Although Research Shows Medical Mariuana Works, Critics Say California Center's Research Is Flawed

By Kathleen Doheny, WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Marijuana can be a promising treatment for some specific, pain-related medical conditions, according to California researchers who presented an update of their findings Wednesday to the California Legislature and also released them to the public.

"I think the evidence is getting better and better that marijuana, or the constituents of cannabis, are useful at least in the adjunctive treatment of neuropathy," Igor Grant, MD, executive vice-chairman of the department of psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, tells WebMD.

"We don't know if it's a front-line treatment. I'm hoping the results of our studies will prompt larger-scale studies that involve a much more varied population."

"This [report given to the Legislature] sets the stage of larger-scale studies,'' he says.

Some experts who reviewed the report say some of the studies are flawed and that they worry about the long-term health effects of marijuana smoke.

Perspective: Medical Marijuana Research

Trey Bundy, Special to The Chronicle

Anyone who doubts the mainstreaming of the cannabis industry might want to skip "Letterman" and check out "Cannabis Planet." The weekly program, premiering in the Bay Area at midnight Friday on KOFY-TV, intends to promote the benefits of marijuana, but viewers shouldn't tune in expecting "KOFY and Bong Hits."

"It's that stoner mentality we're trying to get away from," says creator and executive producer Brad Lane. "We're pro-recreational use, but we're not rubbing people's faces in it."

The show is structured around a pair of cannabis news anchors (yes, one of them has dreadlocks) and a mashup of educational segments, such as cooking demonstrations for hemp smoothies and medicated chicken stir-fry, and cannabis cultivation tips with marijuana guru Ed Rosenthal.

Lane pays KOFY to put "Cannabis Planet" on the air, like an infomercial, and generates revenue by running ads during the show for companies that produce grow lights, plant food and other products geared toward the cannabis industry. His operational philosophy is "Fuel, food, fiber, medicine," and he's bent on showing the public that medical marijuana isn't just for those with serious illnesses. He claims cannabis can alleviate everything from menstrual cramps to sleep disorders, and personally uses marijuana to curb attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, from which he's suffered since his days in Montessori school.

"There is reason to believe there is hope for the 21st Century, and that's the way it will be." Walter Cronkite

Compiled by Hemp News Staff

1. California: DEA To Yield Marijuana Jurisdiction To States - 3/2/2009

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California.

"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."

Source: http://hemp.org/news/us-to-yield-marijuana-jurisdiction-to-states



2. Washington State: Kitsap Medical Marijuana Defendant Acquitted - 3/24/2009

By CHARLIE BERMANT, Port Orchard Independent Staff Writer

A medical marijuana patient being prosecuted in Kitsap County Superior Court for drug trafficking was found not guilty on Tuesday morning, after a jury ruled that his use of the drug was within the law.

The jury deliberated for approximately two hours prior to its ruling.

by Phillip Smith, Stop the Drug War

The Tax and Regulate Cannabis 2010 initiative, sponsored by Oakland medical marijuana entrepreneur Richard Lee, has laid off its paid signature gatherers, saying they already have sufficient signatures to qualify for the November 2010 ballot.

Lee told the Chronicle this afternoon that more than 650,000 signatures have been turned in, and that he expects an additional 50,000 or so to dribble in in the coming weeks. Precisely 433,971 valid signatures of registered California voters are required for an initiative to be approved for the ballot. That leaves Lee and the initiative a substantial cushion of about a quarter-million signatures to make up for any invalid signatures.

The campaign will wait to turn in signatures until January 15. If they were turned in this month, the initiative would appear on the June ballot, not the November ballot. Lee wants the initiative on the latter.

I am also heartened by the knowledge that maybe there are about a thousand MJ Dispensaries in California and the Governator tacitly approves them.

Dr. Phil Leveque Salem-News.com

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - The ancient history of cannabis/marijuana is even more interesting than its present use as a modern medical miracle.

To make sure that knowledgeable readers don’t accuse me of plagiarism I will confess it at the outset. I am stealing from a best friend Todafumi Mikuriya, his real name. I believe I am one of the last persons to talk to him before his tragic death and his work and influence were tragically lost.

