5 reasons to juice your cannabis

5 Reasons To Juice Your Cannabis

(Photo: Breville USA/Flickr)

Besides fruits and vegetables, it turns out cannabis can be added to your juicer as well.

For those unfamiliar with the juicing phenomenon, the process of making cannabis juice is surprisingly simple. All you really need is a blender/juicer and some raw material.

But what are the advantages of juicing raw cannabis? Here’s a list of our top 5.

1. Avoid the High

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While the downsides of getting high are often debated, the fact is that some people prefer their cannabis without psychoactive effects. This is where juicing comes in handy.

Since heat is required to convert the THCA in raw cannabis into THC, its psychoactive form, juicing provides a way of obtaining many of the benefits of cannabis without getting high.

2. Ingest Higher Doses

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Along the same line, not getting high makes it easier to take higher doses of cannabis and therefore more of its medical components, also known as cannabinoids.

One doctor who recommends juicing is Dr. William Courtney, founder of the Cannabis International Foundation. According to Dr. Courtney, THC can be taken in doses of hundreds of milligrams when in its acid form. However, once heated, the tolerable dose drops to 10 mg a day.

Cannabis juice also contains CBDA, the acid form of CBD.

3. Versatility

(Photo: elektronikkbransjen/Flickr)

Cannabis juice can be mixed with a variety of other healthy ingredients to create delicious drinks perfect for any time of the day.

It’s also easier to drink cannabis juice while at work, in the car and in other places where smoking or vaporizing might be inconvenient.

4. Avoid Smoking

(Photo: Vanessa Pike-Russell/Flickr)

Juicing, like vaporizing, allows you to avoid the negative effects of smoking.

Although cannabis smoke has not been linked to lung cancer, it can irritate the airways and lead to minor respiratory symptoms such as chronic bronchitis. Thus, juicing may even help you breathe a bit easier.

5. Prevent Disease

While cannabis is often seen as a treatment for chronic diseases, incorporating cannabis into your diet can be a great way to maintain health and prevent disease.

Cannabinoids have been shown to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties, making them a powerful dietary supplement.

As Hippocrates, one of the most famous physicians in history once said: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

What is Cannabis Ruderalis?

What is Cannabis Ruderalis?

Cannabis ruderalis is a unique variety of cannabis that isn’t as popular as indicas or sativas.

Marijuana comes in a wide variety of different strains, which are often labelled as indica, sativa or hybrid.

Many claim the differences between indica and sativa are like night and day. But the truth is, after so many years of crossbreeding, most strains that exist today are likely some sort of hybrid.

While the accuracy of strain names continues to be debated, there’s a lesser-known species of cannabis that is said to exist. This species is known as Cannabis ruderalis.

Intro to Species

No one is really sure how many species of cannabis there are, mainly because of the plant’s legal status. Still, there are a few popular theories.

A common belief is that all cannabis belongs to the same species, since different types can easily interbreed.

But others think that cannabis has a number of species. For example, Cannabis indica and Cannabis sativa are often considered different species. And while Cannabis ruderalis is less commonly considered its own species, the idea has drawn some supporters.

Cannabis Ruderalis

Cannabis ruderalis is a wild variety of cannabis that originates from Russia. The plants are incredibly short and only grow to about 2 feet tall. Compared to other varieties of cannabis, the leaves of ruderalis plants are smaller and fewer in number.

Ruderalis also produces very little THC, which lowers its appeal for recreational and medical users. In fact, ruderalis strains have been found to possess a chemical profile similar to Hemp.

History

Cannabis ruderalis was first classified in 1924 by the Russian botanist D.E. Janischevsky. He came across cannabis plants growing wild in Central Russia, and noticed that they were different from the Hemp varieties (Cannabis sativa) grown throughout Asia and Europe.

While much shorter than Cannabis sativa, the wild-growing plants were also unlike Cannabis indica, which was known for having intoxicating effects. As a result, Janischevsky concluded that a third species of cannabis existed.

The name ruderalis comes from ‘ruderal’, which is a term used by botanists to describe hardy, non-domesticated plants. In other words — a weed.

Genetics/Origin

The Cannabis plant originated from Central Asia thousands of years ago and spread outwards as humans began to cultivate the crop.

However, a 2005 study found little genetic evidence to support ruderalis as a separate species. Instead, the gene pool of ruderalis seems to lie somewhere in between the gene pools of indica and sativa plants.

As a result, the researchers concluded that ruderalis is more likely a hybrid rather than a species of its own.

