Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am | By: Radical Russ
(Detroit Free Press) Employers are facing tough issues as they try to navigate the state’s fledgling medical marijuana law, such as the difference between “smoke” and “ingest.”
Or whether company policies on drug testing still apply in a state where 63% of voters approved a new law last fall allowing medical use of marijuana.
One section of the law says a registered user can’t be “subject to arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner or denied any right or privilege including … disciplinary action by a business … for the medical use of marijuana.”
Another portion of the law says “nothing in this act shall be construed to require an employer to accommodate the ingestion of marijuana in any workplace or any employee working while under the influence of marijuana.”
A third section says no one can possess or use medical marijuana on a school bus or on school grounds, but smoking pot is expressly prohibited only on public transportation or in any public place. It’s unclear… whether it’s OK for a certified user to eat, for example, marijuana-laced brownies in a public place.
Why the hell not? Geez, what do you think happens, the super-potent Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed™ causes the brownie eater to strip off their clothes and run naked through the park? I can understand an objection to smoking marijuana in a public place where others may not appreciate the smell, but this idea that we need to confine people who use a certain medicine to the shadows is unAmerican and repulsive!
My father is disabled and among the handful of pills he must take every day are some Vicodin, a very addictive, very powerful, potentially fatal drug. Yet nobody is telling my dad he can’t pop open his pill bottle at the public park when it’s time for his medicine. Why would they?
If an employer were to require his employees to be free from the influence of Vicodin while on shift, we could certainly understand that. But would he require that they not take Vicodin once they get off work?
How people who’ve never used marijuana perceive marijuana fascinates me. People who can openly tolerate parking lots at taverns and .08 BAC laws freak out over the idea that a pot smoker might drive a car. People who can accept a Marinol bottle with the warning “until you know how you’ll react to Marinol, don’t drive or operate heavy machinery” implode at the thought of a medical marijuana patient driving a forklift or a school bus. People who make jokes at work about their hangovers or go to work sick loaded on anti-histamines and psuedoephedrine will regale you with the notion that a person who fails a marijuana metabolite pee test is an unsafe worker and a drain on company productivity.
The law seems pretty clear to me: no disciplinary action for using medical marijuana. Accommodating it at work would mean building a smoking tent outside for your cardholders and allowing them to take breaks to medicate on the job; nobody is suggesting that. What we’re suggesting – and the law supports – is that a person cannot be fired, not hired, or punished solely for being a medical marijuana patient. If you drug test them and they test positive for marijuana metabolites, that test simply reveals they are a medical marijuana patient, a status you cannot punish them for. How much clearer could it be? If you catch them with weed on the job site (smokeable or in a brownie), you have a cause for action, but if you just catch them with inactive metabolites in their pee, let them work.
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 3:40 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) Pittsburgh firefighters soon will be randomly tested for drugs and can be fired for failing as part of the five-year contract agreed to by city and union officials last week, Public Safety Director Mike Huss said Monday.
“We still have the labor management committee working out the details, but at minimum, it will provide random testing for the first time,” Huss said. “They will immediately be terminated the next time there’s a problem.”
Joe King, president of the fire union, said random testing is the “prudent thing to do.”
“People in this society hold us to a higher standard and we agree, but it’s very complicated,” he said. “Everybody’s entitled to a second chance.”
State law says Pittsburgh firefighters can’t be fired unless the action is approved by a trial board of three other firefighters, something Huss said the city has “struggled with for a long time.” The new process will set aside the trial board for drug offenses only, he said.
“There are some cases we’ve been very frustrated with. It’s a small percentage, but we put a lot of trust in these folks and we have to make sure they’re clean and can function safely,” Huss said.
Let me get this straight. If Joe the Drunk Fireman who shows up for work hung over on alcohol and regularly violates some safety protocols, let’s say, then state law says that a board of three fellow firefighters must concur if the city wants to fire Joe. But if Bob the Pothead Fireman shows up for work completely sober every day and is a exemplary firefighter, only the positive result on a pee test is necessary if the city wants to fire Bob.
Pittsburgh’s firefighters will work a 24 hour shift followed by two days off. If we want to make sure they’re “clean and can function safely”, why do you have them working 24 hours at a time? Certainly they get the opportunity to sleep in the firehouse between calls, but on a busy day, isn’t it possible the firefighters wouldn’t be functioning safely due to drowsiness?
