Toni Armijo will be getting some compensation from the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Police Department for her destroyed cannabis plants. She did, however, have to wait quite awhile for this payday.

In August of 2010, a neighbor of Ms. Armijo called the police concerned that she was suicidal. When the police came to do a wellness check on her, she was gone, but they entered and found her marijuana plants just sprouting beneath a grow light. The officers pulled all the plants from their pots and held them as evidence. By the time Armijo came back to her house, and was able to convince the police that she was a licensed grower for her own medical marijuana, her entire crop, now stuffed into a paper bag, was ruined.

Officials in Albuquerque will have to pay Ms. Armijo $3,100 dollars for her loss.

Expanded Links:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/pot-payout-city-pays-woman-3-100-cops-ruin-marijuana-plants-article-1.1010928#ixzz1kPxdjeln

http://www.koat.com/news/30260020/detail.html#ixzz1kS1vNcr3

Video streaming by UstreamDownload Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_SHOW_LIVE_2011-09-22.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Mexican President Calderon urges US to explore “market alternatives” to prohibition of marijuana to reduce demand
2. Small town residents in Roy, New Mexico, complain of medical marijuana “stench”
3. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes bill that would keep dispensaries 600ft away from residential areas

Daily Toker Tunes

• Groovin’ Thursday: Tony Ozier & The DooDoo Funk All-Stars – “Keep the Funk Alive (feat. Bootsy Collins)”

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Speaker’s Corner

• Stephen Downing, former LAPD Deputy Chief, on RAND Corp survey of dispensaries and crime

NORML Newsmakers

• Tonya Davis from Miami Valley NORML on latest obstacles to medical marijuana petition in Ohio

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_SHOW_LIVE_2011-08-12.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. Kern Country California begins enforcing a new 12-plant grow limit for medical marijuana
2. Stupid Stoner Story: 39-year-old calls dude to sell him marijuana, dude turns out to be wrong number and belonged to narcotics cop
3. ONDCP praises texas Tech’s “CSAR” program of drug recovery at college campuses
4. New Mexico drugged driving legislation driven by scandal over public safety officer’s wife, who crashed not because of drugged driving, but from a seizure
5. NORML Nebraska beginning drive for both medical marijuana and marijuana legalization in the Midwest

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Urb Thrasher from Urb Age Designs

• Live from the Northwest World Reggae Festival with Urb Thrasher and Lindsey, coordinator for the festival at http://nwwrf.com
• The Green – “Love I”

This Month in NORML with Executive Director Allen St. Pierre

Cannabis Community

• Amber Chase interviews “Radical” Russ at Hempfest 2009

Radical Rant

• If we had a dime for every dimebag sold in America, marijuana would be legal by now

At Least 1 – 1.5 Million Americans are Legal Medical Marijuana Patients

Market for these patients in sixteen states and D.C. estimated at between $2 – $6 billion annually

MAY 31, 2011 - We don’t know his or her name, but somewhere in one of sixteen states and the District of Columbia is America’s 1,000,000th legal medical marijuana patient. We estimate the United States reached the million-patients mark sometime between the beginning of the year to when Arizona began issuing patient registry identification cards online in April 2011.

16 states, the Capitol, and ONE MILLION legal marijuana users.

Between one to one-and-a-half million people are legally authorized by their state to use marijuana in the United States, according to data compiled by NORML from state medical marijuana registries and patient estimates.  Assuming usage of one-half to one gram of cannabis medicine per day per patient and an average retail price of $320 per ounce, these legal consumers represent a $2.3 to $6.2 billion dollar market annually.

Based on state medical marijuana laws, the amounts of cannabis these legal marijuana users are entitled to possess means there is between 566 – 803 thousand pounds of legal usable cannabis allowed under state law in America.  These patients are allowed to cultivate between 17 – 24 million legal cannabis plants.  There may possibly be more, as California and New Mexico “limits” may be exceeded with doctor’s permission and some California counties explicitly allow greater amounts, so there may be as much as 1 million pounds of state-legal cannabis allowed under state law in America.

Yet after fifteen years, one million patients, and a million pounds of legal marijuana, few if any of the dire predictions by opponents of medical marijuana have come to fruition.  Medical marijuana states like Oregon are experiencing their lowest-ever rates of workplace fatalities, injuries, and accidents.  States like Colorado are experiencing their lowest rates in three decades of fatal crashes per million miles driven.  In medical marijuana states for which we have data (through Michigan in 2008), use by minor teenagers is down in all but Maine and down by at least 10% in states with the greatest proportion of their population using medical cannabis.

Fourteen of the seventeen medical marijuana jurisdictions have mandatory registries while two (California and Colorado) offer optional registries and one (Washington) has no registry system.  Estimating California’s patient numbers is hampered by its registry system being on a county-by-county basis.  California NORML’s Dale Gieringer estimates between 2% – 3% of the state’s population are holding medical marijuana recommendations – meaning possibly over one million medical marijuana patients in California alone.

California’s patient population can be estimated from data from other medical marijuana states where patients are required to register, shown in the table below. The top two of these are Colorado and Montana, which, like California, have a well developed network of cannabis clinics and dispensaries, and which report usage rates of 2.5% and 3.0%, respectively. Other states, where medical marijuana is less developed, report lower rates of 1% and less. However, California is likely to be on the high side because it has the oldest and most liberal law in the nation. Significantly, California is the only state that permits marijuana to be used for any condition for which it provides relief – in particular, psychiatric disorders, such as PTSD, bipolar disorder, ADD, anxiety and depression, which account for some 20%-25% of the total patient population. Adjusting for this, usage in California could be as much as 25% to 33% higher than in Colorado and Montana, which would put it well over 3% of the population (1,125,000).

A 2%+ patient population estimate is supported by data from the Oakland Patient ID Center, which has been issuing patient identification cards to its members since 1996. The OPIDC serves patients from all over the state, but especially the greater Oakland-East Bay area of Northern California, where its cards are honored by law enforcement. As of 2010, the OPIDC had issued ID’s to 19,805 members from five East Bay cities (Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Hayward and Richmond), amounting to 2.4% of the local population.Because the cards were issued over a period of 14 years, they include numerous patients who have lapsed, moved, or deceased. On the other hand, they do not include many other local patients who have current recommendations but never registered with the OPIDC.

We have made a similar estimate for Washington State’s patients, who are the only ones in the nation with no registry system in place (Gov. Gregoire recently signed a bill that initiates a voluntary registry).  With a law very similar to Oregon’s concerning qualifying conditions, applying Oregon’s 1.04% patient population figure gives us about 69,000 patients in Washington. However, Washington State’s larger urban centers (Seattle and Spokane), combined with a more liberal law than Oregon’s regarding who can sign recommendations (osteopaths, naturopaths, and nurse practitioners can recommend in Washington) and the lack of a state registry’s burden to patient compliance with the program suggests a higher estimate of 1.5% – 2% may be appropriate.  Numbers like Colorado’s 2.5% and Montana’s 3% are improbable as Washington lacks the greater patient access to dispensaries seen in those states.

Delaware, New Jersey, and D.C.’s programs are not operational yet, so they are not shown in our data table.  Most of the other state’s programs produce reports of patient registry numbers.  With Arizona signing up over 3,600 patients since mid-April, when it’s online-only registration went into effect, Arizona is on track to register over 30,000 patients this year.

Quick Facts about Medical Marijuana States:

• The 1.1 – 1.5 million estimated and registered medical marijuana patients in America are legally entitled to cultivate 17 – 24 million cannabis plants and possess 283 –  402 tons of harvested buds.
• The seventeen jurisdictions with medical marijuana encompass over 90 million Americans and 162 votes in the 2012 Electoral College.
• Patients make up over 3% of the population of Montana, almost 2.5% of Colorado, over 2% of California. and over 1% of Oregon, and Washington.
• After Michigan at 0.76% of population, every other medical marijuana state has less than 3 in 1,000 (0.3%) patients in its population.
• California, Colorado, Washington, Michigan, Oregon, and Montana comprise over 98% of the legal medical marijuana patients in America.
• More than 3 out of four (77% – 83%) of all medical marijuana patients live on the West Coast.
• Rhode Island and Vermont, two states where over 10% of the adult population uses marijuana monthly, have patient populations of 0.29% and 0.05%, respectively.
• Monthly teen use of marijuana is down in every medical marijuana state except Maine.
• Annual highway fatalities are down in every medical marijuana state except Rhode Island.
• Incidents of workplace injuries and illnesses are down in every medical marijuana state.

16 states, the Capitol, and 750,000 legal marijuana users.

We don’t know his or her name, but somewhere in one of sixteen states and the District of Columbia is America’s 750,000th legal medical marijuana patient.  The United States reached the three-quarter-million-patients mark as Arizona began issuing patient registry identification cards online in April 2011.

Fourteen of the seventeen medical marijuana jurisdictions have mandatory registries while two (California and Colorado) offer optional registries and one (Washington) has no registry system.  Delaware, New Jersey, and D.C.’s programs are not operational yet.  Most of the other state’s programs produce reports of patient registry numbers.  With Arizona signing up over 3,600 patients since mid-April, when it’s online-only registration went into effect, the fourteen operational programs have served well over 750,000 legal medical marijuana patients.

