S.A.M. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT [email protected]
LEGALIZATION AMENDMENT FAILS IN CONGRESS
But once again, medical marijuana amendments pass
(WASHINGTON DC) – An amendment to the Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill that would have stripped federal funds to be used to enforce federal drug laws in states failed today. The \”McClintock-Polis Amendment\” was a key part of the Big Marijuana industry\’s strategy on the Hill this year, and it would have protected marijuana lollipop and candy companies from any regulation.
\”We are re-energized. This is a victory for the science, and it\’s a victory for our Nation\’s kids,\” remarked Kevin Sabet, a former Obama Administration advisor who now serves as President of SAM (Smart Approaches to Marijuana), a group that forcefully opposed the amendment. \”It\’s a crushing blow to the new Big Marijuana industry special interest group. Legalization is not inevitable and we will continue to discuss why today\’s high THC marijuana runs counter to mental health and basic principles of public health and road safety.\”
Any dose of alcohol combined with cannabis significantly increases levels of THC in blood
- Date: May 27, 2015
- Source: American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC)
- Summary:
- Cannabis plus alcohol is one of the most frequently detected drug combinations in car accidents, yet the interaction of these two compounds is still poorly understood. A study shows for the first time that the simultaneous use of alcohol and cannabis produces significantly higher blood concentrations of cannabis\’s main psychoactive constituent, THC, as well as THC\’s primary active metabolite than cannabis use alone.
- For complete article go to Any dose of alcohol combined with cannabis significantly increases levels of THC in blood
April 20, 2015 For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact: Lana Beck (727) 828-0211 or (727) 403-7571
Weeds 3: A Documentary Showcasing Legitimate Scientific Research or an Infomercial to Legalize Marijuana?
(St. Petersburg, FL) Drug Free America Foundation stands with other major medical associations whose positions support the research into the medical efficacy of marijuana. These associations include: the American Medical Association, American Society of Addiction Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association. However, Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s documentary blurs the lines between legitimate research and propaganda. The important take-a-way from the show was that research on the potential benefits of marijuana is taking place today without the rescheduling of the drug. Unfortunately, the show failed to point out the multitude of harms of marijuana use and the impacts in states that have determined medicine by popular vote.
“Two things about the documentary that really upset me as a medical professional are that Sanjay Gupta had a chance to drive home the point that because research is underway on the potential benefits of components in marijuana, there is no need to legalize it through referenda where dosages can’t be controlled and various strains can’t be cloned. Nor is it necessary to reschedule the drug,” said Dr. Eric Voth, an expert on drug policy and Chair of the Institute on Global Drug Policy.
“The other disappointing aspect about this show is the lack of discussion about the myriad of scientific research out there that shows the other side of marijuana that is harmful and addictive,” continued Voth. “If we are going to have open dialogue about marijuana research, then Gupta shouldn’t muddy the water by sending an incomplete message to the public about the right and the wrong way to approach true scientific research. I think this was an intentionally missed opportunity by Gupta to further a less-than-scientific agenda,” concluded Voth.
“By ignoring the potential harms of marijuana use and not acknowledging the big problems that Colorado and California have experienced since marijuana has been legalized in those states, CNN and Dr. Gupta failed to cover this issue honestly,” said Amy Ronshausen, Deputy Director of Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. and Save Our Society From Drugs. “This show failed to cover Colorado’s increases in drugged driving fatalities and emergency room visits because of marijuana use. Nor did the show discuss the alarming trend surrounding high potency marijuana edibles sold as ‘medicine’ and marketed to be appealing to youth,” continued Ronshausen. “There was a lot of discussion about how marijuana may help PTSD symptoms, but none about the mounting research on how the drug exacerbates psychotic symptoms,” concluded Ronshausen.
If you would like to set up an interview about this issue with Dr. Eric Voth or other national drug policy experts, please contact Lana Beck at (727) 828-0211 or (727) 403-7571.
Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. is a national and international drug policy organization promoting effective sound drug policies, education and prevention. www.dfaf.org.
Save Our Society From Drugs (S.O.S.) takes a comprehensive approach to promote sound drug policy that includes education, prevention, abstinence-based treatment, scientific research, and community awareness. www.saveoursociety.org.
The Institute on Global Drug Policy, an international alliance of physicians, scientists, attorneys, and drug experts, advocates on illicit and licit drug abuse issues. www.globaldrugpolicy.org
-END-
Politicians trying to \’attract\’ the young vote, rarely allow \’facts to get in the way of a good story\’. Obama is indeed becoming a master purveyor of blatant inaccuracies couched in progressive rhetoric to just such an end!
