President Trump's declaration of a national opioid crisis creates an opportunity to bring greater focus and more resources to a scourge that is killing an average of almost 150 people a day. (Getty Images) President Trump's recent declaration recognizing the opioid crisis acknowledges something people have been saying for years. It remains to be seen whether this new development opens up more resources. The opioid epidemic is ravaging a generation of mostly young people, although older people are not immune. There are an estimated 2.6 million opioid addicts in the United States. [continues 486 words]
In 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed the first bill allowing any growing or sale of marijuana in Texas. The Texas Compassionate Use Act legalized the selling of a specific kind of cannabis oil derived from marijuana plants for a very small group of customers: epilepsy patients whose symptoms have not responded to federally approved medication. Two years later, Texans still can't legally buy cannabis oil, but a handful of companies believe they are weeks away from receiving the official go-ahead to become the state's first sellers. [continues 859 words]
Maryland's medical marijuana regulators approved final licenses for eight growing companies on Monday, allowing them to start cultivating the drug. Several companies said they are ready to begin growing immediately, while others say they will take weeks to get started. "Now, we have a real industry," said Cary Millstein, CEO of newly licensed grower Freestate Wellness in Howard County. Until Monday, just one of the 15 selected firms had received final permission to start cultivating medical marijuana, which was first legalized in the state in 2013. Even at full capacity, one firm could not produce nearly enough to support 102 planned dispensaries. [continues 685 words]
Political opposition could derail a medical marijuana dispensary slated to open early next year in Philadelphia's East Mount Airy neighborhood. A zoning hearing Tuesday morning attracted a sizable crowd, including people from eight neighborhood churches among others aiming to force East Mount Airy's TerraVida Holistic Centers dispensary to fold before it opens. In March, the city granted a zoning permit to TerraVida to operate on the 8300 block of Stenton Avenue at Allens Lane. In June, the state Department of Health awarded the company a highly coveted license to sell cannabis-derived oils, tinctures and lotions at the former bank building, which sits on a commercial corridor that includes a small strip mall, two gas stations, and a Rite Aid pharmacy. Only four dispensary permits were slated for the state's most populous city, though more could be added. [continues 275 words]
Johnsie Gooslin spent Jan. 16, 2015, tending his babies -- that's what he called his marijuana plants. More than 70 of them were growing in a hydroponic system of his own design. Sometimes, he'd stay in his barn for 16 hours straight, perfecting his technique. That night, he left around 8 o'clock to head home. The moon was waning, down to a sliver, which left the sky as dark as the ridges that lined it. As he pulled away, the lights from his late-model Kia swept across his childhood hollow and his parents' trailer, which stood just up the road from the barn. He turned onto West Virginia Route 65. Crossing Mingo County, he passed the Delbarton Mine, where he had worked on and off for 14 years before his back gave out. Though Johnsie was built like a linebacker, falling once from a coal truck and twice from end loaders had taken a toll. At 36, his disks were a mess, and sciatica sometimes shot pain to his knees. [continues 4150 words]
The site of the proposed warehouse is vacant land at Jason Street and Cassandra Drive. A Cleveland-based company that has applied for a state license to grow medical marijuana won approval Thursday from the Toledo Plan Commission to build a 60,000-square-foot cultivation warehouse near Alexis Road and Suder Avenue. Les Hollis, a consultant for Lake Erie Compassion Care, said the proposed facility would employ as many as 60 people, generating a $2.5 million to $3 million annual payroll. [continues 372 words]
On medical marijuana, the public is way ahead of officialdom. Statewide, 71 percent of Florida voters voted in favor of the medical marijuana amendment last November. In Flagler County, the margin was the same. In Volusia County, 73 percent voted to approve. Overwhelming support. Particularly in a state like Florida which is known sharp political divisions on most issues. Even so, the Legislature was so reluctant to pass legislation putting the amendment into effect that nothing was approved during the regular spring session. [continues 541 words]
Whether you love it or hate it, it's a fact that 29 states so far have some form of marijuana decriminalization or legalization, with more considering the possibility. People have strong opinions about the legalization of marijuana -- but how often are those opinions based on science and an understanding of evolving best practices? It's high time we have a national conversation that is rational, science-based and open-minded around the many public health implications. Substance use disorders, youth prevention, drugged driving, health effects, pesticides -- the list is long, and these questions make it a complex process for states working to translate policy and legislation into reasonable regulation. [continues 412 words]
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Demand for permission to use, grow and sell medical marijuana in Arkansas is low as the state reaches the halfway point for the application period. Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin told The Associated Press Friday morning that the agency had received no applications to grow and distribute medical marijuana. "We are not concerned, as we understand the applications require detailed and specific information that will take time to complete," Hardin said earlier in the week. "Applicants are likely performing their due diligence to provide quality applications." [continues 313 words]
Dozens of patients anxiously stood in line - one as early as the night before - to be the first on Oahu to buy products such as Chocolope and Lemon Drop, medical marijuana strains that went on sale Wednesday. "It's like a candy store," said Kimbreley Timulty, 45, who was among the first to purchase pot at Aloha Green LLC. "It was overwhelming because you walk in there and that's the only thing that you smell." Timulty, who uses marijuana for insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder, and her 47-year-old husband, Joseph, from Makiki, said they have been waiting 17 years for medicinal pot to be readily available in Hawaii. [continues 562 words]