I am stealing from Marijuana Medical Papers 1839 – 1972. This is the best medically historical book on the subject and an everlasting monument to him. Jack Herer’s book The Emperor Wears No Clothes is a close second but different in scope. Jack’s books are and have been revised and reprinted many times. Tod’s book is/was a one-time bombshell.

Starting with O’Shaughnessy’s book in 1839, Tod wrote about the outstanding marijuana research papers, twelve of them, up to 1900 when marijuana was some what replaced by synthetic drugs. Cannabis/marijuana was so complex nobody could do much with it for standardization and prescriptions.

The strange thing about those “crude” preparations is that they were found effective for many diseases that we are finding out about now, 150 years later.

RIVERSIDE - Riverside's first medical marijuana dispensary is expected to open today.

The Inland Empire Health and Wellness Center Medical Marijuana Collective, 647 N. Main St., is supposed to operate as a nonprofit organization where people with a doctor's recommendation will be allowed to buy marijuana from those permitted to grow it under state law, the Press-Enterprise reported.

In Los Angeles, pot shops have cropped by the hundreds over the past few years, while the City Council alternately stalled on regulating them or declared moratoriums on new ones.

William Sump, the general manager of the Riverside collective, said he and several attorneys had done their best to meet the city's requirements, which include having security guards on duty when the collective is open.

"I feel we have done as much as we possibly can to be compliant and at this point," he told the Press-Enterprise. "It's about access for the patients."

The collective has about 150 members, Sump said. Just across the street is the THCF Medical Clinic, where people can seek a doctor's recommendation for the formerly illegal weed.

Related: Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens In Riverside (Video)
http://cbs2.com/local/medical.marijuana.Riverside.2.1351663.html

Medical marijuana facility to open in Riverside
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wpot05.4a2a92...

Source: http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=11626134

By Sam Pearson, State Hornet

When a student was caught smoking marijuana in the Tahoe National Forest, he might once have faced charges despite having a medical marijuana card. Instead, in this particular case, prosecutors dropped the charges because of recent changes in drug policy, said Roseville-based defense attorney Toni Carbone.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced Oct. 20 the federal government would stop prosecuting medical marijuana users in states that had passed medical marijuana laws, such as California and 12 other states, including Nevada and Oregon.

Carbone has already seen the effects of this change. Her client received no penalty even though park rangers ticketed him for having 1.2 grams of marijuana on federal land, where state medical marijuana laws do not apply.

California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, creating a program that allowed people to obtain doctors' recommendations to use marijuana and obtain it from dispensaries throughout the state.

State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, introduced a bill that would legalize and tax marijuana in California and held a hearing Oct. 28 at the state Capitol as part of the Public Safety Committee, which he chairs. It was the first-ever legislative hearing held on marijuana legalization.

Festival features organic food and wine, green vendors, award-winning speakers and an appearance by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

By Jessica A. Knoblauch

The 8th annual Green Festival, held this year in San Francisco on November 13th, 14th and 15th, turned out an impressive 125 speakers and 350 exhibitors that highlighted eco-friendly ideas and products meant to create safe, healthy communities and strong local environments.

One of the more unique aspects of the festival was the HIA Hemp Pavilion, which featured member companies showcasing the many uses of industrial hemp in the market place, from hemp clothing and personal body care to hemp foods, oil and paper. The pavilion also hosted a hemp fashion show produced by one of the industry’s premiere designers and manufacturers, Summer Star Haeske from Envirotextiles.

On Saturday, San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom even made an appearance to the event. On the main stage, Gavin gave a speech highlighting San Francisco’s efforts to go green, which includes having the most aggressive local climate action plan in the U.S. He also voiced his support for green jobs, plug-in electric hybrid cars and city-wide composting efforts.

“It’s incumbent upon us to make real some of the rhetoric…to take these ideas and manifest them. It’s no longer good enough to talk about the way the world should be. We have to demonstrate the capacity to make it so,” said Newsom.

By Dave Stancliff, Times-Standard

Marijuana opponents in the federal government are up against the wall and the wall is crumbling. The feds have fought marijuana use for decades, disregarding its medicinal applications, in a senseless war against the herb.

