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  Medical Marijuana Bill On Track To Become Law 

Posted by CN Staff on May 05, 2012 at 19:25:27 PT
By Daniela Altimari, The Hartford Courant  
Source: Hartford Courant 

Hartford -- Connecticut is poised to become the 17th state to permit the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes following a 21-13 vote in the Senate early Saturday after nearly 10 hours of often-passionate debate.Sixteen other states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing for medical marijuana. But advocates say the Connecticut proposal places some of the tightest restrictions in the nation on the cultivation and use of the drug in an effort to avoid problems that have cropped up elsewhere.
"When I looked at some of the other states that took what I thought was almost a wild, wild west approach of allowing people to grow plants at home and the lack of oversight and regulation, I did not believe it was the right thing for Connecticut to do, to emulate those states and those versions," Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams said. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he intends to sign the measure, which would take effect Oct. 1. "There are thousands of people in Connecticut who will likely benefit from this legislation as they struggle with debilitating and life-threatening illnesses," the governor said in a statement issued shortly after the votes were tallied at 2:34 a.m."We don't want Connecticut to follow the path pursued by some other states, which essentially would legalize marijuana for anyone willing to find the right doctor and get the right prescription," he added. "In my opinion, such efforts run counter to federal law. Under this proposal, however, the Department of Consumer Protection will be able to carefully regulate and monitor the medicinal use of this drug in order to avoid the problems encountered in some other states."To qualify for medical marijuana in Connecticut, patients would need a physician's certification that they have a debilitating medical condition, such as cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis or epilepsy."Someone saying 'I've got a headache' [isn't] going to get a medical marijuana card,'' Erik Williams, executive director the Connecticut chapter of the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws, said Saturday. There will be "no store-front, walk-in service,'' he added. "This is medicine and it's going to be treated like that."Williams said Connecticut's Constitution, which does not contain a mechanism that permits citizens to force a vote on matters of public policy, made for a better bill. In other states, medical marijuana was legalized by ballot initiative; in Connecticut, it was accomplished through the legislative process.Under the proposal, marijuana would be dispensed only by pharmacists who obtained a special license.When Connecticut lawmakers first pondered permitting the medical use of marijuana more than a decade ago, it was primarily stoners and people from "the radical left" who favored the bill as a way to force social change on marijuana policy, Sen John Kissel, R-Enfield, said.But as the years went on, lawmakers began hearing from medical professionals. They also heard harrowing, deeply personal stories from people coping with chronic and serious illnesses about the role that marijuana plays in their medical treatment.Kissel and three other Republican senators backed the proposal: Andrew Roraback of Goshen, Kevin Witkos of Canton and Anthony Guglielmo of Stafford. Three Democrats – Paul Doyle of Wethersfield, Joan Hartley of Waterbury and Gayle Slossberg of Milford – opposed it. Two senators, Edith Prague, D-Columbia, and Eileen Daily, D-Westbrook, were absent.Sen. Toni Boucher, who began speaking before 6 p.m. Friday and was still going strong at 2 a.m. Saturday, led the opposition. The Republican from Wilton cited studies, statistics and anecdotes during her filibuster.Boucher, who views marijuana as a "gateway drug" that destroys lives, offered to drop her opposition if lawmakers amended the bill to limit medical marijuana use only to those facing a terminal illness. That amendment, as well as six subsequent ones, failed.Source: Hartford Courant (CT)Author: Daniela Altimari, The Hartford Courant Published: May 5, 2012Copyright: 2012 The Hartford CourantContact: letters courant.comWebsite: http://www.courant.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/VCiSjv3vCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml 

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Comment #31 posted by greenmed on May 09, 2012 at 21:00:03 PT
Hope
"All those letters to the editor that so many have written have every thing to do with the progress we've made and still have to make."Amen to that!
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Comment #30 posted by Hope on May 09, 2012 at 20:29:13 PT
Comment 28 Greenmed
Good man. Good move. All those letters to the editor that so many have written have every thing to do with the progress we've made and still have to make. 
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Comment #29 posted by FoM on May 09, 2012 at 18:18:34 PT
greenmed
I am very glad to hear that. Onward and upward!
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Comment #28 posted by greenmed on May 09, 2012 at 18:10:43 PT
FoM
Onward and upward!Energy level up a bit. Feeling okay. Thank you for asking, you're a dear.I believe I'll put that energy into some letter-writing.
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Comment #27 posted by FoM on May 09, 2012 at 18:02:27 PT
greenmed
All done. I hope you are feeling ok.
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Comment #26 posted by greenmed on May 09, 2012 at 17:09:55 PT

FoM
Please delete my comment #10. My point is made. It has served its purpose."Kids", learn from my example... don't accept everything that is offered you.
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Comment #25 posted by Oleg the Tumor on May 08, 2012 at 05:57:10 PT:

Why Not? It works for OxyContin…
"We don't want Connecticut to follow the path pursued by some other states, which essentially would legalize marijuana for anyone willing to find the right doctor and get the right prescription," So legalize it and be done with all this "Clousterfokken"!

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Comment #24 posted by FoM on May 08, 2012 at 04:59:03 PT

greenmed
In this area everyone that goes to a pain clinic is drug tested for marijuana. If a Veteran lives in a state with medical marijuana laws and has a card and needs pain meds they are ok but I don't think that applies to general pain clinics with states that have mmj but I could be wrong. I think it is pathetic and so wrong. People can't have cannabis that is mild if they need pain meds. It's so upside down.
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Comment #23 posted by greenmed on May 07, 2012 at 22:13:48 PT

tonight's vote
Initial coverage:http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/may/07/councilors-hear-public-marijuana-resolution-ar-1898130/The resolution voted on tonight passed 3-2, but in demended form. The resolution comprised two provisions. The first, making cannabis possession the "lowest priority" for law-enforcement was removed. The Police Department and City Spokesperson claimed that cannabis arrests are not a drain on police resources (a rejoinder to the wording of the provision), but did not address the substance of the matter - that whether by arrest, or by punishment and coercion into re-education programs by drug courts, lives are derailed and ruined. The second provision did make it to the vote:"ALSO BE IT RESOLVED that the Council call on the Virginia General Assembly and the Governor of Virginia to revisit the sentencing guidelines that merit jail terms for simple possession, do away with rules that suppose intent to distribute without evidence, and give due consideration to sponsored state bills that would decriminalize, legalize, or regulate marijuana like alcohol."The reform advocates (including two Councilors) made uniformly reasoned arguments for the entire package. A LEAP member, a former Marshall, also testified. It was all great to watch. Overall, the advocates and activists present seemed pleased at what is a partial but important victory!
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Comment #22 posted by greenmed on May 07, 2012 at 21:29:11 PT

Hope and FoM
Thank you so much for your words of empathy. They mean a lot to me.The clinic I go to serves a disproportionately large number of chronic pain patients and the poor. We are the low-hanging fruit for the DEA. Clinics that serve patients with insurance or who can pay out-of-pocket without financial assistance have no need for "narcotic contracts" so evidently feel less DEA pressure.With more people unable to afford health insurance, expect more of the same, unfortunately.I wonder whether the DEA exerts similar pressure in the 17 states and D.C. that have legitimized medical cannabis. Do the DEA's threats constitute persecution of medical cannabis patients inconsistent with the feds' promise to keep hands-off? I would believe so.
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Comment #21 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 17:37:11 PT

Dr Ganj 
Thank you for the link. I don't know how the issue of dispensaries will play out but I think they will never be what they were. Hopefully someday day soon everyone will be able to grow a little for their own use. That would make me happy. That's still my wish. It's just a plant.
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Comment #20 posted by Dr Ganj on May 07, 2012 at 16:07:31 PT:

BPG
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamar-todd/why-i-want-a-medical-marijuana-dispensary-near-school_b_1497917.html
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 12:47:58 PT

