Search Results: grand-rapids/ (17)

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals will start to distribute a medical cannabis inhaler developed by Syqe, an Israeli start-up that raised money from tobacco giant Philip Morris. The inhaler may also be tested with opiates.

An editorial in The Scientist says its unacceptable that the World Health Organization has not developed positions on legalization.

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children will begin a clinical trial of cannabis extracts containing CBD and THC for children with severe epilepsy.

A new study from Steep Hill Labs found that 83 percent of California weed wouldn’t pass Oregon’s testing standards. An industry report says Oregon’s strict regulations are crushing the state industry. Willamette Week reports that business conditions are pushing some entrepreneurs back to the underground market.

Rehab provider Spectrum Health Systems said a doctor was not to blame for revealing to a patient’s employer that she uses MED.

A survey of cannabis researchers finds out what they want from the government in order to pursue their work.

A Reason investigation finds that conservative authorities in Idaho “conspired to restrict a promising cannabis-derived seizure treatment.”

The National Fire Protection Association is developing fire safety standards for cannabis businesses.

The FDA will allow a late stage clinical trial for ecstasy as a treatment for PTSD.

Minnessota approved PTSD as a MED qualifying condition. New York approved chronic pain.

Canada’s legalization push is getting complicated. The much-anticipated task force report on legalizationhas been delayed. Meanwhile activists wonder why shops are getting raided if the government plans to legalize. For more see here.

Bill Blair a Canadian government official overseeing the issue appeared at a “ cash-for-access” fundraiser with cannabiz leaders that may have violated Liberal Party ethics guidelines. Blair defended recent raidssaying, “The only system for control is the existing legal regime. And we’re a society of laws,” he says.

We told you last week about a Michigan prison cop who died prior to being sentenced for his role in a medical marijuana brownie sting. It turns out that 49-year-old Tim Bernhardt committed suicide, rather than face the felony charges of maintaining a drug house – charges he saw for simply being a medical marijuana patient and making some brownies. Bernhardt was facing up to two years in jail and $25,000 in fines.
According to Michigan law, concentrated forms of marijuana are illegal even for medical cannabis users – that includes infused butter, arguably the most common way to make pot edibles. The court has upheld that ruling as recently as July of 2013 – despite overwhelming evidence that it’s an absurd qualification. The judge based the ruling on the language of the state medical marijuana law, which defines marijuana as the “the dried leaves and flowers of the marihuana plant, and any mixture or preparation thereof.”

This week’s asshole prohibitionist award goes to Kent County (Michigan) Prosecutor William Forsyth, who single-handedly has challenged the will of voters in Grand Rapids after they decided in 2012 to decriminalize up to 2.5 ounces of pot.
He’s failed so far, but now the case is in the hands of the state Court of Appeals.
Forsyth first challenged the law in 2013, saying voters have no right to pass a measure that makes city laws conflict with state laws. But his challenge was shut down when a county circuit court judge said voters did have the authority.

Joe Ross/Flickr.


Congrats, Travers Narcotics team: you raided a marijuana dispensary that wasn’t trying to hide what they were doing and have prevented patients from accessing state-legal cannabis they use as medicine.
Cops raided the Magic Buds Medical Cannabis store in Wexford County, Michigan Tuesday, taking cash, business and patient records along with the stock of medical cannabis. The raid came after a judge ordered the shop to close last month for operating against state laws that prohibit dispensaries.


Cops in Grand Rapids, Michigan say a local physician helped a “drug trafficking” ring by writing medical recommendations for cannabis without ever seeing patients or even looking at medical records.
For his part, Dr. Gregory Kuldanek says he was always following state laws.
The charges, made this week in U.S. District Court, allege that Kuldanek and nine other people worked together to grow more than 100 marijuana plants. Kuldanek was also charged with “maintaining a drug-involve premises.” In other words, the DEA is arguing that the doc wrote fake recommendations to members of the pot ring to covering their activities in the state medical marijuana program.
According to the DEA, Kuldanek wrote recommendations for 66 patients and caregivers linked to the organization, often signing over “stacks” of them on the same day. Prosecutors say there’s no way he could have seen all of those patients in that time span.


Federal officials have now brought charges against ten additional people in Michigan for allegedly using the state medical marijuana program as a front for illegal sales and cultivation, bringing the total number of people “busted” in the sting to 37.
According to the feds, the group called themselves the Medical Marijuana Team and was growing in multiple small towns in the western part of the state as caregivers for medical marijuana patients.

Grand Rapids, Mich.

Grand Rapids residents are already enjoying lessened penalties for marijuana possession in their city, which went into effect May 1.
According to MLive.com, a 28-year-old man was cited for possession just three hours after the city ordinance went into effect. Dude now faces a $25 fine, and police likely took his stash from him. Sucks, but at least he’s not in jail.

WWMT.com

Statewide victories in Colorado and Washington (legalization) and Massachusetts (medical marijuana) weren’t the only blows our country’s failed marijuana policies were dealt on Election Day. A number of cities and towns voted against cannabis prohibition, as well.
In Michigan, voters overwhelmingly approved all four citywide measures to stop arresting marijuana users, reports the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). Grand Rapids voters replaced possible jail time for simple possession of marijuana with a fine. In Detroit and Flint, voters removed local criminal penalties for marijuana possession. In Ypsilanti, marijuana possession will now be the lowest law enforcement priority.

MLive
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is, as my mama in Alabama would say, a horse’s ass

A new recall effort against Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette — infamous for his dogged opposition to the medical marijuana law approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of state voters in 2008 — is underway.

Attorney General Schuette has been busily trying to dismantle the state’s medical marijuana law ever since it was passed by voters. He claims to be a “states’ rights conservative” — unless the “state’s right” we’re talking about is a medical marijuana law.

Marijuana activist Richard Clement is trying, for the second time, to remove the attorney general after falling short with a petition signature drive last year, reports WKZO.
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