Senate and Pot Brownies: Bill Could Double Trouble for Medical Marijuana Treats

Marijuana brownie (Mindmatrix/Flickr)

(CBS) Medical marijuana users may not have the option of taking a spoonful of sugar with their medicine if a new Senate bill makes it through the House.

Last Thursday, the Senate passed a bill that would double the penalties for people who sell drug-infused sweets.

The bill has garnered support from unexpected quarters. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), says that "those who say marijuana is medicine had better be prepared to market it as such - and not as candy."

Further, says St. Pierre, those who sell pot-infused brownies, cookies and other "medical edibles," or "medibles," have reason to be worried, because, in his opinion, the bill is written broadly enough to include them.

As written, the "Saving Kids From Dangerous Drug Act," introduced by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, would increase penalties two-fold for those who make or sell marijuana that is:

• combined with a candy product;
• marketed or packaged to appear similar to a candy product; and
• modified by flavoring or coloring the controlled substance with the intent to distribute, dispense, or sell the controlled substance to a person under 18 years of age."

Medical ediblesare a very significant part of the multi-billion dollar medical marijuana industry, says St.Pierre.

And some people cross the line, especially in advertising, he says.

Some alternative papers run ads for pot in four different ice-cream flavors.  "It has a child-like appeal," he says of one such ad. "I don't think that was the notion of people who put out this ad, but that's what it looks like."

[Conservative_1976]

Register. Vote. Share the links. Change the world.
As a Christian who takes seriously Jesus command to do unto others what I would have them do unto me, I know that if my child were using marijuana, I would want to work with him or her as a parent rather than seeing him or her with a criminal record, in jail with the sexual predators, lose their college financial aid, and all of the very real harm that would be caused, not by marijuana, but by the law. I would hate for that to happen to any kid, but it does, every day.
Likewise, if my aging parents were to try a little marijuana to ease the aches and pains of growing older, I would not want to see the police confiscate their home and sell it under the property forfeiture laws. I would hate for that to happen to any aging parent, but it does. Register to vote. Just google your state name and the phrase ?voter registration?. You have to register well in advance of election day; All of these links use the usual h t t p : / / w w w prefix:
California:
sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm
Others: Google your state name and ?voter registration.?

College students: You can usually register as a citizen of either your hometown or your college residence town. Share the voter registration info through your student newspaper, twitter, etc.

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[LLLou09]

JSKNOW;
Wrote"Drug laws should be based in science and facts, considering ONLY FACTUAL SCIENTIFIC DATA determining the PROVEN RISKS OF EACH DRUG to individuals, families and society, not reefer madness and scare tactics or some mindless puritanical guesswork by people that believe all drugs effect everyone in the same ways as alcohol."
But you don't understand, it's FOR THE CHILDREN that we have to lie and corrupt our police departments....remember, it's always for the children..

[flozone]

jsknow, right on man.

"We don't want kids to get the wrong idea" is what this bullshiz breaks down to, and I think if I can't have my pot brownies or my popcorn topped with canibutter(faster than baking with it!) then we should probably forget about jello shooters and those vodka watermelons. Or those premixed vodka mudshakes and Caramilk brand coffee vodka messes.
No, wait... Alcohol is perfectly fine to consume. in front of your children.

Think about how many smart people you know personally. Count them up. And I mean any kind of smart; book, street, mathmatic whatever. chances are, unless you're an academic, the number of truly intelligent people that you interact with daily is pretty marginal. Consider that a model for the country and you understand why politicians can get away with anything. I mean, it's not the typical idiots fault that he's an idiot. parts of the country have lithium in their water. Aspertame is in almost everything we eat and it causes brain cancer and a host of other problems. Aspertame is(and I wish this were not true but it is) e coli feces. The living bacteria known as e coli can make us sick and even kill us. It also poops out white stuff that is sweeter than sugar. And that stuff kills us too, albiet much more slowly. But Dick Cheney was CEO of Searle when they created it and he makes bank off that white sh**(pun totally intended). He made sure that slow moving became legal. We all die younger so that ****** can make more money. And while we die from the brain cancers he helped cause, we can't have our brownies?

