6/24/2011 – Governor Paul LePage signed a new lawtoday expanding privacy protections for medical cannabis patients in Maine.
“I am pleased that the Legislature has voted to move the law closer to the initiated bill that was enacted by the voters,” said Governor Paul LePage in a statement today. “I am proud to a sign a bill that protects patient privacy and respects the will of the voters.”
Maine voters approved the compassionate use law on a ballot measure in 1999.
“Researching this program for the last 7 months has been quite an education,” said Representative Deborah Sanderson (R-Chelsea), primary sponsor of the bill. “I’ve read countless case studies on the benefits of marijuana for many conditions. What has been the most informative and moving however, has been speaking to the patients themselves. Folks who suffer chronic debilitating pain and have used opiates, often for months, are seeing better pain management results without the highly addictive results that opiates often have.”
The bill makes registration optional for patients and some caregivers and eliminates the requirement that patients disclose their specific medical condition to the state. The law also mandates more effective processes for adding approved medical conditions, improves the procedure for minor patient access and prevents municipalities from instituting regulations more restrictive than State Law. Importantly, patients, caregivers and dispensary employees acting under the law will be protected from arrest, prosecution and discrimination.
“This gets the state out of the business of a patient’s health and puts it back in the hands of those patients and their physicians here in Maine,” said Leavitt.
National NORML’s Deputy Director Paul Armentano, a medical marijuana policy expert, commented, “At the same time when lawmakers in many other states are enacting impossibly restrictive measures, Maine lawmakers have elected to instead significantly open patients’ access to medical marijuana under the law.”
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions? [email protected]
UPDATE 6/14/2011- 11:13AM ET – Maine House accepts the “ought not to pass” report from Criminal Justice Committee – bill sent to Senate.
6/13/2011 –World leaders and even President Obama say that there should be a “legitimate” debate about cannabis prohibition. But this week a body of elected officials may actually engage in that dialogue. The House and Senate in Maine could consider LD 1453, “An Act to Legalize and Tax Marijuana.” The last two days of the legislative session are this week. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Diane Russell (D-Portland), says that the issue has garnered enough interest among her peers for a floor debate.
Today Russell sent an email to supporters that said, “We have all worked so hard for this to happen and now the day is upon us.”
LD 1453 had a hearing on May 10th before the Criminal Justice Committee where two caveats were added. It must wait to become law until 1) federal policy changes and 2) it is approved by Maine voters directly on the ballot. Those two criteria must be met after LD 1453 passes a floor vote in both houses (outside chance but possible) and is then signed by Governor LePage (less possible). The bill creates careful systems of regulated cultivation, cannabis sales (to adults only) and taxation models.
The Global Commission on Drug Policy held a press conference on June 2, 2011 calling for governments to explore new options to replace criminal prohibition. Regulating cannabis was a priority, especially for the former Presidents of Colombia and Brazil.
This week there will be demonstrations, press conferences and vigils commemorating the victims in the 40 years of prohibition. But the live stream from the State House in Maine may be the only chance to see politicians get into the nuts and bolts of crafting a vital solution for cannabis.
Because it is the end of the session, the debate for LD 1453 is not a sure thing. Rep. Russell is asking Maine residents to contact their legislators and support the bill’s open debate. Maine House: (207) 287-1400 — Maine Senate: (207) 287-1540.
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions? [email protected]
5/11/2011 UPDATE 4:59PM ET – A landmark hearing yesterday in Maine before the Criminal Justice Committee on a bill to tax and regulate recreational marijuana had an interesting outcome: The issue could eventually be decided by Maine residents. If LD 1453 does pass floor votes in the legislature the bill must also pass a voter referendum to become a law.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Diane Russell of Portland, made the referendum motion and was pleased with the hearings. She has reported a massive surge of public support for Maine’s legalization effort. The media and bloggers have also been focused on the bill, bringing in attention from around the country. For example, the hearing on LD 1453 is the top story right now at Reddit.com.
