Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Colorado Gives Marijuana Dispensaries Legal Status

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter on Monday signed legislation that will regulate the state’s medical marijuana dispensaries through a system of local and state licenses, but will still allow individual localities to ban dispensaries.

State officials estimate that about half of the dispensaries currently operating will be able to comply with the new rules.

There are about 1,100 medical marijuana shops in Colorado, the most in any state other than California, which does not have statewide dispensary regulations.

Pot & CA Governor Race: ‘Neither Party Offers Significant Choice’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Orange Juice

CA gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman: “I am absolutely, 100 percent not in favor of legalizing marijuana for any reason”

When it comes to gubernatorial candidates in California, marijuana advocates are seemingly forced to choose between dumb and dumber in the June 8 primary election.

“Neither party offers a significant choice,” according to the Drug Policy Forum of California, a pro-legalization group.

“I am absolutely, 100 percent not in favor of legalizing marijuana for any reason,” said GOP front-runner Meg Whitman.

Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, donated big bucks to help defeat Proposition 5, the Non-Violent Offenders Rehabilitation Act of 2008. EBay subsidiary PayPal has a policy of blackballing even legal medical marijuana businesses, according to DPF.

N.J.’s Medical Marijuana Law Delayed Again; Advocates Upset

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: John Munson/The Star-Ledger

Medical marijuana advocates rally at the statehouse to encourage Gov Chris Christie to give up his request to delay enactment of the state’s medical marijuana law by six to 12 months.

Implementation of New Jersey’s long-awaited medical marijuana law has been delayed once again. Governor Chris Christie’s Republican administration is dragging its feet on implementation of the law that former Democratic Governor Jon Corzine signed in January.

The measure, already the most restrictive in the nation, was passed by the Legislature in January and was scheduled to take effect six months later. Regulations were to be in place by October, when six state-licensed dispensaries would begin selling marijuana to qualified patients.

But on May 21, the Governor’s office suggested the seriously ill patients should just wait for six to 12 more months before they can use the medicine that helps them most.

Montel Williams Lights A Joint At Maine Marijuana Speech

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: News Center

Montel Williams lights a joint at the urging of Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion

As media personality Montel Williams spoke at Saturday’s medical marijuana conference in Maine, his eyes filled with tears as he shared his pain with the audience. Encouraged by one attending sheriff to do so, Williams lit up a joint and took a few puffs in front of the crowd.

Once Williams’s pain level became so intense he was in tears, Cumberland County Sheriff Mark Dion shouted from the audience, “Why don’t you just take your medicine?” The audience applauded and gave a standing ovation as Montel sat down, got out a joint and fired it up.

According to Williams, his pain level drops tremendously when he uses marijuana, and if not for medical cannabis he would not have been able to bear the nerve pain he endured prior to and while on stage.

About 250 people came to the convention in Portland to learn how they can get involved in growing or selling medical marijuana, reports WCSH6.com.

L.A.’s New Medical Pot Law Will Shut Hundreds Of Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: The Fresh Scent

Starting today, June 7, Los Angeles’s medical marijuana ordinance says there should be 400 fewer dispensaries in town.

Hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are under orders to lock their doors Monday as the city’s new ordinance regulating the shops takes effect. About 400 stores have been ordered to shut down by Monday, June 7.

“The people pushing the law haven’t come out to see what we’re actually doing here,” said “Amber,” an employee at The Humming Collective in Highland Park. “We’re here for everyone, and it’s a shame they don’t see that as part of the healing of the community.”

The owner of The Humming Collective said they serve 4,000 patients, most of them from the San Gabriel Valley, reports Leanne Suter at KABC-TV. Those who rely on the location will be seriously impacted by the city’s new ordinance, according to patients and advocates.

L.A. Pot Shop Says It Will Stay Open Despite New Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Los Angeles Cannabis Clubs

JJ Herbal says it is committed to serving patients in the West Los Angeles area — even if the city tries to shut it down

A Los Angeles Superior Court Judge’s rejection on Friday of requests for a temporary restraining order on L.A.’s ordinance restricting the number of medical marijuana dispensaries means hundreds of shops must close on Monday. But at least one dispensary on Santa Monica Boulevard plans on staying open.

According to Michael Lee, manager at JJ Herbal, there are no plans to close, even if it is found the shop is out of compliance with the new law.

The facility’s attorney is still determining whether JJ Herbal is affected by the ordinance because of its proximity to a residential area, reports Jonathan Friedman at Lookout News.

Gossip Girl Star Chace Crawford Arrested For Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 6, 2010 Culture, News

Plano Police Department

Police released this booking photo of Christopher Chace Crawford after his bust early Friday morning

Chace Crawford, star of television’s Gossip Girl, has been arrested outside a Texas bar for possession of marijuana.

The 24-year-old actor was in a friend’s car in the parking lot of Ringo’s Pub in Plano, Texas, when police officers arrested them just after midnight on Friday morning, June 4, reports Carina MacKenzie at Zap2it.

Crawford was jailed and charged with possession of marijuana, under two ounces, before being released, reports News.com.au.

The actor, who plays Manhattan rich boy Nate Archibald in the hit TV show, had been sitting inside his friend’s 2003 Nissan, according to the arrest record provided by the Plano Police Department.

Police found one unlit joint in the vehicle, according to TMZ.com.

The actor had just returned from a family trip to Mexico.

Dennis Hopper To Have Weed Strain Named In His Honor

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Culture, Medical

Photo: FlashNews

Counterculture icon and lifelong pothead Dennis Hopper may soon be immortalized with a strain of marijuana

Dennis Hopper had such an impact on cannabis culture, he should be immortalized with his very own strain of marijuana, according to famed pot activist Craig X Rubin.

Rubin, who runs Temple 420, a medical marijuana church/dispensary in Los Angeles, said Hopper has been an icon in the pot community ever since his Easy Rider days, when he, Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson smoked real weed while filming the movie.

Over the years, Hopper never denied his love for Mary Jane and, as Rubin explained, “He made it acceptable to be a pothead.”

Rubin said it only makes sense for growers and stoners to name a marijuana strain after the late actor, possibly called “The Hopper.”

“I’d go get an ounce of that right now and get hopped up on The Hopper,” Rubin said.

Rubin said he knows for a fact that Hopper toked until his dying days, because the actor would buy $750 in medical marijuana each week from Rubin’s friend.

Man Chooses 30 Days In Jail Instead Of Quitting Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Douglas County Sheriff’s Office

Charles Balzer: “It’s what the marijuana does for me”

Meet the latest marijuana martyr. A 30-year-old Nevada man on Wednesday chose a month in jail instead of probation which would have meant he couldn’t use medical marijuana for one year.

Charles Ray Balzer of Gardnerville, Nev., told East Fork Justice Jim EnEarl he was unwilling to give up pot for a year, and he would do 30 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to harassment, reports The Record-Courier.

Balzer has a legal medical marijuana card from the Nevada State Health Division. He told EnEarl he smokes cannabis and takes a prescription painkiller for a back injury.

If Balzer had accepted probation, he could have avoided the jail term, but one condition would have been that he not use “drugs or alcohol” for one year.

In an unaccountable quirk of the law, use of doctor-recommended medical marijuana is considered violation of probation, despite the fact that it is legal in Nevada.

Marijuana Dispensary Joins Chamber Of Commerce

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: The Hemp Center

The Hemp Center: “We’re trying to represent a more upscale experience”

The Hemp Center in Littleton, Colorado, has become the first medical marijuana dispensary to join the local Chamber of Commerce, in what may be a sign of growing acceptance of the cannabis industry.

The family-owned shop on downtown’s Main Street was approved last month by the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors, reports Peter Jones at The News Press.

It took the chamber’s governing board of business leaders less than five minutes to reach its unanimous decision to approve The Hemp Center’s application, according to chamber president John Brackney.

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