[ddaryl]

so we are going to ban childrens cough syrup... or Flintsotnes chewables..

how about all those cute drinks you can get with the umbrellas and such... When i was a kid I wanted desperately to have a sswizel stick in my drink to....

The law is simple if you sell to a minor you are arrested...

but this is the case of goverment getting to big.... just more of the same old BS

[PabloKoh]

IMDB: What if Cannabis Cured Cancer?

[jsknow]

In 1988, after reviewing all evidence brought forth in a lawsuit against the government's prohibition of medical marijuana, the DEA's own administrative law judge (Judge Francis Young) wrote: "Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known. In strict medical terms, marijuana is safer than many foods we commonly consume."

Google: "Opinion and recommended ruling, Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision of Administrative Law Judge". That same document contains the following:

"7. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine marijuana's LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to induce death.

8. At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around 1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.

9. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal response as a result of drug-related toxicity.?

NO ONE, OF ANY AGE, IN ALL OF RECORDED HISTORY, ANYWHERE ON PLANET EARTH, HAS EVER DIED FROM THE INGREDIENTS IN MARIJUANA.

NORML has done a lot of good work over the years but I think they have been hanging around the DEA way too much lately. It seems like all NORML is interested in these days is regulating and taxing marijuana to death. Get a grip Allen, if anyone knows marijuana is safer than many foods we eat all the time it is you!

Also Allen, please stop promoting the association between driving under the influence of alcohol and driving after smoking pot. If anything marijuana should have a warning like many Rx drugs: ?Do not drive or operate dangerous machines until you determine how this drug effects you?. The vast majority of people function/drive/work just fine under the mild euphoria of marijuana.

Drug laws should be based in science and facts, considering ONLY FACTUAL SCIENTIFIC DATA determining the PROVEN RISKS OF EACH DRUG to individuals, families and society, not reefer madness and scare tactics or some mindless puritanical guesswork by people that believe all drugs effect everyone in the same ways as alcohol.

[Senadia]

There is so much wrong with this it's hard to tell where to start.
As some have already mentioned, many medicines meant for children are designed in looks and flavor so that they'll take them. This includes many OTC products, cold medicines, vitamins, etc. Hundreds of children are admitted to the ER due to overdoses on these products. And recently you can now get your child's prescription medication flavored (which I thought was the worst thing). So now prescription drugs, much stronger than OTC drugs taste like bubblegum, strawberries and the like, increasing the likelyhood that children will OD on these medications also. And what about the many adult medications that are just 'pretty' they have time released colored balls in a clear like capsule (I know about this because I as a child took this medication).
Marijuana suppliers are not purposely targeting children, that's what the drug dealer on the corner is for. Get a grip people. If we start demystifying marijuana and start telling the truth about it we'll all be better off. People inject poison (botox) into their heads everyday in an effort to look younger. But pot brownines? nope can't have that.

And then there are the people who for whatever reason cannot smoke the product and an easier delivery system is through food. So tell me if this goes through and I have a medical marijuana card and decide to take my medicine and make brownines then what? Am I going to be arrested for making brownies?
This is a foolish waste of taxpayer time and money and is just another avenue of effort for those who are against medicinal marijuana to slow down the tide.

[misstyblue23]

I understand if you are against marijuana but this "Saving Kids from Dangerous Drug Act" having to do with it is stupid. What about those cute gummy vitamins that kids overdose on and have to go to the E.R. to have their stomach pumped? What about those yummy flavors of cough medicine and other OTC drugs that kids o.d. on all the time because they are specifically targeted at kids in candy flavors? At least they won't die from an accidental o.d of marijuana. No deaths ever. Dangerous is a word that doesn't describe marijuana medically only morally.

[NinthSt78]

That might be as futile as telling the chef that if it doesn't look like a pill, it isn't medicine. Just be thankful they aren't educated enough yet to know how to turn the dandelions into wine...

[us_1776]

The same rules need to be applied to marijuana as are applied to alcohol and candy or other edibles. You cannot target children with the advertising.