Paul Stanford

Stop the Drug War, Before They Kick In Your Door

By Paul Stanford, Executive Director of THCF for Hemp News

My speech at the 2010 Seattle Hempfest is my effort to highlight the historical, scientific and philosophical importance of hemp and cannabis. I honor cannabis reform activists that have passed on, such as Jack Herer and Dr. Tod Mikuriya; those arrested for cannabis, such as cannabis minister Roger Christie of Hawaii, Marc Emery of Canada, and Eddy Lepp of California; and those sentenced to death for cannabis in Malaysia.

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town & Special to Hemp News

If you've never been to Seattle Hempfest, the world's largest "protestival" based around marijuana, you really owe it to yourself. While it's hard to describe the vibe of being in a crowd of a couple hundred thousand like-minded people, those who have been there keep coming back again and again.

Hempfest, going strong since 1991, is one of the best and almost certainly the biggest marijuana rally in the world. This year's edition hits Seattle on Saturday, August 21 and Sunday, August 22, and is dedicated to the memory of legendary hemp activist Jack Herer, whom the movement lost this year.

Free admission, good music, friendly people, and a beautiful setting have always been among the reasons to attend -- and Myrtle Edwards Park on the lovely Seattle waterfront is guaranteed to be smelling really good once the party kicks in.

"The Seattle Hempfest is incredibly inspirational," said Paul Stanford of this year's primary sponsors The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF).

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF) is proud to be the main sponsor of the Seattle Hempfest because our mission is to educate the general community about the benefits of the cannabis plant to our society. Hempfest 2010 will be held on August 21st and 22nd, and takes place every year at Myrtle Edwards Park expanding in recent years to include the adjacent parks. Hempfest offers five stages of entertainment, a Hemposium question and answer forum, and hundreds of vendor booths, sure to please a myriad of musical, informational, and entrepreneurial tastes.

The time to act in support of hemp is now, so please reach out and create awareness in your community. The Berlin Wall fell quickly, and together we can end this unjust war on the cannabis plant in the same manner, but we need to unite in solidarity. Vivian McPeak, the event's director declares, "No political or human rights movement in America has made it this far without eventually winning. It's just a matter of time."

By Paul Stanford, Chief Petitioner, OCTA 2012

Oregonians for the Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) will soon begin gathering the initial 1000 registered Oregon voters' signatures needed to sponsor the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 petition. After gathering these required first signatures, the Office of the Secretary of State will certify a ballot title with the Attorney General, proposing a statutory initiative for the General Election of November 1, 2012.

OCTA 2012 will set aside two percent of the profits from the sale of cannabis in adult-only stores for two new state committees that will promote Oregon industrial hemp biodiesel, fiber and food.

It will also legalize the sale, possession and personal private cultivation of marijuana. People who want to cultivate and sell marijuana, or process commercial psychoactive cannabis, would be required to obtain a license from the state. Adults could grow their own marijuana and the sale of all cannabis strains' seeds and starter plants would be legalized with no license, fee nor registration. The profits from the sale of cannabis to adults will add hundreds of millions of dollars into the state general fund, as well as drug treatment and education.

By D. Paul Stanford, CRRH/THCF

I'm turning 50 on June 26!

This year I'm donating to a good cause: Campaign for the Restoration and Regulation of Hemp (CRRH)

This is why I'm donating my birthday

I don't need any presents...why not use my birthday to do something good for the world?

This is my cause

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town/Hemp News

Oregon's marijuana legalization initiative, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA), is kicking off its signature-gathering phase at the OR NORML meeting in Portland this Saturday, April 10.

Petitions have just been approved for circulation by the Oregon Secretary of State's Office, and OCTA said it expects more than 300 attendees to be among the first to sign the petition for this historic ballot measure.

OCTA will generate revenue by taxing commercial cannabis sales, which will be permitted to adults 21 and older. More than $140 million a year would be generated by OCTA for the state's General Fund, according to projections, paying for education, roads, health care, and other public projects.

