Yearly Archives: 2011

American Express To Marijuana Dispensaries: Get Lost

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Fiamma

So American Express won’t allow customers to use their cards to purchase medicinal cannabis? Screw them.

According to multiple sources at medical marijuana dispensaries, American Express will no longer process transactions from cannabis businesses.

“Please be advised that American Express will no longer allow transactions to be processed at Medical Marijuana dispensaries,” read one email notice from The Farmacy dispensary in West Hollywood, reports LA Snark. “This is a policy change made by American Express, nationwide.”

According to the email, dispensaries are still able to process transactions with MasterCard, Discover and VISA.

The Farmacy told Ana Kasparian at web news show The Young Turks that, beginning last Saturday, April 30, every time they swiped a patient’s American Express card, the transaction would be declined.

American Express allegedly told personnel at The Farmacy that they have “new guidelines” that came out this year, one of which says they will no longer allow American Express customers to use their cards for medical marijuana purchases.

Marijuana Delivery Service Accredited By Better Business Bureau

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Luke Thomas/The Green Cross

Kevin Reed, The Green Cross: “We are committed to providing our membership with access to quality medical cannabis products”

The Green Cross, a San Francisco medical cannabis delivery service, announced on Thursday that it has been awarded at A+ rating and full accreditation by the Golden Gate Better Business Bureau. Organizations in the U.S. and Canada must be reviewed and monitored before getting a rating and accreditation by the BBB.

“It’s an honor to receive recognition for the high standards of practice we have built into our organization,” said Kevin Reed, president of The Green Cross. “The BBB has a long history of encouraging ethical business practices and protecting consumers, and The Green Cross is pleased to be affiliated with such an outstanding organization.”

You’re Invited To Help Legalize Marijuana In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: Sensible Washington

Last week, Governor Christine Gregoire dealt a huge blow to tens of thousands of Washington’s most vulnerable citizens. By vetoing the most useful parts of a medical marijuana bill, the governor shut down an emerging industry that was providing safe access to medicine for cancer and AIDS patients, multiple sclerosis sufferers, and those with severe pain.

As a result, criminal gangs are now poised to reclaim the marijuana market, bringing more violence to our streets and greater dangers to our children, and making it unnecessarily difficult for the sick and terminally ill to get the medicine that their doctors authorize. The governor’s stated reason for leaving us in this mess was that she feared the federal government’s response.

City Won’t Make Medical Marijuana Grows Apply For Licenses

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2011 Growing, Legislation

Photo: AnnArbor.com

Medical marijuana dispensary owner Chuck Ream holds a sign calling for the firing of Ann Arbor City Attorney Stephen Postema outside city hall last month. Ream has been at odds with Postema over details of the city’s medical marijuana ordinances.

City council members in Ann Arbor, Michigan have decided they no longer want to have licensing regulations for medical marijuana cultivation facilities.

The city could still regulate where the grow facilities — places where medical pot is grown other than private homes — can be located through the city’s zoning ordinance, reports Ryan J. Stanton at AnnArbor.com. But the council voted Monday night at the request of Council Member Sabra Briere (D-1st Ward) to remove any reference to cultivation facilities from a proposed licensing ordinance.

Licensing rules will still apply to dispensaries, the places where cannabis is sold to patients.

Medical Marijuana Patient Gets Grow Equipment Back From Cops

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Cannabis Therapy Institute

Attorney Robert J. Corry Jr., left, and patient/caregiver Frank Marzano inside the Fort Collins Police Department requesting the return of Marzano’s marijuana growing equipment

A Colorado medical marijuana patient and caregiver whose 2007 marijuana cultivation conviction in Loveland was overturned got his confiscated property returned to him on Wednesday.

Frank Marzano, whose cultivation conviction was overturned by the Colorado Court of Appeals last August due to an illegal search, was joined by his attorney, Robert J. Corry Jr., who won the appeal.

Marzano received a truck load of growing equipment, including 19 sets of growing lights and ballasts, three 3-foot filters and fans, a CO2 machine, a trimming machine, and grow light bulbs.

