Month: October 2014

“Well, wanna talk about weed?”

The question, posed by FLORIDA TODAY Public Interest Editor Matt Reed, opened a newspaper editorial board meeting Tuesday. Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey and family physician and president of the Brevard County Medical Society Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos shared arguments against Amendment 2. If it passes, the November referendum would legalize medical marijuana in Florida.

Ivey and Haridopolos — who carried a three-ring binder full of research on the topic — take issue with the amendment as it is written, citing concerns of exploitation and loopholes. Haridopolos fears that, as an amendment to the Florida Constitution, the ballot measure would give too much power to the marijuana industry and make it too difficult to regulate.

Read More at Florida Today

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York’s U.S. senators have called on the federal Department of Justice to allow the state to begin part of its medical marijuana dispensing program early to treat children with forms of epilepsy and other seizure disorders.

Hoping to gain speed in starting the fledgling medical marijuana program, state health officials, at the request of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, recently asked the federal government for permission to begin receiving the drug from out-of-state manufacturers even before the formal state program begins.

Read More at SiLive.com

Employers can still fire employees for marijuana use, even in states where it’s legal. But one case heard in Colorado’s Supreme Court Tuesday morning could change that.

Brandon Coats, a 34-year-old quadriplegic medical marijuana patient from Colorado who was fired by Dish Network for his state-legal medical use in 2010, made his case in Denver before the highest court in the state on Tuesday, arguing that employers should not be able to fire patients like himself for using their medicine legally and outside of the workplace.

“Mr. Coats was never accused or suspected of being under the influence and received satisfactory performance reviews all three years,” Coats’ attorney Michael Evans argued in court, saying that Coats’ use should fall under the state’s Lawful Off-Duty Activities Statute. “He was fired after an unknown type or amount of THC was found after a mouth swab test. Dish knew he was a medical marijuana patient. The mere presence of THC is not proof of impairment.”

Evans went on to say that the testing did not determine what kind of THC was found in Coats’ system, or how much was present. There are active and inactive forms of THC, and inactive forms can remain in a person’s body for more than 40 days after use.

 

Read the Fulls Story at Huffington Post