12/2/17

Saturday's roundup: a week on cannabis

Minnesotans suffering from autism and obstructive sleep apnea will be able to seek relief with therapeutic cannabis starting next July.
Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger announced the additions following a state and public citizen review of medical research. Ehlinger selected autism and apnea due to "increasing evidence for potential benefits."
Get the story here.
Minnesota Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns believes the NBA should allow players to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. His girlfriend's nephew is autistic, and Towns has seen how some of the new treatments involving properties of marijuana have helped the young boy and his family deal with the condition.
Read the rest here.

Researchers recently published findings cannabis is an effective therapy for opioid use disorder.

Some Minnesota counties are suing opioid manufacturers alleging a decades-long campaign convinced doctors and patients that opioids were safe and not addictive.

Democratic Minnesota Senator Al Franken has promised to bone up on the law as his state liberalizes its cannabis policy.
Now, the senator is on a bit of a marijuana bill cosponsorship spree, and some observers think it's good politics -- in addition to good policy -- at a time when Franken's name is being floated as a possible 2020 presidential candidate.
Read the rest at Forbes.

An Iowa company will be the first in that state to develop therapeutic cannabis for patients there.

Better late than never, the Moody County Enterprise is rubbing Marty Jackley's nose in his inability to get a conviction in a tribal sovereignty cannabis case.
Jonathan Hunt, 44, was sentenced Nov. 21 in Moody County Circuit Court after having agreed to testify in the case against his boss, Eric Hagen, earlier this year. Hagen, who was president and CEO of Monarch America, was found not guilty in a jury trial. More than a year earlier, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe executive committee had entered into a five-year agreement with Monarch America to design, construct and develop a 10,000-square-foot marijuana grow facility to supply a 15,000-square-foot retail recreational marijuana consumption lounge, according to court papers.
Read the rest here.

Flandreau has a long history of racism and a crooked law enforcement industry.

South Dakota's more forward-looking neighbor to the north is growing interest in cannabis as therapy.

North Dakota voters passed Measure 5 in 2016 and this year the legislature drafted rules then a Republican governor signed it into law.
The North Dakota Department of Health has filed proposed rules to be adopted for the Medical Marijuana Program with the state’s Legislative Council. The NDDoH expects to file all required information no later than February 1, 2018 in an attempt to have the rules presented in March to the legislative Administrative Rules Committee.
Read more here.

A crowd of Montanans heard testimony in Helena on proposed therapeutic cannabis rule changes (pdf) imposed by the repressive Senate Bill 333 on the Department of Public Health and Human Services.
“You guys making these guys jump through more hoops, more laws, more costs to the provider, doesn’t do a patient any favors,” said Will Leishman, a patient from Butte. DPHHS will continue taking public comments on the proposed rules by mail, fax and email. Once the rules are finalized, DPHHS will give providers and patients two months’ notice before putting them into effect. [KTVQ teevee]
God just might not be enough for northern tier religious states: they lead the nation in anti-depressant and meth use.

No comments: