Friday, May 31, 2013

Survey: 76 percent of doctors approve of medical marijuana use

from cbs


ISTOCKPHOTO
A majority of doctors would approve the use of medical marijuana, according to a new survey.
"We were surprised by the outcome of polling and comments, with 76 percent of all votes in favor of the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes -- even though marijuana use is illegal in most countries," the survey's authors wrote.
The results appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine on May 30. It included responses from 1,446 doctors from 72 different countries and 56 different states and provinces in North America. In addition, 118 doctors posted comments about their decision on the survey.
Marijuana is the most commonly used illegal drug in the United States. The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) revealed that 15.2 million people had smoked weed in the month before being surveyed, and it was used by 75.6 percent of all illicit drug users.
Marijuana has also been linked to medical benefits, and has been shown to relieve pain, improve mood and increase appetite for patients who are prescribed it medicinally, but the National Institute on Drug Abuse pointed out that the evidence of its benefits is not enough to give marijuana Food and Drug Administration approval.
That being said, 19 states and the District of Columbia currently allow people to be in possession of marijuana with a doctor's prescription with Maryland the most recent, and Washington and Colorado have legalized pot for recreational purposes following the November elections.
Doctors surveyed were given a hypothetical case about a woman named "Marylin," a 68-year-old woman with breast cancer that had metastasized -- or spread -- to her lungs, chest cavity and spine. They were asked if they would give her medical marijuana to help her with her symptoms.
More than three-quarters of the North American physicians approved the use of medical marijuana in this scenario. About 78 percent of doctors outside the U.S. who responded supported the use as well.
Doctors who said they would prescribe it talked a lot about the responsibility of caregivers to help minimize their patients suffering, their patients' personal choice and the known dangers of prescription narcotics and painkillers. They also pointed out knowledge of personal cases where marijuana was able to help patients.
Dr. J. Michael Bostwick, a professor of psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., wrote a pro-Marijuana commentary for the survey.
"There are no 100 percents in medicine. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that this is something we should study more. Forgive the pun, but there's probably some fire where there's smoke, and we should investigate the medicinal use of marijuana or its components," Bostwick said to HealthDay.
Those who opposed prescribing marijuana pointed out the lack of evidence, uncertainty over where the marijuana was coming from, and problems with dosing and side effects.
Dr. Gary Reisfield, who co-wrote the "against" side for survey, pointed out that marijuana could hurt the lungs, further exasperating anyone who already had a lung condition.
"Heavy marijuana use is associated with numerous adverse health and societal outcomes including psychomotor, memory and executive function impairments, marijuana use disorders, other psychiatric conditions such as psychosis, poor school and work performance and impaired driving performance," he said to HealthDay.
Both sides argued over whether or not medical marijuana use should be under a doctor's discretion in the first place.
"Common in this debate was the question of whether marijuana even belongs within the purview of physicians or whether the substance should be legalized and patients allowed to decide for themselves whether to make use of it," the authors said.
© 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Medical marijuana ingredient prevents brain damage in mice

from latimes



A medical marijuana plant grows in a dispensary in Seattle.
By Geoffrey Mohan
May 31, 2013, 6:10 a.m.
The words “marijuana” and “brain damage” usually go in that order in medical literature. An Israeli researcher has flipped them around, finding that THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, may arrest some forms of brain damage in mice.
The loco weed already is favored by those who suffer from chronic diseases, not to mention fans of Cypress Hill, Bob Marley and the Grateful Dead.
But pharmacologist Josef Sarne of Tel Aviv University found that a minuscule amount of tetrahydrocannabinol may protect the brain after injuries from seizures, toxic drug exposure or a lack of oxygen.
The amounts wouldn’t qualify as much more than a second-hand whiff of kine bud – the quantity of THC is an order of 1,000 to 10,000 lower than that in a whole spliff.
The new dope on marijuana was published in Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, which are professional journals, not nicknames for HempCon or Burning Man.
Other researchers didn’t tend to Bogart the joint as much. They suggested using high -- their word --  doses within about half an hour after such injury. Sarne would spread a smaller dose over as much as a week.
The chemical is thought to jump-start biochemical processes that protect brain cells and preserve cognitive function.
Researchers injected mice with a low dose of THC either before or after exposing them to brain trauma. Fellow rodents in a control group got their brains bonked without the dose.
About a month or two later, the mice that got the THC treatment performed better in behavioral tests measuring learning and memory and showed they had greater amounts of neuroprotective chemicals than the control-group mice.
Oddly, it may be brain damage on a small scale that causes the brain to shift into protective mode. Researchers theorize the THC causes minute damage to the brain that helps build resistance and triggers protective measures in the face of more severe injury.
The low dose and long window for administering it would have obvious benefits after an injury, but it also could mean that THC can be given prior to a procedure that may carry risk of brain injury, including interruption of blood flow to the brain during surgery. Sarne believes it also could be safe for regular use among epileptics.

Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times
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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Ex-Mexico President Praises Wash. Pot Businessmen

from abc


By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press
SEATTLE May 31, 2013 (AP)



Washington state businessmen who say they're trying to create the first national brand of marijuana received some heartfelt support Thursday from the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox.
Fox appeared at a news conference in Seattle, where he recounted how the war on drugs has ravaged his country and praised the states of Washington and Colorado for voting to legalize the recreational use of marijuana last fall.
At the news conference, former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively discussed his plans to launch a new marijuana brand named for his great-great grandfather, Diego Pellicer. He says his company is joining forces with a Washington state chain of medical marijuana dispensaries run by John Davis, the Northwest Patient Resource Center, as well as dispensaries in Colorado and California.
"This historic step today is to be observed and evaluated closely by all of us, because it is a game changer," Fox said. "I applaud this group that has the courage to move ahead. They have the vision, they are clear where they're going, and I'm sure they're going to get there."
Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive who was Mexico's president from 2000-06, specified that he's not involved in the venture. He appeared at Shively's invitation. The two first met 13 years ago, when a company Shively used to run was opening a computer center in Sinaloa and Fox appeared at the inauguration, Shively said.
Shively described grand visions for his pot brand — hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, tens of millions of customers, more than 1,000jobs just at Diego Pellicer's Seattle headquarters.
Legalizing Marijuana Fox.JPEG
"Yes, we are Big Marijuana," he announced.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commissionlast March, the company wrote that it had raised $125,000 of an anticipated $625,000. Shively suggested those were outdated, but did not provide different figures.
Washington and Colorado expect to begin allowing marijuana sales to adults over 21 at state-licensed stores beginning next year, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the Justice Department has repeatedly said it can continue to prosecute large-scale, privately owned marijuana operations even when they comply with state law.
It isn't clear how Shively's plans for a national marijuana brand might be accomplished without running afoul of federal laws regarding the distribution of an illegal substance or conspiracy to distribute an illegal substance. He and Davis said no money from their business will travel interstate, nor will the marijuana itself, but neither of those factors would necessarily shield them from arrest.
Shively insisted that his deals with the dispensaries are structured in such a way as to minimize any risk of federal prosecution, but neither he nor Davis would explain how. Shively said he had acquired certain "rights" related to the dispensaries, and made the plan sound like a marketing agreement by which the stores, beginning next month, would be re-branded as Diego Pellicer.
"Neither Diego Pellicer nor our investors are exposed to any significant risk, in terms of criminal risk," Shively said. "In terms of criminal risk, that is vastly mitigated. ... We're making strategic investments, but we're making them in such a way that they are not in violation of either federal or state law."
Asked how his plan didn't constitute a federal conspiracy to distribute marijuana, Shively described his operation as "a conspiracy to obey the law."
His securities lawyer, Mike Moyer of the prominent Seattle firm of Dorsey and Whitney LLC, declined to elaborate.
Fox urged the reporters present to maintain a focus on the important issues at hand: the failure of the drug war, the thousands of lives lost, and the better alternative offered by legalization. He noted he'd rather be sitting at a table next to Shively than the notorious cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
"This is a much better option, no doubt," he said.
———
Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle
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May Was A Huge Month For Marijuana Legalization And Virtually Nobody Noticed

