Medical marijuana caregiver, patient enrollment declines in 2013 Paul Marini | January 02, 2014 Carol Hopkins, The Oakland Press The number of Michigan medical marijuana caregivers in 2013 compared to the year before has dropped by nearly half — and people in the medical marijuana community say this is due to intimidation by law... Read more
State Nullification Works: Colorado Marijuana Stores Prove it Paul Marini | January 02, 2014 Michael Boldin, Tenth Amendment Center James Madison wrote in Federalist 46 that refusing to cooperate with unconstitutional federal acts would create “serious impediments” and “obstructions which the federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.” Yesterday, the people of Colorado... Read more
Medical marijuana users will pay their own way Paul Marini | December 30, 2013 Denis J. O'Malley, News Times Connecticut and its more than 1,300 approved patients call it medicine. The U.S. government calls it a drug with a high potential for abuse. Health insurers don't really call marijuana much of anything at all. Read more
Political action committee launches referendum on marijuana cultivation ordinance Paul Marini | December 24, 2013 Elizabeth Larson, Lake County News An effort to stop the Board of Supervisors' recently passed marijuana cultivation ordinance is under way, with signature gathering now taking place for a referendum. Read more
Pot Farms in Strip Malls, Storefront Dispensaries and a New Economy Paul Marini | December 23, 2013 Zak Stone, Next City Sickness is everywhere in Los Angeles. Many people are looking to heal. Three of them are on the boardwalk in Venice Beach. They’ve taken the bus here from UCLA, where they’re freshmen, and they’ve just emerged... Read more
California Medical Marijuana Laws: Starting a Grow, Collective and Dispensary Paul Marini | December 21, 2013 Smell the Truth, San Francisco Chronicle Sufferers of chronic or painful illnesses had something to rejoice about in 1996. After years of debate, California voters passed an initiative known as the Compassionate Use Act, creating criminal defenses against prosecution for... Read more
Why the NFL Should Embrace Medical Marijuana Paul Marini | December 20, 2013 Steph Sherer, Huffington Post (Op-Ed) The consequences of injuries sustained by NFL players have gotten more attention lately, in part due to the tragic death of Junior Seau and others who were found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy. That’s started... Read more
The state Liquor Control Board wants to allow home growing for medical-marijuana patients and urges a patient registry in recommendations to lawmakers. Patients call it a start but find problems with proposals. Paul Marini | December 18, 2013 Bob Young, Seattle Times The state Liquor Control Board recommended that home growing still be allowed for medical-marijuana patients, reversing an earlier proposal that inflamed activists and patients. Read more
Harvard researchers published a study last week with the opposite findings of this study -- that marijuana use doesn’t cause or lead to schizophrenia. Paul Marini | December 18, 2013 Katie Rucke, MintPress News Researchers from Northwestern University reported Monday that chronic teenage use of marijuana contributes to changes in a person’s brain structure to resemble that of a person with schizophrenia, often resulting in memory issues. Read more
Families claim social workers unfairly snatched their kids Paul Marini | December 11, 2013 Joshua Emerson Smith, San Diego CityBeat During a telephone conversation with her husband, Wendy Jones heard a loud bang through the receiver right before the call went dead. On her way back from a work trip to Anaheim in early... Read more