Rep. Russell said in an email to Freedomisgreen.com today, “I had no idea this would make it to the front page of Reddit literally overnight. The response has been astounding and there have been a remarkable number of interesting and good questions. Not to mention, a ton of support!”
Maine could join California and Colorado as states that are looking to end marijuana prohibition by the end of 2012 with direct participation by voters. All three would create systems of regulated cultivation, sales to adults and taxation systems.
[Editor’s Note – Original post at 4:28PM ET mis-stated that LD 1453 would go directly to the voter referendum process.]
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.
Margaret Trudeau, former wife of late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and author of the 2010 biography Changing My Mind, which chronicles her life dominated by bipolar disorder, has been making the lecture rounds recently, talking about a topic near and dear to her: mental health (or what she likes to refer to as “brain health).
Here is an excerpt of an interview with her, regarding her past use of marijuana:
MBF [Marian Botsford Fraser]: You talk about how marijuana started out as ballast, when you were traveling in Morocco, and later, you thought it was good for you, but it became something else.
MT: It gave me focus, brought me out of my depression [and] gave me energy to get through the day. When people try to self-heal, the first thing you want to do is escape – [use] alcohol, street drugs, gambling, anything to comfort yourself, [to] get away.
To tell you the truth I’d still choose being a pothead any day over being an alcoholic. It’s natural…it seemed to be the thing. I needed it and it was part of the culture. But the truth is studies have shown recently that the PHC in marijuana can trigger you into mania, or has a propensity to do so. The jury is still out on it, and of course bipolar condition is one of the conditions that medical marijuana is prescribed for. But the marijuana that’s being smoked today is not our father’s Oldsmobile!
It’s very, very different now, and it can greatly affect your health if abused. There were times when I abused marijuana and I regret it. But it also may have saved my life.
MBF: Do you still smoke marijuana?
MT: I don’t want to now. Don’t get me wrong, I love marijuana: I’d rather have a toke than a martini any day. But why do I have to have either? It’s not part of my day-to-day life, as it was before when I was really ill and trying to escape all my pain, especially the death of my son.
I finally realized that the amount of marijuana I started using after the death of Michel [in 1998], trying to get away from my grief, in fact delayed my mourning. It kept me from facing it, dealing with it, allowing myself to be a wholly grieving person instead of desperately sad, wallowing in self-pity, with no hope left, and feeling such disappointment that life could throw such a mean, cruel blow to our family. It just rocked me, losing my little Michel.
Neill Franklin speaking in Philadelphia – by C. David Freitag
5/13/2011 – Tonight in Washington DC there was a memorial for police officers killed in the line of duty. One of those keeping vigil was Neill Franklin. He worked undercover on the streets of Baltimore but now he is one of America’s leading voices calling for an end to the war on drugs as the executive director of LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
Franklin spent a career in Baltimore and then at the Maryland State Police Academy, so he has been to the event before, but in a different capacity. He attended the candlelight memorial service this year to honor his partner, Ed Toatley, who was shot during a cocaine buy in 2000 while on an FBI assignment.
Neill’s perspective is both moving and resolute. Still, this was the first time he attended Police Week as the director of LEAP.
We caught up with Neill for a telephone interview as he kept up a busy schedule.
Tell us about why you are attending the memorial event tonight?
Many years ago there was fund started to erect a police officer’s memorial in Washington DC. It’s similar to Viet Nam Memorial where the names are carved into stone. Every year the officers that die in the line of duty are engraved into the memorial with thousands of others. But during Police Week they they also have bike rides, torch runs – one from Philadelphia all the way down to DC Friday- and the vigil at 8:00pm.
It has been many years since I was at this event. The work I’m doing right now with LEAP kind of rung a bell for me …this October was 11 years since Ed Toatley’s assassination. I thought well this year I’m going back to DC for the vigil to celebrate and remember his life and try to make a stament this week that we can save officers lives by ending the war on drugs.
It’s not just police officers here in the US but many hundreds of officers are dying in Mexico, Venezuala, all over the world really. So it’s an international statement we’re making as well.
Chris I have to tell you that this is not a popular position to take among the law enforcement community.
So while I’m at the memorial yeah it’s probably going to be a little awkward if I’m in conversations with the other folks there; who are there to honor those who fallen. But if you look back at history there are so many things were never popular at the beginning – but it has to be done.
Have you seen some thawing on the part of active law enforcement that you have encountered when it comes to prohibition?
There has been more of that at the bottom of the ranks; at the patrol officer level, those out in the streets.
First of all they understand that this is a numbers game – to use the example of New York City; how can we miss that? Fifty thousand arrests! They know it’s a numbers game they see it’s a numbers game. This is how the federal funding comes into the coffers of local law enforcement agencies.
But if we at LEAP continue to do what we do, at least educate these officers to get the facts about the war on drugs – if they pause to let it sink in – they realize that this also makes their job much more dangerous than it needs to be.
When we talk about the Drug War many people many think of it in academic terms, but you experienced it right at the front of the conflict. It seems like police are given an awful job here to make war on their own communities?
This is what has happened. But because of our drug policies, over time, police have now become somewhat removed or physically separated themselves from their communities.
I’ve got to mention this – When I was growing up in Baltimore city the teenagers would all hang out at the end of my block. We weren’t the best kids … we did mischievous things. Some would smoke marijuana down there in the hood. But when the police car turned at the top of the hill no one scattered or yelled 5-0. But we walked over to the car and greeted Officer Rex. And if we were doing something that we shouldn’t be doing he would say ‘DON’T DO THAT! ‘and we stopped.
But he was part of the community. If something were to happen, if something were to go down and Officer Rex was to get in the middle of some real trouble, that community would be there to support and protect him. Let me ask you – Would that happen today?
Now that same neighborhood when the police car turns the corner the people scatter. If there is any communication at all there is no greeting.
This shift in relationship between police and community rests on the foundation of prohibition.
Back when was I was policing undercover I never carried a gun. We went out and worked our cases, many times without backup. That was the 1980s. Today it is unheard of to work without backup and firearm. That tells you how dangerous this job has become.
If the police were in fact a part of the community – which they should be because they often spend more time in the community they police than their homes – But if the police were just there to take a violent person out of the community they would have overwhelming support. That is how it should be.
So can these soldiers, our police, can they come around to get that community relationship back?
I believe so. It wouldn’t happen overnight. We have to begin by handling this huge wall that is put between them and their communities and it really is prohibition.
That’s why they go to search homes; for drugs. That’s why they search cars and search people, all looking for drugs. If you remove prohibition you can begin to re-build that relationship.
Because of this policy police are put in an awkward position. When you have people dying among them they shut down more and more ….they expect to deal with the worst. The policy creates the criminal market and that’s what creates the violence. Why are so many guns in our community today? Prohibition is the foundation of that too.
So there’s a real need, a necessity, to breakdown this huge barrier that has been constructed over the past 40 years.
Many of us thought we would never see the Berlin Wall come down – why can’t we do that here? Let’s end the madness of prohibition so that we can reduce the overall violence in America.
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey.
National Park Service Police move in on the marijuana legalization protest "Smoke Down Prohibition" May 18, 2013
5/19/13 – Federal Park Rangers and Philadelphia City Police disrupted the monthly “Smoke Down Prohibition” protest at the Liberty Bell calling for marijuana legalization and made several dramatic arrests.
On Saturday May 18, 2013 a crowd about 150 gathered in front of Independence Hall.
At 4:20PM, the moment when much of the crowd participates in civil disobedience by openly smoking cannabis, dozens of law enforcement moved into the crowd.
Those on stage speaking to the crowd were targeted for detainment, including one of the organizers.
There were at least five arrests, including NA Poe of the comedy crew The Panic Hour.
