SUBMISSION OF THE BEYOND PROHIBITION FOUNDATION IN RESPONSE TO PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS TO HEALTH CANADA’S MARIHUANA MEDICAL ACCESS PROGRAM
INTRODUCTION
The Beyond Prohibition Foundation was established in 2010 to advocate for the repeal of cannabis prohibition and its replacement with a system of regulated production and distribution. It operates the website www.whyprohibition.ca, Canada's largest dedicated drug policy reform website and host to more than 30,000 members. The Foundation's mission includes advocacy on behalf of safe access to medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts for those obtaining therapeutic and medicinal benefit.
This submission responds to Health Canada's consultation document titled "Proposed Improvements to Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Program" (the "Consultation Document"). In the Consultation Document, Health Canada foreshadows significant changes to Canada's medical cannabis policies. The Foundation welcomes Health Canada's tacit acknowledgement that the current Marihuana Medical Access Regulation (MMAR) system is deeply flawed and in need of significant reform. That reform is necessary in two primary areas: (1) the need to improve access to the legal protections afforded by the legislative and regulatory scheme; and (2) the need to provide consumers with safe access to an effective supply of medicinal cannabis and cannabis byproducts. This submission lays out the Foundation's view of the proposed changes and offers suggestions for making necessary improvements to the federal program.
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Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Read more »
The federal crackdown against medical marijuana in California is a saber-rattling, War on Drugs attack on many fronts. U.S. attorneys are raiding legitimate dispensaries and licensed growers.
The prosecutors have threatened to seize the property of landlords who permit legal dispensaries to operate. The government is threatening newspapers and other media that dare to advertise medical marijuana. The 15 other states with medical marijuana laws are watching and worrying. Read more »
Federal prosecutors target legal marijuana trade despite Obama's liberal stance on medical use of cannabis
Steve DeAngelo doesn't have the luxury of worrying about a threatened US government crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries like the one he runs in Oakland, California. For him, the crackdown is already in full swing. Read more »
WASHINGTON -- GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson drew headlines earlier this month when he said he would issue a full presidential pardon for anyone serving a prison sentence for marijuana. He elaborated on that promise Tuesday, adding that it's only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized. Read more »
Federal lawyer argues that Chris Bennett has failed to make case weed is in fact sacred to him
By Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun
A Vancouver man will appear in Federal Court on Tuesday arguing for an exemption to the drug laws because they infringe on his constitutional freedom of religion to smoke his sacred weed - marijuana.
Canadian short track speedskater Maxime Fortin has received a two-month ban after testing positive for cannabis, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport announced Thursday.
Fortin, a 21-year-old from Rivière-du-Loup, Que., failed an in-competition urine test on March 19, during the Canadian championships.
CCES said Fortin acknowledged the anti-doping violation and accepted its proposal of a two-month ban that ends on May 25. Read more »
Laws on medical marijuana – if they even exist at all – are a complete failure.
According to the judge who heard his case, Matt Mernagh “is a frail young man with a fragile yet genuine demeanour. He moves with difficulty, his body clearly showing the ravages of illness. Educated and articulate, he is using what little strength he has to focus attention on the unnecessary difficulties faced by himself and others like him, in attempting to access medicinal marijuana to cope with their debilitating illnesses.”
The brave Mernagh and his hard-working lawyer, Paul Lewin, assembled testimony sufficient to smash to smithereens the hollow illusion that Canada’s medical marijuana laws are serving the sick Canadians who need it. Read more »
When the Left Party recently campaigned in state elections in North-Rhine Westphalia under the slogan "Right to Smoke," their idea to legalize cannabis made headlines in Germany. The same principal has been in the Green party's program for 10 years. And back in the mid-90s, the Social Democrats' Otto Schily suggested making personal cannabis use legal. But the question didn't come up again when Schily later became interior minister.
Efforts to decriminalize marijuana use for the estimated two million Germans who smoke it, similar to measures in the neighboring Netherlands and Czech Republic, have been gridlocked for some time. Only the Greens and the Left are still actively throwing themselves into the fray. Read more »
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Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. 
The federal crackdown against medical marijuana in California is a saber-rattling, War on Drugs attack on many fronts. U.S. attorneys are raiding legitimate dispensaries and licensed growers.
By 
WASHINGTON -- GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson drew headlines earlier this month when he said he would issue a full presidential pardon for anyone serving a prison sentence for marijuana. He elaborated on that promise Tuesday, adding that it's only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized. 
Federal lawyer argues that Chris Bennett has failed to make case weed is in fact sacred to him
By Jesse Campigotto
By. DE-World.de
