Yet, many of the health benefits are lost, Courtney says, when a patient ingests marijuana in the most typical way: by smoking it. Burning the plant kills off enzymes, which can diminish some of the curative properties. Juicing the entire plant, on the other hand, retains the enzymes and may be more medically beneficial. Plus, smoking the plant kicks the THC--and its psychoactive properties--into high gear, producing marijuana's high, which many find to be a curative effect in its own right, but is not always what the patient desires or wants.

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“In the now nearly fifty-year-old effort to end cannabis prohibition laws led by non-profit citizen advocacy groups, 2012 must be viewed as a watershed year for cannabis law reformers,” said Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of NORML, a leading marijuana reform group.

Tom Angell, the chairman of Marijuana Majority, agreed. "This was the year that we broke through and succeeded in getting prominent political observers and the media to pay attention to the fact that this is quickly becoming a mainstream issue.”

The biggest victories for advocates, of course, came in Washington and Colorado, where voters approved ballot measures to legalize cannabis for private recreational use. Washington’s law has already gone into effect, while Colorado’s will soon. Advocates hope that if all goes according to plan, other states will see there’s nothing to be afraid of and follow the example.

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Specifically, a new study of substance-using teenagers' brains shows that the regular use of alcohol had a harmful effect on the boozing group, while the toking-up group's brains suffered little alteration.

From Medical Daily, emphasis ours:

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1. Colorado and Washington Make History By Legalizing Marijuana

Washington State and Colorado made history on Election Day by becoming the first two states in the country – and the first political jurisdictions anywhere in the world – to approve the legal regulation of marijuana. These victories likely represent the beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in this country and in many others as well. Just as the repeal of alcohol Prohibition began in the late 1920s with individual states repealing their own prohibition laws, and ultimately culminated in the repeal of federal Prohibition, so Washington and Colorado have initiated a political process that will resonate nationally, especially with 50% of Americans now in favor of taxing and regulating marijuana.

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This certainly seems like good news for reform advocates as it apparently rules out the harshest possible response -- a lawsuit in federal court to trump the states' laws -- and suggests the feds will mostly leave the states be. And when asked if he personally supports legalizing the drug, Obama said he does not "at this point,” opening the door for a marriage equality-like “evolution” down the road. "This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law. I head up the executive branch; we're supposed to be carrying out laws,” he added.

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In a letter to Gil Kerlikowske, the administration's director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Leahy wrote:

The Senate Judiciary Committee has a significant interest in the effect of these developments on Federal drug control policy. How does the Office of National Drug Control Policy intend to prioritize Federal resources, and what recommendations are you making to the Department of Justice and other agencies in light of the choice by citizens of Colorado and Washington to legalize personal use of small amounts of marijuana? What assurance can and will the administration give to state officials involved in the licensing of marijuana retailers that they will not face Federal criminal penalties for carrying out duties assigned to them under state law?

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Right Wing Watch first reported on Black's remarks, which were made at a Grassroots America We the People "Call to Action" meeting shortly before the election.

For starters, Adams argued that Obama is a Marxist, but no one is talking about it because it is hidden by his "green agenda," or something:

Who is a Marxist in our White House?  Of course, it's Barack Hussein Obama.  And I don't know why we're not calling him what he is as a Marxist.  It's as if, when the wall fell that communism died; it didn't.  Today, it is green on the outside and red on the inside. It is as red as ever and Barack Obama is implementing his green agenda, which is Marxism, and that is exactly why our economy is hurting as badly as it is and why twenty three million people are still out of work. That is exactly what is happening.

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Colorado became the second state after Washington to allow pot use without a doctor's recommendation. Both states prohibit public use of the drug, and commercial sales in Colorado and Washington won't be permitted until after regulations are written next year.

Hickenlooper, a Democrat, opposed the measure but had no veto power over the voter-approved amendment to the state constitution. He tweeted his declaration Monday and sent an executive order to reporters by email after the fact. That prevented a countdown to legalization as seen in Washington, where the law's supporters gathered to smoke in public.

"Voters were loud and clear on Election Day," Hickenlooper said in his statement. The law allowed him until Jan. 5 to declare marijuana legal.

Adults over 21 in Colorado may now possess up to an ounce of marijuana, or six plants. Public use and sale of the drug remain illegal.

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Under federal law, recreational marijuana use is still illegal. But now that the American people (in two states, at least) have made it clear they support legal recreational marijuana use, the Feds have to make a choice about whether to lay down the law – the federal law, that is -- or respect voters' choices.

