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Blowing Smoke: Obama Promises One Thing, Does Another on Medical Marijuana
April 12, 2011 – That familiar odor wafting from San Francisco street corners, storefronts, and the neighborhood growhouse? It’s the smell of legality. Medical cannabis is the law of the land in California, 14 other states, and the District of Columbia. Yet, as many marijuana users will tell you, protection under state law hasn’t guaranteed…
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Health Insurers Not Receptive to Medical Marijuana
April 7, 2011 – PHOENIX — Most health insurance companies are not willing to talk about medical marijuana, although it’s licensed in some form in 14 states, with Arizona becoming the 15th next week. Medical marijuana has been controversial from the beginning and that hasn’t changed. Several major insurers — Aetna, Humana, Cigna, Health Net…
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New Jersey Medical Marijuana Dispensaries have Strong Ties to Traditional Medicine
TRENTON — The aspirations of New Jersey’s first medical marijuana businesses range from modest to potentially massive, but marijuana advocates say the state’s startup dispensaries have stronger ties to traditional medicine than most — and an unusual number of politically connected people involved in them. Last month, the state issued licenses for its first six…
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Medical Marijuana Industry Rapidly Grows Mainstream
WASHINGTON — The medical marijuana industry is beginning to show its age. After humble California beginnings in 1996, 15 states and the District of Columbia now have legalized marijuana use for ill patients who have a doctor’s recommendation. Medical marijuana has been found to help with chronic pain, nausea and other symptoms of diseases including…
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Delaware Senate Approves Use of Medical Marijuana
OVER — The Delaware Senate approved legalizing marijuana for limited medical purposes Thursday, despite reservations from some supporters who indicated the legislation has flaws. The bill would decriminalize parts of the state’s drug laws and allow adults with debilitating diseases such as HIV or cancer to get permission from their doctors to purchase marijuana from…
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Montana: Senate Endorses Full Repeal Of Medical Marijuana
HELENA, Mont. — Senators endorsed a bill repealing medical marijuana shortly after 6 p.m. Thursday by a vote of 29-21. It needs one more, mostly procedural, vote to clear the chamber. The Senate began arguing the repeal after a last minute push got HB 161 to the Senate floor by a one-vote margin. Democrats say…
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In the Heart of D.C., Pot Industry Pleads its Case
March 31, 2011 – The government should recognize the cannabis industry as a legitimate American industry and stop putting roadblocks in the way of a legal medical cannabis market projected at a total $1.7 billion in 2011, leaders of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) told a Washington briefing Wednesday. “It is time for the…
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Politics Ignoring Science: Federal Agency Recognizes Therapeutic Benefit of Medical Marijuana While 9-Year-Old Petition to Reclassify the Plant Gathers Dust
March 30, 2011 – The federal government has maintained for decades, even over the objections of its own Administrative Law Judges, that marijuana (cannabis) is a dangerous drug with no medical value. However, something happened in March to draw attention not only to evidence of marijuana’s beneficial effect on people living with cancer, but also…
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Where are All the Marijuana Millionaires?
March 29, 2011 – FORT COLLINS, Colo. — When Drew Brown first opened Abundant Healing, a medical marijuana dispensary that serves nearly 300 patients, he dreamed of early retirement to Costa Rica, where he would spend his days as a beach bum renting surfboards to tourists. Then came a regulatory crackdown. Fifteen months later, Brown’s…