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Legalise some drugs, outlaw others?

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awg said:
So what about Cannabis and driving?

It would seem that the current tests used by police may detect cannabis ~24 - 48hrs after consumption

NO LEVEL is legal.

~1 in 6 random tested are failing

Will they set a threshold? Do they do this where it is "legalised"

I have no doubt that cannabis impairs driving substantially, while its effects are upon the user,
however it wears off in a few hours, and 24-48 hrs makes a mockery of the law (although it is illegal to use cannabis at all)
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I already posted that there is a limit on driving while using cannabis in some US States.

I just Googled and found this.

In Colorado, a person is guilty of a DUI if he or she operates a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and/or one or more drugs, OR he or she operates a motor vehicle as an habitual user of any controlled substance. Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 42-4-1301(1)(a)-(c) (West 2010).

The law states that in instances where THC is identified in a driver's blood in quantities of 5ng/ml or higher, "such fact gives rise to permissible inference that the defendant was under the influence."
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Q: Is there a legal limit for marijuana impairment while operating a vehicle?


A: Colorado law specifies that drivers with five nanograms of active tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in their whole blood can be prosecuted for driving under the influence (DUI). However, no matter the level of THC, law enforcement officers base arrests on observed impairment.
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Better than the money going to gangs/cartels....don't you think?


Colorado's marijuana tax revenues nearly double last year's figures​


Legal marijuana tax revenues have been breaking records in Colorado this summer, nearly doubling monthly numbers from last year and on pace to exceed projections of legal sales that bring revenue back to the state.

Through the first seven months of this year, Colorado has brought in nearly $73.5m, putting the state on pace to collect over $125m for the year.

In 2014, experts predicted legal cannabis would bring in upwards of $70m to the state’s tax coffers. In reality, the state collected just $44m in marijuana taxes.
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Thanks to Gringotts Bank for bringing this to my attention.



​




Victoria to grow its own medical marijuana​


Victoria is set to become the first state in Australia to legalise marijuana cultivation to treat serious medical conditions including cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, epilepsy and chronic pain.

But the push - underpinned by a landmark report by the Victorian Law Reform Commission - hinges on the agreement of the Turnbull government, which is a signatory to international rules covering the cultivation and manufacture of cannabis.

As revealed in The Age last month, a landmark study by the commission recommends a strictly controlled licensing scheme to produce medicinal cannabis, similar to the system for growing poppies.

Under the report's 42 recommendations - almost all of which will be adopted in full by the Andrews government - licensed cultivators and manufacturers will be able to produce a range of cannabis products, including oils, tinctures, capsules, sprays and vaporisable liquids.

These products will be sold at pharmacies, but only when authorised by a specialist doctor in a manner similar to the methadone program.

But the report stressed medical marijuana will not be legally available in a smokable form.

The commission's chairman, Philip Cummins, said the recommendations had been driven by compassion for those dealing with debilitating conditions who have no effective medical relief.

The government will begin a cultivation trial at a Victorian research facility. An independent medical advisory committee will also be set up to provide advice about expanding eligibility to further patient groups.

An office of Medicinal Cannabis will be established inside the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the manufacture, dispensing and clinical aspects of the framework.
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Medicinal cannabis planting roots in Australia​


AUSTRALIAN-grown and regulated medicinal cannabis will soon be available for the first time with the states and the Commonwealth set to draw up procedures to help the chronically ill.

Medically-prescribed doses of the drug, which otherwise will remain illegal, will be used to ease the condition of the terminally ill suffering pain, nausea and vomiting. The doses also will help children with drug-resistant epilepsy.

And it will be used to treat patients fighting cancer who have to deal with nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy.

Medicinal cannabis is legal, but has to be imported. For the first time it will be domestically grown with strict safeguarding of standards and the cultivation. And it will be a bipartisan effort.

Tonight, the Opposition pledged “safe, reliable and legal medicinal cannabis if prescribed by their doctor” under a Labor government.
And tomorrow the Federal and NSW governments are expected to announce joint efforts leading to the controlled
cultivation of cannabis for scientific and medical purposes.

The measures have the backing of health professionals including the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of Physicians, and the Pharmacy Guild, Shadow health minister Katherine King today said thousands of Australians suffering from unbearable pain, muscle spasticity from conditions like multiple sclerosis and nausea resulting from chemotherapy who may benefit from medicinal cannabis.
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Sanders Introduces Bill To Lift Federal Ban On Marijuana​

Democratic presidential candidate and Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill Wednesday to end the federal prohibition on marijuana, the first such bill to ever be introduced in the Senate, according to marijuana legalization advocates.

