Freedom Leaf FAQ: 16 Questions About Hemp and CBD

Here are 16 frequently asked questions about marijuana’s most famous non-intoxicating cannabinoid and industrial cousin.

1. What’s the difference between hemp and CBD?

Cannabis sativa L, a.k.a. “industrial hemp,” is an incredibly versatile and durable plant, making it ideal for the manufacture of rope, canvas, paper, textiles, fuel and plastic. Hemp seeds are frequently used for food and beauty products. Hemp grows tall and thin, like bamboo, and is non-intoxicating, unlike marijuana.

Cannabidiol, or CBD, is extracted from hemp or cannabis to make oil. In the past few years, as the legality of marijuana has evolved, CBD sales skyrocketed by nearly 40%, according to New Frontier Data. This growth is unlikely to slow as word about CBD’s potential healing and medicinal benefits continues to spread.

2. What’s the difference between hemp-derived CBD and cannabis-derived CBD?

Hemp-derived CBD, extracted only from the stalks and stems, contains less than 0.3 percent THC and must be imported into the U.S. The 2014 Farm Bill allowed states to grow hemp as part of university research pilot programs. However, most hemp-derived CBD comes from outside the U.S.

Cannabis-derived CBD is not limited to extraction from the stalks and stems. Other parts of the plant, especially the flowers, can be used to make CBD oil. Cannabis-derived CBD is grown in legal states.

The most meaningful difference between the two are oversight and product quality. Imported CBD oil has little-to-no oversight regarding extraction techniques and is not likely to have undergone any testing. U.S.-grown, cannabis-derived CBD is tightly controlled, monitored and tested for contaminants.

3. Can you smoke hemp?

Hemp is bred to have negligible amounts of THC and a higher ratio of CBD. So you could smoke it. But if getting high is part of the plan, then hemp’s not for you.

Charlotte Figi

4. What is CBD?

One of the more than 100 chemical compounds present in the cannabis plant, CBD interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system, which plays a role in regulating physiology and mood. CBD burst onto the scene in 2013 when a young Colorado Springs girl named Charlotte Figi caught the attention of Dr. Sanjay Gupta while filming the CNN documentary, Weed. Figi, who suffers from Dravet syndrome, was having up to 300 seizures a week until her parents started treating her with a high-CBD strain now named for her, Charlotte’s Web.

5. What’s the difference between THC and CBD?

The obvious and visible difference between THC and CBD is that THC can get you high, while CBD cannot. Both are known to have healing properties, but high amounts of THC are less likely to be tolerated by patients, while CBD is known to be tolerable even at high doses. Side effects from CBD are not widely reported, but when they do occur, they’re believed to generate from interaction with other drugs. THC has side effects that are well-known but temporary, like dry mouth, red eyes, sore throat and increased heart rate.

6. Which cannabis strains are highest in CBD?

According to lab data posted by Leafly, the Dancehall strain, with a CBD:THC ratio of 20:1, ranks first. Other high CBD strains include ACDC (19:1), Ringo’s Gift (19:1), Remedy (17:1), Suzy Q (17:1) and Sour Tsunami (15:1). Other strains with high, or balanced, ratios of CBD to THC are Atlant, Avidekel, Candida, Cannatonic, Charlotte’s Web, Dance World, Dinamed, Good Medicine, Harlequin, Hawaiian Dream and Nordle.

7. What are the medical benefits of CBD?

Studies have shown that CBD plays an important role in the treatment of many conditions, most notably, epilepsy. In fact, the FDA recently approved Epidiolex , a CBD oil for Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, another rare kind of epilepsy.

A 2012 study suggested that CBD can be used for pain management. Many professikonal athletes say it helps them recover from injuries and manage chronic pain and inflammation. Other studies have shown that CBD acts as a neuroprotectant (to shield the brain and nervous system).

CBD also interacts in profound ways with cancer cells and may even cause cancer cell death. Other medicinal benefits of CBD include easing symptoms of anxiety and insomnia and as a potential treatment for fighting opioid addiction.

Irie CBD tinctures

8. What’s the best way to use CBD—smoke, vape, eat, tincture, topical?

Most people consume CBD by vaping or as a pill, capsule or tincture. Others may dab it or add it to their food as an isolate. To relieve aches and pains, many use CBD topicals, like a cream or salve. You can also smoke the flower.

