Search Results: open letter (554)



Photo: David N. Posavetz/Macomb Daily
This is the amount of marijuana — seven grams, or a quarter ounce — Royal Oak police seized from registered patient Christopher Frizzo.

​The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is asking the city of Royal Oak to return medical marijuana that it says was illegally confiscated from a man during a traffic stop last month.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the police chief and city attorney, the ACLU said Royal Oak isn’t abiding by the law passed by 60 percent of Michigan’s voters in 2008, reports Catherine Kavanaugh at the Oakland County Daily Tribune.
Dan Korobkin, staff attorney with ACLU of Michigan, said the actions of the Royal Oak Police Department show a misunderstanding of the new law.

Graphic: thefreshscent.com
OK, quick: You’re head of the Department of Corrections. Officers under you misbehave and improperly arrest a medical marijuana patient. What do you do? Lie and cover up for them, if you’re Eldon Vail of the Washington DOC.

​The head of the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC), Eldon Vail, seems to put a lot more effort into covering up the lousy job his subordinates are doing, than in actually doing his own job.

The Washington DOC, following the example of the not-cool Attorney General Rob McKenna, is already notorious for its extremely hard line against the use of medical marijuana for individuals on probation.
Now, newly revealed documents show that Vail and the DOC have been involved in misconduct, cover-ups, and possibly outright law-breaking, reports Lee Rosenberg at the highly recommended Seattle political blog, Horses Ass.

Photo: NORML
Seattle Hempfest crowd at 2009’s event enjoys the beautiful setting and good vibes at Myrtle Edwards Park

​With unprecedented Pacific Northwest activity on the cannabis law reform front, and at the request of Hempfest supporters, the world’s largest marijuana event, Seattle Hempfest, is launching a new membership campaign to promote cannabis education and social networking throughout the year.

Prospective members are invited to the February 20 kickoff at Columbia City Theater in Seattle, the first of many events to socialize and discuss the latest in pot reform with local activists, attorneys and cannabusiness entrepreneurs.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
7:30 pm – 11 pm
4916 Rainier Avenue, South
Seattle, WA 98118
$25 and up membership purchase gains entry to this and all year-round Hempfest events
(21 and over)

Graphic: OC Weekly
Vegas loves a drunk… But not so much a pothead.

​Sin City loves a drunk, but it’s apparently not nearly as fond of stoners.

Cannapalooza, a three-day cannabis convention scheduled to have been held in Las Vegas March 19-21, has been canceled by Mandalay Bay casino, reports Nick Schou in the OC Weekly.

Cannapalooza Executive Director Louis Woznicki was told by one law enforcement official that “potheads” were bad for Vegas.
“We made our money with people who drink alcohol and gamble,” the officer told Woznicki. “People who smoke pot don’t drink and gamble.”
“They were scared,” Woznicki said. “The event was going to be open to 50,000 members of the public and was growing, if you pardon the expression, like a weed.”

Photo: www.liberty-lawyer.com
Indoor marijuana grow in Minnesota. Thanks to Governor Tim Pawlenty’s veto, patients still have to break the law to use medical cannabis.

​With Minnesota’s legislative session set to begin this week, the author of last year’s medical marijuana bill said he doubts he will introduce another bill this year.

“For right now, it looks a little discouraging,” said State Senator Steve Murphy, who authored and introduced medical marijuana bills in both 2007 and 2009, reports Kyle Potter at mndaily.com.
A medical marijuana bill actually passed the Minnesota Legislature last session, but was then vetoed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Photo: longbeachmedicalmarijuana.org

​The Los Angeles City Council voted 9-3 today to pass an ordinance regulating the sale of medical marijuana by dispensaries. The measure, which the council first began debating more than four years ago, passed quickly, without debate.

Although medical marijuana advocates were able to improve parts of the ordinance, they say certain provisions in the final version will effectively shut down nearly all of the existing facilities and will make it almost impossible for dispensaries to locate anywhere in the city.

Photo: WAMM
Valerie Corral, WAMM’s co-founder: “We are heartened by the federal government’s newly declared position suggesting deference to state medical marijuana laws”

​Seven years after Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a California medical marijuana farm, forcing patients out of bed at gunpoint, founders of the collective running the farm agreed to settle a lawsuit against the federal government.

The Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM) will continue helping terminally and critically ill patients under the settlement.
Valerie and Mike Corral, founders of WAMM, called the settlement a “draw.” “They didn’t win; we didn’t win,” Mike Corral told the San Jose Mercury News.
“We hope that over time the federal government will recognize its senseless position on medical marijuana and will formally codify protections for the sick, dying and marginalized patients who have the right to use whatever substances their physicians recommend to ease suffering,” said Valerie Corral in a statement read before U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel.
“We are nonetheless heartened by the federal government’s newly declared position suggesting deference to state medical marijuana laws and we are extraordinarily proud of our collective’s role in effecting this change in policy,” Corral said. “However, should our government break their word and again pursue this senseless assault on the sick and dying, we stand at the ready and we promise to hold them accountable in a court of law.”

Photo: westword
Activist/attorney Rob Corry: “Serious questions are raised as to the allocation of the patients’ funds”

​Activist/attorney Rob Corry, one of the most visible marijuana advocates on the Colorado scene, has sent an open records request to the Colorado Department of Health. Corry wants to know where the money has gone.

Via email, Corry writes that Colorado has received “conservatively $1.7 million… from suffering patients paying for the privilege of waiting four months for a paper card that doesn’t fit in normal wallets and falls apart in one wash,” reports Michael Roberts at Westword.
In the letter, Corry documents 19,691 patients who received marijuana registry cards between June 2001 and September 2009. With the health department recently receiving a record 1,650 applications in a single day, that number is clearly out of date.

Photo: Lewis County Herald
Enjoy your high, officers. Now, that’ll be $40,000. Cash or credit?

​A California medical marijuana patient may soon be receiving almost $40,000 from the sheriff’s department for six pounds of unlawfully seized and destroyed cannabis.

Kimberley Marshall, 46, of Los Osos, Calif., has filed a claim for damages against Sheriff Patrick Hedges and the county, alleging the county unjustly seized and destroyed the medicinal pot, reports Matt Fountain of New Times.
If she prevails, Marshall could be the first medical marijuana patient in San Luis Obispo County to be paid for confiscated cannabis.
Marshall, a survivor of liver cancer and other afflictions, seeks $36,000 — $6,000 per pound of confiscated marijuana — plus attorney fees and damages, according to the claim, filed Dec. 23.

Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Scenes like this — a 1,700-pound bust in Sumas, Washington in 2009 — may become things of the past in the state if a move to legalize marijuana comes to fruition.

​Washington State lawmakers on Wednesday heard, for the first time ever, testimony in support of legalizing, taxing and regulating marijuana for adults.

Members of the House Committee on Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness, in a heavily attended, two-hour hearing, heard arguments in favor of House Bill 2401.
HB 2401 would “remove all existing criminal and civil penalties for adults 21 years of age or older who cultivate, possess, transport, sell, or use marijuana.”
The hearing marked the first time in history that Washington lawmakers had ever debated the merits of legalizing and regulating the sale and use of cannabis.
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