Furthermore, for the occasional user, especially a fit firefighter type with a high metabolism, most other drugs but cannabis will be undetectable after 24-48 hours. If Pittsburgh is really serious about making sure its firefighters can “function safely”, then it should employ simple non-invasive electronic testing that detects all forms of impairment regardless of source.
Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 8:55 pm | By: Radical Russ
Show 004: Three special episodes live from NORML National Conference!
NORML’s new talk radio program, NORML SHOW LIVE, will be streaming for three days at the 2009 NORML National Conference, “Yes We Cannabis”, live from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in San Francisco. These special three-hour episodes will be available at live.norml.org at the following special times and archived for download later just fifteen minutes after broadcast:
Thursday, September 24
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Friday, September 25
11:00am – 2:00pm Pacific Time
Saturday, September 26
3:00pm – 6:00pm Pacific Time
The show will be hosted by “Radical” Russ Belville, but with very limited commercial interruption and the occasional narration. After the shows broadcast remotely in the difficult wireless environment of Portland’s Kelley Point Park and the noisy backstage of the Boston Freedom Rally, Russ is excited to present an indoor event that will take its audio directly from the conference PA system.
Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 3:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ — San Diego DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor claims that California DUI laws should not be applied to marijuana usage. Unlike alcohol and many drugs, he says, marijuana probably does not impair driving.
On the one hand, the California Department of Justice has found that marijuana impairs psychomotor abilities that are functionally related to driving, particularly at high-dose levels or among inexperienced users. (”Marijuana and Alcohol: A Driver Performance Study,” California Office of Traffic Safety Project No. 087902)
However, the San Diego DUI defense attorney points out, two federal studies contradict this.
In one, the U.S. Department of Transportation conducted DUI research with a fully interactive simulator on the effects of alcohol and marijuana, alone and in combination, on driver-controlled behavior and performance. Although alcohol was found consistently and significantly to cause impairment, marijuana had only an occasional effect.
Accidents and speeding tickets reliably increased with alcohol, but no marijuana or combined alcohol-marijuana influence was noted. (”The Effects of Alcohol on Driver-Controlled Behavior in a Driving Simulator, Phase I”(DOT-HS-806-414).)
Taylor, who heads a large firm of DUI attorneys with offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Riverside and San Francisco, points to another more recent report. Entitled “Marijuana and Actual Performance” (DOT-HS-808-078), it also found that “THC is not a profoundly impairing drug….It apparently affects controlled information processing in a variety of laboratory tests, but not to the extent which is beyond the individual’s ability to control when he is motivated and permitted to do so in driving.”
The researchers found that it “appears not possible to conclude anything about a driver’s impairment on the basis of his/her plasma concentrations of THC and THC-COOH determined in a single sample.”
Sounds like a “whoo-hoo!” moment, huh? Well, not so fast. NORML’s Principles of Responsible Use states “The responsible cannabis consumer does not operate a motor vehicle or other dangerous machinery while impaired by cannabis.”
The $64,000 question*, then, is “what defines impaired?” I can tell you that one puff off a vape bag full of Oregon’s finest will severely impair your average Kansas ditchweed smoker, while that same puff for a 5g/day Oregon patient won’t even break his concentration from completing the New York Times crossword.
The same phenomenon exists for alcohol; the alcoholic can seem perfectly capable with as many drinks under his belt as would knock out your average sorority sister. But as a society, we decided that there should be an absolute measurable physical limit – .08 blood alcohol content – that defines impairment per se, that is, if you’re over .08 you’re too impaired even if you’re not really too impaired.
As always when there is a story about cannabis drug testing and driving, I called on NORML’s Deputy Director, Paul Armentano. Here’s what he had to say:
Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:15 pm | By: Radical Russ
London, Aug 10 (ANI): A new study has revealed that stress and dieting can lead to a positive cannabis test long after the drug was last used.
Lead researcher Jonathon Arnold, from the University of Sydney in Australia, says that the main psychoactive ingredient of cannabis tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is instantly absorbed by fat cells and over the next few days is slowly diffused back into the blood.
During the study, Arnold and colleague Iain McGregor exposed THC-laden fat cells taken from rats to the stress hormone ACTH.
The researchers found that the hormone increased the speed of release of THC from the cells.
They later injected rats with 10 milligrams per kilogram of THC (equivalent to a person smoking between five and 10 cannabis cigarettes, depending on their strength) every day for 10 days.
Two days later, they injected a third of the rats with ACTH, deprived another third of food for 24 hours, with the rest as controls.
