In the late 1980s, during the age of "Just Say No," Alabama lawmakers passed a bill placing a tax on illegal drugs such as marijuana - complete with a little green stamp to show the tax had been paid. Charles Crumbley, director of the Investigations Division at the State Department of Revenue, said the stamps have never been popular. "We didn't sell a lot because drug dealers really don't want to do that," he said. What they did allow the state to do, however, was add tax penalties onto the list of charges brought against drug dealers. But court rulings took even that ability away from state tax officials. [continues 417 words]
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Swann family moved from Alabama to Colorado last fall to try save their daughter's life with marijuana. It appears to have worked. And in the process, the Swanns and others like them have changed laws across the country so more children can have the same chance. Four teen-year-old Allie Swann was having up to 100 seizures per day that years of treatments, including surgery to remove part of her brain, and debilitating drugs had not helped. [continues 740 words]
Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says he thinks the federal government should legalize marijuana. The 94- year-old retired justice tells NPR that public opinion has changed on the issue. Stevens also says that there isn't much distinction between marijuana and alcoholic beverages. He says that the prohibition against alcohol in the early 20th century is generally thought not to have been worth the cost and that he believes that will be how marijuana is viewed in the future. Stevens is the author of a new book, Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution, in which he proposes banning capital punishment and limiting gun rights. NPR will air its interview with Stevens on the program Weekend Edition Saturday. [end]
MONTGOMERY - The Alabama Senate voted 34- 0 Tuesday in favor of a medical study that would allow some people with epilepsy to have access to a cannabis-derived medicine. Despite the unanimous vote, the Legislature doesn't appear likely to approve the use of other forms of medical marijuana any time soon. "The regular kind, with the THC, I am not in support of," said Sen. Paul Sanford, R- Huntsville. Sanford is the sponsor of a bill called "Carly's Law" which would set up a five-year study, through the University of Alabama at Birmingham, in which the university would treat some patients who have severe epileptic seizures with cannabidiol, an oil derived from marijuana plants. The oil doesn't have the psychoactive effects people associate with marijuana, Sanford said. [continues 569 words]
MONTGOMERY (AP) - Dustin Chandler said his 2- year-old daughter Carly has three to five seizures each day from a severe neurological condition she has battled since infancy. Prescribed medications have done nothing to help, he said. Her best treatment, he believes, could be a marijuana plant extract called cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil, and there is anecdotal evidence that suggests the oil is effective in treating seizure disorders. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 8- 3 to approve a bill aimed at allowing people to possess the oil if they have certain medical conditions. [continues 66 words]
Re "'Reefer Madness,' revisited" (Phillip Tutor column, Jan. 2): Star commentary editor Phillip Tutor is correct pointing out that "tobacco isn't marijuana. Marijuana isn't meth. Alcohol (a drug, by my definition) isn't cocaine." In fact, cannabis is safer than all those substances, although the government labels cannabis as a Schedule I substance alongside heroin, while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. Cigarettes kill more than 1,000 Americans daily. In more than 5,000 years of documented use, the God-given plant (see the first page of the Bible) cannabis hasn't killed one person. That's safety on a biblical scale. A sane reason to continue cannabis prohibition doesn't exist. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Legal Marijuana Isn't 'Public Enemy Number One,' But It Is Complicated A premise: Never in American history has the hypocrisy of the nation's stance on substances that affect our behavior been so apparent as it was Wednesday morning. Two days ago, untold numbers awoke with the mother of all hangovers, expected but unwelcomed remnants of their alcohol-fueled New Year's Eve revelry. It had the news value of another sunrise. That same morning, people in Colorado lined up, in the cold and snow, to be the first to legally buy marijuana for recreational use in this country. Unlike our Jan. 1 hangover epidemic, the pot sales drew national media attention. Which example bothers you more? Alcohol affects people - their bodies, their moods, their behaviors, their lives. It creates "mean" drunks and "sloppy" drunks. It's embedded in criminal statistics. When overused, it destroys families and marriages and, at its worst, it kills. But it is legal and socially acceptable in most circles. [continues 617 words]
MONTGOMERY - At some point during last spring's legislative session, the Medical Association of the State of Alabama conducted a survey of physicians on their attitudes toward medical marijuana, apparently at the request of the House Health Committee That much is agreed on between MASA and medical marijuana advocates. They differ on what that survey showed. Over the last week, medical marijuana advocates have been carpet-bombing officials with MASA and the state with form emails urging the release of the survey, which to date has not been publicly released. [continues 502 words]
At last, we can celebrate a couple of breakthroughs in the quest for equal justice in America. When Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Aug. 12 that he was instructing federal prosecutors to no longer seek mandatory minimum sentences in some nonviolent drug offense cases, it marked a huge step forward. "Too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason," Holder told the American Bar Association in San Francisco. Holder's announcement is really about the failure of the so-called War on Drugs. Since the 1970s, it has needlessly destroyed many lives and ravished whole communities. The federal prison population alone has expanded by 500 percent, according to the Sentencing Project. The overall prison population now exceeds 1.5 million. [continues 146 words]
CHICAGO- After months of keeping his decision-making close to the vest, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is set to sign legislation Thursday that will make the state the 20th in the nation to legalize marijuana for medical use. The bill creates a framework for a pilot program that includes requiring patients and caregivers to undergo background checks. It also sets a 2.5ounce limit per patient per purchase and sets out state-regulated dispensaries. After it's signed, the law takes effect Jan. 1. Currently 19 other states and Washington, D.C., allow medical marijuana. [end]
SEATTLE - Marijuana growing is not a green industry. Done mostly indoors, pot production often uses hospital-intensity lamps, air conditioning, dehumidifiers, fans and carbon dioxide generators to stimulate plants and boost their potency. The power-hungry crops rival data centers or server farms in intense use of electricity, according to a peerreviewed study last year in the journal Energy Policy. One kilo, or 2.2 pounds, of pot grown indoors, the study says, leaves a carbon footprint equivalent to driving across the country seven times. Producing one joint is equivalent to leaving a light bulb on for 25 hours. [continues 1154 words]
Rep. K.L. Brown to Continue Working to Regulate 'Pre-Need' Funeral Packages Every year, Rep. Koven L. Brown, RJacksonville, introduces at least one bill intended to crack down on problems he sees in the funeral industry. It's a topic Brown, the namesake of K. L. Brown Funeral Home in Jacksonville, knows well. But it's not always easy to sell those bills to others in the Legislature. Earlier this month, a House commit tee failed to approve a Brown-sponsored bill that would regulate "pre- need" funeral packages - packages that funeral homes sell to customers years before their death, and sometimes fail to deliver on when the time comes. It was the second year Brown's bill got shot down. [continues 415 words]
Some Cleburne County parents are calling on their local school board to release a recently hired third-grade teacher who has a misdemeanor drug offense on his record. At a Cleburne County School board meeting Monday, parents told the board that it has a responsibility to select quality employees to teach children and that, in their view, it had recently failed to do so. One month earlier, the board selected Frederick M. Berry, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree possession of marijuana in August 2007, to serve as a third-grade teacher at Cleburne County Elementary School. [continues 963 words]
If the U.S. Congress was smart, it would jump on legalizing the marijuana plant and start two profitable businesses that could give a boost to our economy instead of a boost to China's and the cartels' economy. One business opportunity could be producing industrial hemp like we used to do. Hemp is a certain strain of the marijuana plant that has a low content of tetrahydrocannabinaol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Hemp is grown for industrial purposes such as making paper, textiles and biodegradable plastics, and it is environmentally friendly, as it requires few pesticides and no herbicides. Hemp can also be used to produce bio-diesel fuel. [continues 133 words]
Re "Be wary of marijuana talk" (Speak Out letter, Feb. 8): I'm writing about the not-so-thoughtful letter from Speak Out writer Judy Lovejoy Elliott. There was no mention in her letter as to why adult citizens should be subject to arrest and jailed for growing or using a natural herb that has never killed a single person in the 5,000-year history of its use. How about no jail time for crimes that should not be crimes? [continues 74 words]
Re "Be wary of marijuana talk" (Speak Out, Feb. 8): That all the seed-bearing plants are good is so clear that there is little room for "interpretation" to "disagree" with it. Speak Out letter writer Judy Lovejoy Elliott's disagreement isn't with me but rather God. That it is told on literally the very first page of the Bible is no accident. Who is twisting words? It seems Elliott is using Scripture to support caging humans for using a God-given plant - a plant that hasn't "kill"(ed) anyone in more than 5,000 documented years of usage. That's safety on a biblical scale. [continues 55 words]
Supporters of a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Alabama are tweaking the legislation to make it more palatable to lawmakers. The changes may not be enough to address local law enforcement concerns, however. Rep. K.L. Brown, R-Jacksonville, filed a bill this legislative session to legalize marijuana for medicinal uses only. The Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition, which composed the bill, is working on amendments to address concerns from other lawmakers. One amendment would add a 5 percent tax to medical marijuana sales that would be distributed to city and county law enforcement agencies in the state to combat the trafficking and production of illegal drugs. Another would define the relationship between patients and doctors to curb possible abuse of the system. [continues 954 words]
Don't "throw the baby out with the bathwater" in regards to medical marijuana in Alabama. Educated discussions and debates should continue as we move past the need to call it "pot." State Rep. K.L. Brown, R-Jacksonville, sponsors HB66, and Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, sponsors HB25. Each bill allows regulated medicinal marijuana to qualified patients who have a recommendation from a doctor. Republicans and Democrats can work together to pass comprehensive legislation. Medical conditions this pertains to include cancer, HIV/AIDS, cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder and others. Traditional medicines are not always effective for these conditions; in many cases, not at all. Disabled and terminally ill patients are prone to insufficient treatment and a diminished quality of life. Appropriate marijuana use offers treatment with limited side effects. Marijuana has fewer and less severe side effects than many anti-pain and anti-anxiety medicines. There have been no fatalities directly associated with marijuana, and there are methods of intake other than smoking, including salves and tinctures. The bills specify cultivation and distribution, laboratory testing and monitored services to limit abuse. Jobs would be created. Importantly, there would be legal protections for physicians and patients who choose legitimate means of health and recovery with marijuana. Evan Haarbauer Vestavia Hills [end]
Re "Marijuana and the Bible" (Speak Out, Jan. 30): My husband and I attended a conference Jan. 28 at Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church in Milner, Ga., where Dr. James Merritt was the guest speaker. He spoke, mostly to church leaders and preachers, on II Timothy 4:1-5, where Paul warns Timothy, "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (verses 3 and 4, NIV). [continues 214 words]
I strongly support the Medical Marijuana Patients' Rights Act (HB66) in the Alabama Legislature. I am a chronic pain patient and have tried all the strong drugs such as oxycontin, morphine, hydrocodone, valium and soma. Not to mention I've had 10 epidural injections and 12 nerve block injections. Nothing has helped, and I wish I had an alternative such as medical marijuana to try to ease the pain and suffering I live with daily. Not many people know what is feels like to hurt so bad you wish you were somebody else. I urge everyone to talk to politicians, business leaders, clergy, friends and family to try and get this bill passed this year to help so many like me who are tired of being in pain every minute of every day. Thank you, and God bless those of us who are suffering. Greg Phillips Oxford [end]