Afterburner and Runruff
That is so true. I guess my point is they will find some other reason to be violent if marijuana was legal. I doubt they would have much marijuana coming north if cannabis could be grown all over the USA. It all would or could become local.
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Comment #18 posted by runruff on May 07, 2012 at 11:17:55 PT

Afterburner
"the real human trafficking is happening in the private prisons".-Amen to that!George Sr. as part of his mandatory minimums ruse and at the same time his wife bought in and dominate the prison commissary. At the same time he and his cronies were cooking up this scheme, they were creating the Unicor Prison slave labor org.Also, they are allowed to compete on the open market with their good built at $.25- $1.25 per hour. A person making $1.25 in prison is very well off which is how they get prisoners to do it.
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Comment #17 posted by afterburner on May 07, 2012 at 10:47:29 PT

Hope #9 - I Read Article - More Grist for the Mill
Republic Report / By Lee Fang.
63 COMMENTS.
5 Special Interest Groups That Help Keep Marijuana Illegal.
There are entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our broken drug laws on the books.
May 3, 2012 | Editor's note: This story first appeared on Republic Report. 
http://www.alternet.org/story/155269/5_special_interest_groups_that_help_keep_marijuana_illegal?page=entire
Lead: { "Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy." }114 COMMENTS.
Bill Maher: "For the Sake of Black America, [Obama] Needs a Second Term".
By Lauren Kelley | Sourced from AlterNet.
Posted at May 5, 2012, 8:43 am.
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/912642/bill_maher%3A_%22for_the_sake_of_black_america%2C_%5Bobama%5D_needs_a_second_term%22/51 COMMENTS.
Heartland Institute Compares Climate Science Believers and Reporters to Mass 'Murderers And Madmen'.
By Joe Romm | Sourced from Climate Progress.
Posted at May 4, 2012, 12:58 pm
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/912614/heartland_institute_compares_climate_science_believers_and_reporters_to_mass_%27murderers_and_madmen%27/
Lead: { "The Heartland Institute has launched one of the most offensive billboard campaigns in U.S. history. The Chicago-based anti-science think tank is comparing all those who accept climate science — and the journalists who report on it accurately — to Charles Manson, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden." }GRITtv / By Laura Flanders and Noam Chomsky.
184 COMMENTS.
Noam Chomsky on America's Economic Suicide.
We’re a nation whose leaders are pursuing policies that amount to economic “suicide” Chomsky says. But there are glimmers of possibility.
May 4, 2012 | { Noam Chomsky has not just been watching the Occupy movement. A veteran of the civil rights, anti-war, and anti-intervention movements of the 1960s through the 1980s, he’s given lectures at Occupy Boston and talked with occupiers across the US. His new book, Occupy, published in the Occupied Media Pamphlet Series by Zuccotti Park Press brings together several of those lectures, a speech on “occupying foreign policy” and a brief tribute to his friend and co-agitator Howard Zinn.From his speeches, and in this conversation, it’s clear that the emeritus MIT professor and author is as impressed by the spontaneous, cooperative communities some Occupy encampments created, as he is by the movement’s political impact. }
http://www.alternet.org/economy/155281/noam_chomsky_on_america%27s_economic_suicide/?page=entireAlterNet / By Sara Robinson.
424 COMMENTS.
Fascist America: Have We Finally Turned The Corner?
The author offers one of her periodic assessments of America's potential to go fascist. And the news is better than it's been in years.
May 1, 2012 
http://www.alternet.org/story/155222/fascist_america%3A_have_we_finally_turned_the_corner?page=entireBlack Agenda Report / By Glen Ford.
146 COMMENTS.
Private Prison Corporations Are Modern Day Slave Traders.
The Corrections Corporation of America believes the economic crisis has created an opportunity to become landlord, as well as manager, of a chunk of the American prison gulag.
April 29, 2012 
http://www.alternet.org/story/155199/private_prison_corporations_are_modern_day_slave_traders?akid=8724.313040.hV8y7q&rd=1&t=14FoM #15, the real human trafficking is happening in the private prisons.
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Comment #16 posted by Hope on May 07, 2012 at 10:25:47 PT

More human trafficking or gun running?
No. I don't think so. There are only so many people that want or need to cross the border illegally and only so many people that want or need illegal guns. That would only increase according to the circumstances and actually, the need for both those things would eventually decrease if cannabis and other drugs were legalized. Why? Because there would be more jobs in Mexico, production of cheaper, legal cannabis. Less need for their "Mob" to have an arsenal of alarming military grade weapons to terrify people and entire territories into submission to the diminished "Lords" of the illegal activities.

