Northwest Medical Cannabis Alliance

Californians who use medical marijuana outside of work would be protected from job dismissal due to pot use under a bill that has been introduced by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco. The bill, SB129, would make it illegal for an employer to consider either a worker’s status as a registered patient or a positive drug [...]

It’s been 40 years since President Nixon’s “War on Drugs.” Is it possible that peace talks are now at hand? On Thursday, President Obama said the question of drug legalization and regulation is an “entirely legitimate topic for debate” — the first sitting president to do so since cocaine, heroin and [...]

President Barack Obama on Thursday said America’s long-running prohibition of drugs serves an important purpose, but advocated for “shifting resources” away from incarcerations of “nonviolent, first time drug offenders.” “I think this is an entirely legitimate topic for debate,” Obama said from the White House during an interview broadcast live [...]

Arizonans who get a doctor’s recommendation to buy medical marijuana are going to have to shell out at least a little extra money for the state — if not a whole lot. Attorney General Tom Horne said Wednesday that the marijuana sold at state-regulated dispensaries being set up under Proposition [...]

As a 64-year-old woman with a grandchild, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, says she’s not the type of person you would normally associate with marijuana. And yet Dickerson has again introduced legislation that would legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in Washington state. “I believe that it’s a smart way to [...]

Marijuana legalization has been raised countless times by politicians, newspapers, hippies and, of course, college newspapers.  Again and again it has come up, to the point that it has become somewhat trite – a cliche policy issue that is urgent for no one.  But just as a [...]

An emotional Montel Williams joined state lawmakers Monday in Annapolis to urge the General Assembly to legalize medical marijuana. The Baltimore-born talk-show host suffers from multiple sclerosis and says he uses marijuana — and nine other medications — every day to alleviate pain. He said tearfully that traditional opiates don’t work [...]

It must have taken some doing, but advocates of “medical” marijuana have come up with a bill that would actually invite more abuse of the drug than straightforward legalization. The “medical” belongs in quotation marks here, because the measure in Olympia would junk a key rule designed to prevent common [...]

Canada’s Policy of Prohibition Criminalizes Unconventional Thought In Canada today, marijuana use and its perceived danger to society is considered a legal issue.  But history reveals that marijuana prohibition isn’t really about the effects of THC. In 1937, the United States began prohibiting the plant as an excuse to repatriate illegal Mexican immigrants.  Since [...]

The sausage grinder here turning out laws moves slowly by design and in most cases serves the public well for it, but not in the case of New Jersey’s attempt to bring medical marijuana to the ill and dying. Gov. Christie had concerns about making available a substance that is illegal under federal [...]

Leading medical marijuana advocates formed an unusual alliance with law enforcement and local government officials Friday to support a major proposal to license and regulate the booming industry in Montana. In another strange-bedfellows combination, marijuana growers, caregivers and patients opposing the bill were joined by a group of people who [...]

When Elliott Cain lived in California, staff at a marijuana dispensary there recommended a mild brand of marijuana that they said was effective at treating anxiety. Cain, who had a doctor’s authorization to use marijuana as medicine, found it did just that, tamping down his anxiety without zonking him out. But [...]

A Senate committee today took another step toward dissolving the state health department’s rules for the pending medical marijuana program that Gov. Chris Christie’s administration has proposed and many patients describe as “political” and “unworkable.” Patients, members of advocacy groups, and attorneys for entrepreneurs who want to open a marijuana dispensary [...]

Bylaws that target marijuana grow operations in the City of Pitt Meadows have nearly stamped out the illegal enterprise, according to figures released by the municipality and police. Not one grow op was busted by RCMP in Pitt Meadows last year, while only one inspection was conducted under the city’s marijuana grow operation bylaw, which targets [...]

A new medical marijuana bill that is supposed to tie up some loose ends in the new regulatory framework actually poses some rather significant changes — and most of them are not good policy. We were taken aback by several elements of the bill, and asked co-sponsor Rep. Tom Massey, R-Poncha [...]

A state committee appointed to find cheaper alternatives to prison is proposing reforms to Kentucky’s drug laws. The Task Force on the Penal Code and Controlled Substances Act met Tuesday to discuss a draft of the proposed changes, which included sentencing most people convicted of drug crimes to probation and treatment. A [...]

D.C.  residents seeking medical marijuana are unable to obtain a prescription in the city, despite the legalization of the drug last summer. Difficulties in regulating the drug have caused delays in dispensaries being set up, D.C.  Department of Health spokeswoman Mahlori Isaacs said. “Due to legal litigation, it is unclear when medicinal marijuana will [...]

There’s no room for pot users on the Quebec City police force. To drive that message home, the force has introduced lie detectors to probe past and recent drug usage and explore other personal habits while screening this year’s crop of 135 applicants for cop jobs. This year’s final hiring [...]

The first draft of the rules governing the use of medical marijuana in Arizona has been met with a flood of comments. The Arizona Department of Health Services released the latest draft of the rules governing medical marijuana in December. The department received more than 1,300 comments through its online [...]

The terminally ill’s lack of access to medical marijuana is one of the worries of a state senator who is trying to force Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to change proposed regulations of the drug. Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Middlesex, said the Republican governor’s proposed rules have several flaws, including barring dispensaries from making [...]