Short, wild-growing varieties of cannabis have also been found in other regions, such as Afghanistan, which suggests that humans have played a significant role in shaping the characteristics of cannabis through dedicated breeding and cultivation.

The Evidence Behind Marijuana and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)

The Evidence Behind Marijuana and PTSD
by leafscience.com

(Photo: opensourceway/Flickr)

Some patients find marijuana helpful for managing symptoms of PTSD. Now, researchers think cannabis might offer more ways of combating the disorder.

In a recent study, researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel were able to prevent rats from developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by treating them with the active compounds in marijuana, or cannabinoids.

Led by Dr. Irit Akirav from the Department of Psychology, the team used rats because of their similarity to humans in responding to trauma.

People with PTSD — a severe type of anxiety disorder — suffer from symptoms that can be set off by common triggers, also known as trauma reminders.

While PTSD is usually treated after symptoms appear, the team found that dosing rats with cannabinoids following a traumatic event could make them immune to future triggers. “In other words, cannabis made the effects of trauma reminders ‘disappear’,” explains Dr. Akirav.

The treated rats showed no symptoms of PTSD. But rats that were left untreated did, including impairments in memory extinction, changes in pain sensation and increased panic behavior.

Interestingly, the researchers found that the treatment worked by rewiring circuits of the brain involved with trauma.

The findings add to a growing body of evidence, the researchers note, suggesting marijuana can not only help manage symptoms of PTSD but also prevent symptoms from developing early on.

‘Positive Effect’

Despite the promising results, medical marijuana has never been studied in humans with PTSD. Hence, most doctors are unwilling to even consider it as a treatment option.

Still, researchers around the world have shifted their focus to cannabinoids as a future therapy for PTSD. Dr. Akirav’s group believes there is now enough evidence for human trials to proceed.

“The importance of this study is that it contributes to the understanding of the brain basis of the positive effect cannabis has on PTSD,” notes Dr. Akirav, “and thus supports the necessity to perform human trials to examine potential ways to prevent the development of PTSD and anxiety disorders in response to a traumatic event.”

Treating PTSD with medical marijuana is far from a new idea. In fact, PTSD sufferers are known to have higher rates of cannabis use compared to the general population. What’s more, brain imaging studies have revealed irregular cannabinoid pathways in people with PTSD, providing further support for cannabis as an effective treatment.

And despite the lack of clinical trials, many psychiatrists say they’ve witnessed patients benefitfrom using medical marijuana in place of other drugs.

Whole Medication

Dr. Sue Sisley, a psychiatrist who practices in Arizona, explains that treating PTSD poses a challenge because of the complex array of symptoms. Those who suffer from the disorder are often prescribed 5 or 6 different medications at a time, she says.

“PTSD is such a complex syndrome. It’s not just flashbacks and nightmares. It’s also depression and anxiety and increased startle response and this whole array of symptoms that are not easily managed with one or two medications.”

Based on her experience with patients, Dr. Sisley believes medical marijuana holds unique promise for managing the disorder.

“The truth is that marijuana can treat the whole spectrum of PTSD symptoms with this one medication,” she explains.

“The proof is in the clinical response. We’re seeing patients who are able to walk away from a lot of their psychiatric medications and their opioids and simply manage their symptoms with one drug — marijuana.”

High hopes - Epilepsy, schizophrenia, autism, cancer, MS, menstrual cramps...

High hopes

Cannabinoids are finally coming out of the shadows and onto the shelves of pharmacies around the globe. Rachel Brazil reports

© Shutterstock

In August 2013, US TV documentary Weed highlighted the case of Charlotte Figi, a six-year-old with Dravet syndrome. This rare, uncontrolled epilepsy caused her to have over 300 seizures a week, as well as severe cognitive and motor delays. After all other treatments failed, and with the support of her neurologist, Figi’s parents decided to treat her with oil extracted from the cannabis plant, which has been legal for medicinal use in Colorado, where the family live, since 2000. The seizures drastically reduced and after eight months she was 99% seizure free. In addition, according to her mother, Figi’s severe autism-like behaviours have also gone. 

The type of cannabis used to treat her had been cultivated to be extremely low in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the psychoactive component of the plant, but high in the molecule cannabidiol (CBD). The strain, named Charlotte’s Web after Figi, was developed by the Stanley family. This family set up a foundation called Realm of Caringthat supplies marijuana to patients, some of whom have relocated to Colorado from states where its use is not permitted, giving rise to the term ‘marijuana refugee’. 