The demonized killer weed is turning out to be anything but that. As myths about this ancient herb are dispelled, scientists are using it to treat everything from chemotherapy-induced nausea to different cancers.

In August, The British Journal of Cancer published the results of a study that found THC (the main active component in marijuana) is effective in fighting prostate cancer. Reportedly, pot attacks prostate cancer cell types that do not respond to the usual hormone treatments.

A recent study by a team of Spanish researchers discovered THC kills various brain cancer cells by a process known as autophagy. Michigan's new law regarding marijuana use went into effect in April. Patients, with doctor's prescriptions, get a state-issued ID Card (a lot like California's) which allows them to grow and use marijuana to treat pain and other symptoms of cancer and multiple sclerosis.

By IMRAN GHORI, The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino County's public health department has taken applications for medical marijuana identification cards from 128 people and provided 76 cards since it began the program in mid-August, a county official said.

The rest of the applications are still being processed by the state, which keeps a database of applicants and actually issues the cards, said Jim Lindley, county public health director

Only one application was rejected -- because the doctor's recommendation could not be verified, he said.

The county began accepting applications from medical marijuana patients Aug. 14 after county officials lost a three-year legal battle against the state program.

In May, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the county's challenge to the state's program, which it claimed conflicted with federal drug laws.

The county initially had estimated that 250 to 300 residents would seek cards, Lindley said.

The department saw a slowdown in applications after the first few weeks, he said.

Lindley said officials tried to make the process as smooth as possible, requiring applicants to make appointments by phone, advising them of the information they would need and then having them come in for quick interviews to review the applications.

"The process looks like it's working well," he said.

By Alicia Robinson, The Press-Enterprise

Riverside could become one of the only Inland cities where patients could legally obtain medical marijuana, if registered nurse and activist Lanny Swerdlow opens a patient collective in September as he is determined to do.

Swerdlow threw down the gauntlet last week, telling city officials he will open a facility, "and you do not have the right to prevent us from doing so."

Riverside officials disagree, maintaining that the city's general plan bans any place that distributes medical marijuana.

The patient collective would be a next step for Swerdlow, a resident of Whitewater in eastern Riverside County who in 2008 opened THCF Medical Clinic in Riverside. At the clinic, people can seek a doctor's recommendation for medical marijuana. Although the drug remains illegal under federal law, state law allows patients to legally possess and use it if a doctor recommends it.

But the clinic doesn't dispense any drugs, and Palm Springs appears to be the only Inland city where zoning allows collectives to offer marijuana. That can force patients to travel long distances to get their medicine or buy it illegally, said Wanda Smith, a Phelan resident who has used medical marijuana for two years.

Proponents, Including Medical Marijuana Users, Say Untaxed Marijuana Means Needed Revenue Is Going Up in Smoke

By John Blackstone, CBS News

(CBS) There is talk in California of what you could call a radical idea for the cash-poor state to raise money. It's controversial, but proponents say the plan could smoke out more than a billion dollars for the state, as CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports.

It is an unusual commercial: taxpayers demanding a new tax. It's an offer by marijuana users to help the state's battered budget.

"We're marijuana consumers. We want to pay our fair share."

It's estimated that $14 billion worth of marijuana is sold illegally in the state. Making it legal and taxing it at $50 dollars an ounce would bring in approximately $1.4 billion a year. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has been pushing the idea.

"I thought it was high time - no pun intended - that this was on the table," he said.

As many see it, marijuana is already virtually legal in California where state law allows it for medical use.

At one Los Angeles dispensary, The Farmacy, the cannabis comes in buds so you can smoke it of course, but you don't have to. There's also cookies and candy bars, also drinks with cannabis as the active ingredient, and gelato - so you can take your medicine like ice cream or lollipops.

One dispensary gave out free pot to anyone with a valid prescription. The line was out the door.

By MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO – A bill to tax and regulate marijuana in California like alcohol would generate nearly $1.4 billion in revenue for the cash-strapped state, according to an official analysis released Wednesday by tax officials.

The State Board of Equalization report estimates marijuana retail sales would bring $990 million from a $50-per-ounce fee and $392 million in sales taxes.

