Russia Plans to open stores for medicinal cannabis in accordance with the law.

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IACM-Bulletin of 24 April 2011
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* Russia: Plans to open stores for medicinal cannabis in accordance
with the law
* Rwanda: Plans by the government to allow the medical use of
cannabis
* USA: The governor of Montana vetoed a bill that would have repealed
the medical cannabis law
* Canada: Cannabis law unconstitutional, an Ontario court ruled

1.

Russia: Plans to open stores for medicinal cannabis in accordance
with the law

The first store to sell cannabis for medicinal purposes will be
opened in Nizhny Novgorod. Persons under 18 years of age and pregnant
women will not be allowed to purchase the products. The opening is
planned for June 2011. Currently, the store chain management is
holding negotiations with suppliers. It is intended to open a network
of similar stores later in Moscow, Irkutsk and Samara.

As of December 2010, it is allowed by law to sell cannabis to the
severely ill in Russia. The State Duma approved a project to
distribute these psychotropic substances for medical purposes.
Cannabis is also known as an analgesic, antiepileptic, antispastic,
antiemetic and appetite improving medicine.

(Source: http://www.newsbcm.com of 1 April 2011)

2.

Rwanda: Plans by the government to allow the medical use of cannabis

In June last year, Rwanda took the initial steps in allowing cannabis
strictly for medical purposes, the first country in Africa to do so.
The proposed law provides that cannabis will only be administered in
health institutions to relieve pain and other severe diseases. The
Minister of Health, Dr Richard Sezibera, while presenting the draft
law to Parliament, said that the objective of the Bill was to
contribute to the protection of the population while "ensuring that
drugs and psychotropic substances are exclusively available for
scientific and medical purposes".

If the Bill passes into law, Rwanda will join the ranks of countries
such as The Netherlands, Israel and Canada, where, with a doctor's
prescription, patients are allowed to possess a small amount of the
drug to alleviate chronic debilitating symptoms such as neuropathic
pain and side effects of chemotherapy.

More at:
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Ill+and+need+marijuana+Head+south
+to+Rwanda/-/2558/1145978/-/5alxgv/-/index.html

(Source: East African (Kenya) of 18 April 2011)

3.

USA: The governor of Montana vetoed a bill that would have repealed
the medical cannabis law

On 13 April Governor Brian Schweitzer vetoed a bill that would have
repealed Montana's voter-approved medical cannabis law, saying it
would have gone against the will of the people. Of the 15 states and
the District of Columbia that have medical cannabis laws, almost all
have struggled with how to adequately regulate a drug that the
federal government deems dangerous and addictive but said it would
not prosecute as long as users follow state law.

But the Montana Legislature took the unusual step of passing a bill
to completely overturn the 2004 law that was approved by Montana
voters. Republican leaders in the state Senate and House of
Representatives say the drug cannot be regulated safely because the
drug attracts criminal gangs and addicts the state's youth. Governor
Schweitzer said he agreed the medical cannabis law was written
broadly with unanticipated results, but that had to be balanced with
the medical needs of Montanans. "I believe the proper resolution of
this unanticipated outcome is not outright repeal, but amendment to
serve the original intent," he said.

More at:
-
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MEDICAL_MARIJUANA_MONTANA?SI
TE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=news_generic.htm
- http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/13/us-marijuana-montana-
idUSTRE73C6WQ20110413

(Sources: Associated Press of 13 April 2011, Reuters of 13 April
2011)

4.

Canada: Cannabis law unconstitutional, an Ontario court ruled

An Ontario court has struck down Canada's laws against possessing and
growing cannabis as part of a ruling that found the country's
medicinal cannabis program is failing to provide access to the drug
for those who need it. However, the government will appeal the ruling
before a higher court.

The Ontario ruling stemmed from the constitutional challenge of
Matthew Mernagh, a man who relies on medical cannabis to ease pain
brought on by fibromyalgia and scoliosis. Health Canada's medical
cannabis program regulates and approves growing and regulates how
much patients can buy and how much they're legally allowed to use for
their treatment. More than 9,800 Canadians are legally permitted to
possess medicinal cannabis, according to Health Canada. Nearly 5,600
people hold a personal grower's licence and 1,837 people hold a
licence to grow for one other person. However, Justice Donald Taliano
wrote in his decision on 11 April that Mernagh has been unable to get
a doctor to sign off on a medical cannabis licence. Other patients
run into the same problem, the judge noted, and that forces some
seriously ill people to obtain cannabis illegally.

More at:
http://stage.www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/marijuana-law-
unconstitutional-ontario-court.html?device=mobile

(Sources: Reuters of 13 April 2011, Winnipeg Free Press of 14 April
2011)

5.

