California Overwhelmingly Supports Medical Marijuana But Rejects Outright Legalization

by Wasim Muklashy

May 31 2012

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Many states have proposed and support blanket legalization of marijuana, regulated and controlled like alcohol, but, perhaps surprisingly, California is not one of them. According to a new University of Southern California Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll that was released earlier today, the general population of California is not in support of legalizing recreational use of marijuana.

However, while only 46% of responders said they support legalizing marijuana for "general or recreational use by adults," an overwhelming 80% support doctor-recommended medicinal use of cannabis for severe illness and disability, showing California's strong stance and staunch moral and scientifically backed outlook that marijuana is medicine.

There seem to be a few factors that influence the results. One is age. 58% of those in their late teens and 20s support recreational use, while only 28% of those over 64 years of age approve, illustrating an obvious generational gap that remains consistent with the general populations evolving views on marijuana.

A second factor is that many California voters believe that the ambiguity of the laws in California have created a situation in which the Compassionate Act of 1996 is being abused by the number and methods of medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state. Dan Schnur, Director of the Jess M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, told the Los Angeles Times that voters "like the idea of providing marijuana for medical use, but they're worried that the law is being abused."

NORML's Dale Geireinger told the Standard-Examiner that "voters are hesitant to liberalize the marijuana laws any further until the chaos of the current system is worked out," suggesting that there would be more support for a State Assembly Bill (AB 2312) backed by NORML and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) that would create a state board to enact and enforce statewide regulations, similar to what Colorado has done.

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While DC Retreats, California And Other States Continue March Towards Drug Policy Reform

Posted: 05/30/2012 11:42 am

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Proving once again progress comes from the states upward to Washington, DC not the reverse, California and Colorado may breakthrough in 2012 with pragmatic reforms that chip away at the failed "war on drugs" with measures that "de-felonize" simple possession of controlled substances and legalize cannabis consumption.

In California advocates from a diverse effort including State Senators Mark Leno, NAACP, Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU and William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI) are poised to gain approval of SB1506 in the California Senate. Approved in the Public Safety Committee thanks to the vote of Senator Ron Calderon (Vice Chair of the Latino Legislative Caucus) SB1506 is picking up steam in the Senate because of its common sense approach.

SB1506 would save $1 billion over five years for California's nearly bankrupt state government, while infinitely improving the chances for a successful life path for thousands of mostly young people of color by eliminating the "felon" scarlet letter from their prospective records. FYI, having a felony conviction excludes one from federal housing access as well as numerous education andjob opportunities in practice.

The centrist measure still punishes transgressors with misdemeanor penalties of fines and county jail time of up to a year. Importantly, SB1506 simultaneously incentivizes the convicted to seeksubstance abuse treatment (enter a program or go to county jail!).

It's no secret that Latinos and African Americans in California are deeply affected by America's "drug war" policies, specifically those attributed to simple possession of a controlled substance. Based on data collected from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, between 2008 and 2011 more than 10,000 California Latinos were convicted of a simple drug possession felony.

Recent surveys show that California voters support SB1506-type measures by 70%, no doubt realizing that putting young people in state prison costs the taxpayers twenty times more than educating them ($180,000 to $8,000 per head per year!)

Given the context of SB 1506, i.e. billions of dollars in California budget cuts in education and social services, a new federal crack-down on state medical marijuana laws, and intensification of drug war intervention in Latin American (despite protestations from US allies Mexico, Colombia and Guatemala), approving SB1506 in 2012 will be especially meaningful.

Similarly in Colorado a ballot proposition legalizing personal use of cannabis is scoring well in surveys with a realistic chance to be enacted by voters in November 2012 -the implications of which will be discussed in a future article.

 

Medical marijuana brings relief for sick kids in Michigan but the treatment is controversial

May 27, 2012  |  

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Rebecca Brown, 48, gives her son Cooper, 14, medical marijuana to control seizures. / REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press

By Paul Egan

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

• FILED UNDER

• Local News
• Politics/Election 2012
• Medical Marijuana
• Lansing

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Should minor patients be allowed to use medical marijuana?

Undecided; I would have to see more examples of successes and failures of medical marijuana treatment among kids.Yes; if the treatment would benefit them.No; this could lead to kids "sharing" their medication with their peers.

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LANSING -- Rebecca Brown says she tried every prescription drug she could find to control the frequent seizures her son suffered because of a severe form of epilepsy.

When nothing worked consistently, and the drugs and special diet caused kidney stones and pancreas problems as side effects, the Oakland County woman turned to medical marijuana.

Now, Cooper Brown, 14, is one of 44 Michigan residents younger than 18 with a medical marijuana card. His mom says his seizures have dropped off dramatically since he started using it early this year.

But the treatment is controversial. Marijuana -- medical or otherwise -- is illegal at the federal level and some doctors say it shouldn't be used by adults, let alone children. A lack of clinical studies means there is uncertainty about its effects on developing brains and nervous systems.

Though still in middle school, Cooper is not the youngest child on the state's medical marijuana registry. A 7-year-old, two 9-year-olds, an 11-year-old, and a 13-year-old can also legally possess and consume medical pot in Michigan.

State officials won't disclose the children's medical conditions. They say they don't know whether the kids smoke the drug or take it some other way, such as in a baked good, a liquid extract called a tincture, or by using a vaporizer.

Parents say they've successfully used medical cannabis to treat their kids for Dravet Syndrome, which Cooper has, as well as autism, attention deficit disorder, muscular dystrophy, and the pain and nausea of cancer, among other ailments.

Brown said she would never let Cooper smoke marijuana. Instead, he eats it in food she prepares for him.

Brown would not identify her supplier but said she searches out cannabis that laboratory tests show is low in THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the compound which provides the marijuana high, but with elevated levels of a lesser-known compound, CBD (cannabidiol), which has antiseizure properties.

Brown said in an interview with the Free Press that she might face criticism for going public but hopes she can help even one family lessen the stress and suffering that she and her family have endured.

"This isn't something we entered into lightly," Brown said. "I've done a lot of reading and a lot of research. I have everything tested.

"I am not a pot smoker and never in a million years thought of trying this," she said. "But when your child is suffering and you feel desperate, you consider things you may not have before.

"Parents, when their kids are healthy, they take it for granted."

Doctors' permission

Brown first had to convince her skeptical husband. Because Cooper is younger than 18, Michigan law required her to get not one, but two doctors -- Cooper's pediatrician and his neurologist -- to sign off on him using it.

Like Michigan, most states that have legalized medical marijuana don't require users to be at least 18. Only Delaware, and now Connecticut, which this month became the 17th state to legalize it, have such a requirement, said Morgan Fox, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Tom George, a practicing physician and former Republican state senator from Kalamazoo who voted against Michigan legalizing medical marijuana in 2008, said there are no absolutes in medicine but an effective prescription treatment is almost always preferable to herbal marijuana.

Michigan, which has more than 130,000 adults on its medical marijuana registry, should amend its law so the drug can be used only for a limited number of specific conditions -- not any time a doctor gives the OK -- he said.

George, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for governor in 2010, said his concerns are heightened when it comes to use by children, though he's not sure that should be banned.

"I don't think we know in growing nervous systems what effects it might have," George said.

In the case of the Brown family, "I like the fact that he's not smoking it," and "it sounds like she's done her homework," George said.

"It's hard to know what to say based on anecdotal cases."

The American Academy of Pediatrics doesn't have a policy on medical cannabis, though it's working on developing one, officials said.

Nearly three-quarters of Michigan medical marijuana users who are minors are either 16 or 17 years old. Similar high school-age concentrations of underage users in other states have prompted concerns about students using medical marijuana cards to supply the drug not just to themselves, but to their friends.

It's a worry even for some proponents of medical pot, such as the Eugene, Ore., man who writes the Weed Blog under the pen name Johnny Green.

"I think it's kind of unusual that in a part of the country where there's a high prevalence of abuse of the program, there's also a high prevalence of teenagers getting their medical marijuana cards," Green said, in reference to Oregon.

Green, 31, who would not give his real name and said he uses medical cannabis to treat his tendinitis, said minors should face stricter controls than adults in getting medical marijuana cards. He said he likes the fact that Michigan, unlike Oregon and most other states, requires not one, but two doctors' signatures.

Farmington Hills attorney Robert Mullen, spokesman for the Michigan chapter of the National Patients Rights Association, which favors testing requirements and improved controls over medical marijuana, said he also favors Michigan's two-doctor requirement.

Long-term effects

As for concerns about the long-term effects of medical cannabis on young patients, "there's a cost-benefit analysis to any form of treatment," Mullen said.

Prescription drugs also can have long-term adverse effects, and "here's someone who's run the full gamut of Western medicine and it's not working, so she's trying something that's an organic treatment," he said.

Though Cooper is small for his age and is in a special education class when he attends school, he is at the high end of the spectrum for youngsters with Dravet Syndrome. He likes to play video games, cook and hang out with friends, and he has verbal skills that many with the same condition lack.

Rebecca Brown said she decided to try medical cannabis for her son after she saw a YouTube video about Jason David of Modesto, Calif., who said he believes the drug saved the life of his son Jayden, 5, who also has Dravet Syndrome and only recently began speaking a few words.

"My son had a seizure every day of his life," David said in a telephone interview. "He was crying in pain every day." Since he started giving the boy an oral tincture of high-CBD cannabis, "he's been doing amazing," and "now he can go a week without having one and when he does, it's not nearly as severe."

Brown said she takes Cooper's medical cannabis to Iron Labs LLC in Walled Lake where it's tested not just for CBD content but for herbicides and other harmful impurities.

She said she's concerned about continuity of supply because high-CBD cannabis was hard to find in Michigan and it would be illegal for her to import it from another state.

