VERMONT PASSES MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL - CONNECTICUT POISED TO BE NEXT

Marijuana Policy Project Alert: Vt. May 31, 2007

Victory! Vermont medical marijuana improvement bill becomes law

Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R) let S.7, the bill to improve Vermont’s current medical marijuana statute, become law without his signature. It will take effect July 1. This will help many suffering Vermonters by adding conditions under which patients can qualify to use medical marijuana. Previously, Vermont’s law was the most restrictive of all the states with medical marijuana laws, because only patients suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS, or multiple sclerosis could qualify. Under the new legislation, the state will add serious conditions that cause nausea, wasting, chronic pain, or seizures to the law.

MORE


Medical marijuana bill wins final approval in legislature
By STEPHEN SINGER
Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD, Conn. -- A measure legalizing medicinal marijuana won final legislative approval in the state Senate Friday night, capping a five-year struggle that pitted broader patients' rights against concerns of easier access to an illicit drug.

The bill, which was approved 23-13, now heads to Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who has said she has mixed feelings about the measure. A spokesman said Friday she has not yet made a decision.

The state House of Representatives approved the measure on May 23.

Sen. Andrew McDonald, co-chairman of the General Assembly's Judiciary Committee, steered the bill to Senate approval. The measure has taken a "long odyssey through almost every committee of the legislature," McDonald, D-Stamford, told colleagues

MORE

GO ASK ALLISON - ON WHY ALL DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGAL

SERIOUS BUZZ KILL AHEAD FOR HOLLYWOOD'S YOUNG STARS

Lohan bust may mark last call for young stars

The actress' arrest focuses attention on underage drinking at trendy clubs.
By David Pierson and Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writers
May 30, 2007

Authorities are trying to crack down on one of the worst-kept secrets in Hollywood: underage stars partying hard at trendy clubs on the Sunset Strip and Hollywood Boulevard.

Doormen at Hollywood hot spots have been lifting the velvet rope for teen stars for years. Two decades ago, Drew Barrymore became tabloid fodder after being spotted drinking at Hollywood clubs when she was 13 and 14.

MORE

INSIDERS REPORT LINDSAY LOHAN SEEKING TREATMENT

Lindsay Lohan reportedly checks back into rehab
BY: Actress Archives | Tuesday, May 29, 2007

After a disastrous weekend that saw her drive into a tree, run into a nearby house, and take off again, allegedly leaving cocaine in her car, Lindsay Lohan has checked herself back into rehab again. CBS is reporting that Lindsay Lohan has entered an addition treatment center in Malibu, just days after being arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after she crashed her Mercedes-Benz roadster on Sunset Boulevard at 5:30am Saturday morning in Hollywood. Lindsay Lohan allegedly checked herself into the Promises rehab center in Malibu, the place that reportedly turned around the fate of Britney Spears earlier this week. A source told In Touch weekly that Lindsay Lohan had checked herself into Promises. In January and February, Lindsay Lohan, who doesn't even turn 21 until this July, checked herself into the Wonderland Center in Laurel Canyon for her problems with alcohol and drugs. Lindsay Lohan was seen drinking and partying days after that first trip to rehab.

MORE

LA'S DOPEST ATTORNEY NEW AD

The publisher over at The Rockit News, and my blog administrator collaborated on a new "LA's Dopest Attorney" ad for me over the Memorial weekend

We wanted something a little more original and upbeat, with an LA city backdrop... I'd say they nailed it!

If you live in the Los angeles area pick up the LA Weekly this Thursday, and on Monday June 4th (in most music stores) you can find the dopest new ad in the Rockit News.

STEPHANIE LANDA'S FATE NOW UP TO THE SUPREME COURT

4pm Today was deadline so I was up at 6:30 am working feverishly to wrap things up

I'd like to thank Charles my UCLA law student intern for doing a great job. We spent over a hundred hours together and apart brain storming, doing intense research, and a whole lot of typing to get Stephanie Landa's petition of writ is on it's way to the supreme court.

Here then is Ms Landa's Petition

ALLISON'S STEP DAD JEFFREY SKLAN ON JAILTIME & PARIS

DAILY VARIETY, PAGE FIVE - LA'S DOPEST ATTORNEY, WOW!

Excerpt from the Daily Variety current issue

World of Wonders touts reality trio
Jeffree Star, Jim J. Bullock topline new shows
By JOHN DEMPSEY
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's World of Wonders Prods. is developing three reality-series projects centered on strong personalities.
"We've become big enough as a production company with the resources to be aggressive in finding real-life characters" who could succeed in a multi-episode series, said Barbato, whose World of Wonders produces such series as "Wife, Mom, Bounty Hunter" for WE and "Tori & Dean: Inn Love" for Oxygen.

"Allison Margolin: The Dopest Attorney in Town," the first of the new development, deals with a Los Angeles lawyer who specializes in medical-marijuana cases while working for her family's practice, which includes her mother, stepfather and ex-stepfather.


Pretty cool huh?

GO ASK ALLISON: DRUG TESTING IN HIGH SCHOOLS

"TEENS: URINE BIG TROUBLE"

WHERE THE DRUG WAR SHOULD BE FOUGHT

Excerpt from recent LA Times article: Senate passes sweeping drug-safety bill
The FDA's powers and staff would be enlarged to more quickly scan the marketplace for risky medications.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The Senate overwhelmingly approved a landmark drug safety bill Wednesday, doubling the number of government scientists assigned to ferret out risky side effects in medicines already on the market.

The measure also would create a computerized network to scan medical insurance and pharmacy records for signs of trouble with new drugs, and significantly expand the Food and Drug Administration's power to require drug makers to reduce risks.

"This is unquestionably the biggest change in the FDA's regulatory authority in a very long time," former agency Commissioner Mark B. McClellan said. "It is really a new era for the FDA that will start after this law is implemented."

The Senate bill was drafted in response to highly publicized safety lapses — including the belated withdrawals of the painkiller Vioxx and the diabetes drug Rezulin, as well as the FDA's tardy warning about the suicide risks of antidepressants.

Rezulin, which was found to cause liver failure, was pulled from the U.S. market after being cited in more than 500 deaths. Vioxx was found to increase the risk of heart attacks....more


It is not surprising to me to hear that pharmaceutical (drug) companies are under attack for putting on the market substances that kill a conspicuous amount of people. The reason the “hard drugs” were criminalized is because unscrupulous pharmaceutical manufacturers were lacing their medicines with cocaine and heroin, and I say “lacing” not because people necessarily didn’t know that they were ingesting heroin but because they didn’t understand what that meant.

It is ironic that the war on drugs was originally targeted against corporation and yet has ended up as the war against the common man/woman. Diverting funds from the war on illicit drugs to science, would be an applaudable use of resources.