Medical Marijuana and Cannabis News
The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled earlier today that cities and municipalities in that state can outright ban medical marijuana dispensaries. 
The decision centers around the Inland Empire Patient's Health and Wellness Center, which was shut down by the city last year after the city declared the dispensary a public nuisance. The court today ruled the city was within it's legal rights to do it, opening the doors for all other cities in the state to ban medical marijuana shops if they want.
Eleven Seattle-area medical marijuana shops were told to shut down by the Drug Enforcement Administration for being within 1,000 feet of schools. The letters take a similar tactic to one federal agents used in 2011 and 2012 in Washington and other states.
Wikipedia commons.
"The DEA enforces federal drug laws and these letters have nothing to do with any pending legislation or state law," a DEA spokeswoman told the Seattle Times .
Two identical medical marijuana bills were introduced to the Minnesota House and Senate today, opening the door for a serious discussion on allowing marijuana for approved medical conditions in that state.
Minnesota state house.
The bills would not only allow patients to grow and possess cannabis, but it would also create a medical marijuana dispensary system regulated by the state health department. The law would also allow reciprocity with medical marijuana patients from other states so long as their license is current.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 1:20 pm
Maryland is set to be the 19th state to approve of a state medical marijuana program after Gov. Martin O'Malley announced earlier today that he would be signing the bill at a ceremony tomorrow.
While it sounds great - and no doubt will provide medical benefit to some patients - the program is arguably the strictest in the country and probably won't start serving patients until at least 2016 according to the Marijuana Policy Project.
Nearly 40 percent of the nearly 9,090 medical marijuana patients in New Mexico are on the registry for post-traumatic stress disorder. 
That means nearly 3,700 percent of the New Mexico is relieved today after the Department of Health ruled that PTSD will remain a qualifying condition for the state medical marijuana registry.
The Arizona House yesterday passed a bill removing academic research from a 2012 law that banned any and all marijuana on college campuses.
According to one researcher, this could open the doors for studies on things like post-traumatic stress disorder for returning veterans at the state level and provide much-needed peer-reviewed studies as to the plant's efficacy.
Against their own policy, the Department of Veteran Affairs would rather treat veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder with addictive benzodiazepines tranquilizers such as Valium and Xanax - instead of using prohibited medical marijuana, despite studies showing cannabis to be a safer alternative.
Current Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs guidelines caution providers from using benzodiazepines tranquilizers as a treatment for combat related PTSD. "Once initiated, benzodiazepines can be very difficult, if not impossible, to discontinue due to significant withdrawal symptoms compounded by the underlying PTSD symptoms," the VA/Department of Defense guidelines state.
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.
The Washington Post in a video segment yesterday detailed two sets of parents using cannabis to control seizures in their children - specifically the cannabinoid CBD.
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In the cannabis community, this is common knowledge and the reason why many patients seek marijuana as their therapy. Nevertheless, it's a powerful video to watch as these two kids -- like dozens if not hundreds of others -- find relief from their painful affliction with cannabis.
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.
