In what may be some sort of modern record for fact-free grandstanding on drug issues, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican from the suburbs north of Chicago, has introduced a bill to ratchet up penalties for so-called "super pot". Under Kirk's proposal, penalties would be massively increased for those producing or selling marijuana with THC levels 15% or higher -- to the point where a single plant could land someone in jail for 25 years.

Small problem: THC is, for all practical purposes, nontoxic. Higher-THC marijuana is not more dangerous. People simply smoke less, just like they drink less vodka than they do beer. That's not just my opinion. Scientists who have examined the issue have concluded that the evidence simply isn't there to sound alarm bells over so-called "super pot." See, for example, this detailed review from the journal Addiction.

Congressman Kirk, it feels safe to say, has no intention of letting mere facts get in his way.

Congressman Barney Frank introduced legislation yesterday aimed at making marijuana available through a doctor’s prescription nationwide.

Please help MPP support H.R. 2835, by e-mailing and calling your U.S. Representative. MPP's online resources at mpp.org/federal-action make it quick and easy to ask your legislator to cosponsor this important legislation.

Click here to take action.

H.R. 2835 makes two important changes to federal law. First, it eliminates federal authority to interfere with patients, caregivers, and collectives operating in accordance with state medical marijuana laws. Second, it moves marijuana from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act into Schedule II. Schedule II drugs have recognized medical benefits and can be prescribed by doctors to patients in need (for example, morphine is a Schedule II drug).

Congressman Frank’s legislation comes after months of growing debate over marijuana policy reform, but it will still face significant opposition in Congress -- so please visit mpp.org/federal-action and do your part today!

We just got word that Charlie Lynch was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for providing patients with medical marijuana in accordance with state law.

While the judge in Lynch's case did depart from the five-year mandatory minimum sentence, it'll still be an outrage for Charlie to spend even one day behind bars for his acts of compassion - especially given his compliance with state law. This man's life has already been turned upside down thanks to the mean-spirited county sheriff who ignored state law and called in Bush-era DEA thugs, as well as the unjust law that didn't allow Charlie to discuss medical marijuana in front of a jury.

Charlie and his attorneys say they plan to appeal, and we hope they succeed. With federal law enforcement at the Mexican border so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, even one more penny spent persecuting a man who is not a criminal in any rational sense of the word is an outrageous waste of resources.

Fortunately, Charlie has been released on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.

[caption id="attachment_955" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Marijuana Use Rates, Age 12 and Up"][/caption]

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently released its annual state-by-state breakdown of drug use rates from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. And once again, the data (based on the 2006 and 2007 surveys) don't match the official mythology -- namely, that tough anti-marijuana laws reduce marijuana use.

As of the survey dates, 11 states had decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, while 39 retained the threat of arrest and jail for even small-time marijuana possession. And, like previous surveys, use rates in the decriminalized states were statistically indistinguishable from the non-decriminalized states. Some decriminalized states, such as Nebraska and Mississippi, had use rates well below the national average. And some that maintain criminal penalties, such as New Hampshire and the District of Columbia, were well above the national average.

Sometimes decriminalized states had lower marijuana use rates than neighboring states that still jail marijuana users. Mississippi, for example, was lower than Louisiana; Nebraska was lower than Kansas.

This trend has been consistent in the nearly a decade that SAMHSA has been doing these state breakdowns, yet it didn't stop decriminalization opponents in Massachusetts from claiming last year that decriminalization would somehow turn their state into a sea of potheads.

The other persistent myth is that medical marijuana laws increase teen marijuana use by "sending the wrong message to kids." Again, the real-world trend doesn't quite match the myth. Year-to-year changes in past-month marijuana use for 12-to-17-year-olds were almost all statistically insignificant. A few medical marijuana states showed increases while others showed drops, but none of the changes were large enough to be proof of a real trend. And state-based surveys, which have much larger samples within each state and thus are far more reliable, have consistently shown teen marijuana use decreasing in medical marijuana states since the laws took effect.

Wouldn't it be nice if legislators everywhere could be persuaded to base laws on facts instead of myths?

State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 14 yesterday, calling on Congress and the president to enact national policies allowing patients and their caregivers safe access to medical marijuana. The resolution urges an immediate end to DEA raids on medical marijuana facilities in accordance with statements made by Attorney General Eric Holder that such activities are no longer consistent with Department of Justice priorities.

