Medical Marijuana

All of the applications can be viewed on the RI Department of Health's website. Link found in original story.

Rhode Island health officials have accepted 18 applications from people interested in opening medical marijuana compassion centers to distribute medical marijuana to qualifying patients. The Department of Health said it would review the applications and hold a public hearing on them February 7.

The state health department released a set of revised rules governing New Jersey’s medical marijuana program, despite the Legislature’s intent to repeal them. The new rules reflect an agreement Gov. Chris Christie reached with the law’s Assembly sponsor, Reed Gusciora (D-Mercer), that allow for six dispensaries to operate, instead of the four the administration initially sought.

At 25 years old, Shannon Sterner lives with pain. The Leoni Township resident has tried medications to manage the effects of fibromyalgia and reactive arthritis brought on by an infection. For the last nine months, she has been using a new method to deal with the discomfort caused by her conditions: medical marijuana. But her use of the drug, allowed under Michigan’s medical marijuana law, resulted in eviction from her federally subsidized apartment this week.

A Helena lawmaker has introduced a bill to license and regulate the growing and selling of medical marijuana in Montana and to impose a 10 percent tax on the growers' sales to pay for the cost of regulation and go for other uses. Senator Dave Lewis, R-Helena, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 154, the second major bill intended to impose some regulations on the industry.

New Jersey's state senator Scutari said he's taking the next step toward voiding Gov. Chris Christie's proposed strict medical marijuana regulations after the Christie administration missed a Wednesday deadline to submit a new version. A hearing on the issue has been scheduled for Jan. 20 before the state Senate's health committee.

Columnist Ron Crumpton exposes and discusses Senator Jeff Sessions' antiquated and unscientific approach to marijuana policy.

NORML has recently posted online the fourth edition of its popular and comprehensive booklet, "Emerging Clinical Applications for Cannabis & Cannabinoids: A Review of the Recent Scientific Literature." Updated and revised for 2011, this report reviews approximately 200 newly published scientific studies assessing the safety and efficacy of marijuana and its compounds in the treatment and management of nineteen clinical indications: Alzheimer’s disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), chronic pain, diabetes mellitus, dystonia, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, gliomas and other cancers, hepatitis C, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hypertension, incontinence, methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA), multiple sclerosis, osteoporosis, pruritus, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, and Tourette’s syndrome.

The Michigan Association of Compassion Clubs filed an emergency motion to halt the federal government's efforts to gain access to confidential medical marijuana records compiled by the state.