Search Results: center for legal cannabis (1496)

Photo: Smashed Frog
One amendment to SB 5073 would ban print advertising by medical marijuana dispensaries.

​Version Passed By Senate Would Ban Print Advertising By Dispensaries; Law Prof Calls That ‘Clearly Unconstitutional’

The Washington Senate approved a bill Wednesday night which, if approved by the House, would legalize and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

The bill, intended to bring the medical marijuana supply chain out of a legal gray area, was approved by senators on a 29-20 vote after lengthy debate, reports Manuel Valdes of The Associated Press. The measure now moves to the House.
Senators approved several amendments to the bill which are opposed by the medical marijuana community, including a troublesome ban on print advertising which would strip dispensaries of their First Amendment right to advertise. Distressingly, Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-Seattle), author of the bill, introduced that change.
​One University of Washington law professor and First Amendment expert called the proposed ban on print advertising by dispensaries “clearly unconstitutional,” reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly.

Photo: Daily Mail
Retail hydroponics store weGrow is being called the “Walmart of weed.” It will open Saturday in Sacramento, selling everything needed to grow cannabis except the seeds.

​The Walmart of weed is coming to Sacramento, California on Saturday.

Far from denying the ambitious title, weGrow, a huge hydroponics store marketing itself as a retail outlet for people cultivating marijuana for medical use, is embracing it, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.
The 10,000-square-foot weGrow store, at 1537 Fulton Avenue in Sacramento, is the first national franchise for a company billing itself as a “supply and training destination” for legal cannabis cultivators.
The business started in Oakland last year as a warehouse store called iGrow. It doesn’t sell any marijuana — but it does have marijuana plants there for “display purposes only,” reports the U.K. Daily Mail.

Photo: Discovery Health
What the hell is that bud doing at the base of those leaf blades?

​Ever since I started writing about marijuana, every time I look for related images online I keep running across a pot leaf photo that just doesn’t make sense.

Unfortunately, it seems to be one of the most popular “marijuana” photos on the web, and, in fact, is the top result for a Google image search on the term “marijuana.” Annoyingly, it’s also the top image result for “marijuana leaf.”
But there’s something just wrong looking about that leaf, and it doesn’t take long to figure out why.
This photo — which Discovery Health says it sourced from Marijuana.com — seems to show what looks like a female cannabis flower coming out the base of a marijuana leaf, where the leaf blades meet the leaf stem.
Now, I know Marijuana.com isn’t known as the best place for accurate weed info. In fact, it’s covered with those maddening “fake marijuana” ads for “legal buds.” But are they really the source of this photo? I’ve not been able to find it on the site.

Photo: Eric Wolfe
Steve DeAngelo, executive director of Harborside Health Center, Oakland’s largest medical marijuana dispensary, looks over a marijuana display case

​The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is auditing medical marijuana dispensaries in California, with advocates calling for a change in federal tax laws.

The sale of medical marijuana from nonprofit dispensaries is legal under California law, but possession, cultivation or sale of cannabis for any purpose is illegal under federal law. Patient collectives in California say there is a problem because of the way they are being treated by the IRS, reports CNN.
The problem is federal tax code 280-E, which does not allow “drug trafficking organizations” to deduct business expenses.
“If 280-E were applied strictly, we would not be allowed to deduct our rent, our payroll or any of the other normal and usual expenses that other businesses deduct,” said Steve DeAngelo of Harborside Health Center, one of the biggest Bay Area dispensaries.

Photo: Ed Andrieski/AP
Represenatives Claire Levy (D-Boulder), left, an d Mark Waller (R-Colorado Springs) go over notes on their marijuana DUI bill in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Denver, Colorado, February 18, 2011

​What constitutes driving while high? The medical marijuana boom in Colorado has led to a debate in the Legislature of driving while under the influence of pot.

Lawmakers are looking at setting a DUI blood-content threshold for marijuana that would make Colorado one of only three states with such a law, reports Ivan Moreno at The Associated Press. According to sponsor Rep. Claire Levy (D-Boulder), it would be one of the most liberal.
Drivers who test positive for five nanograms or more of THC, a psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, would be considered too impaired to drive under the proposal if the substance is present in their blood at the time they’re pulled over, or within two hours.