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Comment #15 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 10:18:56 PT

Hope
I just wonder if the corruption is so great wouldn't they just transfer more into human trafficking or something like that or gun running more then they do already etc.
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 10:16:11 PT

Greenmed
I am so sorry. So many people I know are in a similar situation.
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on May 07, 2012 at 10:14:01 PT

Greenmed
Sorry. I hope they are, ultimately, "doing you a favor".That schedule one screening... are they requiring that now of everyone that seeks medical care? How in the world can we, as a government "Of the people", paid for by taxes, afford to do that? How important is that in the scheme of things... other than pure busybodyness?
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Comment #12 posted by runruff on May 07, 2012 at 10:11:22 PT

Less useful and more idiot!
On the useful idiots in South America, Columbia I think? A lady who serves horizontal refreshment for a living said what Some of us have known for a long time. That the fed is full of useful idiots, more idiot than useful. If only every taxpayer in this country could meet up close and personal everyone in the criminal Justus system especially the fed, the worst.In the BoP they run news paper ads saying the fed will help you with your GED so you may qualify for a $50,000-$180,000 per year job career as a prison guard. This wage does not include overtime or bribes from prisoner or private enterprizes such as black market goods sold at a 10000 percent mark-up inside the prison.The Law enforcement arm of this fed power structure is as incompetent and stupid as the agents described by this lady. Remember the agents in this story are not regarded as the worst in fed service. This was a random incident and could have been any of thousands of fed employees. The DEA are as devouring locust upon the land. They claim to be saving us from ourselves all the while perpetrating the very crimes they are sworn to stop. Rape the tax payer, fortifying the cartels with weapons, feeding mountains of cash to our major banks. They decry, checks and balances, checks and balances! Yea, balance their pay checks against the truth and public opinion. They do not need C&B so long as they have a couple of billion to spend on propaganda.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on May 07, 2012 at 10:09:18 PT

Plus
miles and miles of barren desert and rattlesnakes and and jaguars makes for a more dangerous situation than a walk through the woods and across a gentle meadow. The southern trek has been killing people for years by the sheer nature of it.And there aren't hundreds, if not thousands, of those loads a day, every day coming across the border in Canada.Plus so many desperate people finding themselves trapped into being used as mules. And they need a lot of mules. All that fear and grief and helplessness and intimidation makes a lot of difference. Especially when the difference between eating and surviving or not is involved. So poverty has something to do with it.Taxes are low in Mexico. There is no help for people from government or organizations when they are ill or in trouble... or ignorant or helpless, except what they can scramble up on their own. Mexico is a fine example of what virtually no tax base or collection or dispersion gets you.Canadians aren't involved in anything like that. 
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on May 07, 2012 at 09:56:17 PT

