Yearly Archives: 2011

Medical Marijuana Patient Sues To Keep Growing Pot Plants

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 17, 2011 Growing, Medical

Graphic: Michigan Medical Marijuana Association

A registered medical marijuana patient in Michigan is suing the Lyon Township and Oakland County because they’re trying to take his growing cannabis plants away from him.

Steven J. Greene got a notice from the township attorney on December 20 telling him he had 30 days to get rid of the marijuana plants growing inside his mobile home — on threat of seizure and prosecution under the township ordinance, reports Mike Martindale at The Detroit News.

A copy of the letter was also sent to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office, which discovered the plants last year after both a storm and an attempted break-in set off burglar alarms at Green’s residence in separate incidents, according to Greene’s attorney, Thomas Loeb.

Greene, who is HIV positive, is on medical disability and uses marijuana to combat nausea from drugs used to treat his health condition, Loeb said.

Company Offers Training To AZ Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 17, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: PRWeb

Gus Escamilla, the founder and CEO of Greenway University in Denver, plans to offer fledgling Arizona dispensaries an education in the business of medicinal cannabis.

His team helped open more than 225 dispensaries in California, Colorado and the western United States, according to Escamilla, reports John Yantis at The Arizona Republic.

“The demographic that we recognized, it’s not the 21- to 28-year-olds,” Escamilla said of prospective dispensary owners. “It’s the 35- to 65-year-olds, the displaced professionals, the people that want to get into this industry in total and complete compliance with the state laws or jurisdiction that they live in.”

Later this month, Greenway University, which says its curriculum is provisionally approved by a division of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, plans a two-day, $295 seminar in Scottsdale. Students can learn about the political and legal issues surrounding marijuana, as well as how to grow the herb and prepare it in a snack form called edibles.

Washington Might Extend Protections To Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 17, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Artwork: Jimmy Wheeler

The late Jimmy Wheeler, a medical marijuana patient in Washington, created this artwork. Washington patients could finally get the arrest protection they seek if a bill that would do just that passes the Legislature.

Medical marijuana patients in Washington could have protection from arrest if the Legislature passes a bill reforming the 1998 voter-approved law authorizing use of cannabis for some terminal and debilitating illnesses.

I know what you’re thinking. “Shouldn’t they ALREADY have arrest protection if medical marijuana is legal for them to use?”

Yes. Yes, they should.

Although the law has been in place for more than 12 years, many patients complain they are still harassed by police, said Sen. Jerome Delvin (R-Richland), a co-sponsor of the Senate of the Senate version of the bill, reports Michelle Dupler at the Tri-City Herald.

Delvin pushed for the bill to include a voluntary patient registry that would provide medical marijuana patients a card they can show to police rather than submitting to searches of their homes or property.

“It allows us to know what’s going on out there,” said Delvin, a former Richland police officer who retired in 2006. “It gives law enforcement an easier tool. They can have confidence in the registry. If someone has a card — case closed.”

Corrections Officer Smuggled Marijuana-Filled Sandwich Into Jail

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 17, 2011 News

Photo: Ocala.com

Don’t laugh, man. I *almost* got to meet a stripper!

If you smuggle marijuana into this county jail, you get a roast beef sub and an expensive bottle of tequila. Make it into lock-up with a cell phone and you’ll be introduced to a stripper.

That may sound like some new weird reality TV show, but Florida authorities said a Marion County corrections officer actuallyaccepted all of the above.

The officer and four other people — two inmates and their girlfriends — have now been arrested, reports Austin L. Miller at the Ocala Star-Banner.

Joseph Jones, 31, a master corrections officer, was charged with principal to introducing contraband into a detention facility, introduction of contraband into a detention facility, and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.

Jones was booked into Marion County Jail at 9:55 p.m. Wednesday, and released about an hour and a half later, at 11:30 p.m. He was suspended without pay from his job, and an Internal Affairs investigation has been launched.

A jail inmate, Travis Cottrell, 28, told officers that the scheme worked like this: Two women would go to a sandwich shop not far from the jail and order two sandwiches. They’d remove the meat and other contents from one sub and place the marijuana inside the bread.

