Hello, I just caught wind my local planning board is going to deny a dispensary here in town due to the fact that "it's illegal at the federal level, so how can we approve it?" It already conforms to allowed use in the industrial zone, they just need a change of use on the building. How can they counter this argument? It's in NH, where we passed a law rather than a ballot initiative. Thanks!
look up the patent on cannabinoids as a neuroprotectant owned by the Gov. then wonder why it is actually illegal and then come back and tell everyone else why it is illegal???
As stated above, show them the patent (#6630507). If you are versed, convey to them to real implications behind "neuroprotectant" and "antioxidant." Such as, antioxidants counter damage by free radicals; known as oxidative damage or oxidative stress. A more common understanding of oxidative damage is inflammatory damage. Guess which diseases are rooted in inflammatory damage? ALL OF THEM! Cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis...! Ask that council if they know any local citizens who may have such conditions, or will in the future and need cost -effective, safe, therapeutic medicine from a natural plant-based source. This is very rhetorical, mind you! Antioxidant therapy is also a key to preventing neurodegenerative conditions of the mind; Alzheimer's, dementia, and so on. Hence cannabis is also a superb neuroprotectant. It even stimulates neurogenesis - the creation of new neurons! Look up the endocannabinoid system and hit them with that. Search google NORML.org Introduction to the Endocannabinoid System - it's a great read. Speaking of hypocrisy with the Gov, after you inform them about patent #6630507, be sure to inform them that pharma/biotech interests are actively gobbling up patents left and right for medical uses of cannabis. GW Pharmaceuticals is a big player in this regard, with their latest application patent being designated to treat a type of brain cancer. But here's the catch: GW and others will sell their products at a ridiculously high cost. It goes hand it hand; establish the patent, get your proprietized item into the market, profit. The problem for CITIZENS is that arguably, we are entitled to the access and cultivation of cannabis and its seeds. So when GW is able to sell their costly cannabis preparation (Sativex) in the UK, while medical card holders are FORBIDDEN to cultivate their own herbs or access raw herbs, we have a problem. At least one. The big rub is that a locally owned dispensary, or caregiver, or citizens in the privacy of their home could grow and craft herbs + extractions ON PAR with whatever GW can. But, part of the rub, GW's profit scheme involves prohibitionist laws remain in place because that is how THEIR market is created. I can rail on this for a long time, but surely you see the point. This whole "well it's illegal at the fed level" is a crock of unsubstantiated bullshit. For the same reasons I give zero flying flaps about the UN being upset that our Gov is not forcefully overturning states'-rights-initiatives like what we passed in CO and other states. The UN got the US in on their anti-drug Peace Treaty, hence the CSA schedule and other nonsense that came packaged with prohibitionist laws. I wouldn't even wipe my rear with that treaty, or the UN's thoughts of our states walking away from it in droves, because it is a crock to begin with and does not apply to me or any other constitutionally-protected American. It only has power because we gave it power. So, my advice is to hit them with logic. Hit them so hard it shatters the protective layer of Reefer Madness misinformation that guards their mind from seeing the incredible use, beauty, and importance of cannabis - and hemp! You have to flip it on them. If possible rally support with locals so it's not just you vs them. Get the people on your side first. Make them see why it is THEIR plant that they are being prohibited from. Make them see how the pharma interests are RIGHT NOW jockeying all over the field, locking up proprietary cannabis patents - to sell at an extremely high cost for no good reason! Explain how the prohib laws are currently feeding the black market and drug regimes. Here is the cold hard truth: For the reasons I've outlined above, and more, cannabis is going to be rescheduled. But HOW is an entirely different story! Will "cannabis" be rescheduled... Or will "cannabinoids" be rescheduled? Understand the difference, and you'll know why it is so very important to connect at the grassroots level on this. Here it is: CANNABINOIDS being rescheduled means that doctors can write a script ($$) for CBD-only-pills or over-priced extraction, created ($$) by a pharma/biotech interest, profited through arbitrage by bankers ($$) - all LEGALLY. Sounds great, until we fork through the sizzle to find the steak. Where are you and I in this outline above? Sure, legal for those industries means better for us, right? Not necessarily. Upon rescheduling, the above could all happen WHILE "cannabis" (the whole plant form) remains schedule 1. You and I still prosecuted, forbade from accessing and growing and sharing what is rightfully ours, while the private interests legally flourish. Such mental gymnastics seem outrageous but consider GW Pharma is doing this in the UK. Raw cannabis = no no. GW Sativex extraction = legal begal. Incredibly insulting is that Sativex isn't even a single compound extraction - it's whole plant cannabis! The same whole plant that the UK forbids their citizens to possess. Frankly, the local citizens need to come first. Caregivers, dispensaries, local grows must be established first and protected. If you can help them to see this also, why waiting for Fed approval may be the most disastrous outcome possible, you'll be good as gold. Even if you don't get everyone, get as many as you can, because it will spread like a fire. My resident town in Colorado voted to bar recreational shops, and put a 2yr ban on ALL "new cannabis business." There are 2 medical dispensaries in range that are only operating still because they were grandfathered in. They started when CO passed medical, way before recreational was voted in 2012. The truth is that as a majority decision, we have to wait until the local majority realizes how asinine it is. Plus it contributes greatly to a flourishing black market. They're coming around, though. The prohibs are becoming the minority on this issue, as every day more are realizing the truths that have been hidden from them for too long. Best of luck.