Dispensaries

L.A. Releases Pot Dispensary ‘Priority List’ For Choice Locations

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

The Los Angeles city clerk’s office has released a “priority list” of medical marijuana dispensaries with the date and time they originally registered under the September 2007 moratorium. The list will be used to determine the order in which dispensaries will have their choice of locations in the city.

For example, the first shop registered, with first choice, can locate anywhere in the city that zoning regulations allow.

Going down the priority list, each time an additional dispensary picks a location, the available choices will get a little thinner, because no other dispensary can locate within 1,000 feet, per the L.A. medical marijuana ordinance.

Medical Marijuana Bill 420 Introduced In Guam — At 4:20

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2010 Dispensaries, Global, Legislation

Photo: KUAM

Senator Rory Respicio of Guam introduced Bill 420, the Compassionate Healthcare Act of 2010, to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana on the island. The bill was introduced at 4:20 Monday afternoon.

“We want to file this at 4:20 p.m. to tie in with the symbolism and the whole meaning behind 420,” Respicio, a veteran Democrat lawmaker, said, reports Nick Delgado of KUAM.

While Senator Respicio introduced his bill at the traditional time for recreational pot smoking, he said his bill only allows for medical use of marijuana.

Raided Medical Marijuana Dispensary Refers Clients To Street

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2010 Dispensaries, Global

Photo: chan4chan

A medical marijuana dispensary shut down after a raid by Montreal police earlier this month is urging patients to buy their pot on the street.

The Compassion Club on Papineau Street is telling patients who need to refill their prescriptions that they now only have two choices if they want to obtain marijuana, reports CBC News.

“We have to send them to either Health Canada — which takes two to six months — or we send them to buy on the street, where you can actually buy some,” said Geneviéve Simon, an administrator at the Compassion Club who was arrested in last month’s police raid on cannabis shops.

Voters Say No To Pot Dispensary Moratorium In Maine Town

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Shroomery.org

The people of Eliot, Maine, have just said “yes” to dispensaries by saying “no” to a moratorium on the pot shops.

Organizers behind an effort to open a nonprofit medical marijuana dispensary in Eliot cleared a big hurdle Saturday when voters at a town meeting turned down a proposed moratorium that would have stopped the pot shop until local elected officials had “more time to study the issue.”

After a “substantial” debate on the topic, a simple hand vote saw the proposed moratorium failing to pass, with some voters saying they didn’t want to support a “temporary” ban that seemed too open-ended. One resident argued the moratorium would let selectmen study the issue “in perpetuity,” reports Geoff Cunningham Jr at Foster’s Daily Democrat.

About 100 Town Meeting voters were gathered at Marshwood Middle School on Saturday to vote on 40-plus articles. The most heavily debated and discussed item was the proposed marijuana dispensary moratorium, which was a reaction to inquiries from organizers looking to establish a pot shop in Eliot.

Medical Pot Raids Backfire; Patients Turn To Black Market

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Dispensaries, Global, Medical

Photo: The Maple Three

A Canadian crackdown on compassion clubs in Quebec has backfired, according to some doctors and medical marijuana patients. Many have been forced to turn to the black market to get their cannabis after police last week in Montreal and Quebec City raided and shut down five compassion clubs and arrested 35 people.

Canada’s federal government offers only one strain of medical marijuana, and the only legal way to purchase government pot is through Health Canada, reports CBC News.

Not only is government cannabis of questionable quality; the process is complicated and the wait is often lengthy, according to some patients.

As a result, more and more Canadian medical marijuana patients are now buying their cannabis illegally.

L.A. Councilman Wants To Ban Marijuana Delivery

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Cheech and Chong Tickets

After extensive press coverage of the burgeoning medical marijuana delivery scene, a Los Angeles city councilman is asking his peers to ban mobile pot shops as part of its strict dispensary law that took effect Monday.

Councilman Jose Juizar introduced the amendment, calling mobile dispensaries a “ruse” to get around the city’s law, which effectively put 80 percent of L.A.’s dispensaries out of business this week, reports Dennis Romero at the L.A. Weekly.

Any marijuana delivery service would be explicitly prohibited under the new amendment, unless it involves a dispensary currently compliant with city regulations and is carried out by a patient’s “primary caregiver” — which would effectively end legal pot delivery in Los Angeles, according to the Weekly.

‘Sleazy’ Deputy Bought Marijuana With Stolen Patient I.D.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Calaveras County Sheriff

Deputy Steve Avila admitted he stole a medical marijuana patient’s I.D. and authorization, then bought pot with it

A California deputy has admitted using a doctor’s recommendation and stolen identity from a legal medical marijuana patient in order to buy pot in a drug sting.

Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department said during questioning that he had used the patient’s recommendation, with a falsified birthdate, to persuade a dispensary owner to sell marijuana to an officer.

Avila claimed he obtained the medical marijuana recommendation “from an investigation we conducted,” but also claimed he “did not recall” which officer obtained it, or how it was obtained.

Jay Smith of K Care Collective, the dispensary owner who was tricked into selling marijuana to an officer, said Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana, and is doing so using unethical means, reports Dana M. Nichols of the San Joaquin County Record.

Robert Shaffer, the medical marijuana patient whose identity was stolen, tells the same story.

According to Shaffer, Deputy Avila violated his privacy by using his identity and documents in the sting operation.

Maine Still Struggling With New Medical Marijuana Rules

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Bangor Metro

Maine’s efforts to provide approved patients with safe, legal access to medical marijuana continued Monday in the State House, where health officials are trying to fine-tune the rules and procedures. Two months ago, Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill into law that creates eight licensed medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state, along with a state registry of patients authorized to use and possess cannabis.

Some patients, however, say the registration fees required to enroll in the system are too expensive and the amounts allowed are too low, reports A.J. Higgins at The Maine Public Broadcasting Network.

New Pot Dispensary Law Could Have ‘Disastrous’ Impact On L.A.

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

Photo: Robyn Beck

The City of Los Angeles is expected to begin enforcing Monday an ordinance that could shut down more than 400 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. Approved by the City Council, the ordinance gives collectives that opened prior to November 13, 2007 (about 130 of which remain) six months to comply with new regulations.

Many of the 130 pre-moratorium dispensaries will be forced into new locations by strict zoning restrictions in the ordinance.

Colorado Gives Marijuana Dispensaries Legal Status

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

Photo: A Greener Country

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.

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