Patient Denied a Kidney Transplant Because of Legal Medical Marijuana Use

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 12, 2012
Jun 122012

A medical marijuana patient in Los Angeles has been removed from the kidney transplant list at the famed Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Toni Trujillo is the second patient in the last year to be removed from the hospital’s transplant lists due to their medical marijuana use. Toni has had kidney problems for most of her life and has been on dialysis for the last five years. She has been using medical marijuana to try and stimulate her appetite. She said that since she has been using marijuana as a medicine, something she has been doing for the last two years, that her protein levels have increased.

Toni’s medical marijuana use is not something she has hidden from her doctors. She reports that she has never had any push back from the hospital about her medical marijuana use, so she was shocked to find out that she had been delisted from the transplant list for “substance abuse”. Toni Trujillo had been waiting on the transplant list for the last six years. Continue reading »

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Another DEA Raid in Sacramento Leaves Dispensary Owners Wondering, "Who is Safe?"

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 12, 2012
Jun 122012

El Camino Wellness Center Building that was raided on Monday

Yesterday, an early morning raid on a Sacramento dispensary was executed for the El Camino Wellness Center. DEA agents raided the facility in the early morning hours, around six A.M. They also raided the homes of the executive directors at the same time. The Sacramento police were on hand, but were only there for crowd control. Indeed, some protesters began gathering outside the center within the hour, having learned about it on social media like Facebook and Twitter.

The El Camino Wellness center had been operating for since 2008. The Center is one out of just four dispensaries that had gone through the rigorous vetting process of the city. They also provide chiropractic services, massages, peer counseling and other health services. Wellness spokesperson, Linda Stokely says there are NO schools or parks within a thousand feet of the location, in compliance with state guidelines. Continue reading »

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Tommy Chong Battling Cancer

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 11, 2012
Jun 112012

Comedian, actor and activist, Tommy Chong revealed this weekend on CNN that he is seeking treatment for prostate cancer. He said that he was diagnosed with the disease about a month ago, and that doctors have told him it is a slow stage cancer that he has had for a long time. The 74 year old icon said that had the initial symptoms of prostate cancer when he was in jail eight years ago for selling bongs. He said that during that period, he had been cannabis free for a period of three years, something he says tell him that his cancer had nothing to do with his pot use.

He did say he believes that cannabis can cure some kinds of cancers and that he has begun a treatment of ingesting marijuana oil at night. He said the ordeal has made smoking a joint without being arrested more important to him than before. Continue reading »

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Meghan McCain Supports Legalization

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 11, 2012
Jun 112012

Senator and former presidential nominee, John McCain has had to share the spotlight with his politically active daughter since the 2008 election. The now 27-year-old Republican author, blogger and columnist, Meghan McCain, along with Michael Ian Black have written a road trip book together. They have recently been on a promotional tour for the book titled, “America, You Sexy Bitch : A Love Letter to Freedom”. Meghan McCain, no stranger to controversial subjects, wrote about smoking marijuana on her blog.

She says the question is a loaded one for her, since she says there is no right answer in the political world about marijuana. She said she hates not being truthful. Meghan McCain shares a view about marijuana that most her age agree with, she thinks it should be legalized. McCain  has reached her conclusions after a few times of smoking marijuana, with the first being on an Amsterdam trip in college. She found it less intense than alcohol, calling it “mild”. She says that cannabis should be taxed to help our economic problems and that the country could use a marijuana tax to fund universal health care. Continue reading »

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GA Supreme Court Looks at Thermal Imaging Technology

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 11, 2012
Jun 112012

The Seven Justices of the Georgia Supreme Court

In a case involving emerging technology, a public defender in Athens, Ga will speak before the State Supreme Court on Monday about the use of technology to collect evidence for his client’s case. In 2009 Authorities used a thermal imaging device on James Brundige’s home where they suspected he was involved in criminal activity. The thermal imaging device showed a hotspot in Mr. Brundrige’s home. The authorities in the case took that evidence of a hot spot in his house to a Judge saying it was evidence of a hot lights to grow marijuana in his home. The Judge granted the warrant, and on May 29th of 2009 the Northeast Georgia Regional Drug Task Force raided Mr. Brundige’s home, and indeed found an indoor cannabis garden.