Almost as significant as Figi’s story was the public apology of the documentary’s presenter and celebrity doctor Sanjay Gupta. He said this case had made him reassess the evidence on the medical use of marijuana and he apologised for previously opposing its legalisation. He catalogued the many other areas where there are indications of its value: pain relief, inflammatory conditions and even slowing tumour growth. The media coverage, coupled with campaigning from parents like Figi’s, had a huge impact in the US. Since 2013, a further five states have passed laws, giving a total of 23 states where medical marijuana is now permitted under state laws.

Creating drugs from drugs

In the UK, the legal status of marijuana was revisited in August 2014, when then drugs minister, Norman Baker, called for a review of its medicinal properties, amid concerns that credible people were having to break the law to treat their conditions. The Department of Health stated it had no plans to change the law. Perhaps one reason for this is because of Salisbury-based GW Pharmaceuticals’ progress in developing medicines from cannabis. In 1998 they were given a licence to work in this area, and in 2011 their first drug Sativex was approved in the UK for treating multiple sclerosis muscle spasms. It is now approved for treating this condition in 23 countries. The mouth spray, containing both THC and CBD extracts is also being tested for cancer pain management. A second product, Epidiolex, is a pure CBD extract and is in clinical trials for the treatment of Dravet syndrome, the type of epilepsy suffered by Figi. Clinical trials using combinations of THC and CBD extracts for treating inflammatory bowel disease, brain cancer and diabetes are also underway. 

Orally administered Sativex is the first cannabis-based medicine to be given the green light in the UK © GW Pharmaceuticals/BSIP/Science Photo Lirbary

The company already has some indication of Epidiolex’s performance. In October 2014, they announced results from an ‘expanded access’ programme whereby a small number of US neurologists were allowed to prescribe the drug. Overall 40% of patients had their seizure frequency at least halved, with 5% becoming altogether seizure free. Whilst not controlled trials, these figures are impressive given that the patients involved had failed to respond to other drugs and GW Pharmaceuticals are hopeful that Epidiolex will be licensed for treating Dravet syndrome by 2017. 

Creating pharmaceutical-grade medicines from cannabis is a tricky business, explains Stephen Wright, GW Pharmaceuticals’ R&D director. In an undisclosed location, the company cultivates 200 tonnes of cannabis flowers each year, cloned from a number of cross-bred plants and grown in carefully regulated greenhouses to create a standardised product. Wright explains that because they are growing a controlled substance, ‘we are subject to regular inspections [and] everything we do is indoors, under glass, with security’.

The endocannabinoid system

The medicinal use of cannabis goes back five millennia and it is often said that Queen Victoria’s doctor John Russell Reynolds prescribed it for her menstrual cramps (although he was certainly a proponent, there is no evidence of this). Our current understanding of cannabis pharmacology stems from the 1964 work of the Israeli chemist Raphael Mechoulam. Mechoulam, who has been at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem since 1966, characterised the structure of THC and later identified the body’s own cannabinoids; anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol. These molecules, their receptors and related enzymes, discovered in the early 1990s, make up the endocannabinoid system. 

In 1998, leading cannabis researcher Vincenzo Di Marzo from the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Naples, Italy, described the endocannabinoid system’s purpose as allowing our bodies to ‘relax, eat, sleep, forget and protect’. Via two cannabinoid receptor proteins, CB1 and CB2, the endocannabinoid system regulates the release and re-uptake of a range of neurotransmitters, acting as a neurotransmission thermostat for the central nervous system, immune system, gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system, cardiovascular system and endocrine network. CB1 receptors are found mostly in the brain and CB2 in the immune system, both functioning in parallel with other systems. The euphoric high feeling and therapeutic effects that THC induce can be explained through its binding to CB1 receptors, which causes increased neurotransmitter levels by stopping the re-uptake of these molecules.

But the pharmacology of cannabis is more complex than THC alone. Ben Whalley, a professor of neuropharmacology at the University of Reading, UK, explains that as well as THC, small amounts of another 107 terpenophenol cannabinoids have been extracted and identified from the glandular hairs on the female flower of the Cannabis sativa plant. These include CBD, its biosynthetic precursor cannabigerol (CBG), and another derivative, cannabidivarin (CBDV). Cannabis is the only plant known to contain these compounds and Whalley says they probably act as a built-in insect repellent. Today, most street cannabis has been bred to maximise THC content: that can account for up to 25% of the dry cannabis flower’s weight. The flower also contains an additional 200 aromatic terpenoids. ‘The pungent odour that people smell when someone walks past smoking a joint is actually all of those terpenoids,’ says Whalley.