Also arrested were Adam Kokesh host of AdamVsTheMan and Don DeZarn a New Jersey Libertarian candidate for US Senate.
Ed “NJWeedman” Forchion was briefly detained but released. One unidentified woman was roughly carried away but also quickly released.
The protests take place in front of Independence Hall permanently reserved by the National Park Service for First Amendment activity. Despite the targeted arrests and a heavy police presence, dozens in the crowd continued the action by openly smoking marijuana from 4:20PM-4:45PM.
NA Poe and Adam Kokesh are still being held in the Federal Detention Facility at 7th and Arch Streets. A solidarity demonstration will take place in front of the jail today starting at 2:00PM.
“What was originally a rally to highlight issues regarding cannabis prohibition has shown that our First Amendment rights are not protected by the park rangers and police,” said PhillyNORML Executive Director Kevin Clough.
The Panic Hour issued this statement: “These arrests are the beginning of a long fight we have ahead of us to end cannabis prohibition and maintain our right to free speech.”
Hearings were held in Maine yesterday on bills to reduce the penalties for adult marijuana possession. State Representative Diane Russell (D-Portland) is co-sponsoring the reduction but she made waves when she announced her plans to go further: Russell will introduce a bill in April that will fully legalize, tax and regulate marijuana.
This bill is unique because it handles every aspect of cannabis legalization. Along with a system to grow and sell marijuana to adults 21 and over it also includes provisions for adults to cultivate their own marijuana at home. But the strongest innovations are provisions for existing medical cannabis caregivers and for the large scale farming of industrial hemp.
Diane Russell took time today to speak with Editor Chris Goldstein. This is part one of our interview.
Tell us about the legislation that you are working on right now
There are actually a few that are in the works. We had hearings yesterday on a couple of bills that Rep. Ben Chipman a colleague of mine in Portland that would further decriminalize marijuana. The fines right now are around $1,000 and these would further reduce the fines to around $250. I am a co-sponsor of those two bills, but the bill that I am most passionate about actually legalizes marijuana, regulates it and taxes it. On that bill I am the primary sponsor. We are still finalizing it, but it should be out in the next two weeks.
What does the legalization bill do?
Essentially what it does is to provide a mechanism to bring the underground market onto the regular market and to begin actually having some oversight. One of things that most concerns me is that marijuana seems to be much easier to access for young children and teenagers than say alcohol or tobacco. And that’s because we’re sort of turning a blind eye to this market and not recognizing that it exists.
That said; I want to make sure that we are not unnecessarily turning otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals. I mean if you are an adult and you are not harming anyone by driving why is it a crime to be smoking marijuana or, as some people do, consume it though baked goods? So this will take away any criminal aspect of marijuana.
We would tax it at 7% sales tax rate which is important because our sales tax rate for food and alcohol at restaurants is 7%. So what this does is move marijuana into a tax structure that isn’t different from everything else. The IRS and the DEA are not going to be able to say , “Oh your goods are taxed at 6.5% and there’s only one thing taxed at that rate under state law, so we know you are selling marijuana.”
We have seen the IRS begin actions against medical marijuana providers in California and Oregon. So these bills look ahead to try and protect small businesses operating legally under Maine state law.
Absolutely. But I did it actually for different reason – I like things to be as simple as possible. Other places that look at taxing it go by volume and it gets really complicated. Why can’t we just have a clean tax rate? But then I heard some folks who were concerned about having a separate tax structure for their product too.
What are some of the details about how the bill regulates marijuana?
The other piece to it is that you must be 21 years old to purchase and possess marijuana. It also allows a person to cultivate and store marijuana for personal use within 75 square feet of space and purchase seedlings from someone licensed to sell the products.
So individuals would be able to grow and store their own marijuana. Under our medical marijuana law caregivers and patients can grow up to six plants, but there is no provision if a plant produces a lot all at once there are no provisions for storing it. So we decided to go with square footage instead to trying to quantify per se exactly how much you are supposed to have at one point. It’s sort of like growing tomatoes – they go into harvest all at one time …same idea, you can’t really play with Mother Nature that much!
