As of January 1, 2013, the state of Massachuesetts’ medical marijuana program is officially in effect. The department of health now has until May 1st to finalize the rules and regulations concerning the dispensing of medical cannabis, as well as finalizing all of the remaining conditions for which the drug can be recommended.

Holders of a Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Card will be able to consume cannabis legally. However, until the dispensary situation gets sorted out by the state, patients will be legally allowed to grow their own marijuana for personal use. This, of course, will open the door for caregivers to be selling the patients medication that they cannot grow for themselves due to their condition.

Despite the lack of regulation for state dispensaries until May 1st, it should not come as a surprise to see “compassion clubs” open up in many different cities. At these establishments patients can, in exchange for a donation, become a member of a “collective”.

It will be interesting to see how fast law enforcement officials begin their crackdown on them. Patients should not worry, though–you can grow your own or get a caregiver to provide for you until the dispensaries open.

Cheers.

For many people, trying marijuana may not even occur to them until they are desperate for relief from the awful symptoms of undergoing chemotherapy. If you are suffering from chemotherapy side effects and are curious about trying medical marijuana, there are many states where you can now see a medical marijuana doctor to get a medical marijuana card. Initial visits can be very inexpensive, and the cost of medical marijuana will not seem high if you have been trying prescription drugs to help relieve symptoms. Getting an opinion from a medical marijuana doctor may answer a lot of your questions about relieving the side effects of chemotherapy with a medical marijuana card and prescription.

While there are many prescription drugs on the market today that are said to help with the side effects of chemotherapy, many patients find that those medications do not work at all. For others, the medication may reduce side effects of chemotherapy, but produce other side effects which can be just as discouraging. In addition, there are a lot of people who feel that chemotherapy itself is enough for the body to handle without adding other sythetic medications that change the way the body is supposed to work.

Medical Marijuana

For these and a variety of other reasons, patients having chemotherapy turn to medical marijuana doctors for an alternative relief plan. Getting a medical marijuana card is now fairly easy, especially if you are suffering from a serious disease that requires chemotherapy. The truth is that many, many people find that the use of medical marijuana decreases the side effects of chemotherapy. Medical marijuana is known to help with symptoms of nausea, headache, digestive problems, and of course it helps to reduce stress and can be an effective pain reliever. If you suffer from pain and discomfort due to chemotherapy treatments, trying medical marijuana may be worthwhile.

If you are uncertain about the effects of medical marijuana on the body, talk to a medical marijuana doctor. Medical marijuana doctors have a lot of experience with people who use marijuana for pain relief and against a variety of side effects of chemotherapy. Your doctor can also help you to understand how marijuana works and what you will feel like when you use medical marijuana, whether you smoke it or you buy food products that contain THC. Many people try medical marijuana because they are very uncomfortable and anything that works is worthwhile. It is possible that you will also find relief with medical marijuana.

Regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in San Diego has been a growing concern among residents and city officials. Many attempts by the San Diego city council to regulate dispensaries have gone south over the past couple of years. However, last week San Diego medical marijuana advocates have initiated a ballot measure that would tax and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the area. Some of the sticking points would be a 2.5% sales tax on all retail transactions, as well as specific zoning requirements, according to Sign On San Diego.

Medical Marijuana Supporters

This is a nice development, as it will allow the locals in the area to get peace of mind that some restrictions exist for the medical marijuana industry. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath that the city will sit back and allow the medical marijuana industry to prosper in San Diego. For years, the city attorney has been on a witch hunt for dispensaries that are operating in violation of Federal law, which would be all dispensaries. Despite the recent ballot proposal, It is pretty clear that the city attorney will do everything in its power to side with Federal law on the issue of medical marijuana, which has had an impact on the industry as a whole in the recent months. Many locals have been reluctant to get their San Diego Medical Marijuana Card due to this issue.

In 2006 South Dakota voters narrowly defeated a medical marijuana initiative by four percentage points. Next month a new initiative is back on the ballott and supporters are optimistic on its passage. Measure 13 would allow medical marijuana patients to posses one ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants. All patients would have to be approved by a doctor and register with the state health board.

For more information on Measure 13 visit:

http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/South_Dakota_Medical_Marijuana_Act,_Initiated_Measure_13_(2010)

Baby boomers are bridging the cultural divide with their parents who were once adamantly opposed to marijuana. A new New York Times reports that middle aged medical marijuana patients are introducing cannabis to their parents as a viable alternative to common prescription medications:

Bryan, 46, a writer who lives in Illinois, began supplying his parents about five years ago, after he told them about his own marijuana use. When he was growing up, he said, his parents were very strict about illegal drugs.

“We would have grounded him,” said his mother, who is 72.

But with age and the growing acceptance of medical marijuana, his parents were curious. His father had a heart ailment, his mother had dizzy spells and nausea, and both were worried about Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. They looked at some research and decided marijuana was worth a try.

Medical professionals have seen use among their elderly patients growing.

“I think use of medical marijuana in older people is going to be much greater in the future,” said Dan G. Blazer, a professor of geriatric psychology at Duke University who has studied drug use and abuse among older people.

