Monthly Archives: January 2012

Marijuana-based prescription drug seeks approval from the FDA

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Of course, it would conflict with the US Patent currently held by the Federal Government, and it’s fanatical denial that cannabis can be used medically… but it wouldn’t be the first time that the pharmaceutical industry crawled into bed with the FDA to get them to let them release a drug.
Excerpted:
“Sativex contains marijuana’s two best known components — delta 9-THC and cannabidiol.

SAN FRANCISCO — A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.

Additional medicines derived from or inspired by the pot plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, biotech firms and scientists.

A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world’s first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents— a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain.

And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

Sativex contains marijuana’s two best known components — delta 9-THC and cannabidiol — and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.”

LISA LEFF Associated Press
Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Marijuana-based_prescription_drug_seeks_approval_from_the_FDA_01-27-2012.html#ixzz1kfzNLuIK

Unit D Closes

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Excerpted:

“…According to LaFond, after learning of the Garden Grove city council’s recent decision to halt all paperwork involving new marijuana clubs, he called city attorney Tom Nixon, who told him that the federal government had informed the city that if they didn’t take such an action, the city would be open to criminal prosecution. Nobody at the city attorney’s office was available to speak with the Weekly, however LaFond says that Nixon told him that “he would not be surprised to see federal action”–i.e. raids–”taken in Garden Grove and the surrounding community,” by which Nixon meant the cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim…”

“… [La Fond]… . “There are so many people we gave free or discounted medication to, that they were literally in tears when we told them the news. These people came to depend on us and we can’t be there for them anymore.”

You can read the entire article @ http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/01/garden_groves_unit_d_cannabis.php

Crime and Medical Marijuana Prohibitionist Scare Tactics – Stephen Downing of LEAP to Long Beach City Council

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Stephen Downing
Web: www.leap.cc
January 19, 2012

James Johnson
Councilmember, 7th District
333 W. Ocean Blvd, 14th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802

Dear Councilmember Johnson:

I read with interest the answer to the question you posed about the general crime effect of
medical marijuana collectives upon the City of Long Beach at the last council meeting. The
nature of the statistics reported in the Grunion Gazette provided no opportunity to analyze
the generalization that the one murder, 54 felonies and 27 misdemeanors were the direct
result of legal marijuana collectives operating in the City, as alleged. Nor did the article
indicate whether those crimes were committed last week or over the 15 years that medical
marijuana has been permitted by law in California.

As you know, “statistics” especially “crime statistics” are often used to support scare tactics
used by those whose prohibitionist agendas continue to fight against the will of the people
rather than use the power and authority of their office to accommodate and implement that
which California voters passed by a margin of 55%; with Long Beach voters providing an even
greater margin of approval.

I personally believe that our City Attorney is a leader among those prohibitionists. I support
this statement based upon my past experience listening to his tortured legal opinions and
exaggerated rhetoric, especially his outlandish threat that council members are in jeopardy
of being jailed by the federal government if they do anything other than ban medical
marijuana in the City of Long Beach. I also find it repugnant that any city council would even
undertake to ban state law or that any city attorney, elected or not, would recommend such
a tyrannical action to the governing body he represents.

The Council should ask why our City Attorney has not yet taken this matter up with the State
Attorney General. His position in local government dictates that her counsel should guide
him. His oath of office obligates him to support the sovereign powers of the state, by which
the City is chartered, rather than collaborate with and support the conflicts of interest and
prohibitionist goals of the DOJ, DEA, and the California Narcotic Officer and Police Chief’s
lobbying organizations.

It is counterintuitive to me that a legally controlled and regulated business can be singled out
as the cause of crime in a community to the extent that a governing body would consider
banning its continued existence; especially when State law specifically provides for this kind
of medical support within our communities. Persons who seek medicine from a medical
marijuana dispensary are no different from those who seek medicine from a pharmacy –and
I see no attempt by our City Attorney to ban pharmacies in the City of Long Beach.

With that said, I believe the referenced crime statistics can provide the foundation for an
independent study to scientifically determine the true cause, and dispositions, related to
those crime reports.

