US Supreme Court Rejects Marijuana Reclassification Appeal

The US Supreme Court Monday declined to hear an appeal from medical marijuana advocacy groups who had challenged the DEA's decision to maintain marijuana's status as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, the category reserved for the most dangerous substances.

The court denied in summary order a petition for a writ of certiorari from the groups, led by Americans for Safe Access, which had sought Supreme Court review of a DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the DEA's ruling that a change in marijuana's classification required the Food and Drug Administration's recognition of acceptable medical uses for the drugs.

Advocates of rescheduling marijuana have been trying to do so for more than four decades, but have been thwarted by DEA delays and intransigence. This was the third formal rescheduling effort to be blocked by DEA decision making.

Schedule I drugs are deemed to have no acceptable medical uses and a high potential for abuse. Other Schedule I drugs include LSD, MDMA, and heroin. Despite the fact that there is an ever-increasing mountain of research detailing marijuana medicinal effects and despite the fact that 20 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana, the DEA continues to insist that it cannot be down-scheduled.

Joe Elford, lead attorney on the case for Americans for Safe Access, told Law360 that the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari was in line with its reluctance to overturn lower courts and administrative decisions on medical marijuana.

"It's disappointing, but not altogether surprising," he said.

A fourth effort to reclassify marijuana led by the governors of the medical marijuana states of Rhode Island and Washington was filed in 2011 and is still awaiting action.

Source: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2013/oct/07/us_supreme_court_rejects_marijua

Dope New Poll: California Marijuana Legalization Support Continues to Grow

Tired of hypocrisy, duplicity, and feeling as though they’ve been left in the dust, more than half of the ‘Golden States’ voters are fired up and ready to show their support for the legalization of marijuana, per a new statewide poll from the Public Policy Institute of California.

As California’s frustration with marijuana prohibition and runaway state debt hits an annoying crescendo, the germination efforts to author a constructive 2014 ballot initiative has already taken root. With marijuana legalization inevitable, many of the state’s residents are curious to know… If marijuana were legalized, who would smoke it – and what type of revenue increase would they actually realize?

The dope new survey, initiated by PPIC (public policy Institute of California) and financially backed by the James Irvine Foundation, demonstrated that currently 52% of the state’s registered voters (and 60% of likely voters) are down with marijuana legalization. Demonstrating marijuana legalization’s fast-growing support, it was just last year that the same polling group identified a disappointing 45% support for relaxed pot laws.

“Our state has for many years lived with medical marijuana – not to say it isn’t controversial in locations, but it’s generally accepted,” PPIC president Mark Baldassare told a Sacramento newspaper. “It’s really now a different political context for having discussions about where does California go with legalization.”

Receiving an overwhelming 60% support from both non-Hispanic Caucasians and African Americans, and a disappointing 36% from our residence hailing from south of the border. While California’s Asian population only managed to cultivate 48% support. Bridging the gap from 18 – 55+, recreational pot legalization currently stands at about 50%.

Lynne Lyman, the California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a national non-profit that advocates for drug law reform, attributes the shift to a more informed public. “There’s a consensus that marijuana is less harmful than tobacco or alcohol,” she says.

The DPA director claims that if a ballot initiative legalizing recreational weed consumption were to pass in California in 2014 or 2016, the state would have to “develop a regulatory infrastructure from scratch,” but she wouldn’t foresee it being challenged in the way that, for example, Proposition 8 was challenged in the context of same-sex marriages. And for now, she says, the Department of Justice is allowing Washington and Colorado to implement their recent legalization of marijuana, though the DOJ could decide to change its approach in the future.

Ms. Lyman then concluded that marijuana legalization would result in “tremendous tax revenue” for the state; claiming that California could raise $1.4 billion annually by taxing and regulating marijuana sales.

Source: http://www.marijuana.com/news/2013/10/dope-new-poll-california-marijuana-legalization-support-continues-to-grows/

Romania Legalizes Medical Marijuana, Becomes 10th EU Country To Permit Therapeutic Use

Authorized medical patients in Romania may now use marijuana to allay their pain under new provisions in two of the country's narcotic laws. Romania legalized medical marijuana this week, becoming the 10th member of the European Union to do so, according to local reports.

Currently, possession of marijuana is outlawed throughout the country. Though recreational marijuana use is still be prohibited, derivatives of the plant can now be used to treat certain medical conditions, such as epilepsy, cancer and sclerosis.

Manufacturers will also be able to apply to the National Agency for Medicines for approval to market drugs that contain marijuana by-products like resins or plant fragments.

The Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands are among the countries in the European Union that have legalized the use of medical marijuana products.

Earlier this week, Switzerland relaxed its laws governing marijuana use by decriminalizing the drug. While marijuana is still not legal, authorities will not prosecute residents caught with 10 grams or less.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/romania-medical-marijuana-legal_n_4049658.html

Switzerland changes law to decriminalise marijuana possession

Anyone caught with up to 10 grams of the drug will be let off with a CHF100 (€81) fine and it will not go on their criminal record.

A change to the law in Switzerland has decriminalised marijuana, making possession of the drug a minor misdemeanour that will not go on a person’s criminal record.

