Tag: marijuana

AMERICA WANTS MARIJUANA REFORM. CONGRESS SHOULDN’T STAND IN THE WAY.

Marijuana legalization was a clear winner in the November election, as one in three Americans will now live in a state with legal marijuana. In red states like Montana and South Dakota; swing states like Arizona; and blue states like New Jersey, marijuana legalization ballot measures were extremely successful, in many cases at levels approaching supermajorities. In every single one of these states–from red to blue, east to west, urban to rural–marijuana legalization far outperformed the states’ Democratic tickets. 

In my state of California, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 64 in 2016, which legalized marijuana use. Following its passage, marijuana arrests decreased by 56%, demonstrating the power decriminalization has to curb mass incarceration.

None of this should come as a surprise. We knew the popularity of marijuana legalization and the MORE Act long before November 3rd. Support for these policies has been steadily rising since the 1970s. This summer, polling from Data for Progress and the Justice Collaborative Institute found that when asked about its specific provisions, 59 percent of voters, including a majority of Republicans, support the MORE Act.

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Why medical marijuana in Pennsylvania is some of the most costly in the U.S.

Cannabis is most often sold in eighths of an ounce, which can be rolled into about seven joints. An eighth of Gorilla Glue 4 marijuana sells for $35 in California. It’s $40 in Maine. It costs $58 in Pennsylvania.

In Colorado, a full ounce of average weed often sells to consumers for $190. In Pennsylvania, the price is closer to $500. Some especially rapacious growers charge $600.

“The patient community is always outraged about the prices,” said Luke Shultz, a member of the state’s medical marijuana advisory board. “I’m not sure where the price should be. But we’d sure like to see it lower.”

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COVID-19 Vaccine Approved In Under a Year As Gov’t Keeps Cannabis Schedule 1 Drug

Because they work on the front lines, healthcare workers are eligible to skip to the front of the line to receive the jab of the vaccine that was developed in record time. However, despite assurances from vaccine makers and their revolving door friends in the Food and Drug Administration, many of these front line workers are leery of this rushed product.

“I think I would take the vaccine later on, but right now I am a little leery of it,” nurse Yolanda Dodson, 55, who works at the Montefiore Hospital in New York City and spent the spring in the heart of the deadly fight against the virus told AFP.

“Vaccine studies so far “look promising but I don’t think there is enough data yet,” Dodson said.

“This is a vaccine that was developed in less than a year and approved under the same administration and government agencies that allowed the virus to spread like a wildfire,” Diana Torres, a nurse at a Manhattan hospital who saw several of her co-workers die of the virus this spring, said.

“They didn’t have enough time and people to study the vaccine,” she said. “This time around I will pass and watch how it unfolds.”

“They failed miserably with PPE (personal protective equipment) and testing and now they want you to be guinea pigs for the vaccine,” Torres friend added.

These are front line health care workers, experiencing the pandemic every day of their lives, and yet they remain skeptical — and rightfully so.

What’s more, the government’s selective approval process has been less than stellar given the opioid epidemic, and the millions of people harmed by FDA-approved medications. Highlighting the lapse in their judgement is the fact that as the government fast tracks this vaccine to market, cannabis — that has never killed a single person and has been around as long as we have — remains classified as follows:

a drug with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.

Seems legit.

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