The entourage effect

Whilst synthetic THC has been available since the mid-1980s as dronabinol for treating Aids related weight loss and chemotherapy symptoms, it was not always well tolerated by patients who often report that its psychotropic side effects are greater than those of botanical cannabis. This is partly because ingested THC is metabolised by the enzymes in the stomach and gut into the 11-hydroxy-THC form, which has a more potent and prolonged effect. But another explanation is the absence of other cannabinoids, such as CBD, present in the plant and the drug Sativex. In fact, when THC is combined with CBD, there is a therapeutic benefit and a decrease in the adverse effects of THC alone and this has been exploited in Sativex, where purified THC and CBD extracts are mixed equally. 

The phenomenon was labelled ‘the entourage effect’ by Mechoulam. He suggested that the plant cannabinoids were working in synergy in a similar way to mechanisms occurring in the body’s endocannabinoid system. Here, fatty-acid derived modifier molecules are released with the natural cannabinoids providing a protective cushion and preventing their recapture by cells, meaning they can continue to target cannabinoid receptors. A similar process could explain why CBD improves the drug-performance of THC, and other cannabinoids that may work synergistically. 

Tetrahydrocannabinol binds to the same cannabinoid receptors as anandamide (shown) © Ramon Andrade 3DSciendia/Science Photo Library

During a presentation at a GW Pharmaceuticals R&D day in October 2014, Di Marzo stated that ‘there is already pre-clinical data showing that a THC-CBD combination is more effective in reducing glioma [brain tumour] cell growth and there is similar data for the combination of CBD and CBG in other types of cancer’. GW Pharmaceuticals are now carrying out early clinical safety trials for treating glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive kind of brain tumour. Low doses of THC and CBD added to standard chemotherapy drug temozolomide show increased survival times in animal tests. 

CBD and schizophrenia

Perhaps the last condition you would think cannabis would have therapeutic value for is schizophrenia. In 2009, the UK government rescheduled the drug to the higher class B category, citing research linking heavy use of high THC strains to the onset of schizophrenia in vulnerable young people. But it turns out that CBD has the opposite effect. Neurologist and psychiatrist, Markus Leweke from the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, carried out several clinical trials, which showed CBD had comparable antipsychotic effects to currently used medication and was better tolerated. GW Pharmaceuticals have also started schizophrenia clinical trials with their purified CBD extract. Leweke says ‘it’s fairly clear that we see a malfunction or a disturbance of the endocannabinoid system in patients with schizophrenia.’ 

Understanding why CBD has this effect is not straightforward, because CBD does not directly interact with either the CB1 or CB2 receptors. Leweke says he is ‘pretty sure that the relevant mechanism is the increase in anandamide’. He has shown that higher levels of this natural cannabinoid in schizophrenic patients corresponded to a reduction in psychotic symptoms. The hypothesis is that CBD inhibits the enzyme FAAH (fatty acid amide hydrolase) responsible for breaking down anandamide. This then causes more activation of CB1 receptors to balance neurotransmission in the brain and suppress psychotic symptoms.

Whalley doesn’t, however, think that this is how CBD works for treating epilepsy and says ‘there is no real evidence that suggests that CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system’. Understanding the antiseizure mechanism of CBD and CBDV, another cannabinoid with a good antiseizure profile, is now a priority for his research group. 

He predicts that understanding how CBD works will also enable the development of superior synthetic drugs that mimic its action. ‘At the moment there is nothing to say that CBD or CBDV are in any way optimised, so you might be at relatively low potency for a target that we haven’t yet properly identified. We are poking around the dark a little bit, doing phenomenological rather than target-based, empirically driven drug development.’ 

A return to polypharmacology 

But Di Marzo instead thinks that plant cannabinoids offer a different approach to drug development and a return to milder, multi-target drugs. Conventionally, this is seen as something to avoid in order to reduce drug side effects. When presenting in October, Di Marzo explained his perspective: ‘rather than developing compounds, the so-called magic bullets that activate one single target very potently, we can go back to the old concept of polypharmacology and try to target more than one target with lower potency’. The therapeutic profiles of many cannabinoids show moderate interactions with multiple drug targets, each having its own distinct pharmacological fingerprint.