From the start of this month, anyone found with up to 10 grams of the substance will be able to avoid all formal legal proceedings, instead paying an on-the-spot fine of CHF 100 (around €81).

The relaxation of the law comes after a lengthy process of debate and disagreement in the Swiss parliament, which finally approved the move a year ago.

According to reports in the state-run Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), the government in Switzerland says the move should bring unity to legal practices which until now varied wildly from one local system to another.

It is also expected to save money, avoiding the average of 30,000 cases for smoking marijuana that appear before the courts each year.

Corine Kibora, a spokeswoman for Addiction Switzerland, told SBC: “Police resources should be freed up to pursue drug trafficking.”

The changes are conversely designed to clamp down on cannabis smoking among children.

A report by Unicef into the welfare of children from 29 developed countries found that Switzerland had the second-highest rate of cannabis use amongst those surveyed, behind only Canada.

Around 24 per cent of all children aged 11, 13 and 15 reported having used cannabis in the last 12 months in the country.

And while the revision does not apply to anyone under 18, against whom legal proceedings can still be brought alongside judge-imposed fines, Ms Kibora explained there are new measures in place to better protect them.

Dealers selling to young people will be more strictly punished and children with problematic cannabis use should be able to get expert help more easily, she said.

Not everyone is happy with the change. Opponents say decriminalisation is happening too quickly and at odds with the will of the Swiss public, given the fact that five years ago they voted against a government proposal for legalisation, and four years before that parliament wouldn’t even debate the issue.

Others think that measures could have gone further – Jean-Félix Savary, secretary-general of Grea, a group studying drug addiction in French-speaking Switzerland, told SBC: “It's not a revolution – overall the approach remains hesitant and conservative. Considerable police resources will still be used to ensure this ban is respected.”

Switzerland’s approach to cannabis is considerably more lenient than the UK’s – where it is a Class B drug, possession of which is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. In practice, official written warnings tend to be used for first and second offences.

But it is not the most relaxed in Europe - in 2001 Portugal became the first country in the world to decriminalise all drugs, as long as the amount possessed is no more than an estimated 10 days' supply.

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/switzerland-changes-law-to-decriminalise-marijuana-possession-8856308.html

Study: Legalization of marijuana would bring Israel NIS 1.6 billion in tax revenue, budget savings

The study reveals that Israel is expected to generate over $450 million in marijuana if legalized in Israel. This proved to be very promising for a nation that has ever since been suffering from political and economic crises for a very long time. Reports claimed the net worth of the marijuana's black market is $707 million annually.

As marijuana will be sold like cigarettes and taxed appropriately, a minimum of $268 million will be the government's income. In addition to this, it is expected to save $198 million spent on Israel's law enforcement for tracking mafias and marijuana peddlers.

The study further shows that about 275,000 Israelis used marijuana in 2012, consisting of 4 percent of the national population. About 64 percent Israelis are in favor of legalizing marijuana while 26 percent are against this move.

Meanwhile, similar reactions are seen in Canada but it already decided to establish a huge industry in the medical use of marijuana. Commercializing marijuana worries many Canadians who believe that this will ultimately worsen the effects of this popular weed. They expect marijuana will be much more expensive in the future. These are the Canadians who are licensed to consume marijuana for health reasons.

Eventhough Health Canada took the initiative of licensing companies to grow and sell medical marijuana in the country for greater quality control, some fear that things may turn out otherwise. Licensing medical marijuana has sparked controversies as many abuses are reported.

But the real effects of whether marijuana will have beneficial value to society has yet to be seen based on the guidelines that will be strictly imposed globally.

Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/510913/20131003/legalisation-marijuana-economy-israel-canada-abuse.htm#.Uk16BYZSiVQ

Mom Chooses Medical Marijuana Over Chemo As Treatment For 3-Year-Old Son's Cancer

One year ago, 3-year-old Landon Riddle was diagnosed with leukemia. Under doctors' orders, his mother Sierra Riddle began treatment for her young son: aggressive chemotherapy and radiation.

But while still living in Utah, Sierra watched her little boy become violently ill from the chemotherapy -- Landon suffered nerve-damage in his legs, nausea that led to vomiting dozens of times a day, intense pain and at one point went 25 days without eating following the treatment, according to CNN.

"Around the clock, he was usually on liquid morphine, Ativan, Promethexane," Sierra told CNN back in July. "And it just really didn't seem to be helping."

Feeling like her family "didn't have anything left to lose" she looked into medical marijuana treatment. She moved her family to Colorado Springs, Colo. to benefit from the state's marijuana laws and started to give Landon liquid forms of both Cannabidiol, or CBD, and Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC.

"Within four weeks we could see the improvement," Sierra told KRDO.

Users of medical marijuana have said that THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana that is associated with the "high" sensation, can also be an effective pain killer as well as inhibit feelings of nausea.

And research from a pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco suggests that CBD, the non-toxic, non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant, could actually stop metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancer.

