Medical Marijuana Community Meeting

Southfield Compassion's FIRST Medical Marijuana Meeting is THIS MONDAY!!!
Join us February 1, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Southfield Community Library.
26300 Evergreen Road
Southfield, Michigan

If you or a loved one is suffering from chronic pain, severe nausea and/or muscle spasms, we're here to help!

We will cover the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, Qualifying Conditions, Cultivation, Cooking and much more. You will have access to attorneys and physicians specializing in medical marijuana throughout the entire event. Become a part of the Medical Marijuana Movement!

Compassion Club Members receive:

Discounts with a Grow Specialist (Do Ir Right The First Time)
Discounts at Several Hydroponics Supply Stores
Discounts at Several Smoke "Head" Shops
Access to Private Medicated Friendly Events
Safe , Trusting, Comfortable Environment to learn, grow and network.

For additional information contact SouthfieldCompassion@gmail.com

El Nino

El Nino is 60% Indica and 40% Sativa. It provides a sleepy, sedated medicated affect with a citrus smell and taste.

Developed by Greenhouse in 1996, El Nino is an idica/sativa hybrid of South American and Indian strains. This strain was stabilized and made available in 1998, the same year that it took first place at the High Times Cannabis Cub in the bioplant category.

This crystally plant will also process well into hashish or kief.

Dutchmen's Royal Orange

Dutchmen's Royal Orange is 100% Indica. It provides a body relaxation, clear head medicated affect, with a very sweet citrus smell and taste.

Dutchmen's Royal Orange leaves are shiny and dark, with a typical indica plant structure overall-relatively short and wide with broad leaves. The buds are tight rocky nuggets, which along with the minimal vegetation makes this a high yielder.

Michigan pot growers edge out of the closet - Medical marijuana law tested

A contest to pick the best medicinal marijuana in Michigan may go up in smoke as the event's organizer and local law enforcement officials argue over whether the judging is legal.

The Michigan Caregiver's Cup expo, designed to educate state residents on how to grow, dispense and use medical marijuana, is to be held Jan. 29-31 at an Ypsilanti conference center.

But organizer Anthony Freed, executive director of the Michigan Marijuana Chamber of Commerce, said Friday he has moved the marijuana judging -- where state-registered medical marijuana users test samples from state growers and choose favorites -- to an offsite location. The decision came after local prosecutors deemed the contest illegal.

"I don't believe I'm doing anything illegal," Freed said Friday.

Washtenaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Steve Hiller disagrees, but wouldn't say whether the Prosecutor's Office has consulted law enforcement on the possibility of arrests.

Growing pains
Michigan medical marijuana proponents will literally go through growing pains, say supporters in states where the drug's use for medical purposes has been legal for years.

"I compare it often to the Jim Crow laws, where they gave people the right to vote but not the right to practice it," said Nathan Sands, communications director for the Compassionate Coalition, an activist group based in California -- the first state to approve medical marijuana use, in 1996.

"So if you give them the right to use it, but no ability to obtain it, it is the exact same thing as a Jim Crow law."

On Nov. 4, 2008, Michigan joined 13 states -- Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington -- in allowing pot's medicinal use.

Freed designed the first Caregiver's Cup on Jan. 29-31 in Ypsilanti as an educational forum to teach people how to do it right.

The event at the Marriott at Eagle Crest will offer lectures and classes on everything from the civil rights of pot users and how to become a caregiver or qualified user, to hydroponics and cooking with cannabis.

But he said he's moving one of the main events -- a judging of marijuana grown and dispersed by Michigan caregivers -- to a secret location after local prosecutors questioned the competition's legality.

He said he may cancel the judging altogether if the threat of arrest heats up.

"I'm not interested in getting a bunch of people arrested," Freed said. "I'm not interested in getting any members of my staff or myself arrested either. I've got two kids."

For the judging, caregivers each will pay $200 and donate 2.5 ounces of marijuana they've grown to be judged on presentation, smell, feel, taste and effectiveness. Judges pay $250 to smoke or inhale vapors from up to 100.5 grams of marijuna before they vote.

Hiller said his office will support the arrest of those who participate in testing. He said the contest violates the law, which he believes limits caregiver's distribution to five patients.

"We're not going to give" the marijuana group "permission to do something we believe is illegal," Hiller said Friday. "That's never going to happen."

Jeremy Miller, executive director of the Olympia Patients Resource Center, a medical marijuana resource center in Washington state, said caregiver contests are held there without opposition, despite the state limiting caregivers to only one patient.

Their way around it: Patients "sign in" with their caregiver, get their allotted amount of marijuana to test, then sign out a couple of minutes later.

He said he's not surprised, though, that the Michigan event is facing opposition so soon after legalization of medical marijuana.

"They're going to test the waters," he said. "They're going to see how far they can push."

Vivian McPeak, executive director of Seattle's Hempfest, a political rally that draws 200,000 people each August, said he's also not surprised that Michigan organizers are facing resistance.

"But sometimes it's not worth the battle," he said. "You'll spend money on legal fees. Sometimes they fight you even if they don't win in the end because they think it will disrupt you."

He said most contests in his area happen underground.

"I would suggest they take their cup out of the hotel and they make it a private event," he said.

"I'm sure it would be a more successful event that way."

BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

What is a feminized seed?

