The federal government has for years employed a bizarre circular logic when it comes to marijuana. Officially deemed to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical application, marijuana is listed by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule 1 drug under the Controlled Substances Act - on a par with heroin and LSD. Yet that very listing has severely limited the research that could settle the question of whether marijuana does indeed have therapeutic value, as attested to by countless ... ailing people and their physicians who report anecdotally that marijuana eases suffering. [continues 282 words]
Not everyone who takes marijuana gets high or feels good. Some users panic, the National Institute of Drug Abuse said on its website. Even among patients using marijuana for medical conditions, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has received "extremely limited reports" of adverse events. Ed Pane, a Hazleton drug counselor, said those adverse events include people who ingest edible marijuana, which takes effect slower than other forms so patients ingest more. After the drug kicks in, some users have developed paranoia and harmed themselves or others. [continues 307 words]
State among several to allow treatment not yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. But Pennsylvania enacted a law in April that lists 17 conditions for which doctors can prescribe marijuana, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, posttraumatic stress disorder, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson's, Crohn's and Huntington's diseases. [continues 1090 words]
Health-care specialists in Pennsylvania prescribe the drug despite the federal government's reluctance to approve it as safe and effective for treating illness. Pennsylvania and the federal government disagree about the usefulness of marijuana as medicine. ELLEN F. O'CONNELL/Staff Photographer The van Hoekelen Greenhouses Inc. facility is located on Lofty Road in Kline Township. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't approved marijuana as safe and effective for treating any illness, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as recently as Aug. 11 kept marijuana in the same drug category as heroin, LSD and ecstasy. [continues 1378 words]
The Libertarian Party's N.A. Poe Was Keeping a Sense of Humor Amid Challenges From Both Major Parties. The State Requires the Attorney General to Hold a License to Practice Law. Poe Doesn't. For N.A. Poe, a marijuana-legalization activist from Philadelphia, running for state attorney general was a lark to draw attention to the issue. The state Republican and Democratic Parties didn't find it funny. Both parties filed legal challenges Monday seeking to remove Poe - a stage name for the activism work and comedian act of Richard Tamaccio - - from the Nov. 8 general election ballot as the Libertarian Party candidate. [continues 367 words]
Philadelphia - This isn't your teenage son's marijuana industry anymore; it's your button-down dad's business - at least at the Democratic National Convention. Even as pro-marijuana activists marched this week in Philadelphia with a fake 51-foot joint, teams of industry leaders and lobbyists were busy doing the kind of work one would expect from the beer or pharmaceutical industry: holding receptions, talking to politicians and discussing regulations. In other words, the boring stuff. "We're dealing with an industry that's a lot more suit and tie," said Michael Bronstein, co-founder of the [continues 413 words]
Marijuana Execs Find Welcome Vibe Among the Pols Marijuana has gone mainstream at the Democratic National Convention this week. Democratic officials, including Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer and his state's attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, mingled with pot industry executives Monday night at a reception at a sleek bar downtown, miles away from the convention hall. A day earlier, the Marijuana Policy Project staged a fundraiser to support its work to push new laws around the country legalizing the use of marijuana. [continues 553 words]
Activists Had Been Concerned That Citation Policy Would Go Up in Smoke During Convention. Not wanting their protests during the Democratic National Convention to go up in smoke, the men who pushed for the decriminalization of marijuana in Philadelphia informally met with two of the city's police supervisors Friday to discuss how pot smokers and activists will be handled by authorities during the DNC next week. "We have a lot of cannabis consumers coming in from out of town - and some of them are delegates," said Chris Goldstein, cochairman of the board of directors of Philly NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). [continues 510 words]
NOT WANTING their protests during the Democratic National Convention to go up in smoke, the men who pushed for the decriminalization of marijuana in Philadelphia informally met with two of the city's police supervisors Friday to discuss how pot smokers and activists will be handled by authorities during the DNC next week. "We have a lot of cannabis consumers coming in from out of town - and some of them are delegates," said Chris Goldstein, cochairman of the board of directors of Philly NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). [continues 510 words]
Harrisburg - Three months after Pennsylvania legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a law Wednesday allowing for greater cultivation of hemp, another cannabis plant. Farmers will be able to cultivate hemp in connection with state and academic research program as a result. The state Agriculture Department will oversee these programs. The law brings Pennsylvania in line with a recent federal law that allows hemp pilot programs at universities involved with agricultural research. Lawmakers gave final approval to the hemp bill earlier this month after lawmakers in both chambers pushed for its passage as a first step to reviving a hemp production in Pennsylvania. [continues 257 words]
