Potimus Prime

House Bill No. 00625 (The Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Act), sponsored by Democratic Representative Frank I. Smizik of Brookline, calls for the legalization of the consumption and cultivation of marijuana for medicinal use.

Staying true to the nature of “Compassionate Acts” in the other sixteen states with active medical marijuana laws, Representative Smizik has this to say:

“Marijuana has proven its medical efficacy,” Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, testified before the Legislature’s public health committee Tuesday. “This bill is about more than just commonsense; it’s about compassion.”

The Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Act would allow patients afflicted with (but not limited to) illnesses including cancer, HIV or AIDS, glaucoma, epilepsy and degenerative diseases would be allowed to obtain marijuana to ease symptoms of their illnesses after receiving a medical recommendation from their physician and registering with the Massachusetts Department of Health. In regards to cultivation and possession, it would allow for patients to grow up to 24 plants in an enclosed premises and possess up to 4 ounces of usable cannabis.

Source: Boston.com

Even though THC-abundant strains of marijuana are the most prevalent throughout North America, scientists have shown that the plant we have all come to love and respect has much more to offer than the oh-so familiar cannabinoid, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol. Strains with high levels of THC have dominated the market due to their strong euphoria-inducing effects, which is why most people are unfamiliar with the plethora of beneficial cannabinoids ripe with aptitude for medical application, too many to list in detail within this post.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is probably the most commonly known “secondary” cannabinoid among the active ingredients in marijuana, and has been heavily adopted for its medicinally therapeutic properties during the last couple years. CBD’s growing popularity due to its effectiveness has largely spurred public interest into the discovery and research of other cannabinoids ganja has to offer.

Cannabigerol (CBG) has been proven to provide relief from pain and depression with MORE effectiveness than tetrahydrocannabinol. CBG also differs from THC in that it does not interact with CB1 and CB2 receptors, but engages other receptors, such as the adrenoreceptors and serotonin receptors. It was first identified in 1964, but a high-yielding species was not cataloged until one was found in a French hemp field in the 1980s. Currently, the only known high-yielding strain rich in CBG resides in the greenhouses of GW Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturers of Sativex.

Don’t be fooled by the illusion of variety (medication wise, there is definitely a true variety in flavor) when your selection is plainly: indica, sativa, or hybrid, with options on potency. Stay apprised to where the medicinal marijuana industry is headed, and what it has to offer you as a patient, you may just find that the remedies other cannabinoids have to offer are a better fit for you than THC!

Also, here’s some further reading, if I’ve sparked your interest in cannabinoids: CBC, CBD, CBN, CBG, CBGM, CBGV, THC, THCV.

Sources:

• Freedom is Green
• National Center for Biotechnology Information

Riki Lindhome (Garfunkel) and Kate Micucci (Oates) sing a little ditty about the “perils” of obtaining medical marijuana in California. You can tell how much they’re suffering. I got a kick out of this video, and so should you. Check out more of Garfunkel and Oates if you do.

In what appears to be a full-out, flagrant show of the United States’ hypocritical stance on the growing and usage of hemp and marijuana, medical or otherwise. Raids continue to be carried out even after state dispensaries were told they were to be given safe harbor under the superseding state medical marijuana laws, the federal government “advised” the National Cancer Instituted to remove all suggestions alluding to the medical properties of cannabis from their website; one after the other, our government is employing these guerilla tactics against “Big Bad Marijuana” while issuing their buddies and campaign donors licenses to grow the plant legally, with carte blanche.

Consider US Patent 6,630,507, which describes and protects the use of cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants. If the United States government truly believes that marijuana has no medicinal properties, why does the Department of Health and Human Services hold this patent, a patent that lists the application of medical marijuana during treatment as useful in the case of several diseases, including: Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia and HIV?

Online coupon websites have been springing up like dandelions; businesses are bumping shoulders with each other, attempting to reel in fresh and recurring business through special deals and loyalty programs. Medical marijuana collectives and dispensaries are hopping on the online coupon bandwagon right and left, reeling in new patients with coupons accessible via mobile/web. Check into your favorite dispensary on Foursquare next time you’re there, you might get a freebie!

In a world where competing medical marijuana retail venues litter the streets in the kinds of numbers as McDonalds or Starbucks, online coupons are helping budding business owners draw in new and hopefully, recurring business. Colorado entrepreneurs saw the need for a bottleneck and filter for this surge of loyalty cards and goods vouchers and launched MMJDAILYDEALS.COM, an online medical marijuana coupon aggregator that currently serves over 10,000 patients in five Colorado cities and suburban areas: Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver, Ft. Collins, Summit County & Mountains.

Right now, their front page deal is a quarter ounce of any top shelf strain (which currently consists of: Chocolate Chunk, NYC Diesel, and Super Skunk) for $42 at Cannabis & Co in Denver, Colorado. It pleases me as an internet technology evangelist and medical marijuana patient to see these businesses adopting this online coupon strategy.

Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuch!

Over the past two decades, we have certainly seen a spur of growth in regards patient access to dispensaries and collectives to obtain the necessary medication for conditions such as MS, HIV, depression, cancer, and anxiety. Patients join a collective or dispensary by showing their doctor’s medical marijuana recommendation and are granted access to the entity’s current cache of medications, which include dried flower, edibles, extracts, tinctures and more.

