Articles Posted in Marijuana Lawyer

With marijuana now legal in D.C. plus 20 states – two of those for recreational purposes – there are a lot of investors that are seeing green.

While many may have held off amid uncertainty regarding arbitrary federal enforcement action that appeared to be a constant threat, some may now feel emboldened by the recent pledge by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder not to pursue facilities, landlords and patients in states where the drug is legal and well-regulated.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers, however, want to stress that investors still must proceed with caution. There are some excellent operations doing great work in medical marijuana states, and some in Colorado and Washington will soon likely be turning a profit on recreational marijuana sales.
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One could be forgiven for believing that the shifting public opinion tides on marijuana’s Schedule I classification are a relatively new development.

However, our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know that this month marks 25 years since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis Young, ruled on the various medicinal benefits of the drug and the need for it to be reclassified.

In the 69-page ruling, “In the Matter of Marijuana Rescheduling,” Judge Francis says that in its natural form, marijuana is “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man.” He went on to say that anyone who analyzed the matter rationally would be able to logically conclude that marijuana, when closely supervised by medical professionals, could be safely used.
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In spite of hundreds of thousands of arrests, billions of dollars spent and countless hours devoted, marijuana prohibition efforts in the United States have once again failed to curb the drug’s supply and demand.

Usage and availability rates of the drug have remained virtually unchanged, according to the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health, released recently by the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Our California marijuana lawyers learned that while overall, usage increased by about 0.5 percent from 2012 to 2013, while use by teens between the ages of 12 and 17 dipped by about 0.75 percent. Essentially, the only thing the government had done by keeping the drug illegal is allow violent drug cartels to retain widespread control over the industry.
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Marijuana is the No. 1 most popular drug of choice, when compared to cocaine, opioids and amphetamines. And yet, researchers say, it was not responsible for any of the 78,000 deaths attributed to illegal drug use in 2010.

That’s according to a new study from the University of Washington, which conducted the first ever global survey of illicit drug abuse.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers noted that in commenting on the latest findings, Dr. Lester Grinspoon of Harvard Medical School said that it reaffirms beliefs that not only is marijuana non-toxic, it is “remarkably non-toxic.”
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A property owner in Anaheim is fighting the federal government’s vigorous attempt to seize his $1.5 million, two-story commercial building.

Why would the government do this?

Because twice, the property owner rented two of his 12 available office spaces to medical marijuana dispensaries. He made the mistake of assuming such operations were totally legal in California.
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The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it will not sue the 20 states or the District of Columbia for their marijuana legalization policies, a move that many marijuana advocates are hailing as a major step toward winding down prohibition of the drug in this country.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers remain cautiously optimistic. Federal criminal cases against dispensaries and owners, as well as civil forfeiture actions against landlords show now clear signs of abating any time soon. Until we see that, we must question whether the DOJ is truly going to shift course.

The announcement came in the form of a memo sent by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole to federal prosecutors across the country. The question of how the federal government would respond to the voter-approved legalization of marijuana sales and consumption for recreational purposes in Colorado and Washington state had been looming since the November election. Both states are in the process of finalizing measures to implement regulations for such sales.
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The move is virtually unprecedented: local government leaders are ordering medical marijuana dispensaries in D.C. to set aside a minimum of 2 percent of their overall profits to help subsidize medical marijuana purchases for patients living below the poverty line.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers recognize that the proposed rule is the first of its kind in the country. The proposed rule, published earlier this month and under a month-long review before final approval, requires dispensaries to give low-income patients a discount of at least 20 percent. In order to qualify, patients must be living at or below 200 percent of the regional poverty level.

As it stands, there are a great number of marijuana clinics throughout the country that provide some type of discount for poorer patients. There are even some states that make reference to low-income provisions in the law. However, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws notes that no other state has written such clear provisions to ensure poverty-stricken patients can still receive access.
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It wasn’t that long ago when the mere suggestion of marijuana being given to children would have been met with demands for severe criminal sanctions, with conservative lawmakers being particularly vocal on the issue.

