WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2012 — Nation’s Emergency Physicians Press for Legislation and Warn: Educate Children Now Before It’s Too Late

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The nation’s emergency physicians are seeing an alarming increase in the amount of patients being treated in emergency departments for synthetic (or chemically enhanced) drug use. For example, in 2010, there were a little fewer than 2,900 calls to poison control centers regarding synthetic marijuana exposure.  That number nearly doubled in the first 8 months of 2011. 

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100616/DC22034LOGO-d)

“As emergency physicians, we witness first-hand how these dangerous synthetic drugs are harming users,” said Dr. David Seaberg, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).  “These products contain chemicals that imitate the hallucinogenic or stimulant properties of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and methamphetamine, which can create severe paranoia that may cause users to harm themselves or others.”

One of the major concerns involves the use of so-called “bath salts.”  Dr. Seaberg said to make no mistake, these are not actually bath salts or any type of bath products.  Their only known purpose is for consumption as a recreational drug.  These drugs are intentionally mislabeled by their manufacturers as “bath salts,” “plant food,” “air freshener,” etc. in order to trick the purchaser into thinking the drugs are mild or innocuous.  In 2010, there were about 300 calls to poison control centers related specifically to bath salts.  In the first 8 months

Article source: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/08/4248393/synthetic-drug-use-on-dramatic.html

With neighboring Vermont and Maine now allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana to their sick patients, a new bill with the same goal is afoot in New Hampshire. But it has an uphill battle as  recent similar proposals have failed before.  We’ll get the latest on the discussion here, and see how Maine and Vermont are doing, since medical marijuana was approved. 

Guests

• Tom Reid - Deputy County Attorney in Rockingham County.
• Matt Simon - Legislative Analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, a national organization that promotes reform of marijuana laws.

We’ll also hear from

• John Richardson - statehouse reporter for the Portland Press Herald of Maine.
• Ken Picard - staff writer for Seven Days, a weekly newspaper out of Burlington, Vermont.
• TBA

Article source: http://www.nhpr.org/post/medical-marijuana-heats-again-nh

Municipal meetings

All meetings are held at Lincolnville Central School unless otherwise noted.

The conservation commission meets Monday, Jan. 23 at 4 p.m. at the Lincolnville Improvement Association building.

Also on Monday, at 6 p.m., the planning board holds a public hearing on medical marijuana dispensaries, methadone clinics and home occupations, all issues to be decided at a special town meeting on Feb. 13.

At 6:15 p.m. the same night, the selectmen hold their regularly scheduled meeting.

The budget committee meets Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m.

Also at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the wage personnel committee meets at the town office.

And at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the lakes ponds committee meets.

The planning board meets at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25.

School

Due to some strange computer glitch the school newsletter came through this week in html code, whatever that is. I can tell you it’s unreadable. So I went to the online version of the newsletter, which can be found at lcs.lincolnville.K12.me.us. This time it’s in English, but all the children are identified by first name and last name initial only.

So I can tell you that Clara M. won the 2012 LCS Spelling Bee, held last week in Walsh Common, by correctly spelling “animation”. Eavan S. was the runner-up. Both girls will compete in the Waldo County Spelling Bee. Other participants were Jet M., Ade M., Jessica R., Abi D., Kyle W., Sophia C., and Dan L. I’ll try to get their whole names by next week!

Rehearsals have begun for upcoming school musical “Oz!”

Article source: http://knox.villagesoup.com/place/story/lincolnville-news/479499

A plan for a medical marijuana dispensary in Brewer is moving ahead following planning board approval.

The planning board yesterday voted 5-2 to approve the 3,200-square-foot clinic on Dirigo Drive, near the CancerCare of Maine center, according to the Bangor Daily News. Wellness Connection of Maine, formerly Northeast Patients Group, in December submitted its site plan for the clinic, expected to open in a month. Planning board members voiced concerns over requirements for employees and delivery drivers, as well as marijuana’s illegal status on a federal level. In 2010, however, the state approved expanding its medical marijuana law to establish dispensaries run by nonprofits.

