Medical marijuana? Montel Williams impressed by Israeli approach

Montel Williams says the U.S. could learn a thing or two from Israel's liberal stance on medical marijuana. The Emmy Award-winning TV personality was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999 and he has been an outspoken advocate of medical marijuana to relieve pain caused by the disease since then.

Medical marijuana: Which 16 states permit pot

Williams, 55, is in Israel on a fact-finding mission to learn about its approach to medical weed. He's meeting with legislators, scientists and doctors.

In Israel, certain doctors can approve cannabis prescriptions and disperse them to patients, said Itay Goor-Aryeh, the head of the pain management unit at the Sheba Medical Center in central Israel. He said that while marijuana use is carefully regulated, many doctors prefer prescribing it to patients who qualify because it is "the lesser of evils."

Those patients, if they do not get cannabis, they will get morphine-like drugs and other harmful drugs," said Goor-Aryeh. "I think that in many ways, cannabis is tolerated and is less addictive that morphine-based drugs.

Sixteen U.S. states have decriminalized the use of medical marijuana. Critics claim dispensaries are often no more than drug trafficking fronts.

"For me, there is nothing else that can do what it does," he said. "It helps me suppress my pain... When I am not using cannabis, I am thinking about my pain every 45 seconds."

He said the drug had been "vilified to substantiate the false reason why it was banned in the first place," and that he hoped it would one day become a regular prescription drug.

"There are chemicals within that plant," he said, "and some of the leading science on where and how those chemicals work is being done right here in this country," referring to Israel.

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Elevated 8,200 feet "high" in the Rockies ...most heavily regulated marijuana industry in America

Elevated to more than 8,200 feet in the Rockies, state regulation arrived in this famously mellow, pot-friendly town after Colorado passed landmark legislation over the past two years to tax, license and govern the state's wild, for-profit medical marijuana trade.

Colorado now has the most heavily regulated medical cannabis industry in America. Even Nederland's Board of Trustees imposed a $5,000 local fee on new cannabis stores, hoping to cash in on pot prosperity.

But it has meant heartache for this hamlet of 1,400 people.

In 2010, Nederland voters passed a symbolic measure, declaring all marijuana legal in the hippie haven and former silver town renowned for its high-grade cannabis. In practice, the town already had permitted seven medical marijuana stores. As many as 14 were said to be operating – one for every 100 residents.

Now Nederland has three marijuana stores left. A bonanza in local sales taxes is drying up, and the town's marijuana growers are fed up.

Rather than pay state licensing fees and hefty costs for video security and other state mandates for selling medical marijuana, Chippi closed the doors of her Nederland store last year.

(Source)

Big Sur Chumba Cheese: Dank Cheese Please!

Oh My God!!!! This shit is the bomb. Organically Grown Indica, Sativa cross that was produced by some of the most skilled Medical Marinuana growers on the Central Coast. Big Sur has a long history as one of the states finest producers of top grade cannabis. Here is a little taste of what you will be able to find in your Southern Ca. MMJ collectives soon. As with everything they do... They will release no medications until they have hit there height of flavor from a curing stand point.

Something that is greatly lacking in most MMJ Med's on the shelves today, rushed to the MMJ collectives for the sake of quick cash, but at the expense of taste.