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Artwork: Jim Wheeler
Safe access to marijuana remains a distant dream to many patients — even in states which have legalized medical use

​One by one, the lights are winking out. In city after city, town after town, in states where medical marijuana is now legal, patients who had dared hope they would at last have safe access to the medicine recommended by their doctors are having those hopes dashed.
The problem? Political cowardice and the panicked reaction of the status quo.
Every week brings more news of freaked out city councils and county boards of supervisors who desperately want to appear to be “doing something” — anything — about the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries.
This phenomenon is so far mostly confined to California and to a lesser extent Colorado, but it’s unfortunately also starting to happen in Michigan, Montana and even Maine — where voters specifically approved dispensaries in November.
Rather than showing true leadership by showing genuine concern for patients and communities, too many local government officials are going for the easy, knee-jerk reaction. The level of disregard for the intentions of the voters — who clearly expressed their will by legalizing medical marijuana — is breathtaking.

Photo: stopthedrugwar.org
San Diegans protest Operation Green Rx, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ dispensary crackdown

​The San Diego City Council is considering adopting dispensary regulations that were developed recently by the city’s Medical Marijuana Task Force, with substantial public input.

The task force held public meetings, studied ordinances from other cities and counties around the state, and considered comments from San Diego residents over a period of five weeks before making the recommendations.
“The San Diego City Council is doing a difficult and brave thing,” said Margaret Dooley-Sammuli, deputy state director in Southern California for the Drug Policy Alliance Network. “It’s putting safe access for medical marijuana patients and the needs of San Diegans above the political opposition of the County Board of Supervisors and the District Attorney.”

CMMR

​Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation (CMMR), a coalition of medical marijuana patients, providers and growers supporting responsible regulation of medical marijuana, today released proposed guidelines for regulating medical marijuana dispensaries.
According to CMMR, the guidelines would protect the businesses and their patients, as well as promote public safety.

Photo: normstamper.com
Norm Stamper of LEAP: “Legalizing pot but not other drugs will leave huge social harms unresolved”

​With marijuana legalization apparently headed for the California ballot in 2010, Seattle’s former police chief is asking, “Why stop there?”, reports Matt Coker in the OC Weekly.

Police veteran Norm Stamper wore the blue for 34 years, and was the top cop in Seattle from 1994 until 2000. He’s also the author of Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing and one of the most prominent members of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
Norm breaks it down in an AlterNet post, “Let’s Not Stop At Legalizing Marijuana,” citing polls that show a majority of Americans realize legalizing pot will produce a host of benefits, including, of course, the fact that 800,000 people a year will no longer be arrested for the herb. Taxation and regulation further bolster the pro-legalization arguments.

photobucket.com
California’s 2010 election: Be there, or be square.

​Californians will get a chance to vote on legalizing marijuana next November.

The Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010 ballot initiative has gathered the 650,000 signatures it needs to get the issue on the November 2010 ballot, according to Daniela Perdomo at AlterNet.
If passed, the initiative would legalize marijuana for all adults in California.
“This is the next step to sane cannabis policies and the end to the hypocrisy and unjust prohibition of cannabis,” sponsor Richard Lee told AlterNet.
One recent poll showed 54 percent support among Californians for legalization.
According to Lee, polls showing majority support for legalization and taxation of marijuana, along with the recession, mean that the initiative could be viewed as a watershed, and even a first step in changing federal marijuana laws.

Graphic: Jim Wheeler
Safe access to marijuana remains a distant dream to many patients — even in states which have legalized medical use

​One by one, the lights are winking out. In city after city, town after town, in states where medical marijuana is now legal, patients who had dared hope they would at last have safe access to the medicine recommended by their doctors are having those hopes dashed.

The problem? Political cowardice and the panicked reaction of the status quo.

Every week brings more news of freaked out city councils and county boards of supervisors who desperately want to appear to be “doing something” — anything — about the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries.

This phenomenon is so far mostly confined to California and to a lesser extent Colorado, but it’s unfortunately also starting to happen in Michigan and Montana.
Rather than showing true leadership by showing genuine concern for patients and communities, too many local government officials are going for the easy, knee-jerk reaction. The level of disregard for the intentions of the voters — who clearly expressed their will by legalizing medical marijuana — is breathtaking.

Photo: Laurie Avocado
Whenever City Council’s in session, look out.

​San Diego’s task force on medical marijuana will present its land-use recommendations to the city council today.

According to the task force, any businesses that dispense medical marijuana in San Diego should be required to apply for a land use permit, and should only be allowed in industrial or commercial zones, Tom Fudge reports at KPBS.
The task force also recommends that dispensaries shouldn’t be located within 1,000 feet of a school, or within 500 feet of another dispensary.

Photo: Damon D’Amato, WAMC
Medical marijuana supporters march on L.A. City Hall in 2007

​Medical marijuana advocacy organization Americans for Safe Access (ASA) will hold a press conference in front of Los Angeles City Hall at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 8, in advance of the expected vote on regulating dispensaries in L.A.

The City Council has indicated they might meet in closed session to make final deliberations on an ordinance that would regulate how and where medical marijuana dispensaries can operate in the city.
According to the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting, the possible closed session is due to “threats of litigation publicly made regarding the adoption of the proposed ordinance. Last month, ASA had threatened to sue the city if it banned the “sale” of medical marijuana.
Tuesday’s meeting will likely be the culmination of a two-year struggle between pro- and anti-medical marijuana forces for dominance in the City of Angels, where City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and like-minded Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley have grabbed headlines by making inflammatory statements like “approximately zero” of the dispensaries in the county are operating legally.

Photo: Polluxx
Not in Norco, or you may get Narco’d.

​Norco, Calif., is proposing a local law against selling drug paraphernalia.

Doing so is already against both state and federal law, but having a city law on top of that would “make it easier for authorities to enforce the regulation,” Norco officials claimed, according to the Press-Enterprise.
Norco officials admit there isn’t a problem with drug paraphernalia being sold in the city. Nobody in recent history has even been cited for the offense. But the bright idea of putting a local law on the books just seemed irresistible after officials noticed neighboring town Corona had passed its own local law.
“The councils of Norco and Corona have been trying to coordinate their responses to regional issues, and drugs are currently a regional issue,” said Lt. Ross Cooper of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Norco station. (Blah, blah, blah.)
Cooper said other cities also have adopted similar ordinances, and Norco wants to spread the anti-drug message. Great idea, Lt. Cooper. Show what a moron you are by wasting the city’s scarce resources going after potheads.
The ordinance would echo a California Health and Safety Code section making it unlawful to sell drug paraphernalia, including water and ceramic pipes, scales and balances, and roach clips for joints.
If passed, the ordinance would become law in 30 days.

Graphic: Reality Catcher
Mendocino County’s regulations on collective medical marijuana grow-ops and dispensaries are being hammered out Monday.

​Historically weed-friendly Mendocino County’s debate over regulating medical marijuana dispensaries continues Monday at 3 p.m., when the Human Services Advisory Committee of the County Board of Supervisors meets. The committee has been working since spring to hash out the county’s marijuana cultivation rules.

Supervisor John McCowen, who along with Supervisor Kendall Smith sits on the committee for monthly meetings, said the process has been delayed by numerous speakers opposed to the county regulating dispensaries.
“People are opposed to what the committee is doing, and they’re doing everything they can to impede our work,” McCowen told the Ukiah Daily Journal. “I suspect the real intent is that they are not in favor of any regulation that might actually apply to them,” he said.
“Interfering with the ability of the committee to make a decision would prevent regulation,” he said.
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