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More BS from the Democrats DEA

jump /injack

Member
Veteran
DEA blows more smoke over marijuana


A pot farm in Calaveras County, Calif. Despite the growth in the medical marijuana industry, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reaffirmed Thursday that pot belongs on the nation’s list of dangerous Schedule 1 drugs. Andrew Seng aseng@sacbee.com


By the Editorial Board

Reading the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s report on marijuana, on how it should remain one of the nation’s most dangerous drugs and has no medical value, we can’t help but wonder what rock the agency’s leaders have been living under. Or what they’ve been smoking.
Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia have legalized weed for medical use, starting with California way back in 1996. Three more states – Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota – will decide whether to follow suit this November.
Yet, according the DEA on Thursday, “there is no evidence that there is a consensus among qualified experts that marijuana is safe and effective for use in treating a specific, recognized disorder.”
In a long-awaited report, the agency doubled down on years of illogical policy. Pot, it said, will remain as it has been since 1970 – a Schedule I drug, on par with heroin. It will not be, as many expected, bumped to even a Schedule II drug, like the deadly opioid fentanyl.
“This decision isn’t based on danger,” DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg told NPR. “This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine, and it’s not.”
This is the same circular argument that the agency has been making for years, even as states, with approval from the U.S. Justice Department, have steadily moved toward decriminalizing it. The drug remains in a legal gray area, though. The DEA, for example, spent $18 million last year destroying marijuana plants while people in three states were legally using it for fun.
What’s scary is that this movement toward legalization, including in California, has been happening without the benefit of controlled clinical trials. Much like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and guns, the DEA has made it almost impossible to study marijuana.
In a wise reassessment, the DEA did agree Thursday to remove some of the obstacles. No longer will the University of Mississippi house the sole facility licensed to grow pot for research. Others will be able to apply.
But even with that, the DEA took a tone-deaf approach. Instead of recognizing the urgent need for policymakers to know how weed affects everything from driving to child care, the agency signaled that it will enact strict rules for getting a license and issue a precious few of them.
What’s more, many of the licenses will go to big companies with deep pockets and lots of lobbyists, all looking to develop, patent and market particular strains as prescription drugs. Small growers, such as those in the Emerald Triangle who have been at this for generations, may find themselves left out of this Green Rush.
We needed clarity on marijuana. Instead, most of what the DEA gave us was just more smoke.


For over 70 years there has been this game with the DEA, now they are 'seemingly' letting the big pharmaceuticals get involved legally and in a big way while cutting out the small farmer and seed developers that have been working with the herb cannabis sativa for decades. Nice to have the politicians show their hands while putting you in prison or cutting you up by giving BIG PHARMA a boost up with legislation.
 

jump /injack

Member
Veteran
9 States to vote yea or nay on the herb Cannabis.

9 States to vote yea or nay on the herb Cannabis.

Now everyone knows that the DEA will never willingly give up the ability to jail you for a law that was passed for William Hearst's corporation to suppress Hemp, Hearst had thousands of acres of trees for wood pulp used in paper making and hemp was a Big competitor, so for a few bucks to some politicians Hearst got it banned. With 5% of the population in the World we have 25% of those incarcerated and most incarceration are for minor amounts of cannabis. No more sustaining the Unions of the Prison industry with the years jailing of young people. Vote out of office all those opposed to cannabis reform, no more jail time, free the cannabis herb for medical research to all, free the herb so that its like rosemary and thyme.

In five states — California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine — voters will be asked whether they want to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Meanwhile, those in Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will vote on starting full-fledged medical marijuana programs, ... more >
By Andrea Noble - The Washington Times - Sunday, August 14, 2016

At least nine states will charge ahead with marijuana initiatives on ballots in November — a record number — despite the federal government’s decision not to loosen restrictions on the drug, underscoring the precariousness of any type of legal recognition.

In five states — California, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine — voters will be asked whether they want to legalize recreational use of marijuana.

Meanwhile, those in Florida, Arkansas and North Dakota will vote on starting full-fledged medical marijuana programs, and Montana voters will decide whether to loosen restrictions on their state’s existing program.

Voters in Missouri, Michigan and Oklahoma could see medical marijuana initiatives on the Nov. 8 ballots if supporters produce enough petition signatures. Initiative supporters in Missouri and Michigan are embroiled in court battles over signatures that were thrown out and left them short of the thresholds required. Officials in Oklahoma are counting signatures turned in Thursday.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the number of states voting on marijuana initiatives is unprecedented.

“I think that speaks to both the public support of the issue and the maturation of the campaigns behind reforming marijuana laws,” Mr. Armentano said.

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Voters in several of the states with marijuana initiatives have defeated previous measures. Legalization proponents say each election cycle with marijuana on the ballot has given advocates more experience with ballot language and generated more enthusiasm for their campaigns.

Four states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational use of marijuana through voter referendums, and 25 states have approved medical marijuana programs.

The Drug Enforcement Administration last week denied requests to change the legal classification of marijuana — it’s classified as a Schedule I drug alongside heroin and LSD — shooting down advocates’ push to get the drug federally approved for medical purposes.