Di Marzo argues that an unbalancing of the body’s natural systems causes disease – for example, too much cell death leads to neurodegenerative diseases or not enough leads to cancer, too much neurotransmission leads to epilepsy or not enough leads to Alzheimer’s disease. However, with cannabinoids the body seems to recruit its own endocannabinoid control system. Possibly working via multiple targets, cannabinoids can both activate and reduce over-stimulation to restore balance. So plant cannabinoids may present a polypharmacological solution, he claimed, without the side effects of high potency drugs. The multi-target, rebalancing properties of cannabinoids also explains why they show promise as drugs in such a wide variety of conditions. 

© Guido Benschop/Reuters/Corbis

Campaigns for legalisation 

Whilst cannabis itself remains illegal in the UK, cases like that of Figi only add to the conviction of those campaigning for its legalisation for medical use. Keiron Reevesfrom Sussex is a member of the UK medicinal cannabis use campaign group, the United Patients Alliance, and has had epilepsy since childhood. Conventional medication did not help and after suffering a seizure whilst cycling in traffic, he decided to go to Amsterdam, where cannabis is legally available, and try cannabis oil. He says it has changed his life and he now finds his own supply in the UK. ‘I’ve only had three seizures in the last 18 months. That is a complete success story for me, because I was having them every other week.’ Reeves estimates at least 15,000 patients use cannabis medicinally in the UK, including people with late-stage cancer and multiple sclerosis. Although Sativex is licensed to treat multiple sclerosis, he says most sufferers find it impossible to get it prescribed on the NHS due to ‘a post code lottery’. Whilst the Welsh government have chosen to fund it, currently the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) have ruled that it is not cost effective.

In the US, the Epilepsy Foundation has come out in support of the rights of patients living with uncontrolled epilepsy to access medical marijuana, if the potential benefits outweigh the risks. The legal situation in the US is complicated however, because even though state laws in 23 states permit some medical use of cannabis, the Federal government still classes it as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it has ‘no currently accepted medical use’. This legal confusion makes it difficult for patients to know their legal rights, and for researchers to carry out scientific research and run clinical trials. In the UK, medical charities seem to be taking a more cautious approach. The UK’s Epilepsy Society says that the topic is discussed on their forums, but they are not advocating any legal changes at present. 

Stephen Wright says GW Pharmaceuticals has no position on the legality of medical marijuana, but that it ‘illustrates an issue that repeatedly occurs, which is if something appears to work should people be able to use it and should it be called a medicine or should a medicine be something which has been through a whole raft of studies to determine efficacy and safety’. Cannabis he sees as ‘outside of the normal remit of the way medicine is practised’, like the great number of other alternative therapies that many patients use, alongside conventional medicine. But, says Wright, in time, as we fully exploit the medicinal properties of cannabinoids, the issue might just go away. ‘Opioids are widely used in pain relief on prescription in hospitals and nobody says, actually I’d rather smoke opium.’ 

Clinical trials high on list for medical marijuana community

Clinical trials high on list for medical marijuana community

The use of medicines based on cannabinoids is only permitted in some states © Shutterstock

The medical marijuana movement is asking the scientific community to make examining the therapeutic potential of cannabis in much more depth a priority, cannabis experts from North America and the UK declared on 14 February at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in California. But the drug's controlled status is continuing to slow efforts to investigate the myriad compounds in the plant.

The panellists said the evidence is clear that cannabinoids can treat different types of pain effectively. In addition, they cited some evidence that cannabinoids help with neurological conditions like epilepsy. There is also very early clinical trial data suggesting that the molecule cannabidiol(CBD) has an antipsychotic effect and some evidence that it could help with anxiety disorders.

Although cannabis use is associated with things like short-term memory loss and learning problems, the experts presented data showing that once use is stopped those effects disappear within a few days. They also said there is no proof of any long-term neurocognitive effects of chronic marijuana use on the adult brain, although there is some cause for concern about heavy use by adolescents.

The question of whether the compounds have untoward effects remains unclear due to insufficient research. The field is stalled because large clinical trials require the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical sector, but a major barrier is the lack of intellectual property around some of these compounds. ‘They are old drugs, they are hard to lock in patents, and that makes it difficult for someone to invest significantly into these kinds of research studies that might not have the long-term payback,’ explained Mark Ware, who runs the pain research unit at McGill University, Canada.

However, possession of cannabis is still illegal in most US states making it a difficult drug to work with in the clinic. Igor Grant, a neuropsychiatrist who directs the cannabis research centre at the University of California, San Diego, US, has conducted seven clinical trials that involved smoked or inhaled cannabis and all required that he obtain regulatory approvals from three separate agencies before he could even acquire the cannabis for the studies.

