Medical Marijuana....
 

New Jersey latest state to approve.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/...cal.marijuana/

I like many others consider the use of marijuana a huge benefit to folks with chronic pain, nausea, glaucoma, and many other illnesses. I don't use it myself, but if my chronic pain issues continue I a may try it. I know it has benefited people close to me.

Happy to see the medical and judicial community finally starting to recognize this as a viable means for pain management!

Support
 

Being that one "close" to Jess... I say, "YAY!!" for medicinal use.

good subject
 

I would love to say I am thrilled with the New Jersey law. Having been in the trenches here in NJ. I can say without a doubt, the law makers of this state really put the screws to sick people.

they removed self grow and will only allow 6 sites state wide to grow and supply the states sick people.

Now how the hell is an MS patient going to drive 50 miles to pick up a limited 2 oz a month?

The only benefit of this law is that folks who use it are now protected by a medical defense. Which has many people sighing in relief as they are no longer criminals. But access is a big issue unresolved.

wolfwalker

It may take the state a while before enough folks in need can write in and get the next step started with the lawmakers.

In reading the blogs of the current Prop 8 trial, it seems imperative that people share their stories in order for the masses to "hear" what it's like for them.

If limited access is an issue, hopefully some smart folks will come up with answers.

Since we are on the subject
 

I always try to educate on this subject as much as possible. These are things you may or may not know. If anyone is offend:dots:ed by the truth and would prefer to completely believe the govt. bull chit about this subject. please do not read any further.

History

The use of cannabis, at least as fiber, has been shown to go back at least 10,000 years in Taiwan.[8] Má (Pinyin pronunciation), the Chinese expression for hemp, is a pictograph of two plants under a shelter.[9]Cannabis is indigenous to Central and South Asia.[10] Evidence of the inhalation of cannabis smoke can be found as far back as the 3rd millennium B.C., as indicated by charred cannabis seeds found in a ritual brazier at an ancient burial site in present day Romania.[6] Cannabis is also known to have been used by the ancient Hindus of India and Nepal thousands of years ago. The herb was called ganjika in Sanskrit (गांजा/গাঁজা ganja in modern Indic languages).[11][12] The ancient drug soma, mentioned in the Vedas as a sacred intoxicating hallucinogen, was sometimes associated with cannabis.[13]

Cannabis was also known to the ancient Assyrians, who discovered its psychoactive properties through the Aryans.[14] Using it in some religious ceremonies, they called it qunubu (meaning "way to produce smoke"), a probable origin of the modern word "cannabis".[15] Cannabis was also introduced by the Aryans to the Scythians and Thracians/Dacians, whose shamans (the kapnobatai—"those who walk on smoke/clouds") burned cannabis flowers to induce a state of trance.[16] Members of the cult of Dionysus, believed to have originated in Thrace (Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey), are also thought to have inhaled cannabis smoke. In 2003, a leather basket filled with cannabis leaf fragments and seeds was found next to a 2,500- to 2,800-year-old mummified shaman in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.[17][18]


Cannabis sativa from Vienna Dioscurides, 512 A.D.Cannabis has an ancient history of ritual use and is found in pharmacological cults around the world. Hemp seeds discovered by archaeologists at Pazyryk suggest early ceremonial practices like eating by the Scythians occurred during the 5th to 2nd century B.C., confirming previous historical reports by Herodotus.[19] One writer has claimed that cannabis was used as a religious sacrament by ancient Jews and early Christians[20] due to the similarity between the Hebrew word "qannabbos" ("cannabis") and the Hebrew phrase "qené bósem" ("aromatic cane"). It was used by Muslims in various Sufi orders as early as the Mamluk period, for example by the Qalandars.[21]

A study published in the South African Journal of Science showed that "pipes dug up from the garden of Shakespeare's home in Stratford upon Avon contain traces of cannabis."[22] The chemical analysis was carried out after researchers hypothesized that the "noted weed" mentioned in Sonnet 76 and the "journey in my head" from Sonnet 27 could be references to cannabis and the use thereof.[23]

Cannabis was criminalized in the United States in 1937 due to Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. Several theories try to explain why it is illegal in most Western societies. Jack Herer, a cannabis legalization activist and writer, argues that the economic interests of the paper and chemical industry were a driving force to make it illegal.[24][25][26] Another explanation is that beneficial effects of hemp would lower the profit of pharmaceutical companies which therefore have a vital interest to keep cannabis illegal.[27] Those economic theories were criticized for not taking social aspect into account. The illegalization was rather a result of racism directed to associate American immigrants of Mexican and African descent with cannabis


wolfwalker, medicine man

History shows feds will ignore California's new marijuana directives

by Dave Stancliff
(libertarian)
Sunday, August 31, 2008

By Dave Stancliff
California Attorney General Jerry Brown recently handed state police and marijuana activists his latest directive towards fulfilling the voter's will, but it's just another hopeful stab at getting the feds to stop busting anyone, and everyone, that grows marijuana, and the clinics that distribute it.

Since California voters said they wanted marijuana to be legal for medicinal purposes in 1996, the feds have brazenly ignored the people's will and have continued to hunt down medical marijuana growers, and bust pot clinics sanctioned by cities and counties.

The feds are so enthralled with their war on marijuana that they happily ignore state's rights. The wrongheadedness of this warfare is apparent when marijuana is classified as a Class One narcotic. Putting the pungent herb in with heroin, cocaine, meth, and other serious drugs just displays the feds ignorance from the top down.

Anybody that has had the opportunity to research how marijuana became illegal knows that it was a racist and elitist law passed to run Mexicans out of American towns. The propaganda that resulted was legendary and hopelessly inaccurate. It was another way to go after African-Americans and put them behind bars. The stereotyping that took place without challenge was a sad note in our history.

Once we grew hemp for victory, during WWII, and now we find that it can make a lot more than just great rope. The clothing, oil, and other applications that come from marijuana are becoming more known and seeping into the mainstream.

The fact that marijuana has medical applications should give it more respect, but as long as there are feds that trample state's rights, it's going to be viewed as being on the wrong side of the law.

With this being a presidential election year there is the opportunity to ask all political parties to put in their two-cents on the issue of medical marijuana and state's rights. Now there's some discussions I'd like to see.
McCain would probably have a stroke during a debate about pot legalization, and Obama would mention that he tried it in his youth. When it came to the VP's, Palin would prosecute anyone that defended pot, and Biden would just smile mysteriously. I think it's one of those hot-button topics that Americans need to hear the candidates weigh in on.

While we're at it, let's get them to talk about states rights. The feds contempt for them have become too pervasive these days, and it's time to start acting like we live in a Republic, and we're not minions of some faceless central government.

Some medical marijuana activists are happily hailing the new guidelines by the state's top law dog, and if reports are true, some police agencies are happy with the new guidelines for whose been naughty and whose been nice.
Humboldt County, the un-official pot capital of California and the USA- already had some pretty liberal medical marijuana laws going, and it's district attorney had no problem going along with the new directives.

After all of these years of sparring between state and federal authorities, the new rule book is supposed to really be an improvement and will respect the legal patient's right to puff pot. The whole idea is supposed to make it easy to go after the bad guys while not hassling the good guys.
As It Stands, since when have the feds honored anything since the state's new law was enacted a dozen years ago?

http://www.nolanchart.com/article4672.html

Pot Joke
 

:mohawk::deepthoughts::flyingweed::flyingweed::fly ingweed::smokejoint::smokejoint::smokejoint:::weed smoke::cannabis::cannabis:



A monkey is sitting in a tree smoking a joint, when a lizard walks past, looks up, and says to the monkey "Hey, what're you doing?" The monkey replies, "Smokin' a joint, come up and have some." So the lizard climbs up the tree, sits next to the monkey, and they smoke a few joints.

After a while the lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and he's going to the river
to get a drink.

The lizard climbs down the tree and staggers over to the river to get a drink
of water, but he is so stoned, he leans over too far and falls into the river. A crocodile sees this, swims over to the lizard and helps him to the side. Then he asks the lizard, "What's the matter with you?" The lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting up in a tree with a monkey smoking pot, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check this out, and wanders off into the jungle.

He finds the tree where the monkey is sitting finishing up a joint. The
crocodile yells up to the monkey and says "Hey!"

The monkey looks down and says, ......."Dude! How much water did you
drink?!"

Cheers to decriminizilation (did i spell that right?)
 

I wrote a paper for a political science class last year that received an A and a comment of nothing more than "Wow!" I am including just the first three paragraphs:

The legal use of medicinal marijuana is a hot topic in today’s political forums. In the state of California, the growing, distribution, and use of medicinal marijuana is legal (if you have a prescription and a state licensed card), but on the federal level it is not. This ability to separate state government from federal government is called federalism. Even though California says that a patient with certain terminal illnesses is allowed to use it as pain management, the federal government can come in and trump this. The national government has the supremacy clause that allows it to go into a state and enforce its laws on the citizens.
If the federal government decides to impose its laws on the people of California (implied powers), regarding this issue, the people can go to the Supreme Courts and apply for a grievance of infringement upon the state’s right to make these laws and uphold them; this is referred to as reserved powers. If the Supreme Court deems that this is an unconstitutional act, then the federal government has to withdraw out of the state’s policies on the issue.
However, the federal government can mandate that the growth, distribution, and use of marijuana when it comes to it crossing state lines as merchandise. The commerce clause is used by Congress to control commerce between states. The federal government made marijuana illegal, thus its transfer from state to state is illegal. Albeit that the federal government can come into the state at any time and have ill patients arrested, it just doesn’t seem to be proper form and takes away from the state’s ability to police and monitor itself.

I am several years into my soberity, but I do believe that if a person is hurting and there is a natural way to help with pain management, I am all over it.

the courts
 

there was a guy here who was arrested cause the police saw pot growing in his back yard.

the judge said you can not mention medical marijuana in your defense.

well since he is an informed patient. when the cops got there. he told them right from the start. this is medical marijuana for my MS and stayed with that.

when it went to court. the first cop on the stand was the arresting officer. he was asked " what did the defendant say upon your arrival. the cop said, he said he was growing medical marijuana for his MS. it was then introduced, opening the door.

he was found not guilty of the felony.

there has been a bill introduced by congress to make medical marijuana a legal defense and one introduced to legalize. they need your support.


wolfwalker

Take action page for NORML
 

http://www.capwiz.com/norml2/home/

fun fact
 

Cannabis was also known to the ancient Assyrians, who discovered its psychoactive properties through the Aryans.[14] Using it in some religious ceremonies,

Jesus was known to have lived with the assyrians for many years.

wolfwalker :anothersnowman:

marijuana is always medicinal...legalize it