Scott, who suffered a long, painful battle with degenerative joint disease and a degenerative disc disease, was a great friend to MPP and a tireless advocate for the rights of patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest.

Most recently, he was involved in the fight to pass a medical marijuana bill in New Hampshire, which was vetoed by the governor after legislators scrambled to pass a bill they had reworked to his specifications.

We here at MPP will miss Scott dearly, and we offer our sincerest condolences to his wife and family. We’ll continue your work, Scott, and make sure the New Hampshire legislature overrides Gov. Lynch’s veto and ensures no seriously ill Granite Stater ever has to endure what you endured just to treat your pain.

Here’s Scott back in August 2007, securing Obama’s support for the rights of medical marijuana patients, which led the Obama administration to announce its historic policy change earlier this year:

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Last November, the British government ignored the advice of its Scientific Advisory Board and moved marijuana into a more dangerous class of drugs, a move described by top scientists at the time as “a sad departure from the welcome trend … of public policy following expert scientific advice.”

Of course, here in the United States, government has been ignoring its scientific advisors on marijuana policy for decades, at least since Nixon first lined his bird cage with the two-year study he commissioned recommending marijuana’s decriminalization.

And that unwelcome trend continues to this very day here, as evidenced by drug czar Gil Kerlikowske’s recent lie that marijuana “has no medicinal benefit.” Not sure who Kerlikowske’s scientific advisors are, but the one we taxpayers use, the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, says: “Nausea, appetite loss, pain, and anxiety … all can be mitigated by marijuana.”

Then again, it doesn’t take a scientist to know that it’s wrong to deny sick people medicine that eases their pain, or to arrest responsible adults because they prefer a drug that’s safer than alcohol or tobacco.

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The proposal, which attorneys testified violated the 2000 constitutional amendment passed by voter initiative protecting valid medical marijuana patients from arrest, was designed to hinder legally operating medical marijuana dispensing centers.

Opponents of medical marijuana tried a similar tactic before, and it was ruled unconstitutional by a Colorado court in 2007. Is it too much to hope they might have learned their lesson this time?

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Not only does Subway’s ad demonstrate an understanding that Americans care way more about Phelps’ amazing accomplishments than they do about his very ordinary controversy, but it actually articulates that sentiment: “You can always be yourself at Subway.”

Kellogg’s apparently found it inconvenient that a marijuana user should also be wildly successful, but Subway’s approach is far more sensible and smart. I mean, what kind of advertising honcho would recommend condemning an American icon for committing an act nearly half your target audience has committed?

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Gov. John Lynch told lawmakers that he would veto the bill in its original form, which passed both chambers last month, if eight specific concerns of his were not addressed.

A special legislative committee spent the past month revising the bill according to those eight concerns, which you can view here, along with how the revised bill that the Legislature passed today addresses them.

The question now is whether the governor was sincere about finding a workable compromise that meets the needs of medical marijuana patients. In the next couple weeks, we’ll be reminding the governor of the seriously ill who are depending on him to do the right thing by purchasing radio and TV ad time highlighting the patients whose lives hang in the balance.

If you’re a New Hampshire resident, you can let Gov. Lynch know it’s time for him to allow this much-needed reform and stop the prosecution of patients for simply trying to relieve their pain with a proven safe, effective medicine.

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Here’s The Washington Post’s summary of the incident that occurred last July:

Members of the SWAT team killed [Cheye] Calvo’s black Labrador retrievers after deputies broke down his door and raided his home in search of a drug-filled package that had been addressed to Calvo’s wife.

Law enforcement officials have since acknowledged that Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, were victims of a smuggling scheme that used a FedEx driver to ship drugs. They said the couple knew nothing about the box. County police, who were leading the drug investigation, have said they were unaware it was the mayor’s house.

Some drug investigation. PG County cops failed to even Google Calvo to determine whom they might be dealing with. They also neglected to coordinate with the sheriff in Berwyn Heights, the small D.C. suburb where Calvo served as mayor, who said he could have cleared this up with a simple visit to Calvo’s home.

Yet PG County Sheriff Michael Jackson insists his investigation proves “what I’ve felt all along: My deputies did their job to the fullest extent of their abilities.”

Actually, maybe Jackson’s right. I’ve made this point before, but if his deputies did their jobs the best they could, then maybe it’s time to change the policies that shape their jobs.

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By the way, although these things are always subject to last minute changes, it looks like MPP’s Bruce Mirken will be on CNBC discussing ending marijuana prohibition this evening sometime after 8:30 p.m. EST.

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This marks the second time the Rhode Island Legislature has expanded the medical marijuana law it established in 2006, which indicates the law’s successfulness as well as its popularity. It also marks the third time they had to override the governor’s veto in order to pass a medical marijuana law.

Are you governors out there paying attention?

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You can probably guess the rest, but here’s a link to a good comprehensive story on his arrest.

Prosecutors argue that Eugene violated the law in providing medical marijuana to the undercover cop – even though the cop presented him with documentation verifying his status as a licensed medical marijuana patient. They even insinuate that Eugene’s motive was profit and not compassion.

It appears that what’s really happening is that prosecutors are taking advantage of vagaries in California’s medical marijuana law to persecute patients and caregivers who are doing their best to take care of themselves and stay within the law.

Here’s how Eugene put it:

Every attempt made to date by collectives and coops to follow the law in San Diego has resulted in prosecutions or collectives having to operate so deeply underground and under such intense daily fear and pressure, that the potential public benefit they could be bringing to the community and to patients is stifled by this environment of fear.

Eugene has a fight on his hands now. Please visit his Web site and help him out if you can.

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The board was required by a court order to evaluate the scientific evidence surrounding medical marijuana Monday to determine whether it ought to be reclassified under the state’s controlled substances list.

But the board’s justification for rejecting the evidence presented said much more about the board’s condescending attitude toward medial marijuana and its advocates than it did about the evidence itself.

Seizing on one small point made by advocates – that 13 states had already passed medical marijuana laws – here’s what Guthrie County pharmacist DeeAnn Wedemeyer-Oleson had to say:

I liken this a lot to when I was a junior in high school and I pleaded to my dad that the time I should be allowed to stay out at night should be extended to one o’clock in the morning.

I said, I was a junior in high school and all my other friends got to stay out until one o’clock in the morning. And he said, ‘well if all of your friends jumped off the bridge, does that mean you should jump off the bridge?’

That’s cool. I liken Wedemeyer-Oleson’s logic to when I was in kindergarten and would stick my fingers in my ears and sing loudly whenever a grownup would try to tell me something I didn’t want to hear.

[update: Carl Olsen, whose group won the court order that led to the pharm board's review, makes an important point in comment #3 that I missed in my original post. The argument that 13 states already accept medical marijuana's safety and efficacy is by no means small. It should have been crucial to the board's decision if they'd applied the Iowa legal standard of whether marijuana has any accepted medical use in the United States. Thanks for clarifying that, Carl.]

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