Regulating Weed? San Francisco to Ask Those Who "Live and Breathe It"
Task force to advise City on medical marijuana
Saturday, January 9, 2010
nbcbayarea.com
Updated 4:30 PM PST
In a sign of medical marijuana's growing acceptance, the Board of Supervisors voted Thursday to solicit advice on the issue from a new task force.
The new environment was on display at Hope Net, a cannabis dispensary in San Francisco's Civic Center neighborhood.
There, precisely at noon, a black iron security door flung open. A steady stream of men filed past the trays of glass smoking pipes, and headed toward a back room. Before a glass counter they browsed plastic bins of pungent marijuana buds, cookies and brownies. A sign on the wall advertises a raffle.
Scenes like this, once relegated to the shadows of gritty San Francisco life, now happen in the open. And Hope Net owner Catherine Smith has city supervisors' numbers in her cell phone. In fact, she advises them on municipal medical marijuana issues.
“I think it’s a big step forward for us being able to participate in city government,” Smith said as she watched the line of customers.
Today's committee vote approved a plan to create a Marijuana Task Force to advise the city on cannabis-related issues. The full board must now approve the plan
The move comes as medical marijuana undergoes its biggest evolution toward public acceptance. The Obama Administration recently signaled it would no longer crack down on legitimate medical dispensaries. Next week California’s legislature will hold hearings on a proposal by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Supervisor David Campos, who occupies Ammiano’s former seat on San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, said the sticky issue could benefit from sage advise from the medical cannabis community itself.
“Irrespective of what we think about these issues, it makes sense to create an advisory group with people who are experts in the area, to provide some policy guidance to the board," said Campos.
Campos said dispensary operators, advocates and cultivators will sit on the task force, and will be appointed by the supervisors.
Among the issues the task force will immediately confront, is an increase in police crackdowns on marijuana growing operations in the city’s Sunset District. Police say growers in residential neighborhoods have modified houses with elaborate and dangerous heating systems to grow hundreds of plants.
Longtime marijuana advocate Michelle Aldrich says it’s an issue perfectly suited for the task force’s new agenda.
“We can work through it and get guidelines of what people can grow in their houses and what they can’t,” she said.
Shona Gochenaur of the Axis of Love patient cooperative said her group will offer advice on cultivation and how to regulate the variety of marijuana-related items.
“We are the experts,” Gochenaur said. “We live, breathe, have risked arrest and we know what’s going to work for our patients.”
News & Information
The Past, Present, and Future of Medical Marijuana in the United States
On October 19, 2009, the Office of the Deputy US Attorney General issued a memorandum, “Investigations and Prosecutions in States Authorizing the Medical Use of Marijuana.”1 The memo announced a federal policy to abstain from investigating or prosecuting “individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.” The memo made clear, however, that it did not “legalize marijuana or provide a legal defense to a violation of federal law.” Rather, it was “intended solely as a guide to the exercise of investigative and prosecutorial discretion.” This article seeks to place the attorney general’s action in historical, medical, and legal context.
The Union
A very well built documentary about cannabis and drug prohibition. Does the drug prohibition work? Have a look and think for yourself.
Is Cannabis the Answer to Booze Britain's Problems?
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 - 06:23 in Psychology & Sociology
Substituting cannabis in place of more harmful drugs may be a winning strategy in the fight against substance misuse. Research published in BioMed Central' open access Harm Reduction Journal features a poll of 350 cannabis users, finding that 40% used cannabis to control their alcohol cravings, 66% as a replacement for prescription drugs and 26% for other, more potent, illegal drugs. Amanda Reiman, from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, carried out the study at Berkeley Patient's Group, a medical cannabis dispensary.
Run From the Cure, A Medicinal Marijuana Mov
Film By Christian Laurette - After a serious head injury in 1997, Rick Simpson sought relief from his medical condition through the use of medicinal marijuana. When Rick discovered that the hemp oil (with its high concentration of T.H.C.) cured cancers and other illnesses, he tried to share it with as many people as he could free of charge - curing and controlling literally hundreds of people's illnesses with the use of medicinal marijuana... but when the story went public, the long arm of the law snatched the medicine - leaving potentially thousands of people without their cancer treatments - and leaving Rick with unconstitutional charges of possessing and trafficking marijuana!
Pot Shrinks Tumors; Government Knew in 1974
The term medical marijuana took on dramatic new meaning in February, 2000 when researchers in Madrid announced they had destroyed incurable brain tumors in rats by injecting them with THC, the active ingredient in cannabis.
