MJ News for 01/23/2015

http://qz.com/326045/legalized-marijuana-might-be-the-best-thing-to-ever-happen-to-heroin-addicts/

Legalized marijuana might be the best thing to ever happen to heroin addicts​

In the 1930s, Harry J. Anslinger, the first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, embarked on a fierce anti-marijuana campaign. Highlighted by the 1936 anti-marijuana film Reefer Madness—where marijuana is depicted as a dangerous narcotic that makes good kids become sex-crazed killers—his propaganda efforts also maliciously linked marijuana use to African Americans and ethnic minorities.

By 1970, legislation codified cannabis as one of the nation’s most dangerous drugs: the Controlled Substance Act classified marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it possessed high potential for abuse and had no acceptable medical use. Over 40 years later, the classification remains.

But research has shown that marijuana, while still criminalized at the federal level, can be effective as a substitute for treating opioid addicts and preventing overdoses. Massachusetts, which recently legalized medical marijuana—and where heroin overdoses have soared—could be a fertile testing ground for this potentially controversial treatment.

The medical case for marijuana

Before being criminalized, marijuana was used in the US to cure depression and a variety of other mental health ailments. Many studies have supported the therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids, along with the ability of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredients to treat nausea, help with weight loss, alleviate chronic pain, and mitigate symptoms of neurological diseases.

Other research, however, contradicts claims regarding the benefits of cannabidiol treatment. Some say marijuana actually poses a risk for psychosis and schizophrenia. Although the FDA has approved some synthetic cannabinoids for medical treatment, federal agencies do not support marijuana as a legitimate medicine until more clinical studies have been conducted.

The scientific debate over the harms and benefits of marijuana has impeded federal lawmakers from moving forward on marijuana legislation reform. As a result, in 23 states, medical marijuana has become legalized by popular vote.

Marijuana policy dilemma

With each state crafting unique medical marijuana regulations, we find ourselves at a crucial turning point in drug policy. Public health professionals claim the road map used by “big tobacco” will be copied with legal marijuana, and addiction rates for marijuana will increase to those we see for tobacco. Others warn that if medical marijuana is used indiscriminately and without focused education on the uses and forms of medical marijuana, a prescription pain pill-like crisis could occur.

Among drug treatment specialists, marijuana remains controversial. Although some research has shown marijuana to be an alternative treatment for more serious drug addiction, addiction treatment specialists still view marijuana as highly addictive and dangerous. These views handicap policy reform, but despite its status as a Schedule 1 drug, recent research shows marijuana could be part of the solution to the most deadly drug epidemic our country has seen in decades.

Massachusetts: a case study

In 2012 Massachusetts became the 18th state to legalize medical marijuana, though the first 11 dispensaries are not scheduled to open until sometime in the coming year. This situation presents an opportunity to implement sensible, research-based policy.

Massachusetts, like many states across the US, has seen a dramatic rise in opioid addiction fueled by the increase in opiate prescription pills. In Boston, heroin overdoses increased by 80% between 2010 and 2012, and four out of five users were addicted to pain pills before turning to heroin.

Meanwhile, the leading cause of death among the Boston’s homeless population has shifted from AIDS complications to drug overdoses, with opiates involved in 81% of overdose deaths. This is an alarming finding given recent expansion in clinical services for the city’s homeless.

Addiction specialists and health care professionals in Boston have been at the forefront of integrating behavioral and medical care. Naloxone and methadone are currently the main solutions to address the growing opiate addiction and overdose problem. But Naloxone is an overdose antidote, not a cure or a form of preventative therapy.

Methadone, like heroin and other opioids, has a very narrow therapeutic index (the ratio between the toxic dose and the therapeutic dose of a drug). This means that a small change in dosage can be lethal to the user. Marijuana, however, has one of the safest (widest) therapeutic ratios of all drugs.

Research shows that marijuana has been used as a form of self-treatment, where users take cannabis in lieu of alcohol, prescription opiates, and illegal drugs. That’s one reason why researchers are calling for marijuana to be tested as a substitute for other drugs. In this capacity, marijuana can be thought of as a form of harm reduction. While researchers don’t seek to discount some of the drug’s potential negative effects, they view it as a less damaging alternative to other, harder drugs. Despite these findings, marijuana is rarely incorporated in formal drug treatment plans.

A recent study might change this policy. Comparing states with and without legalized medical marijuana, it found a substantial decrease in opioid (heroin and prescription pill) overdose death rates in states that had enacted medical marijuana laws. In their conclusions, the researchers suggested that medical marijuana should be part of policy aimed to prevent opioid overdose.

Outside marijuana’s harms and benefits, missing in this discussion is the social environment of drug use. Drug use is social in nature. Where and with whom drugs are used influences why and how they are used. Socially acceptable or moderate use of drugs can be learned through social rituals in socially controlled settings.

Studies in the Netherlands found that using marijuana in Amsterdam coffeehouses encouraged a “stepping-off” hard drug use. These studies also found that when young people used marijuana in a controlled coffeehouse setting instead of a polydrug-using environment, they learned to use marijuana moderately without combining with other drugs. Along with providing access to marijuana, it’s important to instruct users on safe and effective medical marijuana consumption.

Since Massachusetts has not yet opened its medical marijuana dispensaries, it is too early to see if medical marijuana legislation will help reduce opiate addiction in the Commonwealth. Using recent research findings, Massachusetts policymakers have a unique opportunity to implement medical marijuana policies that address its contemporary opiate overdose. Medical marijuana could be part of drug treatment for heroin and opiates.

For homeless people, however, getting a marijuana card is expensive and buying medical marijuana from a dispensary is beyond their economic means. Street drugs are more prevalent in their social setting, easier to obtain, and can be much cheaper. From a policy perspective, addressing the alarming rates of overdose deaths among the homeless in Boston could mean distributing medical marijuana cards to homeless addicts for free and providing reduced cost medical marijuana.

Formerly demonized and later legislated as a Schedule 1 substance, marijuana could diminish the damage wrought by harder drugs, like heroin. While opioid use is a nationwide epidemic, Massachusetts—long at the forefront of developing scientifically based public policy—has the opportunity to be at the forefront of cutting-edge, socially-informed drug policy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...gonna-see-other-states-start-looking-at-this/

Obama on marijuana legalization: ‘My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this’​

President Obama on Thursday said he expects more states to experiment with marijuana legalization.

In a 5 p.m. interview conducted by a handful of YouTube stars, Obama discussed the fragmented policy surrounding the plant, which is legal in Colorado and Washington and regulated differently state by state.

“What you’re seeing now is Colorado, Washington through state referenda, they’re experimenting with legal marijuana,” Obama said in response to a question posed by Hank Green, who with his brother runs a YouTube channel with nearly 2.5 million subscribers.

“The position of my administration has been that we still have federal laws that classify marijuana as an illegal substance, but we’re not going to spend a lot of resources trying to turn back decisions that have been made at the state level on this issue,” Obama said, about 11 minutes into the video embedded above. “My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this.”

The president went on to discuss a number of issues related to federal application of drug policy. He said that he will continue to have his administration review treatment of nonviolent drug offenders, and said drug policy with regard to marijuana should be treated more as a public health issue than a criminal one. He also voiced concern with the racially unequal application of marijuana laws and noted bipartisan support on the issue.

Here is the rest of what he had to say on the issue:

What I am doing at the federal level is asking my Department of Justice just to examine generally how we are treating nonviolent drug offenders.

Because I think you’re right, what we have done is instead of focusing on treatment, the same way we focused say with tobacco or drunk driving or other problems where we treat it as a public health problem, we’ve treated this exclusively as a criminal problem. And I think that it’s been counterproductive and it’s been devastating in a lot of minority communities. It presents the possibility at least of unequal application of the law and that has to be changed.

Now the good news is that we’re starting to get some interest from Republicans as well as Democrats in reforming the criminal justice system. We’ve been able to initiate some changes administratively and last year you had the first time in 40 years where the crime rate and the incarceration rate went down at the same time. I hope we can continue with those trends because they’re just a smarter way of dealing with these issues.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/01/22/3614244/dc-police-chief-on-pot-legalization/

D.C. Police Chief: Arresting People For Marijuana Possession ‘Never Was Productive To Begin With’​

If the legalization of marijuana possession goes into effect in Washington, D.C., the city’s police chief thinks it will save officers both time and energy.