Osama Bin Tokin? Cannabis Found Growing Near Hideout

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2011 Global, Growing

Graphic: New York Daily News

Cannabis was reportedly found growing along three sides of the bin Laden compound.

What were described as “high strength” cannabis plants were found “just yards” from the mansion of slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who was killed by U.S. commandos inside Pakistan on Sunday.

The marijuana was growing beside other crops, including cabbages and potatoes, in a garden just outside the 9/11 mastermind’s secret compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan, reports Philip Caulfield at the New York Daily News.

Reporters noticed the pungent weed growing in the deserted lots on the compound’s perimeter. Cannabis was planted on three sides of the compound, CNN reported Tuesday.

Ganja Grannies, 65 and 72, Busted With 800 Plants

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2011 Culture, Growing, News

Photos: San Mateo County Sheriff

Virginia Pon, 65 (left) and Aleen Lam, 72, were arrested after police found more than 800 plants growing in their San Bruno, California home.

Two elderly women are in a California jail after neighbors called the police to report a burglary at their San Bruno residence. When police arrived, they saw, through the broken front door, nearly 800 marijuana plants inside the home.

Aleen Lam, 72, and Virginia Chan Pon, 65, were arrested Friday afternoon, reports Erin Sherbert at the S.F. Weekly. Police, searching the unoccupied home, found $3,000 in cash as well as an electrical bypass that allowed the grannies to steal electricity from Pacific Gas & Electric.

Washington Marijuana Dispensaries: Does Veto Mean Raids?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Steve Elliott

Bud room at The Healing Center Organization in Seattle

Here in Washington state, in the Puget Sound area, I have seen a beautiful flowering of the cannabis subculture in the past 18 months.

It has been my privilege to be part of a moment that will almost inevitably be seen as something of a golden age in the medical marijuana scene in Seattle, when for a brief moment a vibrant, caring community felt its power and potential.

Since I became an authorized patient in 2007, I’ve seen the scene change from a handful of insular, exclusive (and often paranoid) collectives — none of which would take me as member, even with my legal authorization — to a plethora of dispensaries competing for my business.

Seattle Marijuana Dispensary Offers 25% Off For Canned Food

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Fweedom Collective

New member patients at Fweedom Collective get 25 percent off their order for donating canned food.

Fweedom Collective, a Seattle medical marijuana dispensary, is offering patients who join the collective a chance to donate food and receive 25 percent off their order.

The food drive, named “Cans For Grams,” has a goal of 10,000 cans of food to be donated to the charity Northwest Harvest, whose mission is to provide nutritious food to hungry people statewide in Washington state.

“Not only does this event raise food for the local community, but it also helps low-income patients obtain quality medicine,” said Sky Nielsen of Fweedom Collective.

Located in Seattle, Fweedom Collective says it is “looking to make a positive difference in the local community.”

The dispensary offers a wide variety of top shelf cannabis for Washington medical marijuana patients (WA ID and medical marijuana authorization required).

Fweedom offers strains including Afghani, Afgoo Kush, AK-47, Blue Dream, and Seattle favorite PermaFrost at donations of $11.84 per gram, $40.08 per eighth, $72.86 per quarter, $141.17 per half or $273.23 per ounce. (Don’t forget, you get 25 percent off those prices if you donate canned food.)

Remembering Ben Masel: Activist Changed The Cannabis Debate

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: StoptheDrugWar.org

By Michael Bachara

Hemp News Correspondent

Lifelong activist Ben Masel died on Saturday after a battle with lung cancer. As the hemp and cannabis community and many others mourn this great loss, we must also remember what Masel spent most of his life fighting for, and continue on the path he helped to blaze.

Over the course of his life, Masel traveled countless miles and spent innumerable hours voicing his ideas and fighting for the rights of his fellows. Even in the face of opposition, he continued to speak out in favor of hemp and cannabis legalization, freedom of speech and the ability of people who take a stand to make a difference.

Masel’s lifelong passion, the Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, began as a marijuana smoke-in in 1971. The Harvest Festival, now marking its 41st year, has a long history of promoting cannabis/hemp legalization and free speech while providing an annual celebration for like-minded people.

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