News in brief

***Economy: GW Pharmaceuticals
On 11 April the British company GW Pharmaceuticals announced that it
has entered into an exclusive licence agreement for Novartis Pharma
to commercialise the cannabis extract Sativex in Australia and New
Zealand, Asia (excluding Japan, China and Hong Kong), Middle East
(excluding Israel/Palestine) and Africa. Under the terms of the
agreement, Novartis will have exclusive commercialisation rights to
Sativex and will also be responsible for regulatory filings.
(Sources: Press release by GW Pharmaceuticals of 11 April 2011,
Reuters of 11 April 2011)

***Czech Republic: Sativex
The cannabis extract Sativex has been approved in the Czech Republic
as a treatment for spasticity due to multiple sclerosis. This
approval is following the approval in the UK and Spain. Other
European countries are expected to follow in the coming months.
(Source: Press release by GW Pharmaceuticals of 15 April 2011)

***Science: Workshop on medical use
On 8 July 2011 during the ICRS Meeting the CCIC (Canadian Consortium
for the Investigation of Cannabinoids) organizes a symposium on
cannabinoids in medical practise. The speakers are Cecilia Hillard,
Linda Parker, Donald Abrams, Sachin Patel, Diego Centonze, William
Notcutt, and Mark Ware. More information at: www.ccic.net/symposium.
(Source: Personal Communication)

***Jamaica: Recommendations for legalization
The government will review recommendations to decriminalize
possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal and religious
use. They will evaluate a 2001 report by the National Commission for
Ganja - as cannabis is known locally. The commission appointed by the
government argued that the drug was "culturally entrenched" in
Jamaica and that moderate use had no negative health effects on most
users. (Source: Associated Press of 12 April 2011)

M25 Artificial Cannabis Caper Exposed

M25 Artificial Cannabis Caper Exposed

Back in 2010 the newspapers were full of a new and unusual cannabis caper which was carrying on around stretch's of the M25 motorway north of London.

Police had been called by a farmer who was growing industrial hemp. According to the farmer cars were pulling up to his crops, the occupants would then jump out and cut down as much of the cultivated hemp plants as possible, and then make off before 'the rozzers' arrived.

The farmer claimed to have lost hundreds of kilo's of plant matter which was worthless unless you wanted to make hemp yarn, or hemp based cosmetics.

Local police were at a loss to why people would want to steal something which whilst it may look like cannabis, thats where the similarities end.

A police officer who was called to the scene explained "People think they can get high on hemp".

"It looks like cannabis, it even smells like cannabis, but without the psycho active THC crystals which gather on the female cannabis plant, (which the industrial hemp plant has none of), industrial hemp is absolutely useless as a recreational drug!?

So why would people go to such length's to steal it?

The answer was mentioned in the text above. Industrial hemp looks, smells and feels just like the humble cannabis plant. The only bit missing is the bit that gets you stoned.

Enter JWH-018

JW Huffman is an organic chemist from the United States. In the last decade or two scientists like he have been able to manufacture synthetic cannabinoids. That is, the bit of the cannabis plant which brings with it the high, as well as all the medical benefits.

Now THC as we know it consists of a soup consisting of over 400 different substances, and differs markedly from plant to plant let alone from species to species. So try as they may, the pharmaceutical industry has been unable to synthesize whole-plant THC. But they can recreate little bits of it. One of the most popular little bits is called JWH-018, (named after its creator Dr JW Huffman of Clemson University).

Jwh-018 was recently 'outed' as being the active component in Artificial cannabis products marketed under the brand names of Spice and K2, as well as a great many others.

These synthetic marijuana products are said to mimic the effects of cannabis whilst at the same time being upwards of 10x more potent than regular smoked cannabis.

A lab in Germany revealed JWH-018 was the secret ingredient in Spice type products and almost overnight a legend was born.

Clever boffin types were using solvent evaporation technique's to infuse their chosen vegetable matter with man made cannabinoid JWH-018, creating in the process a synthetic version of cannabis.

The problem was of course, finding something which would burn readily when dried whilst at the same time mimicking the taste and smell of cannabis.

Then, a gang of drug dealers happened upon a field of industrial hemp. A field full of 12 foot cannabis plants. Can you imagine?

It didn't take long to figure out how well the solvent extraction method would work on the dried hemp, and soon after wards North London and the rest of the UK was flooded with an artificial form of cannabis which was being grown for the gangsters by a local farmer, albeit unwittingly.

Any that was intercepted would be destroyed as being regular cannabis, and no one was any the wiser. Not the Police, nor the cannabis buying public. Until now!

Good home-grown cannabis should always come with a coating of crystals.

If the cannabis you are buying doesn't have a healthy coating of what looks like sugar then chances are you're smoking something which came not from a natural plant, but out of a Chinese or American laboratory.

You have been warned.

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