Asked if last year’s ballot initiative to legalize pot has impacted policing, Chief Cathy Lanier told NewsChannel 8, “Marijuana possession has never been a big arrest category. If you’re arrested for possession of marijuana, typically we get it because there’s some other charge and then we find the marijuana in a search upon arrest.” According to Lanier, possession has led to few arrests in the past few years, since people are rarely prosecuted. Subsequently, “It saves us from having to charge someone for small amounts of marijuana now, because it really never was productive to begin with. It’s a little bit easier for us, actually.”

As noted by Marijuana Majority Chairman Tom Angell, Lanier’s claim that marijuana arrests are unusual is hard to square with an ACLU investigation from 2013. The organization’s report concluded that “the District has a higher per capita arrest rate, greater racial disparity in marijuana possession arrests, and spends more money in marijuana enforcement than almost any other state or county in the country.” Between 2001 and 2010, arrests for marijuana possession increased by 61.5 percent. The number of marijuana arrests in D.C. in 2010, 5,393, surpassed those in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Miami-Dade counties in 2010. And in 87 percent of cases involving marijuana arrests, charges for separate crimes were not made.

Nevertheless, Lanier’s latest stance may be attributed to growing support of marijuana legalization. “It’s been demonstrated that ending marijuana prohibition has the support of the vast majority of D.C. residents who the chief is supposed to be serving. Regardless of personal opinion, from a political standpoint, she may just realize that this is the direction D.C. voters are heading and it wouldn’t be smart to stand in the way of that,” Angell told ThinkProgress.

Last year’s ballot initiative to legalize pot won by a 40 percent margin (70-30). Marijuana was decriminalized last year, replacing potential jail time with a $25 fine, and many view legalization as the next logical step. At the national level, the Pew Research Center found that 52 percent of all Americans support legalization. Support of legalization even extends to many law enforcement officials, such as the members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), who believe that the war on drugs causes more harm than good.

Still, legalization still has to clear one major hurdle before it can go into effect: Congress. A congressional review period expires on February 26, before which legislators on the Hill can pass a resolution of disapproval. And the city has already entered into a heated battle with Congress over its move to block city funding for pot legalization.

Watch the interview below:

http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/NEWS8_01-20-2015_10.16.27.mp4?_=1

http://wtvr.com/2015/01/22/child-lobbying-for-medical-marijuana-has-seizure-at-general-assembly/

(Virginia) Child lobbying for medical marijuana has seizure at General Assembly​

RICHMOND, Va. — A young girl whose family has been leading the charge to expand Virginia’s medical marijuana laws had a seizure at the General Assembly Thursday. Northern Neck mother Lisa Smith thinks her daughter Haley should be permitted to use medical marijuana, because the cannabis oil helped her daughter’s seizures. CBS 6 first met Lisa Smith in March of 2014.

Cannabis oil is derived from the leaf of the marijuana plant and often put into a syringe to consume orally. Smith and Haley joined other families who went before a Senate committee to talk to lawmakers about expanding the state’s current laws. Last year, Haley, who suffers from Dravet Syndrome, had 1,200 seizures — about 400 more than she had in 2013. Haley suffered a seizure on Thursday, in front of the committee.

“I think it opened their eyes to see it is real,” her mom said. “There is nothing left for Haley to try — only a medical marijuana study.”

CBS 6 spent the day with Haley as she lobbied lawmakers with hugs, carrying her Big Heart candy box given to her by Delegate Ken Plum.

The Smiths weren’t alone Thursday. They were joined by other families seeking the right to use medicinal marijuana, including the Collins from Northern Virginia. Jennifer Collins, 15, suffers from seizures as well, and while she used medical marijuana when she lived in Colorado, she can’t now that she is back in Virginia.

“I could do better in school, I could get off my meds which has outrageous side effects,” Collins said.

