Grow Weed Blog

State Laws Authorizing Physician-Supervised Use Of Marijuana Unaffected By Ruling Washington, DC: The US Supreme Court today (6/6/05) reversed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision which found that the federal prosecution of patients who cultivate and possess marijuana for their own medicinal use is an unconstitutional exercise of Congress' Commerce Clause authority. As a result, the court struck down an injunction barring the Justice Department from arresting the respondents -- California medical cannabis patients Angel McClary Raich and Diane Monson -- for violating the federal Controlled Substances Act. Ms. Raich and Ms. Monson had filed suit in federal court in 2002 seeking to bar the US Justice Department from taking legal action against them for their state-sanctioned use of medicinal cannabis. "While we are disappointed with the Court's decision, the bottom line is that state and local laws protecting medicinal cannabis patients and their physicians remain in place and are unaffected by this ruling," NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. Eleven states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington -- have passed laws exempting patients who use cannabis under a physician's supervision from state criminal penalties. "With this ruling, Congress and the Justice Department have a choice: They can choose to waste taxpayers' dollars and undermine states' rights by arresting and prosecuting seriously ill patients who possess and use medical cannabis in compliance with state law, or they can choose more worthwhile priorities, like protecting national security and targeting violent criminals," St. Pierre said. He added that pending in Congress is House Bill HR 2087, "the States' Rights to Medical Marijuana Act," sponsored by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Sam Farr (D-CA), Rohrabacher, and Hinchey, along with 31 co-sponsors, which would reclassify marijuana under federal law to properly recognize its medical utility and enable physicians to legally prescribe it under controlled circumstances.

Angel McClary Raich

"The Court's decision today underscores the need for Congress to amend federal law to recognize cannabis' therapeutic utility," St. Pierre said." Throughout our history, the public has looked to state legislatures and Congress -- not the courts -- to be the architects of public policy. With 80 percent of Americans as well as numerous health organizations, including the American Nurses Association and the American Public Health Association, in favor of legalizing the physician-supervised use of medicinal cannabis, it's time for the federal government to butt out of doctors' decisions regarding which medicine is the most safe and effective for their patients."

Diane Monson

Respondents co-counsel, NORML Legal Committee member David Michael agreed. "This decision is a great leap backwards by the Supreme Court, in eroding the Rehnquist Court’s Commerce Clause legacy and creating chaos by pitting the Federal Government against its own citizens and their individual states," he said. "Where the Supreme Court has failed, it is now up to Congress to protect the citizens of this country and their states from an overreaching federal government." For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano at (202) 483-5500. Respondents' co-counsel, NORML Legal Committee member David Michael is also available for comment at (415) 621-4500. High folks, I don't know for sure about you, but as a medical cannabis user here in Iowa, I feel some King Bush hate in the latest actions going on. It's not a big surprise, just remember this Supreme Court is the outfit that took over the public vote from the citizens of Florida eight years ago and gave us this mass murderer in the first place. Now here they are flexing and ignoring the agony of the inoperable, such as myself and many thousands as well. Like the article I quoted up for us, the people are depending on the congress to protect us. And how about that here in Iowa? We have two congressmen, real dope warriors. One, Grassley, great name, pukey politics, telling us recently that smoking pot, doesn't matter why, will make you jump out the window. And drug warrior congressman Harkin, telling us we pot smokers will sell our children to get more dope. These two are real sources of hope, NOT. Now, do not put me down as big on Obama, I am not, but we have so few choices other than him to finish the job of administering the shoe of the voters to the repelicon ass that we have got to hope to God he sticks with his statements that he would lighten up on us medical cannabis user/growers. Legalize medical cannabis in the mid West of the United States of America NOW. Happy trails

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxAlvgllmRo

The advertising flier left no doubt about its pitch: a giant marijuana leaf with a phone number that ended GOT KUSH. A friend's teenage daughter brought it home from last weekend's Earth Day celebration on the Santa Monica Pier. What else would I expect from a concert held on 4/20 -- a shorthand reference to smoking pot -- that featured reggae artist Ziggy Marley, son of Bob?

"Have you or anyone else experienced an illness [for] which you believe marijuana could provide relief?" the flier read. "If you don't qualify for a recommendation, your visit is free." I'd seen similar ads before. Walk along the Venice boardwalk and it's hard to not get handed one of those head-shop postcards promising instant approval to smoke marijuana. I'd dismissed the claim as a marketing gimmick. But it left me wondering: Could you really just walk in off the street and get marijuana? The West Hollywood clinic took walk-in patients, so I stopped by Wednesday afternoon. I rode the elevator up with a brawny man in a wheelchair and the middle-aged woman accompanying him. We made small talk about the heat wave and the difficulty of finding a place to park. In the waiting room, I filled out a sheaf of forms, accurately answering questions about my medical history, current symptoms and past use of cannabis. I gave the polite, tattooed man behind the counter my driver's license, credit card and a coupon giving me a $25 discount on the $175 exam. Fifteen minutes later, I was greeted by the doctor, a silver-haired man in a white lab coat, his name embroidered across the front. Diplomas lined the wall behind him. On his desk was a collection of family photos. He looked over my medical forms and asked about the arthritis I'd noted. I told him the truth. Some days my fingers are so stiff it hurts to grip a doorknob or a steering wheel. I'd tried prescription drugs in the past, but stopped because of the side effects. The doctor inspected my swollen fingers, gently squeezing the tender joints. He checked my pulse and blood pressure, then took a stethoscope and listened to my lungs. His 10-minute exam was about as thorough as the one I'd received last year from the hand specialist at the orthopedic center, who sent me home with Celebrex. This new doctor told me marijuana could help. He recommended I not smoke it. Bad for the lungs. Better to use it with a vaporizer. Or ingest it, infused in tea or baked in brownies. Then he handed me a prescription for marijuana. Good for one year; no refill limits. Idon't know why I was surprised. I'm the kind of person covered by the state's 1996 Compassionate Use Act, which allows the use of medicinal marijuana in California. The law allows physicians to recommend marijuana for the treatment of "cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief." I was with the 56% of California voters who approved the law 12 years ago. It's not my place to judge an adult who chooses a bong hit over Vicodin. So why did I feel vaguely criminal as I stuffed my cannabis card -- resembling a tiny passport, embossed with a marijuana leaf -- in my wallet? Because I'm from a generation in which marijuana was plainly illegal and thus the province of the young -- clandestinely purchased with a wad of singles, smoked with a rowdy crowd of buddies, accompanied by laughter and loud music. And because I've heard from friends -- and my own teenage daughters -- that getting a cannabis card at 18 has become a rite of passage in some quarters.

Why bother trying to find a dope dealer when you can shop for weed at a place as familiar as a mini-mart? Iwas buzzed in at the marijuana dispensary across the street from the doctor's office. I handed my prescription to a hand that reached out through a hole in a black-glass window that I couldn't see through. I was buzzed in through a second door and stood dumbstruck in front of a counter with more than a dozen varieties of marijuana on display.

A thin young man with a ponytail explained the different types and their effects on the body and mind, just like those pamphlets I get when I pick up my blood pressure and cholesterol medications from Rite-Aid. I was struck by how ordinary it all seemed, trying to decide between marijuanas. A sativa or an indica? I felt like I was at the apple bin at Trader Joe's choosing between Fuji and Gala. I left with a red vial of sweet-smelling Yumbolt, at $55 for an eighth of an ounce. I carried it home in the trunk of my car, convinced that every cop I passed could tell I was transporting marijuana. At home, I couldn't get the bottle open. My fingers weren't strong enough to pop the top. Which is just as well. I'm not going to smoke it. The feds don't recognize California's medical marijuana law. The DEA has been raiding dispensaries here; I don't want federal agents knocking on my door. So, on Friday, I brought the bottle into my office and my editor watched me flush it down the toilet. The experience left me with so much to think about, it's best I'm clear-headed while I work through it.

Associated Press PORTLAND -- It's autumn and the crops are in, but for the state's marijuana growers, more of what may be Oregon's most lucrative harvest didn't make it to market. The Oregon Department of Justice says a record 245,000 plants were pulled up this year, more than double the 120,000 a year before. While authorities are getting better at finding where marijuana grows, says Don Nelson, who tracks the issue for the department, growers are getting smarter too. Nelson says authorities are getting more helicopter flight time, which is deemed critical to finding the illegal plants. But he says the growers are learning to grow the plants under trees and in no particular pattern to make them harder to find. Police say the overwhelming percentage of the large grows are run my Mexican drug cartels. The marijuana crop in Oregon--and several other states--is more valuable in cash terms than any other crop.

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