Sanders went farther than any other presidential candidate last week on the question of ending the drug war when he called for lifting the federal ban on marijuana, and he followed up this week by introducing a bill in the Senate to remove marijuana from the federal government’s list of Schedule I drugs, which includes other illegal substances such as heroin and LSD.

“It is absurd that it is compared to, or treated, the same way as heroin is,” Sanders told The Daily Beast Tuesday.
Last week, Sanders told an audience of college students that ending marijuana prohibition was essential to ending racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

“Although about the same proportion of blacks and whites use marijuana, a black person is almost four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than a white person,” Sanders said. “Too many Americans have seen their lives destroyed because they have criminal records as a result of marijuana use.”
Marijuana legalization advocates praised Sanders’ bill.
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The Push for Legal Marijuana Spreads​

Support for making marijuana legal is increasing around the world, and that is a good thing. Earlier this week, the Mexican Supreme Court opened the door to legalizing the drug by giving four plaintiffs the right to grow cannabis for personal use.

In Canada, the newly sworn in prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has said he intends to change the law so people can use the drug recreationally; medicinal use is already legal in that country. And in the United States, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, recently introduced a bill that would let states decide if they want to make the drug legal without worrying about violating federal law.

Laws banning the growing, distribution and possession of marijuana have caused tremendous damage to society, with billions spent on imprisoning people for violating pointlessly harsh laws. Yet research shows that marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol and tobacco, and can be used to treat medical conditions like chronic pain.
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l have reviewed my stance on legalization here in Oz.

5 years (or less), before we see dispensaries in VIC or NSW. QLD l'm not so sure about (the idiots here can't even do daylight saving - where l am currently based).

Once politicians see the dollars coming in, less spending on jail(s), freeing up of courts, less police red tape and time wasted, actually seeing kids with epilepsy (+ other disabilities) benefit and then their parents raving about it on Facebook (and main media), it will reach critical mass and the laws will change.
 
Prescription painkiller deaths fall in medical marijuana states​

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Researchers aren’t sure why, but in the 23 U.S. states where medical marijuana has been legalized, deaths from opioid overdoses have decreased by almost 25 percent, according to a new analysis.

“Most of the discussion on medical marijuana has been about its effect on individuals in terms of reducing pain or other symptoms,” said lead author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber in an email to Reuters Health. “The unique contribution of our study is the finding that medical marijuana laws and policies may have a broader impact on public health.”

California, Oregon and Washington first legalized medical marijuana before 1999, with 10 more following suit between then and 2010, the time period of the analysis. Another 10 states and Washington, D.C. adopted similar laws since 2010.

For the study, Bachhuber, of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania, and his colleagues used state-level death certificate data for all 50 states between 1999 and 2010.

In states with a medical marijuana law, overdose deaths from opioids like morphine, oxycodone and heroin decreased by an average of 20 percent after one year, 25 percent by two years and up to 33 percent by years five and six compared to what would have been expected, according to results in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Meanwhile, opioid overdose deaths across the country increased dramatically, from 4,030 in 1999 to 16,651 in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Three of every four of those deaths involved prescription pain medications.
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Cannabis Coffee Makers Are Hoping to Become Bulletproof 2.0​

It was during an endless drive home from a camping trip in eastern Washington that entrepreneur Adam Stites came up with his latest product. "What would happen if I infused heavy cream with cannabis, then mixed it with my coffee?" he mused. (“My VW van doesn’t go very fast, so I have a lot of time to think,” Stites explains.)

He road-tested the idea as soon as he got home. So strong was the first dose, Stites woke up 13 hours after he chugged a single cup. Nonetheless, his professional interest was piqued. Not long after, he set up Mirth Provisions to sell a commercial version of his creation: marijuana-infused cold-brew coffee, dosed up with 20 milligrams of THC per serving. Waggishly named “Legal,” it’s the ultimate wake and bake.


Moreover, Stites had to find the ideal cannabis strain to complement coffee in both flavor and effect. Cannabis contains two crucial components: THC, the psychoactive element most closely associated with feeling high, and CBD, which has no hallucinogenic impact and usually leads to alertness. The two major species of marijuana, sativa and indica, contain varying proportions of THC and CBD. Stites spent months trying to find the ideal ratio of each, testing 50 different strains before narrowing his final choices. Legal's range includes plain coffee, coffee with sugar and milk, and even fruit drinks, each juiced with its own herb recipe.

