Dispensaries

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Sweet Victory: Medical Marijuana Supporters Block County Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Craig Beresh, Randy Welty and Phil Ganong give last-minute instructions and prepare to turn in 26,000 signatures collected in 30 days to reverse the ban on medical marijuana dispensaries in Kern County, California. “We then started the victory party!” Beresh said.

It’s a huge victory for the medical marijuana community in Kern County, California. Cannabis proponents have met the deadline to gather enough signatures to block a county ordinance that would have banned dispensaries.

A ban on storefront sales of medical marijuana, approved by the Kern County Board of Supervisors on August 9, would have gone into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, reports Mark Christian at Turn To 23 in Bakersfield.

Late Thursday afternoon, Kern Citizens For Patient Rights marched to the Kern County Board of Elections to turn in the signatures needed to protest and block the ordinance, about one hour before they were due.

1,500 Rally At Michigan Capitol In Favor Of Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Chris Collins

Official media estimates of the crowd ran as high as 1,500, but according to activist Missy Griggs of Clinton Township, who attended the rally, it may have been closer to 3,000 or even 4,000 people there.

Greg Deruiter/Lansing State Journal

Protesters converged on the Michigan state Capitol on Wednesday because of a recent court decision banning the sale of medical marijuana in dispensaries

About 1,500 supporters filled the Capitol lawn Wednesday afternoon at the state capitol in Lansing, carrying signs reading “Patients Are Not Criminals” and “Weed Deserve Better” in what is being called the largest pro-medical marijuana rally in Michigan.

What Marisa Schultz of The Detroit News called a “spirited gathering” came after an Appeals Court ruling last month that resulted in the closing of many of the state’s estimated 400 to 500 medical marijuana dispensaries.

The ruling banned patient-to-patient marijuana sales for the nearly 100,000 carriers of Michigan medical marijuana cards, effectively limiting the ways in which patients can get medical marijuana and leaving them with few safe options to get their doctor-recommended cannabis, according to supporters.

MMB&J Offers Medical Marijuana Bottles For Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

MMB&J

MMB&J (Medical Marijuana Bottles & Jars) was created in 2009 by a small group of registered Michigan medical marijuana caregivers and patients. “Our ultimate goal is to offer the highest possible quality of containers for your medicine,” says the company, which markets recycled plastic medical marijuana bottles to dispensaries.

All MMB&J medical marijuana bottles are made of 100 percent recycled plastic, and are odor-free, UV-resistant, waterproof and childproof. In other words, short of investing in glass, these are some of the best medical marijuana storage solutions available.

Oakland Hosting Nation’s 1st Marijuana Street Fair This Weekend

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 2, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, Products

Photo: Bnk Presents

Last year’s event was held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, but a state moratorium on “drug use” in state facilities necessitated a move to Oakland this year.

Oakland, California — which has been one of the leading cities in the cannabis movement, medicinal and otherwise, for more than 15 years — will this weekend host a cannabis street fair touted as the first in the nation.

The fair will feature speakers, music, booths and vendors, along with a “215 area,” also know as the “Patient Consumption Area and VIP Lounge,” which is a designated spot — directly in front of City Hall — where patients with medical marijuana cards will be allowed to ingest, smoke or vaporize their medicine, reports Matthai Kuruvila of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Patients need to take their medicine when they need to,” said Berkeley resident Kim Cue, chief executive of the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo (INT CHE), which kicks off at “high” noon on Saturday. “Being a patient myself, that’s something that’s mandatory.”

Marijuana Dispensary Owner Says Deputy Extorted Sex

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 31, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: KING 5

Dispensary owner Marcus Searls wants $1 million for each of the 15 times he said he was forced to have sex with a Grays Harbor Sheriff’s deputy.

Dispensary Owner Wants $1 Million For Each Time He Was Forced To Have Sex With Deputy

A man who opened a medical marijuana dispensary in Grays Harbor County, Washington has filed a multimillion-dollar federal claim, alleging that a male sheriff’s deputy threatened him with jail to extort sexual favors.

Marcus Searls of Elma, Washington said the deputy was on duty when some of the sexual encounters took place — and even that the two had sex on the hood of a patrol car. (I think I’d ask $2 million for that time.)

