightimes.com/news/medical-marijuana-bill-in-south-carolina-bolstered-by-conservatives/