Weed adds a rich, earthy base to the flavor, he explains, while Legal’s mixture of THC and CBD confers a calm sense of focus on caffeine’s jittery high. Caffeine is absorbed almost instantly by the body, but it takes from 45 minutes to 90 minutes for the human body to process the weed so it can prolong the caffeine high, Stites says.
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More on link below...



 
What a sad country we live in....the laws really need to change at some point in time..


Perth mother who allegedly grew cannabis for mentally ill son could lose home under proceeds of crime law​

A 74-year-old Perth woman faces losing her home under the proceeds of crime law but says she was only growing cannabis to treat her mentally ill son, not to make money.

Nurse Miriam Down said she began treating her 44-year-old son George, who suffers from bipolar disorder, with cannabis several years ago.

She said the drug has significantly improved George's previously violent behaviour and allowed her to feel safe.

After it became too expensive to buy, she allegedly began growing cannabis in her backyard.

Ms Down has now been charged with possessing and cultivating the drug with the intent to sell or supply.

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has applied to freeze her assets, including her Bayswater home valued at around $900,000, under the proceeds of crime laws.

Her case attracted attention after she wrote a letter to The West Australian newspaper describing her plight.

Premier Colin Barnett told 720 ABC Perth he was aware of Ms Down's predicament.

"It does seem to be an unusual and compassionate case of a mother looking after a son," Mr Barnett said.

"I am sure, when the full facts come out, that common sense will prevail.

"It doesn't sound like someone growing cannabis for sale."
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Colombia legalizes medical marijuana​


Bogota (AFP) - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree Tuesday legalizing and regulating medical marijuana, the latest softening of the country's hardline tactics in the war on drugs.

In a nationally televised address, Santos announced it would be fully legal to grow, process, import and export cannabis and its derivatives for medical and scientific use.

"This decree allows licenses to be granted for the possession of seeds, cannabis plants and marijuana," he said from the presidential palace.

"It places Colombia in the group of countries that are at the forefront... in the use of natural resources to fight disease."

He added that the measure "does not go against our international commitments on drug control."

Colombia's government has long been a close ally of the United States in fighting international drug trafficking, using its military and billions of dollars in US funding to try to shed its title as the world's largest cocaine producer.
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What's next, Halal cannabis? ;) ;) ;)


Kosher cannabis: New York medical pot grower says products are certified by the Orthodox Union​


ALBANY ”” This pot is kosher!

A marijuana grower gearing up for the start of New York’s medical pot program in January announced Wednesday that its products have been certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.

Vireo Health of New York, which was one of five companies chosen by the state to grow and distribute medical pot, said it will be the first “medical cannabis company in the world” to have the “OU” symbol on its oils, vaporization cartridges and other products.
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Big Money Fights to Block Marijuana Legalization​


Pot! Glorious pot. Few issues have seen a more rapid shift in public opinion, with a majority of Americans now in favor of legalizing marijuana ”” up from just 34% a decade ago.

But not everybody is down with the reefer. Several industries are buying as much political influence as possible to quell the burgeoning legalization movement.

According to the Pew Research Center, pot is now legal in some form in over half the country. And as legalization advocates have pointed out, things seem to be going pretty well so far. Colorado, for instance, has seen marijuana arrests plummet since legalization was approved by voters in 2012, freeing up law enforcement to focus on other crimes and saving the state millions in enforcement costs. Tax revenues are also through the roof, with legal marijuana set to pour $125 million into state coffers last year alone.Yet some political leaders still aren’t convinced. The most recent example: Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who doubled down on her opposition to legalization in a recent interview with the New York Times, putting her at odds with 65% of self-identified Democrats.

Why would one of the Democratic party’s top figures take such an unusual stance?

One possible reason: Wasserman Schultz’s re-election campaign has received a big financial boost from the alcohol industry, which stands to suffer financially if legalized pot cuts into its market share. Our analysis of contribution data found that Wasserman Schultz and her leadership PAC have received $330,568 from the Beer, Wine, & Liquor industry since her first congressional election cycle in 2006.

Wasserman Schultz certainly isn’t the only politician to benefit from Big Booze’s largesse. The Beer, Wine, & Liquor industry contributed more than $17 million to federal candidates in the last election and has funded opponents of ballot initiatives to legalize marijuana. The alcohol business might have reason to worry about growing competition from legal reefer: in Colorado, tax revenues from pot have outpaced taxes raised from alcohol for the first time ever, with few signs of sales slowing down.

But Big Booze isn’t the only established industry fighting marijuana. Several others stand to lose money off legalization, too, and they’re willing to spend good money buying the political influence to stop it.
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Take the pharmaceutical lobby. As retired police officer-turned-legalization advocate Howard Wooldridge explained to Republic Report, PhRMA is a top opponent of legalization, due to the emerging potential of marijuana as an alternative to “Advil, ibuprofen all the way to Vicodin, pills for nausea – I mean expensive store-bought pills.”

This claim has been borne out by excellent reporting from journalist Lee Fang, whose work highlights the deep ties between many national groups leading the charge against legalization and the makers of painkillers such as Oxycontin and Zohydrol.
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Rounding out the pack of legalization opponents is the prison industry. Police unions, often a major force in state and local politics, have funneled money to anti-legalization campaigns and lobbyists ”” in some cases to protect police access to federal funds made available to departments that tackle marijuana related offenses. Prison guard unions have spent big to defeat reform efforts that emphasize drug treatment programs instead of harsh prison sentences. And finally, there’s private prison companies, which have openly admitted that any changes to laws affecting drugs and controlled substances could reduce demand for prison beds and hurt their bottom line.
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Who would have thought? (Probably everyone...)

Marijuana Legalization in Colorado Is Killing Mexican Drug Cartels​

Since 2014, Mexican drug cartels have been suffering economically after marijuana was legalized and became conveniently available in Colorado. Operations in Mexico and along the southern border of the United States have reportedly been affected.

According to an ABC News article, the legal production, sale and distribution of recreational marijuana in Colorado is one of the contributors of reduced smuggling operations by Mexican drug cartels. A post on the Weed Blog, a site that supports marijuana use and legalization, also acknowledges that drug trafficking by Mexican drug cartels waned, seeing a decline of up to 70 percent over the past two years in relation to Colorado's change in legislation.

The findings were confirmed by an official report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in October 2015. The report indicated that there has been a year-on-year 23 percent reduction in border smuggling in 2014. Furthermore, authorities have seized about 900 tons of illegal marijuana along the U.S.- Mexican border.
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Onetime party drug hailed as miracle for treating severe depression​


It was November 2012 when Dennis Hartman, a Seattle business executive, managed to pull himself out of bed, force himself to shower for the first time in days and board a plane that would carry him across the country to a clinical trial at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda.

After a lifetime of profound depression, 25 years of therapy and cycling through 18 antidepressants and mood stabilizers, Hartman, then 46, had settled on a date and a plan to end it all. The clinical trial would be his last attempt at salvation.

For 40 minutes, he sat in a hospital room as an IV drip delivered ketamine through his system. Several more hours passed before it occurred to him that all his thoughts of suicide had evaporated.

“My life will always be divided into the time before that first infusion and the time after,” Hartman says today. “That sense of suffering and pain draining away. I was bewildered by the absence of pain.”

Ketamine, popularly known as the psychedelic club drug Special K, has been around since the early 1960s. It is a staple anesthetic in emergency rooms, regularly used for children when they come in with broken bones and dislocated shoulders. It’s an important tool in burn centers and veterinary medicine, as well as a notorious date-rape drug, known for its power to quickly numb and render someone immobile.

Since 2006, dozens of studies have reported that it can also reverse the kind of severe depression that traditional antidepressants often don’t touch. The momentum behind the drug has now reached the American Psychiatric Association, which, according to members of a ketamine task force, seems headed toward a tacit endorsement of the drug for treatment-resistant depression.

Experts are calling it the most significant advance in mental health in more than half a century. They point to studies showing ketamine not only produces a rapid and robust antidepressant effect; it also puts a quick end to suicidal thinking.
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New medical cannabis laws to be tabled, Sussan Ley confident of bipartisan support​

Legislation to allow the cultivation of cannabis in Australia for medical or scientific purposes will be introduced by the Federal Government today.

The establishment of a national cannabis cultivation scheme aims to pave the way for patients with painful and chronic conditions to access medicinal cannabis.

The proposed amendments to the Narcotics Drugs Act 1967 would allow for cultivation through a national licensing and permit scheme.

