Today is 29 days before the November 2nd election and so today is the day election officials will start mailing absentee ballots to people in California. The state elections website has information on voting by mail in California and there is also a California absentee voter guide. California offers permanent absentee voter status to all voters.
Researchers in California and Italy have developed a compound they call URB937 which inhibits FAAH (fatty acid amide hydrolase, an enzyme which converts the endocannabinoid anandamide into ethanolamine and arachidonic acid). URB937 (get it? herb) suppresses FAAH activity, which boosts andandamide (a natural painkiller and anti-inflammatory) at the site of an injury. The compound circumvents the central nervous system. On September 19, 2010, Nature Neuroscience published a study entitled Anandamide suppresses pain initiation through a peripheral endocannabinoid mechanism. Popular Science wrote about the study. A patent for URB937 was filed by the University of California, Irvine, the Italian Institute of Technology, and the Universities of Urbino and Parma.
There is also an FAAH inhibitor called URB597 developed by Kadmus Pharmaceuticals. But Business Wire reported that URB937 is the first "FAAH inhibitor produced with restricted access to the central nervous system, whereas current FAAH inhibitors readily cross the blood-brain barrier."
Today an op/ed by Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, the Drug Policy Alliance's deputy state director for Southern California, appeared in the Los Angeles Times criticizing governor Schwarzenegger's opposition to Proposition 19. Schwarzenegger said Prop 19 would turn California into a laughingstock, but she says that Sacramento's inability to manage the state has already made California a joke. She wrote that the governor was correct in saying Prop 19 will not immediately generate billions in new tax revenue since it does not immediately establish a regulated system of sales. Dooley-Sammuli wrote that Prop 19 will boost jobs and tax revenue, and reduce waste associated with possession arrests which would free up law enforcement for more important safety matters.
But Senate Bill 1449, which goes into effect January 1st, will reduce waste associated with arrests regardless of Prop 19 as it makes possession of up to one ounce of marijuana an infraction instead of a misdemeanor. Those who receive citations will not carry a criminal record and can no longer sit for a jury trial.
Dooley-Sammuli wrote that Schwarzenegger has proposed eliminating access to drug treatment through Medi-Cal. It also said funding for alcohol and drug treatment and other rehab services in the prison system was cut by over 40% last year. And that funding for Proposition 36, California's treatment instead of incarceration program, has been cut by 90%.
The article says about 24,000 people are in Califonia state prison for drug possession, costing almost $50,000 per year per inmate. She doesn't specify how many of those people are in prison for marijuana possession (although that's irrelevant, since Prop 19 won't reduce the number of people in prison for marijuana possession -- you have to possess over one ounce to go to prison in California and Prop 19 doesn't change that).
She concluded "The governor should let the voters make up their own minds on Proposition 19. For now, he should focus on working with the Legislature to produce a budget that reduces corrections waste and reflects voters' real priorities."
Either Margaret Dooley-Sammuli was unaware that governor Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1449 four days earlier, or her piece was written prior to September 30th when the governor signed it into law.
A company called Cannabis Medical Solutions Inc. put out a press release saying it will expand operations in California as the vote on Prop 19 approaches. They currently have client dispensary networks in California, Colorado and Montana.
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