Colorado Medical Marijuana Advocates Call For Full Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 14, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: Patient & Caregiver Rights Litigation Project

Medical marijuana advocates Wednesday evening called for the full legalization of marijuana in Colorado, saying that until cannabis is fully legal, it will always be stigmatized and patients will be subject to harassment.

“No patient is really safe until it is legalized for everyone,” attorney Robert J. Corry told the patients and advocates at a meeting in Denver, reports Scot Kersgaard at The Colorado Independent.

Corry and other attorneys said law enforcement officials, lawmakers and other officials will never really act as if anyone has a right to use marijuana until it is made legal for all.

“They are treating patients like criminals instead of the sick people we are,” said Laura Kriho of the Cannabis Therapy Institute.

Advocates said patient access is in jeopardy in Colorado because of rules that allow cities and counties to ban dispensaries, and because of patient fears that their medical marijuana records are not really confidential.

D.C. Medical Marijuana Rules Take Effect Next Week

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 14, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: Clarissa Stark

In the U.S. capitol, the District of Columbia’s medical marijuana program’s rules governing who can grow, dispense and buy marijuana go into effect next week, once they’re published in the D.C. Register.

The rules, originally drafted and opened to public comment last August, had some changes requested by medical marijuana advocates in a second version released in November, reports Martin Austermuhle at the DCist. However, the system envisioned by city officials is extremely restrictive and not particularly patient-friendly (or dispensary-friendly, either, for that matter).

Intent To Deliver: Cops Say Pizzeria Sold Pot Along With Pizza

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 14, 2011 News

Graphic: Ronzio Pizza

It’s the perfect business plan, really. Create surefire repeat customers by delivering pot with the pizza!

One pepperoni pizza for pick-up; extra pot, please.

The owner of Ronzio Pizza, a few doors down from the police station in Newport, Rhode Island, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of marijuana with — you got it — intent to deliver.

After receiving reports from neighbors who live near the pizza parlor that marijuana was being sold there for the past several months, the Newport Police Department started a brave investigation spearheaded by Detective Seth Godek and Detective Mark Matoes, reports Bryan Rourke at The Providence Journal.

Grateful Dead Video Game On The Way

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 14, 2011 Culture, Products

Graphic: The Grateful Dead World

Something tells me quite a few Toke of the Town readers are also fans of the Grateful Dead, nudge nudge, wink wink, so you’re gonna be interested in a new video game based on the band and its music.

As reported by Jeremy M. Zoss at Joystick Division, our Village Voice Media sister blog, the new Dead game will launch this August for online and mobile devices, in a new partnership with Asheville, North Carolina-based “Digital Experience” builders Curious Sense.

The game will reportedly be nothing like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but will instead be more of an interactive playground than a single experience — sounds ideal for stoners, doesn’t it?

The game will be accessible via the band’s official website (www.dead.net), Facebook and online game portals, reports Scott Steinberg at Rolling Stone.

MI: Cops Raid Marijuana Dispensary; Claim It Supplied Dealers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 14, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: City Pulse

Law enforcement claimed the Wednesday raid by Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies of the Oak Park offices and warehouse of a well-known medical marijuana dispensary was spurred by tips to police that the site was “supplying drug dealers.”

The Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team, wearing bullet-proof vests and masks, executed a search warrant and seized about $2,874 in cash, nine pounds of harvested marijuana stored in a freezer, five pounds of packaged marijuana, about two dozen cannabis plants, and 10 pounds of baked goods from facilities belonging to Big Daddy’s Management Group, Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Anti-DEA Rallies Held Over Michigan Medical Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 13, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: WLNS

A couple of dozen hardy protestors faced the cold to protest the DEA’s invasive demand for confidential patient records protected by state law.

A couple of dozen hardy protestors faced the cold in Lansing, Michigan, this week to protest the DEA’s invasive demand for confidential medical marijuana patient records protected by state law.

Medical marijuana advocates made some noise, raising their voices against what they call increasing federal involvement in states where medical marijuana is legal.

“I’ve been raided twice,” said protestor John Roberts, reports WLNS. “First time they raided me they didn’t even take the plants; they took all the medicine we made for the patients.”

Roberts, a medical marijuana user, caregiver and advocate, said the feds need to stay out of the confidential records of medical marijuana users.

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