The House committee that oversees the Department of Justice (DOJ) passed an amendment today that adds language to the committee's report urging the DOJ to clarify its position on state-legal medical marijuana. The provision is a non-binding recommendation, but carries weight given the committee’s role in funding the department.

The need for a clearly articulated policy was highlighted in March when DEA agents raided Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic. The raid, seemingly in conflict with Attorney General Eric Holder’s stated policy on medical marijuana, came just weeks after Holder vowed to end the raids on state-legal collectives. DEA press releases claimed that the raid on Emmalyn’s was not in conflict with Holder’s statements.

Following these events, MPP’s Aaron Houston testified before the House committee charged with overseeing the DOJ. In his testimony, he laid out the need for a clearly articulated policy. Today, the committee adopted portions of the language he recommended.

The language, sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), states, "There have been conflicting public reports about the Department's [DOJ] enforcement of medical marijuana policies. Within 60 days of enactment, the Department shall provide to the Committee clarification of the Department's policy regarding enforcement of federal laws and use of federal resources against individuals involved in medical marijuana activities."

It is conventional wisdom that any substance use during drug treatment leads to lower rates of success. But a new study in the American Journal on Addictions suggests that's not always so.

The study looked at patients in treatment for opiate dependence using a drug called naltrexone – a treatment whose effectiveness, the researchers write, "has been severely limited by poor adherence." As part of a study designed to test two different support protocols intended to help patients stay on naltrexone treatment, researchers also looked at use of other substances by means of regular urine tests conducted during clinic visits.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, patients with "intermittent" marijuana use (defined as between 1% and 79% of urine tests coming back positive) stayed on treatment for nearly four times as long as those who abstained completely. Treatment adherence by "consistent" marijuana users (80% or more positive urine tests) was almost identical to that of the abstainers.

The researchers note that the beneficial effect was most apparent early in treatment, that marijuana use was not only associated with staying in treatment longer but also with more consistent pill-taking, and that during the study the patients tended to maintain or even increase their marijuana use. This, they write, is "consistent with a process of self-medication. These findings are of interest because they suggest the hypothesis that moderate cannabis use may be exerting a beneficial pharmacological effect improving the tolerability of naltrexone in the early weeks after induction."

The long, sad story of Charles C. Lynch should take a major turn this Thursday, June 11, when Judge George Wu is expected to finally determine a sentence for the federally-prosecuted but state-legal medical marijuana provider. MPP has joined Charlie's defense team and many supporters in calling for as lenient a sentence as possible in this tragic case of federal interference with California's voter-approved state law.

Our friends over at Reason TV released this new video, aptly set to the tune of "Whipping Boy" by Chris Darrow, to help raise awareness of Charlie's plight.

Today the Obama administration unveiled a new antidrug strategy for the Southwestern border, a region plagued by horrendous violence from Mexican drug cartels. Alas, the plan simply rearranges the proverbial deck chairs on the Titanic.

Lovely chairs they may be, but the boat's still going down.

The plan, as reported by the Associated Press based on an advance copy, includes lots of technological fixes like "visual shields near border-crossing points so that drug cartel spotters can't alert approaching motorists about inspections."

Yeah, that'll put the cartels out of business, just as sure as there's a Tooth Fairy.

As MPP director of government relations Aaron Houston said in a statement today, "The plan ignores the central problem, which is that our policy of marijuana prohibition has handed the Mexican cartels a massive market that keeps them rolling in cash, not just in Mexico, but according to the Department of Justice, in 230 American cities.

"Rather than trying to make America's 15 million monthly marijuana consumers go away, we need to gain control of this market by regulating marijuana like we do beer, wine and liquor," Houston continued. "Any anti-drug effort that leaves the marijuana trade in the hands of the cartels is nothing but a full-employment plan for professional drug warriors and cartel bosses alike, not a serious proposal to address the problem."

I've recently been corresponding with a medical marijuana patient and Navy veteran, Eugene Davidovich, who was recently arrested in a particularly slimy undercover sting operation. Eugene, a member of a San Diego medical marijuana collective, was contacted by an undercover cop posing as a registered, licensed medical marijuana patient who asked for his help obtaining his medicine.

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.