2017 Legislative Session begins January 9th are you ready?

I wonder if in this session anything will be done to help the medical cannabis patient. The Law from 1998 is no longer what it was. So much has happened to patients who require more than the amount allowed recreational users.  Read the home page here to find out what happened and the laws that were passed. 

In years past patients were called fakers, the illicit market and the people who would return to the black market. But in reality, patients with serious illnesses have relied on medical cannabis to save their lives when western medicine could not help, when their doctors sent them home to make arrangements, or to those small children who suffer with diseases only helped by cannabis. Those are the ones affected by what has happened in Washington state. This state forced patients to find the only thing that worked for them, anyway they could. For patients it isn’t about getting high or recreating, it is about having a better quality of life when their doctors have given up on them, it is about being able to walk to do housework or get through a day of work without pain, it is about a child not having seizures for as many days possible. 

Lets hope that this year Washington state finds compassion in it’s heart because so many people have suffered and are suffering because of the greed that this state allowed to happen by listening to paid, corporate, big pharma lobbyists. Patients do not have time to wait. 

The essential elements of providing your own medical medical marijuana, including:

* Food Feeding cycles. Macro and micro-nutrients

* Lighting PAR , cycles, using power efficiently

* Growing mediums. Soil, non-soil, hydroponics

* Air: controlling temperature, humidity, CO2, ventilation

*Efficiency: selecting the correct equipment, what gauges and
measuring tools to own, continuous quality improvement

* Controlling pests safely.

* Harvesting; The basics of flushing, drying and curing.

* Cost: $20 Class time approximately 90 to 105 minutes.

* Max class size 12 people.

The event page can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1173075846106174/

Contact: 206 618 0576. ajkingsbury@hotmail.com

What will be done with he money?

$15 of every $20.00 received will go to John Worthington’s case. The explanation of the case is here:
https://www.gofundme.com/27zwpsk

by Denise Harrington, July 5, 2016
(Patient, and One of the People for Medical Cannabis in Washington State)