Sierra swapped chemotherapy for cannabis therapy and has seen her son return to his old energetic self and his cancer go into remission. Her decision to use medical marijuana as treatment for her son's cancer has raised some eyebrows in the traditional medical community -- so much so, that one Colorado doctor reported Sierra to Human Services for refusing chemotherapy for Landon.

“They are not only forcing me to do something against my will as a parent, they are forcing me to make my child sick,” Riddle said to CBS4.

Childhood cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease among children in the United States, according to Children's Hospital Colorado. In a statement to CBS4, they write that 25 percent of childhood cancers are acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The survival rate for these patients treated at Children's Oncology Group is over 90 percent and is attained with two-to-three years of chemotherapy.

Riddle says that no matter what people think about her decisions, the plain and simple truth is that marijuana has helped her son.

"As soon as we started taking the oil, his platelets have been a regular healthy person's level and [doctors] can't understand why," Riddle told CNN.

As unusual as it may seem, the Riddle family is not alone in choosing medical marijuana treatment for a child with a severe illness. In 2012, then 7-year-old Mykayla Comstock of Oregon, who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, made headlines for her use of medical marijuana to combat the side effects of chemotherapy.

The family of 6-year-old Charlotte Figi was the subject of a CNN documentary earlier this year regarding their daughter's use of medical marijuana to help treat the debilitating seizures that result from her rare form of epilepsy.

Source and Video:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/30/marijuana-over-chemo_n_4017985.html?ir=Parents

A New Berlin Wall Made Of Pot?

BERLIN, Germany — Young parents push strollers through the sprawling green oasis of Goerlitzer Park in Berlin’s hip Kreuzberg district on a sunny afternoon. Yuppies in colorful windbreakers treat their pampered pets to a taste of freedom in the central dog run. And on the footpath surrounding them, every bench is occupied by young black men in baggy pants and baseball caps.

“Alles gut?” they ask passersby in accented German.

Meet Kreuzberg’s friendly neighborhood drug dealers, the reason behind a controversial proposal by the borough’s new mayor to legalize marijuana in the park.

Her drive is exposing friction between various ethnic and economic groups as older, mostly Turkish immigrants are supplanted by new foreigners and wealthy young Germans seeking a dose of Bohemian chic.

Although police have raided the park more than 60 times during the first half of this year and filed charges against some 170 people, the roundups have had little impact on the drug trade.

That’s why Mayor Monika Herrmann says the best way to remove Goerlitzer Park’s dealers is to legalize and regulate cannabis.

“If we want to gain control of the dealers and their products, we must manage the distribution,” the Green Party member told Agence France-Presse after taking office earlier this summer.

Herrmann’s plan envisions ending aggressive policing in favor of opening of state-owned coffee shops staffed by counselors who would advise buyers about the risks of smoking dope.

The plan has backing. Many residents say they’re keen to see the pot dealers disappear. Some say abandoning prohibition would also enable the police to better allocate resources and make drug treatment operations more effective by reducing the need for users to hide from the public.

“We have about 30 to 40 years experience of prohibition, and we have seen that it doesn’t work very well,” says Astrid Leicht, who heads a local drug treatment center.

But many immigrants worry that legalization would also mean they’d be evicted.

“It’s an atrocious way of saying, ‘We’re going to sell something so that they can’t sell it, so that they can’t make money, so that they leave,” says James Garner, an activist who works with an area nonprofit called Joliba that runs programs to help immigrants integrate into German society.

The differences over legalizing pot are highlighting a growing conflict over the neighborhood’s identity — a microcosm of the issues facing the entire capital, a city its mayor once christened “poor but sexy.”

Once a bastion of Turkish immigrants, anarchists, squatters and left-wing radicals where it was possible to rent a room for the equivalent of $60 a month, the neighborhood is being rapidly gentrified by young, white Berliners.

Although most moved for Kreuzberg’s multicultural flavor, liberal attitude and edgy vibe, they’re now growing older and starting families. That’s resulting in more calls for cleaning up Goerlitzer Park.

While left-wing organizations fight gentrification tooth and nail, well-established Turkish residents — many of whom settled here during the government’s drive to attract temporary cheap labor in the 1960s and ‘70s — resent newer migrants. They argue the government would never tolerate criminal activity in a predominantly white neighborhood.

Many of the newest arrivals are Africans who came here via Spain, Italy and other countries hard hit by the euro crisis — or directly from Africa.

German law allows refugees to stay and collect a modest 400 euros per month while the government evaluates whether they qualify for political asylum — which comes with a three-year visa that can later be converted to permanent residency. Bureaucratic delays and a shortage of official housing means that many remain in illegal squatters’ settlements such as an abandoned school on nearby Reichenberger street, which currently houses 200 to 300 mainly Africans.

Asylum seekers aren’t legally permitted to work for more than 1 euro per hour, which makes the marijuana trade an attractive option.

As Kreuzberg’s other residents continue to debate the proposal to legalize marijuana, Jah Rose, a Jamaican who sells CDs and knitted Rastafarian caps amid Goerlitzer Park’s dozens of drug dealers, wryly describes the status quo.

“They come from Africa and they land in prison.”

Source: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/130925/cannabis-kreuzberg-legalize