Critics, including many in the General Assembly, are skeptical.

Some lawmakers are concerned that the science isn’t there yet to prove cannabis oil really works. Others have reservations about passing something that Congress still deems illegal.

“I need to see the research,” Senator Jeff McWatters said.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102356529

Potpreneurs face another legal hurdle: The IRS​

Pot may be illegal in the eyes of the federal government. But the people selling it legally still have to pay their taxes.

Owners of recreational "adult use" marijuana operations in Colorado and Washington are preparing to file their first federal tax returns, and they're learning some hard lessons. The IRS is not allowing all the usual business deductions under what's called section 280E. The cost of growing marijuana is deductible under the federal tax code, but not the cost of selling it.

"Labor for rolling joints is deductible," said Denver CPA Jim Marty of Bridge West, who adds that retail rent, labor and advertising are not deductible. Why does the IRS differentiate the two? "They just are making it up," he said.

Marty joined other accountants and tax attorneys at a marijuana tax symposium in San Diego put on this week by the National Cannabis Industry Association. Some CPAs and attorneys have started challenging the IRS' special treatment of the marijuana industry.

"These folks want to comply, they want to be part of the system, they want to pay their fair share of taxes, they just don't want to be penalized," Marty said. He admits that pretax profits in the legal pot industry "are very good—you can sell a pound of marijuana for about three to four times what it costs you to grow," but he added that without deductions for retail expenses "it puts you, at best, in the 60-70 percent tax bracket, and at worse, your tax bracket can actually exceed 100 percent."

Section 280E was the buzz off the conference.

"I think you have to be very careful in dealing with the IRS, because 280E is the biggest threat that is happening to the cannabis industry at this time," said Henry Wykowski, a former federal prosecutor who is now an attorney for the marijuana industry in California.

He has taken the government to court twice on the tax code, and succeeded in coming up with some legal workarounds. For example, retail pot enterprises can deduct the cost of goods for non-cannnabis retail products in their stores, like T-shirts and pipes, to help offset the lack of other deductions. "If you do not handle your deductions properly," Wykowski said, "there's no way you can make enough money to remain in business."

Then there's the issue of how to pay the IRS the taxes it's due when you're dealing with an all-cash business. Some stores find workarounds to avoid carrying bags of cash to IRS offices (none will divulge how they do it), though Marty said cash is accepted now in some places in Colorado. "Actually, at my suggestion the IRS in Denver got cash counting machines, and now they have a separate line for cash," he said.

Aaron Justis is president of the Buds & Roses medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, which has been filing tax returns since at least 2010. Justis came to the conference to learn more. He said paying taxes has put him at a competitive disadvantage with other dispensaries. "I would say in Los Angeles, 4 out of 5 are operating illegally, so chances are they're not paying their fair share of taxes." So why does he file returns? "I'm in it for the long haul."

The long haul may be the right approach. Census figures show that more than 16 percent of Americans ages 18-25 use marijuana at least once a month, and those figures predate legalization of recreational pot in Colorado and Washington. Personal finance site NerdWallet took those numbers and other research to estimate that if pot was legalized nationally, the government could collect more than $3 billion in taxes—over $500 million of that coming from California, where voters may decide to legalize all pot use in 2016.

Wykowski said he's even starting to see some longtime illegal growers in California come forward to file their very first tax returns, putting themselves at risk. "It's just as risky not to file," he said.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolti...have-raised-over-1-million-besides-privateer/

10 Cannabis Startups That Have Raised Over $1 Million (Besides Privateer)​

Legal cannabis gained a higher profile recently, after Seattle pot-investment firm Privateer Holdings closed a $75 million funding round. The deal included the first mainstream venture capital involvement in the sector, from Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund.

But there’s plenty of other VC interest in legal weed, and it’s likely just the beginning of investor interest in “potpreneurs.” Quite a few legal-pot startups are publicly traded penny stocks, so everyman investors can get a piece of the action, too.

At first, many VC investors wanted to remain anonymous with their pot investing, but now more are coming out of the shadows and publicly announcing their interest in the sector.