Excerpt from the following…
in His charge of high incarceration rates for non-violent offenders is not factual. For instance, data show that only a fraction of one percent of state prison inmates are low-level marijuana possession offenders, while arrests for marijuana and cocaine/heroin possession and use were no more than 7 percent of all arrests, nationwide, in 2013.
Though critics of drug laws claim that hundreds or even thousands of prisoners are low-level non-violent offenders unjustly sentenced, the reality was shown recently by the President’s inability to find more than a handful of incarcerated drug offenders who would be eligible for commutation of their sentence because they fit the mythological portrait of excessive or unjust drug sentences…
Obama’s Jamaican Fantasy APR 11, 2015 – BY DAVID W. MURRAY AND JOHN P. WALTERS
For complete article go to… http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-s-jamaican-fantasy_916236.html
CLEARING THE HAZE
“….The ugly truth is that Colorado was suckered. It was promised regulation and has been met by an industry that fights tooth and nail any restrictions that limit its profitability.” Ben Cort, Director of Professional Relations for the Center for Addiction Recovery and Rehabilitation at the University Of Colorado Hospital
http://gazette.com/clearingthehaze
REGULATION STILL INEFFECTIVE
But how it would work was described only in general terms and sound bites before voters headed to the polls to make a decision Gov. John Hickenlooper later would call \”reckless\” and \”a bad idea\” and new Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman declared \”not worth it\” to dozens of state attorneys general last month.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/regulation-still-ineffective/article/2562323?custom_click=rss
NO APPROVED MEDICINE IN MARIJUANA
Dr. Stuart Gitlow, a physician serving as president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, does not mince words: \”There is no such thing at this point as medical marijuana,\” he said. It\’s a point he has made routinely for the past decade, as advocates for marijuana legalization have claimed the drug treats an array of serious illnesses, or the symptoms of illnesses, including cancer, depression, epilepsy, glaucoma and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/no-approved-medicine-in-marijuana/article/2562336
LEGALIZATION DIDN’T UNCLOG PRISONS
Of all the misunderstandings about marijuana\’s impact on the country, perhaps none is greater than the belief that America\’s courts, prisons and jails are clogged with people whose only offense was marijuana use. This is the perception, but statistics show few inmates are behind bars strictly for marijuana-related offenses, and legalization of the drug will do little to affect America\’s growing incarceration numbers.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/legalization-didnt-unclog-prisons/article/2562326
DRUG USE A PROBLEM FOR EMPLOYERS
\”This is a very troublesome issue for our industry, but I do not see us bending or lowering our hiring standards,\” Johnson said. \”Our workplaces are too dangerous and too dynamic to tolerate drug use. And marijuana? In many ways, this is worse than alcohol. I\’m still in shock at how we (Colorado) voted. Everyone was asleep at the wheel.\”
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/drug-use-a-problem-for-employers/article/2562334
MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY STILL GROWING
And amid all the hoopla around legalized recreational pot, its older cousin, the medical marijuana (MMJ) industry – with 505 stores throughout Colorado – quietly continued to grow, adding patients by the thousands who seemingly had no problem finding physicians willing to diagnose what critics say are often phantom medical conditions. Statewide, the number of people on the Medical Marijuana Registry grew 4 percent in 2014 – the first year of legal recreational sales – from 111,030 to 115,467 by year\’s end.