from businessinsider



Walter Hickey | May 28, 2013, 12:43 PM 
marijuana
Reuters
It has been six months since Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana, and the momentum for changing the way states handle pot has never been stronger. 
May was a huge month for marijuana reform supporters, with a string of significant wins and important milestones as more and more states lean toward a laissez-faire approach to marijuana. 
First and foremost, the Colorado Legislature successfully navigated its first big regulatory test, inventing the legal framework for a marijuana economy.
House Bill 1317 was the law that resulted from Amendment 64, the ballot initiative that legalized pot, dictating that Coloradans can buy an ounce of pot from specially licensed stores. House Bill 1318 set up the tax infrastructure for the market, which will go up for voter referendum in November. 
Gov. John Hickenlooper is set to sign both bills today, according to KDVR.
There's also been significant movement in other states in pursuing a similar system. May saw the NYPD's arrest numbers for marijuana offenses begin to decline, Christopher Robbins at Gothamist reported, with Commissioner Ray Kelly pushing pot to the back seat in favor of drugs that have dangerous effects. 
New York City arrests for marijuana possession are set to drop 20% in 2013.
Upstate in Albany, State Senator Liz Krueger swore to introduce a law to decriminalize, regulate, and tax marijuana in New York State, Dana Rubenstein at Capital New York reported.
The Empire State has been floated as one which could be in the next batch of states that, like Colorado and Washington, have a legal marijuana economy. 
On the West Coast, incoming Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti indicated Monday he supports legalizing marijuana for general use. This comes a month after California Lieutenant Governor — and potential 2014 gubernatorial candidate — Gavin Newsom penned an op-ed calling for California to legalize pot. 
Most interesting of all is movement in Illinois to approve medical marijuana. The bill passed the state Senate earlier this month and awaits Gov. Pat Quinn's signature. 
On the whole, the political success for marijuana in May is really just the implementation of American's changing views on pot.
A Reason-Rupe poll from earlier this month found that a mere 6% of Americans think marijuana possession should be punished with jail time. This, combined with a new majority of Americans supporting legalization, has dealt a devastating blow to opponents of legalization. 


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/may-was-a-huge-month-for-marijuana-legalization-and-nobody-noticed-2013-5#ixzz2UoOItUNj
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

