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Cannabis Conversations
Ethan Nadelmann: Highlights of Opening Remarks at DPA Reform Conference in Albuquerque, NM.
Aaron Houston, MPP Federal Lobbyist, on Mexican drug cartel influence in small town America
Lorenzo Jones, A Better Way Foundation, on the progress of reform in Connecticut
Whitney Taylor, former campaign director, on new civil fines for “public consumption” following passage of her Massachusetts’ Question 2 decrim measure
Karen O’Keefe, MPP State Programs Director, on new medical marijuana bills that take away right to home grow or restrict qualifying conditions
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Monday, October 12th, 2009 at 6:10 pm | By: Radical Russ
(New York Times) SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico’s new medical marijuana law was intended to provide safe, aboveboard access to the drug for hundreds of residents with chronic pain and other debilitating conditions. By licensing nonprofit distributors, New Mexico hoped to improve upon the free-for-all distribution systems in some states like California and Colorado, where hundreds of for-profit dispensaries have sprung up with virtually no state oversight.
But even in New Mexico, the process — from procuring the starter seed (in Amsterdam, via a middleman) to home delivery (by a former Marine) — is not for the faint of heart. Those engaged in the experiment here never know if they will be arrested, because growing, selling and using marijuana remain illegal under federal law. And robbery is always a fear.
Among New Mexican patients, demand has been great. In the two months since the Santa Fe Institute for Natural Medicine began dispensing marijuana, it has signed up about 400 clients, said Robert Pack, a patient on its board of directors who uses the drug to curb the side effects of epilepsy medication.
Eager patients depleted the initial supply, and the organization had to hurry to produce more marijuana this month, because weeks of rain hampered the drying and curing phase.
For the Santa Fe Institute, the production process has been nerve-racking. The marijuana plants — no more than 95 at a time, under state regulations — are grown in a windowless rural building with steel doors, a motion detector and, to keep the plants’ pungent odor indoors, carbon filters. Despite a high-tech alarm system and the hidden location, the institute’s grower, who insisted on anonymity, said he constantly feared being robbed.
Delivering the marijuana can also be fraught with anxiety. The Department of Homeland Security informed the group that the former Marine who serves as courier could be prosecuted if stopped at any of several Border Protection checkpoints in southern New Mexico, where many clients live.
“Homeland Security made it clear, clear, clear,” the institute’s chief said. “Their directive is, ‘You got it, we confiscate it.’ ”
Once again we see that no matter how a state tries to create a system of marijuana distribution for legal medical patients, the federal prohibition will create hazards of prosecution and confiscation that hinder the effort. These “Border Protection” checkpoints are often nowhere near the actual border; Supreme Court decisions allow these federal agencies to operate within 100 miles of the border in the effort to “secure the homeland”. Rarely do these efforts do anything to protect us from terrorists or illegal immigrants; rather, more often than not, the federal government uses this Constitutional loophole to continue its war on marijuana users.
Until marijuana is legal for the vast majority who use it non-medically, medical users will always face exorbitant pricing, inadequate supply, and fear of robbery by bad guys or arrest by good guys.
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2007 archive interview by Chris Goldstein of Rick Steves, European travel guru, author, and TV host, who will be closing the 2009 NORML National Conference.
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 4:49 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Santa Fe Reporter) New Mexico’s Medical Cannabis Program coordinator has resigned and, due to budget constraints and a hiring freeze, the state Department of Health has not refilled the position yet.
Melissa Milam, who had served as the program’s administrator since the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act went into effect in 2007, left the position in mid-July.Milam cites the recent birth of her daughter as one reason for leaving her position. Another is she hopes to form a nonprofit to produce and dispense medical cannabis.
So far, 540 patients have received licenses, but only one nonprofit—Santa Fe Institute for Natural Medicine—has been approved. As a result, the majority of patients can only acquire cannabis through illicit means.
