medical marijuana

marijuana leaf

Over-Policing of Marijuana Possession by Maricopa County Attorney & ASU

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marijuana leafThe case of Andre Maestas, a student at Arizona State University and a medical marijuana card holder, is a prime example of what’s wrong with Arizona’s drug enforcement policies and our conflicting laws.

Marijuana prohibition zealot and Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery filed felony marijuana possession charges against Maestas because he had 0.6 grams of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia in his dorm room. (0.6 grams is approximately a teaspoon of pot.)

How could a medical marijuana patient be charged with felony possession– especially for such a tiny amount? Patients are allowed to possess and purchase up to  2.5 ounces of pot every two weeks. Maestas had 0.02 ounces. (Did I mention that Maestas is black?)

Apparently, Maestas was charged and found guilty under a 2012 law passed by the Arizona Legislature (and backed by the universities) which bans medical pot on college campuses. Maestas’ case claims the 2012 law– which changes the 2010 voter-approved Medical Marijuana Act– is illegal because of the 1998 voter-approved Voter Protection Act, which prohibits the Legislature from changing or over-turning citizen initiatives. (The Voter Protection Act was passed two years after Arizona voters overwhelmingly passed medical marijuana the first time.) So far– the courts are not buying Maestas’ argument, and he is scheduled to be sentenced in early October. What’s wrong with this picture?

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Arizona Senate

AZ Budget Solution: Grow the Economy, Don’t Starve It (video)

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Arizona Senate
Arizona Senate Chambers

Governor Doug Ducey and Republican leadership in the Legislature made headlines and sparked street protests this week when they tried to ram through a starvation budget that was negotiated in secret.

The wrong-headed budget starved universities with $104 million-dollar in cuts;  it stole even more money from K-12 education with a $98 million hit this year and another $157 million hit in the next year; just for fun, it cut an additional $8-15 from TUSD; it crippled job training with $30 million in cuts; it completely defunded community colleges in Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa Counties; it cut provider rates for people who provide medical care to Medicaid/AHCCCS patients by $127 million (which would result in the loss of $588 million of federal funds). And these are just the highlights.

This severe austerity budget will do nothing to grow the economy. It will starve the economy by taking more than a billion dollars out. This means more lay-offs, more bankruptcies, more business failures, more home foreclosures, more poverty, people on on public assistance, more homelessness, more crime, more incarceration, and more people and businesses leaving our state.

When Republicans talk about budgeting, they often give folksy example of a family sitting around the kitchen table to work out the budget and decide together how they are going to tighten their belts and make ends meet. Didn’t anyone at the kitchen table ever say, “Paw, I could get another job to bring in more money”?

Earlier this year, the media speculated how Ducey could possibly keep his campaign promise of balancing the budget without raising taxes and at the same time allow hundreds of millions of dollars in unaffordable planned corporate tax cuts (passed during the Brewer era) to go forward. (Besides all that, there is the court order that said the Legislature unlawfully cut Arizona school funding and should pay back $317 million in this budget and $1.6 billion in the future.)

Earlier this year, Ducey famously said, just because we don’t have enough money, doesn’t mean we need to raise revenue. Why not? Putting money into the economy grows it; taking money out, starves it. Arizona has options besides austerity. We can raise revenue and pay for the services we want: 1) legalize marijuana; 2) establish a public bank; 3) stop implementation of unaffordable tax cuts for out-of-state corporations; 4) invest in innovation.

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‘Marijuana Refugees’ Move to Colorado for Cannabis Oil to Treat Epilepsy

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marijuana leaf

When I first heard Democracy Now’s headline about “marijuana refugees” moving to Colorado, I, of course, thought of stoners who want to freely buy weed from a retail outlet, but the riveting story on Democracy Now focused on families that are leaving their homes in other states to get access to a particular cannabinoid oil that has been shown to be effective in controlling epileptic seizures.

That’s just plain stupid. Not getting cannabis oil– but having to leave your home, your job, and all of your friends to move across the country to gain access to an herbal remedy that can help your child lead a normal life.

Little Madeleine, who was featured on the show, had exhausted the available medical therapies and was facing brain surgery to remove half of her brain, when her mother heard about cannabis oil and decided to move to Colorado to obtain it. With cannabis oil, Madeleine went from suffering hundreds of seizures per day to being able to function as a normal child. (Check out the video, and you’ll see Madeleine and her smiling, happy Mom.)

From Democracy Now…

According to the Colorado Springs Gazette, at least 115 “marijuana refugee families” from 43 states have left jobs, homes and family so they could obtain the cannabis oil to treat a variety of ailments.

The big controversy with this use of cannabis is that it’s not a research-based treatment and not controlled by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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High Marijuana Arrests: Signs of Racism & Over-Policing

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by Pamela Powers Hannley The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has released a new report on arrests and incarceration for marijuana possession. The findings are startling– in light of new research showing multiple medical uses for marijuana, spread of states with medical marijuana, legalization of marijuana in two states, and widespread usage of marijuana by millions of … Read more

New Research: Regular Marijuana Users See Pre-Diabetes Benefit

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MJ-leaf-gr-blby Pamela Powers Hannley

A new research study published today in the American Journal of Medicine found that current marijuana users had significantly lower fasting insulin, were less likely to be insulin resistant (a pre-diabetic state), and were more likely to have high HDL (good cholesterol). (Read the study here.)

Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) has been used for centuries to relieve pain, improve mood, and increase appetite. Outlawed in the United States in 1937 and further restricted under the Controlled Substances Act by the Nixon Administration, marijuana use has continued to increase. There are an estimated 17.4 million current users of marijuana in the United States. Approximately 4.6 million Americans smoke marijuana daily or almost daily. With the recent legalization of recreational marijuana in Washington and Colorado and the legalization of medical marijuana in 19 states and the District of Columbia, US public opinion has moved toward less stringent laws.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Joseph S. Alpert of the University of Arizona College of Medicine calls on the federal government to open the doors of medical research to marijuana, allowing free investigation of the drug. Study details after the jump.