There is a commercial aspect. We call them growers …I don’t like that term because someone who does grow tomatoes is not a “grower” they’re a “farmer.” So I use the term farmers…So farmers could purchase one of 300 licenses – current caregivers under the medical law would be grandfathered in – and then they could have up to 2,000 square feet to raise the plants and then store the product.
There are some strict provisions in there – when you look at what happened to Prop 19 in California there were concerns about school safety and workplace safety along with concerns about different municipalities having different systems. And we addressed a lot of those. We made sure that we addressed those issues in the bill we’re putting together and that it is very clear.
We did our best to protect our children and that’s one of the reasons I want this happen, I want to get it out of the hands of children. But I do believe that if you are an adult you have the right and responsibility that goes with that right to be able to consume things in your own home.
The other reason I did this is that, like many states, we have a major budget crisis and we have to really cut back on services that help vulnerable communities. So I want to make sure we have revenue coming that was not a new tax per se.
So this would provide new revenues but also help with community policing. We have a huge problem with cocaine in Maine, I’m not sure of people realize that. We have huge problems with opiates and prescription drugs. So let’s make sure we are channeling resources into the things that are truly dangers and marijuana is not one of those concerns. So some of that revenue would go to community policing, housing weatherizing projects also to education and some to farming and getting capital investments into farms.
So being able to raise revenue and channel them towards programs and initiatives that really help build a sustainable economy is something that is very important to me. We need to be smart about how to allocate the revenue from this, it will be critical.
The final part of the bill is that we included a provision for growing industrial hemp so that we could start allowing those farmers whose land has gone fallow to plant this in order to rejuvenates nutrients. They could raise hemp on that land because it doesn’t have the same impact as fruits and vegetables.
So the revenue will be coming from two areas with this bill, increasing the positive financial impact…
Well that’s what I’m looking for to be honest Chris is the economic impact of this. As a state lawmaker I have a fiduciary responsibility to my state. I really feel strongly that we need to build a long-term sustainable economy. I’m part of a younger generation I’m 34 and my dad always said in his thick Maine accent, “Jeez Diane we should just legalize it and tax the hell out of it.” And so I’m sort of doing this in honor of my Dad. He’s right. Why are we letting this market go to waste? We’re one of the states where marijuana is already the top cash crop… this is so basic.
Visit freedomisgreen.com this weekend for the second part of this interview.
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. He volunteers with local groups to change prohibition laws including PhillyNORML and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey. He enjoys old-school hip-hop, vintage airplanes and changing the world. Contact chris { at } freedomisgreen.com
Unless you’ve been living under a rock (if so, congratulations. It’s just safer there, isn’t it?), you know about this story. Rudy Eugene (left) committed a gruesome and heinous act in which he ate the face of Ronald Poppo in Miami over Memorial Day weekend.
What you may not know is this: the toxicology report showed no use of “bath salts” or any other psychosis-inducing drug. The only drug he tested positive for? Marijuana. Very unfortunate. Obviously, marijuana did not cause this man to go ballistic, but inherently psychological instability. Or a drug combination he was never tested for, since not all drug testing is available at every lab.
Medical examiner Dr. Bruce Hyma said in his statement, “The laboratory has tested for but not detected any other street drugs, alcohol or prescription drugs…This includes cocaine, LSD, amphetamines (Ecstasy, Meth and others), phencyclidine (PCP or Angel Dust), heroin, oxycodone, Xanax, synthetic marijuana (Spice), and many other similar compounds.
A second forensic toxicology test conducted by a separate lab also confirmed the absence of the most comment ingredients found in bath salts, which mimic the effects of cocaine or methamphetamine and have been associated with various bizarre “zombie attack”-like crimes in recent months, and many — including Miami police officials — believed they were what caused Rudy Eugene to attack Ronald Poppo, and chew off at least 70% of his face.