They found that rats that were not given food had double the blood level of THC acid, a metabolite of THC, compared with the controls.
The other group exposed to ACTH also showed a statistically significant increase in THC acid levels.
Paul Armentano has been documenting the science of how long-term cannabis users can fail a cannabis screening up to 100 days after ceasing cannabis use, and that people can pass many cannabis screens and then fail one. So many people who are on probation or parole have cannabis screening as a part of their sentence and so many go back to prison when the failed cannabis screen turns up. These people often insist that they have stopped using cannabis, but prosecutors contend that the failed test, especially after passing a few tests, is evidence of the re-initiation of cannabis use.
The science Armentano has documented shows this clearly is not the case, but until now there has been no understanding of why the levels of detectable THC and metabolites rise and fall so dramatically in the former user’s blood and urine. This research begins to unravel that mystery and shows us that stress and diet may have much to do with it. The research has not yet been replicated in humans, but this gives scientists a clue to study further.
My not-so-scientific analysis? If you’re trying to pass a drug test, stop smoking pot for a few weeks, chill out, and eat a Twinkie.
Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 2:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Technology Review) Later this year, Philips will introduce a handheld electronic device that uses magnetic nanoparticles to screen for five major recreational drugs.
Philips’ drug tester uses a cartridge containing magnetic nanoparticles and a handheld analyzer. Frustrated total internal reflection (FTIR) is used to detect five major recreational drugs in 90 seconds.
The device is intended for roadside use by law enforcement agencies and includes a disposable plastic cartridge and a handheld analyzer. The cartridge has two components: a sample collector for gathering saliva and a measurement chamber containing magnetic nanoparticles. The particles are coated with ligands that bind to one of five different drug groups: cocaine, heroin, cannabis, amphetamine, and methamphetamine.
The test takes less than 90 seconds and can detect drugs at concentrations measured in parts-per-billion using a single microliter of saliva.
The combination of high sensitivity, low sample volumes, miniaturization, speed, and ease of use has raised hopes for a handheld biosensor that could perform sophisticated tests with high accuracy.
I will get Paul Armentano on the program to discuss this further. Back in January, he wrote on the subject:
Because saliva tests detect the presence of THC, not marijuana’s inactive metabolites, and have a much more narrow window of detection compared to urinalysis, advocates of the technology believe that it is far more likely than urine testing to provide evidence regarding whether someone may be under the influence of cannabis.
The article examined findings in France that saliva testing “fails to detect the recent use of cannabis over 50 percent of the time” and that “saliva testing is rarely sensitive to THC beyond one or two hours after past use, and that false positive results are not uncommon.” However, if this is new technology, these studies may not apply.
I’m conflicted about this one. On one hand, one of the biggest obstacles we face in legalization is the fear of stoned drivers. If a technology exists that will accurately detect recent and possibly impairing marijuana use in drivers, that could go a long way in removing that obstacle in the minds of many. However, on the other hand, we’re once again confusing the body’s chemical composition with a driver’s actual impairment. No matter where you set the line – anywhere from 2ng/ml to 5mg/ml – you will have people who pass the legal threshhold but are actually quite fine to drive. (I suppose you could make the same argument about .08 BAC in a drinking driver, too.)
Because saliva tests detect the presence of THC, not marijuana’s inactive metabolites, and have a much more narrow window of detection compared to urinalysis, advocates of the technology believe that it is far more likely than urine testing to provide evidence regarding whether someone may be under the influence of cannabis.
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(The Detroit News) Former Michigan State and Lions Charles Rogers talks of getting hooked on prescription pills and admits to a past daily marijuana habit, according to excerpts from an interview for an upcoming segment on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
“Regularly, regularly, yeah I blew every day,” Rogers tells ESPN and former Detroit Free Press reporter Jemele Hill, answering the question how often he smoked marijuana while in the NFL. “But you know, I was doing something wrong. You can’t smoke in the league, so I was wrong.”
Rogers was a two-time All-Big Ten receiver and an All-American in 2002 for the Spartans before the Lions selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.
A much-hyped selection given his local roots and his hefty contract — he signed a six-year, $55 million deal — Rogers, a Saginaw native, caught two touchdown passes in his NFL debut, a 43-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2003.
That was the high point of a career that fell hard and fell quickly.
Rogers missed much of his rookie season with a broken collarbone, then suffered a similar injury early in the 2004 season. But the big blow came in 2005, when he was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He returned from the punishment but was mostly ineffective, with nine catches and one touchdown in the season’s final seven games.