"OCTA will transform Oregon," said co-chief petitioner Madeleine Martinez, executive director of OR NORML. "Supporting OCTA is a no-brainer."

According to OCTA's other co-chief petitioner, Paul Stanford of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), the potential of industrial hemp for Oregon's economy is limitless, as it will turn the state into a national leader in ecological innovation and sustainable jobs.

"The entire hemp plant is useful, from its seeds which create a food source to its oil which can be made into bio-diesel to its stalks which can be woven into fabrics or turned into paper," Stanford said. "Hemp is the future, not just for Oregon, but for a sustainable planet."

Oregon pot-legalization advocates push to follow California’s lead.

By Peter Griffin, WW

After decades of dashed hopes, leaders of the movement to legalize marijuana believe their goal is poised to become a reality this year.

They got renewed momentum last week when organizers of an initiative to legalize cannabis in California submitted enough signatures to put the issue on that state’s ballot this November. And Oregon pot advocates are confident the Beaver State will not be far behind.

As candidates for governor, the Legislature, City Hall and Multnomah County campaign in Oregon’s May primary with their proposed solutions to budget problems, pot-legalization supporters are working to get an initiative similar to California’s on the November ballot here. Legislation backers are pitching the proposal’s economic benefits. Advocates say legalizing pot and taxing it could generate at least $100 million a year and save as much as $75 million annually on law enforcement.

The Oregon Cannabis Taxation Act, like California’s proposal, would let anyone 21 and older possess up to an ounce of marijuana and set up a committee to regulate distribution and taxation.

The Oregon proposal, which also would prohibit the regulation of hemp, has until July 2 to collect 82,679 valid signatures from registered voters to make the November ballot.

"Hemp will be the future of all mankind, or there won't be a future." Jack Herer

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Staff
Video By Reimond Kerezsi, LK & Oregon NORML

The featured video is an eclectic compilation of passionate speakers from the August 2009 Seattle Hempfest. It includes interesting perspectives from "The Emperor of Hemp" Jack Herer, Allen St. Pierre, Keith Stroup, Paul Stanford, George Rohrbacher, Anndrea Hermann and Seattle Hempfest's own Vivian McPeak. It is sure to give you inspiration.

"It doesn't matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, we are going to legalize marijuana no matter what happens in ten years, because when 60% of the American public wants something, they're going to get it." Allen St. Pierre

"Contact your legislators tell them to end marijuana prohibition. It's time to tax and regulate it. The more letters they get like that, the sooner the day will arrive." Paul Stanford

Because hemp is the ultimate cash crop, producing more fiber, food and oil than any other plant on the planet.

By Paul Stanford, THCF/CRRH

According to the Notre Dame University publication, The Midland Naturalist, from a 1975 article called, "Feral Hemp in Southern Illinois," about the wild hemp fields that annual efforts from law enforcement eradication teams cannot wipe out, an acre of hemp produces:

1. 8,000 pounds of hemp seed per acre.

* When cold-pressed, the 8,000 pounds of hemp seed yield over 300 gallons of hemp seed oil and a byproduct of
* 6,000 pounds of high protein hemp flour.

By Laura Kate Zaichkin, Herald staff writer

After almost five years of constant pain and countless medications, Chet Biggerstaff was ready to give up.

Narcotics, muscle relaxants, a morphine pump and every other treatment the Richland man tried failed to blunt the extreme chronic pain he suffered from because of several car wrecks.

But in 2000, Biggerstaff stumbled upon an alternative treatment that was exactly what he'd been looking for -- medical marijuana.

"I rolled up a joint, first hit -- within the first 15 seconds -- the nausea, the spasms disappeared," said the 38-year-old. "None of the medicines they had me on touched it."

Now a medical marijuana advocate, he has a vision to make the drug more accessible to other Mid-Columbia patients. He wants to establish a collective to grow and distribute the drug, but the state's ambiguous medical marijuana law is clouding that vision.