UPPER MERION - Passage of legislation that legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania marked the end of seven long, hard years of negotiation. Now that Gov. Tom Wolf has signed the measure into law, the push is on to explain the ramifications, including possible business opportunities tied to the medical marijuana field. Wolf, who had adamantly backed the bill through approval by both the House and Senate, swiftly added his signature, which made the bill law. That kicked off the long process of working within the boundaries that the Commonwealth agreed upon to bring cannabis to medical patients. Doctors will need to be certified; growers and processors will need to establish a business model; and licenses for 150 dispensaries will be issued in the next year. [continues 490 words]
UPPER MERION - Passage of legislation that legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania marked the end of seven long, hard years of negotiation. Now that Gov. Tom Wolf has signed the measure into law, the push is on to explain the ramifications, including possible business opportunities tied to the medical marijuana field. Wolf, who had adamantly backed the bill through approval by both the House and Senate, swiftly added his signature, which made the bill law. That kicked off the long process of working within the boundaries that the commonwealth agreed upon to bring cannabis to medical patients. Doctors will need to be certified; growers and processors will need to establish a business model; and licenses for 150 dispensaries will be issued in the next year. [continues 1143 words]
Local officials - and more important state lawmakers - would be wise to study up on Harrisburg's new ordinance reducing penalties for marijuana possession within city limits. After nearly a half-year of debate, which included council meetings and meetings with the public, Harrisburg's city council unanimously approved a measure last week which would essentially equate being busted with a small amount of marijuana to receiving a traffic ticket. The argument for the move is that the punishment is more befitting the crime. A person now charged with possession of marijuana will face a $75 fine for a first and second offense with a third offense leading to a misdemeanor. Additionally, someone nabbed smoking the drug in public will face at $150 fine, an amendment officials said is to deter public use of the drug. [continues 244 words]
Proposals for Sites Starting to Bubble Up in Delco UPPER MERION - Passage of legislation that legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania marked the end of seven long, hard years of negotiation. Now that Gov. Tom Wolf has signed the measure into law, the push is on to explain the ramifications, including possible business opportunities tied to the medical marijuana field, including a couple that are being bandied about here in Delaware County. Wolf, who had adamantly backed the bill through approval by both the House and Senate, swiftly added his signature, which made the bill law. [continues 1189 words]
When are we going to get past all these drug arrests and imprisonments, repeated year after year without stemming their use ("With Addiction Primed by Pain Pills, Heroin Dealers Move In," June 12)? Can't we stop treating drugs as a crime problem, rather than a health problem? We stopped treating alcohol usage and sale as a crime over 90 years ago. As Michael Botticelli, the White House's director of national drug control policy, admitted recently: "We can't arrest and incarcerate addiction out of people . ... It's really inhumane, ineffective, and costs us billions of dollars." [continues 186 words]
Prohibited From Taking Drug Across State Lines Parents hoping to treat seriously ill children with medical marijuana cheered when Pennsylvania's new law included a "safe harbor" provision allowing them to import the medicines right away, rather than waiting for the law to take full effect in two years. Legal experts are now saying there may not be much to celebrate. That's because the state can't protect residents from federal laws against moving pot across state borders. In Pennsylvania, where it's not yet legal to sell marijuana products, the only way parents can get such drugs is to bring them in. [continues 626 words]
It Can't Be Bought Here Legally, and Federal Law Bars Bringing It In. Parents hoping to treat seriously ill children with medical marijuana cheered when Pennsylvania's new law included a "safe harbor" provision allowing them to import the medicines right away, rather than waiting for the law to take full effect in two years. Legal experts are now saying there may not be much to celebrate. The fact is, the state can't protect residents from federal laws against moving pot across state borders. [continues 656 words]
The high costs of incarceration have prompted most states and the federal government to reduce their prison populations. Now, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, there is evidence that doing so does not increase crime. Researchers analyzed prison and crime data from all 50 states between 2006, when the reform movement began, through 2014, the most recent year for which data are complete. They found that in 27 states that have decreased their prison populations, crime also has decreased. [continues 293 words]
On May 17, Pennsylvania's Medical Marijuana Act (Act 16) went into effect, bringing me one step closer to the realization of a dream. I don't have a personal medical need for marijuana, nor am I looking forward to being able to legally smoke it; I've never been interested. No, as a "certifiable plant geek" my dream is to be able to try my hand at growing this intriguing, illicit plant with the distinctive leaves. To me, it's paradoxical that marijuana is off-limits. Poison ivy is a threat to many people, responsible for countless collective hours of itching, oozing, blistered misery, trips to the doctor, steroid use, and days missed from work. Despite all this, it grows freely almost everywhere. You can have it on your property and no one will come arrest you. [continues 512 words]
HARRISBURG - Children with serious medical conditions will have first access to legal medical marijuana in Pennsylvania, possibly as soon as next month, state Health Secretary Karen Murphy said Wednesday. Murphy, R.N., Ph.D., a Scranton native, outlined the department's plans to write temporary regulations so those children under the age of 18 and their caregivers can obtain medical marijuana in other states where it's legal while Pennsylvania's new medical marijuana law is fully implemented. The regulations to be issued in July will spell out how they can obtain ID cards so they can purchase marijuana from dispensaries in other states and not run afoul of current Pennsylvania law. [continues 222 words]
Inside Pennsylvania
