By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A Michigan man has announced he's rolling his wheelchair to the White House to talk with lawmakers about legalizing cannabis.

Curtis Kyle left his home in Taylor, Mich., on Friday, reports Brian Larsen at WWJ.

"I'm rolling my wheelchair to Washington, D.C., from my home in Taylor," Kyle said. "I'm hoping to get to the White House by the Fourth of July."

"I'm doing this for every marijuana activist and smoker and user across the whole United States," Kyle said, reports WLNS. "I feel that we need to come back together and take our country back."

Kyle has cerebral palsy and has used a wheelchair for his entire life. He hopes to cover about 40 miles a day.

"Most of them are back roads," he said. "I do have an escort by me."

Curtis on Tuesday morning was in Macedonia, Ohio, according to a Facebook post on the United Marijuana Smokers of Michigan page, where the battery charger for the spare batteries in his wheelchair had stopped working, temporarily stalling the journey until Sears replaced the charger for free, since it has a lifetime replacement warranty.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A mysterious, shadowy organization called Marijuana MAKES You Violent (MMYV) has been spreading anti-cannabis propaganda all over the Internet, with a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel. But as is obvious to anyone but the most literally minded among us, it's a spoof.

Two Penn State students are behind the eyebrow-raising campaign, reports Onward State. The group claims that not only does cannabis cause cancer, muscular dystrophy, influenza, diabetes, diarrhea, brain death, spinal collapse, and many other horrifying ailments -- it also kills millions of people annually, and on its way to killing you, it makes you raving mad and violent, in the bargain.

No, really -- that's what they claim.

"Both of my parents were slaughtered by marijuana maniacs, and I just want to see the madness stop," said MMYV "Youth Correspondent Media Outreach Representative" Zach Rhoads, a junior at Penn State. "[Marijuana] is responsible for 100 percent of violence throughout the course of human history."

Many commenters either support MMYV's message, or get caught up in the spirit of the spoof, posting comments like "Ganja free for eternity" and "Tokers are LOSERS" on the group's Facebook wall.

Marijuana MAKES You Violent says that tobacco and alcohol have never caused a single death, fighting back against what it calls the public relations efforts of "big marijuana corporations," according to Rhoads.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

New Hampshire House and Senate lawmakers on Tuesday reached a deal on a medical marijuana bill, positioning the state to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Both chambers of the Legislature had already passed the bill, but the Senate version removed the House-approved option for patients to grow marijuana at home, as well as obtain it from a dispensary, reports Holly Ramer at the Associated Press. Gov. Maggie Hassan, unfortunately, had said she wouldn't sign the bill if the home-growing provision remained.

House legislators in a Tuesday negotiation session agreed to drop home growing and go along with other Senate changes in exchange for an agreement that the commission which will be put in charge of implementing the medical marijuana program be appointed as soon as the bill is passed.

Gov. Hassan announced on Tuesday that she intends to sign the bill as passed.

Opponents of the home cultivation option claimed they were concerned about the state's ability to "regulate" it; cynics said they were likely more concerned about the state's inability to get any tax money from it. Supporters argued that home growing is critical for terminally ill patients, given that it would take the state close to a year to write dispensary regulations, and could take another year for the dispensaries to actually open for patients.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Residents who use cannabis as medicine, angry about an amendment that was quietly slipped into the state Senate and House budget bills, will be gathering from all over the state of Washington in Olympia at the Capitol Campus Wednesday, June 19. They say the rally is to "save medical cannabis in Washington."

The patients are upset about an amendment that would put the control of their medical fate in the hands of the state Liquor Control Board. This amendment could fundamentally change every section of the state's current medical cannabis laws, according to patient advocates.

These regulations would include limits on age, the amount of medication a patient could have, which conditions would qualify, where they could get their medication and who could actually grow it.

The Liquor Control Board has already stated publicly that they believe that the tax-free status of cannabis as a medication would be a ‘threat’ to the LCB’s projected revenue stream from recreational marijuana sales. Current state law does not tax medications that require a health care provider's signature. This law could single out cannabis as the only medication in the state targeted for taxation.

“I have a brain tumor and they’re going to decide how much medicine I need and then they’re going to tax it," said Ken Martin, a medical marijuana patient from Seattle. "I don’t pay tax on any of my other medications. This is nothing more than greed on the part of the LCB and the state Legislature.”

'Conclusions' Based Upon Anecdotal Evidence From Just 3 Patients

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Medical marijuana should be avoided by teenagers, Mayo Clinic researchers say in an upcoming publication.

The commentary, which will be published in the July issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, is based on anecdotal findings from just three high school-age patients at Mayo's pediatric chronic pain clinic, reports the Rochester Post-Bulletin. The three teens said they used marijuana regularly.

The researchers claimed there are few studies on the risks and benefits of marijuana use to treat chronic pain in adults, and even less data on using it to ease chronic pain in adolescents, reports Science Daily. They claimed that while medical marijuana may help some specific conditions, adverse effects can include fatigue, impaired concentration and slower reaction times.