Washington allows residents who suffer from a terminal or debilitating illness and have a written recommendation from their doctor to legally possess a 60-day supply of marijuana.

But advocates and patients say the law does nothing to remove barriers to getting safe, legal and consistent supplies of medical marijuana.

By KATU2

The mayor of Eugene declared "Medical Marijuana Week," and the mayor of Portland declared May "Medical Marijuana Month." KATU talked with the Portland man who has probably done more than anyone to get medical marijuana into the hands of Oregonians, and tens of thousands of people across the county.

Download & Print Proclamation PDF:
http://www.hemp.org/images/pdx-medmj-month.pdf

Source: http://www.katu.com/news/medicalalert/44750427.html?video=pop&t=a

By Andrea Isom, MyFOX Detroit

ROYAL OAK, Mich. - Royal Oak is known for its nightclubs and restaurants, but if some officials get their way, it could also be known for marijuana. A campaign is underway to turn the city into a legal pot growing zone.

This may sound really weird, but there could soon be a medical marijuana pharmacy on Woodward Avenue where people with a doctor's note could go inside and pick up their pot.

People in Marquette learn what it takes to get a permit.

By WLUC TV6

MARQUETTE -- People in Marquette are learning how to obtain a medical marijuana permit. Over 30 people from across the U.P. were at Monday's clinic.

It's a partnership between the National Hemp and Cannabis Foundation and the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association.

They teach people who qualify for the permit about the new state law and recipes for medicinal use. For those dealing with chronic pain, they say it's a natural alternative to prescription pills.

"This here is natural stuff. It's not going to hurt my kidneys. It isn't going to hurt my liver," said David Ray who is applying for a permit. "I don't have to worry about a dog getting a pill and dying on my floor or some kid coming in my house."

"We give them the application form from the state," said Paul Stanford of the Hemp and Cannabis Foundation. "Then our doctor fills out the physician certification form. Then they have to mail that to the state with a fee. For most people that fee is $100."

The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, which has already assisted 800 people in Michigan, says it takes about two weeks to get your permit. Permit holders can then either purchase marijuana from other patients or legally obtain it on the black market.

Related Video: http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/video.aspx?id=295605

Source: http://www.uppermichiganssource.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=295605

The number of ailing people turning to medical marijuana to ease their symptoms has spiked this year, say dispensary owners in some of the 13 states where it's legal.

By Brian Alexander, msnbc.com contributor

Requests have jumped anywhere from 50 to 300 percent, they say, since President Barack Obama took office and signaled that he won’t use federal marijuana laws to override state laws as the Bush administration did. Others say the economic downturn may also be responsible as more people without insurance are seeking alternatives to costly medications.

In the past few months, marijuana co-ops, clubs, businesses and even lawyers who have advocated for looser dope regulations say they've been inundated with requests for information and certifications that permit people to use marijuana for medical purposes.

“I have been flooded with calls,” reported Seattle attorney Douglas Hiatt, a long-time marijuana advocate. “It’s ‘Where can I find a doctor [to prescribe it]? How can I start a co-op?’ You wouldn’t believe it.”

By Medindia, Networking for Health

The state of Michigan in US has begun to medical marijuana patient ID cards. The state Department of Community Health will send across 150 cards in the first instance. About 700 others are awaiting approval.

To qualify for a card that makes it legal to use marijuana to alleviate debilitating medical conditions, applicants must have a signed doctor's note and pay $100. Low-income residents can get the card for $25.

Last November, voters approved a ballot measure making it legal to smoke or possess marijuana for medical use, making Michigan the 13th state in the nation to do so.

Once an applicant is approved for use, "You must carry the card in order to possess or smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes" James McCurtis, a government spokesman told Detroit News.

Carrying the card protects a user from penalties and prosecution.

Medical marijuana users are not allowed to possess more than 2.5 ounces of marijuana and have no more than 12 marijuana plants.

The law legalizes medical marijuana to ease the pain of certain illnesses specified by the state, such as cancer, glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease and HIV/AIDS.