9. Is CBD legal?

Even though it seems like CBD is popping up everywhere, the short answer is no, CBD is not federally legal. Fourteen U.S. states have enacted laws that laws that allow for its limited use. But, for the most part, it sits in a legal grey area. If the product contains even a trace amount of THC, it’s considered an illegal substance and may not enter the U.S. stream of commerce. As for U.S. farmers who are growing hemp as part of pilot programs or in legal states, CBD sales are essentially tolerated and lightly enforced. But if you ask the DEA, the Department of Justice and the FDA, CBD is a controlled substance.

However, Epidiolex, mentioned in question 7, was given Schedule V status (“lower potential for abuse”) under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) by the DEA in September. All other CBD formulas remain in Schedule I (“no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse”), despite extracts being given a new code in 2016.

Industrial hemp farm at University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington

10. Is hemp legal?

Hemp has been illegal since the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, when it got ensnared in the same legal net as marijuana, making it a Schedule I drug. Things have changed somewhat for the better since President Obama signed the 2014 Farm Bill. Now, 41 states have authorized hemp production. However, the disconnect between state and federal laws remains a barrier because the U.S. government continues to assert that hemp and marijuana are legally identical. This puts farmers at risk of prison, asset forfeiture or DEA raids.

11. What are some of the products that can be made with hemp?

Hemp can be made into hundreds of products, such as paper, rope and textiles for clothing. High-end car companies like BMW and Mercedes are utilizing hemp-based composites and plastics, while more companies in the food and beauty sectors are adding hemp to their products. There have been exciting developments in plastics, biodiesel and hemp nanomaterials, which could one day replace environmentally devastating batteries in cell phones and hybrid automobiles.

Hempcrete

12. Can hemp be used to build houses?

Yes! Hempcrete—a mixture of hemp, lime and water—is thought to be more thermal resistant than concrete, as well as more energy efficient. Building with hemp is an environmentally friendly alternative, making the home much less toxic, fire resistant and more able to withstand mold, insects and fire.

13. Where is hemp grown around the world?

Industrial hemp crops span the globe, but the top producer is China, where hemp has been growing continually for thousands of years, followed closely by France and Canada.

14. How will the 2018 Farm Bill affect hemp’s legality?

Passage of the 2018 Farm Bill would be a game changer for the U.S. hemp industry. Introduced last spring by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the new law would remove hemp from the CSA and legalize it as an agricultural commodity. On September 30, Congress allowed the 2014 Farm Bill to expire. On November 29, the Senate Agriculture Committee agreed to the above provisions. The bill still needs to be voted on by the full Senate.

15. Are hemp food and household products legal?

Yes, but only if the products contain imported hemp seed or hemp seed oil and has less than 0.3 THC. Two exemplary companies in this space are soap maker Dr. Bronner’s, which annually imports 20 tons of hemp seed oil from Canada, and The Body Shop, with its bestselling line of hemp seed, oil-based lotions, from French-grown plants.

Nutritious hemp seeds

16. What are the nutritional benefits of hemp seeds?

Non-psychoactive hemp seeds, or hearts, have been a nutritional powerhouse for thousands of years because they’re high in polyunsaturated fatty acids like linoleic acid (omega-6), alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) and gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), and other nutrients.

Polyunsaturated fats are believed to help reduce bad cholesterol levels, which is essential to lowering the risk of heart disease and stroke. These fats also add vitamin E, an important antioxidant that protects the body from cell-damaging free radicals. Since our bodies are unable to produce polyunsaturated fats, hemp seeds can play an important nutritional role in long-term health. Hemp seeds are high in vitamins A and C and beta-carotene, another powerful antioxidant.

Hemp seeds also contain fiber, protein, potassium and iron. Add hemp to your diet by sprinkling shelled seeds on salads or yogurt. Check your local grocery stores for seeds, protein powder, hemp milk, nutrition bars, granola and cold-pressed hemp seed oil. However, cooking with hemp seed oil is not recommended; when heated, it becomes rancid and loses its nutrients. It’s best to keep it cool.

Related Articles

U.S. Chemist Roger Adams Isolated CBD 75 Years Ago

Freedom Leaf Dives into the Hemp-CBD Market

Joy Beckerman: Hemp Industries Association Evangelist

This article appears in Issue 34. Subscribe to the magazine here.