"The consequences may be very, very severe, particularly for adolescents who may get rid of their pain -- or not -- at the expense of the rest of their life," said overly dramatic coauthor J. Michael Bostwick, a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist who talks as if he's on the payroll of Big Pharma.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A corrections officer and Iraq veteran in New Mexico has lost his job due to his use of medical marijuana to treat his post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Augustine Stanley, 32, spent nearly a year in Iraq in 2004 as an Army Reserve convoy security specialist for the 644th Transportation Company, reports Joline Gutierrez Krueger at Albuquerque Journal. He has served 13 years as a corrections officer at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.

The son of former Bernalillo County Sheriff's captain and Gallup Police Chief Sylvester Stanley, "Augie" was barely out of high school in 1999 when he began his career as an MDC corrections officer.

In 2006, after serving in Iraq, he returned to his MDC job and was promoted to sergeant, then a year later to lieutenant. Stanley said his record was unblemished.

His wife, Anetra, saw what experiences in Iraq had done to him.

"I've known him since high school, and he has never even raised his voice," Anetra said. "But after he came back, he was changed. He talked about hurting himself. Once, he smashed his fist into a truck window and broke it."

Only working at his job at MDC could he control the waves of what was later diagnosed as PTSD. That diagnosis came in January 2011, and it came with prescriptions for Xanax (anxiety), Ambien (insomnia) and citalopram (depression).

"They just knocked me out," Stanley said. "I couldn't function."

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, suggesting his own past drug use gives him the moral authority to speak out against marijuana, railed against pot on the June 14 episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher."

Kennedy, a former eight-term U.S. Representative from Rhode Island, leads Project SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), an organization which opposes cannabis legalization. He is an admitted former OxyContin addict, alcoholic, and cocaine abuser.

On Maher's show, Kennedy claimed studies show a link between marijuana and schizophrenia. He also suggested "heavy use" of pot by teenagers can lead to an IQ drop.

"Your reasoning is, 'You shouldn't do things because kids might,' " Maher pointed out. "Adults shouldn't have fires or drive cars. Kids might do all kinds of bad things."

"This is like global warming denying," Maher said. "This is the kind of stuff we heard years and years ago... It just seems so un-Kennedy-like to bge against what I said a couple of weeks ago was the new gay marriage. The next civil rights movement is to get equality under the law for people."

Kennedy has admitted he was treated for cocaine use during his teenager years. He also acknowledged he abused drugs and alcohol while he was a student at Providence College.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

A medical marijuana collective in Michigan is trying out a new business model in an attempt to operate legally. Patient-to-patient cash sales of medicinal cannabis by dispensaries in February were ruled illegal by the Michigan Supreme Court.

Brock Korreck, owner of Higher Expectations Medical Partnership (HEMP) Compassion Club in Battle Creek, said the collective is now charging caregivers a fee to enroll, and requires them to take educational classes on growing and maintaining cannabis plants, reports Jennifer Bomwan at the Battle Creek Enquirer. It also connects patients with caregivers, according to Korreck.

Marijuana is no longer stored on site, according to Korreck. The new business model is meant to provide safe access for caregiver-to-patient transfers and "options for patients to have new caregivers if their caregivers aren't living up to their expectations," he said.

Caregivers pay a one-time fee of $100 for any new patient with whom they are connected through the collective, and a $100 monthly fee to use the facility as a place of transfer. Patients do not pay any fees.

The shutdown of dispensaries following the Michigan Supreme Court decision has left many patients scrambling for safe access, according to Korreck. Even patients who have found a caregiver have found it more difficult to get their medicine, he said.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Alaska could be the next battleground in the effort to legalize marijuana.

A ballot initiative application on Friday was certified by Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, whose office oversees elections.

The proposal would make it legal for adults 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of cannabis, though not in public. It would also set up rules for legal cultivation and establish an excise tax on marijuana.

Supporters will have a year to collect valid signatures from 30,169 voters across the state in order to get the question on the 2014 ballot. The group plans to get it done by January and have it on next year's primary ballot, according to petition sponsor Tim Hinterberger, reports The Associated Press.

"It really seems like the whole mood has radically shifted," Hinterberger said.

The conversation is no longer about whether cannabis should be legalized, according to Hinterberger. "Everybody assumes it's going to happen, and now it's just figuring out the details," he said.

"Obviously getting approved by the lieutenant governor's office is a good step indicating that we're not going to run into roadblocks," Hinterberger said. "We're ready to roll."

After about a week -- the time required to prepare the petition booklets -- proponents can start gathering signatures, according to Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Now that Riverside, California had its big victory in the California Supreme Court -- establishing the right to ban storefront medical marijuana dispensaries -- the city has now banned home medicinal cannabis delivery services, as well.

The new ban puts in place a barrier to safe access to medical marijuana for homebound and chronically ill patients. Some delivery services are defying the ban, reports KCAL9's Tom Wait.

