It was no party for medical pot users. I founded Harborside Health Center six years ago to establish a model cannabis dispensary, one that would set the gold standard for legal compliance and a truly medical approach.
Since then, my staff and I have accomplished that goal and more. Harborside was the first to laboratory-test cannabis to ensure its safety, and measure its potency. Marijuana use prior to pregnancy doubles risk of premature birth. A large international study led by University of Adelaide researchers has found that women who use marijuana can more than double the risk of giving birth to a baby prematurely. Preterm or premature birth -- at least three weeks before a baby's due date -- can result in serious and life-threatening health problems for the baby, and an increased risk of health problems in later life, such as heart disease and diabetes.
A study of more than 3000 pregnant women in Adelaide, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand has detailed the most common risk factors for preterm birth. The results have been published online July 17 in the journal PLoS ONE. The research team, led by Professor Gus Dekker from the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute and the Lyell McEwin Hospital, found that the greatest risks for spontaneous preterm birth included: * Strong family history of low birth weight babies (almost six times the risk);
How marijuana could help cure obesity-related diseases. Savages: Stone’s Stoner Film Reminds Us Why Marijuana Should Be Legal. The new Oliver Stone stoner film, Savages, opens today, July 6.
It’s based on Don Winslow’s 2010 novel, but I’ve noticed in reviews that John Travolta has a line about marijuana that isn’t in the book: “This stuff’ll be legal in three years,” he says. “Embrace the change.” It’s an apt update. Travolta, mind you, doesn’t play some wishful-thinking pothead. Medical marijuana does not increase teen drug use. Macgregor Campbell, consultant (Image: David Young-Wolff/Getty Images) Teens in the US are smoking more pot, but don't blame medical marijuana.
WashingtonPost. Obama, the happy drug warrior. Pot guru hands over reins to dispensary. Richard Lee, the state's most influential advocate for marijuana legalization, said Friday that he is relinquishing control of his pot dispensary and medical marijuana trade school in the aftermath of Monday's federal raid on the school and distribution center.
"It's the best thing to do with my legal battle," Lee said, adding that he would keep his ownership in the various businesses. "I've been doing this for 20 years, so I kind of feel like I've done my time and it's time for others to take over. " Letters to the editor, April 6. While I commend The Chronicle for condemning the senseless raids by the federal government against Oaksterdam University and the Blue Sky Coffee Shop ("Stop the federal pot raids," April 5), I strongly take issue with the assertion that there is "... a steady stream of customers who hardly resemble the sick and suffering ...
" who patronize California's medical cannabis dispensaries. I am a retired teacher, a medical cannabis patient and a member of the collectives here in San Francisco that are being targeted by the Department of Justice's latest attempt to circumvent state and local law, not to mention the overwhelming will of the people of California.
Since when is a visual diagnosis by a layman more credible than a physician's written recommendation based on medical examinations, blood tests, MRIs, CAT scans or X-rays? I strongly urge President Obama to work with state and local officials, patients and other stakeholders to end the divide between state and federal law. Stop the federal pot raids. A months-long crackdown on medical marijuana by federal prosecutors has reached new heights with this week's raids on Oakland dispensaries.
It's time to call off the overboard tactics and deal sensibly with regulating a drug that increasing numbers of Americans feel poses little harm. The latest incident only furthers the tone-deaf image of the U.S. Department of Justice, whose agents stormed well-known medical pot dispensaries in Oakland, the de facto center of efforts to expand marijuana cultivation and use. Oakland: Feds should target crime, not Oaksterdam. On many fronts, Oakland is in dire need of federal assistance.
The city needs help reducing violent crime and would benefit from the feds' expertise in investigating allegations of government corruption. Unfortunately, Oakland doesn't need the kind of help federal authorities are giving us now. Justice Dept.: 'no regrets' on medical pot stance. Washington -- Eight months after the Justice Department appeared to reverse course on its apparent hands-off policy on medical marijuana, officials there maintain a "no regrets" stance but acknowledge being out of their element in the face of blowback from marijuana supporters.
