MJ News for 04/03/2014

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hMPp://www.texastribune.org/2014/04/02/marijuana-solution-texas-ag/




Marijuana: A Potential Cash Crop for Texas Farmers?


Vanishing salmon and fields trashed by trespassers are the most common agricultural side effects of marijuana growth in California, experts there say. The idea agriculture commissioner candidate Kinky Friedman promotes of a hemp farming utopia brought on by the legalization of marijuana in Texas, they say, might be more pipe dream than reality.

"It is the green thread that weaves its way through all of our lives," Friedman said of marijuana during an interview with The Texas Tribune's Evan Smith. "This is not about long-haired hippies smokin' dope. It is about the future of Texas."

Friedman, a humorist and writer who counts famous pot smoker Willie Nelson among his close friends, has said that legalizing the plant for growth in Texas would bring wealth to farmers who could grow marijuana for medicinal and recreational uses and its sister product, hemp, for fiber, oils and food. Currently, it is illegal to grow and possess marijuana in Texas and most other states, and while hemp is legal for consumption, Texas and most other states do not allow farmers to grow it.

Experts with experience in the legal pot industry in other states, though, say a host of regulatory and environmental factors could complicate any potential benefits growing marijuana might have in Texas.

States that have recently legalized marijuana growing, including Colorado and Washington, have just gotten started, so they are difficult test cases to assess. But in California, where medicinal marijuana cultivation has been legal since 1996 and is plentiful, many farmers say the crop hasn't been as good for agriculture as Friedman has suggested.

Much of the problems farmers and scientists in California report stem from the fact that under federal law, the plant remains illegal, so states cannot legally regulate its growth as they do other crops.

“Without prohibition, you wouldn’t have this problem,” said Tony Silvaggio, an environmental sociologist at Humboldt State University in California, who has researched the effects of marijuana farming in California.

Water use for marijuana growth is one of the most important aspects that state law cannot regulate today. Growers of the water-intensive plant in California are siphoning precious supplies in a time of drought. California wildlife officials and fishermen have said that endangered salmon are dying off because marijuana farms are sucking the rivers dry.

The biggest effect the marijuana industry has had on farmers there, said Devon Jones, executive director of the Mendocino County Farm Bureau office, is an increase in trespassing cases. The lure of cash has prompted some who don't own farmland to secretly grow marijuana on others' private property. That means the plant is also taking water used on that land to grow other crops.

"Marijuana is being grown on their property without their knowledge. … The trash and some of the chemicals that are left behind are the liabilities that they have to deal with,” Jones said.

Additionally, because growing marijuana is still illegal under federal law, agricultural advisory offices are not allowed to give marijuana farmers advice about how to best grow the crop and what pesticides they should use. Silvaggio said many growers use fungicides approved only for ornamental plants that have never been tested for later human consumption. If marijuana were completely legal, growers could be educated about using safer pesticides.

If Texas were to join other states in legalizing marijuana, Silvaggio said, the federal government may be more likely to follow suit. That would allow states to regulate its growth. But since marijuana is illegal, it's impossible to know precisely what legalization would mean for Texas farmers.

“We don’t know anything empirical about what happens when serious professional farmers are allowed to do this,” said Jonathan Caulkins, who has studied the economics of marijuana growth at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College in Pittsburgh. But he suspects the price of marijuana would fall if it was mass produced, which could reduce its demand in the black market and reduce crime.

That doesn’t mean Texas farmers would benefit, though. Marijuana plants are difficult to harvest because the buds must be individually snipped from each plant. That work is labor intensive, and most farm workers today don’t have those skills.

The market for marijuana producers is also unlikely to get very big, Caulkins said, because it’s a high-yield crop. Only about 10,000 acres nationwide would be needed to satisfy the country’s demand, he said. If farmers grow more marijuana, they could oversaturate the market and drive down prices.

Hemp, on the other hand — which comes from the same plant as marijuana but has less THC, the chemical that produces a high — is easier to harvest, and demand in the U.S. is rising. Friedman has suggested that the first step to marijuana legalization is to allow Texans to grow hemp, which is used in a variety of products, from clothing and twine to edible seeds, protein powder and cosmetics such as moisturizers and essential oils.