The bill introduced by San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in February would allow adults 21 and older to legally possess, grow and sell marijuana.

Ammiano has promoted the bill as a way to help bridge the state's $26.3 billion budget shortfall.

"It defies reason to propose closing parks and eliminating vital services for the poor while this potential revenue is available," Ammiano said in a statement.

The way the bill is written, the state could not begin collecting taxes until the federal government legalizes marijuana. A spokesman says Ammiano plans to amend the bill to remove that provision.

The legislation requires all revenue generated by the $50-per-ounce fee to be used for drug education and rehabilitation programs. The state's 9 percent sales tax would be applied to retail sales, while the fee would likely be charged at the wholesale level and built into the retail price.

By Joe Nelson, Inland Staff Writer

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors will meet in closed session June 2 to discuss its next plan of action following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear its joint lawsuit challenging California's medical marijuana law.

"I assume the board, in its judicious manner, will issue a decision forthwith," said Burt Southard, spokesman for Board Chairman Gary Ovitt, on Thursday.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a joint lawsuit filed in 2006 by San Bernardino and San Diego counties, that argued they didn't have to comply with the state law, passed in 2004, because the federal ban on marijuana pre-empted the state law.

With all legal avenues exhausted, the county is now in a position to open the door to medical marijuana dispensaries and issue identification cards to legitimate medical marijuana patients.

"You can't hide behind the skirts of the federal government and say, `We don't have to do this anymore,"' said Palm Springs resident Lanny Swerdlow, addressing the Board of Supervisors at their Tuesday meeting.

Swerdlow is the director of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, an Inland Empire-based medical marijuana patient support group and law reform organization.

"You all along said you were filing this lawsuit not because you were so opposed to medical marijuana, but because you wanted guidance. Well, you've now got the guidance," Swerdlow told the board Tuesday.

By Imran Ghori, The Press-Enterprise

A day after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the state's medical marijuana law, a San Bernardino County supervisor indicated Tuesday that she is ready to support the policy.

The Board of Supervisors is not scheduled to discuss its next step until June 2, but Supervisor Josie Gonzales told about 40 medical marijuana advocates it would be a top priority.

"I have long been a supporter of medical marijuana," she said.

Gonzales said she had committed to "step forward" after the legal debate was resolved and that she hopes the county has reached that point now.

Three years ago, San Bernardino and San Diego counties sued the state over a program approved by the Legislature in 2003 to regulate the medical marijuana law approved by state voters in 1996.

The counties contended that the state law, which sets standards for counties to review applications and issue medical marijuana user cards, conflicts with federal law that classifies marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical purpose.

By refusing to hear the case, the Supreme Court upheld lower-court rulings rejecting those arguments.

Most other counties, including Riverside, already issue cards.

Advocates of medicinal use of marijuana, including several patients, told the San Bernardino County supervisors that it's time for the county to start issuing identification cards to patients who have letters from their doctors confirming their medical need.

The Supreme Court announced Monday it will not get involved in a dispute over California's medical marijuana law.

By Fox News Staff

The case presented a direct conflict to the justices of California's Compassionate Use Act which its detractors say contravenes federal laws prohibiting drug use. A California appeals court ruled last summer that the state's medical marijuana law does not preempt a federal drug ban. Monday's decision by the high court effectively affirms that ruling.

Thirteen states have laws allowing for the limited use of marijuana. California's law allows for individuals and their caregivers to "possess, cultivate and transport" marijuana as long as it used for medical purposes. Local officials in San Diego objected and filed a lawsuit saying the state law violates the federal Controlled Substances Act.

In its argument to the Court, the local officials said the California law is contrary to federal efforts to limit drug use. They argued "it is inevitable that marijuana originally grown for medicinal use will fall into the hands of recreational drug users."

California joined a handful of pro-Marijuana groups in asking the Court to not take the case. They argued the specifics of this case made it a "poor vehicle" for the high court to use in deciding such a controversial issue.


Source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520525,00.html

by Ethan Nadelmann, Drug Policy Alliance

Marijuana should never have been made illegal in the first place.