This is part of Milam’s motivation to form a nonprofit.
“The program has been slammed so hard, but I really am proud of it,” Milam tells SFR. “I want to make it better and that’s why I’m interested in taking care of patients on the nonprofit side. I feel like I’ve done all I can do for them on the government side.”
While proud of the structure of the program, Milam says she is disappointed in the practices exhibited by the single licensed producer.
For one thing, Milam says, SFINM’s prices are comparable to what would be paid on the street. More disturbing, she says, are reports that SFINM requires patients to meet delivery drivers in parking lots in order to obtain their medication.
“Asking people to meet you in a parking lot, I mean, how is that any different from a drug deal?” Milam says.
Las Vegas, NM-based cancer patient and medical cannabis license-holder Robert Jones tells SFR he agrees with Milam’s evaluation of SFINM.“They said it’s going to cost $400 an ounce and they won’t be delivering to Las Vegas, so you’d have to meet them somewhere else,” Jones says. “I’m not capable of driving to Santa Fe and I can’t afford $400.”
Dispensaries exist in California, Colorado, Washington, Rhode Island, and New Mexico, operating collectives, co-ops, and in the case of the latter two states, state-licensed non-profits. Dispensary supporters often proclaim they are providing safe access to patients to acquire medicine without dealing with the dangerous and unpredictable black market. For that, they should be commended.
However, if you can’t afford $400/ounce for plant material that costs $1-$2 to produce outdoors or $10-$20 to produce indoors when grown in volume, it doesn’t matter if it’s sold by the Santa Fe dispensary or Sam the weed dealer in the park, you have no access to medicine.
To be fair, the dispensaries’ economics are dictated by the black market. They can’t sell marijuana at less than street value, or buyers will sell it on the street for profit. They can’t buy the marijuana at less than street value, or the sellers won’t sell to the dispensaries when they can make more on the street. The notion that more dispensaries will lead to more competition is also ludicrous, not only based on the evidence of 600+ Los Angeles dispensaries not leading to a reduction in price there, but also because no matter how many dispensaries and patients there are, there are ten to twenty times that many black market buyers and sellers.
Only when marijuana is fully legal; when all sellers are in open competition; when all buyers can avoid high prices by growing their own; when all growers are able to grow huge outdoor fields; only then will patients truly have safe and affordable access to medicine.
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 11:20 am | By: Radical Russ
I usually reserve Politicians on Pot for state and federal politicians, but every now and then I get a response received by an activist Stasher that warrants inclusion on the blog.
Stasher Max writes: “Jeremy Toulouse is running for District 5 City Council of Albuquerque, NM. I sent him a facebook message regarding the legalization of a certain illegitimately labeled schedule one substance. Here is his reply;”
Nice to hear from you max. If you go to my plan and see the governments I will collaborate, you will see that Mexico is there, which is for this reason. I agree though that legalization/decriminalization of current controlled substances is the absolute key to destroying the trafficking and crime involved with it.
To be honest though, this has to be a joint state and federal initiative, since as long as it is illegal outside of Nuevo Mexico, they will still traffic through us to other places. I do support this strongly as I believe that alcohol is the “gateway” drug and that it is the most dangerous substance!
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Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 6:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(JoinTogether.org) The first and only state-approved grower of medical marijuana in the U.S. will begin dispensing the drug to patients in New Mexico as early as the end of the summer, KOB-TV reported June 10.
The New Mexico Health Department is prohibited by law from revealing the identity or location of the grower, but the producer is based in Sandoval County, according to the Santa Fe Reporter.
Deborah Busemeyer, a spokesman for the Health Department, confirmed that the grower is currently working on a supply and that there are 11 additional nonprofit groups awaiting approval to grow medical marijuana. To be approved to grow marijuana in New Mexico, a nonprofit must have a staff doctor and a strong system of security. Restrictions for producers include a limit to how many plants they may grow.