1. Patients are no longer able to find the medicines that work for them. Every patient is different and what works for one will not necessarily work for another.This is because different strains contain different amounts of different types of cannabinoids. There are currently 111 known cannabinoids in the cannabis plant. Sometimes it takes months, or even years for a cannabis patient to find what works best for their particular illness or condition.
2. Not all forms of medical cannabis that was available in the self-regulated medical market will even be available under the new system. Many cannabis patients use edibles or specific types of cannabis oil for treatment Just like different strains of cannabis have different effects so do different forms of cannabis. Some patients use Rick Simpson oil; others use full extract cannabis oil. Many patients make their own oil from the plants they grow themselves. This allows them to tailor their oils to what
   works best for them. Under the new policies patients in most cases will not be able to grow enough of their own cannabis for this process. The prices to purchase raw cannabis in the recreational market is too high for the majority of patients to even be able to purchase enough cannabis to make oil.
3. Under the new medical cannabis laws patients can no longer grow together to save on costs unless they start a small communal garden, register it with the state, and it must be located at one patients’ residence. Patients must also contribute sweat labor to the growing of the plants. The requirements mean many patients cannot take advantage of belonging to such a garden. Those with physical ailments that limit their movement or those with intense pain, those who are wheelchair bound, those who are shut ins they cannot contribute physical labor so communal growing is out for these patients.
4. Dosages patients need to effectively treat themselves are not available in the recreational cannabis market. The highest dosage available is 50Mg. Just like different strains and forms work differently for different patients, different patients need different dosages. For some patients 50Mg may work fine. However, for others they may need dosages of up to 500Mg. This means some patients would need to consume 10 maximum doses of cannabis edibles to get the same affect they would get with 1 dose before. The same goes with the strength of concentrates and even cannabis flower. The maximum under the new policies is woefully inadequate for some patient’s needs. Now you may ask where the DOH came up with the dosages. Well they originally wanted 10Mg max dosage, however patients repeatedly told them this was way too low so Ms. Weeks decided 50Mg was fine. She did not ask patients or even medical professionals she just plucked a number out of the air. Patients deserve better. Ms. Weeks is not qualified to decide patients dosages. That is a job for a doctor, nurse practitioner or other medical professional.
5. The no share policy. Under the recreational market users are not allowed to share. Each person who wants to smoke/ingest cannabis must buy their own. This rule has been extended to the medical cannabis policy as well. This means even patients who reside together or even married couples have to purchase their medical needs separately from each other with each patient paying 37% tax to the state. The only reason for this rule is greed. Many cannabis patients are senior citizens or disabled people on a limited income. They should not have to pay double taxes for medicine being used in the same household.
6. Children are now allowed in recreational cannabis stores! Yes, you read that right. Under the new medical cannabis policies patients of any age can be in the store to get their medication. Those under the age of 18 must have their designated provider (usually a parent or guardian) for them to enter the store. This means babies, toddlers, kids of all ages can now enter. Kids do not belong in cannabis stores ever! In the self-regulated medical cannabis market children under the age of 18 have not been allowed. They do not need to be there among the pipes, bongs and other paraphernalia associated with cannabis. Most child patients use oil. They do not even associate their medicine with recreational cannabis and they should not.
7. Patient’s rights to privacy are obliterated under the new DOH policies. First there is the unneeded “voluntary” registry. Ms. Weeks said in DOH emails that were accessed by FOIA requests that if they needed to justify the registry they could just say “other states have them” Those other states however did not have legal recreational cannabis when the registries were created. The registries were needed to determine who could legally use cannabis in those states. Under the new DOH policies a patient’s medical condition must be shown on the form. This is no one’s business but the patient and their physician! Ms. Weeks said if asked they would just say that Americans for Safe Access recommends it. She also said the info was just too good to pass up. ASA does not represent all or even the majority of patients and should not be looked at in making policy decisions. Make no mistake the DOH does not consider registration to be voluntary at all. In many instances patients have been told by the DOH and by the recreational stores that patients must register. Patients who choose not to register get fewer plants allowed, less medicine they are able to buy and according to DOH no equal protection under the law. The DOH should not be able to require someone to volunteer for anything in order to have equal legal rights! Other state data bases have had data breaches making patients have concerns of identity theft. There are also concerns about the sheer number of agencies that can access patient’s information.
8. Ms. Weeks has stated that she knows change is hard but patients will just have to adjust to the new market. Many patients however do not have the time to adjust as she calls it. Patients with Cancer, HIV, Fibromyalgia, Crohn’s disease, MS, Dravets, Zellweger syndrome, and many other diseases and disorders are often running out of time already. Others have made amazing progress using cannabis medicines. Some of those patients will die before they can “adjust” others such as children with various seizure disorders may lose all progress they have made before they “adjust” This is simply not acceptable.
9. Simply not enough medical cannabis available. The truth is there is no incentive for cannabis growers to grow medical cannabis. There is also little to no reason for stores to stock it. Much of the cannabis that medical patients use is not attractive to the recreational market. It may have too low a THC content, or may not have effects that recreational users want or some they do not want. There are also many places in Washington that have laws against cannabis shops of any type. This leaves many patients without any access to the cannabis they use medically.
10. The pesticide/chemical problem. There are many pesticides and other chemicals allowed in the manufacture and processing of recreational cannabis. There have also been instances of unlawful pesticides being used on cannabis destined for the recreational market. While those pesticides and other chemicals may not harm a healthy adult user, for those with compromised immune systems they can cause severe problems. In the self-regulated medical market many patients used grower’s markets where they could ask questions of the growers including what chemicals/pesticides were used. Most medical cannabis growers use non chemical pest control. Medical cannabis is also in a lot of cases grown in an extremely sterile environment. This is needed to make sure that nothing potentially harmful enters the grow space. In the new “medical” cannabis market patients do not know what chemicals or pesticides were used or under what conditions their medical cannabis was grown. For many patients this is crucial information.

Washington cannabis patients need safe, consistent and affordable access to the medicines they use. They need the person overseeing cannabis policy for the DOH to be knowledgeable about medical cannabis and one who has patients best interest in mind. Ms. Weeks is a legal person. Her function is to keep the DOH out of legal trouble and to defend them if they are sued. She has the DOH’s best interest in mind not the health and best interest of cannabis patients.

HB1360 – Concerning marijuana, useable marijuana, and marijuana-infused products in public.
By Meagan Holt, January 18th, 2016

I am writing today about a bill, HB1360 whose status by resolution and introduced in present status on January 11th. It is in regard to the public consumption of cannabis and cannabis products. While I agree that smoking anything should not be allowed in any public place. I have to disagree with the section about cannabis products.

My daughter, a 3 year old cannabis patient with severe disabilities, suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Zellweger Syndrome. This disease has caused her to become completely dependent on a feeding tube, therefore all of her medications must be administered through her tube. In late January of 2015 Madeline began having seizures and they immediately became life threatening. Within a couple months she appeared to be close to the end of her short life. This was when we found whole plant cannabis oil.

Maddie went 8 days completely seizure free when we first began cannabis therapy. Throughout this year she has continued to make improvements and has even gained skills back such as saying ma and signing mama and Dada. Cannabis can’t cure Madeline. But it can and IS giving me more time with her. QUALITY time where she is awake and interactive and knows mommy is here. She is in and out of the hospital frequently due to her complexity for various issues including: needing blood products, to requiring surgical intervention for large kidney stones. So the time that she is at home is very precious to us. One thing Madeline has enjoyed since she was a baby is going outside and feeling the breeze. Madeline takes 2 scheduled doses of whole plant oil and on days where she is having pain or her body is under stress we will give 1-2 small extra doses or “stress” doses.