"The studies have shown that the increase (in delivery services) has been found to coincide with successful enforcement actions" against storefront dispensaries, Riverside Deputy City Attorney Neil Okazaki told city council members on Tuesday, just before they approved an "emergency" ban on medicinal cannabis deliveries, reports Alicia Robinson at the Riverside Press Enterprise.

"Not everyone can afford prescription medication," said Kalonnie, a marijuana deliverer who asked that his last name not be used. "Not everyone enjoys prescription medication."

Kalonnie said his clients are patients who need the medication. He is concerned for patients who had counted on the delivery service.

"You can meet someone in a gas station parking lot," Kalonnie said. "That might be the riskiest thing you could ever do."

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

Most Americans continue to support the legalization of medical marijuana, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll. A majority think the federal government should stop prosecuting patients and providers in states which have legalized cannabis for medicinal purposes.

According to the poll, 60 percent of Americans say they favor allowing doctors to authorize medical marijuana for their patients, while only 26 percent are opposed, reports Emily Swanson at The Huffington Post.

Democrats were most likely to support medical marijuana, followed by independents. Democrats favored medicinal cannabis by a 69 percent to 21 percent margin; independents favored it by a 61 percent to 24 percent margin.

But even among traditionally conservative Republicans, more respondents supported than opposed medical marijuana, at 46 percent to 38 percent.

Majorities of every age group in the poll supported the legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes.

Most respondents (57 percent vs. 25 percent) said the federal government should not arrest patients and dispensary operators in states that allow medical marijuana.

Majorities of Democrats (61 percent to 22 percent) and independents (60 percent to 20 percent) agreed, but Republicans were more evenly divided, with 43 percent saying the federal government should back off, and 37 percent saying it should continue arresting medical marijuana patients and providers.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

On June 14, 2000, the world lost one of its bravest activists for medical marijuana and personal freedom. Peter McWilliams, author of Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do and many other books, passed away after a battle with cancer and HIV when the government took away the cannabis he used to control his nausea. More than a decade after his death, it's important to remember just who and what this man was.

McWilliams [1949-2000] lived a rich life. He was many things: author, publisher, photographer, poet and activist, among others. But one of the most important things Peter was, was an inspiration. His courage and charisma were and continue to be a source of strength to many who are struggling with illness and with the injustice of our marijuana laws.

He had a remarkable career starting in the 1970s, writing more than 40 books, including works on depression, losing a loved one, computers, and poetry (yes, he was a real Renaissance Man). Several of McWilliams' books made The New York Times Top 10 nonfiction bestseller list.

Peter's 1993 libertarian manifesto Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do remains one of the greatest affirmations of the right of citizens to act and live in any peaceful, honest lifestyle, including their inalienable right to drugs and especially cannabis. It emphasizes personal freedom and the responsibility that goes along with it.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was criticized on Thursday by black and Hispanic Democrats who said he wasn't doing enough to stop the tidal wave of "stop and frisk" arrests of minority youth.

Cuomo recently proposed making the "public display" of 25 grams or less of marijuana a violation for which police officers issue a summons instead of an arrest. New York lawmakers decriminalized pot back in the 1970s, but New York City Police Department officers got around that by asking suspects to remove the marijuana from their pockets, then busting them for "public display" of pot, an arrestable offense.

The decrim bill was seen as an attempt to address the fallout over the NYPD's controversial tactics, which critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have pointed out leads to disproportionate rates of minorities being busted for pot.

Gov. Cuomo failed last year to reach a deal with Senate Republicans on the public display decrim bill; they opposed the measure, reports Mara Gay at The Wall Street Journal. He again pushed for a slightly different bill, this time decriminalizing public possession of less than 15 grams, in March but again lost.

The issue appears dead again for this year, according to lawmakers.

By Steve Elliott
Hemp News

An Arizona man has launched an initiative to legalize recreational marijuana for adults in the state.

Dennis Bohlke, 59, a north Phoenix computer programmer, is leading the Safer Arizona initiative, reports Yvonne Wingett Sanchez at The Republic. Bohlke said the measure is modeled after Colorado's newly enacted constitutional amendment, which taxes and regulates cannabis.

"The intent of the initiative is to legalize marijuana in Arizona and to treat it as we treat alcohol," Bohlke said.

The measure would amend Arizona's Constitution to allow people 18 and over (not 21 and over, as in Washington and Colorado) "to consume and possess limited amounts" of marijuana. The state would license grow facilities, retail marijuana stores and other related businesses.

The initiative needs 259,213 valid voter signatures by July 3, 2014, to qualify for the November 2014 ballot.

There is no major financial backing to fund signature gathering, according to Bohlke; that has been the death knell for efforts in other states including, most recently, Oregon's Measure 80. He acknowledged it will be "challenging" to gather the necessary signatures to qualiy for the ballot without major funding.

Bolhlke said he had spoken with Republican, "Tea Party" and Democratic lawmakers about the measure, and while they won't openly support him, they seemed "very receptive" to his initiative.