For the past two years, New Mexico’s medical-marijuana patients have had to depend on their own supply of the drug or turn to illegal dealers.
Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 4:20 pm | By: Dudemaster
On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder, the head of the country’s Justice Department, answered questions about whether local growers have to worry about the feds.
The news was taken with some apprehension by those who live and grow pot in New Mexico, one of the 13 medical marijuana states where Marijuana is legal.
For two years, New Mexicans with a prescription to smoke have been doing so with fears that the federal government may knock on their door.
Attorney General Eric Holder told (New Mexico) Eyewitness News 4 on Friday that local growers should be safe under the current administration.
He said, “As we have indicated the focus of our efforts are on large traffickers— people who are engaged in drug trafficking in the way that we normally think of that word, that term.”
“For those organizations that are doing so sanctioned by state law and do it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that will not be an emphasis for this administration,” Holder said after a press conference announcing new strategies in fighting cross-border drug trade.
When asked about the possibility of federal legislation, Holder said, “Medicinal marijuana . . . that is something for the states to decide.”
The attorney general has laid it out for all Americans and for all state legislatures; in regards to legalizing Medical Marijuana the current administration policy is, ” That is something for the states to decide “.
NORML has been clamoring over the last few years to educate the public that we can win this war, the one against the people of this country, one state at a time. Now our Attorney General is making the same statement.
Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 8:20 am | By: Radical Russ
(KOAT) SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico Health Secretary Alfredo Vigil said patients with severe chronic pain have been added to the list of those who are eligible to use medical marijuana.
The state already allows its use for pain and other symptoms from 14 debilitating illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, HIV-AIDS and certain spinal cord injuries.
Patients must have objective proof, such as X-rays or MRIs, and recommendations from physicians to qualify for the program.
A medical advisory board had also recommended adding chronic muscle inflammation accompanied by muscle weakness, three types of arthritis, post-polio syndrome, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s to the list.
Vigil said he didn’t approve those illnesses because there’s little evidence that medical marijuana would help.
I guess for some reason marijuana helps Oregonians, Michiganders, and Rhode Islanders with Alzheimer’s, but marijuana doesn’t help New Mexicans with Alzheimer’s. Maybe it only works in high humidity. California marijuana is apparently good for arthritis, but I guess they can’t grow that in New Mexico. Go figure.
RevRayGreen: I'll post a pic of me and my son....gimme a minute
Missippi Hippy: Guess what... I'm gonna be a new... ummmmm well, my pet piggie Ganja is in labor and they ain't mine in the same sense. See what your wife [...]
RevRayGreen: days they didn't talk back..or act disrespectful..
RevRayGreen: feel so lucky my son is 18 going 19 and my daughter 16 going on 17..relish the days that can't talk back
Urb Age: Congrats Spof thats awesome. My little Clara is about to hit 20 months. Im not the activist I used to be, but its made me a better man.
Urb Age: Heck I was gonna go up there, but just not feeling well this weekend..Dang it, I hate it when that happens..
RevRayGreen: wishing I was hanging at NORML cafe...
JohnH: Just a quick comment about tokin' and sperm motility....been tokin since age 14 and have 8 kids ranging in age from 30 to 9...(what can I say, I found 2 [...]
slash5city: really ..oprah 35 yr or more in the closet toker ...outed ....o my god !!
SneakerPimp: that would be huge news just imagen the headline
RevRayGreen: maybe Oprah smokes and keeps it on the DL...
SneakerPimp: and good afternoon
mr reuben: I could do without seeing Rob K. on tv. But Bruce and Eithan get a big thumbs up from me.
SneakerPimp: waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
mr reuben: I don't respect her opinion bluzguy.
Missippi Hippy: Something about the last year in a contract... folks become more ballsey... and Oprah has big ones.
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
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. […]
Stash for Thu, Nov 12, 2009
waitn for NSL and congrast for spofett.
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; is she incognito like me 
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