I used to care deeply about the issue, but now I regret my vote for medical marijuana and will never make that mistake again. Legal marijuana for recreational use? Never. Repeal of medical marijuana? Sounds good to me.
As for the rest of the Globe joint, I'll pass. Sorry.
"Mass., N.H. crack down on ‘synthetic marijuana’" by Andy Rosen and Michael Levenson | Globe Staff August 15, 2014
Authorities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire are cracking down on “synthetic marijuana,” a drug that has been linked to a series of recent overdoses as it remained on store shelves despite federal attempts to ban it.
New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan this week declared a public health emergency linked to a brand of the drug that she says has sickened dozens of people this month around Manchester and Concord. The move gives police tools to seize packets of one type of the drug, called “Bubblegum Flavor” of “Smacked!”
In Massachusetts, the Legislature recently passed a state ban on such synthetic cannabinoids, which are also known as “spice.” Though the products are often identified as incense and potpourri, authorities say they are widely smoked or brewed into tea.
I thought heroin was the big issue these days.
New Hampshire is one of the few remaining states without an explicit ban on synthetic cannabinoids, though the state’s officials say they are studying how to craft an outright ban. That’s a difficult proposition, because the drugs’ chemical compounds change regularly as producers seek to evade regulation.
Dr. Jose Montero, state public health director for New Hampshire, said that though the drugs are regularly compared to marijuana, they can be much more dangerous — and their effects difficult to predict.
“They keep changing it all the time, playing this game with the federal government to see what’s illegal and what isn’t,” he said. “These are just psychotropic drugs.”
Multiple attempts to reach suppliers of the substance were unsuccessful Friday.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration classified many of the active ingredients in synthetic cannabinoids as controlled substances in 2011, and this year has been expanding its efforts to rein in spice and other synthetic drugs — including bath salts and Molly.
But in areas without state or local laws prohibiting the drugs, police can’t enforce the DEA ban without the help of federal agents.
Authorities say they have been further challenged by the rapid changes in the formulas of the substances — alterations they believe producers make in an attempt to circumvent laws and regulations against the distribution of specific chemical compounds.
In a statement announcing the New Hampshire emergency declaration, Hassan said the state has found controlled substances in other brands of spice. But she said she took the step of calling out “Smacked!” after at least 41 people experienced “serious medical reactions” to it since Monday — including 20 taken by ambulance to hospitals.
The state has no reports of deaths from the drugs, but Montero said there have been a variety of symptoms: passing out, hallucinations, and cardiovascular distress are some examples.
“These products pose a serious threat to public health, especially to young people, and it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to combat the recent rash of overdoses,” Hassan said in a statement.
Dr. Christopher Rosenbaum, director of toxicology at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, said people who have smoked spice products have also suffered from agitation, nausea, and vomiting. There have been some reports of seizures.
He applauded Hassan for taking strong action against the products.
“People are smoking substances without knowing what’s in them,” said Rosenbaum, who has studied synthetic pot. “I would argue these products are more dangerous than the [marijuana] they are intended to replace.”
Massachusetts health officials said Friday that while they are aware of anecdotal reports of overdoses from synthetic drugs, there have not been any large-scale problems like those seen in New Hampshire.
McKenzie Ridings, a spokesman for the Boston Public Health Commission, said, “There haven’t been any real problems” in the city.
But Anne Roach, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Health, said a substance abuse bill recently signed by Governor Deval Patrick gives the agency emergency powers to temporarily ban dangerous products when circumstances warrant.
It's a lever of dictatorship, but it's all good in Massachusetts.
“This action gives law enforcement the tools it needs to crack down on these emerging drugs,” Roach said.
Another new Massachusetts law banning synthetic marijuana has a provision intended to prevent chemical alterations from circumventing the rules, according to Senator Michael O. Moore, a Millbury Democrat who pushed for the change.
Moore said he became interested in the issue after a constituent told him that young people were becoming ill after using the drug. An effort to ban synthetic marijuana fizzled in 2012 amid a successful campaign to crack down on drugs known as bath salts, but passed as part of a budget deal in this year’s recently concluded legislative session.
Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?