To give you an idea of the types of marijuana startups that are attracting venture capital, here are a dozen other cannabis startups that have raised over $1 million to date (data compiled by this reporter from CB Insights, the MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), Crunchbase, and company research):

1) Leafline Labs ($12.4M) — This Minnesota-based medical-marijuana startup is owned by nursery company Bachman’s Inc. It’s seeking licensing to operate in the state. Leafline raised its funding from 113 individual investors.

2) Four Twenty Investments ($10M) — A private investment firm based in Toronto, Four Twenty did a $10 million debt financing in December. The firm invested an equal sum in Nhale, a publicly traded grow-technology company based in Houston that plans to acquire other pot startups.[/entity][/entity][/entity]

3) Palliatech ($10M) — This New York City producer of marijuana-based pain medicines is also a grower and distributor. PwC reports funders include Russian VC firm Gruppa Sputnik OOO.

4) Vida Cannabis ($9.39M) — The Ottawa-based pot producer most recently raised nearly $5.8 million in a private placement last July. Part of the funding went to purchase a secure, hydroponic production facility in Nova Scotia.

5) CannTrust ($3.79M) — A Canadian medical cannabis producer, CannTrust is owned and operated by pharmacists. It raised $1 million of its funding this month, CB Insights reports.

6) MedMen ($3.75M) — This provider of turnkey management services to the legal-pot industry is based in Los Angeles. MedMen raised all of its funding in November, to expand operations to Nevada and Illinois. Backers included Florida-based N Squared Management.

7) Agricare ($2M) — Chicago-based Agricare raised its funding in October, though funders weren’t disclosed. Besides its hometown, the company is also in the licensing process to set up operations in Peru, Ill.

8) Eaze ($1.5M) — Funding for this San Francisco pot-delivery app came from technology microfunder Fresh VC in November.

9) Aquarius Cannabis ($1.16M) — This marijuana branding company raised most of its funding from angel investors at its October launch, CB Insights reports. It’s based in the L.A. suburb of Woodland Hills, Calif.

10) MassRoots ($1.1M) — A social network for the cannabis community, MassRoots most recently raised $500,000 in September. Funders in past rounds include The ArcView Group. which runs a website platform for facilitating cannabis investment, and Dutchess Opportunity Fund, a fund of global investment firm Dutchess Capital.

This list is far from comprehensive — it’s just a sampling of the types of pot-related businesses that are interesting investors at this point.

It’s notable that most of these startups aren’t based in the traditional VC hubs of Boston or Silicon Valley. Indeed, many pot startups are based in Canada, where medical marijuana is already federally legal.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/22/jamaica-considers-cannabis-legalisation

Jamaica poised to relax cannabis laws​

The Jamaican cabinet has approved a bill that would decriminalise possession of small amounts of cannabis and pave the way for a legal medical marijuana industry, the justice minister has said.

Mark Golding said he expected to introduce the legislation in the Senate this week. Debate could start this month in the country where the drug, known popularly as “ganja”, has long been culturally entrenched but illegal.

The bill would establish a cannabis licensing authority to deal with the regulations needed to cultivate, sell and distribute the herb for medical, scientific and therapeutic purposes. “We need to position ourselves to take advantage of the significant economic opportunities offered by this emerging industry,” he said.

It would make possession of 2 ounces (56g) or less an offence that would not result in a criminal record. Cultivation of five or fewer plants on any premises would be permitted. Rastafarians, who use marijuana as a sacrament, could also legally use it for religious purposes for the first time in Jamaica, where the spiritual movement was founded in the 1930s.

For decades, debate has raged on the Caribbean island over laws governing marijuana use. But now, with several countries and US states relaxing their laws on the herb, Jamaica is advancing reform plans.

Golding said the government would not soften its stance on drug trafficking and it intended to use a proportion of revenues from its licensing authority to support a public education campaign to discourage pot-smoking by young people and mitigate public health consequences.

The director of the national Cannabis Commercial and Medicinal Research Taskforce said he expected the bill to be passed soon in parliament, where Portia Simpson Miller’s governing party holds a 2-1 majority. “This development is long overdue,” Delano Seiveright said.