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| Graphic: NESAHS |
| The New England School of Alternative Horticultural Studies says it will be the first marijuana training facility in the Northeast. |
The New England School of Alternative Horticultural Studies, a Rhode Island-based medical marijuana training center, announced on Thursday the September launch of its basic medical marijuana training class in Warwick, R.I., which it said is the first professional medical marijuana training class in the northeastern United States.
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By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, Medical
Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 @ 12:25PM
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| Graphic: LA Progressive |
The ASA legal filing points to a policy directive issued last week by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), recognizing medical marijuana and distinguishing it from other illegal controlled substances.
In its brief, ASA says that the VHA directive bolsters advocates' arguments that marijuana does indeed have medical value.
"Recognition of marijuana's therapeutic benefits by a federal agency makes it more difficult for the government to argue against marijuana's medical value," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the notice with the court.
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| Photo: Hats Radio |
| A Washington medical marijuana patient will be paid for his 15 cannabis plants after they were stolen, then recovered and taken into evidence by deputies. |
The plants, which are now being held as evidence in the criminal case against two men accused of stealing them, may be needed in court, and will likely spoil before they can be returned to their rightful owner, according to Kitsap County Sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson, reports Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun.
"We don't want to provide something back that could cause illness," Wilson said.
By Steve Elliott in
Dispensaries, Medical
Wednesday, Jul. 28 2010 @ 11:38AM
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| Graphic: NotionsCapital |
The delay is caused by a lack of detail about how the city will operate the program, which includes a very cool, first-in-the-nation provision requiring dispensaries to price their marijuana on a sliding scale so the city's poorest patients can get their medicinal cannabis for free, reports Tim Craig at The Washington Post.
Council member David A. Catania, chairman of the Health Committee, said he doesn't expect the first dispensaries to open until early next year, and that would be a best-case scenario.
"I know people are eager for this to go forward, but I think we have to do this judiciously and slowly and carefully," Catania said.
By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, Medical
Wednesday, Jul. 28 2010 @ 9:14AM
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| Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition |
The worst part is that the bill was written and sponsored by Dianne Feinstein, a Democratic senator from California!
S. 258, the "Saving Kids from Dangerous Drugs Act," was introduced by Sen. Feinstein and is using a hyped-up media scare about "candy flavored methamphetamine" to attack medical marijuana patients and providers.
Since there is no national trend toward lacing candy and other edibles with meth or any other drug besides cannabis, this bill clearly targets legitimate medical marijuana dispensaries, caregivers and patients in states that have legalized it as medicine.
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| Graphic: Veterans Today |
| In a historic decision, the V.A. has announced veterans will no longer be endangering their pain prescriptions by using medical marijuana in states where it is legal. |
It's a day to remember, according to Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "We now have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine," Fox said.
The policy clarification has been sought by veterans and advocates for years, reports Dan Frosch at The New York Times.
A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in V.A. hospitals between federal law, which outlaws marijuana for any purpose, and medical marijuana laws in the 14 states that allow medicinal use of cannabis.
Like the decision by Obama's Justice Department to back off on marijuana dispensary raids in states that have legalized medical pot, the new V.A. policy essentially means the federal government is deferring to state medical marijuana laws.
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| Photo: NBC 25 |
| Michigan protesters say Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel is targeting medical marijuana patients who speak out |
The raids were made despite an official Justice Department policy issued in October 2009 discouraging such enforcement.
The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association organized the Saginaw protest march, and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) organized a rally at the federal courthouse in San Diego.
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| Photo: Gary Storck |
| Wisconsin patients ask: Is My Medicine Legal Yet? |
The ballot question will ask: "Should the Wisconsin Legislature enact legislation allowing residents with debilitating medical conditions to acquire and possess marijuana for medical purposes if supported by their physician?"
Sup. John Hendrick of Madison, who introduced the resolution Thursday, said he was surprised at the board's unanimous approval -- but he won't be surprised if the referendum passes by a 70-30 margin or better, reports Devin Rose at the Wisconsin State Journal.
By Steve Elliott in
Dispensaries, Medical
Wednesday, Jul. 21 2010 @ 8:13AM
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| Photo: James Stacy |
| Federal medical marijuana defendant James Stacy leads a protest: "I tried to help people and now I face life in prison, even though I did not break the law." |
After Stacy opened a medical pot shop called "Movement In Action" in Vista, he was charged with federal counts of illegally manufacturing and distributing marijuana after undercover buys made by a San Diego County sheriff's detective and resulting raids by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at his home and business, reports Peter Hecht of The Sacramento Bee.
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| Photo: Lincoln Clarke |
| If this is your garden and you live in Pitt Meadows, Mayor Don MacLean has a message for you: Get the hell out of town. |
The list of outlawed businesses in the sleepy little British Columbia town include massage parlors, X-rated video stores, strip bars, hydroponic gardening stores, nuclear power plants, used car lots, and even giant advertising icons placed on the tops of buildings -- you know, those big gorillas you see at car dealerships.
Existing municipal bylaws ban all those things in Pitt Meadows, and now they're going after legal medical marijuana -- the first town in Canada to do so, reports Rod Mickleburgh at The Globe And Mail.
"We are just saying 'no,'" said Pitt Meadows' longtime mayor, obvious Nancy Reagan fan Don MacLean, of the town's move to ban the production of medical marijuana.