Now, what if this array of herbal remedies was stored in and dispensed from an automated vending kiosk? Currently, several collectives and dispensaries have done just that, and with their “Med Box” are starting to test the value in making the process of purchasing medical cannabis an autonomous one.

Many wonder how this can possibly be legal. This process is more than legal, it actually ensures patient and collective compliance and transparency. It provides automation and inventory control for the collective while offering a quick and easy way for patients to get their medicine.

Med Box locations are specially annotated on WeedMaps, or you can keep track of dispensaries and collectives with a Med Box via the official Med Box locations page.

Source: Examiner

Founder and president of Portland-based medical marijuana organization, The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, Paul Stanford, was sentenced in Marion County Court to 18 months of probation and 160 hours of community service, the state attorney general’s office announced.

Attorney General John Kroger applauded Stanford’s conviction. “Paying taxes is not optional,” Kroger said. [...] Officials discovered Stanford hadn’t filed income taxes while investigating his organization for violating state and federal charity laws. The group has filed only sporadic financial reports, officials said.

Upon close of the investigation in 2010, the IRS revoked the non-profit organization’s tax-exempt status and assessed more than one million dollars in payroll taxes; the organization purportedly owes back taxes to the Oregon Department of Revenue as well.

Source: Oregon Live

Delaware prepares to join the ranks of fifteen other states as well as the District of Columbia after the State Senate approved the Senate Bill #17 by a 17-4 vote yesterday evening. SB17 had originally been approved in March of this year but has seen several amendments from the House and has finally come down to waiting for the governor’s sign-off.

Delaware’s Medical Marijuana Act will provide the following provisions:

• Medical marijuana identification card to be issued by the Department of Health and Social Services.
• Patients would be allowed to possess up to 6 ounces.
• Allows for the to designation of a caregiver, who would also receive an identification card.
• Each caregiver may assist no more than five qualifying patients.
• The legislation would allow for the state-regulated, non-profit distribution of medical marijuana.
• The Bill maintains commonsense restrictions on the medical use of marijuana, including prohibitions on public use of marijuana and driving under the influence of marijuana. Employers are not required to allow patients to be impaired at work or to allow the possession of marijuana at a workplace. Insurance providers would not have to cover medical marijuana.

Congratulations, Delaware, on becoming an aware and compassionate state!

It’s no news that Arizona has hopped on the bandwagon of “compassionate” states (Proposition 203), but not only is it the 15th state to adopt a medical marijuana law, it is the 5th state to practice reciprocity; that is, they recognize medical marijuana cards (w/ documentation) that are held by visitors to the state. (Other states that practice this are Maine, Michigan, Montana, and Rhode Island.) Now we just need to get California and New Mexico to follow suit, so that Arizonans can take THEIR cards out of state.

Here’s the bit of legislature pertaining to medical marijuana card reciprocity:

36-2801. 17. “VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT” MEANS A PERSON:
(a) WHO IS NOT A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA OR WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS.
(b) WHO HAS BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH A DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION BY A PERSON WHO IS LICENSED WITH AUTHORITY TO PRESCRIBE DRUGS TO HUMANS IN THE STATE OF THE PERSON’S RESIDENCE OR, IN THE CASE OF A PERSON WHO HAS BEEN A RESIDENT OF ARIZONA LESS THAN THIRTY DAYS, THE STATE OF THE PERSON’S FORMER RESIDENCE.
18. “WRITTEN CERTIFICATION” MEANS A DOCUMENT DATED AND SIGNED BY A PHYSICIAN, STATING THAT IN THE PHYSICIAN’S PROFESSIONAL OPINION THE PATIENT IS LIKELY TO RECEIVE THERAPEUTIC OR PALLIATIVE BENEFIT FROM THE MEDICAL USE OF MARIJUANA TO TREAT OR ALLEVIATE THE PATIENT’S DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION OR SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION. THE PHYSICIAN MUST:
(a) SPECIFY THE QUALIFYING PATIENT’S DEBILITATING MEDICAL CONDITION IN THE WRITTEN CERTIFICATION.
(b) SIGN AND DATE THE WRITTEN CERTIFICATION ONLY IN THE COURSE OF A PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP AFTER THE PHYSICIAN HAS COMPLETED A FULL ASSESSMENT OF THE QUALIFYING PATIENT’S MEDICAL HISTORY.

36-2804.03.
C. A REGISTRY IDENTIFICATION CARD, OR ITS EQUIVALENT, THAT IS ISSUED UNDER THE LAWS OF ANOTHER STATE, DISTRICT, TERRITORY, COMMONWEALTH OR INSULAR POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES THAT ALLOWS A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT TO POSSESS OR USE MARIJUANA FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES IN THE JURISDICTION OF ISSUANCE HAS THE SAME FORCE AND EFFECT WHEN HELD BY A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT AS A REGISTRY IDENTIFICATION CARD ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT, EXCEPT THAT A VISITING QUALIFYING PATIENT IS NOT AUTHORIZED TO OBTAIN MARIJUANA FROM A NONPROFIT MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY.