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Medical Marijuana Provider’s Conviction Overturned

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 12, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Scott Shupe of Change, a medical marijuana dispensary in Spokane, had his drug trafficking convictions reversed on Tuesday

Big Victory In Spokane

In a huge victory for medicinal cannabis, the “drug trafficking” convictions of Scott Q. Shupe, a man who operated Spokane, Washington’s first medical marijuana dispensary were reversed on Tuesday in a state Appeals Court ruling.

In the 2-1 decision, Judges Dennis Sweeney and Teresa Kulik ruled that Spokane police did not have probable cause to search Shupe’s residence and business, and that Spokane County prosecutors did not have enough evidence to justify Shupe’s 2011 convictions for drug trafficking.

One happy result of Tuesday’s decision, according to Shupe’s attorney, is that Spokane police will be forced to return more than $8,000 in cash and three jars filled with marijuana that were seized during the raid.

Jailed Marijuana Dispensary Owner Goes On Hunger Strike

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 29, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: MHP of Spokane

Jerry Laberdee in happier days at his dispensary, Medical Herb Providers, in Spokane.

There are two ways to look at the federal government’s war on medical marijuana patients and providers. One is the theoretical, statistical way of looking at things — where it’s all numbers — and another is looking at the pot war’s impact on actual human beings.

The second way is a lot more difficult.

A medical marijuana patient and dispensary owner in Washington state has been on a hunger strike ever since he was jailed six days ago on federal charges.

Jerry Laberdee, 56, has been in Spokane County Jail since last Tuesday, after he refused to take his court-ordered drug test, reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly. Laberdee says he won’t eat until he’s released and allowed to use medicinal cannabis, as he is legally authorized to do under Washington law.

His daughter, Jessica Vogel, 28, told the Weekly that she hasn’t been able to talk much with her dad since he was jailed, but she hopes his hunger strike will “wake people up.”

DEA, Police Raid More Marijuana Dispensaries In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Jessica Nuna

This photo was taken by an employee inside Medical Herb Providers dispensary in Spokane, Washington during the raid

One Drug Enforcement Administration agent, accompanied by about a dozen Spokane Police officers, on Wednesday raided at least three medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington state.

Medical Herb Providers (MHP), Essence of Mother Earth and Alternative MMD were all raided separately, reports Curtis Cartier at the Seattle Weekly.

According to Jessica Nuna of MHP, by the time law enforcement left that shop, they had taken about 32 cannabis plants, $1,400 in cash, several ounces of dried marijuana flowers and several laptop computers, cellphones and other electronic devices.

King County, Seattle Officials Ask State To Fix Medical Pot Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

The top prosecutors and officials in both King County, Washington and the city of Seattle are asking the Legislature to quickly untangle the mess left by Governor Christine Gregoire’s gutting of a medical marijuana bill. The bill was supposed to have legalized dispensaries and provided arrest protection for patients, but after Gregoire got through with it, patients were worse off than they started.

In a letter to the four top leaders in the Washington Legislature, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, county executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said the medical marijuana law in its current state leaves them with “few good options” to control and regulate dispensaries, reports Jonathan Martin at the Seattle Times.

“In the absence of new legislation, we at the local level will have to choose between closing down dispensaries and prosecuting the owners and workers, or allowing them to continue to multiply in an unclear regulatory environment,” they wrote in a letter [PDF] dated Wednesday, May 18.

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