cannabisnews.com: Gov. Gregoire's Federal Marijuana Petition Welcome
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Gov. Gregoire's Federal Marijuana Petition Welcome
Posted by CN Staff on December 04, 2011 at 16:06:19 PT
Editorial
Source: Seattle Times
Seattle, W.A. -- Washington and Rhode Island Govs. Chris Gregoire and Lincoln Chafee have petitioned the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana so it can be prescribed and sold in pharmacies.Anything that moves the medical marijuana issue along and advances public understanding of its therapeutic value is a plus. There was high hope that the Obama administration would reclassify marijuana and provide safe access to qualifying patients across the country.
At the very least, the expectation was that the administration would leave 16 medical-marijuana states, including Washington, alone. Instead, the federal government has been a stubborn, unhelpful player.Gregoire wins points for sticking her neck out. She and Chafee are the first governors to take this step. But she should have done so sooner. Reclassifying would be a big first step, but the federal process could take years. Still, medical marijuana advocates are impressed with the enormous amount of time and effort put into the exhaustive petition.But why didn't Gregoire have a petition ready to go last year? Medical-marijuana legislation became the disaster of the 2011 session. The governor was scared off by the federal government into vetoing most of the bill, leaving a confused mess.It appears the governor was genuinely worried that state workers would get in trouble with the federal government, which bans marijuana. An overreaction. The U.S. Attorney's Office surely has more important things to focus on.Washington voters said years ago they wanted patients with AIDS, cancer and similar diseases to have access to cannabis to ease pain and nausea.As often happens, the initiative was foggy. It did not make clear how patients were supposed to get marijuana.State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, attempted to take the mystery out of it with a bill last year to bring the cannabis network into the open. Now, Kohl-Welles is working on a new bill.The governor should find a way to support the senator, who keeps pushing to bring needed clarity to cities and counties that want to regulate medical-marijuana "access points" and impose sensible zoning around them.Source: Seattle Times (WA)Published: December 4, 2011Copyright: 2011 The Seattle Times CompanyContact: opinion seatimes.comWebsite: http://www.seattletimes.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/Tt3ZEWfDCannabisNews  Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 
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Comment #13 posted by Oleg the Tumor on December 09, 2011 at 09:02:47 PT:
runruff – Crow is not on the menu.
I think you got it right.Then they'll make her head of the post office!
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Comment #12 posted by runruff on December 08, 2011 at 08:33:20 PT
If I am wrong I will eat crow!
I am psychic, clairvoyant and intuitive. Also, I'm a pretty good guesser.Mickey [The Mouse] Leonhart was chosen for this job to eventually shut down the DEA because everyone upstairs can see the writing on the wall except her. She is one of those useful idiots of whom Stalin spoke so fondly. A disposable bureaucrat of which the fed has an unending supply.
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Comment #11 posted by Oleg the Tumor on December 08, 2011 at 07:39:52 PT:
This is an Imperial code… The fleet is breaking up
"Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers." 
– Jimmy BreslinStrange things are definitely afoot. By now the storm warnings are up and don't try to stop the weathervane because you could lose your hand.Eisenhower warned of the "military-industrial complex", but there are many other complexes.
Look at the DEA. Calling this organization an "agency", in the usual bureaucratic sense, is a misnomer to say the least.The DEA either is, or has its own, Department of State depending on how you look at it. Their intelligence gathering apparatus is so significant that heads of states all over South America (and elsewhere) want access to it in order to target their own domestic political enemies.
It wouldn't surprise me at all to find out if the DEA prints their own Benjamin's too!The fact of the matter is that there are a lot of cops out there who see "bringing home the bacon" in the form of seizures of property and cash as their life's work. It keeps their departments going financially.
So there is a "Police – Judicial – Correctional complex" at work in this country as well, but that's a separate issue entirely.Where "justice" works at the Justice Department is not clear at all.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on December 07, 2011 at 19:53:26 PT
Afterburner and Mykeyb420
This seems like it ought to be very, very important. To put a stop to all that "Federal law pre-empts State law" rhetoric at the very least, but seems it would mean more, like maybe the Feds couldn't raid the people following the state laws. It just seems so odd that it's not all over the California papers. Why not, I wonder?
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Comment #9 posted by afterburner on December 07, 2011 at 12:33:44 PT
Hope #7 & FoM #8  RE mykeyb420 #5
"I'm afraid I don't fully understand what that means"
"I don't understand what it means"U.S. Supreme Court:State Medical Marijuana Laws Not Preempted by Federal Law.
December 6, 2011
http://4gram8th.com/u-s-supreme-courtstate-medical-marijuana-laws-not-preempted-by-federal-law/Legal Info.
Felix Kha
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/article.php?id=4412
{
In a momentous ruling, on November 28, 2007, the Fourth Appellate District issued a unanimous 41-page published decision vindicating the rights of medical marijuana patients in no uncertain terms. Fourth Appellate District ruling (filed 11/28/07) 
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/GardenGroveDecision.pdfOn March 19, 2008, the California Supreme Court denied the City of Garden Grove's Petition for Review, as well as a request for depublication. Supreme Court order denying review (filed 3/19/08) 
http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/khasupremecourtdenial.pdf
}"A drug called Sativex that combines the two main compounds of marijuana - cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - is currently in clinical trials for treatment of pain in cancer patients in the United States, and is already used in Europe and Canada."
