Dispensaries

Berkeley May Look To Pot Shops To Solve Budget Woes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Berkeley is the latest California city facing a budget deficit to cast an acquisitive eye at the healthy revenue stream flowing through medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Berkeley City Council will Tuesday night consider putting a measure on the November ballot to increase the business license tax on its three officially sanctioned marijuana dispensaries. The pot shops currently pay $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts, which nets the city about $22,000 a year, reports Frances Dinkelspiel at Berkeleyside.

California Judge Rejects Effort To Keep Pot Shops Open

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

Photo: Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register

A federal judge has rejected a request by four Orange County, California medical marijuana patients for a temporary injunction preventing the cities of Lake Forest and Costa Mesa from shutting down marijuana dispensaries.

The four patients — Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel — argued through their lawyer, Matthew Pappas, that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives disabled people a federally protected right to use medical marijuana if such use is legal under state law, report Erika I. Ritchie and Ellyn Pak at The Orange County Register.

The patients were asking the judge to temporarily stop the cities from taking further action against dispensaries; bar the cities from violating the rights of qualified patients under the ADA; avoid damages for past actions in violation of the ADA; and award attorneys’ fees.

What’s Up With Tightening Medical Marijuana Laws?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

There’s a disquieting trend lately in the medical marijuana arena. To this close observer of the rhetoric and results surrounding state (and District of Columbia) restrictions on medicinal use of cannabis, every law seems a little tighter than the one before.

It seems it’s become de rigueur for politicians to announce “this would be the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation” every time legislation is introduced, as if the states are in some sort of twisted competition to see who can be the meanest to sick people.

Since when is making safe access to marijuana difficult or impossible for patients something to brag about?

For instance, the new medical marijuana law in New Jersey, and, apparently the one to be voted on this week in D.C., prohibit cannabis cultivation by qualified patients. For many low income patients, this represents the only realistic chance of obtaining quality medicine.

L.A. Begins Closing Hundreds Of Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Los Angeles Times

It’s the beginning of the end for hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries.

Hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are being told they must shut down to comply with a recently passed city law.

More than 500 letters are expected to be mailed Tuesday to pot shops across the city, where hundreds of dispensaries opened in recent years as city officials struggled to approve a local regulatory ordinance, reports the Associated Press.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the ordinance on Friday that sets fees for dispensaries to remain open if they meet the new, stricter guidelines. About 187 dispensaries — all shops that opened before the council imposed a moratorium — have six months to comply.

Oakland Faces Weed Shortage; City Council Declares Emergency

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Spark Report

I can remember weed droughts in the 1970s, and it was only the hippies complaining. Now the City of Oakland, California is prepared to renew its declaration of a “local public health emergency” stemming from a shortage of medical marijuana.

The routine declaration from the City Council was originally issued in 1998, according to city official Barbara Parker, and is meant to reinforce Oakland’s policy of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries and ordering police to effectively ignore pot offenses, reports David Downs at East Bay Express.

Canada: Charges Dropped Against Pot Club Volunteers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, Global

Photo: Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star

Neev Tapiero, owner of the CALM compassion club in Toronto, still faces trafficking charges

Marijuana trafficking charges against eight volunteer staff members of a Toronto compassion club were stayed Monday morning.

Cannabis As Living Medicine (CALM), which was raided on March 31, sells medical marijuana to patients suffering from chronic diseases. Club owner Neev Tapiero still faces trafficking charges, reports Katie Daubs at the Toronto Star.

“This is a big win for the cause,” said lawyer Ron Marzel. “It’s also the right thing to do. If the government takes issue with a compassion club they should have that fight with Neev.”

Sacramento May Tax Medical Marijuana To Fix Budget Gap

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 30, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: FakeMillions.com

The city of Sacramento, California is considering a tax on medical marijuana dispensaries as it struggles with a massive budget deficit.

Faced with a $43 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year, the tax is being explored as one source of revenue by city officials, reports Ryan Lillis at The Sacramento Bee.

Sacramento would become the second city in California to enact a special tax on dispensaries. Oakland voters passed a similar measure last July. San Jose and Berkeley city officials are also taking a look at the issue for their cash-starved budgets.

Federal Judge Suggests Reclassifying Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 30, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Chamot’s “Round Up Of Usual Suspects”

Federal Judge George H. Wu: “Much of the problems could be ameliorated… by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I.”

A federal judge issued a sentencing order Thursday stating that medical marijuana provider Charles C. Lynch was “caught in the middle of the shifting positions” on the issue. “Much of the problems could be ameliorated… by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I,” the judge wrote.

Lynch gained notoriety as a federal medical marijuana defendant who was prosecuted and convicted in 2008 under the Bush Administration, then sentenced after President Obama signaled a change in federal enforcement policy.

“Yet another federal judge has called on the government to reconsider the current status of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access, of Judge George H. Wu’s 41-page sentencing order.

“Judge Wu’s sentencing order also begs the question of why the federal government is still prosecuting medical marijuana cases,” Elford said.

L.A. City Council Approves Pot Dispensary Fee Schedule

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Medical Marijuana Blog

The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Friday to a fee schedule for medical marijuana dispensaries, adding the last element to the years-long effort to regulate pot shops in the city.

The council approved the measure by a 9-1 vote, with Councilman Bill Rosendahl continuing to oppose the measure, which he said is too restrictive, reports Rick Orlov at the Los Angeles Daily News.

Disabled Patients Take Pot Case To Federal Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register

A woman leaves the Evergreen Holistic Collective in Lake Forest, California. The collective is one of 11 remaining in the city, which is trying to shut them all down

A federal judge is expected on Monday to hear arguments on whether four marijuana patients can use the Americans with Disabilities Act to prevent two Orange County, California cities from closing medical pot dispensaries.

The lawsuit, being filed against Lake Forest and Costa Mesa on behalf of Orange County residents Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel DeJong, alleges the cities’ efforts to shut down dispensaries deny them access to public services, reports Erika I. Ritchie at The Orange County Register.

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