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Drugs regulators MHRA says Sativex granted British licence

HEALTHCARE

* GW in line for 10 mln pounds milestone payment from Bayer

* Shares up 11 percent at four-year high

(Adds GW Pharma statement, analyst comment, updates shares)

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) - GW Pharmaceuticals Plc's (GWP.L) cannabis-derived medicine Sativex has been approved in Britain for treating spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis, in a landmark decision for the small drugmaker.

MercuryNews.Com

By LISA LEFF and MARCUS WOHLSEN, Associated Press 

OAKLAND, Calif. – Local governments in California and other Western states have tried to clamp down on medical marijuana, but Oakland has taken a different approach.

If you can't beat 'em, tax 'em.

After becoming the first U.S. city to impose a special tax on medical marijuana dispensaries, Oakland soon could become the first to sanction and tax commercial pot growing operations. Selling and growing marijuana remain illegal under federal law.

Bloomberg — U.S. Representative Barney Frank is among 15 members of Congress pushing the Treasury Department to set rules that would help banks provide financial services to medical marijuana dispensaries.

“Legitimate state-legal businesses are being denied access to banking services, which does not serve the public interest,” the lawmakers said in a May 20 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner that was distributed today by Americans for Safe Access, a patient-advocacy group.

huffingtonpost.com

Produced by HuffPost's Eyes & Ears Citizen Journalism Unit.

PAUL ELIAS

SAN FRANCISCO — A unanimous California Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that sought to impose limits on the amount of marijuana a medical patient can legally possess.

The California Supreme Court ruled that state lawmakers were wrong to change provisions of the voter-approved Proposition 215. The 1996 measure allowed for patients with a doctor's recommendation to possess an unspecified amount of marijuana.

The Legislature, seeking to give law enforcement guidance on when to make marijuana possession arrests, mandated in 2003 that each patient could have a maximum of 8 ounces of dried marijuana.

online.wsj.com

By ANNA WILDE MATHEWS

Charlene DeGidio never smoked marijuana in the 1960s, or afterward. But a year ago, after medications failed to relieve the pain in her legs and feet, a doctor suggested that the Adna, Wash., retiree try the drug.

Ms. DeGidio, 69 years old, bought candy with marijuana mixed in. It worked in easing her neuropathic pain, for which doctors haven't been able to pinpoint a cause, she says. Now, Ms. DeGidio, who had previously tried without success other drugs including Neurontin and lidocaine patches, nibbles marijuana-laced peppermint bars before sleep, and keeps a bag in her refrigerator that she's warned her grandchildren to avoid.

"It's not like you're out smoking pot for enjoyment or to get high," says the former social worker, who won't take the drug during the day because she doesn't want to feel disoriented. "It's a medicine."

palmbeachpost.com

Smaller type

hempfest.org

Canadian cannabis activist, business owner and philanthropist, Marc Emery, is being prosecuted by the United States Government for selling seeds across the United States border via mail order. Marc Emery is being extradited from Canada to Seattle, Washington, to attend a sentencing hearing. Emery is expected to get a 5 year sentence in a federal prison, as he has nobly accepted a plea bargain in order to have the charges dropped on his two former co-defendants.

As Americans, we need to oppose the political persecution of our Canadian brother, Marc Emery, and let our government and the Canadian government know that nobody should go to prison for pot.

It had been confiscated from a motorist whose attorney convinced a judge that California's medical marijuana law allowed its transport.

latimes.com

By Gerrick Kennedy

With the debate on medical marijuana still at a full boil in Los Angeles, a judge Friday ordered the return of 60 pounds of pot to a man after his attorneys successfully argued that a state law gave him the right to transport it.

Saguro Doven, 33, was initially charged with possession of marijuana for sale and transportation of the drug, a violation of the state's health and safety code.