This alert was posted to the Cannabis Alliance, a group of businesses and activists with the aligned interests of improving patient access to medicine:

 On Tuesday, February 14, the Colorado Senate Finance Committee will hear SB 75, a bill to allow the creation of a financial cooperative for the medical marijuana industry. 

The co-op is regulated at the state-level much like a credit union, but is exempt from federal insurance.  Only licensed business owners and patients with a red card may be members of the co-op.  The co-op will have to maintain private insurance and operate with non-FDIC insured merchant services.  While the bill doesn’t solve the whole problem, it is a step in the right direction.

The Colorado Bankers Association opposes the bill.  The Cannabis Business Alliance has been in negotiation with them for several months.  While they are willing to help with a federal solution, they don’t want these newly-created co-ops to have access to merchant services, the key to MMJ business to operate like any other small business.

Please take a few minutes of your day to contact committee members and ask them to support SB 75.  Let them know that having a “bank” account and access to merchant services is critical to keeping your business in compliance with state-law, will help ensure public safety by getting cash out of your store front, and is key to the smooth operation and accounting of your business transactions.

Chairman Mike Johnston

O: 303-866-4864

E: mike.johnston.senate@state.co.us

Ranking Member Keith King

O: 303-866-4880

E: Keith@Keithking.org

Scott Renfroe

O: 303-866-4451

E: senatorrenfroe@gmail.com

Angela Giron

O: 303-866-4878

E: Angela.Giron.senate@state.co.us

Greg Brophy

O: 303-866-6360

E: greg@grebrophy.net

Lucia Guzman

O: 303-866-4862

E: lucia.guzman.senate@state.co.us

Cheri Jahn

O: 303-866-4856

E: cheri.jahn.senate@state.co.us

Mark Scheffel

O: 303-866-4869

E: mark.scheffel.senate@state.co.us

 

Sadly, the legislation did not pass.  The precise reason this impacts you is that the obstruction of credit card services at dispensaries will continue without relief for the moment.

The reality is often a lot less glamorous than the conspiracies that some will ascribe to the motives of the lawmakers working on these projects.  These lawmakers hear a whole lot less from average people that are benefiting from medicine than they do from lobbyists that have special interests in their ear normally.  Sometimes in frustration, it is easy to forget the humanity of those that are making decisions and to presume ill intent.  Quite often the reality has much more to do with a differing point of view that is promoted more vigorously.

What is the point here?  Well, this is an example of your power to influence.  Certainly, it isn’t going to be you alone, but you and those that share your opinions and vigorously promote them, you all may create change.  It’s a matter of real importance to become involved.  Besides participating in the process by being on the board of the Cannabis Alliance, we can help by promoting awareness and encouraging participation.  Don’t forget that it was people just like you that worked to make Amendment 20 part of the Colorado Constitution.  It will be people like you that create lasting changes that guarantee patients’ rights in the future.  Start with a phone call, if you are so inclined.  Because in this case, the committee above voted against this law.

 SB 75 the legislation offered by Senator Steadman to allow of the creation of a financial services cooperative for the medical marijuana industry died in Senate Finance Committee this evening on 5-2 vote.   Committee Chairman Johnston and Senator Guzman were the yes votes.

It doesn’t pay to demonize those that disagree, but it certainly does pay to vocalize a differing perspective.  It pays to pay attention to the details of the laws that affect you.  Let us know what you think.  Are you interested in hearing more about the comings and goings of MMJ law in Colorado?  Let us know by emailing us at info@thereleafcenter.com.

We will continue in our efforts to keep you up to date, informed, and part of the process.

By: Jon Walker Monday January 30, 2012 7:51 am

Once again the issue of marijuana reform has dominated President Obama’s attempt to have the public submit questions for an online question and answer event.

This afternoon President Obama will be taking part in a live chat on Google+ called “Your Interview with the President”.  Individuals were encouraged to submit and vote for questions. Not surprisingly, the issues of marijuana legalization and medical marijuana overwhelmed all others.

According to the Whitehouse Youtube page, with voting currently closed, 18 of the top 20 most popular question are about marijuana/drug policy. Seven of the top 20 question are directly related to questions created by NORML and its unusual removal from the page. NORML’s original question was:

“With over 850,000 Americans arrested in 2010, on marijuana charges alone, and tens of billions of tax dollars being spent locking up marijuana users, isn’t it time to regulate and tax marijuana?”

The second most popular question on the page is from LEAP’s Stephen Downing, a former LAPD deputy police chief.

His question is:

Mr. President, my name is Stephen Downing, and I’m a retired deputy chief of police from the Los Angeles Police Department. From my 20 years of experience I have come to see our country’s drug policies as a failure and a complete waste of criminal justice resources. According to the Gallup Poll, the number of Americans who support legalizing and regulating marijuana now outnumbers those who support continuing prohibition. What do you say to this growing voter constituency that wants more changes to drug policy than you have delivered in your first term?

So far every attempt by Obama to directly reach out to young voters through some form of online question and answer system has resulted in young adults overwhelming voting to confront the President with questions about our government’s marijuana policies. It happened with his transitional website Change.gov, his first Youtube townhall and with the White House’s new “we the people” petition site.