REDDING, Calif. - Ryan O'Callaghan, who said he developed an addiction to painkillers that helped him deal with injuries during his NFL career, told USA TODAY Sports he now uses marijuana to treat the pain and that the NFL should change its policy prohibiting players from using the drug. "For people like me, marijuana is a godsend because you don't want to take these pills,'' said O'Callaghan, 33. "Marijuana is not addicting. People who say that have never smoked it. I have an addictive personality. It's not addictive.'' [continues 206 words]
ALBANY - New York will allow ointments, lozenges and chewable tablets as part of its medical marijuana program while the state's training program for doctors will be cut in half, the Department of Health announced Thursday. Health regulators on Thursday proposed a new set of regulations that would further expand the state's medical marijuana program, which the state has tried to broaden as it faced criticism from patient advocates and marijuana companies for its restrictiveness. The new rules, which can take effect as soon as late September, ease the state's restrictions on the type of marijuana products available to certified patients by allowing lotions, ointments, patches, certain chewables and lozenges. [continues 404 words]
Hawaii history will be made today when the first dispensary opens for business on Maui, nearly two decades after the state legalized medical marijuana. Maui Grown Therapies, one of eight dispensary licensees, will begin at 11 a.m. the first legal sales of cannabis in the islands. The company was the first to pass a final Health Department inspection Monday, beating at least one other dispensary, Aloha Green Holdings Inc. on Oahu, to be the first to open. It is a significant milestone for the industry that has struggled to get off the ground since the law establishing dispensaries was passed in 2015. The first dispensaries were allowed to open as early as July 2016, but were delayed for more than a year, frustrating medical cannabis patients and caregivers. [continues 258 words]
When it comes to the state's medical marijuana law, progress has come in increments rather than great strides. New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act, state law since 2010, has been implemented ever so slowly under Gov. Chris Christie, who has never hidden his disdain for the law. Yet those disappointed by the snail's pace of the law, and the establishment of new medical marijuana centers, have new reason to take heart. As Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reported, North Jersey will soon be welcoming the state's largest dispensary of medical marijuana yet -- at a 10,000-square-foot facility on Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus. Once it opens, the dispensary plans to serve up to 4,000 patients a month with a variety of strains of cannabis. The Christie administration has issued a permit to grow medical marijuana to Harmony Foundation and will consider issuing a permit to dispense marijuana after the crop is tested later this year. [continues 357 words]
Time to redress the harm done to thousands of Black youth who have life-limiting criminal records because of pot The war on drugs has had a devastating and disproportionate effect on racialized groups, particularly young Black men. While research has shown that Black people partake in recreational pot at the same rates as their white counterparts, it's Black people who have endured the heavy hand of justice. Black people are twice as likely to be taken to a police station after being charged for simple possession of marijuana. They are also twice as likely to be held overnight for a bail hearing. [continues 917 words]
New approaches are definitely needed to battle the opioid epidemic. More drug war is not the answer. The rise in heroin overdose deaths is a result of a federal crackdown on prescription opioids. Criminalization of users increases the risk of overdose deaths and creates barriers to cost-effective drug treatment. The only winners in the war on drugs are drug cartels. The opioid commission created by President Trump failed to mention the potential role of marijuana in reducing overdose deaths. Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with legal medical marijuana access have a 25% lower opioid overdose death rate. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify drug-war abuses. Legal marijuana access to ease pain has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe, Common Sense for Drug Policy; Washington, D.C. [end]
The largest survey on cannabidiol or CBD usage to date found that women were more likely than men to use CBD and once they started using it, were likely to drop their traditional medicine. A new survey from Brightfield Group and HelloMD covered 2,400 of HelloMDas community of 150,000 members and did a deep dive into the usage of CBD products and their effectiveness. HelloMD is an online community that brings together doctors and cannabis patients. [continues 633 words]
A Texas girl whose family moved to Colorado to use medical marijuana to treat her intractable epilepsy is among those suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions over the federal cannabis prohibition. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the federal government should be able to prosecute marijuana use and distribution in states that have declared it legal. An 11-year-old Texas cannabis "refugee" has joined a retired NFL football player, an Iraq War veteran and two others in a lawsuit challenging beleaguered Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the federal government's stance on medical marijuana. [continues 795 words]
What's legal, what's not, and what we're waiting on in this time between the passage of a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana and a July deadline for the Department of Health to institute rules and regulations. What's legal, what's not, and what we're waiting on in this time between the passage of a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana and a July deadline for the Department of Health to institute rules and regulations. During the past six months, the number of doctors in Florida who can recommend marijuana to patients has more than doubled from 374 to 819 as of June 2, according to state records. In Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties, the number also more than doubled from 130 to 303. [continues 577 words]
Kevin Jones lives at 700 Spencer St. He says he sees pros and cons to using the dilapidated factory across the street to grow marijuana: jobs and crime. In 1910, Toledo businessman William Bunting opened a cavernous brass factory on Spencer Street, just a short distance from the zoo. Eighty years later, arson badly damaged the building. And today, the vacant warehouse is a neighborhood eyesore, its facade pockmarked with broken windows and crumbling bricks. But soon this once-formidable, now-dilapidated industrial edifice could take on an unlikely new identity: a greenhouse for medical marijuana. [continues 1086 words]