Research marijuana for the US is grown by University of Mississippi under government licence. Once investigators clear all of the approvals, they can request the study drug from the NIH in the form of cigarettes containing different concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC – the main psychoactive constituent of cannabis.

Cannabis in Canada

Cannabis research is far easier to pursue in Canada where there is a regulated government programme. The country controls cannabis differently to other drugs, arguing that it fits neither under natural health product regulations that govern the use of herbal medicines, nor under the pharmaceutical drug regulations.

Some of the Canadian companies that grow cannabis under licence are now funding clinical trials to try and develop a drug, according to Ware. ‘The money is out there, but the trick is to get these kinds of pilot studies – proof-of-concept studies – done that encourage people to do larger-scale trials,’ he said.

The experts agreed that more information is needed about therapeutic use of cannabis. To help fill this gap, the provincial ethics committee in Quebec recently directed that all patients cleared to use cannabis for medical reasons must agree to be part on an ongoing study. Ware has been tapped to help set up a Quebec-wide registry that will allow these patients to be tracked anonymously for adverse events, as well as for things like pain, spasticity, appetite level and mood. The registry is expected to go live by the end of March.

In the US, there has been much media and public interest in a strain of medical marijuana first developed to treat a child suffering from repeated seizures, dubbed Charlotte’s Web, which is high in CBD but does not contain any psychoactive compounds. But Ware is troubled by the phenomenon of parents and patients seeking out CBD therapeutics. ‘We don’t know where the cannabidiol is coming from; there is a tremendous kind of mythology about the stuff coming from eastern Europe or China,’ he said. Hemp farmers in Canada are being approached to produce CBD and are charging huge amounts of money, he added.

The development of such medicinal products is complicated by the fact that cannabis contains over 100 different ingredients that may be bioactive. This flies in the face of the model followed by regulatory agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration that are set up to deal with single molecules rather than complex mixtures.

Epilepsy: Oklahoma House Approves Study of Cannabis Oil Applications

Oklahoma House Approves Study of Cannabis Oil Applications

The Oklahoma House has overwhelmingly approved legislation authorizing a statewide study into clinical trials on certain patients with severe forms of epilepsy using an oil derived from the marijuana plant.

House members voted 98-2 for the measure, also referred to as "Katie's Law", Wednesday and sent it to the Oklahoma Senate for consideration.

The bill's author, Republican Rep. Jon Echols of Oklahoma City, says the bill authorizes an investigation into the use of cannabidiol in children with epilepsy.

Last year, Gov. Mary Fallin asked lawmakers to support the legalization of cannabidiol but said she remained opposed to legalizing all medical marijuana.

Research suggests the oil may be effective to treat toddlers with rare conditions that cause seizures and strokes. Fallin has said cannabidiol could be "potentially life-saving" for some children.

Members Of Congress Stand Up For California Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Members Of Congress Stand Up For California Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Three congressional lawmakers from California are accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of overreach in an ongoing crackdown against Harborside Health Center, widely considered to be the largest and one of the most well-respected medical marijuana dispensaries in the nation.

"We believe DOJ has overstepped its bounds in the Harborside case," Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R), Sam Farr (D) and Barbara Lee (D) wrote in a letter last week about U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag's effort to shut down the Oakland, California-based Harborside. "We believe DOJ is not acting within the spirit or the letter of the law nor in the best interests of the people who depend on Harborside for reliable, safe medical marijuana."

The letter notes that public acceptance of medical marijuana has grown nationally, even as federal policy on the substance "stagnates." To highlight his support, Rohrabacher posed with Harborside's co-founder and executive director, Steve DeAngelo, at the dispensary:

Twenty-three states so far have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and 11 others have legalized limited medical use of a specific marijuana-derived compound. But the federal government continues to ban the plant, classifying it as one of the "most dangerous" substances with "no currently accepted medical use."

The law that the three lawmakers reference in their letter is the Farr-Rohrabacher amendment, named after its main co-sponsors. The historic measure, which was part of the $1.1 trillion federal spending bill passed in December, prohibits the Justice Department from using funds to interfere with state-legal medical marijuana programs.

Despite that new provision, lawyers from Haag's office appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit earlier this month to argue that the prosecution of Harborside should be allowed to proceed.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the lawmakers' letter due to the ongoing federal investigation.

Haag first sought to close down Harborside in 2012 on the grounds that the facility, which says it brings in roughly $25 million a year in revenue, had grown too large. Later that year, lawyers for Oakland sued to block Haag's actions, arguing that Harborside is an asset to the community and that closing it may create a public health crisis.

Harborside isn't the only medical marijuana operation that Haag has tried to shutter. Berkeley Patients Group, with the support of the city of Berkeley, is involved in a similar effort to beat back the U.S. attorney. Earlier this month, a 9th Circuit judge appeared to signal support for the Berkeley facility, which bills itself as California's oldest pot shop, by allowing it to continue operating while the court considers the pending litigation.

Despite the legal proceedings, Harborside's Oakland storefront and its sibling operation in San Jose are still open as well. Their clientele includes several children who suffer from severe forms of epilepsy, whose families have said cannabis tinctures are the only treatment that has helped.

"The people have spoken through their elected representatives," DeAngelo, the facility's executive director, said. "It’s time for the DOJ to start obeying the law and dismiss this misguided action against Harborside."

10 Reasons Marijuana Legalization Can’t Be Stopped

10 Reasons Marijuana Legalization Can’t Be Stopped

A Gallup poll last October reported that a “majority continues to support marijuana legalization in the United Sates.” The 2014 poll indicated that 51% of Americans support legalization while 47% oppose it. This represented some shrinkage in legalization support from the 2013 poll, which found 58% in favor, but is still evidence of a solid trend line consistent with 2011 and 2012 polls that each reported 50% in support of legalizing marijuana. The most revealing finding, though, is that opposition to legalization is down from 64% in 2004.

Legalization is supported most strongly by Americans in the East and West, and by liberals and moderates. In the South, for example, support has grown from 40% in 2010 to 47% in 2014, and in the Midwest from roughly 40% to 45% during the same period (with some sharp shifts every other year above 50%). Among conservatives, support for legalization has averaged 32.6% over this five year period, 56.8% among moderates, and 72.8% among liberals.

Is this enough public support for complete marijuana legalization throughout the country? Actually, no, it is not. Does this matter? Well, truth be told, yes it does. The legalization movement still has an immense amount of work to be done, and just as support fell from 58% in 2013 to 51% in 2014 it could drop again to under the 50% threshold. The road to legalization covers rough, rocky terrain. Federal prohibition makes the construction of state regulatory systems unnecessarily complicated. This will produce flawed policies with imperfect results and unanticipated consequences, and opponents of legalization will use these to oppose further progress.

Nonetheless, legalization cannot be stopped. Here are 10 reasons why.

10. Diligent Advocates
Legalization has active and well-funded support from a number of prominent advocacy groups, including NORML, MPP, DPA and the ACLU. However it is the overall quality of grass-roots advocates (not to mention the sheer multitude of them) that gives the legalization movement an advantage over the opposition. Marijuana legalization advocates are well-informed, professional, dedicated and motivated by a sense of history.

9. Unappealing Alternatives
No one has or will make a credible argument that criminal laws and sanction will eliminate marijuana use and/or marijuana’s widespread availability. One of the consequences of the emerging legal market is that it puts a brighter light, through contrast, on the illegal market. Untaxed and unregulated are no longer abstract adjectives when it comes to describing the market produced by prohibition. The debate over legalization used to be about values, now it’s about a choice between two markets. When the illegal market is considered in this context, it does not appeal to the American public.

8. A Demoralized Opposition
Losers. Americans do not like losers, and the anti-marijuana movement lost this battle a long time ago. From their point of view, it is hard to have any confidence that this debacle (as they see it) can be reversed. The opposition is now left with petty arguments along the lines that marijuana should be illegal but no one should go to jail when they are arrested, or that it is better for criminal organizations to sell pot because they will keep the price high thus keeping marijuana use minimal. Their explanations about why legalization’s advocates are so successful mask a more troubling issue for the opposition, which is how they managed to squander widespread public support for their position and how their incompetent leadership failed to stop this ongoing and massive repudiation of prohibition that has been growing and succeeding since the mid-1990s.

7. Demographic Changes
Most adults today have a different attitude about marijuana than their parents did. A 50-year-old voter in 2015 was born in 1965 and has grown up seeing the failure of marijuana prohibition, and a large number of these people have first-hand experience with marijuana. They have either tried it, used it, or know people who have. This is not an abstract issue anymore for most Americans, and they are no longer willing to defer to prohibition’s supporters and accept that criminalizing marijuana is the only feasible public policy. More important, though, is that a greater and greater part of the electorate is made up of black, Hispanic and other so-called minority voters who recognize that marijuana arrests have disproportionately targeted them over the last two generations. Simply put, they are tired of marijuana laws being used as a pretext to arrest minority youths.

