Yearly Archives: 2011

Clinic, Collectives Cooperate To Kick Off Cannabis Classes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 1, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

A Seattle medical marijuana recommendation clinic has joined forces with several local collectives to offer free and reduced cost educational classes to their patients.

“We wanted to offer the best training, wellness, and educational services to the access points that exemplify the best practices and standards for the industry in the Seattle area,” said director Greta Carter of the C.A.R.E. Medical Group of Seattle.

Seattle metro area collectives joining CARE to present the classes include The CPC; Conscious Care Cooperative in Ballard, Lake City and Aurora; Green Hope in Shoreline; The Dockside in Fremont; The Joint Cooperative in the University District; and NWRPC in West Seattle, according to Carter.

“With the belief that education is an important key to the success of any healthcare program, the C.A.R.E. Loyalty Program will allow patients from different medical cannabis access points to learn about a variety of topics from cooking with medical cannabis to the laws that protect the rights of patients, providers, and healthcare providers,” reads a Tuesday press release from CARE.

The Secret Weapon That Can Get Marijuana Legalized Nationwide

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Medical

The Silver Tour

Senior citizens in Florida became medical marijuana political activists by the end of The Silver Tour’s presentation, featuring Robert Platshorn, federal medical marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld and others. Imagine the impact of a nationwide Silver Tour.

What if I told you there is a secret weapon that, if understood and utilized by the cannabis reform community, could fairly quickly and very decisively decide the issue of marijuana legalization once and for all?

Everybody knows that cannabis legalization is very, very near the tipping point in the United States. Even the folks at Gallup, not exactly known for wild-eyed political statements, said this month after examining their latest poll results — which showed that a record-high 50 percent of Americans support legalization — that “If this current trend on legalizing marijuana continues, pressure may build to bring the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s wishes.”

Drilling down into the results of that same Gallup poll reveals our potential secret weapon for marijuana legalization.

Support for legalizing cannabis is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62 percent approval among those 18 to 29, down to only 31 percent among those 65 and older.

Now, let’s think about that for a moment. One of the age groups which would most directly and immediately benefit from marijuana legalization would be our senior citizens. Acquainting seniors with this fact, and energizing them politically to support legalization, could hasten the arrival of legal cannabis by years.

ACLU-CO At Odds With ACLU-WA Over Marijuana DUI?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Legislation, Medical

THC Finder

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado has endorsed an initiative to legalize marijuana in that state — one which does not establish what some activists call an “illegitimate” DUIC (Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis) law. But the ACLU of Washington state, according to Seattle-based political activist Edward Agazarm, “still out of sync with voters and supporters, stumbles forward with fatally flawed Initiative 502.”

ACLU-WA has formed New Approach Washington (NAW), a political action committee with the stated goal of promoting I-502 to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. “Unfortunately, many citizen initiatives — though well intentioned — are riddled with errors and mistakes,” Agazarm said in an email to Toke of the Town and other media outlets. “Initiative 502 is a prime example.”

“In what appears to be Washington’s latest initiative blunder, I-502 contains last-minute DUI language that, because of science, has already been rejected by state state Legislatures (Colorado and Oregon) and a state Supreme Court (Michigan),” Agazarm said.

Canadian Docs Won’t Authorize Cannabis, Leaving Patients In Pain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Global, Medical

Cannabis Culture

A full decade after Canada legalized medical marijuana, most doctors in the Great White North are still refusing to sign the forms that patients need to get access to cannabis — meaning patients in pain risk jail if they use what works best to help keep them functional.

Far from improving, the predicament seems likely to get worse because of proposed changes to how Health Canada regulates access to marijuana, reports Sharon Kirkey of Postmedia News.

To the casual observer, it may seem that the government is actually easing up on the strict rules for obtaining medicinal cannabis. Health Canada has proposed removing itself as the ultimate authority in approving or rejecting medical marijuana applications.

9 Congress Members Express Concern On Marijuana Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

StoptheDrugWar.org

Nine members of Congress have taken their concerns about the federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries directly to President Obama.

In a bipartisan letter signed by nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the lawmakers criticized what they called the “unconscionable federal effort targeting dispensaries,” reports Jason Hoppin of the San Jose Mercury News. They also called for the federal reclassification of marijuana from its current Schedule I status as a drug with, supposedly, no legitimate medical uses and a high potential for abuse and addiction.

“It is critically important for patients to have safe access to this treatment that continues to be recommended by doctors,” said Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) “California voters decided to adopt clear regulations to allow patients to do just that. It is unfortunate that the federal government has decided to target these legal vendors instead of focusing limited resources on those who sell illicit drugs.”

