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IN THE NEWS: Week of 10/21
ASA’s Summary of Medical Marijuana Articles

>  ASA IN THE NEWS: Cannabis in City Pharmacies Considered
>  RESEARCH: Smoking Risk Proves A Myth
>  SATIVEX: Cannabis Spray May Change Legal Landscape
>  CALIFORNIA: Cannabis Crackdown Considered in City
>  CANADA: Insurance Company Pressuring Doctors
>  CELEBRITY: Ethridge Outing Highlights Issues
>  FLORIDA: State Law Getting Talked About

________________________________________________
ASA IN THE NEWS: Cannabis in City Pharmacies Considered
In an article that ran in Knight-Ridder papers around the country, ASA 
spokesperson Hilary McQuie points out that Mountain View’s unique 
proposal to offer cannabis in city pharmacies is responding to the need 
of the patients in their city who currently have to travel great 
distances to access their medicine.

City ponders new medical marijuana plan 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2770>
by Jessica Portner, Knight-Ridder Newspapers 
<http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/12960408.htm>
An elderly woman waits at her local pharmacy to pick up her arthritis 
drugs behind a mom fetching her son's ADHD medication. Imagine a cancer 
or AIDS patient joining that line to fill his prescription for medicinal 
marijuana.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2770

________________________________________________
RESEARCH: Smoking Risk Proves A Myth
Numerous studies have tried to find problems associated with smoking 
cannabis without real success beyond a higher than normal incidence of 
bronchitis and colds in chronic users. Now an overview of the studies 
done has concluded that smoked cannabis may protect against cancers.

Marijuana less cancerous than tobacco 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2775>
by Steve Mitchell, UPI 
<http://www.upi.com/HealthBusiness/view.php?StoryID=20051017-053500-7215r>
Marijuana is less carcinogenic than tobacco smoke and may even have some 
anti-cancer properties, new research suggests. Robert Melamede, chair of 
biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, reviewed studies of 
the illicit drug and published his findings in the Oct. 17 issue of Harm 
Reduction Journal.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2775

Pot less of a cancer risk than tobacco, study suggests 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2774>
by Andre Picard, Globe and Mail 
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051018/HSMOKE18/TPScience/>
Marijuana smokers are less likely to contract cancer than cigarette 
smokers, new research suggests. While cannabis and tobacco smoke are 
chemically similar, the key difference is that cigarettes contain 
nicotine, which appears to bolster the cancer-causing properties of 
tobacco, while cannabis contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the active 
ingredient in pot), which may actually reduce the carcinogenic 
properties of some chemicals.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2774

________________________________________________
SATIVEX: Cannabis Spray May Change Legal Landscape
ASA has been spearheading a push to get IND permits for patients to 
import to the U.S. the cannabis spray Canada has approved for pharmacy 
distribution. The spray, Sativex, is made by GW Pharmaceuticals in England.

Respectable Reefer <http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2776>
by Gary Greenberg, Mother Jones 
<http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/11/Respectable_Reefer.html>
If it weren't for the little photo gallery on the wall, the office where 
Dr. William Notcutt’s research assistants keep track of their patients 
would be just like any other cubicle at the James Paget Medical Center 
in England. As phones ring and stretchers wheel by, the snapshots—one of 
Notcutt’s staffers gently holding an emerald green bud of marijuana; a 
group of people in lab coats smiling for the camera, sinsemilla towering 
over their heads—are about the only evidence that this hospital in East 
Anglia is at the epicenter of one of the most extensive medical 
marijuana research projects in the world.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2776

________________________________________________
CALIFORNIA: Cannabis Crackdown Considered in City
San Francisco, a city that declared itself a sanctuary for medical 
cannabis, is now considering plans to regulate distribution.

Busted for baking <http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2772>
by Ann Harrison, San Francisco Bay Guardian 
<http://www.sfbg.com/40/03/news_busted.html>
When Chris Moseman staked out a spot next to a busy whipping post at the 
Folsom Street Fair last month, he never imagined he was about to spend 
more than two weeks in jail for selling marijuana cookies.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2772

S.F. Supervisors Continue To Debate Marijuana Laws 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2773>
by Bay City News, CBS 5 - TV 
<http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_292001836.html>
In a move indicative of the divide over the city's proposed medical 
marijuana regulations, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Tuesday 
decided to continue discussion of the legislation to next week's meeting.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2773

SF Supervisors postpone vote on pot club limits 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2767>
by Rachel Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle 
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/10/19/BAGP7FANQ51.DTL&type=health>
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a crackdown on 
medicinal pot clubs with proposed regulations that, if passed, would 
force some existing shops to close.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2767

Vote on pot clubs postponed <http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2768>
by Jo Stanley, San Francisco Examiner 
<http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/10/19/news/20051019_ne04_vote.txt>
A massive plan to regulate San Francisco’s medical marijuana clubs went 
through much debate and a half-dozen amendments at Tuesday’s Board of 
Supervisors meeting, but a 6-5 vote postponed action on the 
ever-tightening rules.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2768

________________________________________________
CANADA: Insurance Company Pressuring Doctors
A Canadian insurance company has taken the unusual step of pressuring 
doctors on their prescribing of cannabis. Asking for waivers from 
patients for the prescribing of cannabis is bizarre given its remarkable 
safety record, suggesting politics is in play here more than medicine or 
law.

Pot-prescribing doctors warned 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2771>
by Andre Picard, Globe and Mail (Canada) 
<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051019.wxpot19/BNStory/National/>
The organization that provides malpractice insurance to Canadian 
physicians is telling doctors they should not prescribe medical 
marijuana unless patients sign a release-of-liability waiver.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2771

________________________________________________
CELEBRITY: Ethridge Outing Highlights Issues
As reported last week, Melissa Ethridge’s decision to talk about how 
cannabis helped her during her battle with cancer cuts through the noise 
of policy discussions. It’s always the patient stories that bring the 
issues into sharpest focus.

Melissa Etheridge: I used medical marijuana 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2769>
by Associated Press, The Advocate 
<http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid21613.asp>
Melissa Etheridge says she smoked medicinal marijuana to help with the 
side effects of chemotherapy during her treatment for breast cancer. The 
44-year-old singer, who was diagnosed over a year ago, is now cancer-free.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2769

Rx pot helped rocker roll with chemo sickness 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2777>
New York Daily News 
<http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/355968p-303442c.html>
Rocker Melissa Etheridge went to pot during her battle with breast 
cancer. The Grammy-winning singer says she used medical marijuana to 
cope with the nasty side effects of chemotherapy, according to a report.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2777

________________________________________________
FLORIDA: State Law Getting Talked About
With its large population of seniors who are more likely than most to 
suffer afflictions for which cannabis is recommended, Florida would seem 
like one of the first states to pass a medical marijuana law. Yet it 
remains the only large state where such a law has yet to be formally 
discussed.

Movement for legalization of medical marijuana pushes on 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2765>
by Meghan Meyer, Palm Beach Post 
<http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/shared/news/nation/stories/10/1020_COXMARIJUANA.html>
Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that many considered a blow 
to the medical-marijuana movement, supporters of such laws have pressed 
on with state ballot initiatives and lobbying campaigns, the director of 
a marijuana-policy reform group told an audience at Florida Atlantic 
University Wednesday.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2765

Group Pushes Medical Marijuana in Florida 
<http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2766>
by Troy Kinsey, WCJB TV 20 News <http://www.wcjb.com/news.asp?id=13339>
The head of the national group advocating state regulation of marijuana 
use for medical reasons visited Gainesville on Tuesday as part of a 
college tour central to the group's strategy.
http://safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=2766

___________________________________________________________
FOR MORE MEDICAL MARIJUANA NEWS
Previous News Summaries from Americans for Safe Access are archived. The 
complete text of all these articles and more is available by clicking 
the links on the article name or the news source, as well as at the ASA 
website, safeacccessnow.org.

<>

-- 
*cue William Burroughs"

"Tea [marijuana] heads are not like junkies. A junky hands you the
money, takes his junk and cuts. But tea heads don't do things that way.
The expect the peddler to light them up and sit around talking for half
an hour to sell two dollars' worth of weed... If you come right to the
point, they say you are a "bring down". In fact, a peddler should not
come right out and say he is a peddler. No, he just scores for a few
good "cats" and "chicks" because he is viperish. Everyone knows that he
himself in the connection, but it is bad form to say so. God knows why.
To me, tea heads are unfathomable. I decided right then I would never
push any more tea...


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