Dispensaries

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Former Michigan Atty. Gen.: I Smoked Pot, But Let’s Not Legalize

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 27, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox: “I am not for it mostly because I don’t know how you regulate common, everyday things such as driving while impaired … That being said, philosophically I am not against it.” Political much?

Former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox admitted on Friday that he smoked marijuana in high school during the 1970s. (Hey, what a coincidence, so did I!) But during a symposium on marijuana reform, Cox said there are problems with legalizing cannabis, and he wouldn’t support moves to do that in the state.

“I am not for it mostly because I don’t know how you regulate common, everyday things such as driving while impaired,” the Republican former attorney general said, reports Kim Kozlowski at The Detroit News. “If it becomes legal, I don’t think I’ll ever use it again. That being said, philosophically I am not against it. They haven’t come up with a good way to regulate in the workplace or driving to measure it and deal with it.”

S.F. Indefinitely Suspends Marijuana Dispensary Licensing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 26, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Robin Wilkey/The Huffington Post

In the latest iteration of their on-again, off-again approach to the issue, San Francisco city officials decided on Wednesday afternoon to indefinitely suspend the city’s medical marijuana dispensary licensing program, according to the Department of Public Health.

Permits had been on hold since last fall, after a state appeals court case halted similar permitting programs across California, reports Chris Roberts at SF Weekly. That case was appealed to the state Supreme Court, and during the appeal, permits could resume being processed, a spokesman for the City Attorney told SF Weekly last week.

German Parliament To Discuss Cannabis Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 25, 2012 Dispensaries, Global, Legislation, News

Alaskan Activism

Germany’s socialist Left party is calling an expert hearing on “legalizing cannabis through the introduction of cannabis clubs” in the German Parliament on Wednesday, January 25, but the idea has reportedly been met with “widespread rejection” from mainstream politicians.

The Left party is proposing that Germans be allowed to open cannabis clubs where members can grow marijuana, reports PanArmenian.net. They also recommend that consumers be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of pot for personal use, double the current limit in Germany.

The proposal was written by Frank Tempel, former director of an anti-drug group that worked with police in the eastern German state of Thuringia, reports The Local. Tempel, who is now the Left party’s advisor on drug policy, said there needs to be a sea change in Germany’s attitude to marijuana.

S.F. Starts Back Issuing Medical Marijuana Dispensary Permits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 24, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

THC Finder

San Francisco has started back issuing medical marijuana dispensary permits again, after a recent California Supreme Court decision allowing the shops to stay open — for now.

The city’s permitting process had been on hold for a few months after the state appeals court ruling in Pack v. Long Beach, reports Chris Roberts at the SF Weekly. That ruling — which held that cities and counties can’t regulate marijuana, since it’s against federal law — led local governments throughout the state to suspend, repeal, or reconsider their dispensary regulations.

Since the state Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal, the lower court’s ruling has become invalidated, according to a spokesman for San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s office. So the S.F. Department of Health’s medical marijuana dispensary permitting process can start back as normal, and several proposed shops which had been put on hold can finally receive the go-ahead to open their doors.

Judge Rules Federal Law Trumps Montana’s Med Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Missoulian

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled on Friday that Montana’s medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under federal law even if they are strictly following state law

A federal judge has ruled that Montana’s medical marijuana program doesn’t shield providers of cannabis from federal prosecution.

The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy on Friday is another blow to Montana’s medical marijuana industry, reports the Associated Press. Montana’s medicinal cannabis community was already on the ropes; in the past year, it has seen tough, new state restrictions, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, as well as federal raids by Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

Judge Molloy ruled that medical marijuana providers can be prosecuted under the federal Controlled Substances Act even if they are strictly following state law. He cited the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which says that federal law prevails if there is any conflict between state and federal statutes.

Cops Reject US Attorney’s Colorado Medical Marijuana Threats

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Denver Westword

Tony Ryan, left, and Richard Frieling of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Ryan is a retired lieutenant from the Denver Police force; Frieling is a former municipal court judge and practicing criminal defense attorney

Colorado-based and national representatives of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) on Monday sent a stern letter to U.S. Attorney John Walsh, pushing back against his recent threats to medical marijuana centers that operate legally under state and local law.

The letter, signed by 26-year veteran Denver cop Tony Ryan and former Lafayette Judge Richard Frieling, along with LEAP Executive Director Neill Franklin, says Walsh’s actions are “a disservice to the state of Colorado” and “undermine state and local regulations in a manner that will likely increase the underground distribution of marijuana.”

Judge To Arizona Gov: Open The Marijuana Dispensaries Already

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

weGrow

Arizona officials must allow medical marijuana dispensaries under the 2010 voter-approved medicinal cannabis law, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled.

In his Wednesday ruling, Judge Richard Gama struck down some restrictions that state officials had planned to use to determine which applicants were eligible for dispensary licenses, report Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Mary K. Reinhart of the Tucson Citizen.

Judge Gama noted that Arizona voters wanted the Medical Marijuana Act implemented 120 days after it passed and that “this has not been done,” reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times.

The reason it wasn’t done, Stern reports, is that Governor Jan Brewer — who spoke out against Proposition 203 before voters approved it in November 2010 — halted the dispensary portion of the new law at the same time she filed an unsuccessful federal lawsuit against it. Brewer decided on Friday that she wouldn’t refile that lawsuit and that the state should begin accepting applications once a lawsuit by Compassion First AZ was resolved.

Judge Gama’s ruling resolved that lawsuit, but it will still be months before the state’s 18,000-plus medical marijuana patients can walk into a dispensary and get their medicine, Phoenix New Times reports.

CA Supreme Court To Review Controversial Medical Marijuana Cases

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

The Weed Blog

Advocates Applaud Decision to Review Long Beach and Riverside Dispensary Regulation Cases

The California Supreme Court issued an order on Wednesday indicating it will review two controversial medical marijuana cases that have resulted in the suspension of several local dispensary ordinances across the state.

As a result of Wednesday’s order, Pack v. City of Long Beach and City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patient’s Health and Wellness Ctr., Inc. have both been vacated in anticipation of the High Court’s ruling. The Pack decision held that some dispensary regulations may be preempted by federal law and the Riverside decision held that localities could legally ban distribution altogether.

Feds Raid Marijuana Collectives In Costa Mesa, California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 17, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Where’s Weed?

The interior of Costa Mesa medical marijuana collective Otherside Farms as it was before today’s raids

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents reportedly raided at least three medical marijuana collectives in Costa Mesa, California, starting at about noon today.

Reportedly raided, according to California Cannabis Coalition, were Otherside Farms, Simple Farmer/Burning Farms and American Collective.

At least three people are reportedly in jail on federal charges.

Simple Farmer had a grow operation at the director’s home, and the federal agents knocked the door down with a battering ram and burst in brandishing machine guns.

A pregnant woman and children were at the home, and federal agents — in plain clothing — reportedly had machine guns pointed at the children’s faces, according to California Cannabis Coalition.

Lawyer: Marijuana Dispensaries Should Ignore Federal Threats

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 13, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

9news.com

The first wave of threatening letters started arriving at Denver dispensaries on Friday.

The federal prosecutor’s office sent out letters to 23 Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries this week, starting a promised crackdown on the businesses by targeting those located within 1,000 feet of schools. But one Denver lawyer who represents dispensaries is advising his clients to ignore the threats.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh said dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools have until February 27 to shut down or face federal penalties, including asset seizure or forfeiture of property, reports Meagan Fitzgerald of 9 News.

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