The New York Times had a story yesterday about this issue. It noted that “the Obama administration has been holding high-level meetings since the election to debate the response of federal law enforcement agencies to the decriminalization efforts.”

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Last month, voters in Washington and Colorado chose to legalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana to adults aged over 21. In both states licenses will be granted to pot growers and sellers to legally distribute the product, which, like alcohol and tobacco, will be taxed. Colorado's legalization measure is set to go into effect early next month. Smoking pot in public remains illegal in both states but, as the AP noted, there was "nary a police officer in sight" during the celebration early Thursday morning -- the Seattle Police Department told its 1,300 officers that until further notice they were not to issue citations for public marijuana use.

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Marijuana legalization is a beginning, not an end.

When residents of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize the adult use of cannabis, it felt like a momentary rush of sobriety in a country dazed by decades of anti-marijuana hysteria. But what comes next?

The drug war edifice is cracking and the end of prohibition may be nigh. Or may not be. The way things play out is not preordained. Major strategic differences among legalization proponents are surfacing about how to proceed. Some drug policy reform leaders, fearing an official backlash, are urging a cautious, go-slow, approach: make it as easy as possible for the feds to back off and let the states do their thing. Other voices, claiming a pro-pot electoral mandate, are calling for bold, assertive moves to implement the will of the voters.

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In the most recent trial, published in the September edition of the journal Clinical Chemistry, investigators at the University of Utah School of Medicine evaluated the rate of unconfirmed 'positive' immunoassay test results in infant and non-infant urine samples over a 52-week period. Shockingly, authors found that positive tests for carboxy THC, a byproduct of THC screened for in immunoassay urine tests, were 59 times less likely to be confirmed in infant urine specimens as compared to non-infant urine samples. Overall, 47 percent of the infant 'positive' immunoassay urine samples evaluated did not test for the presence of carboxy THC when confirmatory assay measures were later performed.

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"Over the last 15 years, New York City police have arrested more than 500,000 people – most of them young blacks or Hispanics – on misdemeanor charges of possessing small amounts of marijuana in public view. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the police have said the arrests have helped reduce violent crime, they have never specified how," HRW noted.

“Public officials need to explain exactly how placing thousands of people in cuffs each year for possessing pot reduces violent crime," said Jamie Fellner, senior adviser to the US Program at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report.

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I feel as if my life is falling apart, and I'm not sure of what the next step to take should be. I am in my early 30s but have been married for 10 years. Three months ago, I decided to stop smoking pot. For the first two months, this was hell physically and mentally for me, but I got through it. Both my husband and I were serious pot smokers, pretty much 24/7 for the last eight years or so. When I quit, he cut down substantially, but he still smokes.

Along with quitting smoking, I have been trying to eat healthier, meditate every day and exercise on a regular basis. Instead of feeling great, though, I feel like crap. I feel depressed and am not sure what to do with myself. I used to work part time and would spend the rest of the time getting high and watching TV. Now that I am not getting high, I feel like my husband and I don't relate any more. I still work part time but now have energy that I don't know what to do with, and I am depressed because during the 10 years that I was a pothead, I lost all of my friends because I would rather smoke than hang out with them.

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It would be a mistake to call these ballot initiative victories "pro-pot." Most of those who voted in favor don't use marijuana; indeed many don't like it at all and have never used it. What moved them was the realization that it made more sense to regulate, tax and control marijuana than to keep wasting money and resources trying to enforce an unenforceable prohibition.

Whether or not the two state governments move forward with regulating marijuana like alcohol will depend on two things: how the Obama administration, federal prosecutors and police agencies respond; and the extent to which the states' senior elected officials commit to implementing the will of the people. The fact that federal laws explicitly criminalize marijuana transactions, and that the federal government can continue to enforce those laws, means that federal authorities could effectively block the initiatives from being fully implemented. But there are also good reasons why the Obama administration should, and may, allow state governments to proceed as voters have demanded.

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The answer to the former is maybe. Barack Obama campaigned for president pledging to respect state marijuana laws, and his Justice Department in 2009 issued a memo reiterating that promise. But by 2011, the same Justice Department countermanded that directive and authorized a federal crackdown. Now, with the results of the 2012 election, Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has been forced into the awkward position of fighting off the feds in defense of a state constitutional amendment he tried to defeat.

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