Pot, Narcotics OK To Treat Pain, UCSF Study Finds
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread26797.shtmlProspective Grant of Exclusive License: Development of Cannabinoid(s) and Cannabidiol(s) Based Therapeutics To Treat Hepatic Encephalopathy in Humans.
http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2011/11/17/2011-29726/prospective-grant-of-exclusive-license-development-of-cannabinoids-and-cannabidiols-based
{
Summary.This is notice, in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(c)(1) and 37 CFR part 404.7(a)(1)(i), that the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, is contemplating the grant of an exclusive patent license to practice the invention embodied in U.S. Patent 6,630,507, entitled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” and PCT Application Serial No. PCT/US99/08769 and foreign equivalents thereof, entitled “Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants” [HHS Ref. No. E-287-1997/2] to KannaLife Sciences Inc., which has offices in New York, U.S. This patent and its foreign counterparts have been assigned to the Government of the United States of America.Show citation boxThe prospective exclusive license territory may be worldwide, and the field of use may be limited to:Show citation boxThe development and sale of cannabinoid(s) and cannabidiol(s) based therapeutics as antioxidants and neuroprotectants for use and delivery in humans, for the treatment of hepatic encephalopathy, as claimed in the 
Licensed Patent Rights.
}*********************************************It is my opinion, based on personal readings of various laws and legal court precedents, that the case of Felix Ka, California Medical Marijuana patient sets a precedent for the Fourth Appellate District. The City of Garden Grove tried to overturn this ruling.The California Supreme Court denied to review this case, letting the precedent stand for all of California. Washington,DC —The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a landmark decision today in which California state courts found that its medical marijuana law was not preempted by federal law.
Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order denying review:http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org/downloads/Kha_USSC.pdfI cannot find out based on the information given so far, who the respondent was in this case. However, if California ASA is correct, The U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to review set a legal precedent for California and by extension for other Medical Marijuana States as well.The U.S. Supreme Court refusal, coupled with the Sativex clinical trials, the U.S. Patent 6,630,507 assigned to the Government of the United States of America, and the continued supply of monthly tins containing half-pound of marijuana by the Government of the United States of America to Medical Marijuana patients like Elvy Musikka and Irv Rosenfeld shows a U.S. Federal Government taking baby steps away from its self-imposed limitations of Schedule 1 classification of all cannabis and hemp.
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Comment #8 posted by FoM on December 07, 2011 at 05:02:06 PT
mykeyb420
It's really good to see you. I don't understand what it means and I haven't found an article to post so far. I'll keep looking though.John Tyler, I saw that skit on SNL and it was funny. 
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Comment #7 posted by Hope on December 06, 2011 at 21:06:56 PT
Thank you, John Tyler.
I needed that. So much. I was feeling terribly hopeless about it all tonight. Your words of encouragement help. Thank you.Mykeyb420, I'm afraid I don't fully understand what that means and why we haven't seen it in the MSM.
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Comment #6 posted by John Tyler on December 06, 2011 at 19:25:55 PT
keep on
We just have to keep hanging in there. This past weekend on SNL there was a Miley Cyrus skit about cannabis http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=687580 it was funny but not a surprise. A surprise was on Sunday when the talk show host, John McLaughlin, out of the blue, predicted that medical cannabis would be legalized.  http://www.mclaughlin.com/
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Comment #5 posted by mykeyb420 on December 06, 2011 at 18:10:05 PT
GOOD NEWS
NEWS FLASH FROM THE REAL WORLD !!pass it on
US supreme court and medical pot
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Comment #4 posted by dongenero on December 06, 2011 at 10:25:18 PT
cartels going green with solar
Not really a laughing matter given the horrendous Prohibition fueled violence but, kind of ironic...... the Mexican drug cartels may be taking the "corporate" lead in green tech with their own solar powered, cellular communications networks.It's at least interesting to see a significant functional application of solar rather than than more suppression and negative PR of it from corporate and political interests in favor of dinosaur fuels. Granted, for these cartels it's more by necessity than by preference.http://www.dailydot.com/news/los-zetas-mobile-network/
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Comment #3 posted by runruff on December 06, 2011 at 10:06:19 PT
It's so easy...!
leave the oil in the soil leave the coal in the hole!live good save the woodhave fun fuel with sun!
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on December 06, 2011 at 07:43:47 PT
Can't / don't / will not -wait for Fed pace.
"the federal process could take years."I'd like to get the Feds out of the equation. When states legalize the superplant the Feds will have even more trouble stopping the movement. Make the Feds insignificant rather than wait on them.
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Comment #1 posted by Oleg the Tumor on December 06, 2011 at 06:51:14 PT:
Responsiphobia's poster child, Michele Leonhardt,
head of the DEA, will quite likely pass on this dog and pony show, however impressive the performers pedigree and level of preparation.If she responds to this one, wouldn't she have to respond to all the others?It reminds me of the old Milton Bradley board game, "Stratego", where Napoleonic warfare is reduced to its plastic and cardboard essentials.The rank of each piece is designated numerically, clearly showing which peace prevails when two meet on the field of battle."Now we find ourselves engaged in a great war", as Lincoln said.But the outcome is far from certain, especially in the potential encounter described in the above article.I would expect a sitting governor, being an elected official, to have a higher Stratego ranking than a gatekeeper at any of the administrations precious "Agencies".In the Stratego world, Michele Leonhardt is technically a "bomb", and the critter to send after her is the lowly miner (#8)."Avalon – Hill" game aficionados might calculate this differently. If you add both governors offensive capabilities together, don't forget to deduct for the "uphill enfilade", as the DEA is deeply entrenched.The game goes on…
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