“Within the limits of current technology by both laboratories,” the statement continued, “marijuana is the only drug identified in the body of Mr. Rudy Eugene.”
And this is when marijuana becomes the convenient “fall guy yet again.”
Dr. Patricia Junquera, who is an assistant professor at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and is considered an expert on addictions, said she wouldn’t rule out the fact that a different “strain” of marijuana could have caused the attack.
“It could have been the strain of marijuana that increases the dopamine in the brain,” she said, adding that there are two strains of marijuana called sativa, which increases dopamine and gives you energy, and indica, which is a “sleepy high.”
“People don’t really know what the amount of either is in each little packet of marijuana,” Dr. Junquera explained. “And we can’t differentiate between the two in the blood, much less in a dead person.”
A “little packet of marijuana”, huh? You’d think an “expert” on addictions would realize most serious smokers don’t bother with “little packets.” Anyway, no one in their right mind would suspect marijuana as the cause, right? Well, unfortunately, many commenters on this story have already chimed in with “And this is why marijuana should stay illegal.” Yes, exactly. Marijuana smokers have a loooong history of face eating that they’ve kept hidden in the closet, all these years. But now they got us. Put down that nose. The gig is up!
Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at the local dive bar.
6/29/2011 – Pennsylvania recently passed a law banning some synthetic cannabinoids and New Jersey has pending legislation. These new prohibitions are intended to curb to the use of fad drugs that are sold under hundreds of brand names but commonly referred to as “K2” or “Spice.” Users seek a high with the ability to pass a standard drug screen.
Earlier this year the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) permanently prohibited six synthetic cannabinoids, including a common Spice ingredient JWH-018.
Dozens of chemicals, including some synthetic cannabinoids, are found in the products. The chemicals are sprayed on random plant material (never real marijuana) and packaged as fragrant, mood affecting incense.
Wholesale K2 suppliers have purchased advertising on websites and in magazines (even setting up booths at trade shows) that target natural marijuana consumers. But, compared to the ubiquitous market for natural cannabis these synthetics were fairly uncommon…until states started banning them.
In a predictable irony, K2 sellers have benefited greatly from the effort to ban their products. Massive advertising campaigns have appeared on billboards, in print and on television that are funded by drug prevention groups and even tax dollars. The awareness efforts have skyrocketed the drugs out of obscurity and successfully made them a household name.
Part of the problem is that prohibitionists have mislabeled the K2 fad drugs as “synthetic marijuana.” But now authorities are finding that K2 manufacturers have altered their recipe. New K2 products have ingredients that are not technically illegal. This makes the bans fully ineffective and the products continue to be sold in retail stores and online.
Another shift for the issue is that a Willow Grove, Pa. based company started marketing urine tests for synthetic cannabinoids this year. But these tests are not widely available.
Freedomisgreen.com Editor Chris Goldstein and Science Editor Jahan Marcu have been covering the K2 story since late 2009. Below is an interview that was originally published at www.celebstoner.com
Jahan Marcu is one of the few cannabinoid scientists in America. He also serves on the medical advisory board of the national medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.
Marcu is uniquely familiar with both natural marijuana cannabinoids and these new synthetics. He published a landmark research paper proving the anti-cancer properties of THC and is considered one of the top experts in this field. I sat down with Marcu to discuss this strange new trend of people smoking laboratory chemicals.
As someone who is familiar with JWH-018 and these other synthetic cannabinoids in the lab, what is it like to see these things on the streets?
Think about the guys who invented JWH-018. This is probably the worst nightmare imaginable for a researcher to have the product of their hard work for many years, decades maybe, turned into a designer drug of abuse. Because then it gets banned and essentially your chapter in research history is over because your access to the drug vanishes. If they go systematically down the list banning all of the JWH compounds, those are less compounds we can use to enhance our knowledge of how the endo-cannabinoid system works.