By Lisa Roose-Church, DAILY PRESS & ARGUS

As the first state-issued medical marijuana identification cards were mailed out, local law enforcement remains concerned about the law's loopholes and inconsistencies.

Those gray areas already are being tested, including one case in Livingston County in which an attorney will appeal a judge's decision that the state's new medical marijuana law does not retroactively apply to his client, who allegedly grew marijuana in his backyard for medicinal purposes.

"The way the law is written, it's a terrible, terrible law," Howell Police Chief George Basar said. "Various pieces of this law will end up in litigation for years."

Michigan's medical marijuana law went into effect in December, making Michigan the 13th state to embrace the controversial pain treatment. Sixty-three percent of the state's voters said yes to the law.

The law took full effect this month, as the Michigan Department of Community Health began processing applications for state identification cards needed to verify a person was using marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The department received 16 applications for the medical marijuana identification card during the April 4 weekend the cards became available. Two weeks later, the state had received 483 applications — an average of 54 applications per day.

by Neal McNamara

Shane Gustafson came into the business of selling vaporizer machines for use with medical marijuana was because of a sick family member.

Gustafson’s 60-year-old father was using medical marijuana for various ailments. But it got to a point where the side effects of smoked marijuana became unbearable, so his father asked if there was another way to ingest it.

“He was ready to quit,” Gustafson said. “Then he asked me to do research into vaporizer machines.”

After two months of researching the machines, which are manufactured for aromatherapy, Gustafson found and bought one for his father and eventually one for himself.

“I became a true believer,” he said. “I saw the relief my father got out of it. So, I got a hold of the manufacturer.”

By MyFoxDetroit Staff

LANSING, Mich. - - Monday marked the first day medical marijuana users could sign-up with the state to use pot to ease their chronic pain. However, the governor says she has some reservations about the new law.

"This is a really good day for Michigan. We're protecting patients, people who do have a legitimate use for marijuana. We're able to start giving them some protection," said medical marijuana patient Greg Francisco.

First ID cards expected to be issued by the end of the month

By Jennie Miller, C & G Staff Writer

SOUTHFIELD — Hundreds of applications for medical marijuana identification cards flooded the Michigan Department of Community Health April 4, exactly five months after voters approved the statewide proposal to legalize the drug for medical purposes.

Many of those applications were from patients of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, which opened the state’s first medical marijuana clinic in Southfield in December.

Paul Stanford, founder of THCF, which has 18 clinics across the country in states that have legalized medical marijuana, personally accompanied 75 of his clinic’s patients to Lansing April 6 to hand-deliver the applications.

“It went very well — it was an ideal turn-in,” Stanford said. “It couldn’t have gone any better.”

Since it opened, the clinic has assisted some 400 patients in their endeavor to legally use marijuana to ease the symptoms of their debilitating diseases, Stanford said. But thousands more have sought information.

“We’re getting 1,400 calls a day, and 30-40 percent of those are from Michigan,” Stanford said.

No patient will be seen by THCF doctors without first having their primary doctor submit medical records documenting a valid condition that fits the bill, Stanford explained.

By Christina Rogers / The Detroit News

Southfield -- A new medical clinic here specializes in helping patients qualify with the state to treat their health problems with medical marijuana.

The nonprofit The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation opened the clinic, its first in Michigan, in December. That's the same month a voter-approved law went into effect legalizing medical marijuana to ease the pain of certain illnesses specified by the state, such as cancer, glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease and HIV/AIDS.

State regulators will begin accepting applications on Saturday from patients who want state authorization to acquire, grow, transport or possess marijuana for therapeutic use.

"If a patient has a qualifying condition, then our doctors will help them get a permit," said chief executive Paul Stanford, adding the clinic pre-screens patients to ensure they've already been diagnosed with an illness approved for treatment with medical marijuana. The clinic doesn't sell or dispense marijuana, because that's against the law.