Law enforcement officials in Moore’s district are reaching out to store owners in the area to let them know about the ban on spice.
“If they’ve purchased it and it’s an outlawed substance, I guess that’s going to be a loss that they’re going to have to declare on their taxes at the end of the year,” he said. “Teens and kids ... are overdosing. We have to look at the public safety.”
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"False claim no barrier to marijuana licenses; Permits awarded despite problem with resume" by Todd Wallack | Globe staff August 12, 2014
After a string of embarrassing revelations about proposed medical marijuana dispensaries, state regulators vowed to expand the background checks and scrub every inch of firms’ applications during the verification phase of the approval process.
A security firm conducted more than a hundred additional background checks and investigative interviews. And the state weeded out nearly half the 20 finalists, including several for misrepresenting their meetings with local officials.
“If somebody lied on their application, they are not going to get a license,” Governor Deval Patrick said flatly in a WGBH radio interview in February.
But lie your way to war and loot? Okay!
Yet despite that vow, the state knowingly granted two provisional licenses to a company whose director falsely claimed to be a college graduate in the application, the Globe has learned.
Kevin Fisher, executive director of New England Treatment Access Inc. and the owner of a marijuana business in Colorado, claimed he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Youngstown State University, but the school says it has no record of his receiving any degree.
The state’s screening company detected the missing degree in April, but the state let the company go forward with plans to open dispensaries in Northampton and Brookline anyway.
“I am surprised,” said state Representative Jeffrey Sánchez, a Democrat from Jamaica Plain, who said the state assured him it would thoroughly vet all the applications after questions came up about some of the companies that were initially approved. “I think this is cause for concern.”
Fisher initially promised a state contractor who was looking for his graduation records that he would obtain transcripts proving he had a degree. Then Fisher told her he could not order the transcripts after all because he owed the school thousands of dollars and assumed that was why the school reported he did not earn a degree, a notion that a university spokesman later dismissed.
Regardless, if the state insisted on proof that he graduated, Fisher said, “I would request lenience in amending said resume” to remove the degree, according to an e-mail he sent the contractor on April 16 and shared with the Globe.
Fisher said he never heard back from the state. But on June 27, the state announced New England Treatment Access had passed the verification phase of the approval process without mentioning the resume issue. Now the firm just needs local permits and final approval from state inspectors before opening for business as early as December. It is the only company to receive more than one of the 11 provisional licenses awarded so far.
The revelation raises new questions about whether the state missed or ignored key problems with companies’ applications to sell medical marijuana during the latest, more intense round of fact checking.
All the data collection and they couldn't get a proper file of investigation?
The Department of Public Health confirmed Monday night that it was aware of the resume issue, but suggested it was irrelevant because the agency did not require any specific educational credentials as part of the approval process.
“If information was uncovered that impacted the applicant’s ability to provide high-quality patient access, the program took action,” DPH spokesman David Kibbe said in a statement. He declined to say whether the agency was confident that other information in applications was accurate.
The decision also opens the state up to potential charges of favoritism. Many applicants who were passed over in earlier rounds of the review process say the state ignored problems at other companies with political connections.
I would expect nothing less from this state. It runs on favoriti$m.
New England Treatment Access employs a key former DPH staff member, Andy Epstein, a nurse who helped craft the state’s medical marijuana regulations before retiring from government last year; she is now the company’s patient/medical director. Former US congressman Barney Frank was also listed on the firm’s initial payroll as director of community and government relations, though he resigned in March before the state detected the issue with Fisher’s resume.
OMG! Riding the rove, was he?
“Any misrepresentation should disqualify them,” said Lesley Rich, an attorney and president of a company that unsuccessfully applied to open a facility in New Bedford and is suing the state. “There’s no question that throughout this whole process, there has been a whole undercurrent of special treatment.”
It's Massachusetts!
In several other instances, the state eliminated applications in June after finding incorrect information in their applications. For instance, it found that Good Chemistry misrepresented its meetings with local officials in Boston and Worcester.
In other cases, the state allowed companies to remove executives or directors after embarrassing information about their background surfaced. For instance, three companies that made it through the verification process cut ties to a couple that owned a Colorado marijuana facility that was forced to close because of violations there.
The head of New England Treatment Access also has experience selling legal marijuana in Colorado.
Fisher, a former restaurant wine steward, has run Rocky Mountain Remedies, a business in Steamboat Springs, Colo., that has sold medical marijuana for five years and recreational marijuana to adults since January. Until last month, Fisher also chaired the board of the state’s industry trade group, the Marijuana Industry Group.
“He’s doing everything he can to make this a well-regulated industry,” said Michael Elliott, the group’s executive director.
His Colorado shop, based in an industrial part of town, sells more than a dozen variety of marijuana with names like “Glowing Goat,” “Pandora’s Box,” and “Sour Diesel.”
Fisher said he also knows firsthand the benefits of medical marijuana; he sometimes uses it to treat pain from injuries he suffered kayaking and other outdoor sports.
Colorado regulators confirmed last week that Fisher has a current license and that there have been no administrative actions filed against Fisher or the business.
“He has been very upfront and transparent,” said Steamboat Springs Police Chief Joel Rae. “We as a city police department have not had any problems with the way he operates either of his marijuana businesses.”
DPH said academic credentials were not a factor in which companies received provisional licenses. The state said applicants needed to prove they had management experience and other qualifications, but did not necessarily need any specific degrees.
But lying about a college degree is usually considered a significant sin, because it raises questions of integrity. Many executives have been forced out for misrepresenting their college degrees, including a former chief executive of Yahoo Inc. and the head of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge.
Start wars that murder millions with lies? Not that big a deal.
Related: No Belly Laugh For Berlowitz
Also see: Plagiarism From Montana to Massachusetts
Walsh is gone but Fleishman stays?
Fisher acknowledged he misstated how many years he went to college. His resume said he spent two years at Miami University in Ohio, when school records show he dropped out after his freshman year.
But Fisher said he thought he later earned a degree from Youngstown State University, another public school in his hometown. He said he recalls taking all the required coursework after meeting with an adviser.
“I believe I have a degree,” he said.
But Fisher acknowledged that he has no proof. Fisher said he never attended graduation or received a paper diploma. And he does not have copies of transcripts. The only documentation Fisher produced was a diploma case he said he received from Youngstown State, containing a slip of paper that said, “Congratulations on your graduation from Youngstown State University.” However, there is no diploma in the case. Instead, it contained general information on where students could pick up their diplomas. It did not name any particular student.
“I understand the facts of the matter, but I think one could reasonably understand my assumption [that I graduated],” Fisher said.
However, when Fisher applied for a license to operate a marijuana business in Colorado four years ago, he told regulators he did not graduate from Youngstown, said Natriece Bryant, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Revenue, which licenses marijuana operators in that state.
Fisher says the degree issue first came up in Massachusetts a few months ago when Creative Services Inc., the company the state hired to conduct background checks on companies seeking licenses to sell medical marijuana, told him it could not find any record that he received a bachelor’s degree.
But Fisher suggested that was only because he owed the school nearly $3,600 from fall 1998. He said he figures that his estranged father stopped paying for school when his mother became ill around that time.
“It is my assumption that the school reports me as only [having] been ‘enrolled’ due to this deficiency,” he told the investigative firm.
Youngstown State representatives confirmed he attended the school, but said they could find no record that Fisher ever received a degree. “An unpaid balance is not a factor,” said Ron Cole, the school spokesman.
Fisher insists he never intended to embellish his resume. He said he was later accepted into law school (though he did not wind up enrolling there) and always assumed he had graduated.
“This was not an attempt at misrepresentation,” he said.
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Little lies mean a lot when fishering around for anything!!!
"State halts 2 cannabis permits; Cites false claim on director’s resume; vows more scrutiny of dispensary bid" by Kay Lazar, Todd Wallack and Shelley Murphy | Globe Staff August 13, 2014
Governor Deval Patrick said Wednesday the state has put on hold a company’s bid to open medical marijuana dispensaries in Brookline and Northampton following revelations that the director falsely claimed to be a college graduate.
“I’ve said before: If you lie on the application, that is, from my perspective, a nonstarter,” Patrick said after signing an environmental bond bill on Beacon Hill.