\”According to the latest results of Mr. Katona’s team, recreational cannabis gravely interferes with the two-way communication between neurons. The discovery, revealing the gravity of the effect cannabis use has on a molecular level, shocked both the researchers and their colleagues, Mr. Katona said, adding that decision-makers must seriously consider the permitted THC content of cannabis products during increasingly widespread legalisation of the drug.\”
For complete article go to http://hungarytoday.hu/cikk/hungarian-scientists-prove-devastating-effect-cannabis-use-brain-18287
see also, http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v18/n1/full/nn.3892.html
For decades, the Netherlands has been known for its tolerant cannabis laws — the poster nation for pro-pot advocates. Cannabis users from across the world have flocked to Amsterdam to patronize its many cannabis-selling “coffee shops.” Throughout this time cannabis has remained illegal in the Netherlands; although, the Dutch have not prosecuted anyone in possession of less than five grams of cannabis for personal use. This distinctive drug policy of tolerance toward cannabis is called gedoogbeleid, and known as the “Dutch model.”1Now, the U.S. now is the first, and so far the only, nation in the world to have fully legal production, sale, promotion, and use of cannabis for people 21 an older. In stark contrast, the Dutch are moving in the opposite direction, limiting the growth, distribution, and use of cannabis and showing no interest in “medical marijuana.” Cannabis with a THC level of more than 15 percent is now under consideration to be reclassified as a “hard drug.” In the Netherlands, that designation comes with stiff criminal penalties. Furthermore, the nation once had more than 1,000 coffee shops, 300 in Amsterdam alone. Now, there are fewer than 200 in the city and 617 nationwide. This is the result of the government’s actions to force coffee shops to choose either to sell alcohol or marijuana. Notably, many are choosing to sell alcohol. For more read the attached Commentary_Netherlands_3-19-2015-final
VIENNA, 2 February (UN Information Service)
At the opening of its 112th Session on Monday, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) once again cautioned the members of the international community of the public health risks associated with the adoption of legislative and policy measures which are inconsistent with the provisions of the three United Nations drug control conventions. According to INCB President, Dr Lochan Naidoo, “Thedrug control conventions aim to promote and protect public health. These conventions, drafted by, and almost universally ratified by States, are the bedrock of the drug control framework in that they represent the minimum standards agreed upon by the members of the international community.”
“Flexibility” in the interpretation of the international drug control treaties has been a reoccurring theme in the media in the recent months, especially in the United States, due to legal measures in some jurisdictions on the control of cannabis. The Board, however, invited States to consider the consequences that these measures may have in imperiling the broad consensus these treaties represent, in particular with respect to the limitation of use of narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances for medical and scientific purposes, an obligation to which no derogation is permitted.
While the Board has always recognised that State parties to the UN drug control treaties have a wide degree of discretion in the choice of means to implement their legal obligations, they are held not to take any action which would threaten the object and purpose of the UN drug control treaties the health and welfare of mankind.
Thus, the Board encourages States to persist in their efforts to identify measures to fully implement the drug control conventions and respond to evolving realities surrounding drug abuse, trafficking and drug-related violence; it also reminds them that this undertaking must be conducted with caution and due consideration.
Vienna International Centre PO Box 500, 1400 Vienna, Austria
Tel: (+43-1) 26060-4666 Fax: (+43-1) 26060-5899
Email: [email protected] http://www.unis.unvienna.org
UNIS/NAR/1228 2 February 2015
INCB Report 2014 : (Excerpts)
142. The Board notes the various measures undertaken and planned by the
Government to monitor the implementation of cannabis-related regulations in
certain states of the United States as they pertain to federal enforcement priorities,
as well as to examine the public health impact of those developments. The Board
reiterates its concern that action by the Government to date with regard to the
legalization of the production, sale and distribution of cannabis for non-medical
and non-scientific purposes in the states of Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and
Washington does not meet the requirements of the international drug control
treaties. In particular, the 1961 Convention as amended, establishes that the
parties to the Convention should take such legislative and administrative measures
as may be necessary “to limit exclusively to medical and scientific purposes the
production, manufacture, export, import, distribution of, trade in, use and
possession of drugs”. This provision is strictly binding and not subject to flexible
interpretation. In addition, the Convention establishes that States parties have “to
give effect to and carry out the provisions of this Convention within their own
territories”. This provision also applies to States with federal structures (INCB
2014, p. 25).
And the foreword which reads :
Foreword to the INCB Annual Report for 2014
Like all international conventions, the United Nations drug control treaties lay out
a set of binding legal norms and entrust States with the adoption of legal,
administrative and policy measures to implement their treaty obligations.
While the choice of these measures is the prerogative of States, such measures must
respect the limits that the international community has set for itself in the international
legal order. One of the most fundamental principles underpinning the
international drug control framework, enshrined in both the 1961 Convention and
in the Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971, is the limitation of use of
narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to medical and scientific purposes.
This legal obligation is absolute and leaves no room for interpretation (INCB
2014, p. iii).
The lawyer charged with defending Colorado\’s marijuana legalization laws denounced them Monday.
“It’s not worth it,” Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman told dozens of fellow state attorneys general at a conference in the nation\’s capital, ​referring to $76 million in taxes and fees collected from pot sales last year.
The recently inaugurated Republican rebuked legalization advocates’ long-standing argument that regulating sales will eliminate the black market for marijuana and associated criminal activity.
“Don’t buy that argument,” she told her peers. “The criminals are still selling on the black market. … We have plenty of cartel activity in Colorado [and] plenty of illegal activity that has not decreased at all.”
For Full Story go to… http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/02/23/colorados-new-attorney-general-pot-legalization-not-worth-it