Hemp has long been legal in Canada, but only a few hundred growers have licenses to produce there, Caulkins said. That doesn’t bode well for predictions of a hemp revolution in Texas that Friedman argues would occur if the state legalized growing it. A Congressional Research Service report on hemp last year came to a similar conclusion, noting that hemp crops can also cross-pollinate with marijuana crops. That means farmers growing hemp could suddenly find that their product has enough THC content to make people high, putting them in the crosshairs with the law — or that marijuana growers’ products would lose their potency.

Even if hemp and marijuana growth become possibilities for Texas farmers, it’s not clear that it would be a moneymaking enterprise. Those who profit most from agricultural production are typically at the end of the supply chain, like grocery stores or bakers, Caulkins said — not farmers.

“The people who are going to make money are going to be the bakeries that buy [it] … and put it into brownies,” he said.

Still, Friedman has insisted, that translates into revenue Texas could use to pay for taxpayers' priorities. "All of the candidates are talking about education," he said. "I'm the only one saying how we can fund it."
 
hMPp://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/student-death-is-first-linked-to-legal-marijuana-in-colo/2014/04/02/5da49adc-bab4-11e3-9a05-c739f29ccb08_story.html




Student death is first linked to legal marijuana in Colo.


It appears that the first death linked to legal marijuana in Colorado happened last month at a Holiday Inn.

Levy Thamba died March 11 after falling from the balcony at the hotel. In a new report on his death, the Denver medical examiner’s office cites “marijuana intoxication” following the consumption of cookies that contained marijuana.

“Marijuana intoxication is a significant contributing factor,” the autopsy report states.

This is the first death related to marijuana intoxication in the Denver area this year, said Michelle Weiss-Samaras, spokeswoman for the Denver medical examiner’s office, and is believed to be the first in the state this year.

The cause of death was identified as “multiple injuries due to a fall,” according to the report, a copy of which The Washington Post obtained from the medical examiner’s office.

Thamba, 19, also known as Levy Thamba Pong, was in Denver for spring break, Weiss-
Samaras said. One of his friends was 21 and therefore was able to purchase the marijuana cookies legally. Thamba, who was from Congo, was a student at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo. The school said he started studying engineering in January.

After consuming the cookies, Thamba began exhibiting “hostile behavior . . . and spoke erratically,” the report said. Thamba’s friends succeeded in calming him down briefly, but then he apparently got out of bed, went to the balcony “and jumped over the balcony railing,” the report states. He was declared dead at the scene.

Thamba had 7.2 nanograms of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system at the time of his death, according to the report. In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012 and began selling the drug for recreational use on Jan. 1, five nanograms of THC is the legal limit for drivers. There was no evidence of any other drug in his system at the time of his death, the report says.
 
hMPp://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-marijuana-taxes-20140403,0,1522198.story#axzz2xq0HFEcH




Tax filings give hint to number of marijuana shops in L.A.


More than 450 medical marijuana shops have filed renewals to pay Los Angeles business taxes this year — more than three times as many as are allowed to stay open under Proposition D.

The new numbers won't settle the debate over how many medical marijuana businesses are now operating in Los Angeles. Additional pot shops may be open but have fallen delinquent on their taxes. Some may have never registered to pay taxes at all.

But the numbers provide the latest hint at what has happened since Los Angeles voters passed new rules attempting to restrict medical marijuana shops.

"My impression overall is that fewer are operating now," said Don Duncan, the California director of Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and supported Proposition D. "But it's so hard to quantify."

Before Proposition D passed last spring, police estimated there were roughly 700 pot shops in the city, though other estimates from marijuana legalization advocates and neighborhood groups pegged the number much higher. Fewer than 140 medical marijuana businesses are eligible to stay open under the new rules, according to city estimates.

Earlier this year, City Atty. Mike Feuer announced that more than 100 shops had shut down since the new rules went into effect. But when reporters asked Feuer exactly how many medical marijuana dispensaries were still operating in the city, he said he had no way of knowing.

Tax records have offered one clue: More than 1,100 medical marijuana collectives are actively registered to pay business tax in Los Angeles, according to figures released last month by the city's finance office. The Greater Los Angeles Collective Alliance, a voluntary association of medical marijuana collectives, estimates that when duplicate registrations are excluded, that number falls to less than 900.

However, it's unclear if that many medical marijuana businesses are actually operating. A business may obtain a registration certificate but never actually open. It might also close but fail to notify the city.

Tax renewals offer another hint at how many such businesses are operating. After registering, Los Angeles businesses must file an annual renewal to report their taxable gross receipts. So far this year, 457 medical marijuana collectives have done so, according to Office of Finance General Manager Antoinette Christovale. The deadline for a "timely" filing this year was in February.