Vaporization with Jeff Jones
Patient ID Center - Secure Verification Service
Medical Cannabis News
- Which medical marijuana evaluators sell their patient info?
- Laurel Montana City council reviews new marijuana ordinance
- Long Beach Passes Tweaked Medical Marijuana Ordinance
- Guadalupe OKs ban on medical marijuana dispensaries
- Stockton Medical Marijuana dispensary loses fight
- Wisconsin medical cannabis activists swarm Capitol for ongoing Operation Floodgates
- Lansing to study response to state marijuana law
- Michigan economic green shoots more like weeds
- Hayward Rejects Pot Clubs
- The Hill up in smoke
NORML
- NORML Launches iPhone Application, ‘Reefer Revolution’ Continues In Cyberspace
- The New Jim Crow: How the War on Drugs Gave Birth to a Permanent American Undercaste
- Real World Ramifications of Cannabis Legalization and Decriminalization
- Medical Marijuana’s Lost Man: Bryan Epis
- NORML’s Weekly Legislative Update
ASA
- John DiIulio statement is no surprise, but a reminder to urge change on medical marijuana
- ASA Chapters continue to grow…
- ASA is hiring! Community Liaison (Northern CA)
- Colorado’s backlash against DEA raids
- LA City Attorney Revives Cynical Bush Tactic of Threatening Medical Marijuana Dispensary Landlords
MPP
- Former Bush Appointee, Prohibitionist Author Now Supports Marijuana Policy Reform
- Surge for Marijuana Policy Reform Makes Front Page of USA Today
- Let Pres. Obama Know You Want to End Marijuana Prohibition
- Medical Marijuana POW Needs Your Help
- Insurance Agency Becomes First to Offer National Medical Marijuana Coverage
Cannabis As Medicine
Resource Center
A Primer on Medicinal Cannabis
Cannabis (marijuana) is among the most widely used of all psychoactive drugs. There has been renewed interest in the potential medical uses of cannabis (Cannabis sativa) in recent years. Opinion polls suggest similarly strong popular support for the reintroduction of medical cannabis in the USA, the UK, and many European countries. Expert reviews of medical and scientific evidence on this topic carried out on both sides of the Atlantic in the past few years have encouraged further clinical and scientific research.
Read More
A Medicinal Cannabis Horticultural Library
Welcome to the Green Man's Marijuana Growing Guide & Free Library. The spirit is to help medical cannabis patients and horticulturalists grow the most potent marijuana plants legally possible. Growing marijuana indoors in your own space, greenhouse or outdoor garden is not difficult.
Read More
Medical Cannabis Directory Categories
Collectives & Cooperatives (387)
Doctors (113)
Attorneys (78)
Organizations (93)
Industry Services (3)
ID Centers (43)
Coffee Shops (8)
Laguna Woods Seniors Step Towards Embracing Medical Marijuana And Wants To Open A Medical Cannabis Collective
Aug 14, 2009 Debra Baer
KPCC Interview
Sponsors
Comments
zHmSoxTpztJnUsY
KCeDJWJlhyxdTdBYGZl
aKkvMEWzBdAtdqWnkS
ssdGpaKTogOYRVGaB
cZAGFrTFRfN
IzKqMFXMyAyVRHhy
VqqgImEsEFudhfiaAta
gOkwUwZBfdZlF
eLajwzyKkdlyT
hlyLlrYmvf
KtlKUZeaSZgyYu
uhJttRDenRTsM
mQyJkNRmvPZeuVTk
PTbpKpqZMZIJXif
ijzzdWmUfVLNWnRjN
uqAwehKqMvXNOqwaFW
StWiBHgGlLPesbS
cCKyoKDqQtKq
qpDIYinoMTAKr
lEunFjwKEuiFFvKh
rXnBbpdcAfybKlVmJFx
GuWQeROnDJPGPAIO
RmQswCTDjgbbxDoXZqY
fSzuCdVAKGDGmOvQai
tSShrArOLY
sCzEcTQHPZyPDzF
vSktGuvGVPmERj
wbBhFUCiKLPvjqFU
sVVfBjshLyglslTey
fZxktjtgMDeoGCtjp
WsRuczcipCZGN
yKPVJrMiGfC
fAOiqJwwyVsdSODss
WPuZXTAlJnjkI
vMZqeFAthSOaIKAvtId
NRwUZqMBjHZcmzuXuA
clTuypZqkKyVlte
yLFadvXavXdRHJuVKsT
KaOgNoqoCLlmpYg
yeTSNCVKUhRP
bLLkviUrgHwU
aqeslAyvJjTnwzTfTyQ