Quick Facts about Medical Marijuana States:

The 754,799 estimated and registered medical marijuana patients in America are legally entitled to cultivate 11,200,739 cannabis plants and possess 197.78 tons of harvested buds.

The seventeen jurisdictions with medical marijuana encompass over 90 million Americans and 162 votes in the 2012 Electoral College.

Patients make up over 3% of the population of Montana, almost 2.5% of Colorado, and over 1% of California, Oregon, and Washington.  After Michigan at 0.76% of population, every other medical marijuana state has less than 0.3% patients in its population.

Rhode Island and Vermont, two states where over 10% of the adult population uses marijuana monthly, have patient populations of 0.29% and 0.05%, respectively.

Most importantly, in all of these states, trains still run on time, fewer teenagers are using marijuana, economies still produce goods and services, traffic safety has increased, and hoardes of pot zombies aren’t roaming the streets in search of sttrraaiinns!

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2011-04-07.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

1. WeGrow marijuana superstore in Oakland closes its doors after two months in business, with owners left fighting in court
2. New Mexico growers sue state over issuance of licenses
3. Over 40 Spokane dispensaries hit with strong words from US attorney that they are illegal and can be raided

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by John Doe Radio.com

• Groovin’ Thursday: Cypress Hill – “Armada Latina”

Southern California Scene with Hollywood Hemptress Tere Joyce

• Adult film star Brittany Blaze

Radical Rant

• The Partnership at DrugFree.org – new name, same old reefer madness

A New Mexico lawmaker has withdrawn legislation to repeal the state’s four-year-old medical marijuana law.

House Bill 593, introduced by Santa Fe Republican James Smith, aimed to completely repeal New Mexico’s existing medical marijuana law, which was initially approved by the legislature and the Governor in 2007. However, thanks in large part to your e-mails and phone calls, Smith has pulled the measure from consideration for this legislative session.

Smith has introduced a substitute, House Memorial bill, calling on lawmakers to study the present program. NORML is working with local allies and lawmakers to improve this measure.

Presently, over 3,200 patients are using cannabis legally in compliance with state law. In addition, state officials have licensed some 25 facilities to produce or dispense medical cannabis. To date, reports of abuses regarding the use or distribution of medical cannabis as authorized by the law have been minimal.

There has never been a single state medical marijuana law that has been repealed. Thanks in large part to your efforts, New Mexico will not be the first.

Thanks again for taking an active role in marijuana law reform in New Mexico.

View original post here:
New Mexico Lawmaker Withdraws Proposal to Repeal Medical Marijuana Law

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2011-03-09.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

1. New Mexico medical marijuana repeal bill pulled
2. Los Angeles passes measure Z to tax medical marijuana
3. Florida Rep. files medical marijuana bill
4. California marijuana guarded by “Wally the Watch Gator

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by Grateful Dread Public Radio at http://gdreadradio.net, a 24-hour community service Internet radio station proud to carry NORML SHOW LIVE

• Irie Wednesday: Psalm 133 – “We Love Sensimilla”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

NORML Newsmakers

• Erik A. Williams from Connecticut NORML on Monday’s hearing on four marijuana bills

(New Mexico Independent) A bill to repeal New Mexico’s medical marijuana bill will not receive a vote this year as the sponsor of the bill has reportedly pulled the legislation.

The Santa Fe Reporter states that the bill’s sponsor, Rep. James Smith, R-Sandia Park, has pulled the bill and is replacing it with a House Memorial that would would instead compel the Department of Health to study the program and its effectiveness.

HM 53 says, “the department of health be requested to conduct a study of the impact on the state of the Controlled Substances Therapeutic Research Act and the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act.”

I can always get behind the study of the existing medical marijuana programs.  More states should be studying their programs.  It’s good to see a legislator backing off on the notion of just repealing a popular program without first studying the issue, because we know if they objectively study medical marijuana they’ll find programs that are operating successfully and causing no harm to society.

Hemp Headlines

1. Hearings bring out advocates to testify for medical marijuana improvements in Washington State
2. Indiana senate approves bill to begin study of marijuana legalization
3. New Mexico lawmaker submits bill to repeal the state’s medical marijuana program
4. WWE Wrestling cracking down on wrestlers and cannabis use with $2,500 fines, suspensions

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by John Doe Radio.com

• Groovin’ Thursday: The Dirtball – “Nervous System Preview”

NORML Newsmakers

• Kandice Hawes of OC NORML and GGECO university on new Spanish-language medical marijuana classes

Radical Rant

• Dogs and humans mistakenly shot by cops yet another reason to legalize marijuana