The head of a trade school for the cannabis industry said Wednesday that he hopes the victory of an Oakland measure that creates a business license tax for cannabis businesses will build momentum for a statewide measure to legalize the recreational use and taxation of pot.
Richard Lee, the president of Oaksterdam University, which was founded in 2007, said an initiative he plans to file with state officials on Thursday would make possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults legal throughout California.
Lee said it would also give cities and counties the option of allowing the cultivation, sale and taxation of marijuana within their borders.
In a mail-in election that ended on Tuesday, nearly 80 percent of Oakland residents who participated approved Measure F, which makes Oakland the first city in the nation to establish a special tax rate for cannabis businesses.
The measure taxes gross receipts of all cannabis businesses at 1.8 percent.
The active ingredient in marijuana appears to target cancerous brain cells for destruction while leaving healthy cells alone, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Complutense University in Madrid, and published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Researchers first conducted an experiment in mice that had been engineered to carry three different grafts of human brain cancer. They injected the mice daily with the molecule tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) near the site of the tumors once each day. The chemical appeared to stimulate the cancerous cells to engage in a process known as autophagy, in which cells initiate their own breakdown.
"These results may help to design new cancer therapies based on the use of medicines containing the active principle of marijuana and/or in the activation of autophagy," researcher Guillermo Velasco said.
"The Green Party's three-year campaign to allow cannabis to be used for medicinal purposes came to grief in Parliament tonight.
Their bill failed on its first reading, voted down 86-34 on a conscience vote.
Its promoter, Metiria Turei, pleaded with MPs to let it through so it could go to the health select committee which could hear evidence of how cannabis eased the suffering of seriously ill people.
"Many people already use it and they live in real fear of the law," she said.
"Sick and vulnerable New Zealanders are being jailed ... let MPs hear their stories, let these people have their say."
Under the bill, seriously ill people would be able to apply for a cannabis card, issued on a doctor's authority and registered with the police, which would allow them to grow small amounts of it.
Ms Turei said they didn't have to smoke it, they could use it in other ways to help relieve their pain such as making tea with it or using it as oil to rub into their limbs.
The savage drug war in Mexico. Crumbling state budgets. Weariness with current drug policy. The election of a president who said, "Yes - I inhaled."
These developments and others are kindling unprecedented optimism among the many Americans who want to see marijuana legalized.
Doing so, they contend to an ever-more-receptive audience, could weaken the Mexican cartels now profiting from U.S. pot sales, save billions in law enforcement costs, and generate billions more in tax revenue from one of the nation's biggest cash crops.
Said a veteran of the movement, Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance: "This is the first time I feel like the wind is at my back and not in my face."
Foes of legalization argue that already-rampant pot use by adolescents would worsen if adults could smoke at will.
Mitch Earleywine, a University at Albany psychology professor, is described as "popular" by the university's newspaper. That's likely due in part to his pro-marijuana advocacy, but Earleywine recently received the Excellence in Teaching Award at the university's 2009 President's Awards for Excellence ceremony in May.
Earleywine, who holds a doctorate in clinical psychology from Indiana University, has taught classes like Addictive and Compulsive Behaviors, which aims to "provide an overview of alcohol, drug use, and gambling as examples of addictive behaviors," according to the UAlbany undergraduate bulletin. Earleywine also believes that America's young people have been lied to about the use of marijuana, and is on the advisory board for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
Melissa Etheridge says that medical marijuana worked for her. The Grammy Award-winning singer- songwriter turned to marijuana after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. In an interview, Etheridge talked to CNN's Anderson Cooper on why she did it and how she believes it helped restore her health. She's now pushing for its legalization.
The following is an edited version of the interview.
Melissa Etheridge: I'm actually grateful for my cancer diagnosis.
Anderson Cooper: Grateful because it changed your life?
Etheridge: It changed my life; woke me up totally.
Cooper: What is the pain [of chemotherapy] like?
Etheridge: It was just a general pain of your body dying, of all your cells dying. Your appetite is gone. And you are nauseous. And your hair is falling out. Your skin -- it's like death. And the only thing I could do is lay there. I can't -- it hurt to -- light hurt, sound hurt. I couldn't read anything. I just laid there.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island become the third state in the nation Tuesday and the first on the East Coast to permit marijuana sales to chronically ill patients, a decision made over the objections of Gov. Don Carcieri.
State lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to override a veto last week from the Republican governor, who warned the system could put people at risk of federal prosecution, would encourage illegal drug use and send conflicting messages to children about substance abuse.
"This gives a safe haven for those who have to go into the seedy areas to try and get marijuana," said Rep. Thomas Slater, D-Providence, who suffers from cancer and plans to smoke the drug for pain relief. "I think that this center will definitely help those who most need it."
Slater received a standing ovation on the House floor.
Dakta Green and The Daktory have been bringing it to the politicians to hear what they have to say. Dakta Green turns up to the back benchers live show to cause some shit with some of the movers and shakers in New Zealand politics. To watch the video on youtube go to the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ldCNJgO8II
To learn more about the Daktory and their exploits in the greater Auckland area go to:
Two men who were arrested following an undercover operation in Buller last year admitted drugs charges in Westport District Court yesterday.
David Granville Low, 50, and Reginald Rapley, 51 both pleaded guilty to cultivating and selling cannabis.
The police summary revealed an undercover officer had been central to the operation, aimed at breaking a multi-million dollar drug syndicate, which resulted in 16 arrests.
Obama's Kenyan relative arrested on drug charge
By TOM ODULA, Associated Press Writer
NAIROBI, Kenya – The half-brother of President Barack Obama was arrested for alleged possession of marijuana on Saturday near his home in a Nairobi shantytown, police said.
George Obama, who is in his 20s and barely knows the president, had one joint of marijuana on him, said Joshua Omokulongolo, the police chief in the area.
"He is not a drug peddler," Omokulongolo told The Associated Press. "But it's illegal, it's a banned substance."
George Obama has a court appearance scheduled Monday morning.
He and the president have the same father, who died in a car crash in 1982.
The White House declined comment Saturday on the president's half-brother.
Several of President Obama's Kenyan relatives went to Washington, D.C., for his inauguration, but George was not among them. He lives in Huruma with extended family.
