FREE BREE: State officials remove 7 month old Bree Green from her home.

By Charmie Gholson

The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was passed with overwhelming support in 2008. Specific protections were written into that voter-initiated law to protect families from removing children from the homes of caregivers and patients who register with the State.

Five years after the enactment of our law, Michigan Child Protective Services  (CPS) continues to unjustly remove children from the homes of state sanctioned medical marijuana patients and caregivers.

VGIP- Up Coming Elections, Cannabis Camp and Michigan’s State of Flux

By Ben Horner

This November, voters in Lansing, Ferndale and Jackson will decide on removing penalties for possession or transfer of an ounce or less of marijuana, despite numerous attacks from state and local authorities.

CANNABIS HAS “TURNED THE CORNER” NEW HOLDER/GUPTA OPINIONS ARE “GAMECHANGERS”

Chuck Ream

We knew that we would win in the end - but it often seemed like “the end” was far away. Now we feel victory coming. The center of gravity has shifted; developments come fast.

With the newly altered opinion of United States Attorney General Eric Holder and the conversion (with apology) by CNN correspondent and neurologist Dr. Sanjay Gupta the forces of cannabis law reform can see “light at the end of the tunnel” for the first time.

As “icing on the cake” we have:

* Republican leader John McCain saying “Maybe we should just legalize. I respect the will of the people”. And, 

*U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy held hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept 10 about marijuana and said pot law enforcement is a “bad use of our limited law enforcement dollars” and “The federal government ought to respect” state marijuana laws.

United States Attorney General Eric Holder informed the governors of Washington and Colorado that the Department of Justice would take a "trust but verify approach" to the state laws, (and is reserving its right to file a preemption lawsuit at a later date).

October Book Report by Chuck Ream

“Marijuana: The Forbidden Medicine” by Lester Grinspoon and James Bakalar, (1993), (sixth in a series on the most important books about cannabis).  By Chuck Ream

The great doctor Lester Grinspoon; associate professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University (retired) has done more than any other physician to publicize the value of medical marijuana.

 The agony of his young son taught Dr. Grinspoon about cannabis.

“Danny was first given the diagnosis of acute lymphatic Leukemia in July 1967; he was ten years old”.  Side effects from the chemotherapy that Dr. Grinspoon’s son received were uncontrollable. “He would start to vomit shortly after treatment and continue retching for up to eight hours. He vomited in the car as we drove home, and on arriving he had to lie in bed with his head over a bucket on the floor. Still I was shocked when Betsy (his wife) suggested that we find cannabis for Danny.” “I dismissed the idea.”