However, as part of an illustration of how far we have come, one of the nation’s top conservative leaders recently announced his support of safe access to the drug for sick children prescribed regular dosage by their doctors.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers understand that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie agreed to sign a pending medical marijuana bill, if changes were made that would ease access restrictions to make special allowances for sick children. It wasn’t quite as far as some had wanted, but it was more than what the initial bill would have granted.
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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent statements regarding a reformed approach to drug crimes in this country has marijuana advocates wondering what this could mean for legalization efforts, as well as ongoing federal crackdowns on medical marijuana providers in California.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know that, at this point, the answer isn’t exactly clear, though there are some hopeful indications.

Holder noted that the so-called “War on Drugs,” now entering its fifth decade, may have been rooted in good intentions, but in many ways, it’s been a failure. It has resulted in an unnecessarily large prison population, comprised largely of minorities, who are often warehoused and forgotten by virtually impenetrable minimum mandatory sentencing guidelines. The impact on minority communities has been especially profound, leading to a cycle of poverty, crime and incarceration – even when the initial underlying drug offenses weren’t violent. The current federal approach to drug crimes tends to exacerbate the overall problems, rather than alleviate them. We label people felons and lock them up for years. Then we release them with no useful skills and a limited range of educational and job opportunities. How do we expect they will make a living once released?
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For years, marijuana use for any reason was seen as part of the counterculture scene – slackers and stoners and criminals.

Our Los Angeles marijuana lawyers know many can be forgiven of this view, as this was the one touted for years by everyone from local police authorities to the President of the United States.

“Just Say No” was a simple message that’s been hard to shake, non matter how ineffective and costly it’s proven to be.

However, we also know that’s changing. there are now 20 states and D.C. in which marijuana is legal for medicinal purposes. Nearly two-thirds of Americans approve of medical marijuana for medicinal purposes and more than half favor legalizing it for recreational use. And a survey, which appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, earlier this year showed that more than 75 percent of all medical doctors favor the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Now, a particularly high-profile doctor has issued a public mea culpa for his previous negative stance on the issue. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, recently penned an opinion piece , spelling out why he had changed his once-adamant position.

Gupta wrote that over the last 12 months, he had been working on a documentary project called “Weed” in which he traveled across the globe to interview medical experts, marijuana farmers and patients. He called the findings “stunning.”

He said that prior tot he project, he had reviewed the scientific literature on marijuana and found it severely lacking. Based on these findings, the majority produced five or more years ago, Gupta said it was difficult to make a positive case for allowing medicinal marijuana. This led him to write an article for TIME Magazine, entitled, “Why I Would Vote No on Pot.”

He now says that judgment call was erroneous. He said he failed to expand his review of the research and further, he was too dismissive of patients who touted the drug’s benefits. He called them “high-visibility malingerers,” a group of people just seeking a legal way to get high. He believed that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had classified the drug as a Schedule I substance because it had scientific proof to back up this stance.

However, Gupta now says his assessment was wrong, on both counts. He cited numerous examples. One was a Colorado woman who, by the age of 3, was suffering some 300 seizures daily. Where numerous medications failed, medical marijuana has allowed her to limit the number of seizures to 2 or 3 each month.

He noted that it is not because of sound science that marijuana has been classified as a Schedule I drug. Rather, it has been because of an absence of sound science that such a notion has been allowed to thrive. It’s long been known that marijuana is not addictive – let alone highly-addictive.

Marijuana dependence is estimated at around less than 10 percent of its adult users. Cocaine, by comparison, is a lesser-rated Schedule II drug, which hooks about 20 percent of users. Tobacco is perhaps the worst, with about 30 percent of all users becoming addicted and most of those going on to die as a result of that addiction.

Gupta said that when it comes to medical marijuana, the American public has been “terribly and systematically misled” for the last seven decades by the government and media. He apologized for his role in that. He hopes the new documentary will help to reverse some of the ill effects that misinformation has had.
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