Losing the Drug War
At the end of the article, the two retired Federal Agents agree that something else must be done. Legalization of 
cannabis/marijuana, for one suggestion. The article is pretty big deal, I think.It's more violent on the southern border for several reasons. There is more hate and fear between people of differing customs and skin color for one thing. More hatred. More disrespect of life. It's a huge, huge business that has been in business down there for decades. Many people's lives and livelihoods are touched by the illegal drug trade and smuggling. Many. There aren't cartels in Canada, except were there arms have reached from down south. Further south than Mexico. And it's been big, big money for a very, very long time. They've controlled it with violence, money, and coercion all that time. And there has been so much money and it's been going on for a very long time. It's entrenched. There are "Lords" over it all. There's nothing like that in Canada. Maybe some motorcycle gangs or Asian gangs. Nothing like what's in Mexico, Central America, or the Southern border area. It's huge. It's powerful. It's hate filled and it's really, really ugly.There is no activity at the Canadian border to come close to comparing to what's happening in Mexico, further south, and near the Mexican/U.S. border. Millions of people are involved in the Southern border's activity. So much more is going on. So many more people are involved than in Canada and many of them are being coerced to be involved and coercion will naturally involve a lot more violence and threat and fear of violence. A lot more."With so many people living in the middle of nowhere, when they get pressure from smugglers, all they can do is say OK. I've been told cartel people go up to people on the reservation and say, "We know where your kid gets the school bus in the morning. Can you help us out?"http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/losing-the-drug-war/Content?oid=3336214It's just not that kind of business in Canada and it's not that big. Not nearly that big and the more money and the more people involved... the more vicious it can get.
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Comment #8 posted by The GCW on May 07, 2012 at 06:15:10 PT

Next move
US CO: Denver lawyer loses liability insurance over medical-marijuana clientsWebpage: http://www.denverpost.com/news/marijuana/ci_20563322/denver-lawyer-loses-liability-insurance-over-medical-marijuana
Pubdate: 7 May 2012In what appears to be a first-of-its-kind event nationwide, a Denver lawyer has lost her liability insurance because part of her practice involves representing medical-marijuana businesses.Cont.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 05:53:33 PT

Marijuana Supply Piles Up in California
Marijuana Supply Piles Up in California as Growers Take a HitMay 5, 2012
  The pot market is crashing in California's legendary Emerald Triangle.URL: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/07/2787547/marijuana-supply-piles-up-in-california.html
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on May 07, 2012 at 05:49:12 PT

Hope
I looked at the article and what always seems to come to my mind about the drug war at the southern border is why is there so much violence? Marijuana comes in to the states from Canada but I never hear of violence and guns and killings. I wish I knew why it happens down there.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on May 06, 2012 at 23:01:39 PT

I'm glad I made the time to read this long article
yesterday/today. It took me since yesterday morning, off and on all day, until now, it's one twenty a.m.. Busy day. But I'm glad I took the time to read it. It's worth reading. Very muchly so.Losing The Drug Warhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n259/a13.html?397http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/losing-the-drug-war/Content?oid=3336214
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Comment #4 posted by John Tyler on May 06, 2012 at 21:20:44 PT

psychedelic-therapy
a little off topic. I saw this over at the cnn website.
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_bn12#/video/us/2012/05/03/feyerick-psychedelic-therapy.cnn
Another psychedelic-therapy study (Psilocybin)on someone with a terminal illness. The patient finds peace, love and understanding, has a profound spiritual experience and feels connected to the universe. If it is good for her, why is it not available for those who are not ill? Don't we all need peace, love and unserstanding? 

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Comment #3 posted by afterburner on May 06, 2012 at 13:13:38 PT

Try this one
EAGLES LAST RESORT 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=xBRLmFay1wQ&NR=1
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on May 06, 2012 at 13:05:14 PT

I want to say, Yea!- but those 'old world shadows'
THE EAGLES -- THE LAST RESORT 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE1pMLkwLKUMixed emotions: Life, Structure, Death.We continue to rebuild the old first nations traditions, global village, love and care for the land, our mother earth.Free cannabis -- long may you ride.
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Comment #1 posted by Oleg the Tumor on May 06, 2012 at 06:57:01 PT:

Here we go folks, the chase is on . . . .
From the state of Big Insurance comes a way to make a proper buck on cannabis, turning little pharma into Big Pharma. You can't have one without the other nowadays, as the thinking goes. I see this as "weird news", not at all bad, but not necessarily all good, either. 
Yankees historically make a buck by taking risk and opportunity and screwing both ways against a theoretical middle. This is called "insurance".In the long run, the more that is known about this plant, the better. The only important question is whether legalization will happen before the collapse of the dollar or afterward - as a result of the collapse.  That would be sad. We need jobs and sanity now!
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