Marijuana reform is an issue young voters across the ideological spectrum care deeply about. While marijuana legalization is rarely talked about in our mainstream political discourse, at every opportunity regular Americans use the internet to try to make legalization an issue Obama can’t ignore.

Original source: http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2012/01/30/marijuana-again-dominates-president-obamas-online-forum/

Compiled by Michael Foust, associate editor of Baptist Press.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (BP) — Washington state could become the first state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana under an initiative that has qualified for the November ballot.

The pro-pot organization New Approach Washington submitted nearly 278,000 valid signatures in order to qualify a proposal that would legalize the usage of marijuana by those ages 21 and over, Reuters reported. Marijuana would be sold at specific stores, and no one under the age of 21 would be allowed to enter the store. Marijuana would be prohibited from being consumed in public and sales would be taxed.

California voters rejected a similar proposal in 2010, 54-46 percent. Although several states allow medicinal marijuana, no state has legalized marijuana’s recreational use.

“This is the grown-up approach to regulating a relatively harmless drug,” Seattle city attorney Peter Holmes told Reuters.

But opponents say legalizing the recreational usage of marijuana would lead to an increase in drugged drivers and road deaths, an uptick in marijuana’s usage among teens and young adults, and an increase in crime statewide. They also say the black market for marijuana would not disappear, as some supporters contend.

“There will always be a black market. That’s been proven with cigarettes with the tobacco industry,” Calvina Fay, head of the Drug Free America Foundation, told Reuters. “Even though tobacco is legal and it’s regulated, there’s still a huge global black market.”

The initiative will be known as I-502. Voters in the state also could have another controversial issue on the ballot — gay “marriage” — if the legislature passes a bill redefining marriage and conservatives gather enough signatures to give voters a say.

Original link: http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=37065

By Dan Even

Most cancer patients currently being treated with medical marijuana are advised of the option only in the advanced stages of the illness, according to researchers.

More than two-thirds of cancer patients who were prescribed medical marijuana to combat pain are reportedly satisfied with the treatment, according to a comprehensive study conducted for the first time in Israel.

The study – conducted recently at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, in conjunction with the Israel Cancer Association – involved 264 cancer patients who were treated with medical marijuana for a full year.

Some 61 percent of the respondents reported a significant improvement in their quality of life as a result of the medical marijuana, while 56 percent noted an improvement in their ability to manage pain. In general, 67 percent were in favor of the treatment, while 65 percent said they would recommend it to other patients.

The findings were presented earlier this month at an Israeli Oncologists Union conference in Eilat. The study was led by Dr. Ido Wolf, the director of oncology at the Sheba Cancer Center, with the assistance of researchers Yasmin Leshem, Damien Urbach, Adato Berliz, Tamar Ben Ephraim and Meital Gerty.

According to the study, the most common types of cancer for which medical marijuana is prescribed are lung cancer (21 percent ), breast cancer (12 percent ) and pancreatic cancer (10 percent ).

Researchers found that an average of 325 days passed between the time that patients were diagnosed with cancer and the time that they submitted permit requests to grow or possess medical marijuana. About 81 percent of those requests cited pain resulting from the illness. Some 8 percent of patients requested medical marijuana to combat nausea, while another 8 percent complained of weakness.

Most cancer patients who are currently being treated with medical marijuana are advised of the option only in the advanced stages of the illness, according to researchers. “The treatment should be offered to the patients in earlier stages of cancer,” the report notes.

The study shows that 39 percent of respondents were initially advised of the treatment by friends, other patients or the media, rather than by their doctors. According to the study, “The treatment should be offered to patients by trained medical teams because we are dealing with an effective treatment.”

Side effects resulting from the regular use of medical marijuana were defined in the study as “moderate.” Dizziness was the main side effect documented by the researchers.

According to Miri Ziv, the director of the Israel Cancer Association, “Medical marijuana has become one of the treatments available to cancer patients in Israel in recent years [and therefore] the association believes that the issue should be regulated by the professionals in the field.”

In recent years, the number of medical marijuana users in Israel has increased by some 66 percent per year, according to the study. To date, medical marijuana has been approved for use by about 6,000 Israelis suffering from various illnesses, the report states.

While many legal issues related to medical marijuana use remain unresolved, Health Ministry officials believe that once the issue is fully regulated, the number of patients treated with medical marijuana will reach 40,000.

Of the 12 farms authorized to cultivate medical marijuana in Israel, at least seven are currently active, according to the report. Under directives from the Health Ministry, the distribution centers currently in operation are entitled to NIS 360 a month, per patient, to supply medical marijuana. They are entitled to another NIS 24 for rolling cigarettes and NIS 100 for delivery.

Patients who hold medical marijuana permits issued before 2009 are entitled to grow up to 10 plants at home, with a maximum height of 1.5 meters. Permits issued during the past two years only allow patients to possess medical marijuana, in keeping with the quantities prescribed.

Original link: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-researchers-say-more-doctors-should-recommend-marijuana-to-cancer-patients-1.409918