The rate for people ages 50 to 65 who said they smoke marijuana was nearly 4 percent — about six times as high as the 65-and-over crowd — suggesting that they were more likely to continue whatever patterns of drug use they had established in their younger years. In both age groups, the rate of marijuana abuse was very low, about 1 in 800.

Source: NYTimes 10/9/10

Arizona’s initiative to legalize medical marijuana has the widest margin of support of any proposition on the ballott next month. A 10/1-10/10 poll from Rocky Mountain Poll shows 54% of registered voters approving Proposition 203 with 32% opposing. Should it pass Arizona would become the 15th state to legalize medical marijuana.

Attorney General Eric Holder will continue to enforce the federal marijuana laws even if California voters pass Proposition 19 next month.

The 10/15/2010 Los Angeles Times reports:

The Justice Department strongly opposes California’s Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday.

“We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law,” Holder wrote.

The attorney general also said that legalizing recreational marijuana in California would be a “significant impediment” to the government’s joint efforts with state and local law enforcement to target drug traffickers, who often distribute marijuana alongside cocaine and other drugs.

He said the ballot measure’s passage would “significantly undermine” efforts to keep California communities safe.

The ex-DEA chiefs sent a letter to Holder in August calling on the Obama administration to sue California if Proposition 19 passes. They said legalizing pot presented the same threat to federal authority as Arizona’s recent immigration law that spurred a federal lawsuit.

Medical marijuana patients will continue to be protected under state law.

…. Holder said last year that federal law enforcement would defer to state laws on using it for medicinal purposes.

Many California cities have pledged that in the event that Proposition 19 passes they will adhere to the federal laws.

Los Angeles County’s top law enforcers said Friday the federal government would still have help from them regardless of the vote’s outcome on Proposition 19.

County Sheriff Lee Baca and District Attorney Steve Cooley said at a news conference that the law would be unenforceable because it is trumped by federal laws that prohibit marijuana cultivation and possession.

“We will continue as we are today regardless of whether it passes or doesn’t pass,” Baca said. His deputies don’t and won’t go after users in their homes, but public use of the drug will be targeted, he said.

Becoming a medical marijuana patient will always be the safest way to posses and obtain marijuana to treat your medical condition.

According to the new Reuters poll which was released On October 6th, Proposition 19 is currently losing support.

Voters plan to oppose a measure on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize marijuana use by 53 percent to 43 percent, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday that showed a big change of sentiment from June

As of now, only California medical marijuana card holders are eligible to use cannabis.

]]> http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/12/californias-proposition-to-legalize-marijuana-losing-in-latest-poll/feed/ 1 http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/12/michigan-medical-marijuana-cardholder-charged-for-growing-plants-in-back-yard/ http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/12/michigan-medical-marijuana-cardholder-charged-for-growing-plants-in-back-yard/#comments Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:16:24 +0000 admin http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/?p=995

This one truly boggles my mind. Apparently, last night, a Michigan Medical Marijuana Card patient was arrested for growing plants in the backyard of his home. The Michigan medical marijuana law only allows patients to grow indoors alledgedly. Here’s what the arresting agency had to say about the incarceration of this patient…..

“If he had the plants growing inside his house and secure, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because he does have a card,” Miarka said. “But I don’t think out in the open qualifies under the law.”

This just makes me laugh at how messed up these police and lawmakers are. Sure, he was growing within 1,000 feet of a school, but this guy was probably living in his home long before the law came out. What do lawmakers expect him to do? Should he simply pack up and move to another location so he can grow his medicine? It’s ridiculous.

Oh, well the part about him growing “outdoors” makes it justifiable, right? Wrong! As most growers who hold Michigan medical marijuana cards already know, growing indoors is EXTREMELY expensive. What’s wrong with allowing this patient the right to cultivate his own MEDICINE using nature as a more cost-effective method of treating himself?

The bottom line is that these types of arrests should not be happening in Michigan. The law must be changed.

]]> http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/12/michigan-medical-marijuana-cardholder-charged-for-growing-plants-in-back-yard/feed/ 3 http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/11/montana-to-issue-medical-marijuana-card-to-out-of-state-applicants/ http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/2010/10/11/montana-to-issue-medical-marijuana-card-to-out-of-state-applicants/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:06:28 +0000 admin http://www.emedicalmarijuanacard.com/?p=802

I’m at a loss for words.  I can’t believe Montana, of all places, would leave open a gaping whole in its legislation to afford out-of-state applicants a chance to receive a Montana Medical Marijuana Card upon a doctor’s approval.   Here it is folks….straight from the Montana health department.

“The law is mute on the subject of legal residency and there is no recourse for the Department of Public Health and Human Services but to keep the situation as it stands,” Council said. “On Monday, we will be moving forward, status quo, on the processing of out-of-state applications.

Well it looks as though Montana is actually going to ruin the medical marijuana card program in its own state, opening up the door for  what could be major abuse.  As a matter of fact, the door was always open.  It looks as though people are now just starting to realize it.   Either way,  it just increased the patient load for medical marijuana doctors in Montana.

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