Yearly Archives: 2011

Medical Marijuana Challenge Turned Away By CO Supreme Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 11, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project

Colorado’s Supreme Court has refused to hear a sweeping challenge to the state’s new medical marijuana laws.

The Court turned down — only five days after it was filed — a request by marijuana advocates to hear arguments on whether parts of those laws violate the constitutional amendment that made medical marijuana legal in Colorado in 2000 after being approved by voters.

The pending rules violate patient privacy because of a requirement that dispensaries record medical marijuana sales on video, according to patients and advocates who mounted the challenge. The patients also argue that the laws wrongly give local cities and counties the ability to ban dispensaries.

Federal Government Gives Florida Man Free Marijuana For Life

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 11, 2011 Medical, Products

Photo: MyMedicineTheBook.com

Irvin Rosenfeld holds up a tin of 300 federal joints. He receives one of these tins every 25 days.

On a recent chilly morning, Fort Lauderdale, Florida stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld interrupted his client calls for a quick joint in the company parking lot. Then he went back to work inside — and nobody said anything about the smell.

That joint — legal, for him — was one of more than 120,000 the federal government has given Irv at taxpayer expense for the past 29 years, reports Fred Tasker at the Miami Herald. Rosenfeld, 58, is one of only four people who remain in a now-closed “compassionate” drug program that, at its peak in the 1980s, provided 13 patients across the United States with marijuana to help manage medical conditions.

Rosenfeld smokes 10 to 12 government joints a day to help relieve a rare, painful condition called multiple congenital cartilaginous exostosis, which causes tumors to grow from the ends of his bones.

Not only does marijuana ease Rosenfeld’s pain and make his joints more flexible — for decades now, the tumors of have stopped growing, which Irv attributes to the pot.

His new self-published book, My Medicine: How I Convinced The Federal Government To Provide My Marijuana And Helped Launch A National Movement, tells the story of his cannabis use, and argues that the federal government should be more active in studying pot’s medical uses.

Charges Dropped Against Two Medical Marijuana Providers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 11, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing

Photos: SanLuisObispo.com

Charles and Rachel Tamagni were arrested on December 27 for operating a mobile marijuana dispensary. All charges have now been dropped, according to their lawyer.

“They were put through hell for nothing, their names dragged through the mud. Now, it’s like ‘Oops, sorry, never mind.’ “

~ Attorney Patrick Fisher

A Southern California couple arrested for operating a mobile medical marijuana dispensary won’t be facing any jail time — because they are no longer facing charges.

Officials from the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s office said they are dropping charges against the Paso Robles couple, Charles Tamagni, 47, and his wife Rachel Tamagni, 57, according to Patrick Fisher, one of their attorneys, reports Cal Coast News.

“We have to get confirmation in court, but they told us over the phone that they are rejecting charges,” Fisher said.

Medical Marijuana Battle Gets Personal For Maryland Legislator

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 11, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: yasni.de

Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin: “Politicians should not get in the way of people getting the medical relief they need”

Just weeks after a bill to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland failed last spring, the state senator who sponsored the legislation — Jamie B. Raskin of Montgomery County — found himself with a very personal perspective on the issue.

His doctor told him he had a “worrisome” mass the size of a golf ball in his colon. Raskin, 48, learned four days later he had cancer, reports Ann E. Marimow at The Washington Post.

“Public health is now personal for me,” Raskin said. “I know what it means for people to be living on the absolute edge of hope and despair, and politicians should not get in the way of people getting the medical relief they need.”

Raskin, a Democrat, will be a leading voice on several issues during the legislative session, according to the Post, but when he talks about medical marijuana he’ll add a compelling personal story to the debate over whether Maryland should join 15 other states and the District of Columbia in legalizing cannabis for medicinal use.

Raskin said he didn’t consider medical marijuana during his chemotherapy because of a family history of asthma and cystic fibrosis. But he insists that he and his fellow legislators should work “to relieve suffering.” Medical marijuana, according to proponents and patients, can ease pain and nausea and stimulate appetite for those suffering from cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Dude Really Wanted Apple Pie; Arrested For Pot At McDonald’s

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 11, 2011 News

Photo: Dancing Blue Steel

Is this worth fighting for?

“I was mad at the bitch for not giving me my apple pie,” a Florida man explained after attacking a McDonald’s employee. The man was arrested when St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies found a bag of marijuana in his pocket.

Antonio Dreveal Boatwright, 33, was at a McDonald’s on January 4 in Lakewood Park, Fla., when he became upset about the omission of what he evidently felt was a crucial part of his order, reports Will Greenlee of Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers.

Homeowner Fined $5,200 For Growing Cucumbers; Plans Suit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 10, 2011 Global, Growing

Photo: Les Bazso/PNG

Len Gratto on his property in Mission on Saturday, January 8, 2011. Gratto is ready to join an imminent class-action lawsuit against Mission, for hitting him with a $5,200 grow op inspection fee. The 67-year-old says he and his wife were growing cucumbers in the basement, he never grew pot, and he and many other Mission residents are being unfairly searched and fined.