Jailed Marijuana Dispensary Owner Goes On Hunger Strike

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 29, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: MHP of Spokane

Jerry Laberdee in happier days at his dispensary, Medical Herb Providers, in Spokane.

There are two ways to look at the federal government’s war on medical marijuana patients and providers. One is the theoretical, statistical way of looking at things — where it’s all numbers — and another is looking at the pot war’s impact on actual human beings.

The second way is a lot more difficult.

A medical marijuana patient and dispensary owner in Washington state has been on a hunger strike ever since he was jailed six days ago on federal charges.

Jerry Laberdee, 56, has been in Spokane County Jail since last Tuesday, after he refused to take his court-ordered drug test, reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly. Laberdee says he won’t eat until he’s released and allowed to use medicinal cannabis, as he is legally authorized to do under Washington law.

His daughter, Jessica Vogel, 28, told the Weekly that she hasn’t been able to talk much with her dad since he was jailed, but she hopes his hunger strike will “wake people up.”

Many Michigan Marijuana Dispensaries Close After Ruling

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 26, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Melanie Maxwell/Detroit Free Press

Ann Arbor residents Jaymz Edmonds, left, and T.J. Rice protest outside the OM of Medicine marijuana dispensary Thursday in Ann Arbor after a police raid of the nearby A2 Go Green dispensary.

Raids, Closings Leave Medical Marijuana Patients Hurting

Many medical marijuana dispensaries in Michigan closed their doors on Thursday following a Court of Appeals ruling.

“It would be dangerous to operate with the specter of a criminal case hanging over our head,” said John Lewis, lawyer for Compassionate Apothecary in Mt. Pleasant, the center of the controversy, reports the Detroit Free Press.

Some Ann Arbor area activists sought to regroup at a rally Thursday night, reports Kyle Feldscher at AnnArbor.com.

MI Court: Medical Marijuana Can’t Be Sold In Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Graphic: The Pacific Northwest Inlander

Medical marijuana dispensaries can be shut down as public nuisances, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in a decision announced Wednesday morning.

The three-judge panel, ruling on an Isabella County case, said the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act “does not include the patient-to-patient ‘sales,’ ” report Joe Swickard and John Wisely of the Detroit Free Press.

Unfortunately, the unfavorable decision can be used as precedent and applied to other cases.

A lower court had ruled that the Compassionate Apothecary was within the law when its operators allowed patients or caregivers to buy marijuana that other members had stored in their lockers rented from the facility. The owners, according to court papers, took at 20 percent cut of the price.

But Michigan’s medical marijuana law doesn’t include sales as “medical use,” according to the appellate judges’ 17-page opinion, and therefore it does not trump existing anti-drug laws.

What Do You Look For In A Medical Marijuana Dispensary?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

Graphic: Dispensary Business News

What do you look for when choosing a medical marijuana dispensary?

If you live in one of the 16 states where medicinal cannabis is legal, Dispensary Business News is interested in how you select a shop. Is it price? Location? Ambience? Selection? Specific strains? (If your state doesn’t yet allow medical marijuana, keep working until they do.)

This is a good way for you to help keep the best dispensaries in business, and give new ones a fighting chance to win your business.

Mich. Judge: Med Marijuana Law Does Not Protect Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: The Oakland Press

Judge Colleen O’Brien won’t even allow dispensary operator Alexander Vlasenko to mention medical marijuana during his trial.

A local judge has ruled that Michigan’s Medical Marihuana Act does not protect dispensaries from prosecution.

In a written opinion issued last week, Oakland Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien granted a motion from the prosecutors to preclude defendant Alexander Vlasenko from asserting a defense under the state’s medical marijuana law, reports Ann Zaniewski at the Oakland County Daily Tribune.

Vlasenko, who is facing three counts of delivery and “manufacture” of marijuana, won’t be allowed to even mention medical marijuana during his trial.

The charges stem from an undercover investigation of a Waterford Township business called Modern Age. (Sad but true: apparently Oakland County law enforcement officials have nothing better to do than conduct “undercover investigations” of medical marijuana dispensaries.)

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