The Portland, Ore.-based organization is taking roots in what could soon become a budding niche industry in Michigan.

"You're looking at a $10 million annual industry that physicians aren't going to turn their backs on for too long," said Brad Forrester, a communications director for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Association, which began organizing last year and is applying for nonprofit status with the state.

Thousands are anxiously watching the case against a retired stone mason as they move into closing arguments.

By Bonnie King, Salem-News.com

(PORT ORCHARD, Wash.) - Thirty or so miles outside Tacoma, Washington, in Kitsap County there has been a storm brewing. It's been coming for almost two years, and for the last two weeks, the force of the impact has been hitting the courtroom, but hard.

Kitsap County may not be a place that every one is acquainted with, and after you read this story, it may indeed be one of the last places you ever want to visit.

Though we generally accept that people are hard working, honest and congenial throughout the Pacific NorthWest, it so happens that the very core of the Kitsap County government has displayed none of those considerable attributes.

The majority of Washingtonians voted together in 1998 for the health and safety of its ill residents. Supporting the medical use of marijuana was not a hard choice for most, and the state has adjusted very well overall to bringing these sick patients into the fold.

Contrary to these ideals seems to be one particular man: Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge (pronounced howgy). His opinion of the thousands of legal medicinal use patients seems to be nothing less than disapproval.

The story goes like this:

One Oregon activist said that "patients can live free from a certain level of fear that they've been living with for years"

By Megan Crepeau, The Oregonian Staff

Oregon's medical marijuana activists are buzzing over U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's statement this week that the federal government would no longer raid or prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal.

"I'm just thrilled," said Paul Stanford, president of the Portland-based Hemp and Cannabis Foundation. "It means that patients can live free from a certain level of fear that they've been living with for years."

Holder said at a news conference Wednesday the new administration's policies will be consistent with statements President Barack Obama has made supporting the states' rights to make decisions about legalizing cannabis for medical purposes.
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"What he said during the campaign is now American policy," Holder said in response to a question about DEA raids on dispensaries in California in January.

Marijuana is banned under federal law, but 14 states,, including Oregon, have passed laws approving it for regulated medical use. Obama made clear during his campaign that he would not prosecute medical marijuana users in states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

By Bonnie King, Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Medical Marijuana is now legal in 13 U.S. states. This ironic number is a demonstration of the growing popularity of laws that legalize and regulate the medicinal use of cannabis for sick people.

Along with Dr. Phillip Leveque who writes regularly on the subject, one of Oregon's central figures in the effort to bring this herb to people in a legal way is Paul Stanford of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation which operates clinics in several states.

The newest clinic is in Michigan. Paul says their relatively new clinic in the greater Detroit area is off to a great start.

Paul says in the interview posted below, that there are about a quarter of a million legal medical marijuana patients in the United States.

In Oregon, there are over 20,000 and in California there are over 300,000.

By Curt Guyette, Metro Times

You can't blame Rochelle Lampkin for being wary. During the campaign to gain public support for the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, the Detroit grandmother was willing to step up and reveal that she would take a toke or two to deal with the excruciating pain she sometimes experiences as the result of an eye condition associated with her multiple sclerosis. The courage she and a few others showed in admitting publicly that they were breaking the law paid off in a big way.

Last November, Proposition 1 easily passed. As Greg Francisco, executive director of the nonprofit Michigan Medical Marijuana Association (MMMA) notes, nearly two-thirds of the state's voters approved the measure, with a majority of voters in every state House and Senate district giving a thumbs-up to the proposal. His point is that, even in the most conservative parts of the state, the plan gained voter approval.

"Support was overwhelming," he says, explaining that this "is an issue that transcends party politics."

Despite the public support, Lampkin and others currently find themselves in a gray zone. It's not herself that she's worried about so much as the person who provides her with her medicine — one joint at a time.

The law went into effect Dec. 4, making it legal for people receiving a doctor's recommendation to use weed to deal with their health problems, and for them or their designated "care givers" to grow a limited number of plants.