Florida to drug test public employees but not elected officials, reinforces Scott’s Solantic ties

Source: End The Lie
Madison Ruppert

Florida has become the first state in the America to allow public employees to be randomly tested for a wide variety of drugs, thanks to the Florida legislature and Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott.

The glaring problem with this legislation – which was promoted by Governor Scott who actually co-founded Solantic, a company that runs a chain of some 32 urgent care centers, which we will get into later in this article – is that all elected officials are exempt from the law.

When similar legislation aimed at forcing the drug testing of welfare recipients (something Governor Scott also pushed for in Florida) was proposed in Indiana, some astute legislators amended the bill to include elected officials as well. Unsurprisingly, the bill was thrown out post haste.

Therefore, if you want to do mounds of cocaine and hold a taxpayer-funded job, you’d better get elected to some government position; otherwise you’re liable to get your urine tested.

I must point out, however, that the law does not require that state agencies drug test employees, it merely allows such activities.

It allows state agencies to randomly test up to 10% of their employees every three months for illicit drugs, prescription drugs and even alcohol, according to Noel Brinkerhoff with AllGov.

However, how they will test for alcohol is unclear to me, as most tests require the subject to have consumed alcohol recently, meaning it would likely only catch people who were actually drinking on the job.

On the other hand, some illegal substances like cannabis can remain in the system for quite a while but other illegal drugs like methamphetamine and others pass relatively quickly.

Unfortunately, the people of Florida have not been very vocal on this issue, especially the fact that such tests will usually catch people who smoke marijuana, but not others who use much more dangerous drugs which rapidly pass through the system.

Feds Threaten Banks to Deny Accounts to Lawful Medicinal Cannabis Shops

Source: Activist Post
Eric Blair

One of the underhanded ways the feds are attempting to defeat legal medical marijuana is by preventing banks from doing business with dispensaries.

Because medical marijuana is illegal under federal law, federally insured banks even in states where it's legal were notified in 2011 to be suspicious of marijuana-related banking activities. The warnings stated that the business of marijuana is a "high-risk area for money laundering" which would put the banks at risk of racketeering and laundering charges.

Even though banks were not directly ordered to deny services to lawful medical cannabis shops, most banks heeded the warnings and closed dispensary accounts anyways.  This forced patients and dispensaries into cash-only transactions.

Clearly, this presented legal dispensaries and patients with challenges; not least becoming an increased target of theft.  Additionally, it's easier for these shops to hide actual profits now that they are forced into a cash operation, seemingly nullifying the scare of money laundering.

In other words, it'd be much easier to track their transactions if allowed to be properly funneled through banks.  In Colorado, around $20 million a year in state and local taxes may be at risk because the business is being forced to operate in the darkness of cash-based black markets.

Colorado lawmakers, seeking a solution, proposed establishing a cooperative financial institution (resembling a credit union) for the state's 600 legal dispensaries. Colorado Congressman, Jared Polis, a supporter of the local measure, also proposed federal legislation to open financial services to lawful medical marijuana businesses.

Former LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing Ignored By Obama on Drug War Question

Source: Adam Kokesh

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Original Question Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0IpiATxdR4

Cannabis Treatment Threatens Deadly Painkiller Industry

Source: Activist Post
Anthony Gucciardi

Pharmaceutical painkillers are now responsible for more deaths in the United States than heroin and cocaine combined.

These pharmaceuticals are responsible for more than 15,000 deaths conservatively in 2008 alone. With no sign of slowing down, the painkiller industry is becoming wildly popular among Americans — as a result, so is the high rate of painkiller abuse.

Classified as dangerous by the U.S. government, cannabis (even in THC-free form, or free of psychoactive effects) has been identified as a powerful pain reliever in more than 80 peer-reviewed studies.

You may be aware of the fact that marijuana is usually quite high in THC (delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol), which is the compound responsible for the psychoactive effect of cannabis.

In contrast, it is also low in CBD (cannabidiol) content. Both THC and CBD are known as cannabinoids, however, which interacts with your body in a very unique way.

In fact, cannabinoids are key when it comes to pain relief. While this information alone is enough to shatter the traditional beliefs on government marijuana regulation, the relationship between CBD and THC is even more revealing.

What you may not be familiar with is how CBD has been shown to block the effect of THC in the nervous system. This allows for marijuana to be used with little or no psychoactive effects. Hemp, on the other hand, is high in CBD and low in THC. This is due to the fact that it is bred to maximize its fiber, seeds, and oil. Of course these key properties are what it is most commonly used for.

Trials Indicate Cannabis as an Effective Treatment for Chronic Pain

In a 2011 study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, researchers examined the effects of cannabinoids on chronic pain and proper sleep. What they found in their trials challenges federal government claims that cannabis has ‘no accepted medical use’. The researchers conducted 18 trials using cannabinoids in the treatment of chronic pain, and found that cannabinoids demonstrated a significant painkilling effect as well as noticeable improvements in sleep in 15 of trials. Compared, to placebo, the cannabinoids were extremely effective.

Most importantly, there were no adverse effects.

Government Study Proves THC From Cannabis Destroys Leukemia, Breast And Lung Cancer Cells

Source: Bayareacannabis.org

Pacher P, Mechoulam R.

Source

Laboratory of Physiologic Studies, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-9413, USA. Pacher@mail.nih.gov

 

 

Abstract

The mammalian body has a highly developed immune system which guards against continuous invading protein attacks and aims at preventing, attenuating or repairing the inflicted damage. It is conceivable that through evolution analogous biological protective systems have been evolved against non-protein attacks. There is emerging evidence that lipid endocannabinoid signaling through cannabinoid 2 (CB₂) receptors may represent an example/part of such a protective system/armamentarium. Inflammation/tissue injury triggers rapid elevations in local endocannabinoid levels, which in turn regulate signaling responses in immune and other cells modulating their critical functions. Changes in endocannabinoid levels and/or CB₂ receptor expressions have been reported in almost all diseases affecting humans, ranging from cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, liver, kidney, neurodegenerative, psychiatric, bone, skin, autoimmune, lung disorders to pain and cancer, and modulating CB₂ receptor activity holds tremendous therapeutic potential in these pathologies. While CB₂ receptor activation in general mediates immunosuppressive effects, which limit inflammation and associated tissue injury in large number of pathological conditions, in some disease states activation of the CB₂ receptor may enhance or even trigger tissue damage, which will also be discussed alongside the protective actions of the CB₂ receptor stimulation with endocannabinoids or synthetic agonists, and the possible biological mechanisms involved in these effects.

Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PMID:

21295074

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC3062638

[Available on 2012/4/1]

The Medical Miracle You'll Get Arrested for Using

Source: Mercola

Dr. Mercola

Marijuana was a popular botanical medicine in the 19th and 20th centuries, common in U.S. pharmacies of the time.

Yet, in 1970, the herb was declared a Schedule 1 controlled substance and labeled as a drug with a “high potential for abuse” and “no accepted medical use.”

Three years later the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) was formed to enforce the newly created drug schedules, and the fight against marijuana use began.

The Huffington Post has a concise history of marijuana prohibition, and the struggle for legalization, that is well worth reading — but the most successful movement to date, and the one that is set to produce the first legal marijuana market in decades, is the medical marijuana movement.

Unfortunately, the feds have recently announced a blatant reversal on their previous pro-medical marijuana stance — a move that is threatening to stop the industry cold.

Why are the Feds So Concerned About Medical Marijuana?

Fifteen states plus the District of Columbia have laws allowing medical marijuana. 

 

In other words, in those states it is considered legal to consume, possess or distribute marijuana for medical use.

Up until 2009, the U.S. Justice Department essentially told federal prosecutors to lay off Americans producing and using medical marijuana in accordance with state laws.

But despite marijuana’s legal status at the state level, historically it was common for the DEA to raid medical marijuana suppliers and even arrest patients.

This is because federal law overrides state law, defining the possession or distribution of marijuana as a criminal offense.

According to The State of the Medical Marijuana Markets 2011, the national market for medical marijuana is now worth $1.7 billion — and could grow to close to $9 billion in the next five years — if not for a stunning reversal by the Obama administration. In October 2011, the Obama administration released a letter to clarify their earlier position, which, as Seattle Weekly reports, indicates, “The only people safe from arrest were the “seriously ill” patients and their caregivers… Everyone else? Be forewarned.”

The Obama administration has long been supportive of the medical marijuana movement, even stating during the presidential campaign that, “The basic concept of using medical marijuana… [is] entirely appropriate.”

However the Feds now appear to be launching a full-fledged attack against this legitimate industry, not only by threatening prosecution and arrest, but also by intimidating and coercing banks, land and store owners, as well as other business entities, that help keep the medical marijuana industry alive.

Read Full Article 

Bummer: Feds Stonewall Pot Treatments For Traumatized Vets

Souce: Wired.com/Danger Room
Katie Drummond

An Arizona psychiatrist is tantalizingly close to federal approval for a groundbreaking study of marijuana’s potency in treating PTSD — if only the National Institute on Drug Abuse would stop stonewalling her.

Dr. Sue Sisley, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and a psychiatrist whose practice treats mostly war veterans, wants to add evidence-based science to the ubiquitous anecdotal reports, not to mention animal research, that point to marijuana’s effectiveness at quelling symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Although plenty of vets smoke up, medical marijuana can only be prescribed to PTSD sufferers living in New Mexico — where 27 percent of those with an approved ID card suffer from PTSD, making it the state’s number one qualifying diagnosis — and nary a study has evaluated whether the illicit drug actually works.

“Plenty of the veterans I’ve treated use marijuana, only they usually buy it illegally and use it covertly,” Sisley told Danger Room. “With research, we can actually figure out which symptoms it might help with, and what an optimal dosing strategy might look like.”