http://wake.mync.com/site/wake/news/story/32011/lawmakers-consider-marijuana-use-for-patients/

Quote :

"By Kim Genardo, NBC17, 1 week ago Updated: Apr. 14 8:33 pm RALEIGH, N.C. - State representatives are considering legalizing medical marijuana. The Medical Marijuana Act and a separate bill allowing a November referendum on the issue have passed on first reading in the house. Next the health committee will debate the matter. Bill sponsor Representative Earl Jones, (D) Guilford County, said this measure is a compassion issue to give patients suffering with debilitating illnesses a better quality of life. "There is really no excuse for people who have a great deal of pain and suffering to get arrested by law enforcement," said Rep. Jones. He's prepared for an uphill battle. Minority House Leader Representative Skip Stam, (R) Wake County said, "I have sympathy for the people who need it, but we just can't do it. It would be bad for our young people is marijuana becomes more accesible. If you make it available for medical purposes, it becomes a lot more accesible." The bill clearly defines medical purposes. Doctors could prescribe the drug, licensed pharmacies would dispense it and patients would carry an authorization card allowing them carry a small amount of pot. Rep. Jones see a double benefit. Medical marijuana would help thousands of patients suffering with cancer, multiple sclerosis and glaucoma. He also estimates the regulated growth and sale of cannabis in North Carolina could generate $60 million annually."

http://www.nccpn.org/ Link to the lobbying group

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=H1380
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=H1383

Links to the bill and referendum

4/22/2009 2:37:55 PM

Quote :

"It would be bad for our young people is marijuana becomes more accesible."

yeah, because it is so difficult to get right now

4/22/2009 2:38:55 PM

lulz

4/22/2009 2:43:15 PM

^^

seriously.

pot is already more accessible than prescription drugs, so I don't see how legalizing medical marijuana could make it more accessible...

4/22/2009 2:47:25 PM

write your representative and tell them you are in favor of this bill and you'd like them to support it as well(if you do support this bill that is) It could very likely come up for vote by the population in november

4/22/2009 2:56:58 PM

Quote :

"write your representative and tell them you are in favor of this bill"

Seriously, if you're for legalization at any level and you aren't writing your representatives then you aren't doing your part. I almost always get stock emails/letters back when I write, but I write frequently.

4/22/2009 2:58:42 PM

i agree but its nice to see some progress especially as someone who suffers from chronic back and joint pain as well as stomach problems which sometimes have me out of commission for most of the day

the only real relief from the stomach problems i've found is marijuana(tried otc and rx antacids, acid reducers, diet change) and its a better alternative than ibuprofen and or vicodin for my back and joint pain(works better and isn't so hard on my stomach)

4/22/2009 3:03:25 PM

well I hope for your sake and the other people that medical marijuana could help that something like this passes in NC in the near future.

Unfortunately, I feel like NC will be one of the last states to see the light.

4/22/2009 3:07:44 PM

my hopes aren't too high, but just the fact that it made it to the house is a step in the right direction

and its passed the first reading, also considering the state of the states budget, it has a chance

4/22/2009 3:09:24 PM

This could be a major cash crop for NC. A lot of farmers would be willing to grow this, but only if the gubment says it's legal.

4/22/2009 3:12:06 PM

shit, I've got 300 acres of farmland in the family that isn't being used very well, I'd be more than happy to help

4/22/2009 3:14:31 PM

bump

4/22/2009 7:55:27 PM

I saw the Earl Jones guy today at the Legislature thing I went to. If I saw this earlier I might've mentioned it to him

4/22/2009 7:56:34 PM

All shit like this should be illegal and have pretty high penalty under the age of 18, but once you're an adult you should be able to do whatever you want so long as you don't interfere with someone else's freedom.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

[Edited on April 22, 2009 at 7:58 PM. Reason : ]

4/22/2009 7:58:06 PM

Quote :

""It would be bad for our young people is marijuana becomes more accesible.""

But tobacco and alcohol are fine

4/22/2009 7:59:01 PM

^^ so even medically?

4/22/2009 8:02:10 PM

I thought pot was already legal for medical use in NC?? In 1997 my dad had the pill form.... sooo did they just stop the use of it?

4/22/2009 8:52:29 PM

eh people with medical problems should suffer anywayz

survival of the fittest. i don't want my kids having your generational skip shit that woulda died out 20k years ago.

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

4/22/2009 8:54:09 PM

um he had leukemia which came from radiation in the air hanger he worked in, asshole..

[Edited on April 22, 2009 at 8:55 PM. Reason : aka nothing that skips generations, idiot.]

4/22/2009 8:55:06 PM

^^ watch someone die of a horrible disease, you might change your mind. not everything is genetic either!