Ask why it was made illegal - by many state governments and eventually the federal government during the first four decades of the past century - and the answer cannot be found in expert medical testimony or any objective assessment of the costs and benefits of prohibiting marijuana.

In many western states, it was simply a matter of prejudice against Mexican-Americans and Mexican migrants, with whom marijuana was popularly associated. Rancid tabloid journalism also played a role, as did Reefer Madness-like propaganda and legislative testimony.

We know the result. Marijuana became dramatically more popular after its prohibition than it ever was before. Over one hundred million Americans have tried it, including the three most recent occupants of the Oval Office. Billions, perhaps tens of billions, of dollars are spent and earned illegally on it each year. Marijuana is routinely described as the first, second or third most lucrative agricultural crop in many states. And taxpayers are obliged to spend billions of their own dollars each year in support of futile efforts to enforce an unenforceable prohibition.

BY Andrew Reclusado, Times Staff

Marijuana legalization has been a controversial subject for years but recent developments could change all of that. On Wednesday, May 6, Gov. Schwarzenegger said that he is open to a public debate on the legalization and taxation of Marijuana. According to www.reuters.com, 56 percent of California voters support the idea of legalizing marijuana for recreational use and taxing its proceeds. Hopefully by next election we are able to vote on the possible passing of proposition that will make marijuana legal. Before immediately accepting the legalization of marijuana, Schwarzenegger said, “I don’t think it is time for that, but I think it’s time for a debate.” This is the right way to go for many reasons. Even if these debates only decriminalize the drug then that will save the state money by not having to incarcerate people with non-violent crimes.

Not only will the legalization of marijuana make lots of pot smokers happy, but that means people who actually need the drug for purposes will be able to get better and not have to worry about the stigma of doing something illegal.

“Medicinal marijuana for AIDS patients, for chemotherapy patients, etc. It is truly a wonder drug without having terrible side effects,” said J.P. Change (SJCC director of Student Health Services). “We can’t demonize the whole drug. ... There is no better medication than medicinal marijuana.”

By Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator

President Obama, do not let this travesty occur! Attorney General Holder, this is no sort of justice! Charles Lynch was following the law in California. Charles Lynch was welcomed by his city’s civic and business leaders. Charles Lynch paid his taxes and contributed to his community. Charles Lynch helped countless sick, disabled, dying, and sense-threatened Californians legally obtain their medicine without having to visit a street corner drug dealer.

Incarcerating Charles Lynch serves no useful purpose to the United States. Justice is not merely weighing actions against statutes; justice is seeing fair application of the law. We don’t write laws to harass and punish the people; we write laws to protect and serve the people. Punishing Charles Lynch for obeying state law will not win the drug war or even deter the next dispensary from opening.

How tragically ironic that Charles Lynch may be punished by our government for alleviating the tortured suffering of others in a week when we learn that our government was clinically detailed in its manufacturing of the tortured suffering of others. If only Charles Lynch had a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel…

Call President Obama at 202-456-1111

Call Attorney General Holder at 202-353-1555

Tell them to stop the prosecution of Charles Lynch!

By Jeff Horseman, The Press-Enterprise
Photo by Rodrigo Peña, The Press-Enterprise

It looks like any other doctor's office, with white walls, a receptionist's window and soothing background music.

But then there's the marijuana cookbook in the corner case, and the "Medical Marijuana Survival Guide" handed out to patients.

The Temecula branch of Alternative Care Clinics opened four months ago, part of a growing network of Inland businesses connecting patients with medical marijuana.

"We used to get a lot more questions," said Jonathan Arbel, ACC's director of operations. "Now it's just more recognized as a legitimate treatment."

"It seems like it's a lot less of a negative thing now," said Tom Wiggins Jr., administrator for Inland Empire Cannabis Consultants of Temecula.

The trend worries a local anti-drug organization.

"Yes, we remain concerned that a pro-drug movement is afoot in the Inland Empire," Roger Anderson, parent coalition chairman of the Inland Valley Drug Free Coalition, wrote in an e-mail.

"The pot users don't really want a 'medicine.' They just want to get high," Anderson wrote.

Medical marijuana is taking root amid new court rulings and policy changes.

By Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director

Speaking at a landmark press conference today, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced comprehensive legislation to tax and regulate the commercial production and sale of cannabis in a manner similar to alcohol.

“With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move towards regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense. This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes”, Assemblyman Ammiano said. “California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana.”

The proposal is the first marijuana legalization bill ever introduced in California.

“It’s time for California taxpayers to stop wasting money trying to enforce marijuana prohibition, and to realize the tax benefits from a legal, regulated market instead,” said Dale Gieringer, director of California NORML, a sponsor of the bill.

By Drew Carey, Reason.tv

Should medical marijuana be kept from minors at all costs? Why is it that pharmacists can dispense amphetamines without getting busted, but legal operators who dispense medical marijuana face prison time? Why do armed federal agents persist in raiding California?

With its sun, surf and small town atmosphere, California's San Luis Obispo County is a good place to grow up. Seventeen-year-old Owen Beck played football and soccer for a local high school, but one day his thoughts abruptly turned away from sports and school. Doctors told Owen he had bone cancer, and would have to begin chemotherapy right away.

The young athlete suffered another blow—doctors would have to amputate his leg to try to keep the cancer from spreading. Chemotherapy attacked Owen's cancer and his body, leaving him bald, gaunt, and vomiting the food he needed to recover. The amputation introduced Owen to a bizarre, new agony called phantom pain, and although doctors gave him powerful medication, nothing helped.

But might a new kind of pharmacy offer new hope? A medical marijuana dispensary had recently opened in the nearby city of Morro Bay. More than a decade earlier, California voters legalized medical marijuana and Morro Bay's mayor and Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the dispensary, and its owner Charlie Lynch.

By K Kaufmann, The Desert Sun

Patients want county to issue guidelines for collectives, end raids

With President Barack Obama voicing support for an end to federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, Coachella Valley patients and advocates are ready to push Riverside County officials for a similar end to raids and prosecution.
Advertisement

And they are taking their case to the county Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Riverside where several are expected to speak during the part of the meeting reserved for public comments.

“We’re going to ask them to get the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s office just to sit down with us to talk about how collectives can operate without them coming in and (people) getting arrested,” said Lanny Swerdlow, president of the Marijuana Anti-Prohibition Project, a patient advocacy group.

Swerdlow said he has been trying for a few months to set up a meeting with either the D.A. or Sheriff’s Department, without success.

He estimated 10 or more patients might speak at the board meeting.

Stacy Hochanadel, owner of the CannaHelp dispensary in Palm Springs, said he intends to be at the meeting.

By Fred Gardner, O’Shaughnessy’s Editor

Two days after Barack Obama became President, DEA agents led a raid on a South Lake Tahoe dispensary run by a wheelchair-bound entrepreneur named Ken Estes. They seized about five pounds of cannabis and a few thousands dollars. They arrested no one. “It was a typical rip-and-run" said a friend who had spoken with Estes.

In years past, when dispensaries run by Estes had been closed by law enforcement, activists would tsk-tsk about the looseness of his management style, as if Estes had drawn the heat on himself. This time Ol’ Ken was seen as a brave, tax-paying victim and scorn was directed at the DEA for ignoring Obama’s alleged promise to end such raids. A few verbal militants blamed the new President himself for not seeing to it that his “promise” was kept from the day he took office.

Rally on Thursday at 12pm seeks policy change from President Obama

Los Angeles, CA -- A spirited mass protest at the Los Angeles federal building tomorrow at noon will call on President Barack Obama and his newly seated Attorney General Eric Holder to end federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids on medical marijuana patients and providers. Several DEA raids have occurred since President Obama took office, the latest of which occurred yesterday in Los Angeles. Whether or not the raids are being led by Bush Administration officials, medical marijuana activists are urging an immediate end to such policies. Also, a recent poll by Zogby International indicated that 72% of U.S. citizens want President Obama to end medical marijuana raids by the DEA.

What: Spirited protests urging President Obama to keep his campaign promise to end federal medical marijuana raids

When: Thursday, February 5 at Noon

Where: Los Angeles federal building at 255 E. Temple Street