National Marijuana News

As compiled by my buddy Cameron from Google News.

N.Y. Committee OKs Medical-Marijuana Bill
4/16/2003

The New York Assembly Health Committee voted in favor of a bill that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
reported April 9.

Under the measure, guidelines would be established to allow physicians and other healthcare professionals to prescribe marijuana to alleviate pain. Patients would obtain the drug from a registered nonprofit organization, regulated by a local health department or the state.

"We should not be embarrassed about taking drugs, even if they may be street drugs, and using them appropriately," said Assemblyman Joel Miller (R-Poughkeepsie), a co-sponsor of the bill. "If this is at all helpful to people, I don't see why we can't move forward."

Although the bill has been around since 1997, the committee's action marks the first time any legislative panel has voted on the measure.

Pot bongs legal
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 9, 2003

In another sign of the state-federal split over drugs, a state appellate court ruled Tuesday that possession of marijuana pipes is legal in California, just six
weeks after bong-sellers around the nation were the targets of federal raids.

The Court of Appeal panel in Riverside County said a 1975 California law "deliberately decriminalized the possession of a device for smoking marijuana. " The same law changed marijuana possession from a possible felony to an infraction punishable by a $100 fine.

But federal law, which overrides state laws, continues to classify marijuana among the most dangerous narcotics, in the same category as heroin. Federal
prosecutors have stepped up raids on medical marijuana suppliers in California and won convictions, though the state legalized medical marijuana in 1996.

On Feb. 24, federal agents raided more than 100 homes and businesses throughout the nation that sell bongs and pipes favored by pot smokers. Fifty people, including six in Northern California, were charged with trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia.

Californians in that case won't be helped by Tuesday's ruling, which involved only a state-law charge of possessing drug paraphernalia.

Boy dreamer becomes pot activist
Phillip Mol founded medical marijuana dispensary in Hayward
By Michelle Meyers, STAFF WRITER

HAYWARD -- When Phillip Mol was a boy, he dreamed of becoming a physicist or an astronomer, not an advocate for patients of medical marijuana.

"I never thought I would be the guy trying to change things," said Mol, who founded the Helping Hands Patients' Center, a downtown cannabis dispensary.

But after he overcame heroin addiction -- on top of severe manic-depression -- Mol's career goals took on a higher calling, he said.

Mol, 41, is a leader in the local effort to legalize Hayward's three downtown dispensaries under city code. His business, opened in October 2001, is aimed at
offering cannabis patients an efficient, comfortable setting, with some of the lowest prices in the Bay Area, he said.

"Some people do it just for the patients," said Jane Weirick, a Hayward resident and president of the Medical Cannabis Association. "Phil is a terrific example of this."

But Mol's broader mission, one he calls "Green and Sober," is to help spread the word about the use of pot to treat the addiction of harder drugs.

[...]

"In 14 years of 12-step attendance, I had two years of clean time," he said. "During eight years of Green and Sober living, I have had eight years of staying off hard drugs, IV drug use and alcohol abuse."

In addition to helping Mol with the addiction, the pot helped him keep down his regular pharmaceutical drugs used to treat his bipolar disorder.

It's time to dissolve this government agency root and branch.

Posted by Drizzten at April 16, 2003 11:27 AM