Health Minister Sussan Ley said the Government had briefed Labor and the Greens and was optimistic about receiving their support for the move.

"We know the Greens are supportive," Ms Ley said.

"In fact, I've had support across the chambers and around the country and I really believe this is bipartisan."

She hoped the legislation would pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate this sitting of Parliament.
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After LDS church opposes medical marijuana bill, lawmaker will not back off

After LDS church opposes medical marijuana bill, lawmaker will not back off​


Salt Lake City ”” (KUTV) Utah Senator Mark Madsen said fighting old perceptions about pot have made his efforts to legalize medical marijuana an uphill battle. Then came another hurdle Friday when the Mormon Church said it opposed his bill.

Still, Madsen, who is Mormon, said he won't back down because polls show most Utah residents support the proposed law. Plus, people with serious medical conditions could really use the pain relief.

"It would be immoral to back down," he said.

Madsen said he loves his church and reveres the leaders of the LDS church but he also said he is acting on principle in pushing the legislation because he knows it will make a huge difference in people's lives.

"I don't want to let them down," he said.
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Madsen himself nearly died in 2007, when he accidentally overdosed on prescription pain medication.

His doctor prescribed him a fentanyl patch for back pain. The patch burst, sending the medication right into his bloodstream. His kids found him on the couch. He was cold and not breathing. His family revived him with the help of 911.

That's when he first became concerned about finding safer alternatives to opioids or prescription pain medications.

Years later, when children with severe epilepsy told lawmakers they wanted the legalization of marijuana oil to help with their severe seizures, Madsen said he knew he had to do something.

"I realized there were people out there who were suffering," he said.
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Cannabis Use and Risk of Psychiatric Disorders

Prospective Evidence From a US National Longitudinal Study​


Importance With rising rates of marijuana use in the general population and an increasing number of states legalizing recreational marijuana use and authorizing medical marijuana programs, there are renewed clinical and policy concerns regarding the mental health effects of cannabis use.

Objective To examine prospective associations between cannabis use and risk of mental health and substance use disorders in the general adult population.

Design, Setting, and Participants A nationally representative sample of US adults aged 18 years or older was interviewed 3 years apart in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (wave 1, 2001-2002; wave 2, 2004-2005). The primary analyses were limited to 34 653 respondents who were interviewed in both waves. Data analysis was conducted from March 15 to November 30, 2015.

Main Outcomes and Measures We used multiple regression and propensity score matching to estimate the strength of independent associations between cannabis use at wave 1 and incident and prevalent psychiatric disorders at wave 2. Psychiatric disorders were measured with a structured interview (Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Disabilities Interview Schedule–DSM-IV). In both analyses, the same set of wave 1 confounders was used, including sociodemographic characteristics, family history of substance use disorder, disturbed family environment, childhood parental loss, low self-esteem, social deviance, education, recent trauma, past and present psychiatric disorders, and respondent’s history of divorce.

Results In the multiple regression analysis of 34 653 respondents (14 564 male [47.9% weighted]; mean [SD] age, 45.1 [17.3] years), cannabis use in wave 1 (2001-2002), which was reported by 1279 respondents, was significantly associated with substance use disorders in wave 2 (2004-2005) (any substance use disorder: odds ratio [OR], 6.2; 95% CI, 4.1-9.4; any alcohol use disorder: OR, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.9-3.8; any cannabis use disorder: OR, 9.5; 95% CI, 6.4-14.1; any other drug use disorder: OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.6-4.4; and nicotine dependence: OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.4), but not any mood disorder (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.8-1.4) or anxiety disorder (OR, 0.9; 95% CI, 0.7-1.1). The same general pattern of results was observed in the multiple regression analyses of wave 2 prevalent psychiatric disorders and in the propensity score–matched analysis of incident and prevalent psychiatric disorders.

Conclusions and Relevance Within the general population, cannabis use is associated with an increased risk for several substance use disorders. Physicians and policy makers should take these associations of cannabis use under careful consideration.
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DB, I haven't read the thread for a while, but thought I'd save myself a Google search and ask you if you knew if marijuana was available legally anywhere in Aus for pain relief or any other purpose. Cheers.
 
Gringotts Bank said:
DB, I haven't read the thread for a while, but thought I'd save myself a Google search and ask you if you knew if marijuana was available legally anywhere in Aus for pain relief or any other purpose. Cheers.
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I'm not entirely sure with all the trials and what-not going on. There are reports of people who are using MM already via doctors scripts.
 

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