Marijuana and Cannabis Dispensary News
Nevada medical marijuana patients in need of cannabis will soon have legal storefronts to go to for safe access to their meds, though the tradeoff means the elimination of home growing.
Gov. Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill 374 into law last night, creating a state-regulated system of growers, processers and dispensaries. The move also allows home growing only until 2016, when the dispensary program is expected to be fully functional.
For states about to medical, let me learn ya something: there is no way to prepare for your first visit to a dispensary. It's like you Neil Armstrong moon-walked into the Wonka factory. Unless the shop is staffed with little people suffering from extreme Carotenemia though, you'll probably have to deal with a real life human being with their own set of issues. Don't become one of them. Here are the five things to avoid if you want to ingratiate yourself to your new budtender:
Los Angeles is okay with medical marijuana dispensaries, but not at the overwhelming level at which they populate the city currently. 
Voters in L.A. yesterday overwhelmingly supported a measure that allows for medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city, but drops the number of shops down from somewhere between 800 to 1,000 to just 135 - the number of shops before L.A.'s original 2007 dispensary moratorium. Dispensaries opened after 2007 will have to shut their doors.
In an attempt to add clarity to California's oft misconstrued medical marijuana laws, the state Senate voted 22-12 yesterday in favor of Senate Bill 439, which aims to provide protection for dispensary owners in exchange for much more strict regulation. 
The new legislation cuts through any previous confusion on compensation, making it clear that dispensaries cannot operate at a profit. Owners of dispensaries would be allowed to receive reasonable compensation and reimbursement of certain expenses, and would also be able to offer pay and benefits to their employees.
Medical marijuana measures D, E and F on L.A.'s May 21 ballot are incredibly high-stakes, and we do mean high. More than 1,000 dispensaries exist in L.A., taking in tens of millions of dollars annually and attracting 100,000-plus clients. Success at the polls will determine which of them get to stay open -- and which must close their doors.
L.A. Weekly/Susan Slade L.A.'s famous KFC collective.
There are three rival measures. To win, a measure must get more yes than no votes. But if more than one reaches that level of support, the one with the highest total of yes votes wins. If no votes outweigh the positives for all three measures, nothing changes -- we continue in the current limbo.
Berkeley Patients Group, the largest medical marijuana dispensary in Berkeley, California, was sued by the federal government on Friday in an attempt to shut down the cornerstone collective and seize the property, according to a press release delivered today by Americans for Safe Access.
The feds accuse Berkeley Patients Group of breaking federal law by selling herb. And in a move that has been used with undeniable effect up and down the state of California, they've targeted BPG's landlord and threatened her with asset and property seizure if she does not immediately evict her tenants.
On Monday afternoon at a City Council meeting, San Diego resident Ken Cole spoke out as a business owner and a citizen in favor of Mayor Filner's proposed new medical marijuana dispensary ordinance. Both he and the Mayor's office watched in dismay as the City Council voted to essentially ignore them. 
San Diego mayor Bob Filner.
Tuesday morning, Cole's downtown San Diego cannabis collective, One on One, was raided by federal DEA agents and local authorities with the Sheriff's office who literally broke down the front door and carried out cash, crops, and computers past a crowd of angry protesters.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 9:30 am
In 1996, California voters legalized medical marijuana for qualified patients and caregivers. Nearly two decades have passed, and the city of San Diego has yet to enact an ordinance which would regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, and provide the guidelines by which they could legally open. 
Jack Daniel.
In nearly four hours of testimonies given by dozens of San Diego citizens on Monday, the eight sitting City Council members heard arguments given both in favor of, and against, Mayor Bob Filner's new proposed ordinance to allow for the legal and regulated re-opening of medical marijuana dispensaries in America's Finest City.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at 3:20 pm
For the second time this month: Congrats, Rhode Island. Your medical marijuana patients now have somewhere to purchase medical marijuana if you they grow their own.
slatercenter.com
The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center opened Friday, just in time for the 4/20 weekends that celebrates - among other aspects of cannabis culture - medical marijuana. According to store employees, there was a constant flow of patients.
Innovation is inevitable in any industry, and the field of medical marijuana is no different. With laws already in the books in 18 states and more on the way, investors who might not know their Blue Chips from their Blue Dream are flocking to these regions to stake their claim in what they see as the next big commodity.
White-collar Wall Street-types can certainly see the budding upside to sinking money into dispensaries, growing operations, and other cannabis related retail outlets. But those potential gains are often outweighed by the prospects of inventory control, employee management, product naiveté. And of course, the grey area that exists in all current state-level medical marijuana laws that fly in the face of Federal statute. Cue MedBox.
