This Week’s Marijuana News: Congressman Urges POTUS to Drop Marijuana from Dangerous Drug List; Dueling Marijuana Billboards to Compete at Superbowl; Holder Says Legal Marijuana Won’t Make Kids Toke Up; Justice Department Dramatically Increasing Clemency Use; Meet Paul Chabot, Drug War Addict of the Year; CA Law Enforcement Still Vows to Kill Marijuana Reform; Marijuana Contests Join Denver County Fair; Fox News Pretends Coloradans Can Buy Pot with Food Stamps; US Vets Needed for Medical Cannabis Study; and more.

Medical/Health

Cannabis Has Been Studied More Than Many FDA Approved Pharmaceuticals — Opponents of legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes are fond of arguing that the plant must be subjected to the same standards of clinical study and FDA review as conventional medicines. What they fail to mention is that cannabis and its active components have already been subjected to a greater degree of scientific scrutiny than many FDA-approved pharmaceuticals.

US Military Vets Needed for Medical Cannabis Study — U.S. military veterans of all time frames are needed to join a medical marijuana study, “One More Mission.” Ten thousand Vets are to be part of a minimum one year study/commitment to accumulate data on the use of cannabis by Vets who have a primary or secondary diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms, according to Al Byrne (US Navy, Ret.), cofounder and director of the group Patients Out of Time.

Politics/Legal

Congressman Urges POTUS to Drop Marijuana from Dangerous Drug List — With federal law enforcement officials moving to make it easier for marijuana businesses to operate in states where they are legal, one member of Congress is calling on President Barack Obama to take the next logical step and remove pot from the federal government’s list of tightly restricted drugs.

Dueling Marijuana Billboards to Compete at Superbowl — When teams from the two states that have legalized marijuana for recreational use clash at Sunday’s Super Bowl, so will activists on both sides of the debate about pot prohibition. The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is sponsoring five billboards near MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, where the Denver Broncos will face the Seattle Seahawks. The anti-pot group Project SAM is responding with an ad that “will be placed on digital and vinyl billboards throughout the New York-New Jersey area.”

Holder Says Legal Marijuana Won’t Make Kids Toke Up — Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that just because states are legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes doesn’t mean minors will be able to roll up a joint. “People cannot buy alcohol I guess now until you’re age… age 21, but young people find ways to get alcohol because adults can have access to it,” Holder said before the Senate Judiciary Committee. “I’m not sure that we will see the same thing here given what we have said with regard to our enforcement priorities.”

Meet Paul Chabot, Drug War Addict of the Year — There were many candidates to choose from this year, but the award can only go to Dr. Paul Chabot.

Fox News Pretends Coloradans Can Buy Pot with Food Stamps — Fox News seized on Colorado’s legalization of recreational use and sale of marijuana to stoke fears — while offering no evidence — that low-income Americans could use food stamps to buy marijuana. In fact, food stamp recipients are barred from purchasing non-food items, cannot withdraw food stamps as cash, and fraud in the program is extremely rare.

States News

California Law Enforcement Still Vows to Kill Marijuana Reform — In Sunday’s Sacramento Bee, the law enforcement lobbyists who for several Legislature sessions in a row have derailed reform and regulation of medical marijuana vow to do it again.

Marijuana Contests Join Denver County Fair — Colorado’s Denver County is adding cannabis-themed contests to its 2014 summer fair. It’s the first time pot plants will stand alongside tomato plants and homemade jam in competition for a blue ribbon.

New Jersey Considers Full Legalization — The Garden State will get a whole lot greener if one lawmaker gets his way. New Jersey state Senator Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) said last week he is planning to introduce a bill in the next month that will fully legalize marijuana in the state, much like it is in Colorado.

Medical Marijuana Qualifies for Florida Ballot — The Florida Division of Elections today confirmed that proponents of a 2014 statewide measure to allow for the physician-supervised use of cannabis have gathered sufficient signatures to qualify for the November ballot. Proponents of the measure still await a ruling from the Florida Supreme Court as to whether the measure will appear before voters this fall.

Texas Politicians Trying to Reform State’s Marijuana Laws — Two Texas lawmakers have tried to reform the state’s draconian marijuana laws for years, but their efforts have come up against a stubborn legislature that they say fears being seen as soft on crime. But now, with changing public opinion on marijuana, there may be a glimmer of hope for success. State Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston) plans to re-introduce a bill that would lower the state’s penalties for people caught possessing small amounts of marijuana. It will be his fourth attempt at passing the legislation.

Entertainment

Merle Haggard Comes Out of the Cannabis Closet — “I’m a cancer survivor, I had a lung operation in 2008 and they took out a piece of my lung, I was ordered to use marijuana,” Haggard says. “Either that or take a bunch of medication that I didn’t want to be hooked on. We are about to see marijuana take on a different standing. Even if nobody ever smoked it, the industrial reasons for its legalization are overwhelming and people are realizing that could save our economy, if they look at the truth.”

IMPORTANT ACTION ALERT — Tell The President to Fire Anti-Marijuana Head of the DEA Michelle Leonheart

In a recent speech, DEA administrator Michele Leonhart criticized President Barack Obama for his acknowledgement that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol in terms of its impact on the consumer. Yet there is an abundance of research demonstrating that marijuana is in fact less harmful than alcohol.

Leonhart has consistently demonstrated a reckless disregard of such scientific evidence. Under her watch, the DEA has obstructed attempts to remove marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act — a classification reserved for the most dangerous drugs — and at a 2012 House committee hearing, she refused to answer a congressman’s simple question about whether heroin and crack cocaine pose more harm to the consumer than marijuana

Shortly after taking office, President Obama mandated, “Science and the scientific process must inform and guide decisions of [his]Administration …” Whether Leonhart is ignorant of the facts or intentionally disregarding them, she has fundamentally undermined the president’s directive and is clearly unfit for her current position.

We call on President Obama to immediately terminate DEA Administrator Leonhart and replace her with someone who recognizes the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol.