By Carl Olsen Iowans for Medical Marijuana Medical use of cannabis has been accepted by 14 states — yet not one of these has chal- lenged the federal mis-classification of cannabis as having “no accepted medical use” for treatment in the US.

Instead, the first step to initiate such an official challenge to the federal ban comes from a non-medical use state. Iowans for Medical Marijuana (IMM) began the process of legalizing medical use of

By using the identical criteria

espoused by the federal

government, Iowa may

force rescheduling. cannabis in 2008 by asking the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to review its classification of cannabis as having no accepted medical use in treatment — the same language fed- eral drug law uses.

IMM obtained a court order April 21, 2009, forcing the Board to reconsider this classification. On Feb. 17, 2010, the Board recommended the Iowa Legislature remove cannabis from

Read More: Iowa group hopes to challenge Fed classification

By John Dvorak hempology.org Major scientific advances were discussed at the Sixth National Clinical Conference on Cannabis Therapeutics, held in Rhode Island April 15-17, sponsored by Patients Out of Time and hosted by the RI Patient Advocacy Coalition.

Researchers are looking at cannabis in minute detail, discovering myriad proper- ties in this complicated plant. Presenters marveled at its amazingly low toxicity and mild side effects.

While the amount of research has jumped significantly, classification of cannabis as a Schedule I narcotic stifles in- depth research in the US. Dr. Lyle Craker, for one, recounted how the DEA has stonewalled his request to grow research- grade cannabis at the University of Massachusetts since 2001.

The great-grandfather of cannabis research, Raphael Mechoulam, PhD, began his studies in Israel in 1963 with five kilo- grams of confiscated hashish. He discussed the cannabinoids’ bi-phasic effect, in which higher dosages may actually decrease the beneficial effects. For years,

Read More: Conference in RI reports latest scientific findings

By Tony Newman and Stephen Gutwillig Drug Policy Alliance The Drug War is on the California ballot this November. Voters will decide whether to adopt an initiative to decriminalize adult possession of up to one ounce of cannabis and allow cities and counties to tax and regulate cannabis sales to adults. Opposition has recently crystallized within the Drug War lobby, and begun to spin. Here are their top five talking points, and the facts they ignore.

Drug Warrior Spin #1: Why authorize another harmful substance into society?

Cannabis is already widely available in society. Like it or not, it is a mainstream recreational drug consumed by millions last year — including one in ten Californians, according to federal data. The initiative simply acknowledges that it’s more sensible to regulate this massive mar- ket, as we do with objectively more harm- ful drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol. Prohibition of a highly popular

Read More: Challenging prohibitionist misinformation

By F. Aaron Smith Marijuana Policy Project In their day-to-day work fighting to end marijuana prohibition, reformers are used to debating drug warriors who desperately cling to the status quo. But with victory within striking distance in California, some troublesome and surprising fears are emerging from within the cannabis com- munity itself.

Some activists don’t support the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Initiative due to certain aspects that do not match their dream of a perfect policy. In some cases, outright misinformation is being spread by people who should know better, simply to cause trouble.

The fact is that the initiative will be on the fall ballot and it will immediately end the criminalization of millions of adults. That’s why the community needs to unify behind this initiative.

Some common fears about the California initiative are easily resolved.

Fear #1: The initiative weakens medical mari-juana laws and harms patients.

Absolutely false. The initiative protects the

Read More: Addressing concerns of the cannabis community

By Tom Angell LEAP California’s Control & Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative has been showing support by over 50 percent in recent polls, but police and prison industry interest groups are already lining up to oppose the initiative. As the campaign heats up, they’re likely to blanket the airwaves with attack ads claim- ing that legalization is a clear and present danger to public safety.

But the traditional solid wall of law enforcement opposition reform is begin- ning to crack. A large and growing group of pro-legalization cops, judges and prose- cutors are telling voters how their experi- ences enforcing marijuana prohibition led them to support changing the law.

These criminal justice professionals, organized under the banner of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), aim to help undecided voters understand that legalizing cannabis will improve pub- lic safety by taking control of the plant away from the gangs and cartels who cur- rently control

Read More: Former judge supports tax and regulate initiative

By Paul Armentano Deputy Director, NORML Critics of California proposals to legalize adult use argue that the resulting health and social costs would not be offset by the taxes generated when cannabis is regulat- ed. They then point out that the retail and excise taxes levied on production and sale of alcohol and tobacco do not adequately cover those drugs’ social costs.

To which we reply: So what? 1) Cannabis is not alcohol. Alcohol is toxic to healthy cells and organs, a side effect that results directly in some 35,000 deaths per year from illnesses like cirrhosis, ulcers, and heart disease. Governments now collect zero dollars

Heavy alcohol consumption can depress the central nervous system — inducing unconsciousness, coma, and death — and is strongly associated with increased risks of injury. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, alcohol plays a role in about 41,000 fatal accidents per year. It

Read More: When it comes to costs, there’s no comparison

Regarding the Spring 2010 issue of West Coast Leaf, the 2010 Laytonville Emerald Cup was hosted by the Mendocino Medical Marijuana Advisory Board. William Eidelman, MD, began to issue cannabis recommendations in 1997; the Cal Medical Board’s attempt to take his med- ical license began in 2001. He went on supervised probation in 2004 and finally was exonerated on Oct. 5, 2009.

As we mourn the untimely passage of Jack Herer, hemp activist extraordinaire and author of The Emperor Wears No Clothes, remember that we have the opportunity to make his great dream a reality: California voters could pass an initiative to legalize marijuana this year. Granted, the conservative approach of this initiative does not reach the idealized vision that Herer extolled, and there are parts with which he disagreed. Nonetheless, we remind ourselves that it meets his number one test: Adults will be able to again grow, enjoy and share legal marijuana. It also meets his number two test: California farmers could soon grow industrial hemp with the consent of their state and local governments.

For those who think the measure stops short, we simply note that it will provoke change at local and state legislative levels, and it paves the way for a California Hemp Initiative in 2012 or later. It’s

Read More: Vote Yes Nov. 2 ­ and do it for Jack

So far, all we know for sure is that BP and the oil industry have been lying about the size and effects of the worst oil spill in history, one that threatens to wipe out the Gulf of Mexico as one of the world’s great fisheries. Time to pause and reflect that if we were using hemp for fuel, and had a spill in the gulf, the negative effect would be … Nothing. It might soak up some of the oil, in fact. Almost a million Americans are arrested each year for cannabis, but what are the odds of anyone going to jail for causing potentially the worst environmental destruction in human history? Let’s get hemp growing to power America.

We appreciate what President Obama has done to restore science to US policy making, to recognize States’ Rights to effect their own laws and policies, and in telling the DEA to back off of medical marijuana providers who comply with their state laws. He seems to want reformers to do all the heavy lifting to change the cannabis laws, but realizes that a large part of his constituency — especially at change.org — wants it to happen, and we are ready and willing to do the hard work, with the help of voters across the nation.

There is one thing we cannot do, however, that the President can and should. It is a sad but true fact that many people who have risked everything to help bring medicine to patients were captured by drug warriors and now pay the price by sitting in prison for that courageous effort. Eddy Lepp, Charles

Read More: Show a little clemency, Obama