But drug reform advocates say approval of the ballot initiatives this year could produce enough momentum on marijuana reform to change that in coming years.

“If we win, it’s really going to accelerate our ability to change federal law,” said Tom Angell, chairman of the Marijuana Majority.

A win in California, the most populous state in the nation, would mean an additional 53 House members would represent districts in a state with a legislative interest in reforming laws that hinder the marijuana industry, he said.

“We really could start to win a lot more victories on the federal level in 2017 because of what happens,” Mr. Angell said.

The legalization movement has received unlikely support from lawmakers who haven’t necessarily been in favor of making the drug available for recreational use but who want to remove barriers for the industry now that it’s functional, said Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, which is supporting ballot initiative efforts in several states.

Although enthusiasm may be high, initiatives in a host of states are still far from achieving slam-dunk success.

In Arizona, a July poll from O.H. Predictive Insights showed an initiative to legalize marijuana was likely to lose, with 52.5 percent of likely voters surveyed saying they would vote against legalizing recreational marijuana, while 39.1 percent said they would vote in favor.

Part of the opposition to the initiative stems from another group that had sought to legalize recreational use of the drug this year. Two competing marijuana initiatives divided supporters, and only one was able to gather the signatures needed to make the ballot.

The campaign that was unable to qualify for the ballot has launched a new effort, Marijuana Consumers Against Fake Marijuana Legalization, to defeat Proposition 205. They argue that the initiative would do more harm than good by not adequately reforming marijuana laws — for instance by leaving in place felony charges for those who possess more than the legal amount of marijuana or by allowing city or county governments to ban home growth of marijuana if it becomes a “nuisance.”

They have asked voters to reject the 2016 ballot proposal and to support a 2018 legalization campaign that they say would include additional protections.

Arizona officials have said the proposed 15 percent tax on retail marijuana sales would generate more than $123 million in revenue and licensing fees by 2020.

J.P. Holyoak, chairman of the Yes on 205 campaign, said the initiative would end a “disastrous policy of marijuana prohibition.”

“Prop 205 would establish a more sensible system in which marijuana is regulated and taxed similarly to alcohol,” Mr. Holyoak said in a statement issued last week.

In Florida, where the state’s first medical pot shop in Tallahassee made its first sales of a low-dose, non-euphoric strain of marijuana in July, activists are gearing up for a ballot initiative that would allow strains with higher potency to be sold and would expand the types of illnesses for which it could be prescribed.

A similar effort failed in 2014, receiving 57 percent of the vote, shy of the 60 percent required to pass.

But a Quinnipiac University Poll from May showed that 80 percent of voters would support the Florida ballot measure and a local TV news station poll from the end of June shows support at 68 percent.

Support for legalization is more evenly divided in other states such as Maine and Massachusetts, where polls show opposition to ballot initiatives running at 41 percent and 51 percent respectively.

Losses in states could be regarded as a step backward for the movement, particularly if Californians reject the legalization initiative by a larger margin than when the issue was on the ballot in 2012, Mr. Tvert said.

But losses are likely to only reinvigorate activists, he said. Several states that have the issue up for vote this year have rejected either legalization or medical marijuana initiatives. In others where the issue is up for vote for the first time, just getting the issue on the ballot is regarded as a steppingstone that often brings together supporters to rally for the next try.

“It’s not like you’ve lost ground,” Mr. Tvert said. “When you take away the bitterness of losing on Election Day, 354 days out of the year it’s a win.”
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
DEA's pot ruling slammed by lawmakers, doctors, advocates

DEA's pot ruling slammed by lawmakers, doctors, advocates

DEA’s pot ruling slammed by lawmakers, doctors, advocates
By David Downs on August 15, 2016 at 10:29 AM

The Drug Enforcement Administration is enduring perhaps the most pronounced round of criticism in its 43 year-history, after a widely discredited decision last week to keep treating marijuana as the most dangerous drug on the planet.
Last week, the DEA denied two petitions seeking to change cannabis’ official federal designation as a schedule 1 drug — a label reserved for drugs with ‘no medical use and a high potential for abuse’.

Pot is considered by the federal government to be as dangerous as heroin or LSD, and more dangerous than prescription painkillers, which cause dozens of fatal overdoses a day. Cannabis has no lethal overdose. About 48 percent of Americans have tried weed once, and about 33 million are regularly users of it.

Rosenberg countered that pot’s schedule 1 status was no longer about its inherent danger, but rather its lack of accepted medical use.

DEA critics from Washington DC to the heartland are now blasting the DEA, calling the ruling “hypocrisy”, “absurd”, “heartless” and 2016’s version of the “flat Earth” theory.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s camp immediately stated Clinton would, as president, downgrade cannabis’ status to schedule 2.

“Marijuana is already being used for medical purposes in states across the country, and it has the potential for even further medical use,” Maya Harris, a senior policy advisor to Clinton’s campaign, said in a statement, reported by The Denver Post. “As Hillary Clinton has said throughout this campaign, we should make it easier to study marijuana so that we can better understand its potential benefits, as well as its side effects.”

More than half of polled physicians say cannabis should be legal. Bay Area Congresswoman Barbara Lee tweeted:

“Politicians aren’t doctors or scientists. Marijuana research prohibitions are outdated, unscientific, & dangerous for those who need #MMJ.”

Trauma neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, writing for CNN, called the DEA ruling a danger to countless people who will be denied potential therapies from cannabis research.

Dr. Gupta called the decision hypocrisy, and cited the DEA’s own judge, who almost 30 years ago ruled, “In strict medical terms marijuana is far safer than many foods we commonly consume. For example, eating 10 raw potatoes can result in a toxic response. By comparison, it is physically impossible to eat enough marijuana to induce death. Marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. By any measure of rational analysis marijuana can be safely used within the supervised routine of medical care.”

The Los Angeles Times editorial board — usually reticent to support pot-related reforms — put the DEA on blast, saying the decision was based on “a bizarre circular logic” that amounts to “a different kind of reefer madness. … The DEA opted to keep its policies mired in the 1970s, which will only exacerbate the growing divide between the states and feds.”

The San Francisco Chronicle’s relatively conservative columnist Debra Saunders opined that “really, how can drug warriors who want to make it harder to prescribe opioids also want to make pain-alleviating medical marijuana off-limits? There is only one reason to cling to the status quo — willful institutional blindness.”

Saunders blames President Obama, and said she will vote for California legalization

Proposition 64 this Fall. Prop 64 would direct $2 million per year to study medical cannabis in California, beyond the reach of federal prohibition.

California Rep. Sam Farr expressed disappointment at the ruling, noting in a statement that there’s the federal catch-22 for marijuana.

“One of the main reasons the DEA said it won’t reclassify marijuana is because there aren’t enough studies showing if marijuana has medicinal benefits. What’s frustrating is that because the DEA says marijuana is a Schedule 1 drug, it’s extremely difficult for medical researchers to access the drug to study it!” Rep. Farr stated.

NORML deputy director Paul Armentano noted that “ample scientific evidence already exists to remove cannabis from its schedule I classification and to acknowledge its relative safety compared to other scheduled substances, like opioids, and unscheduled substances, such as alcohol.” He called the DEA’s decision a “flat Earth” policy.

And the Cannabis Business Alliance noted that the DEA profits from federal drug war funding and asset forfeitures related to cannabis prohibition, and so cannot make an unbiased decision about the plant.

“The DEA has a vested financial interest in maintaining the prohibition of marijuana and furthering the war against it, which has locked up millions, destroyed countless lives, and squandered hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. States with legal marijuana understand the safe nature of this plant and its therapeutic benefit to many patients. The American people have accepted marijuana in mainstream society and the question should not be one of rescheduling this plant, but rather, how do we effectively regulate cannabis in a de-scheduled world,” stated Cannabis Business Alliance Executive Director Mark Slaugh.

Oakland dispensary operator Steve DeAngelo called the DEA’s decision “absurd and heartless”, and echoed criticism of bias in the DEA.

“The only possible explanation for this travesty is the DEA’s desire to preserve bloated drug war budgets and militarized policing like we saw in Ferguson. One viewing of the dozens of videos of children with intractable epilepsy being treated with cannabis makes it’s therapeutic power immediately evident.



“Apparently the DEA either lacks access to You Tube, or the decency to consider the misery they are inflicting on millions of their fellow citizens.

“The cannabis reform movement will never back down. Our own lives and health, and the lives and health of our families and neighbors are at stake. We are sick and tired of a broken health care system that foists dangerous pharmaceuticals upon us while denying us the safest and most therapeutic of medicines.


We will not rest and we will not stop until the last cannabis prisoner is free.”



About 700,000 Americans will be arrested for marijuana this year. Pot arrests are the leading type of drug arrest in the nation, and drug arrests are the most frequent arrests police make in America. Blacks in the U.S. have about are arrested at almost four times the rates of white for pot, despite similar levels of use, the ACLU reports.

http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetrut...uling-slammed-by-lawmakers-doctors-advocates/
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
I think what’s starting to happen, especially with the increasing number of states legalizing in some form or another, the ground work is being laid for the expiration of the US Patent. All of a sudden there will be medical and therapeutic value that will be recognized by the government and of course who’s going to get the biggest support, the industries whose lobbies have been lining the pockets.

Doesn’t GW Pharma have a long list of patents approved or in process and I believe the FDA is fast tracking one of their products? How, if it doesn’t have any medical value according to the DEA?

So much for the voice of the people (in the eyes/ears of the feds) that put cannabis in the position it is in today, meaning approving medical and recreational use via their votes at the state level.
 

Gry

Well-known member
The DEA was the child of Richard Nixon, a true blue Republican that was as fine a servant to his corporate masters as the current president. If one has a problem with coke or pepsi, they will more than happy to sell you your own city water.
 
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OranguTrump

Crotchety Old Crotch
The DEA was the child of Richard Nixon, a true blue Republican that was as fine a servant to his corporate masters as the current president. If one has a problem with coke or pepsi, they will more than happy to sell you your own city water.

Dick also green lit the HMO debacle - ensuring his pals would make waaay more money than usual.
 
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