What do you think of the recent bans of K2 and Spice products?
Well, I’m not a politician. I’m not a legislator and I’m not in law enforcement. And they need to do what they think is necessary to protect people. As some who’s in research and education my idea would be: Well, let’s see how dangerous these compounds are. Let’s go ahead and fund a bunch of small studies in animals. Let’s have some people who are already taking these drugs volunteer for some tests. Then we can look at them with side-by-side comparisons with alcohol and marijuana for impairment, and really get a good risk assessment. But that’s not going to happen,. There’s just going to be bans and an absence of knowledge.
From the stand point of a cannabinoid researcher, are these synthetic cannabinoid compounds something that humans should be smoking?
I would go with: No. The main reason is the animal data that is coming back is not that promising. There are a lot of JWH compounds and JWH is unique; it’s very potent at low doses. What is a little scary is that around 10 mg per kilogram in rats there was some decreased breathing. We’re talking about 1 milligram per kilogram that was able to cause catalepsy in mice.
This may indicate some off-target effects. What I mean by that is some interaction with the opioid receptors or something else. We’re seeing decreased breathing rates in rats and sort of respiratory depression from these compounds that strongly suggests that those effects are not mediated through the cannabinoid receptor system.
I have seen some rumors of people seeking the benefits of medical marijuana turning to these synthetic compounds so they can beat their workplace drug tests. Would they have any medical benefit?
At least when you’re going to whole plant cannabis, you can look to the scientific literature and know what you’re getting. There are over 500 compounds in the cannabis plant, but we know what they are. We even know what happens when it burns. No one has done those kinds of studies on Spice. No one has hooked up a Spice cigarette to a gas chromatograph and analyzed the smoke. Those studies have been done with tobacco and marijuana for decades. We have a wealth of information about whole plant marijuana. So you know way more what you are getting into when you use a drug like cannabis.
What’s up with the new urine test for K2?
The game might be over for some of the K2 and Spice compounds. The original research article on the metabolite in Spice – what the body does with them – was published by a group in Moscow. Basically, since only a small amount of the drug is needed to produce an effect, the levels of detection must be very sensitive in order to find these JWH-018 metabolites.
The structure of JWH-018 and (natural) THC is very different. If you looked at the two compounds side-by-side you would not have to be a chemist to see that they look vastly different. The unique part of JWH is the indol ring: It’s a two-ring structure with one nitrogen; this is a common motif found in other hallucinogens like LSD, mescaline and psilocybin, but is not found in (natural) THC.
Researchers have found that the body modifies the indol ring in JWH-018 and thus have developed the drug test around that modification. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing I saw marketed in California, but that is what is in the literature right now.
Do you think these will be effective tests or because of the detection levels someone will have to smoke a lot of this stuff to show up?
You’d have to be smoking a fair amount of Spice to be found in a urinalysis. It’s unclear right now because those studies just haven’t been done yet.
How is the lab community dealing with this K2/Spice phenomenon?
It definitely puts a time crunch on things. These compounds are very important to research. It would be a great loss to the scientific community if these compounds were no longer available for research. It’s a shame that unscrupulous business practices are ruining this for the scientists.
In the end, because there is no real labeling of these products, the most dangerous things in Spice may not be the chemicals we actually know about, but what we don’t. Some have been found to have synthetic opiates, Vitamin E and even acetone.
The continued prohibition of natural marijuana seems to be the only driving force behind the emergence of these new synthetic drugs. States that have decriminalized marijuana seem to have less of an issue with the fad drugs.
To advocates, this is an additional and rather poignant public safety reason for natural marijuana to be fully legalized, right now.
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions? [email protected]
Robert Platshorn and Irvin Rosenfeld at the Miami Beach City Commissioners meeting
7/14/2011- Tubbs and Crockett could be issuing tickets for pot possession and saving their city’s tax dollars. Popular tourist destination Miami Beach is cranking up the heat for cannabis reform. Some dedicated advocates have spent the last year gathering 9,000 signatures for a decriminalization measure. This week the petition was submitted to the Miami Beach City Commissioners.