Feminized seeds come from selected strains that show highly-desirable traits and they are treated with pollen collected from slightly-stressed females. This pollen almost always produces 100 percent female offspring.

Male cannabis is basically hemp and female cannabis is medicine, with few exceptions, so for a grower to know he or she is planting all females from the get-go results in less time wasted and more productive plants in the end run.

Lawmakers mull changes to Michigan's medical pot law

LANSING — Patients authorized to use marijuana for medical purposes in Michigan would no longer be allowed to grow their own supply under legislation discussed Tuesday in a state Senate committee.

The proposal could develop into the first move to change a state law approved by voters in November 2008. Republicans who back the new legislation say it’s not an attempt to undo the law, but their measures would tighten control over how the drug is distributed.

Under the new proposal, the state would license up to 10 marijuana-growing facilities rather than letting thousands of authorized patients or caregivers grow their own. Marijuana would then be distributed through pharmacists after patients get a prescription from a doctor.

Critics say that’s an unworkable proposal that would make getting marijuana more difficult for patients who use it to relieve pain and other symptoms. They say that since federal law doesn’t authorize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, doctors wouldn’t write the prescriptions and pharmacies wouldn’t fill them.

The Senate Judiciary Committee did not vote on the legislation Tuesday. Sponsors said the bills are preliminary proposals aimed at sparking discussion about how to better manage the program, formally launched by state officials in April.

As it stands, people who want to use marijuana for medical reasons must get a doctor to certify that they would benefit from it. More than 7,000 patients and 3,000 caregivers already are registered under the state program. They are allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants per patient.

“That’s a lot of marijuana growing out there,” said Sen. Gerald Van Woerkom, a Republican from Norton Shores and one of the new legislation’s sponsors. “I do think that the system is getting out of control to a certain point.”

Some communities are passing their own ordinances regulating medical marijuana businesses and courts already are sorting out a few cases related to people arrested for possession since the new law kicked in.

“It’s an issue that we as legislators will have to grapple with sooner or later,” said Sen. Alan Cropsey, R-DeWitt.

By TIM MARTIN
Associated Press

PLEASE VOICE YOUR OPINIONS!! Submit written testimony either by email or regular mail

senwkulpers@senate.michigan.gov and/or

State Senator Wayne Kulpers, 30th District
PO Box 30036
Lansing, Michigan 48909

Make sure you reference Bills 616-618

The American Medical Association stepping up to Federal Government

American Medical Association asking federal government to take marijuana off its most restrictive list of  
controlled substances
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=UmerqTj6

Durga Mata

Durga Mata is an Indica. It provides a mellow medicated affect with a smelly, spicy, acrid smell and taste.

Named for the powerful and revered Hindy Mother Goddess, Durga Mata represents the purity and strength of purpose residing within the divine essence of every being. The aroma is herbal and spicy, with a taste like Turkish fruit. The medicated affect is potent and physically relaxing, but will not necessarily put you to sleep.

Buddha's Sister

Buddha's Sister is an Indica. It provides a cerebral medicated high with a tart, fruity, candy taste and smell.

Buddha's Sister has a flavor like a tart cherry candy, and the scent is similarly tart. The buds have a slippery, silky feel, which means an abundance of greasy resin to transform into fantastic hash. As with all of Soma's variety, Buddha's Sister is medicinal quality cannabis, therapeutic for many conditions.

This variety does well hydroponically, but Soma's totally organic soil methods also deliver great results.

Bubble Gum

Bubble Gum originated from Indiana in the 1970s. It provides an uplifting high with a sweet smell and taste.

The winner of many accolades, Bubble Gum has placed repeatedly in the High Times Cannabis Cup: 3rd place in 1994 for best coffeeshop product, 2nd place for best bioproduct and 2nd for the overall Cannabis Cup in 1995, and 2nd place again in 1999 for the overall Cannabis Cup.

Atomic Northern Lights

Atomic Northern Lights is 65% Indica and 35% Sativa. It produces an even head-body high, with a sweet and pungent smell.

Atomic Northern Lights shows its indica heritage in its growth characteristics, producing a short stocky plant that has a relatively quick flowering time. The buzz has a wider bandwidth than the typical indica-dominant variety, providing a balanced mind and body high that has an overall uplifting effect. Atomic Northern Lights is a smooth smoke with a sweet pungent flavor.

Southfield Compassion Medical Marijuana Meeting

Southfield Compassion will hold its first meeting Monday, February 1, 2010 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Southfield Community Library, 26300 Evergreen Road, Southfield, Michigan.

Compassion club meetings are designed to educate and inform the community on Michigan's Medical Marijuana Laws. We will provide detailed information regarding qualifying medical conditions. This is an opportunity to network with patients, caregivers, loved-ones and the community.

Michigan Medical Marijuana Act educational review
Q&A
Cooking with Cannabis
Growing techniques

FREE legal advice from an Attorney specializing in Medical Marijuana Laws with over 30 years experience in traffic, license restorations, alcohol and drug case defenses.

This meeting is open to anyone over the age of 18. If you are under 18, you must have a parent or guardian present.

This is a non-profit educational meeting, however we are asking for a minimum of $3 donation to cover location fees, informational hand-outs, etc.

If you should have any questions or concerns please contact:

Catherine, Executive Director

SouthfieldCompassion@gmail.com