Feuer said it was still impossible to know exactly how many pot shops were open but heralded the new figures as "a sign of continued progress." The number is much lower than the estimated number of medical marijuana businesses open before Proposition D, he said.

Some questioned whether tax renewals were a good measure of how many shops were open.

"People are aware that they're being targeted for enforcement and they're refusing to renew," said attorney David Welch, who opposed Proposition D and represents a medical marijuana business that is challenging its prosecution under the measure. "I don't think it should be used as an indication that medical marijuana collectives are closing down."

Despite the crackdown, the city has kept registering new collectives to pay business taxes. Last month, the finance office reported that since the new law went into effect, more than 300 pot shops had registered, including nearly 200 that had no previous records in the tax system.

"It makes absolutely no sense that the Office of Finance continues to issue the [business tax registration certificates] and they're not checking to see if these are legal or illegal operators," said Councilwoman Nury Martinez, who has raised concerns about medical marijuana businesses in her district. "The city should not be collecting taxes on illegal operators."

Feuer has warned newly registered shops that "if they've opened for the first time since 2013, they can't be lawful under Proposition D" and could face prosecution. But he said there were no plans to ask the finance office to prevent them from registering.

Under Proposition D, medical marijuana businesses and the landlords who lease space to them can be prosecuted if the shops don't meet several requirements, including being registered under past Los Angeles ordinances and operating an adequate distance from public parks, schools and other facilities.
 
hMPp://investorplace.com/2014/04/medical-marijuana-stocks-mjna-phot/




4 Medical Marijuana Stocks to Dump Now


There’s nothing chill about marijuana stocks. Marijuana stocks trading over-the-counter — which is always a red flag — are racking up the pennies to post some astonishing gains.

And each and every one of them is a sell.

This is a speculative bubble based on misunderstanding and ignorance, and it’s going to pop one day.

Marijuana stocks might — might — make sense if you’re a gambler (a gambler with a serious problem). Speculation is a legitimate activity, and many professionals do very well by speculating in currencies, commodities and other assets.

But it’s a well-worn saying on Wall Street that you should never speculate unless you can make it your full-time job.

That’s because if you play blackjack long enough, you lose. The odds are in favor of the house and the laws of probability will catch up to you. The same goes for so-called marijuana stocks.

Even worse for anyone speculating in marijuana stocks is that almost all of them don’t even trade on major exchanges like the NYSE or the Nasdaq, thus they’re not under the types of exchange guidelines that help validate a business and give it transparency. And if marijuana is one day legalized at the federal level, do you really think the giant tobacco companies will forfeit the market to some tiny upstart?

Finally, many of the bullish arguments for marijuana stocks are just plain wrong.

Sorry, but marijuana stocks are not serious. They could even turn out to be pump-and-dump schemes. There are nearly two dozen stocks connected to or trading on medical marijuana. Here’s a look at four of the largest medical marijuana stocks — and why you should run from them without looking back:

CannaVest (CANV)
CannaVest185 Never mind that Forbes published a detailed and disturbing analysis of CannaVest (CANV), a marijuana stock that sure looks like a shell game. It barely has a business. Annual revenue came to $2.2 million last year. CannaVest said it had a “gross profit” of $1.3 million but it doesn’t explain what that means. Meanwhile, selling general and administrative expenses of $2.4 million, and the whole ball of yarn comes out to a net loss of $2.3 million.

Oh, and CannaVest had no revenue for 2012.

Shares in this so-called marijuana stock are up just 21% for the year-to-date to trade at $33 a pop. That’s after tumbling from a high of $165.

CannaVest isn’t even a marijuana stock. It has no connection to medical marijuana at all. This so-called marijuana stock sells health and wellness products made from hemp. Hemp is a cousin of marijuana (cannabis), but it’s used to make things like rope and oil.

Furthermore, the cannabidiol extracted from hemp might have therapeutic uses, but it’s still illegal under federal law. CannaVest is taking advantage of a gray area in the law in order to work with cannabidiol at all.

CannaVest has nothing to do with medical marijuana. It has no net income and paltry revenue. And yet the market cap is more than $1 billion. If that doesn’t strike you as odd, you might as well just set fire to your money.

