ALBANY, N.Y. ”” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will announce plans to legalize medical marijuana through an executive order, according to a published report Saturday.
Cuomo is expected to legalize medical marijuana on a limited basis at 20 hospitals for specific conditions, the New York Times reported Saturday evening. Cuomo will make the announcement during his State of the State address on Wednesday, the newspaper said, citing unnamed state officials.
The move would be a shift for Cuomo, who is up for re-election in November. As recently as April, he voiced opposition to the idea, questioning whether it could be properly regulated. But he also has said that he would keep an open mind on the issue, saying it is an "evolving one."
United States Patent 6,630,507
Hampson , et al. October 7, 2003
**Please see images for: ( Certificate of Correction ) **
Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants
Abstract
Cannabinoids have been found to have antioxidant properties, unrelated to NMDA receptor antagonism. This new found property makes cannabinoids useful in the treatment and prophylaxis of wide variety of oxidation associated diseases, such as ischemic, age-related, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The cannabinoids are found to have particular application as neuroprotectants, for example in limiting neurological damage following ischemic insults, such as stroke and trauma, or in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and HIV dementia. Nonpsychoactive cannabinoids, such as cannabidoil, are particularly advantageous to use because they avoid toxicity that is encountered with psychoactive cannabinoids at high doses useful in the method of the present invention. A particular disclosed class of cannabinoids useful as neuroprotective antioxidants is formula (I) wherein the R group is independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH.sub.3, and COCH.sub.3. ##STR1##
Inventors: Hampson; Aidan J. (Irvine, CA), Axelrod; Julius (Rockville, MD), Grimaldi; Maurizio (Bethesda, MD)
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services (Washington, DC)
Family ID: 26767641
Appl. No.: 09/674,028
Filed: February 2, 2001
PCT Filed: April 21, 1999
PCT No.: PCT/US99/08769
PCT Pub. No.: WO99/53917
PCT Pub. Date: October 28, 1999
(CNN) -- Marijuana prohibition laws are slowly going up in smoke.
An Alaska citizens' group is pushing to legalize recreational marijuana, which would make it the third state to do so after Colorado and Washington.
Driven by growing public support, Campaign to Regulate Marijuana submitted more than 45,000 signatures Wednesday to Alaska election officials. It needs about 30,000 verified signatures to qualify for the August state ballot.
"The proposed initiative will take marijuana sales out of the underground market and put them in legitimate, taxpaying businesses," said Tim Hinterberger, one of the initiative's sponsors. "Replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and sensible regulation will bolster Alaska's economy by creating jobs and generating revenue for the state."
The proposal similar to one passed in Colorado legalizes the growing, buying and consumption of marijuana for adults ages 21 or older, CNN affiliate KTUU reported.
Alaska law currently allows those with a medicinal marijuana prescription to legally grow up to six plants or have up to one ounce, according to the affiliate.
The proposal will not only open doors for recreational use, it provides more options for medicinal marijuana users with limited access, Hinterberger told the affiliate.
Uruguay, not a country usually in the headlines, made a bit of history late last year when it became the first country in the world to legalise the growing, selling and consumption of marijuana.
Latin American nations have openly debated the legalisation of drugs as the US-led 'war on drugs' has widely been seen as a failure. Fed up with the crime and endless bloodshed, they hoped liberalisation would break the stranglehold of the drug cartels.
The move has not been met with outright condemnation in the US as some states there have also moved towards legalisation of the drug.
In the US, around 25 million people are considered active marijuana users, while almost 48 percent of the population have taken the drug at some point. Some 1.5 million people were arrested in 2011 for drug charges, and out of those arrests, marijuana accounted for about 750,000.
The US marijuana business is worth $113bn. And 'business' refers to the growth and usage for - amongst other things - medical use. More than $1.43bn worth of legal marijuana was sold in 2013, an amount which is estimated to increase by 64 percent this year to around $2.34bn.
However, most marijuana use remains underground, meaning the US tax authorities could be missing out on about $31bn in revenue. It is also important to note that more than $10bn is spent on enforcing marijuana laws, which takes the total potential loss to around $41bn.
So, could legalisation really lead to less crime and more revenue for states and governments?
President Obama believes the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado ultimately may open a Pandora’s Box and could lead to calls for cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs to be sold freely and openly.
But more broadly, the president downplayed the dangers of pot, comparing it to cigarettes and arguing it is no more dangerous than booze.
“As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life,” Mr. Obama said in a lengthy interview with The New Yorker. “I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol.”
Mr. Obama also took aim at the uneven arrest statistics regarding marijuana, saying poor and minority kids face much stiffer penalties for smoking pot than middle-class children.
The president said it’s important for the legalization of pot in Colorado and Washington “to go forward, because it’s important for a society not to have a situation in which a large portion of people have at one time or another broken the law and only a select few get punished.”
Still, Mr. Obama said turning weed into a legal product raises serious questions that the U.S. must confront.
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper submitted a new budget proposal on Wednesday with guidelines for revenue use that allocates $45.5 million for the prevention of youth marijuana use out of a total revenue of $103.5 million.
The governor’s office requested in particular $500,000 from the Marijuana Cash Fund be used to implement a youth marijuana education campaign with the aim to curb use of the drug.
For the treatment of substance abuse $40.4 million was requested and for public health $12.4 million was requested.
Prior to the new budget, $29 million had been allocated for law enforcement and public safety and the first $40 million collected from recreational marijuana taxes was put toward school construction.
IF you want to see the toll of illicit drugs, just look at the bloated face and glazed eyes of Scott Miller. The former Olympic golden boy of Australian swimming was a pathetic, slurring, drug-addicted mess when interviewed on 60 Minutes last week.
Miller a sad reminder of damage done
Police turning a blind eye is completely different to decriminalisation. It doesn't increase tax revenue or divert funds towards health and safety messages.
IF you want to see the toll of alcohol abuse, just look at the bloated face and glazed eyes of Scott Miller. The former Olympic golden boy of Australian swimming was a pathetic, slurring, alcohol-addicted mess when interviewed on 60 Minutes last week.
Maybe I should have posted the whole article
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Monday signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to an ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in the U.S. capital, a spokeswoman said.
The law makes possession a civil violation with a penalty of $25, lower than most city parking tickets. Possession had been a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Proponents had backed the measure as an issue of fairness. A study by the American Civil Liberties Union had shown that blacks in Washington were eight times more likely to be arrested for pot than people of other races.
IT’S been dubbed the ‘green rush’ or ‘dot bong boom’.
Speculative investors looking for the next big thing are piling their money into marijuana stocks, creating a blooming industry described by one analyst as the “single best investment idea of the next decade”.
Minyanville Media CEO Todd Harrison, who makes a living commenting on financial trends, described weed stocks as such back in 2012.
He told news.com.au over the phone from New York that although the industry is risky and volatile, there are three reasons it’s booming right now: it creates tax revenue, lowers crime rates and helps reduce prison overcrowding.
“From an investment standpoint as these companies weave through the maze of capitalism, they’ll start getting on the radars of Wall St banks,” he said.
“I often temper what I say with ‘this is a long-term secular trend’, the meritocracy of the marketplace is going to define who winners are and sinners are.”
(Reuters) - Colorado, the first state to tax legalized recreational marijuana sales, expects to bring in an estimated $98 million in revenue this year, exceeding the state's original expectations by 40 percent.
The state began levying sales and excise taxes on recreational marijuana on January 1, 2014. Moody's Investors Service, in a report released Friday, said legal sales in Colorado will reduce the size of the black market and revenue from legal sales will mean more tax payments flowing into state coffers.
The funds are slated for treatment, school construction and deterring young people from using the drug. School districts will likely get $40 million, or nearly 30 percent, of the projected $134 million in total marijuana tax revenues. New revenues will only make up 1.4 percent of the state's available general fund.
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros hopes the U.S. goes to pot, and he is using his money to drive it there.
With a cadre of like-minded, wealthy donors, Mr. Soros is dominating the pro-legalization side of the marijuana debate by funding grass-roots initiatives that begin in New York City and end up affecting local politics elsewhere.
Through a network of nonprofit groups, Mr. Soros has spent at least $80 million on the legalization effort since 1994, when he diverted a portion of his foundation’s funds to organizations exploring alternative drug policies, according to tax filings.
His spending has been supplemented by Peter B. Lewis, the late chairman of Progressive Insurance Co. and an unabashed pot smoker who channeled more than $40 million to influence local debates, according to the National
Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. The two billionaires’ funding has been unmatched by anyone on the other side of the debate.
Mr. Soros makes his donations through the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit he funds with roughly $4 million in annual contributions from his Foundation to Promote an Open Society.
Mr. Soros also donates annually to the American Civil Liberties Union, which in turn funds marijuana legalization efforts, and he has given periodically to the Marijuana Policy Project, which funds state ballot measures.
QUEENSLAND airport authorities have been left red-faced after an estimated $18 million worth of cannabis was smuggled from Victoria by a Gold Coast drug syndicate.
Police today revealed the syndicate, allegedly involving State Government workers, flew an estimated 1.5 tonnes of marijuana to Queensland in just eight months through Brisbane, Gold Coast and Townsville airports.
Cannabis remains illegal throughout the United States and is not approved for prescription as medicine, although 20 states”” Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington””as well as the District of Columbia approve and regulate its medical use. (The Federal government continues to enforce its prohibition in these states.)
However, the state of Maryland, which still explicitly bans the drug, enforces drug laws that are favorable towards the medicinal use of cannabis, making it a non-incarcerable offense with a maximum penalty of a $100 fine.[8] In the 2010 election, Arizona passed a referendum permitting the use of cannabis for medical purposes, and on May 20, 2011, Delaware became the 16th state to legalize medical cannabis after Governor Jack Markell signed medical marijuana legislation into law.[9
Here is what O’Malley said about the decriminalization bill:
“With more effective policing and more widely available drug treatment, together in Maryland, we have driven violent crime down to its lowest levels in 30 years. This progress has been hard-won and much remains to be done. Recent spikes in homicides and heroin overdose deaths underscore the life-saving urgency of the work before us.
“The General Assembly has decided after much consideration ”” and with clear majorities in both Chambers ”” to send to my desk a bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, and I plan to sign it.
“As a matter of judicial economy and prosecutorial discretion, few if any defendants go to prison for a first or even a second offense of marijuana possession in Maryland. Desuetude is often a precursor of reform.
“As a young prosecutor, I once thought that decriminalizing the possession of marijuana might undermine the Public Will necessary to combat drug violence and improve public safety. I now think that decriminalizing possession of marijuana is an acknowledgement of the low priority that our courts, our prosecutors, our police, and the vast majority of citizens already attach to this transgression of public order and public health. Such an acknowledgment in law might even lead to a greater focus on far more serious threats to public safety and the lives of our citizens.”
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