Speaking of that third season, then-Lions president Matt Millen tells ESPN’s Hill: “He was average. Something clearly was wrong. He looked like a different guy.”
Gee, Matt, on your 4-12 2005 team, “average” would have been spectacular, wouldn’t it? (And no, I’m not just bitter because one of those four wins was on opening day against reen Bay.)
I hate the headline and tone of this article, which would have you believing that Charles Rogers is a sad case of a talented athlete whose career was ruined by weed. But think about it for a second. Do we think he just started smoking marijuana when he was drafted by Detroit? I doubt it. Instinct tells me he “blew every day” while he was becoming a two-time All-Big-Ten receiver, All-American, and #2 overall NFL draft pick. Then he suffers a broken collarbone – a very painful injury – twice in his first two years in the league. He uses cannabis, I assume, as part of the pain relief and prescription pills for the rest. Then he’s suspended for “substance abuse”, which has to be the weed, because they won’t suspend you for legit prescriptions. So, again I assume, he has to quit the cannabis, but the pain still remains, so he has to keep using the pills, perhaps more of them since cannabis tends to moderate the need for opioids.
I’m betting the mind fog from prescription pills plus the fear of leaping over the middle for the tough catch and getting pegged in that collarbone by Brian Urlacher twice a year would turn anyone into “a different guy”.
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
Stasher MoldyCutter forwarded me a comment he found on a post at the New York Times that answers beautifully the prohibitionist’s claim that “emergency room admissions for marijuana are skyrocketing!”:
15 years of full time emergency medicine and I’ve maybe seen 10 visits to the ER for cannabis – these fall into 2 categories: 1. pot brownies – an unfortunate way to ingest way too much cannabis – unpleasant, but completely non-life threatening. 2. And (the vast majority of those 10 visits) parent who brings in normal appearing teen asking for a drug test for pot (available over the counter, by the way for you parents out there).
I see that “ER visits going up” canard regularly and the writer might as well say “I’m an idiot” – what is a “marijuana related ER visit”? Are they counting every positive urine drug screen? Or just people who come complaining that their pot is too potent? What?
Of all the drug / medicine related misery I’ve seen, the dearth of ER visits I’ve seen due to cannabis suggest that when it comes to drugs, cannabis may be the most benign substance on earth (if you want to measure that by ER visits). Clearly the worst thing about it is that it can get you into serious legal problems (since it’s not legal).
People have always and will always use plants and synthetic compounds to alter their senses – period. When it comes to the drug war, the diagnosis is clear: the treatment is worse than the disease.
Monday, July 20th, 2009 at 4:22 pm | By: Paul Armentano
[Or how your donations to NORML helped a Los Angeles woman avoid five months in a cage after failing nine consecutive urine screens for marijuana while on probation. -- "R"R]
At NORML’s Aspen Legal Seminar this past June I presented on the topic of cannabis pharmacokinetics and explained how an understanding RE: the science surrounding the metabolism and absorption of cannabinoids could be a valuable tool for defense attorneys. Recently I put my theoretical knowledge into practice as an expert witness in a federal evidentiary hearing in L.A. federal court.
At issue: defendant was under three years federal probation (probation period to expire on 8/13/09); defendant had a string of NINE consecutive failed UAs for carboxy THC beginning on 10/27/08 running through 1/08/2009. On four of the nine tests, defendant’s carboxy THC levels were HIGHER than they had been on the previous test. When the samples were normalized, defendant still failed all nine tests. Feds were willing to let the 10/27/08 test slide, as defendant showed a medical marijuana recommendation, but considered all eight positive tests thereafter to be evidence of new/continued use and a probation violation. Defendant alleged she had NOT used cannabis since 10/27/08 and that all the the positive tests since that time were residual (evidence of the use prior to 10/27/08). Feds brought in a toxicologist with 39 years experience who alleged that the string of positive tests as well as the spikes in the defendant’s test results could “absolutely not” be from residual use and instead were indicative of new drug use. Feds asked for 5 months prison time and additional three years probation.
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 9:20 am | By: Radical Russ
(CBS News) Over the last several years, without many people realizing it, the U.S. government has changed the focus of its anti-drug efforts, deemphasizing marijuana in favor of prescription drugs.
A CBS News survey of government and nonprofit anti-drug groups has found a retreat from anti-marijuana campaigns over the past several years as prescription and over the counter drug abuse has grown amongst teens.
In fact, the Partnership for a Drug Free America, the nation’s largest creator of anti-drug messages, hasn’t produced a single anti-marijuana public service advertisement since 2005.
The change comes as a result of the decline in marijuana use amongst teens, and growing worry over the abuse of prescription drugs. Marijuana-use has been declining for 10 years and past-month use is down 25 percent since 2001 according to the largest tracking study in the U.S., “Monitoring the Future” by the University of Michigan.
Meanwhile prescription drug abuse has held steady over the past five according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, with nearly one in five teens (19 percent) abusing prescription medications to get high.
Marijuana use has gone down among teens over the past ten years. What else has increased over the past ten years? Acceptance of medical marijuana. Funny how the drug warriors never try to turn that correlation into a causation.
Prescription drug abuse has increased over the past five years. What else has increased over the past five years? Drug testing of students for every extracurricular activity, following a 2002 Supreme Court decision, as well as easier access through the Internet, as well as pharmaceutical company advertisements. (Want to try out for the football team, cheerleading, band, or chess club? Then don’t puff that reefer, it’ll make you fail that test for days or even weeks. Instead, why not ask your prescriber about Fuqitol, the drug that must be safe because you see it on TV. They don’t even test for it, and if they did, it would flush out of your system in a day or two, anyway. Fuqitol, it’s perfect for that Friday night party when you know you need to pee clean on Monday.)
Cannabis Karri: Hey...come on over to NORML show LIVE!! We are on right now, in the chat room and talking it out live.norml.org
bullbog: that's pretty cheap.
RevRayGreen: KMK 11/17 DSM IA $11.50 pre-show :)
MrSpof: There was a LAG in my computer, a LAG in my computer :metal kicks out the amp Awesome
SneakerPimp: that was a lag in my comp
SneakerPimp: like the new pic slash5 and adam
SneakerPimp: like the new pic slash5
RevRayGreen: that blows B-dog.......
bullbog: Hawkeyes you had a good run...this toke is for you.
Track Snack: Mornin Stashers! Tokin on the Mean Green Martian for breakfast.
MrSpof: Maybe Dr Mitch could comment on the efficacy of reasonable amount of weed like that consumed (smoked) quickly mitigating migraine effects. I know the lowering of blood pressure would be [...]
MrSpof: Had the onset of a migraine yesterday. Immediately took 8 , moist cool washcloth on eyes, heating pad on neck and upper back, turned off lights. Migraine gone in [...]
MrSpof: As you personal non-accredited doctor, I advise the rest of you to smoke/vape/eat heavily
slash5city: frickazee'd.... Mr. Spof, thank you very much
MrSpof: Risen and roasted How the hell are you?
RevRayGreen: always Fidget......always.
Adam: Maybe in WA, judges are starting to think about the true cost of a Drug charge...
Adam: Tim Lincecum, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants will pea to a paraphernalia charge/ Possession charges DROPPED
Adam: Add some cottage cheese to your pancake batter, replace the maple with a fruit syrup! f-ing killer, YES I was stoned...
Fidget Truittelli: Good morning from beautiful Arizona! I hope you all have a happy, fun day. Remember to 'pay-it' forward. Do something nice for someone.
BenJaMin: Go NORML!!!
BenJaMin: Russ Is Tha BEst! :smokin:
SneakerPimp: oh there it is thanx russ
SneakerPimp: so whats up with today stash?
RevRayGreen: Barney Frank Present When Partner Arrested for pot-- http://bit.ly/1XpM2R
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Maine: Voters To Decide Next Week On Medical Marijuana Expansion Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters To Decide Next Week On Eliminating Pot Penalties; California: Lawmakers Hold Historic Hearing On Marijuana Legalization; New Hampshire: Senate Fails To Override Medical Marijuana Veto. […]
Gallup: Majority Of West Coast Voters Back Marijuana Legalization; Pot Arrests Responsible For Majority Of Marijuana Treatment Referrals; DOJ To Federal Prosecutors: Do Not Focus Resources On Medical Marijuana. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Michigan medical marijuana workplace rights considered
reen Bay.)
There was a LAG in my computer, a LAG in my computer :metal kicks out the amp 
Awesome 
and adam 
frickazee'd.... Mr. Spof, thank you very much
and roasted 
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sorry i just dont have faith in much of anything federally controlled fda and their approvalls have...