Medical Marijuana (MJNA)
MedicalMarijuanaIncMJNA185 Medical Marijuana (MJNA) has a great name for sucking in anyone looking to play the legalization of marijuana with marijuana stocks. That alone drives demand, facts be damned. MJNA is up almost 90% for the year-to-date.

The nominal price (29 cents per share) alone should scare any reasonable person away, but there are other problems with betting MJNA as a marijuana stock — and that’s after the fact the president stepped down after a federal grand jury indicted him as part of an alleged $10 million mortgage fraud.

Like all these marijuana stocks, MJNA took off after Colorado and Washington state legalized weed. But MJNA derives no income from this legalization at all. Like CannVest, it sells oil and gum based on hemp. It’s another marijuana stock that has nothing to do with marijuana. Indeed, MJNA has said it won’t consider selling cannabis until it’s legalized at the federal level.

And since when does it make sense for a company with “gross” income of approximately $8.1 million to have a market cap of $270 million?

GrowLife (PHOT)
GrowLifePHOT185 GrowLife (PHOT) seems to make sense to a lot of people. It sells gear needed to grow marijuana in your garage or garden. And unlike the others, this really is a marijuana stock. PHOT took off on the legalization of marijuana in two states, and it’s up 300% for the year-to-date, trading at 61 cents a share.

If anything, PHOT should have sold off on the legalization news.

If marijuana becomes legal, why would anyone need to grow their own in a closet lined with tin foil? Folks who grow their own marijuana do so precisely because marijuana is illegal. Once it’s legal, you’re better off just popping down to the pot store.

PHOT has a market cap of $440 million — and no profits. PHOT had an adjusted net loss in 2013 of $2.2 million. Indeed, PHOT has never turned a profit. It only loses greater amounts of money every year even as sales grow.

Speaking of sales, annual revenue came to just about $5 million, and that was driven by loads of acquisitions — not by selling more product.

Cannabis Science (CBIS)
CannabisScienceCBIS185 Cannabis Science (CBIS) more than doubled for the year-to-date to trade at a 16 cents a share. It must be the name driving the share price, because it sure isn’t the legalization of marijuana.

Cannabis Science has nothing to to with growing, selling or distributing medical marijuana. Rather, it’s trying to develop medications based on cannabinoids to treat everything from autism to cancer to HIV. It’s like an ambitious and goofy biotech – cancer and HIV? — not a medical marijuana stock.

As for legalization helping its business, well, that doesn’t enter into it. Real scientists working in real labs have no trouble getting hold of cannabinoids for research purposes. Meanwhile, CBIS doesn’t have any drugs in the pipeline. Both its cancer and HIV programs are still in the pre-clinical investigation stage. That means they exist somewhere on a white board.

Little wonder then that CBIS has no profits. Hell, it barely has revenue. From 2005 to the end of 2012 (the last date for which data is available) revenue totaled $127,000. That’s cumulative.

And for all this, CBIS has a market cap of $123 million.
 
hMPp://www.denverpost.com/marijuana/ci_25481364/16th-street-malls-new-marijuana-shops-chic-design




16th Street Mall's new marijuana shop's chic design targets tourists


The only marijuana shop directly on the 16th Street Mall opened Wednesday with a design concept aimed at minimizing the intimidation factor for less-experienced users — such as tourists.

Euflora's location, in the heart of Denver's tourism district, has clean lines, a minimalist layout and none of the psychedelic or green color schemes often associated with dispensaries.

"We decided to take a whole different route with this," co-owner Jamie Perino said. "I like to think of it as Starbucks meets Apple. I kind of want it to be the new iconic feature that we have on the 16th Street Mall."

Euflora's goal — to be an upscale, informative dispensary — directly correlates with the type of out-of-town clients Perino anticipates will stumble upon the shop.

"It's really interactive. They can work at their own pace — especially people from out of state, who may not be as experienced with marijuana," Perino said. "We do not leave them flying high and dry."

Customers, whose IDs are checked, are handed a clipboard that is meant to be used like a sushi-restaurant order form. They can then explore 20 weed strains displayed in glass smelling jars next to Samsung tablets anchored to large counter tops. The design is patent-pending, Perino said.

The tablets provide a variety of information about the particular strain, such as positive and negative side effects, its medical uses, origin, flavors, THC levels, reviews and physical responses.

Euflora also sells marijuana seeds, novelty items, artworks, pipes, vaporizers, apparel and 40 kinds of edibles.

While the store's chic design showcases the increasing sophistication of the burgeoning industry, its location also highlights the city's growing acceptance of the substance.

