🚀 go-pugleaf

NORML E-Zine
Volume 7
Issue 27
July 15, 2004

The NORML E-Zine is a free weekly compilation of major news items
regarding marijuana policy. Text of archived stories is available on
NORML's website at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=3442

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TOP STORIES

* Medical Pot Use Facilitates AIDS Treatment
* Nevada Marijuana Measure Fails To Qualify For '04 Ballot
* Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies DEA Petition
  For Rehearing On Hemp Food

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Medical Pot Use Facilitates AIDS Treatment, Study Says
    Bangkok, Thailand:  Patients who use medicinal cannabis to combat the
side-effects of anti-HIV drugs are more likely to remain on their
prescribed drug therapies than those who do not, according to
cross-sectional survey data presented this week at the XV International
AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
    Among patients suffering from nausea associated with anti-retroviral
therapy, those who used medical marijuana were 3.3 times more likely to
adhere to their medication regimens than non-users, a research team from
the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University found.
Researchers based their findings on interviews with more than 160
patients.
    "Our data suggest that medicinal use of marijuana may facilitate,
rather than impede, anti-retroviral therapy adherence for patients with
nausea, in contrast to the use of other illicit substances, which was
associated with decreased adherence," researchers concluded.
    The results come six months after a San Francisco research team
reported that smoking marijuana significantly alleviated pain in patients
suffering from HIV-associated neuropathy.  In that study, 12 of the 16
participants achieved at least a 30 percent reduction in pain after
smoking cannabis.  A 30 percent reduction in pain is considered to be a
clinically meaningful amount of pain relief.
    Follow up clinical trails examining the role of cannabinoids in HIV
and AIDS patient populations are ongoing at California's Center for
Medicinal Cannabis Research.
    Last year, clinical trial data published in the journal Annals of
Internal Medicine reported that short-term use of oral and inhaled
marijuana does not elevate viral load in individuals with HIV infection
who are receiving antiretroviral medications.  As a result, authors of the
study suggested that the medicinal use of inhaled marijuana has
"acceptable safety in a vulnerable immune-compromised patient population."
    Most recently, a review of cannabinoids' impact on the immune system
published in the June issue of the German journal Der Schmerz concluded,
"Most human studies have failed to demonstrate a well-defined and
reproducable immuno-suppressive cannabinoid-effect."
    For more information, please contact either Paul Armentano or Allen
St. Pierre of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-5500.  Abstracts of the
survey data presented to the XV International AIDS Conference is available
online at:
http://www.ias.se/bangkok/abstract.aspx?elementID=2170148

________________________________________________________
Nevada Marijuana Measure Fails To Qualify For '04 Ballot
    Carson City, NV: Nevada election officials said yesterday that an
initiative seeking to eliminate criminal and civil penalties on the
possession of small amounts of marijuana failed to qualify for the
November ballot because proponents did not collect enough valid
signatures, according to the Associated Press.
    The proposed initiative, entitled the Regulation of Marijuana
Amendment, sought to remove penalties for "the use or possession of one
ounce or less of marijuana by a person who has attained the age of 21
years," and direct the state legislature to "provide by law for a system
of regulation for the cultivation, distribution, sale, and taxation of
marijuana."  The measure also would have increased criminal penalties for
certain marijuana-related offenses, such as distributing marijuana to a
minor and/or operating a motor vehicle impaired by cannabis.
    According to the AP, Secretary of State Dean Heller determined that
only 34,947 of the signatures collected by the initiative's proponents
were valid.  It needed 51,337 signatures from registered voters to qualify
for the ballot.
    Nearly 20,000 petitions in favor of the measure were rejected by
election officials because they lacked an affidavit signed by a registered
voter, as well as from the person gathering the signatures, as required by
the Nevada constitution.  That constitutional requirement is now being
challenged in court by the AFL-CIO of Nevada.
    If the AFL-CIO challenge is successful, proponents of the marijuana
measure may be entitled to a full recount, the Las Vegas Sun reported.
    A similar statewide initiative to liberalize penalties on the
possession of marijuana for personal use will appear on the Alaska
electoral ballot this November.
    For more information on November 2004 initiative efforts, please
contact Keith Stroup, NORML Executive Director, at (202) 483-5500 or
visit:
http://www.RegulateMarijuana.org
    
________________________________________________________________
Ninth Circuit Court Of Appeals Denies DEA Petition For Rehearing
On Hemp Food
    San Francisco, CA: The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has
denied the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) petition to review its
February ruling striking down federal regulations that sought to
criminalize the possession and manufacture of edible hemp seed or oil
products that contain trace amounts of THC.
    The Bush Administration has until Sept. 26, 2004 to appeal to the
Supreme Court, if it so chooses.
    Earlier this year, the Ninth Circuit determined that the DEA's hemp
foods' ban was improper because it classified non-psychoactive hemp as a
Schedule I controlled substance without following the required legislative
procedures.  Appellants in the case, The Hemp Industries Association (HIA)
which represents over 200 hemp companies in North America, had urged the
court to invalidate the regulations because the agency lacks legal
authority to regulate non-psychoactive hemp, and because minute amounts of
THC in hemp products represent no threat to public safety.
    For more information, please contact NORML Executive Director Keith
Stroup at (202) 483-5500 or visit:
http://www.votehemp.com


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NORML Media Watch
NORML was featured prominently in several media outlets this week,
including The Austin Chronicle, The Columbia Daily Tribune, and The
Arkansas Democrat Gazette.  To read these articles or about other NORML
media appearances, check out "NORML in the Media" at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5481

Sign up for NORML's monthly pledge program today!
https://secure.norml.org/join/pledge.html

Smokers vote in 2004! Check out the candidate's updated positions on
marijuana policy.  If you have not already done so, register to vote or
change your voter registration address at:
http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5916
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