Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Marijuana Dispensary Operators Working As Federal Informants

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 11, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Could your medical marijuana dispensary be reporting you to the Feds? Some California collective operators are working as confidential federal informants, according to chilling new information revealed as a result of an ongoing investigation into municipal corruption.

Last week, federal authorities arrested three current and former city officials in Cudahy — the mayor, a city councilman, and a former acting city manager — on bribery charges for allegedly taking $17,000 in bribes from someone who wanted to open a dispensary in the town, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Oklahoma Legislature Starts Medical Marijuana Study

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 11, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

TheLaw.tv

The Oklahoma Legislature is taking a first, tentative step towards the possible legalization of marijuana for medical purposes.

A Senate Interim Study to review and analyze medical marijuana has been approved, reports Fox 25; next, the Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee will decide if the issue will get a hearing.

Connie Johnson, the state senator behind the study said the study is just a first step for legislators to inform themselves about the issue. Senator Johnson said she planned to introduce a medical marijuana legalization bill in the Legislature this December.

Medical Marijuana Patients File Lawsuit Against Yuba County

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 11, 2012 Growing, Legislation, Medical

420 Magazine

A coalition of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and collectives has filed a lawsuit against Yuba County, California, to stop implementation of Ordinance 1518, which declares most medicinal cannabis cultivation to be a “public nuisance.”

Yuba County Supervisors on Tuesday formally suspended an ad hoc committee formed to discuss the issue with growers, signaling that the discussion is now moving from board rooms to court rooms, reports Ben van der Meer at Yuba Appeal-Democrat.

The coalition submitted amendments to Ordinance 1518 that they said would have given Yuba County the necessary tools to go after illegitimate marijuana growers and still protect safe access for medicinal cannabis patients in the county.

‘Prince of Pot’ Has Two Years Left In Prison Sentence

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 10, 2012 Global, News

Green Wellness

Marc Emery: Two years to go

Marc Emery, the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot” who is doing time in a United States federal prison, now has just two years left of his five-year sentence for selling marijuana seeds to American customers from his headquarters in Canada.

His wife, Jodie, who has spearheaded the Emery empire in the Prince’s absence, is marking the occasion with him in Mississippi, reports James Lewis at Vancouver’s CKNW radio.

“Eighty-five percent of the five-year sentence — that’s July 9, 2014 (when) he would be released,” Jodie said. “But we know that next year, Marc is eligible to apply for transfer to Canadian prisons, and he’ll be doing that in April.

Federal Appeal By Marijuana Dispensary Attracts Support

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 10, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

S.E. Miller/SLO New Times

Though Charles Lynch and his dispensary were supported by local officials and the Chamber of Commerce in Morro Bay, where Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers was located, the DEA raided and shut down CCCC in 2007

Widely supported former dispensary operator appeals conviction to 9th Circuit amidst ongoing federal crackdown

Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed an amicus ‘friend of the court’ brief on Monday in a federal appeal brought by California dispensary operator Charlie C. Lynch. Lynch’s case drew a lot of attention during his 2008 trial and June 2009 sentencing under an Obama Justice Department.

Though Lynch was supported by local officials and the Chamber of Commerce in Morro Bay, where his state-compliant dispensary Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers (CCCC) was located, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided and shut down CCCC in 2007 anyway, much like the DEA is doing today. A hearing in the Lynch appeal is expected this winter.

Nevada Lawmaker Wants To Legalize Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 10, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

The Weed Blog

With the number of Nevada residents authorized to use medical marijuana now at 3,430, Assemblyman Tick Segerblom (D-Las Vegas) wants to change how marijuana is distributed in The Silver State. Last week Segerblom announced he will introduce a bill next year to license medical marijuana dispensaries and farms to provide cannabis to patients.

Under Segerblom’s plan, the state would tax marijuana sales to patients, reports Ed Vogel at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Nevada’s Health Division reported on Monday that the number of patients with medical marijuana authorizations has climbed by 1,143 in the past year.

Nevada medical marijuana patients currently have to grow their own, even though there is no legal way to even acquire seeds, and of course many of them aren’t good gardeners, or are too sick to cultivate. Authorized patients may possess up to an ounce of marijuana and three mature and four immature cannabis plants.

Humboldt Stories: Marijuana Anonymous

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 9, 2012 Culture

Sharon Letts

It’s not Weeds, It’s real.

“Hi, I’m Caitlin and I’m a Stoner”

Story and Photos By Sharon Letts

Caitlin walked quickly through the living room, into the dining room, and back out through the kitchen, then back again.

“I should leave in 15 minutes,” she thought, and made one more loop around the house.

“No fucking willpower,” she said aloud, and without another thought, she went straight into the bedroom, took a small tray from the bookshelf, and sat on the bed.

On the tray sat a wooden box, and inside held a rolling machine, papers, lighter, ashtray, and a little jar of kief-rich trim.

The plastic rolling machine hurt the inside of her thumb as she rolled the device. Friends teased for her lack of hand-rolling-know-how. “You aren’t a stoner, Caitlin, you are a casual user,” they chided.

Arizona Initiative Would Let Voters Overrule Federal Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 9, 2012 Legislation, News

The Libertarian Patriot

Arizona voters could gain the right to overrule federal laws and mandates under the terms of an initiative filed on Thursday.

The Arizona Constitution says the federal Constitution “is the supreme law of the land,” reports Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services. What this measure would do, should voters approve it in November, is add language saying the federal Constitution cannot be violated by any government — including the federal government.

New Study, Leading Researcher: Federal Marijuana Classification Not Tenable

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 9, 2012 Medical, News

Potfessor.com

Director of cannabis research center says classification and political controversy are “obstacles to medical progress”

Dr. Igor Grant, director of the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR), and two other investigators published a study in the most recent issue of The Open Neurology Journal, which concluded that the Schedule I classification of marijuana is “not tenable.” The study further concluded that, “it is not accurate that cannabis has no medical value, or that information on safety is lacking.”

The study urges additional research, but states that marijuana’s federal classification and its political controversy are “obstacles to medical progress in this area.” The federal classification of marijuana is based on the government’s position that it has “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”

Ohio Decriminalizes Marijuana Smoking Paraphernalia

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 9, 2012 Legislation, News

Greg Dewald/Clay Middle School

The new law will fix an imbalance under which possession of marijuana paraphernalia received a stiffer penalty than possession of marijuana itself

Ohio will start treating people who get caught with a marijuana pipe the same way it treats those who get traffic tickets starting this fall, reversing an imbalance that punished possession of marijuana paraphernalia more harshly than possession of marijuana itself.

While the removal of barriers that keep reformed felons from getting jobs was the portion of Senate Bill 337 that got lots of attention when Republican Gov. John R. Kasich signed it — it’s a considered a national model of how to write such a bill — the part that decriminalizes possession of most marijuana paraphernalia isn’t as well known, report M.L. Schultze and Simon Husted of WKSU.

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