Kansas Medical Cannabis Network

​Lawmakers on Monday introduced the Kansas Compassion and Care Act, which would make growing, selling, buying and smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes legal under state law.

“Legalizing medical marijuana in the state will not only allow those with debilitating conditions an alternative to pharmaceutical drugs, but will also help lower the amount of people that have to turn to the black market to obtain their medicine,” said Kyle Norton, director of Johnson County NORML.

House Bill 2330 has been referred to the House Committee on Health and Human Services for consideration and debate. Under this measure, patients with certain debilitating conditions would be able to use medical cannabis without fear of reprisal under state law, reports JoCo NORML.
The bill would also protect patients’ rights as employees, tenants, and parents. A patient registry system would be established, along with nonprofit care centers and a board to oversee the entire program.

Graphic: CannabisCenters.com

​The Flagstaff City Council on Tuesday night removed a proposed zoning restriction on medical marijuana dispensaries inside the city limits that had capped the size at 3,000 square feet. With the size of dispensaries now unlimited, it is expected that most of the marijuana sold at the shops will be grown on site, rather than at remote locations.

Council member Art Babbott said he agreed with a recommendation by the Flagstaff Police Department to have the retail side of a dispensary co-locate with growing operations, reports Joe Ferguson at the Arizona Daily Sun.
Police officials said they believe co-location will make the local medical marijuana industry safer by reducing the number of locations and removing the need for large cannabis deliveries to replenish stock at dispensaries.
David Grandon, a former local art gallery owner, said earlier this week he wanted the city to increase the maximum size for dispensaries to accommodate other therapeutic services, such as chiropractors and massage therapists.

Photo: THC Finder

​The respected Boise State University Public Policy survey, a poll that’s been conducted statewide for more than 20 years, yielded an interesting result Tuesday: 74 percent support for allowing “terminally and seriously ill patients to use and purchase marijuana for medical purposes.”

Just 23 percent said “no” to medical marijuana in the statewide survey, and three percent said they didn’t know, reports Betsy Z. Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
“I’m not surprised at all,” said state Rep. Tom Trail (R-Moscow), who has pending legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Idaho, “because in similar states out here in the West, the results are 65 to 75 percent (in favor), as long as you focus, like we have, very narrowly on medical marijuana for folks who are in excruciating pain with long-term diseases.”

Photo: cityrag
New York City is the world “leader” in marijuana arrests — especially if you’re African-American or Hispanic.

​Getting stopped on suspicion of possessing drugs might have just as much to do with your race as it does with your potential illegal activity, according to a New York study.

Blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be pulled over for “suspicion of illegal drugs” by the New York Police Department than are white or Asian citizens, found the report by the New York Civil Liberties Union and Harry Levin, a sociology professor at Queens College.
An analysis by Columbia University’s Jeffrey Fagan of the NYPD’s “stop and frisk” data concurred, finding that race is the strongest way of predicting police activity in the city.

Photo: ASA San Bernardino County

​The debate over medical marijuana dispensaries grew heated Thursday morning at the San Bernardino County Planning Commission meeting, which was set to vote in the afternoon on a staff proposal to ban the facilities in unincorporated areas.

Outside the county government center shortly before the hearing, 30 to 60 advocates rallied in support of safe access to medical marijuana, reports Natasha Lindstrom of the Victorville Daily Press. Activists carried signs reading “Pills Kill,” “Collectives, Not Street Drugs” and “Marijuana = Medicine.”
Some of the patients smoked cannabis outside the government building as they protested, according to the Daily Press.
Meanwhile, those favoring a dispensary ban criticized the medical marijuana facilities, claiming they “increase crime and blight” in surrounding neighborhoods and are “widely abused by young adults.”
The Planning Commission, likely a bit taken aback by the vociferous debate on both sides, delayed a vote until February 17, so the issue remains unresolved for now.
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