Look at the great prevaricator up on his high horse!
Wednesday’s development proved to be the latest detour for the state’s fraught effort to license medical marijuana shops.
The Globe reported Tuesday that the executive director of New England Treatment Access Inc., Kevin Fisher, claimed in the application he earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Youngstown State University, but the school said it has no record he received a degree. A screening company hired by the state detected the missing degree in April, but the state let the company go forward with plans to open dispensaries anyway.
You don't have to go to college to major in growing weed.
Fisher also claimed he previously attended another school, Miami University in Ohio, for two years, when school records show he dropped out after his freshman year.
“We’re trying to understand whether, in fact, it was a lie,” Patrick said. “That’s not clear yet. There’s certainly an inaccuracy, and we’re going to get to the bottom of that.”
New England Treatment Access is the only company to receive more than one of 11 provisional dispensary licenses awarded by the state in June, and new documents obtained by the Globe raise additional questions about whether the firm received preferential treatment....
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"Marijuana company defends chief’s false claims of college degree" by Kay Lazar and Todd Wallack | Globe Staff August 15, 2014
First, his mother died. Then, he became estranged from his father. Those life-changing events during his final college semester so affected Kevin Fisher that he couldn’t focus on whether he actually graduated.
Tough breaks for the kid.
A letter sent this week by Fisher’s medical marijuana company to state health officials described its chief executive’s college years and sought to defend him from assertions that he misled regulators.
But that letter also acknowledged for the first time that Fisher has no college degree, and it said Fisher would be willing to resign if that’s what it takes to retain provisional dispensary licenses granted by the state Department of Public Health.
Fisher’s company, New England Treatment Access Inc., is the only applicant to receive more than one of the 11 provisional dispensary licenses awarded by the state in June. Nine other applicants were knocked out of the running over questionable finances and for providing misleading information in a selection process riddled with controversy.
That's another reason I'm down on it all. State has dragged their heels from the start because they didn't like us voting in favor of medical marijuana. It's been delay, delay, delay, as sick people needlessly suffer.
This week’s letter is the latest act in a drama that cast New England Treatment into the spotlight....
That's where I turned the light off, sorry. Must have smoked too much weed.
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Speaking of college and since it is Sunday:
"In halls of academia, medical marijuana an unwelcome guest; Colleges, mindful of federal rules, draw ire by keeping stiff bans" by Matt Rocheleau | Globe Correspondent August 17, 2014
Although medical marijuana has been legal in Massachusetts for nearly two years, many local colleges are putting out the message to students as the fall semester nears: You still can’t use it on campus, even if a doctor says it’s medicinal.
College administrators have reaffirmed policies banning the drug in all forms, and that includes for students who have a doctor’s recommendation. They say their hands are tied by federal regulations, which still classify marijuana as an illegal drug, and they worry that allowing cannabis use of any kind could lead to the loss of federal funding, including student financial aid.
But remember, this government cares about your health. That's why they mandated Obummercare.
“I’m scared I’m either going to go under-medicated and suffer physical consequences if I can’t use my medicine enough, or I’m going to face consequences from the school if I get caught,” said Max, an incoming Boston University freshman, who asked that his last name not be published for fear of being singled out by the college. He says he has certification from a Massachusetts doctor to use marijuana to treat gastrointestinal issues that cause significant weight loss and stomach pain.
Students caught using marijuana on campuses can face punishment ranging from a warning to expulsion.
But other medical marijuana patients and advocates say colleges are being overly cautious. Forbidding the use of a state-recognized, doctor-authorized medicine is unfair, unethical, and a detriment to students, faculty, and others who use the drug to treat ailments, they say.
That is the federal government, yeah.
“We would like to see schools recognize, as many states and millions and millions of individuals and doctors have done, that marijuana is in fact valid medicine for the patients that are using it, and treating it differently than other medications is harmful to students and faculty who have chosen to use medical marijuana,” said Betty Aldworth, director of Students for Sensile Drug Policy, a national student network pushing for an overhaul of drug laws.
The issue has gained attention locally as more formal patient certifications are set to become available in Massachusetts and as dispensaries are expected to open across the state within several months.
Still waiting more months?
Some schools — including Boston University, Tufts University, and Amherst, Curry, Emerson, Hampshire, and Wheelock colleges — that ban medical marijuana on campus try to help students with certifications to find alternatives. One way is to allow the students to opt out of on-campus housing contracts and requirements so they can pursue treatment off-campus.
BU dean of students Kenneth Elmore said “a few” students with medical marijuana certifications have approached campus officials since the state voted to legalize medical use in Nov. 2012, asking whether the documentation allows them to use the drug on campus without repercussions. It does not, Elmore said. Those students are referred to campus health officials to privately discuss alternatives.
“We’d work with the student on that sort of thing,” he said.
But, Elmore added: “We don’t make a distinction between medical and recreational marijuana. We simply don’t allow marijuana on our campus. Federally, it is illegal, and smoking causes disruptions on campus.”
Advocates point out that medical marijuana can be consumed in other ways, including by vaporizing the drug, eating cannabis-infused foods and drinks, or even taking a pill containing marijuana’s active ingredient, THC.
The ban on cannabis use — medical or otherwise — also appears to be widespread at campuses across the other 22 states and Washington, D.C., where local laws permit patients with doctor-issued certifications to use the drug for treatment.
Thomas C. Burke Jr., 25, a student at Yale Divinity School who said he has a doctor’s certification to use the drug in Connecticut, says he has largely avoided problems by being discrete or by only using marijuana off campus.
Burke said his certification is to use the drug in Connecticut, where it became legal in 2012, to treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder he has suffered since serving in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I try to make it as little of a distraction as possible and be as accommodating as I can to others,” said Burke, who supplements his use with cognitive therapy.
Ah, screw the heroic and brave servicemen who risked their lives over lies told to them by the people now plucking the joint out his mouth.
Still, colleges’ rules on medical marijuana cause uneasiness.
“For most veterans with PTSD, which is an anxiety disorder, the anxiety of having to worry about being penalized or seen as a criminal keeps them from medicating,” said Burke.
“We are not just doing drugs during the day, we are medicating ourselves, which allows us to be productive members of society.”
While numerous Massachusetts colleges have affirmed their bans in student and employee conduct policies, some campuses — including Eastern Nazarene and Mount Holyoke colleges — say they are weighing whether to revise their policies.
“It is unclear what impact, if any, a change in policy would have on federal funding,” said Jeffrey Kirksey, vice president for student development and retention at Eastern Nazarene, in Quincy.
That lack of clarity stems, in part, from mixed messages from federal officials.
Yeah, it all depends on what they want to enforce and what they do not. Get your priorities straight.
Looks like a blackmail and extortion racket to me.
The Justice Department said in a memorandum last year that it focuses enforcement on the most serious marijuana-related violations, and it is “not an efficient use of federal resources to focus enforcement efforts on seriously ill individuals, or on their individual caregivers.”
However, in 2011, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy and the Education Department wrote a letter warning campuses that deviating from federal rules could put their federal funding at risk.
“The administration’s stance hasn’t changed since then,” drug control policy office spokeswoman Cameron Hardesty told the Globe last week.
Advocates, however, say it is unrealistic to believe the US government would cut off funding to colleges over the issue.
Why? It looks like this bankrupt, ca$h-grabbing government is setting up just such a $cenario.
“I understand not wanting to risk millions of dollars in federal funding, but no college has ever lost federal funding for changing their drug or alcohol policies,”said Connor McKay, a 22-year-old Northeastern University senior and president of the campus chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. “Colleges could and should at least accommodate students who need to use it.”
Think about the positive side: the dorm rooms will no longer stink.
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You would be better off quitting anyway; marijuana can start fires -- in more ways than one.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"Kevin Fisher, executive director of a company that won provisional licenses for two Massachusetts medical marijuana dispensaries in June, resigned his position this weekend after recent reports that he had wrongly claimed on the dispensary applications that he had a college degree.
The letter, dated Saturday, is the latest chapter in a high-stakes and increasingly contentious state process to select companies for coveted marijuana dispensary licenses....
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Everybody happy now?