The 28 year old was charged with manufacturing, possession with intent to distribute and possession of a controlled substance.  His public defender took his case to the Superior Court to try and have the case dismissed arguing the the evidence in the case was illegally seized. Western Judicial Circuit Assistant Public Defender, Benjamin Pearlman told the judges that a mere hotspot wasn’t enough evidence to gain a warrant. Continue reading »

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Senator from Oregon Tries to Legalize Industrial Hemp

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 8, 2012
Jun 082012

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) walking with Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski

Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, submitted a last minute addition to the Agricultural Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012 that would legalize the production of industrial hemp. Wyden read from a prepared text saying, “Industrial hemp is used in many healthy and sustainable consumer products. However, the federal prohibition on growing industrial hemp has forced companies to needlessly import raw materials from other countries. My amendment to the Farm Bill will change federal policy to allow U.S. farmers to produce hemp for these safe and legitimate products right here..”

Hemp has long been prohibited because of its relation to marijuana, technically a schedule one substance. Keeping hemp illegal in 2012 seems outdated with most American’s understanding that marijuana can get you high, industrial hemp cannot. Economists and business researchers have been saying for years that hemp has the potential to be worth millions, if not billions, if allowed to be farmed. Continue reading »

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Teen's Marijuana Use Outpaces Tobacco Use

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 8, 2012
Jun 082012

A government survey was published this week that shows that American Teenagers are now smoking marijuana more than they are smoking cigarettes. A report that came out on Thursday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that 23 percent of high school students admitted that they had recently smoked marijuana. 18 percent of high school students said that they had smoked a cigarette recently.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been tracking teen risk behaviors and smoking rates for a few decades now. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System is a survey that monitors six different types of health risky behaviors that contribute to the top causes of death or disability among teens. They track sexually behaviors, diet, exercise, injuries and alcohol, tobacco and drug use. Tobacco use has been steadily declining, but marijuana use in teenagers has been fluctuating over the last 10 years. Teen marijuana usage dropped from 2007 to 2009. but then rose from 2009 until 2011. Continue reading »

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Enrollment in Montana's Medical Marijuana Program Falls 72 Percent

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 7, 2012
Jun 072012

The Montana medical marijuana program has been decimated by last summer’s Republican legislature. As of May 31st, the number of registered medical marijuana card holders has fallen to 8,734. That is an 18 percent drop since April, and a whopping 72 percent drop from a year ago when the May 31st card holder count was 31,522. Providers, formally called caregivers, have had their numbers decline from 4838 last year, to only 400. Last year there were 365 doctors recommending medical marijuana to at least one of their patients. That number has dropped to 235.

It was just one year ago that the Montana medical marijuana law was in jeopardy of being repealed altogether. Montana voters passed a citizen initiative medical marijuana law in 2004. A contentious debate in the 2011 legislature led to the Montana Speaker of the House, Republican Mike Milburn, authoring legislation to repeal the law, but that bill was vetoed by Governor Brian Schweitzer. After Milburn’s bill was vetoed by the Governor, the legislature approved a second bill that did not outright appeal the Montana medical marijuana law, but was aimed at slashing the number of medical marijuana users and largely eliminating the business side of Montana’s Medical Marijuana industry. The governor did nothing to stop that harsh regulation bill, and let it pass into law without his signature. Continue reading »

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Eric Holder Questioned Over DEA Raids of Dispensaries and "Fast and Furious"

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on June 7, 2012
Jun 072012

US Attorney General, Eric Holder

United States Attorney General, Eric Holder said that the Obama administration is only targeting dispensaries that have exceeded state laws and that he is still trying to find accountability in the errors under Operation “Fast and Furious”.  Attorney General Holder was in a House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Thursday where he told the committee, “We limit our enforcement efforts to those individuals, organizations that are acting out of conformity with state law,”. The response was in answer to Representative Jerrold Nadler from New York who was questioning Holder about the administration’s medical marijuana policies. Representative Nadler has sponsored a medical marijuana bill in the state of New York.

During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised to make marijuana use a lower priority, and to not waste government resources prosecuting medical marijuana cases. When the first few DEA raids happened during his tenure, the White House said that it was just a holdover from the previous administration’s policies. In October of 2009, a year after Obama took office, Eric Holder issued a memo that has been debated ever since. The “Holder memo” was put out to provide clarification and guidance to federal prosecutors in Medical marijuana states. It asked them to not focus on individuals using medical marijuana in compliance with existing state laws. The memo also stated that, “prosecution of commercial enterprises that unlawfully market and sell marijuana for profit continues to be an enforcement priority of the Department.” Activists and entrepreneurs interpreted that memo to mean if they were following state laws, they would not be targeted by federal authorities. That has not been the case. Continue reading »

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