"As U.S. attorneys, it's not our job to go out there and engage in public debate," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, whose district is based in Sacramento. "We let our cases do the talking. " Mendocino County eliminates pot-growing permits. Mendocino County, a national epicenter of all things marijuana, crumpled under pressure from Uncle Sam last week and stripped itself of more than a half-million dollars in annual pot income.
The Board of Supervisors voted to cancel its novel medical marijuana permit program on Tuesday, saying federal prosecutors had threatened to sue the county if the program stayed on the books. Under the 2-year-old program, the most comprehensive in the state, Mendocino County issued permits to cannabis collectives, allowing them to grow as many as 99 plants at a time, and the sheriff performed monthly inspections on their zip-tied bundles of pot. Sheriff Tom Allman's office collected $663,230 last year in fees for the inspections, which certified that the marijuana was grown for medicinal purposes only. Oakland welcomes more pot dispensaries. Once again, Oakland is barreling into the pot frontier on its own.
Federal officials have forced the shutdown of more than 200 medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California since fall, and the state Supreme Court agreed last week to hear a case that could throw the industry into chaos - but is that discouraging the city of Oaksterdam? Hardly. Oakland officials are planning to issue permits for four new dispensaries in early February, doubling the number the city has already granted. The four existing cannabis shops and other pot businesses bring in about $1 million a year in fees and taxes to the deficit-hammered city, and officials are so eager for the extra cash promised by four new outlets they're practically willing to nail in the shelves themselves.
Testing of marijuana done in a legal vacuum. Los Angeles -- The tech broke the bud of marijuana into small flakes, measuring 200 milligrams into a vial. He had picked up the strain, Ghost, earlier that day from a dispensary in the Valley and guessed by its pungency and visible resin glands that it was potent. He could have determined this the old-fashioned way, with a bong and a match. Instead, he began the meticulous process of preparing the sample for the high pressure liquid chromatograph. Fed's misguided pot crackdown. An overzealous federal crackdown on medical marijuana once again is ramping up in the Bay Area. It won't work, it's not wanted and raises questions about the federal government's law-enforcement priorities.
The latest chapter is a civil forfeiture order posted this week on the front windows of two giant storefront operations run by Harborside Health Center in Oakland and San Jose. Since October, more than 400 cannabis outlets across the state have closed after federal authorities sent threatening notices to operators and their landlords, marijuana advocates claim. Feds' pot response differs in California, Colorado. Forget about "Rocky Mountain High.
" In Colorado, the medical marijuana industry is a tightly regulated amalgam of businesses policed by gun-toting agents of the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division. While medical marijuana providers in California are wary of stepped-up federal law enforcement, comparable businesses in Colorado are confident that despite growing pains, their industry - enshrined in the state's Constitution - will continue to thrive. "We are on an even keel and moving forward," said Jason Lauve, board member of the Association of Cannabis Trades for Colorado and publisher of Cannabis Health News magazine. Colorado and California are among the 16 states that, along with the District of Columbia, have laws permitting marijuana use for medicinal purposes. But while each of the laws conflicts with federal law, Colorado and California represent case studies in the varying degrees of U.S. law enforcement response.
Pot, narcotics OK to treat pain, UCSF study finds. Inhaled marijuana appears to be a safe and effective treatment for chronic pain when used in addition to narcotics like morphine and oxycodone, according to a small UCSF study that is the first to look at the combined effects of the two classes of drugs in humans. The study, published in this month's edition of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, was designed primarily to look at whether taking marijuana with narcotics is safe, and researchers reported that there were no negative side effects from combining the drugs.
Overall, the 21 men and women in the study reported a roughly 25 percent reduction in pain after inhaling vaporized marijuana several times a day for five days. If the results can be backed up in further studies, marijuana could prove an important means of augmenting the effects of narcotic drugs for the millions of people who suffer from chronic pain associated with cancer, AIDS and a variety of other conditions, said study author Dr. Stands to reason.
State tries to straighten out marijuana registry. Oakland medical marijuana spot on TV's 'Weed Wars' California's pot economy explored in 2 TV shows. Judge won't halt federal medical pot crackdown.