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Michigan: Marijuana Possession Becomes Legal This Thursday

Key provisions of the state’s voter-initiated marijuana measure, Proposition 1: The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act, will take effect this Thursday, December 6. Michigan is the tenth US state to legalize and regulate the use and sale of marijuana by adults, and it is the ninth to do so via voter initiative.

“The legalization of the adult use of marijuana in Michigan represents a victory for common sense public policy, while delivering yet another body blow to our decades long failed prohibition on marijuana,” stated NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri, “Instead of continuing to arrest over 22,000 citizens a year for marijuana related charges, Michigan will now be able to reallocate precious law enforcement resources to combat violent crime while respecting civil liberties and advancing racial justice. This is a great day for the state of Michigan and, as the first midwest state to legalize marijuana for adult use, a huge step forward in the nationwide fight to end the failed policy of prohibition and incarceration and to replace it with a sensible system of legalization and regulation.”

Provisions specific to the adult possession and cultivation of cannabis will take effect at 12am. Those over the age of 21 may legally possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and/or 15 grams of cannabis concentrates in a private residence. Adults may also legally cultivate up to 12 marijuana plants in private, and possess the harvest (up to ten ounces) of those plants. Public use of cannabis will remain a violation of law.

Under the new law, the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs has up to 12 months to begin accepting applications from those seeking to operate licensed cannabis businesses.

Despite majority support for the new law, legislation (SB 1243) introduced by outgoing Sen. Majority Leader Arian Meekhof in the lame duck session seeks to significantly amend many of its provisions. The measure, which NORML opposes, would eliminate adults’ ability to home cultivate personal use amounts of cannabis, among other changes.

“Home cultivation is a vital component of Michigan’s new law, and this policy is consistent with those policies regulating alcohol — which permit home brewing,” Altieri said. “Fifty-six percent of Michigan voters approved Proposition 1. Politicians should respect the will of the electorate; they should not be seeking to undermine them.”

Click here to email your lawmakers and urge them to vote ‘no’ on SB 1243.

Source: http://blog.norml.org/2018/12/05/michigan-marijuana-possession-becomes-legal-this-thursday/

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U.S. Chemist Roger Adams Isolated CBD 75 Years Ago

Roger Adams illustration by Ross Marinaro

The name most associated with cannabis science is generally Israeli chemist Raphael Mechoulam, who’s credited with first isolating and identifying THC. But given the current CBD craze, there’s another figure who should receive his due: American chemist Roger Adams, who first isolated cannabidiol. And, by some accounts, he even has a claim to being the person who initially identified its psychoactive cousin, THC.

In addition, Adams grappled with the role of science—and its misuses—in war and totalitarianism during the great world political upheavals in the early 20th century.

A true Boston blue-blood and direct descendant of President John Adams, the precocious scion entered Harvard in 1905 at age 16. In 1913, he travelled on a fellowship to Germany, the world leader in chemistry at that time, and studied at Berlin’s prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute. He returned to the U.S. to take a post at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign just as World War I was breaking out. For the first but not the last time, events on the global stage had an impact on his life, career and research.

In 1917, Adams took a position with the National Research Council in Washington, DC and its associated Chemical Warfare Service. Germany was then notoriously using poison gas in the trench warfare of Europe. Adams studied this with an eye toward developing prophylactics to gas attacks—and potentially deterrents in the capacity to retaliate in kind. Ironically, the expertise he learned in Germany was now being put to use for the war effort against Deutschland. Even after the war, Adams remained close to the then-forming national security establishment, which also had an impact on what would be his life’s most important scientific work.

Roger Adams’ Cannabis Research Commences

In 1939—just two years after marijuana was banned by Congress—Adams received a Treasury Department license to work with cannabis oil at his lab in Urbana-Champaign and presented a paper to the National Academy of Science on “The Chemistry of Marihuana.”

The next world war also broke out that year, although the U.S. wouldn’t become involved until after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. The national security establishment was clearly taking a keen interest in Adams’ work. In 1942, the newly formed Office of Strategic Services, the wartime predecessor of the CIA, drew on Adams’ research in its quest for a “truth serum.” Cannabis was administered to U.S. soldiers and also to scientists working on the Manhattan Project—the super-secret mission to develop the atomic bomb—but produced negligible results.

Marijuana’s newly illegal status made this research controversial. In his profile of Adams in No Boundaries: University of Illinois Vignettes (2004), Ronald Doel relates how the esteemed chemist was publicly dressed down by Harry J. Anslinger, the anti-pot zealot who was the crusading figure behind the “reefer madness” of this era.

In 1942, Roger Adams (left) won a patent for his method of isolating CBD and was also the first researcher to identify THC.

As commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Anslinger was the nation’s first Drug Czar. And since Adams’ research was being overseen by the bureau, Anslinger apparently perceived him as having a bit too much enthusiasm for his work. After Adams reportedly let slip in mixed company about the “pleasant effects of the use of this drug,” Anslinger publicly scolded him. “In my opinion, this drug is bad for human consumption and should be painted so,” he lectured.

In 1940, Adams was appointed to the National Defense Research Committee to assist in the war effort, but FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover suspected him of being a Communist sympathizer and blocked Adams’ appointment for several months due to his membership in the Lincoln’s Birthday Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, a body of academics opposed to Nazi pseudoscience and “race” theories. Adams was what would later be called a “premature anti-fascist.”

With the U.S. and USSR allied in World War II, anti-Communism was (for a while) de-emphasized, and Adams eventually got his security clearance. In 1942, he started the Illinois chapter of Russian War Relief, an organization established to support Uncle Sam’s wartime ally.

Adams Synthesizes CBD, Identifies THC

From a scientific standpoint, Adams’ most important work was his cannabis research in the early 1940s when he identified and synthesized cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabinol (CBN). In 1942, he won a patent for his method of isolating CBD. Adams was also the first researcher to identify tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and published 27 studies on cannabis in the American Journal of Chemistry.

But Adams never actually isolated THC directly from the plant; instead, he synthesized it in the lab by tweaking the molecular structure of other cannabinoids, principally CBD. Adams apparently had been looking for the psychoactive cannabinoid; he knew it had to exist and had a good idea of its molecular makeup, but never actually identified it in the plant, apparently because the technology later used by Mechoulam wasn’t available to him back in the ’40s.

While Mechoulam is generally credited with isolating THC at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1964 and giving the compound its name, Adams produced THC analogs in his laboratory some 20 years earlier and is said to have “inferred” the existence of the molecule in the cannabis plant. Mechoulam confirmed Adams’ discovery by using a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer.

According to hightideventures.com, “The isolation of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol as the primary psychoactive constituent in cannabis was first done by Wollner, Levine and Lowe in 1942. This followed the work of Roger Adams. Since then, (THC) has become the most widely studied cannabinoid.”

After Adams reportedly let slip in mixed company about the “pleasant effects of the use of this drug,” the nation’s first drug czar, Harry J. Anslinger, publicly scolded him.

In 1944, “The La Guardia Report on the Marihuana Problem” acknowledged Adams’ work: “We are indebted to Dr. Roger Adams at the University of Illinois and to Dr. H. J. Wollner, consulting chemist of the U.S. Treasury, who supplied some of the active principles of marihuana which were used in the study.”

The post-war era saw the pinnacle of Adams’ embrace by the foreign policy establishment. In 1945, he returned to Germany as an advisor to General Lucius Clay, administrator of the U.S. occupation there. Adams’ special mission was to oversee the reconstitution and de-Nazification of Germany’s scientific establishment. In 1947, he was sent to U.S.-occupied Japan with a similar mission.

Adams subsequently returned to Illinois, where he remained until his death in 1971. In 1958, the year after his retirement, the American Chemical Society established the prestigious Roger Adams Award in honor of his work.

He also developed the “Adams Scale” to measure the potency of cannabinoids; it’s still in use by researchers today. Although CBD’s multifarious applications would only become apparent decades later, Adams noted its analgesic effects in the ’40s.

Roger Adams repeatedly risked his career and position both for his cannabis research and his political ideals, standing up to the forces of intolerance in a very paranoid age.

Related Articles

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Joy Beckerman: Hemp Industries Association Evangelist

The Epidiolex Effect: Will Other CBD Drugs Receive FDA and DEA Approval?

This article appears in Issue 34. Subscribe to the magazine here.

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19 Stylish, Cannabis-Adjacent Gifts for Those Who Like to Smoke Weed

Your friend, significant other, sibling, parent — anyone! We know it's hard to find the right gifts for your loved ones, so we've compiled a ton of fashion and beauty-focused gift guides tailored to a range of interests and budgets. Check out our latest below and find more right here. As marijuana continues to earn legalization for recreational use around the world, the act of smoking pot is rapidly transforming within the luxury market across…

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George H. W. Bush: The Last American Drug Warrior President

Infamously, President Bush convened a live TV press conference in September 1989 where he held up for the cameras a small bag of crack cocaine.

By every measure, America’s 41st president George Herbert Walker Bush, who passed away Nov. 30, was a fine man, father, patriot, civil servant and elected policy maker. He was decent and moderate, certainly by today’s standards.

However, likely due more to his age than social disposition, President Bush was the last great standard bearer of American presidents who publicly proclaimed the absurd idea that a “War on Drugs will be won.” After Bush Sr., such fanciful notions were never heard again from Baby Boomer presidents Bill Clinton, G. W. Bush, Barack Obama or Donald Trump, and are no longer part of the American political lexicon.

As a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and Ronald Reagan’s Vice President (from 1981-1988), President Bush was a committed drug warrior in the worst way, overseeing during his tenure as president the implementation of Reagan’s Just Say No drug war by dutifully rolling out mass drug testing, controversial civil forfeiture enforcement, enhanced policing and the ensuing swelling of prosecutions and incarcerations.

The Bush administration was responsible for the creation of the bloated and ineffective Office of National Drug Control Policy (a.k.a. the Drug Czar’s office), appointing as its first two directors the bombastic William Bennett (a.k.a. the Drug Bizarre) and former Florida Republican Gov. Richard Martinez. The Drug Czar’s office was (and still is) responsible for quarterbacking anti-marijuana propaganda, such as the DARE program in public schools, Partnership for Drug Free America campaigns and anti-drug non-profit organization funding.

As a former head of the CIA and Ronald Reagan’s Vice President from 1981-1988, President Bush was a committed drug warrior in the worst way.

Infamously, President Bush convened a live TV press conference in September 1989 where he held up for the cameras a small bag of crack cocaine, claiming that “drugs are so easily obtained in America that crack could be readily purchased at the park across from the White House.” However, the reality was that DEA agents lured a teenager away from their distant neighborhood specifically to set him up at Lafayette Square, the park directly across from the White House, purely for propaganda reasons (the 19-year-old user ultimately received a 10-year prison sentence for selling crack).

A frequent target of the federal government under Bush was High Times magazine, which, pre-Internet, was one of the only publishing outlets that focused on marijuana. In 1990, the DEA’s Operation Green Merchant accused High Times of being a conspirator to distribute Dutch cannabis seeds in the U.S. via advertisements. The case against High Times was ultimately dropped, but not before gutting the magazine of numerous cultivation advertisers, many whom were shut down and arrested. Another magazine, Sinsemilla Tips, did not survive Green Merchant.

Despite public and local political support at the state and local levels, Bush fought against any medical access for cannabis products for qualified patients with a doctor’s recommendation, most notably appealing the DEA’s slam dunk loss legally in the seminal court proceedings making the case for cannabis’ rescheduling, NORML vs. DEA, where the agency’s own chief administrative law judge, Francis Young, ruled conclusively that cannabis is a safe, effective and non-toxic herbal drug (“marijuana in its natural form is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man,” he wrote) and should be rescheduled in the Controlled Substances Act immediately. Jack Lawn, the DEA administrator who chose to ignore Young’s ruling, eventually become CEO of the Distilled Spirits Council, the alcohol lobby group in Washington, DC.

Instead of accepting defeat (and science), the Bush administration appealed Young’s ruling to the ultra-conservative DC Court of Appeals. In 1994, with Bush long out of office, marijuana law reformers lost the appeal in a 2-1 decision.

H.W. Bush’s Drug War Ultimately Led to Marijuana Law Reforms

Remarkably, while the War on Drugs reached new heights under Bush, a counterculture effort surrounding public interest in cannabis and the need for medical patients to have legal access—fueled by anger at the aggressive enforcement of cannabis prohibition laws as well as the scientific denial of marijuana’s safety and efficacy as a therapeutic drug—started to take shape when, in 1991, San Francisco voters passed Prop P, legalizing medical use in the city.

During Bush’s White House run from 1989-1992 (he lost his reelection bid to Bill Clinton in 1992), more than a dozen Democrat and Republican presidential wannabes—almost all Baby Boomers who’d partied during the ’60s and ’70s—admitted to having “experimented” with marijuana in their teen years and while in college. Bush’s son, George W., who would be elected president in the contested 2000 race, was among them (he’s used coke and pot). To wit: While Supreme Court Justice nominee and Harvard Law professor Douglas Ginsberg’s cannabis-use admission forced him to withdraw in 1987 (he was nominated by Reagan), Bush’s own Supreme Court nominee, Clarence Thomas’ similar revelation failed to derail his nomination two years later.

Due in part to the excesses of drug warring under Presidents Reagan and Bush, highly agitated and motivated marijuana law reformers thankfully started a slow but sure climb from the depths of cannabis prohibition.

By the end of the first Bush presidency, the “Internet,” a new and generation-changing form of communication and social organizing, was emerging. In the coming years, cannabis law reform organizations would maximize the use of this new communications and information medium to largely level the playing field against the government spending billions annually to enforce cannabis laws and oppose most marijuana law reforms. Email, electronic bulletin boards, chat rooms, webpages and RSS feeds—all immensely affordable to the average family—empowered non-profit drug reform organizations to ultimately counter government anti-marijuana misinformation and propaganda in ways that were not previously possible.

Importantly, this period gave rise to a core group of marijuana law reform organizations and individuals, such as NORML, Drug Policy Foundation, Marijuana Policy Project, Cannabis Action Network and High Times and extraordinary activists like Jack Herer, Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary. Consequently, due in part to the excesses of drug warring under Presidents Reagan and Bush, from this juncture forward in American history, highly agitated and motivated marijuana law reformers thankfully started a slow but sure climb from the depths of cannabis prohibition in the late ’80s to recreational legalization in several states by 2012.

Related Articles

Barack Obama: A Presidential Reefer Retrospective

“Just Say No” Nancy Reagan: Death of a Drug Warrior

Richard Nixon on the Drug War, Blacks, Hippies, Gays and Jews

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Utah: Lawmakers Seek to Replace Voter-Initiated Medical Marijuana Law

Utah lawmakers convened a special legislative session today to debate proposed replacement legislation to the state’s newly approved voter-initiated medical cannabis access law.

A majority of voters in November decided ‘yes’ on Proposition 2: The Utah Medical Cannabis Act. Legislators are now seeking to significantly curtail the law by replacing it with separate so-called ‘compromise’ legislation. Lawmakers announced in October their intent to amend the legislation, prior to its passage, after meetings with the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — who opposed the bill — and other groups, including some backers of the original bill.

The newly proposed legislation eliminates patients’ option to home cultivate medical marijuana, limits the pool of health professionals who can make medical cannabis recommendations, and imposes new restrictions on the number of medical cannabis providers and how they may operate, among other changes.

“Lawmakers should respect the will of state voters who decisively approved Proposition 2 as originally written,” stated NORML Executive Director Erik Altieri, “Utahns want a patient-centric, functioning medical marijuana program. To ensure this law will benefit those it is meant to serve, the state legislature should not add unnecessary restrictions. Patients deserve the right to cultivate their own medicine, doctors should be empowered to decide what is best for their patients, and there should be no undue hurdles to licensing dispensaries to provide cannabis related products in a retail environment.”

A separate legislative proposal backed by the Utah House Democratic Caucus seeks to make only minor administrative changes to The Utah Medical Cannabis Act, and does “not make any substantive changes to the proposition that Utah voters favorably passed.”

NORML has criticized efforts toward modifying the law, stating: “Rather than amending this voter-initiated proposition – and removing many of its key provisions – politicians should respect the will of the electorate and move swiftly to enact medical cannabis access in a manner that comports with both the spirit of the law and the letter of law.”

Utah voters can contact their elected officials by clicking here.

Source: http://blog.norml.org/2018/12/03/utah-lawmakers-seek-to-replace-voter-initiated-medical-marijuana-law/

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NORML Chapter Newsletter

Everyday NORML Chapters from around the country invest countless hours in advocating for meaningful marijuana law reforms on the local, state and federal level! Below is a brief rundown of some of their most recent accomplishments.

Members of  NORML Chapters in Missouri Host Community Discussion About Amendment 2

“MU NORML, the Mizzou chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, hosted a cannabis conference Saturday with Missouri NORML and Show-Me Cannabis.”

Read more from ABC 17!

Follow University of Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

NORML Leaders in the Media

Abner Brown, Executive Director, North Carolina NORML

“We’re going to set ourselves up for the best chance possible,” Brown said. “We’ve sent letters out and have contacted all of our elected officials in North Carolina, and those that were running, to get their responses about how they felt about cannabis reform.”

Read more from WSPA 7 News!

Follow North Carolina NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Alan Robinson, Communications Director, Madison NORML

Robinson could not be happier about Walker’s election defeat, since he historically has not supported legalizing marijuana and in May referred to it as a “gateway drug” during an interview on WISN-TV.

Read more from The Badger Herald!

Follow Madison NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Ali Nagib, Deputy Director, Illinois NORML

Nagib said regulations might include limits on the potency of marijuana. And he wonders whether the “number of licenses will be limited and if there’ll be something favoring small businesses.”

Read more from the Rockford Register Star!

Follow Illinois NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Chris Goldstein, Executive Director, South Philly NORML

“Goldstein, however, said the new bill is part of a blinkered mentality that will prevent the city from taking full advantage of the medical marijuana industry and, he claims, eventually full-scale legalization.”

Read more from WHYY Public Media!

Follow South Philly NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Andy Lee, Communications Director, NORML Canada

“A diverse cannabis sector will, ultimately, provide the most innovation, establish high-quality products and a better experience for consumers,”

Read more from The Province!

Follow NORML Canada on Facebook and become a member today!

Christeen Landino, Deputy Director, Michigan NORML

“Landino recalls getting busted for pot in 1968 and attending her first demonstration about marijuana in Detroit in 1974. That one was in support of a decriminalization effort that never made it to the ballot.”

Read more from the Detroit Metro Times!

Follow Michigan NORML on Facebook and Twitter and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“The measure will officially go into effect Dec. 6, according to Dan Viets, president of New Approach Missouri. But it could be as much as a year later before patients will have access to cannabis.”

Read more from KOMU 8!

Follow Missouri NORML on Facebook and become a member today!

Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“Prices will reflect the content of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetryhydrocannabinol (THC), both active compounds found in marijuana, said Dan Viets, president of Amendment 2’s campaign committee and president of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws Foundation, or the NORML Foundation.”

Read more from the Missourian!

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Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“‘Certification’ is the correct term,” Viets said. Doctors will provide patients with a document allowing marijuana use if the patient has been diagnosed with one or more of a list of diseases listed in the amendment.

Read more from Springfield News-Leader!

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Dan Viets, Executive Director, Missouri NORML

“Viets has been working with Missouri NORML to answer as many questions as possible about the new laws, and admits that there are still a few things that are still coming together but said they’re working to get everything in motion as quickly as possible.”

Read more from ABC 17 News!

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David Holland, Board Member, Empire State NORML

“National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) lawyer David Holland was recruited by Tesoriero to explain the impacts marijuana arrests can have on people.”

Read more from The New Paltz Oracle!

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David Phipps, Communications Director, Indiana NORML

“Some marijuana advocates downstate, meanwhile, think Michigan’s legalization could spur Hoosier legislators — maybe within the next year or two — to take action on the issue of medical marijuana, which has gradually gained attention over the last decade.”

Read more from News Bug!

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Doug Greene, Legislative Director, Empire State NORML

“New York — which already allows medical use of marijuana — will legalize its recreational use next year. He noted that the newly elected senators headed to Albany in January include a number of young progressives who will support legalization.”

Read more from Times Herald-Record!

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Eric Marsch, Executive Director, Southeastern Wisconsin NORML

“It’s clear that its popularity is overwhelming. It’s even more popular than many of the candidates who were elected in those areas.”

Read more from WISN 12 News!

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Eric Marsch, Executive Director, Southeastern Wisconsin NORML

“Both are very supportive of medical cannabis and open-minded on recreational cannabis,” Marsh said in an interview. “The close margin in those statewide races means they both owe their jobs to the hundreds of thousands of cannabis voters who came out to support the referendums.”

Read more from the Daily Cardinal!

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Jax Finkle, Executive Director, Texas NORML

“I don’t think that’s going to be a conversation this session,” Finkle told the Dallas Observer. “Texans like to consider themselves their own nation state. We like to do things our own way, and that means that [recreational legalization] will probably be later.”

Read more from Civilized!

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Kandice Hawes, Executive Director, Orange County NORML

“Hawes founded Orange County NORML in 2003 after losing her college financial aid due to a marijuana possession charge. OC NORML has been instrumental in getting recreational marijuana legalized in California, organizing the Medical Cannabis Conference for Seniors in Laguna Woods Village, and working to end the lengthy incarceration of nonviolent marijuana prisoners.”

Read more from The Indy!

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Luis Nakamoto, Executive Director, San Antonio NORML

“San Antonio NORML, the local chapter for reform on marijuana laws, is hopeful this go-around in terms of the next legislative session. State Senator Jose Menendez filed S.B. 90. He hopes to expand the Texas Compassionate Use Program.”

Read more from KENS 5!

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Madisen Saglibene, Executive Director, Nevada NORML

“It’s unlikely that President Trump’s new attorney general will spread reefer madness and misinformation to the same extent that Mr. Sessions has,”

Read more from the Las Vegas Review-Journal!

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Mary Krueger, Executive Director, Rochester NORML

“It’s already in our communities, kids are already getting it. When you regulate it, you take it out of the black market, you put it into a store and then you can go after the people who are giving it to kids.”

Read more from News 10 NBC!

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Mary Krueger, Executive Director, Rochester NORML

“She and other justice advocates urge lawmakers to vacate or seal records of low-level possession and sale charges brought in the past. They also push for people who are currently incarcerated for such crimes to be released or have their sentences reduced to time served.”

Read more from The River Reporter!

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Matthew Able, Executive Director, Michigan NORML

“I expect a rush on the grow stores in December because people are going to be getting lights and fans for Christmas.”

Read more from the Detroit Free Press!

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Matthew Able, Executive Director, Michigan NORML

“It has not been a smooth roll out on the part of the state,” Abel said. “You’d think Michigan would learn from other states — simple things, like license growers first.”

Read more from Revue!

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Michael Ford, Executive Director, Minnesota NORML

“Michael Ford and lifelong marijuana activist Oliver Steinberg, offers a moralistic wish list that includes home growing, release of nonviolent offenders, retroactive expungement, public consumption, and a purchasing age of 18.”

Read more from City Pages!

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Mya Smith, Board Member, Purdue NORML

“I have no doubt in my mind that it would become legal if they put it on a ballot.”

Read more from WLFI 18!

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Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“This isn’t done. Just because we passed legalization we have many more hurdles to accomplish. expungement is one, federal banking is one, criminal justice reform on the national scale.”

Read more from NBC 25 News!

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Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“A person who may have consumed cannabis several days ago might still test positive for the presence of cannabis,” said Thompson. “That does not indicate they were using their automobile in an impaired way.”

Read more from WSBT 22!

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Rick Thompson, Board Member, Michigan NORML

“It was very predictable that this would happen and just underscores that there needs to be a change in federal law.”

Read more from the Detroit Free Press!

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Pam Dyer, Executive Director, Eastern Washington Women of NORML

“Dyer says consuming raw cannabis has also relieved a friend’s rheumatoid arthritis symptoms. While she doesn’t get high from eating the leaves and stems, Dyer does say that she has to reduce how much cannabis she ingests through other methods.”

Read more from The Spokesman-Review!

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Paul Kirchberg, Executive Director, Connecticut NORML

“We know it’s safer than alcohol,” he said “If we can honestly have an open conversation about cannabis, we can realize that right now there are 30,000 people in Connecticut who are living proof that it’s not something to fear. Adult consumption, however, requires a certain level of responsibility.”

Read more from the Connecticut Post!

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For more than 45 years NORML chapters have been the driving force behind policy decisions on the local and state level. Have you connected with your local NORML chapter? If there isn’t one in your community, please email NORML Outreach Director Kevin Mahmalji at KevinM@NORML.org for help with starting your own!

Ready to start a NORML chapter in your hometown? Click here to find out how!

Source: http://blog.norml.org/2018/12/01/norml-chapter-newsletter-6/

NORML Chapter Newsletter Find more on: The Giggles N Dimples Blog

source https://gigglesndimples.com/2018/12/02/norml-chapter-newsletter-6/