A Canadian homeowner says there is no way he will pay a $5,200 fine to Mission, B.C., for growing cucumbers in his basement.

Len Gratto, who has lived in the home for 30 years, said he’s ready to join an imminent class-action lawsuit against the municipality’s grow-op bylaw inspections, reports Sam Cooper at Postmedia News.

A number of citizens, led by Stacy Gowanlock, said their homes were illegally searched for marijuana grow-ops, resulting in them being slapped with fees and repair orders sometimes exceeding $10,000 — all on flimsy evidence.

Gratto, 67, said he has never grown pot. He said the “laughable” evidence against him consists of pictures of some “dirt” on the basement wall, and “a furnace pipe going up into the chimney, where it should be.”

Arizona’s New Medical Marijuana Rules Still Up In The Air

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: The Huffington Post

The next public comment period for implementation of Arizona’s medical marijuana law begins January 31 and is open until February 18.

How, exactly, will Arizona’s new medical marijuana law — narrowly approved by state voters in last November’s election — play out? Nobody seems quite sure, as some law enforcement aspects have yet to be spelled out, and lawmakers are not quite ready to spell out just how police will deal with violators.

Determining standards for driving under the influence of marijuana is one issue currently at the forefront of the new law, according to Lake Havasu City Police Chief Dan Doyle, reports Jayne Hanson of the Havasu News-Herald.

“There is no threshold for drugs,” Doyle said. “We have a test for alcohol. But there is no threshold for marijuana.”

Another iffy scenario is possession of cannabis.

Montana Lab Contracts To Test Medical Marijuana Products

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical

Chad Harder/Missoula Independent

Michael Geci, M.D.: “If you are going to call cannabis a medicine, you have to treat it like a medicine”

For the first time in Montana, a lab has agreed to test all cannabis and cannabis-based medicine that a local caregiver sells to qualified patients under the state’s medical marijuana law.

MCM Caregivers late last week signed a contract with Montana Botanical Analysis (MBA) of Bozeman, the first such arrangement in the state’s burgeoning medical cannabis market where a caregiver or dispensary has contracted to have all its medicine tested.

“Despite all the bad press that’s been generated, mostly by just or or two highly visible personalities, the medical cannabis industry is rapidly moving towards standards of quality control that have been completely absent,” said Michael Geci, M.D., who serves as CEO of Montana Botanical Analysis.

“Having all of our cannabis medicine tested by MBA is a real milestone in the maturity of the medical cannabis industry in Montana,” said owner Randy Leibenguth of MCM Caregivers. “Having our product tested by MBA provides a level of product safety and consumer protection for our patients they need and deserve.”

Standards are essential in the medical marijuana industry, according to Leibenguth. “This kind of positive news helps to calm the fears of the public that this industry is out of control,” he said. “People should remember that this testing program is completely voluntary. I’m paying for it out of my own pocket.”

Chuck Norris Weed Will Kick Your Ass And Make You Like It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 10, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, Products

Photo: The Movie Mind

When Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn’t lift himself up. He pushes the Earth down.

Chuck Norris can put you in a world of pain. But never fear; the new “Chuck Norris” pot strain can probably relieve it.

Los Angeles dispensaries are featuring a new strain of medical marijuana — and Walker Texas Ranger star Chuck Norris reportedly isn’t thrilled.

The new strain, “Chuck Norris’ Black and Blue Dream” is rumored to have (you guessed it!) a real “kick” to it, reports TMZ.com.

It’s definitely an unauthorized use of the martial arts star’s name, according to Chuck’s representative, but the Norris team reportedly hasn’t decided yet if legal action will be taken.

“Maybe Chuckie should just lighten up,” opines the Boston Herald. “Or at least trademark his name so he can make a few bucks off it!”

But, as noted by the Herald, that’s seems rather unlikely, given the 70-year-old Norris’s very conservative political views. (The pugilistic partisan even served on the board of directors of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools.)

Police Stage Botched Pot Raid After Smelling Skunk Under Home

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 8, 2011 Global, News

Photo: The Skunk Stripe

Pawcuff that skunk! He smells like weed!

A Canadian man is demanding an apology after his home was raided at gunpoint Thursday by police who thought the scent of a skunk living under his home meant he was growing marijuana.

Oliver MacQuat of Gatineau, Quebec, said a team of armed police officers barged into his rural home with guns drawn, on the assumption they were busting a marijuana grow, reports CBC News.

“I opened the door and they all had their guns drawn,” MacQuat said. “I was terrified, my heart was probably going 150 miles an hour.”

Around 10 police officers swept through his house, MacQuat said, during which time his teenaged son returned home to flashing police lights.

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