^^^ i think there IS a legal pill that has like small tiny amounts of thc or something in it, because my mom took it too. but it isn't like a straight marijuana pill. or at least not what she took. she also had leukemia.

[Edited on April 22, 2009 at 8:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2009 8:55:12 PM

Well, he took Marinol -- it technically isn't straight weed but it's a synthetic cannabinoid

4/22/2009 8:56:12 PM

yea that is what my mom took, too

4/22/2009 8:56:45 PM

a couple of my friends took that for the Tool concert

they said it was about as effective as a bottle of O'Douls

4/22/2009 8:57:03 PM

i don't have any friends, so idk all this emotional stuff you guys are talking about

I'm Big Business and i approved this message.

4/22/2009 8:57:15 PM

Yeah.. I remember my philosophy teacher didn't believe me when I told her it existed. Stupid bitch.

^^ It has nowhere near the effect real weed would -- I think it mainly helps with nausea.

[Edited on April 22, 2009 at 8:58 PM. Reason : . ]

4/22/2009 8:57:27 PM

^^^that is what my mom said about it. it didn't decrease pain, didn't increase appetite, ease nausea, or really do anything that it was "supposed" to do.

[Edited on April 22, 2009 at 8:58 PM. Reason : .]

4/22/2009 8:58:05 PM

This would be awesome for my mom if it passed. Her back is trainwreck

4/22/2009 8:58:12 PM

this would have been awesome for my grandpa(if we could have convinced him to do it) years ago, would have really eased the suffering in his last days

4/23/2009 9:52:31 AM

4/23/2009 10:06:34 AM

4/23/2009 10:08:49 AM

serious mantits itt

4/23/2009 10:13:08 AM

Jesus smokes pot.

4/23/2009 10:13:47 AM

well not anymore, but I'm sure he did.

4/23/2009 10:54:07 AM

abe lincoln smoked pot

it's in the history books

4/23/2009 12:35:30 PM

4/23/2009 12:59:44 PM

Quote :

"In 1997 my dad had the pill form.... sooo did they just stop the use of it?"

no it's still in use. most patients smoke pot though, as the effects are more pronounced.

oncology centers stock it in their pharmacies.

4/23/2009 4:18:29 PM

the pill form is brutal on your system so i've been told

btw...anyone in this thread holding? feel free to pm me

4/23/2009 4:22:47 PM

^ can't be as bad as chemo is..

4/23/2009 4:24:37 PM

no, its not
vapor is the best way to consume pot esp. if you have teh cancer

4/23/2009 4:26:32 PM

^ yep!

4/23/2009 4:41:23 PM

Yea chemo sucks.... Weed helps.

4/23/2009 7:04:48 PM

I wrote to Neal Hunt and he wrote back! And it was an email that showed he actually read my email

4/28/2009 9:48:20 AM

Good read: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

Quote :

"Pop quiz: Which European country has the most liberal drug laws? (Hint: It's not the Netherlands.) Although its capital is notorious among stoners and college kids for marijuana haze–filled "coffee shops," Holland has never actually legalized cannabis — the Dutch simply don't enforce their laws against the shops. The correct answer is Portugal, which in 2001 became the first European country to officially abolish all criminal penalties for personal possession of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. At the recommendation of a national commission charged with addressing Portugal's drug problem, jail time was replaced with the offer of therapy. The argument was that the fear of prison drives addicts underground and that incarceration is more expensive than treatment — so why not give drug addicts health services instead? Under Portugal's new regime, people found guilty of possessing small amounts of drugs are sent to a panel consisting of a psychologist, social worker and legal adviser for appropriate treatment (which may be refused without criminal punishment), instead of jail..."

4/28/2009 9:56:13 AM

^ lol I just read that too.

4/28/2009 10:03:02 AM

I don't know how I never heard a peep about this happening in Portugal since 2001. I remember all of the news when they completely decriminalized pot in Great Britain (and then changed it back), but I don't remember hearing a single thing about this.

4/28/2009 10:08:57 AM

Quote :

" Unfortunately, I feel like NC will be one of the last states to see the light."

don't count on that. NC is one of the few states that has marijuana decriminalized, and has had it so since the 70s.

4/28/2009 10:22:07 AM

^yah. give us, us weed.

4/28/2009 10:23:00 AM

^^ I'm certainly NOT counting on it, I'm hoping I'm wrong!

4/28/2009 10:25:24 AM

b-rizzle leading the charge to legalize marijuana. I like it.

4/28/2009 10:46:09 AM

set em up

[Edited on April 28, 2009 at 12:46 PM. Reason : ]

4/28/2009 12:45:21 PM