S.F. Advocates Protest Obama Medical Marijuana Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

All photos: Jack Rikess

Medical Marijuana Activists In San Francisco Challenge the Obama Administration Crackdown; Toke of the Town Was There

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

Last time we thought it was some sick joke when Obama came to fundraise in San Francisco on April 20, the pot smoker’s holiday, after having changed his stance and began his reversal on medical marijuana in California.

Today, no one was laughing.

Phoenix Medical Marijuana Collective To Open Nov. 13

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

THC Finder

Grand Opening Festivities Feature Job Fair, Patient Fair and Open House

One year after Arizona residents voted to legalize medical marijuana, things are falling into place for patients in Phoenix to get safe access to their medicine.

The doors of Elements Caregiver Collective, which calls itself “the one-stop-shop for medical marijuana, wellness services and products,” will open with a job fair, patient fair and grand opening event on Sunday, November 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The caregiver collective, located 12620 N. Cave Creek Road in Phoenix, said it offers a secure, safe, environment for caregivers to provide wellness services and cannabis to patient members.

Colombia’s President: Marijuana Should Be Legalized Globally

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Global, Legislation, News

Xinhua

These bricks totaling more than seven tons of marijuana were confiscated by the Colombian army from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said this week that legalization of marijuana would allow the war on drugs to move forward by shifting focus to harder drugs and helping to stop the international violence associated with drug trafficking.

Santos said more world leaders should rethink their approach to the War On Drugs in order to deal with drug trafficking and the use of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, reports Natalie Dalton of Colombia Reports. The Colombian president made the remarks in an interview with Metro News.

“The world needs to discuss new approaches … we are basically still thinking within the same framework as we have done for the last 40 years,” the president said.

Federal Judge Blocks Florida’s New Welfare Drug Testing Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 News

WTXL

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Florida’s new law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits. U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven said it may violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judge Scriven ruled in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father of a four-year-old who sought welfare benefits while finishing his college education, but refused to take the drug test, reports the Associated Press.

According to the judge, there is a “substantial likelihood” that plaintiff Luis W. Lebron will succeed in his challenge to the law based on the Fourth Amendment, which is supposed to protect Americans from being unfairly searched.

Appeal Court Rejects Marijuana Search Based On Smell

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 News

THC Finder

A California court of appeal on Monday rejected a pound of marijuana as evidence in a case where police opened a shipped package they claimed smelled strongly of pot. If upheld on further appeal, the case could have far-reaching effects on future California prosecutions in which a “probable cause” search was based on smell alone.

“Was the warrantless search justified based on smell alone?” wrote Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura, reports Kate Moser at The Recorder. “Not according to the California Supreme Court. To smell it is not the same as to see it.”

Obama Turns Up The Volume On His Medical Marijuana War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Phoenix New Times

The puzzling new federal crackdown on medical marijuana announced on October 7 by four U.S. Attorneys in California continues to send shockwaves through the industry. Safe access by seriously ill patients is endangered in many locales after the stunning reversal by the Obama Administration, which had initially pledged to respect state medical marijuana laws.

It seemed things were just going too well after the “Ogden Memo,” which announced the feds wouldn’t prioritize going after providers and patients who were abiding by state laws. Medical marijuana bloomed into an industry worth up to $100 billion (it’s difficult to know the exact figure), and apparently it got too big too fast for the prohibitionists.

What, exactly, happened to the Obama Administration’s medical marijuana policy?

What’s behind this strange about-face with which the President has alienated a sizable portion of his constituency?

Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times takes a look at the issue.

Czech Republic Works On Plan To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Global, Legislation, Medical

Mary Jane’s Garden

A government committee in the Czech Republic is working on a law to legalize medical marijuana in that Eastern European nation.

The country’s experts have proposed that marijuana would either be imported or grown locally by farmers who are registered and licensed for such a crop, which is currently illegal, reports the Associated Press.

The group also proposed on Monday that all medical marijuana patients should be registered with the government.

The draft of the new marijuana bill is scheduled for completion in December. It could become law in the Czech Republic next year if it is approved by Parliament and the executive branch of government.

Cannabis Legalization Urged In Tasmania

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Global, Legislation, News

The Mercury

Greg Barns, president of Australian Lawyers Alliance said that cannabis use is primarily a health issue, and the state would save money by treating is as such

One of the reasons cannabis use is so high in Tasmania is because it is illegal and not treated by authorities as a health issue, according to the Australian Lawyers Alliance.

Greg Barns, Alliance president and barrister based in Hobart, said decriminalizing the use, possession and sale of small amounts of marijuana would reduce its appeal to young people, reports Sally Glaetzer at The Mercury.

“Most kids want to try dope,” Barns said. “If it wasn’t illegal, it would be less attractive.”

Cannabis use should be treated as a health issue, Barns said, with “offenders” referred to a health or counseling service rather than the criminal justice system.

While that’s far from ideal — ideal being “it’s none of your damned business if I use cannabis” — it’s certainly an improvement over locking people in cages for weed.

According to Barns, instead of spending enormous amounts of police and court resources on cannabis-related offenses, money should be redirected to a service to provide lifestyle and health advice for cannabis users.

Barns said that cannabis use is primarily a health issue and the state would save money by treating it as such. He added that making the medical use of cannabis legal and allowing doctors to supply high-quality marijuana to patients for pain relief would “dim the supply of bad quality cannabis.”

WAMM Medical Marijuana Festival Has A Serious Message

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Culture, Products

Brad Kava/Santa Cruz Patch

Each of these “tombstones” represents one of hundreds of WAMM patients who needed marijuana for medicinal reasons.

The first thing that visitors to the ninth annual WAMM Festival saw on Saturday was a mock graveyard. Hundreds of tombstones memorialized critically ill patients whose lives were helped by medical marijuana.

The visual gave a message to the hundreds of people who strolled through San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz for the Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana‘s annual festival, reports Brad Kava at the Santa Cruz Patch. That message was that critically ill people need help from cannabis, which remains illegal for any purpose at the federal level, despite having been legalized for medicinal use in 16 states.

RAND Retracts Report Showing Cannabis Dispensaries Lower Crime

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich’s office was “vocal” in its criticism of last month’s RAND report showing that crime went up in neighborhoods when dispensaries were forced to close — so RAND took their own report off their website on October 11, and officially retracted the report today, Monday, October 24.

After “vocal criticism” from the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, the RAND Corporation on Monday officially retracted its study “Regulating Medical Marijuana Dispensaries: An Overview with Preliminary Evidence of Their Impact on Crime,” which was released in September.

Two weeks ago, RAND had pulled the study off its website and posted a notice that “This document has been withdrawn pending further review.” Toke of the Town broke that story before it hit the national newswires.

“The L.A. City Attorney’s office has been the organization most vocal in its criticism of the study, questioning its methods and conclusions,” RAND media relations guy Warren Robak told Toke of the Town on October 11.

Yearly Archives: 2011