The reduction in penalties would mean that adults caught with less than 1 ounce of cannabis would face a $100 fine and no criminal record. That would be a big change from the possible year in jail and $1000 fine currently for up to 20 grams of pot.
Some nationally prominent marijuana activists are residents of the Miami area and have given significant momentum to the cause.
Robert Platshorn served the longest sentence in history for a non-violent marijuana offense: 28 years. He is involved with the campaign and was on the scene this week: “We went in to present the 9,000 signatures and ten of us also testified. Now we’ve verified most of them [signatures]. If 6,400 are verified they have to put it on the ballot or call a special election. The only concern by Commissioners was triggering a special election in these tough economic times. That would cost the city about 250,000 dollars.”
Although concerned about the technical details the Miami Beach Commissioners, including Mayor Matti Herrera Bower, did take the issue seriously. “They were really very receptive to the petition,” Platshorn said, “where we didn’t have a sponsor on the commission; we do now. They all made statements that they were not against it. Again, we were very well received….many of the speeches got applause from the Commissioners.”
Irvin Rosenfeld is one of the few federal medical marijuana patients and garnered some of those applause. Rosenfeld’s tins of 300 cannabis cigarettes are manufactured by federal authorities under a program created in the late 1980’s.Florida saw a state medical marijuana resolution introduced earlier this year but there was no legislative action.
“I care about medicine getting to patients,” said Rosenfeld,”decriminalization helps patients because now they don’t have to worry about being arrested.”
He brought his tin of cannabis to show the Commissioners, “I asked them to hold up their hands and asked if they paid federal taxes. And they all raise their hands and then I took out my tin – I said ‘Isn’t it silly that city police would be spending time and money chasing people down for the same thing you paid for that helps me!’”
Platshorn said that he was optimistic after the meeting, “The actual outcome was as good as we could hope for. We got a realistic appraisal.”
Basically the Commissioners would rather place the ballot on the election in 2012 rather than endure the cost of a separate election just for the decrim measure. This was not lost on activists. “The whole point here is to save the city money,” said Irvin Rosenfeld.
But there is another option where the penalty reductions could simply be adopted without an election. “The City Charter says that if we get 6,400 verified signatures that they may be obliged to call a special election, “ said Platshorn, “So they were willing to consider the possibility of a resolution just to pass the change in penalties on their own.”
The massive amount of tourists in Miami Beach was part of the challenge for the petition. Signature gatherers would be mobbed at popular locations but only a few in the interested crowd would be local voters. They had to shift strategies netting a few signatures at a time with more frequent outings to places like supermarkets.
A strong base of student activism was key to the petition drive, “Miami University, FAU, Florida Central NORML chapters…it really has been terrific down here. Eric Stevens did an amazing job,” said Platshorn, adding, “Then Rakontur Films really did a wonderful thing by supporting this too.”
Platshorn’s story was told in the documentary Square Grouper from Rakontur that showcased the common trade of South Florida marijuana smuggling in the 1970s. The film company gave much needed funding to the effort.
But the same tourism that made voters hard to sift out was another reason for decriminalizing in Miami Beach. There are now sixteen states with legal medical marijuana. Irvin Rosenfeld points out that medical cannabis patients may have been avoiding the area because of the harsh prohibition laws.
“Say I’m a patient in Maine and have to go to a wedding to go to in Miami? Now it would also be safer for patients who are also tourists or here visiting family,” said Rosenfeld, ”there would at least be that security.”
It will take some time for Miami Beach to officially verify the petition signatures but the organizers are confident. Bob Platshorn was inside federal prison for three decades over marijuana, emerging with his head up to re-build his life and family. He also resolved to change the law.
“I honestly believe that Miami Beach will be the first city in Florida to decriminalize.”
Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions? [email protected]
