Browsing Marijuana News

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Republican Governor Bruce Rauner has signed into law Senate Bill 10, which extends the expiration date of Illinois’ Medical Cannabis Pilot Program through 2020 and adds post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the list of conditions that qualifies a patient to obtain medical marijuana legally. The changes to the state’s medical marijuana law, which took effect immediately upon Rauner’s signature, are co-sponsored by Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie). Rep. Lang was the driving force behind House Bill 1, the act that first authorized medical marijuana in Illinois in 2013. When the medical marijuana law was …

Voters in Arkansas are likely to be presented with a proposed ballot measure to legalize medical marijuana in the state this November, supporters say. On Monday, Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the organization behind the proposal, submitted 117,469 raw signatures to state election officials for verification. At least 67,877 of those signatures need to be deemed valid in order to qualify for the November ballot. The Arkansas Secretary of State now has 30 days to review and validate the signatures. “We are confident that we will qualify for the ballot and give Arkansans the opportunity to allow sick and dying …

Lawmakers in Rhode Island gave final approval Thursday to a bill that will allow veterans and others suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program. The bill, House Bill 7142, received unanimous support in the Senate, and passed the House by a vote of 67 to 1. The lone vote against the bill designed to help patients came from Deputy Minority Leader Patricia Morgan (R-West Warwick). Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that affects about eight million Americans annually, including many military veterans returning from combat, …

Lawmakers in the New Jersey Assembly voted 55 to 14 in favor of a bill that would add post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the list of accepted health conditions that qualify a patient to obtain medical marijuana in the state. Under Assembly Bill 457, New Jersey residents who suffer from PTSD would be eligible for the state’s Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act for the first time. However, this is only possible if the bill is approved by the Senate and not vetoed by Republican Governor Chris Christie. Post-traumatic stress …

UPDATE – 6/16/16 @ 10pm The founder of Care By Design, Dennis Hunter, was released from Sonoma County jail tonight on no bond and with no charges. His family thanks all of the medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and industry activists who stepped forward and showed their support. “This fight is not over but it is definitely swaying,” says Mr. Hunter’s son. UPDATE – 6/15/16 @ 9pm One of the organization’s founding patient members was arrested and charged with felony for manufacturing a controlled substance by chemical extraction (a law created for meth labs); and is being …

Earlier this month, the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) and the Kentucky Hemp Industry Council petitioned the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to remove industrial hemp plants, namely, Cannabis sativa L. plants with a THC concentration no more than three-tenths of one percent (.03%) on a dry weight basis, from schedules established under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The petition letter emphasized that at least 22 states have enacted legislation authorizing the cultivation of industrial hemp under state law in some way and under various conditions. Of these, 13 states have enacted laws legalizing the full commercial cultivation …

Opiate related deaths have decreased by twenty-five percent in states with operational medicinal cannabis programs. No one has ever died as a direct result from cannabis use but that doesn’t mean that all cannabis is always 100% safe. Cannabis products span several markets, including agricultural/environmental, food safety (especially edibles and beverages) and medicine. Without proper quality control testing, dangerous pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents, microorganisms, aflatoxins, etc. could be found in a “lab tested” medicinal cannabis product. Without nationally accepted regulations and standards this problem is further exacerbated. The solution is as simple as state commissions …

Governor John Kasich has signed into law a bill that will make Ohio the 25th medical marijuana state, although the new law is not as comprehensive as a now-defunct ballot proposal would have been. Under the new law created by House Bill 523, home cultivation of cannabis and the smoking of medical marijuana remain prohibited — although whole plant cannabis will be available at dispensaries for vaporization purposes, making the “no smoking” limitations a policing quandary. New Bill Fast-Tracked to Avoid MPP’s Neccessary Revisions The bill was fast-tracked through both chambers of the Ohio legislature last month in a …

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed a new law on Monday that will expand the state’s medical marijuana program by allowing patients with additional qualifying conditions, including chronic pain, access to medical cannabis in the Green Mountain State. In a signing statement issued Monday, Shumlin said that by allowing medical marijuana for chronic pain in Vermont, doctors now have an alternative treatment to highly addictive opiate-based pain medication. “At a time when opiate addiction is ravaging our state and drug companies continue to urge our doctors to pass out painkillers like candy, we need to find a more practical …

Colorado Gov John Hickenlooper signed “Jack’s Law“ on Monday which allow students to receive medical marijuana treatments on school property. The new law allows any preschool, primary or secondary student in Colorado, who holds a valid recommendation for medical marijuana, to receive non-smokable cannabis treatments at school, on the bus or at a school sponsored event. A designated caregiver (usually a parent or private caregiver) must bring the medication to the student, administer it without creating a distraction, and then remove all excess medication. Students themselves will continue to be banned from possessing cannabis in any form …