"One day a few weeks ago I didn't give him any medicine and that day he had five seizures," said Brown, who uses Facebook to reach out to other moms with sick kids.

"To me, it's not a drug issue, it's a compassion issue," Brown said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com

More Details: Medical cannabis cards for kids

Patients younger than 18 can get medical marijuana cards in Michigan, but they face special requirements in addition to the $100 application fee.

• The minor's legal guardian must sign off on the application.

• Adults require a doctor's certification; minors must have certifications from two doctors.

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Vaporizers prove effective in treating medical marijuana patients

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Medical pot not protected by disabilities act, 9th Circuit rules

By Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times (MCT)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - Added 2 days ago

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LOS ANGELES — Medical marijuana patients cannot use a federal disabilitylaw to prevent cities from shutting down pot dispensaries, a federal appeals court decided Monday.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by severely disabled medical marijuana users against Costa Mesa and Lake Forest, Calif. The suit charged that the Orange County cities were violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by closing down dispensaries that distributed medical marijuana.
The court said the disabilities law does not protect patients who claim to face discrimination on the basis of medical marijuana use.

“We recognize that the federal government’s views on the wisdom of restricting medical marijuana use may be evolving,” wrote Judge Raymond C. Fisher. “But for now Congress has determined that, for purposes of federal law, marijuana is unacceptable for medical use.”
Fisher, a President Bill Clinton appointee, acknowledged that the suit was brought by “gravely ill” people and involved “not only their right to live comfortably, but also their basic human dignity.” He also noted that California has embraced medical marijuana as an effective treatment for patients with debilitating pain.
The patients who sued insisted that Congress’ decision not to interfere with a 2010 medical marijuana law in Washington, D.C., amounted to tacit approval of the drug. D.C. laws take effect only if Congress fails to pass a joint resolution of disapproval within 90 days.
But the 9th Circuit said Congress’ failure to disapprove the medical cannabis law did not amount to an endorsement.
Judge Marsha S. Berzon, also a Clinton appointee, said in a partial dissent that the disabilities law, while ambiguous, may be read to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients. “At the same time, it seems most likely that Congress did not intend the ADA to require the cities to permit marijuana dispensaries,” Berzon wrote.
Jeffrey V. Dunn, who represented Lake Forest in the case, said the nearly 40 dispensaries in the city have been shut down. “My take-away on this is no city or county or a state, for that matter, can enact laws or ordinances that conflict with federal law,” Dunn said.
Matthew Pappas, a lawyer for the medical marijuana patients, said he would ask a larger panel of the 9th Circuit to review the case. He called the majority ruling “incorrect” and complained that patients must now drive long distances to obtain their medicine.
___

Medical pot not protected by disabilities act, 9th Circuit rules

By Maura Dolan / Los Angeles Times (MCT)
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 - Added 1 day ago

E-mail   Print   (1) Comments   Text size   Share   

LOS ANGELES — Medical marijuana patients cannot use a federal disabilitylaw to prevent cities from shutting down pot dispensaries, a federal appeals court decided Monday.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by severely disabled medical marijuana users against Costa Mesa and Lake Forest, Calif. The suit charged that the Orange County cities were violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by closing down dispensaries that distributed medical marijuana.
The court said the disabilities law does not protect patients who claim to face discrimination on the basis of medical marijuana use.

“We recognize that the federal government’s views on the wisdom of restricting medical marijuana use may be evolving,” wrote Judge Raymond C. Fisher. “But for now Congress has determined that, for purposes of federal law, marijuana is unacceptable for medical use.”
Fisher, a President Bill Clinton appointee, acknowledged that the suit was brought by “gravely ill” people and involved “not only their right to live comfortably, but also their basic human dignity.” He also noted that California has embraced medical marijuana as an effective treatment for patients with debilitating pain.
The patients who sued insisted that Congress’ decision not to interfere with a 2010 medical marijuana law in Washington, D.C., amounted to tacit approval of the drug. D.C. laws take effect only if Congress fails to pass a joint resolution of disapproval within 90 days.
But the 9th Circuit said Congress’ failure to disapprove the medical cannabis law did not amount to an endorsement.
Judge Marsha S. Berzon, also a Clinton appointee, said in a partial dissent that the disabilities law, while ambiguous, may be read to protect the rights of medical marijuana patients. “At the same time, it seems most likely that Congress did not intend the ADA to require the cities to permit marijuana dispensaries,” Berzon wrote.
Jeffrey V. Dunn, who represented Lake Forest in the case, said the nearly 40 dispensaries in the city have been shut down. “My take-away on this is no city or county or a state, for that matter, can enact laws or ordinances that conflict with federal law,” Dunn said.
Matthew Pappas, a lawyer for the medical marijuana patients, said he would ask a larger panel of the 9th Circuit to review the case. He called the majority ruling “incorrect” and complained that patients must now drive long distances to obtain their medicine.
___