IRS Targets Medical Marijuana Businesses In Government's Ongoing War On Pot

from huffpost



Posted:   |  Updated: 05/29/2013 7:17 pm EDT
The tea party has company. For the past several years, the Internal Revenue Service has been systematically targeting medical marijuana establishments, relying on an obscure statute that gives the taxing agency unintended power. The IRS has been functioning as an arm of justice, employing the U.S. tax code as a weapon in the federal government's ongoing war against legal cannabis.
The majority of Americans favor legalization of marijuana, while 18 states and the District of Columbia have already legalized medical marijuana. But pot businesses in those states are vulnerable to the federal government's strategic application of IRS Code Section 280E, a law enacted in 1982 after a drug dealer claimed his yacht and weapons purchases as legitimate business expenses -- and long before medical marijuana was first legalized in California in 1996.
Now the IRS is applying a rule originally aimed at illegal (and often violent) drug trafficking to businesses that are entirely legal under their states' laws. Medical marijuana dispensaries are facing audits and heavy tax bills that could force them out of business.
"Whether or not this is a coordinated tactic to try and shut down the industry, or send a chill through the industry, or if it's just the IRS trying to collect as much revenue as they can from easy targets, it's clearly outside the spirit and intent of the law," said Kris Krane, a former executive director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy who now serves as principal of 4Front Advisors, a medical marijuana dispensary consulting firm.
According to the Treasury Department, Section 280E disallows "deductions incurred in the trade or business of trafficking in controlled substances." Individuals involved in the sale of controlled substances -- including marijuana -- may not deduct standard business expenses from their federal taxes. That means, unlike other small businesses, medical marijuana dispensaries can't write off the cost of rent, payroll, product or advertising. As a result, stores that might not even be profitable can end up being taxed out of business.
"Section 280E was passed by Congress to deprive drug dealers on corners from deducting their expenses," said Henry Wykowski, a defense lawyer who represents dozens of dispensaries under audit in California. "The IRS is using this law in a way it was never intended to be used."
When asked about the agency's application of 280E to and auditing of medical marijuana dispensaries, IRS spokesman Bruce Friedland referred to a 2010 memo the IRS sent to members of Congress, which states that "neither section 280E nor the Controlled Substances Act makes exception for medically necessary marijuana."
In California, Harborside Health Center is currently fighting the IRS' claim that the Oakland dispensary owes more than $2 million inback taxes from 2007 to 2008. Other dispensaries, like the Vapor Room in San Francisco, which was also asked to cough up millions in back taxes, have shuttered as a result. In 2012, the federal government's raid of Oaksterdam University, a cannabistrade school in Northern California, was carried out by the IRS along with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
While the Obama administration has made headlines with high-profile raids on dispensaries in California, Washington, Montana and other states, its financial attacks on the medical marijuana industry are taking place largely out of public view.
"It's not as shocking as a SWAT team raiding the [medical cannabis] facilities," said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, a trade group comprising marijuana business professionals that works to reform business regulations and legitimize the country's marijuana industry. He said IRS audits, in comparison to clamorous DEA raids, have become a silent killer for the industry.
"Attacking state-legal businesses is extremely unpopular, but in doing so through financial means, they're able to undermine state medical marijuana laws without drawing as much ire from the voters," Smith said.
Dona Frank, who owns multiple medical marijuana facilities in California, said that while the IRS audits may spare the public the sight of masked law enforcement officers carrying assault weapons, the scrutiny is no less intimidating to the business owners being targeted.
"Who doesn't get scared when they get a letter from the IRS?" she said. "They've audited every business that I've had." Frank said her most recent IRS audits began this past September and that the IRS informed her recently that the agency was applying 280E.
The irony, Wykowski said, is that the IRS has only focused on the dispensaries filing federal tax returns. In other words, state-legal businesses trying to follow the law end up being punished for doing so. "The result is, unfortunately, you're better off not filing," Wykowski said.
The IRS' pursuit of medical marijuana dispensaries began during the Bush administration. In 2007, Wykowski represented Californians Helping to Alleviate Medical Problems, a San Francisco dispensary, in its appeal of a 2005 IRS audit. That case established that the federal government could apply 280E to medical cannabis businesses.
In subsequent cases, marijuana dispensaries have sought to carve out exceptions for the parts of their businesses, like caregiving services, that are not covered by the Controlled Substances Act. By and large, the courts have sided with the federal government.
So medical marijuana advocates are looking to Congress to change the law. In 2011,legislation to amend 280E was introduced in the House but died in committee. Now, as medical marijuana has gained even greater acceptance -- and after two states, Colorado and Washington, have legalized recreational pot -- supporters are trying again.
The National Cannabis Industry Association is pushing Congress to carve out exemptions for marijuana businesses so they can take deductions like anybody else operating in compliance with state and local law. The group is hosting an industry lobby day in Washington, D.C., next month, during which marijuana business owners from across the country will meet with lawmakers and press their case.
The 280E Reform Campaign, an association ally, was also recently formed to spearhead a focused effort against IRS targeting of marijuana businesses and offer guidance for dispensaries on the process of filing federal income tax returns. The group hosts seminars around the country to educate dispensary owners and other cannabis industry professionals about 280E and to teach strategies for navigating IRS audits.
Wykowski said that the IRS hides behind the argument, "If you want to change it, go to Congress, not to us," arguing that the IRS has the power to promulgate industry guidelines that could mitigate the situation.
But unless the IRS changes its stance on medical marijuana, or Congress or the president forces a change, individual dispensary owners are likely to continue to be targets.
"The auditing of dispensaries by the IRS is unfair and unreasonable and should be of concern to everybody," Wykowski said. "If they can do it to one group, they can do it to any group. ... A dispensary wins if they get treated like any other taxpayer."
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