The poll found super majority support for medical marijuana in New York across the board. Every age range, partisan group, income bracket, ethnicity, and region overwhelmingly thinks sick people should be allowed to use medical marijuana if their physician believes it would help them. There is effectively no significant group in the state that opposes it.

It is a rare issue with complete bipartisan support. The poll found 81 percent of Democrats and 81 percent of Republicans think medical marijuana should be legal.

Currently, there are proposed bills pending in both the Assembly (A06357) and Senate (S04406) to adopt medical marijuana. If the legislature actually listens to the will of the electorate they would approve the bills.

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Medical Marijuana

The bill would create a medical marijuana pilot program in the state for the next four years. People with a specific list of serious medical conditions will be able register with the Department of Public Health as medical marijuana patients with their doctor’s recommendation. These patients would be allowed to possesses up to 2.5 ounces.

The qualified patients would be able to obtain medical marijuana from a system of dispensaries that would be established. The bill would limit the maximum number of dispensaries to 60. Patients would not be allowed to grow their own.

The bill now head to Gov. Pat Quinn (D) for his signature. While Quinn has not officially taken a position on the bill yet his statements seem to indicate he will likely sign it.

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The draft rules cover everything from the requirements to obtain a license to grow commercially, what level of security is needed for a marijuana businesses, what type of photo ID’s will be accepted at marijuana stores, to even how to properly dispose of unused parts of marijuana.

Not surprisingly, the proposed regulations in Washington a similar to those recommended by the Colorado task force for implementation of their own new marijuana law.

The parts of the draft rules I think regular people will find most interesting is the regulations that will most impact normal consumers.

The WSLCB has decided what information must be contained on the label for a package of marijuana. Every package will be required to contain a warning, the name of the business, lot number, the concentration of the cannabinoids, the statement “this product is unlawful outside of Washington,” date of harvest and the Washington State marijuana license logo. A sample label provided by the WSLCB is pictured in the article.

All marijuana producers will be required to disclose in writing all pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides in their growing operation. Marijuana can be labeled as organic but only if certified by the state Department of Agriculture.

The WSLCB will require a slightly different label for marijuana-infused products. It decided a “single serving” of marijuana should be 10 milligrams of THC and no marijuana-infused product should contain more than ten servings.

These basic labels may end up serving as a national model. It is likely, as other states legalize marijuana, they will copy much of the regulations being created right now in Washington State and Colorado.

Despite public support for marijuana legalization being higher than ever before, the Obama Administration under Holder’s leadership has beenworse than any other recent president when it comes to the issue of medical marijuana.

It is a rare and amazing thing to see a member of Congress directly confront the individual technically responsible for carrying out the War on Drugs with the facts about what a failed policy it has proven to be.

Cohen provides one of the best and concise arguments for ending marijuana prohibition heard in Congress. It is worth sharing.

The small study contained 21 patients who suffered from the disease who didn’t respond to the traditional therapy options. Half the patients were given marijuana joints that contained THC. The control group was given placebo marijuana joints that had the THC removed.

According to the authors, “Although the primary endpoint of the study (induction of remission) was not achieved, a short course (8 week) of THC-rich cannabis produced significant clinical, steroid-free benefits to 11 patients with active CD, compared to placebo, without side effects.”

This is just the latest study to show medical marijuana could be beneficial for a range of conditions.

While many states have medical marijuana laws it is still technically illegal under federal law. Federal law list marijuana as Schedule I, meaning it has no accepted medical use. While the Obama administration has the power to unilaterally reschedule marijuana it has actively fought against the change.

In a true Kafkaesque twist the Obama administration claims there is not enough qualified research to justify rescheduling marijuana, but that is in large part due to the fact that the administration continues to work to make it nearly impossible for American scientists to do research of marijuana potential benefits.

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Among partisan groups support for marijuana legalization was actually highest among Independents with 72 percent in support. By comparison 61 percent of Democrats support marijuana legalization and only 41 percent of Republicans. This would seem to indicate that endorsing marijuana reform would be a smart political move for candidates by helping them appeal to the Independent voters since this group often decides elections.

This is now the second poll this year to show that a majority of voters in Arizona are ready to back significant changes to marijuana laws.

In January Public Policy Polling did a survey of Arizona for the National Voice for the Cannabis Industry. While the wording of its poll was slightly different it found that 59 percent would support a ballot initiative to have “marijuana be regulated in a manner similar to alcohol and sold to adults 21 years of age or older.”

Assuming more polling confirms these results Arizona could potentially end up as a target for a marijuana ballot initiative in one of the upcoming elections.

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HB 1317 creates the backbone for most the new regulations by expanding the medical marijuana enforcement division to control all legal marijuana. Current medical marijuana dispensaries would have the first chance to apply to become recreational marijuana retailers. Among the many regulations are a requirement that all marijuana business owner be residents of the state, also all marijuana sold must be placed in sealed nontransparent packages and it prohibits marijuana retailers from also selling alcohol. Residents will be able to buy up to the full limit of one ounce of marijuana, but non-residents will only be allowed to buy a quarter ounce at a time.

HB 1318 would establish new marijuana taxes. It would impose a 10 percent sales tax on retail marijuana and 15 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana. Under Colorado law these tax increases must first go on the ballot to be approved by the voters of the state.

The legislature also approved a bill governing industrial hemp and a new marijuana DUI bill that sets a limit 5 nanograms THC per milliliter in blood.

All of the newly approved bills now go to Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) for his signature.

This is the first big step in what will be an ever evolving process. Like all other regulations, expect these to be continuously modified by the legislature in the coming years to adjust to what is and is not working in the new system. It is likely these laws will also serve as a blueprint for other states when they eventually legalize marijuana.

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The bill was previously approved by the House but it was amended by the Senate so it will need to return to the House for another vote.

The measure would reduce the penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Under current law individuals could face up to six months in jail for being arrested with a small amount of marijuana. The bill would change the law so that adults age 21 and over would no longer face criminal penalties. Instead they would be subject only to civil fine. Individuals under the age of 21 would face slightly tougher penalties and be required to undergo substance abuse screening.

Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) is a strong supporter of marijuana decriminalization and has been lobbying the legislature to act on this issue. He should sign the bill into law when it gets to this desk.

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It is pleasantly surprising to see popular opinion aligns so closely with the scientific research. The research clearly shows drunk driving is the more dangerous of the two activities.

It should be noted that operating a motor vehicle while actually intoxicated by any substance, be it legal drug, prescription drug or illegal drug, is both dangerous and against that law. That said, the nature of alcohol intoxication makes is particularly dangerous to get behind the wheel. Alcohol, even in moderate doses, makes people less risk averse  which cause problems in addition to the actual impairment.

It would appears that regular Americans are starting to really get the message that in many ways marijuana is safer than alcohol.

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Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley

This makes Maryland the 19th state to technically adopt a medical marijuana law.

Unfortunately, because of the many restrictions in the law this may be more of a psychological victory than a practical one.  There is a chance no one in the state will really benefit.

To begin with, the law is unlikely to be implemented until 2016. In addition it only allows academic medical centers to take part in what is technically only a trial program. The trials would be the only source for patients to get medical marijuana and there is a real chance that none of the academic medical centers in the state will want to take part. Already several of the state’s most prominent medical centers have indicated they are not interested.

At the very least, the new law shows the issue of medical marijuana is moving forward. Hopefully, it will put more pressure on the federal government to seriously consider a petition by governors to reschedule marijuana.