It was less than six months ago that the Denver City Council was considering a marijuana-possession ban for the 16th Street Mall, but the measure failed to become law. The Downtown Denver Partnership and Visit Denver have taken a neutral public stance on the existence of marijuana shops on or near the mall.

"We certainly don't want to assume that any negatives will come from it. We don't want to play that guessing game," said Jenny Starkey of the Downtown Denver Partnership.

The shop's 6,000-square-foot space is larger than most dispensaries. While there are several other marijuana shops in the central business district — including Native Roots Apothecary on the eighth floor of a 16th Street Mall building and Lodo Wellness Center on Wazee Street, which is visible from the mall — Euflora's entrance is on the pedestrian mall, leading customers directly to its basement retail space.

Perino anticipates a greater volume of tourists due to her store's accessibility, but a Visit Denver spokesman downplayed this effect because there has been a "highly visible store from the mall since Jan. 1."

Due to advertising restrictions, Perino and her staff have spent time talking to pedicab drivers, restaurant servers and bartenders up and down the mall, who they hope will refer curious visitors.

"We've already experienced on our first day droves of people coming in just to say they've been in (a dispensary) — people wanting to take pictures, wanting to just look and touch and smell what it is like," she said.

While Perino was disappointed Euflora missed the Jan. 1 kickoff of legal retail marijuana sales in Colorado, her Friday grand-opening date is optimal for other reasons.

"We figured the next big payday is 4/20," she said, "and decided the Rockies opening game would be a great option for the grand opening."
 
hMPp://mashable.com/2014/04/03/marijuana-ad-times-square/




Pro-Legalization Marijuana Ad Blazes Into Times Square


Times Square is lighting up.

A pro-marijuana legalization advertisement targeting New York's adult crowd debuted in the infamous tourist attraction early Tuesday morning, the Daily News first reported.

Displayed on the CBS Super Screen billboard at 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues — the heart of Times Square — the ad was purchased by Weedmaps, a medical marijuana review site where patients can post their accounts of anything from local dispensaries to doctors. It features a 10-second looping video that displays the words "HIGH, NYC" on a light green background before revealing the name of the company which then vanishes into a cloud of smoke to show the site's URL and a hashtag — #HighNYC.

"So many people support marijuana legalization," Aaron Houston, Weedmaps' policy adviser, told the Daily News. "We're trying to do it in a really professional, highbrow manner. It's not just stoners. It's professional people, too. This is about liberty."

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) was scheduled to run a 15-second pro-legalization ad in 2010, but the CBS Corporation abruptly reversed its approval of the spot soon before it was supposed to go up on the the company's Super Screen billboard. After a Change.org petition garnered nearly 10,000 signatures, however, CBS went back on this decision. NORML ran a second ad in Times Square later that year.

Inquiries about Weedmaps and legalization efforts from New York City residents have increased since adoption of pro-legalization legislation has been on the rise in the United States, according to a Weedmaps spokesperson. CBS originally approached NORML about the current ad, but since a price in the low five figures wasn't in the organization's budget the opportunity got passed on to Weedmaps, the spokesperson said. In an ironic twist, the spot is running on the same billboard CBS initially refused to run NORML's ad four years ago.

"A lot of change really needs to happen and this is another flash point in the evolving discussion," NORML spokesperson Erik Altieri told Mashable, referring to the Weedmaps ad.

Weedmaps has increased in popularity since it launched in 2008. It has seen a 30% growth year over year and had 2.7 million visitors just last month. Its Time Square ad will run 18 hours a day for the next two months.

Colorado and Washington made waves in November 2012 when state residents voted to legalize recreational use of marijuana. The Compassionate Care Act, which could legalize medical marijuana in New York, has been passed by the state's assembly four times, but still hasn't been brought to a vote by the state Senate, the Huffington Post reports. And it isn't for lack of support from locals — nearly 90% of adult New Yorkers support the legal use of medical marijuana, according to a poll done last month by Quinnipiac University.
 
hMPp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/02/dea-marijuana-legalization_n_5078046.html?utm_hp_ref=politics




DEA Chief: Marijuana Legalization Just 'Makes Us Fight Harder'


WASHINGTON -- Far from being discouraged by the shifts in public opinion, state laws and even within the Obama administration on the legalization of marijuana, federal drug agents are now driven to "fight harder," Drug Enforcement Administration chief Michele Leonhart said Wednesday.

Leonhart, who reportedly criticized President Barack Obama for comparing marijuana to alcohol during a closed-door meeting with a law enforcement organization, suggested during testimony Wednesday before a House Appropriations subcommittee that voters in Washington state and Colorado were duped into legalizing marijuana.

While several questions from Republican members of the committee referred to Obama's marijuana comments, as well as to Attorney General Eric Holder's decision in August to allow marijuana regulation to proceed largely unchallenged, Leonhart's answers tiptoed around any direct criticism of her bosses. But Leonhart did say that DEA's issues with the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado were "well known" within the Justice Department and the White House before DOJ made its decision. She noted that there was "a lot of confusion in that 296 days while they were reviewing it and deciding how to proceed."

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) said he thought that the attorney general would come to regret his decision to allow legalization in Washington and Colorado to move forward. "This being a legacy for Eric Holder, when he looks back on it and sees the devastation it will have on this country, he will live to regret it," Wolf said. "He will wish he could get these years back." Wolf then asked Leonhart whether DEA agents have been feeling demoralized as a result of the legalization.

"Actually, it makes us fight harder," Leonhart replied.

Without referring specifically to Obama's comments, Leonhart said that pro-marijuana messages are stronger now than they have been in the past 30 years, and that DEA officials are very worried about the consequences for teens who are being "bombarded" by such messages.

"It's of great concern to us the messages we hear on television, in the radio, in songs -- and now, my fear is that kids are hearing it from their own parents," Leonhart said. "It's important to have the facts about marijuana put out there in ways that kids, teens, young adults, parents can look at it and see that what they've been sold -- that this is no big deal -- is not true."

Leonhart also implied that voters in Washington and Colorado had been misled about the benefits of legalizing marijuana.

"What was explained to the voters was how much money that they'd be raising. What was explained to the voters was that this was good for law enforcement, because then police could go after the real crimes. What was told to the voters is that this would collapse the Mexican drug cartels," she said.

Leonhart claimed that Mexican drug cartels are "setting up shop" in Washington and Colorado in anticipation of a black market. "Whatever the price will be set in Washington and Colorado, criminal organizations are ready to come in and sell cheaper," Leonhart said. She claimed that many marijuana shops get their supplies from growing operations controlled by cartels.

The DEA administrator also referred to efforts in the Netherlands to prevent foreign tourists from obtaining marijuana, saying that it showed the country was having second thoughts about its marijuana policies. That change, she said, should have served as a warning to the United States.

"We should've learned from that and never gone forward with what we've seen in this country," Leonhart said.

Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, said after the hearing that Leonhart was obstructing the Obama administration's policy and should be forced out.

"Publicly criticizing and questioning the competence of your supervisor would get anyone fired in the private sector," Riffle said in a statement. "It's frankly astounding to me that Ms. Leonhart is still employed and American taxpayers continue to foot her $165,000 salary to publicly campaign against the president's policies."

Leonhart declined to take questions from reporters after her testimony.
 
hMPp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/02/dogs-marijuana-pets_n_5078556.html




DEA Chief: Please, Think Of The Dogs Before You Legalize Pot


WASHINGTON -- Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, has a message for those considering legalizing marijuana: Please, think of Fido.

Testifying on the DEA budget during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Leonhart said she expected a number of things to happen after Washington and Colorado were allowed to go forward with the legalization of marijuana last year. What she didn't anticipate was the impact on man's best friend.

"There was just an article last week, and it was on pets. It was about the unanticipated or unexpected consequences of this, and how veterinarians now are seeing dogs come in, their pets come in, and being treated because they've been exposed to marijuana," Leonhart said.

"Again, it goes back to the edibles, it goes back to products that are in the household that are now made from marijuana, and it's impacting pets," Leonhart continued. "We made a list of the outcomes we thought that might happen in these two states. We never thought of putting pets down."

Leonhart was referencing a story in USA Today which noted that the effects of marijuana could make it more difficult for a dog to breathe or vomit up a product that could kill them, like butter. The USA Today article noted, however, that on its own "marijuana itself isn't particularly harmful to dogs," and that dogs typically won't eat marijuana by itself.

The story referenced a 2012 study that found that two dogs who ate large amounts of marijuana-infused butter died, out of a sample of 125 dogs that were believed to have ingested marijuana.

Note to marijuana users in Washington and Colorado: Keep your dogs away from the pot brownies.
 

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