Rally & Concert To End The War On Drugs: L.A., Nov. 3

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Culture, News, Products

Punk Rock Gypsy

Arise Roots, an up and coming reggae band from L.A., will headline the No More Drug War rally in Los Angeles on Thursday, November 3.

The international movement against the War On Drugs will convene at Levitt Pavilion in historic MacArthur Park, Los Angeles, on Thursday, November 3, for the largest-ever “No More Drug War” mass protest.

Hundreds of people will gather to acknowledge this year’s 40th anniversary of Nixon’s declaring a War On Drugs, demand health-centered alternatives, and celebrate this incredible diverse moment. The event will acknowledge the violence in Mexico, California’s mass incarceration crisis, and the nation’s overdose epidemic, among other topics.

The rally and concert will feature a host of gourmet food trucks, live reggae music by Arise Roots, spoken word artists, youth performers, and international reform leaders — most prominently Javier Sicilia, the Mexican poet who lost his son to Drug War violence and who is now leading a mass movement against the Drug War that brings tens of thousands to the streets of Mexico.

LEAP Responds To White House: Pot More Popular Than Obama

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 29, 2011 News

THC Finder

Late Friday night the White House issued a typical evasive rejection of eight marijuana legalization petitions that collected more signatures than any other issue on its “We the People” website. Even though recent polls show that more voters support marijuana legalization than approve of President Obama’s job performance, the White House categorically dismissed the notion of reforming any laws, focusing its response on the possible harms of marijuana use instead of addressing the many harms of prohibition detailed in the petitions.

One of the popular petitions, submitted by retired Baltimore narcotics cop Neill Franklin, called on the Obama Administration to simply stop interfering with states’ efforts to set their own marijuana laws.

White House ‘Responds’ To Marijuana Legalization Petitions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 28, 2011 News

Injustice In Seattle

White House Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske is lying his ass off.

The Obama Administration has officially “responded” to the “We The People” online petitions regarding marijuana legalization. Well, kind of — if you’re willing to dignify a bureaucrat mouthing the same old meaningless platitudes by calling that a “response.”

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske chose to respond to eight petitions regarding cannabis law reform with one blanket response. Speaking of which, ol’ Gil tried to put a wet blanket on the grass-fire that is the legalization movement, but it turns out all he could do is blow smoke.

Conventional wisdom dictates that when you have to make a press release, but really want it to get as little media attention as possible, you release it late on a Friday — which is exactly what the White House has done with this one. That way, all the top-line reporters have gone home or are bar-hopping by the time the release hits, and it has Saturday and Sunday to blow over before the week’s regular news cycle resumes Monday morning.

Kerlikowske, required by law as director of the ONDCP to oppose marijuana legalization, is either completely unaware that history has passed him by, or is pointedly ignoring the obvious. His refusal to even meaningfully engage with drug policy reform advocates shows that worse than being useless, he is an intentional obstruction — a willing part of the problem.

Colorado Issues First Medical Cannabis Business Licenses In US

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 28, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Cannabis Therapy Institute

I could surely do without that big ‘CRIMINAL’ up there at the top of the badge, but it’s still good news that the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division of the Colorado Department of Revenue has issued the first medical marijuana business licenses in the United States.

The great state of Colorado has started issuing the first state medical marijuana business licenses in the nation, bringing to fruition an application process that lasted more than a year for dispensaries and makers of cannabis-infused products.

The state issued 11 licenses to businesses in Denver, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Littleton, said the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division of the state Department of Revenue, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

Another seven shops have been told they’ll probably get a license. The state has sent out letters to local governments regarding an additional 467 dispensaries and products-makers, double-checking that those businesses have local approval, which is one of the final steps in the licensing process.

SF Board of Supes President Condemns Cannabis Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 28, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Lance Iverson/San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu: “With its recently announced ‘crack down’ on these dispensaries, the federal government has proposed a solution in search of a problem”

San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu responded this week to the Obama Administration’s crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, calling the action “a solution in search of a problem.”

“Medical marijuana dispensaries are providing safe access to treatment options that many Californians depend on to live a comfortable, pain-free life,” Chiu wrote in a Wednesday email to Shona Gochenaur of the Axis of Love, a San Francisco dispensary.

“With its recently announced ‘crack down’ on these dispensaries, the federal government has proposed a solution in search of a problem, while California law supports allowing these distribution centers to give patients the medicine they need,” Chiu said.

“I am very disappointed in Attorney General Holder’s decision and hope that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco focuses on more important issues than restricting access to a legal medical treatment,” Chiu said.

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