Search Results marijuana-patients/

N.J. Apologizes For Privacy Breach In Medical Marijuana Email

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 20, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

State of New Jersey Department of Health

New Jersey’s Health Department has apologized after an email from the department included the visible email addresses of all recipients — revealing the email addresses of medical marijuana patient in the state. The department claimed it was taking steps to prevent the error from happening again.

Toke of the Town originally broke the story on Tuesday after registered New Jersey medical marijuana patient Susan Sturner let us know about the email which violated the privacy of patients.

The Union Helps Cities Craft Sensible Marijuana Ordinances

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation

Union of Medical Marijuana Patients

The Los Angeles Times, in a September 24 editorial, called on the L.A. City Council to come up with a new medical marijuana ordinance that would provide safe access through regulation that would avoid legal challenges. The Union for Medical Cannabis Patients says it is providing the Council and Planning Commission with a formula for exactly this type of legislation.

James Shaw, director of the Union, has presented to the City Council two draft ordinances which represent parts to a whole. “These Ordinances should enable the City to finally get a handle on regulating medical marijuana patient associations in Los Angeles, while providing the added benefit of avoiding litigation or having the law overturned by courts,” Shaw said.

Why Do Clinics Deny Painkillers To Medical Marijuana Patients?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 12, 2012 Medical

Personal Liberty Digest

Should health care facilities have the power to make lifestyle decisions for you — and punish you when your choices don’t measure up to their ideals? More and more hospitals are making exactly those kinds of decisions when it comes to people who choose to use marijuana — even legal patients in medical marijuana states. Apparently, these places don’t mind looking exactly as if they have more loyalty to their Big Pharma benefactors than they do to their own patients.

A new policy at one Alaska clinic — requiring patients taking painkilling medications to be marijuana free — serves to highlight the hypocrisy and cruelty of such rules, which are used at more and more health care facilities, particularly the big corporate chains (the clinic in question is a member of the Banner Health chain).

Tanana Valley Clinic, in Fairbanks, started handing out prepared statements to all chronic pain patients on Monday, said Corinne Leistikow, assistant medical director for family practice at TVC, reports Dorothy Chomicz at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Feds To Grant Exclusive Cannabinoid License To Pharma Firm

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 16, 2011 Legislation, Medical, Products

Medical Marijuana Hut

The U.S. federal government’s Department of Health and Human Services seems about ready to award exclusive rights to apply marijuana as a medical therapeutic. You read that correctly: “exclusive rights.”

Now, I don’t think of myself as a conspiracy theorist. But when the federal government keeps taking actions that, even when considered separately but especially when viewed together, all seem to be part of a bigger plan to pave the way for the pharmaceutical industry to bulldoze the cottage medical marijuana industry, I start getting antsy.

“We find it hypocritical and incredible that on the one hand, the U.S. Department of Justice is persecuting cannabis patient associations, asserting that the federal government regards marijuana as having absolutely no medical value, despite overwhelming clinical evidence,” said Union of Medical Marijuana Patients director James Shaw. “On the other hand, the Department of Health and Human Services is planning to grant patent rights with possible worldwide application to develop medicine based on cannabis.”

“Though UMMP welcomes any potential new research that could come from KannaLife Sciences’ federal endorsement, it is highly disconcerting that the contemplated grant is an exclusive one,” the organization posted on its website.

Medical Marijuana Patients Propose L.A. Regulation Solution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

UMMP

James Shaw, director of the Los Angeles-based Union of Medical Marijuana patients, on Tuesday announced an alternative to a ban on nearly 400 local medicinal cannabis dispensaries which was proposed by City Councilman Jose Huizar last month.

“Councilman Huizar seems unaware that there is a reasonable way to regulate medical cannabis patient associations now using technology which we have developed in conjunction with AgSite Secure,” Shaw said.

If that sounds like Shaw is selling something, yes he is; however, keep an open mind, because third-party verification may be a way out of the conundrum in which California dispensaries find themselves.

According to Shaw, the recent Second Court of Appeals decision cited by the Councilman, known as Pack v. Long Beach, which rejected the ability of cities to issue paid permits to authorize dispensaries, did not mean a ban was the only alternative to a complete lack of regulation.

Maine Slaps Higher Tax On Pot Brownies Than On Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 4, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Legal Medical Marijuana States

The tax rate on that marijuana goes from 5 percent to 7 percent as soon as it’s poured in the brownie mix.

How patients use their medical marijuana affects their tax rate, according to a recent opinion from Maine Revenue Services — and choosing the healthy option of smokeless edibles will result in higher taxes.

After Maine residents approved medical marijuana, lawmakers decided pot sold for medicinal purposes would be subject to the five percent sales tax. But now MRS has issued an opinion that prepared foods such as brownies that include cannabis will be taxed at a higher, seven percent rate, reports Mal Leary of Capitol News Service.

Many patients, advocates and others question the logic — and the legality — of the odd ruling.

Housing Policy Discriminates Against Medical Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 30, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: Nick Stokes Design/Willamette Week

Tenants of two public-housing agencies in Oregon have been told they cannot smoke medical marijuana in their apartments and houses.

The warnings have drawn a line for the first time as the federal government continues to apply pressure against medical marijuana in Oregon, reports Corey Paul at Willamette Week.

The public-housing agencies involved in the warnings are REACH Community Development and Home Forward, formerly known as the Housing Authority of Portland.

California Courts Rule In Favor Of Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: TopNews

It was an open and shut case — or at least, the police in a northern California town thought so when they confiscated more than two pounds of marijuana from a couple’s home, even though doctors authorized the pair to use cannabis for medical purposes.

San Francisco police evidently thought the same with a father and son they suspected of using the state’s medical marijuana law to operate what the cops claimed was an illegal trafficking organization, reports KTVQ.

But both those cases, along with possibly dozens of others, were tossed out in recent weeks because of a California Supreme Court ruling that struck down a seven-year-old state law that put an eight-ounce limit on the amount of marijuana that medical users are allowed to possess.

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