Wellness Connection of Maine earned licenses to operate four of the state’s eight dispensaries. It already operates a dispensary and growing operation in Thomaston, and opened its Hallowell dispensary in January. A Portland dispensary is still under way.

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Article source: http://www.mainebiz.biz/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120207/NEWS0101/120209971

By Diane O’Brien

ragrugs@midcoast.com

789-5987

Municipal meetings

All meetings are held at Lincolnville Central School unless otherwise noted.

A special town meeting will be held Monday, Feb. 13 at 6 p.m. in Walsh Common.

That same night, the selectmen will meet in their regular room, B-5, at 6:15 p.m. or whenever the town meeting ends.

The budget committee meets both Tuesday, Feb. 14 and Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. to consider budget requests from provider agencies and other groups.

Town meeting

Article 4 of next week’s special town meeting asks voters to transfer and appropriate $95,000 from the Capital Investment Reserve account to the Municipal Building Committee amount. These funds will allow the building committee to commission a preliminary design for a new town office, to get environmental permitting in place for a septic system, and to map the town-owned wetlands, all in preparation for a November vote on the building.

Other items include allowing selectmen to negotiate a lease of the Dean Eugley land to the Historical Society, an ordinance to regulate medical marijuana and methadone clinics in town, an amendment to the Home Occupations part of the land use ordinance, and authorizing the sale of a tax-acquired property on South Cobbtown road (Map 29 Lot 25). Details of the above articles can be read at the town office or on the town’s website, town.lincolnville.me.us.

School

Congratulations to January’s students of the month: kindergarten: Gracie Moody; first grade: Lucy Cohen and Jack Miller; second grade: Tyler Lanphier; third grade: Ruby Cohen and Lydia Thompson; fourth grade: Natalie O’Neil

Article source: http://waldo.villagesoup.com/member/story/lincolnville-town-news/483242

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By JEFF BARNARD

The Associated Press

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. — When police knocked on Josh Brewer’s door to check for marijuana, even one of the nation’s most liberal medical marijuana laws was put to the test.

This April 21, 2011 photos shows marijuana growing in the home of two medical marijuana patients in Medford, Ore. The definition of just what state medical marijuana has to be in to count against the Oregon limit of 1.5 pounds per person has led to the reversal of drug convictions for an Oregon medical marijuana cardholder. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

This April 27, 2011 file photo shows volunteers trimming buds from medical marijuana grown on The Farm, a cooperative in Jacksonville, Ore. The legal definition of just what state marijuana has to be in to count towards the 1.5-pound limit set by Oregon’s medical marijuana law has resulted in reversal of drug convictions against Josh Brewer of Rogue River, Ore. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

Josh Brewer poses Jan. 27, 2012 at his home in Rogue River, Ore., with a marijuana seedling he will be planting now that his conviction for exceeding the amount of pot allowed for medical use has been reversed. The state Attorney General’s Office conceded in an appeal that marijuana hanging

Article source: http://www.ajc.com/business/new-debate-when-is-1328254.html

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. — When police knocked on Josh Brewer’s door to check for marijuana, even one of the nation’s most liberal medical marijuana laws was put to the test.

Officers were fine with the two pounds 10 ounces he and a cousin had grown, harvested, and processed. That was under the pound and a half each allowed by law. And they didn’t care about the 12 plants – six each – growing in the backyard. Also legal.

But after they discovered the additional two pounds 11 ounces drying on coat hangers suspended from the ceiling in the living room, officers arrested Brewer, sparking a legal battle over what was enough – in the maximum sense – for medical use, and what crossed the line into the potential for illegal sales.

After all, even 1.5 pounds by one measure would equal 1,200 joints.

A motion to dismiss the case because the drying marijuana was not “usable” under Oregon law was turned down by a judge. Brewer served 60 days in jail and received three years of probation, putting him back on conventional pain pills for a wrist he said he injured in a construction accident.

But Brewer, 24, beat the rap and has already started a new pot garden after the state attorney general’s office conceded last week that, based on a 2007 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling, the marijuana still drying on coat hangers did not qualify as ready for use.

“Without the hanging marijuana, there is no evidence that defendant possessed more than

Article source: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/02/02/2008979/new-debate-when-is-medical-marijuana.html

Officers were fine with the two pounds 10 ounces he and a cousin had grown, harvested, and processed. That was under the pound and a half each allowed by law. And they didn’t care about the 12 plants — six each — growing in the backyard. Also legal.

But after they discovered the additional two pounds 11 ounces drying on coat hangers suspended from the ceiling in the living room, officers arrested Brewer, sparking a legal battle over what was enough — in the maximum sense — for medical use, and what crossed the line into the potential for illegal sales.

After all, even 1.5 pounds by one measure would equal 1,200 joints.

A motion to dismiss the case because the drying marijuana was not “usable” under Oregon law was turned down by a judge. Brewer served 60 days in jail and received three years of probation, putting him back on conventional pain pills for a wrist he said he injured in a construction accident.

But Brewer, 24, beat the rap and has already started a new pot garden after the state attorney general’s office conceded last week that, based on a 2007 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling, the marijuana still drying on coat hangers did not qualify as ready for use.

“Without the hanging marijuana, there is no evidence that defendant possessed more than the lawful amount of ‘useable marijuana,’” said the state brief on Brewer’s appeal.

The case

Article source: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2012-02-02/New-debate-When-is-medical-marijuana-usable/52927566/1

ROGUE RIVER, Ore. –  When police knocked on Josh Brewer’s door to check for marijuana, even one of the nation’s most liberal medical marijuana laws was put to the test.

Officers were fine with the two pounds 10 ounces he and a cousin had grown, harvested, and processed. That was under the pound and a half each allowed by law. And they didn’t care about the 12 plants — six each — growing in the backyard. Also legal.

But after they discovered the additional two pounds 11 ounces drying on coat hangers suspended from the ceiling in the living room, officers arrested Brewer, sparking a legal battle over what was enough — in the maximum sense — for medical use, and what crossed the line into the potential for illegal sales.

After all, even 1.5 pounds by one measure would equal 1,200 joints.

A motion to dismiss the case because the drying marijuana was not “usable” under Oregon law was turned down by a judge. Brewer served 60 days in jail and received three years of probation, putting him back on conventional pain pills for a wrist he said he injured in a construction accident.

But Brewer, 24, beat the rap and has already started a new pot garden after the state attorney general’s office conceded last week that, based on a 2007 Oregon Court of Appeals ruling, the marijuana still drying on coat hangers did not qualify as ready for use.

“Without the hanging marijuana, there is

Article source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/02/new-debate-when-is-medical-marijuana-usable/

(NECN: Amy Sinclair, Maine) – It was the first annual cannabis education day in Maine on Wednesday.

Growers, dispensary operators and patients headed to the State Capitol in Augusta to tell lawmakers what’s working and what’s not.

Two years after Maine voters approved a medical marijuana initiative, six discreet-looking dispensaries, including the Wellness Connection in Hallowell, are providing medical marijuana to more than 2400 patients.

Having access to the plant has made a world of difference to injured Iraq war veteran Ryan Begin.

“I’ve had over 35 surgeries on my elbow and been on every pill you can imagine,” said Begin.

He said marijuana has helped the most and, according to the medical marijuana caregivers gathered at the state Capitol, the fledging program has also helped the state’s economy.

“Our message is really thank you for passing lD 1296,” said Paul McCarrier with medical marijuana caregivers of Maine, “because of that they’ve created 770 jobs in this state.”

The law has already been amended once. Medical marijuana patients are no longer required to register with state and growers don’t have to be subjected to state inspection, but both growers and patients say the changes don’t go far enough.

Right now, so-called caregivers are only allowed to grow for five patients apiece and they can’t sell any extra crop.

“If we have a good crop we have no way to transfer that to dispensary and still be compensated which is a problem because dispensaries are short of product,” said Jacob McClure, a caregiver/grower.

And the dispensaries complain they’re

Article source: http://www.necn.com/02/01/12/First-annual-cannabis-education-day-in-M/landing_health.html?blockID=642920&feedID=4210