Patient Advocates Seek Changes to Draft Regulations for Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Law Paul Marini | April 22, 2013 Patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed recommended amendments today to draft regulations which were issued last month by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) in order to implement Question 3, the state’s new medical marijuana law.... Read more
Why I am Going to Sacramento Paul Marini | April 09, 2013 Nothing happens in the state legislature just because it should. Sometimes laws get passed because those with a financial interest in the outcome influence lawmakers. In some cases, political favors get traded to get something done. And all too often,... Read more
Unfortunately, Maryland Did NOT Become the 19th Medical Marijuana State Paul Marini | April 08, 2013 When the Maryland Senate voted earlier today to approve HB 1101 today, it failed to become the 19th medical cannabis (marijuana) state. In spite of the bill's comendable intentions, it remains highly flawed. Some have touted the HB 1101 approach... Read more
Research on Health-Related Quality of Life in Medical Cannabis-Using Patients Paul Marini | March 27, 2013 In August 2012, I published an article based on my PhD research in the American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine which documented symptom relief and health-related quality of life in a surveyed series of medical cannabis using patients in Washington State who were... Read more
NH set to become the next medical cannabis state, while MD considers yet another symbolic bill Paul Marini | March 22, 2013 Yesterday, the New Hampshire House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed House Bill 573, by a voted of 286-64. The bill is expected to pass the Senate, which approved similar legislation last year. In fact, the year's bill will provide patients with greater... Read more
San Diego prosecutor to try dispensary operator for third time Paul Marini | March 22, 2013 Third time’s a charm? Not in the case of Navy veteran and former San Diego dispensary operator Jovan Jackson.San Diego Assistant District Attorney (ADA) Chris Lindberg decided this week to try Jackson for a third time in as many years.... Read more
Progress in Massachusetts Paul Marini | March 19, 2013 Following overwhelming approval of the medical marijuana ballot initiative in November, Massachusetts’ patients are waiting for safe access to their medicine as the state proceeds with implementation. We aren’t there yet, but so far progress is continuing in the right... Read more
Cannabinopathic Medicine: Lester Grinspoon, M.D.'s New Coinage Paul Marini | March 14, 2013 I am honored and delighted to be able to publish here for the first time a new comprehensive piece written by Dr. Lester Grinspoon, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, entitled "Cannabinopathic Medicine". Dr. Grinspoon started writing this... Read more
Let's Continue to Fight for Safe Access - Join ASA Today Paul Marini | March 12, 2013 On her 30th birthday (March 19 in 2012), doctors discovered a cancerous mass in my sister's right breast. She was rushed to the emergency room for an emergency mastectomy and was newly pregnant at the time. For a grueling year,... Read more
If you want to break federal law, it’s better to be a banker than a medical marijuana provider Paul Marini | March 04, 2013 According to Matt Taibbi, in his latest Rolling Stone exposé on the banking and financial industry “Too Big to Jail,” HSBC “helped to wash hundreds of millions of dollars for drug mobs, including Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel,” and also “moved... Read more