As one example the study could expose or refute the following: It has been said that the
referenced murder victim was in fact a member of a legal dispensary operation targeted by
the robbery suspects because it became known that he was forced to carry large amounts of
legal cash during collections; a condition created by the Department of Justice and DEA when
they informed banks that they would be held criminally liable for processing “drug money” if
legal medical marijuana dispensaries were allowed to open business bank accounts.

I have no facts at my disposal to say that this is in fact the case, but if it were, would we hold
the dispensary responsible for the cause of the robbery/murder or would we put it at the
doorstep of a tyrannical federal government? An independent study that examines this kind
of variable would go far in assisting the Council in evaluating the causative factors behind the
81 reported crimes as opposed to having to depend upon the biased prohibitionist myth
making to which the Council has been exposed to date.

Therefore, I recommend that the City engage the Rand Corporation to study the referenced
crime reports to determine if legal medical marijuana dispensaries are in fact the cause of
those 81 crimes any more than other legally established businesses in Long Beach would be.

Sincerely;

Stephen Downing
Deputy Chief, LAPD (ret.)
Executive Board Member: LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition)
Resident: City of Long Beach

cc: Long Beach City Councilmembers

High Drama in the Courtroom as Judge Sheldon Recuses himself

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“If it sounds defiant for me to say ‘I hope more people stand for what is right and do the right thing and fight for righteousness, then I guess I am defiant. But I don’t think I am – I am very sorry that this happened. It put my family through a horrible time and it’s put all my friends for a horrible time. But this needs to be sorted out. The law needs to be clarified and we need to get past this. One day people won’t be thrown in jail for distributing a plant to sick people.” ~ Joe Grumbine

If anybody needed proof that standing up for what is right and fighting for righteousness does any good, all they had to do was be in court in Long Beach on Wednesday, January 11, 2012.

Between the relentless support of the Green Team, and the brilliant defense by the “Dream Team” (as the bailiffs called them,) especially that last volley of motions by Allison Margolin — “L.A.’s dopest attorney” — and her most excellent legal team, the conviction machine that has been rolling over people in Long Beach (and all over the country) for years, if not decades, just got a monkey-wrench thrown into the works. At least for now.

If you’re into courtroom drama, you missed a real cliff-hanger when, instead of sending the Joes off to the Twin Towers in handcuffs, the judge stepped away from the bench. It was breathtaking to watch him recuse himself to avoid the appearance of bias — and wash his hands of the whole dirty mess. You’re a smart one, Charles D. Sheldon.

And if you weren’t there, it’s your loss, Medical Marijuana Community. It was your neck on the chopping block and you didn’t even know it. It’s still on the chopping block and you still don’t know it. You don’t know it because most of the people who have gotten caught up in this prosecutorial meat grinder took deals and went away quietly. Most people in their position would not stand and fight the way the Joes did. It started with the two of them having the guts to turn down deal after deal in order to take the case through the judicial system as far as it needs to go to end prohibition once and for all.

Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine stood up for the rights of medical marijuana patients and providers everywhere by sticking their own necks on the chopping block. Backed by the courageous and unflagging defense by the Dream Team and the relentless presence of the Green Team – they have, at least temporarily, thrown their bodies on the gears of the machine and stopped it in it’s tracks.

Congratulations to The Joes, to the Dream Team and to the Green Team. Defiance talks.

Letters sent to Pot Shops: Feds expand crackdown to Colorado

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Medical Marijuana: Federal Crackdown, Similar To That In California, Begins In Colorado
The Associated Press reports that federal officials are beginning a California-style crackdown on medical marijuana businesses in Colorado.

As CBS4 originally reported in December when rumors of crackdown were beginning to take shape, the crackdown will be focused on medical marijuana businesses that are within 1,000 feet of schools. They must shut down within 45 days or face federal penalties.

Letters were sent out to 23 medical marijuana businesses in Colorado on Thursday, according to The Denver Post. This is the most aggressive law-enforcement action that the federal government has pursued in the state.

The reasoning behind the 1,000 foot boundary stems from federal law which uses that measurement as a factor in drug crime sentencing

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/medical-marijuana-federal_n_1202725.html