6. Other Priorities
According to an August 2014 Gallup poll the most important issues facing the United States were dissatisfaction with government, immigration, the state of the economy, jobs and health care. Next on that list, also in order of importance, were foreign policy, ethics and moral concerns, poverty, education and the federal budget deficit. Illegal drugs in general and marijuana in particular are not the popular political issues they were during the Reagan years of the 1980s. When it comes to the use of law enforcement resources the public is a bit more concerned these days with sexual assault on children, the global sex trade, identify theft, heroin overdoses and white-collar crime. Even when it comes to basic issues like public safety it’s a hard sell to divert police resources from street patrols to trips to the station to book marijuana possession offenders. The police have more important responsibilities and limited resources with which to meet them.

5. Appealing Tax Revenue
Colorado raised $60 million in tax revenue in the first 10 months of 2014, suggesting a total of $72 million for the entire year. Here is one, somewhat cynical, way of understanding why that would be appealing to state government: that’s enough money to pay 1,440 state employees a salary of $50,000 a year. A more sophisticated perspective here comes from a long-term view of trends in American politics. Since the civil rights revolution in the 1960s more Americans vote, and as more Americans vote they want and expect more from the politicians they elect to public office. This isn’t about welfare and entitlements, it is about public policy, and issues involving schools, transportation, health care, regulatory systems and public safety. The public wants more from government, and government has to find ways to raise sufficient revenue to address those demands. A legal and growing marijuana industry provides new revenue sources for local, state and eventually the federal government.

4. Reductions in Teen Availability
Marijuana legalization is good public policy. Unlike the illegal market, the legal market will not sell to minors. Colorado authorities have sent undercover operatives into marijuana stores throughout the state; they could not find a store that would sell marijuana to an underage buyer. Marijuana prohibition also inflates the price of marijuana, making it profitable for teenagers to sell it to their friends and schoolmates. A legal market will lower the price of marijuana and make such commerce unprofitable. Legalizing marijuana will reduce availability to teenagers, and as more Americans learn and understand this, more of them will support legalization.

3. Valuable Merchandise
People like marijuana. Consumers find marijuana use a pleasing, useful and satisfying experience. Marijuana is useful to many Americans, for medical and other purposes. Legalization’s opponents have distorted and misrepresented the reasons why people use marijuana, implying that the purpose of marijuana use is intoxication and that continued use is sustained by addiction. In truth, most marijuana is used to engage people in various pursuits, not to disengage and/or escape reality or responsibility. Like alcohol, marijuana can be abused, but most Americans use marijuana with decent and deliberate purpose, including but not limited to treatment of serious medical conditions.

2. A Growing Industry
A recent report suggests that the legal marijuana market is the fastest growing industry in the United States. The entrepreneurial characteristics of this emerging industry are on display at the Cannabis Cup exposition presented by HIGH TIMES throughout the United States each year. The industry is attracting capital investment, growing in scope and profitability, and in the early stages of launching trade and lobbying groups to advance its interests and protect its profits. There is a cynical way to look at this too, in that industry lobbyists will work their way into the hearts, minds and bank accounts of enough politicians to preserve and protect this new industry. On a more practical level, though, these entrepreneurs provide a mechanism by which government regulators can learn about the industry, gain industry cooperation and devise effective regulations with which to address legitimate public interests such as quality controls, informative labeling and effective age restriction policies. A legal industry can and will work with public representatives, something conspicuously absent from the illegal market culture produced by prohibition.

1. A Humanized Public Understanding of Marijuana Users
The main reason marijuana legalization can’t be stopped is that marijuana use and marijuana users have come out of the shadows. People who use marijuana are normal, everyday Americans who work hard, pay taxes, vote and contribute to American society. They are not abstractions, stoned hippies introverts or pathological deviants. The marijuana issue is no longer contested in the arena of social construction where validity and truth are mere functions of perceived authority and social position. In other words, this is no longer about deferring to anti-drug advocates and pro-prohibition law enforcement. The marijuana user is no longer a caricature, some stereotype for an old movie or bogus anti-drug commercial. The marijuana user is now a gal who lives next door, a guy from work, a son, a daughter, a wife or a husband, a fellow parishioner or a kid down the street. The more the public learns about real marijuana users, and the real reasons they use marijuana, the more they will support legalization.

Marijuana legalization can’t be stopped because it is the right policy, the right thing to do and the right way to treat our fellow Americans.