Why should we be forced to stay inside because of fear of a police officer seeing us in public giving Madeline cannabis oil and then I am put in jail for giving her medicine? I can give her all of her other medications in public. Maddie should be able to experience life and all the beautiful things in it. Including the zoo, the park, frozen on ice if she so chooses. But without the law being changed I am criminalized for giving my baby medicine in public. I ask that there be URGENT action taken so all of the cannabis patients in Washington can enjoy the wonders of our beautiful state inside and outside.

All the best,
Meagan Holt

Cannabis registration by the state
Written by Michael Wilson, November 16, 2015

Two legislative sessions ago I learned that someone had inadvertently released the numbers of some confidential license plates to a private citizen. Fortunately the citizen who received those numbers did not make them public.

The state cannot guarantee that it can protect the confidentiality of a list of registered cannabis medical patients under any conditions. If the new federal administration which gets elected in November of 2016 decides that it intends to crack down on cannabis and reverse the work toward legalization from what we have seen in recent years, the likelihood of names being released to law enforcement will increase.

In the present circumstances registering cannabis patients will violate the rules against self-incrimination. The Fifth Amendment protects patients from having to provide information about their personal activities. Because the federal government still classifies cannabis as a schedule I substance a person’s name on the registry could be used as evidence against the patient in a court of law.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives having a state issued medical marijuana card places the patient in violation of Gun Control Act of 1968. Federal law makes no exemption for medical patients who use marijuana. In this case the registration itself may result in the patient losing his or her second amendment rights. If the patient has to go to court over their cannabis use and is found guilty a gun charge could be used to lengthen their sentence.

The Ninth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which reads “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people” protects my right to choose what medical treatment I wish to use and the idea of providing the state with that information by way of registration is an act that may discourage people from using treatments that are not approved by the government.

However let’s go back to the beginning of the prohibition of marijuana which we prefer to call cannabis these days. In the 1930s the prohibition was placed on the plant not because any scientific information had come to light informing us as to how dangerous it was. Instead the prohibitions were built around rumors, lies, innuendo and old fashioned gossip. How can the people of any nation trust the law when the law is based on such poor information?

Laws based on rumors, gossip and innuendo are not much different than a witness testifying against someone in a court of law and committing perjury in the process. A lie in the courtroom may get one person falsely convicted but lies during a legislative committee hearing to support a bill may get hundreds convicted for activities that should never have been illegal in the first place. One lie in court can land a witness in prison but one lie during a legislative hearing might get a witness who supports the legislation a promotion.

Finally Washington State’s Constitution requires the state to protect individual rights. Many people believe the state constitution protects an individual’s right to use the medicine of their choice. If people are to be deprived of that right then the state has to allow for due process as described in the Washington State Constitution which reads,”Article I… All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are estab-lished to protect and maintain individual rights”. And “SECTION 3 PERSONAL RIGHTS. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”.

Public media has ignored the cries & pleas for patients voices to be heard. They continue to be onesidedly opinionated towards the recreational market and silent on the effect the laws have had and will have on patients.

Other public outlets and organizations such as Seattle Hempfest, NORML, and ACLU apparently have turned there backs on patients leaving them to fend for themselves against the greedy wolves of the recreational industry.

http://www.cannalawblog.com/washington-recreational-marijuana-laws-hb-2136-roundup/
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/marijuana/patients-fear-medical-marijuana-may-not-fare-well-with-new-rules/
http://app.leg.wa.gov/BillInfo/summary.aspx?bill=5052&year=2015
http://app.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?year=2015&bill=2136

The People For Medical Cannabis In Washington State would like to thank Green Xena for all her work on this blog. She has moved on to other adventures. While her stories here are amazing she will be missed.

We will keep this page up and running so that people know what happened during the last session.

Only Now we will be adding a different writer. Thank You CannaSarah for joining the team! Her articles will be continuing on on this Blog!

Thank You Green Xena WE LOVE YOU!!!

Quotes by John Davis (Chair of Seattle Hempfest) speaking to fellow cannabusiness entrepreneurs regarding bill 5052:

“People are saying 5052 is the death of medical. No, not in my opinion… MEDICAL WAS ALREADY OVER, IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF HOW. 5052 actually gives us an extended life onto cleaning up the system and putting it where it needs to go, so it was something that really needed to happen.”

THE EVENTUAL PLAN IS TO ELIMINATE MEDICAL CANNABIS: