Dispensaries

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S.F. Marijuana Dispensaries Have Only 11 Complaints In 5 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2011 Dispensaries

HopeNet smells like a marijuana dispensary. And its bathroom once stopped working for one day in 2008. Yeah, that’s the kind of “complaints” that S.F.’s dispensaries get.

So much for all those police-generated myths about medical marijuana dispensaries spoiling the neighborhood.

Despite Nervous Nellies, most dispensaries are quiet, respectable, and hell, as close to boring as you can come when your shelves are full of weed.

That truth has been highlighted again as an SF Weekly investigation revealed a grand total of only 11 complaints on file from a five-year period, according to documents received from the paper’s public records request, reports Chris Roberts.

The Weekly asked the Department of Public Health, which oversees San Francisco’s dispensary program, for a summary of recent problems with the city’s pot collectives. And of the 11 complaints on record, most of them are distinctly of the trifling variety.

Seattle Committee Passes Bill To License Cannabis Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 14, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

A Seattle City Council panel on Wednesday unanimously passed a measure licensing and regulating medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

The ordinance now moves to the full City Council for consideration on Monday, July 18, reports Chris Grygiel at the Seattle P.I. But prior to the vote by the Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee, one attorney told the council members that the ordinance won’t stand up in court.

“I want to applaud the City Council for taking a look at this matter … unfortunately I must urge you to reconsider your proposal,” said activist/attorney Douglas Hiatt, who said he represents medical marijuana patients. “Go back to the drawing board. I do not believe there is any way you can pass your ordinance will stand under the law. The state’s controlled substances act pre-empts the field … Marijuana is still illegal … It’s illegal for all purposes, you cannot regulate an illegal business without a specific authority.”

San Diego’s Marijuana Dispensary Ban Blocked; Signatures OK’d

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 13, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Graphic: San Diego ASA

Good news! San Diego’s land use ordinance that activists say amounted to a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries has been effectively blocked, according to the group Citizens for Patients’ Rights (CPR).

The city of San Diego has verified the 31,029 signatures on the petition referendum from the CPR. The City Council now has 10 days to either rescind the ordinance or schedule an election.

In order to avoid the prohibitive costs of an election, the CPR, along with the Patient Care Association (PCA) of California and the California Cannabis Coalition, are urging the City Council to rescind the March 2011 land use ordinance.

If rescinded, the City Council has a second chance to not only create a new land use ordinance that respects the rights of patients to safe access, but also to work with the city’s medical cannabis collectives to provide clear guidance, 15 years after voters passed the Compassionate Use Act.

Seattle May License Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 11, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Steve Elliott

Safe access is in danger for medical marijuana patients in Seattle and across the state of Washington since Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed most of a bill that would have legalized dispensaries in the state. But now, the Seattle City Council is attempting to license and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the state’s largest city.

After Gov. Gregoire’s veto — which she claimed was due to her concern that state workers would be arrested and federally prosecuted for administering the dispensary program, although that’s never happened in any medical marijuana state — patients across Washington are worried.

Getting On The Dream Cream Team: Seattle’s Marijuana Mocha

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, Products

Photo: Steve Elliott

Dream Cream founder Jim Chaney, left, and BOTH Collective expert budtender Valerie restock the cooler in Capitol Hill, Seattle.

A joint or bowl with a cup of coffee is a daily ritual for many of us. And now, with Seattle being well-known for the quality of both its coffee and cannabis, it’s no surprise that a local entrepreneur has found a delicious and effective way to combine both.

Dream Cream, a medicated iced mocha latte made in pot-friendly Seattle neighborhood Capitol Hill and available in local medical marijuana dispensaries, goes down smooth and leaves a long-lasting medicated glow.

The cannabis-infused beverage comes in both sativa and indica varieties. Sativa is medicated with “White Lady,” an exclusive White Widow hybrid that, according to Dream Cream, “yields excellent ratios of the most uplifting and analgesic cannabinoids,” while the Indica version is infused with “High Planes Drifter,” an exotic Skunk hybrid the company says “promises an enriching experience with sedative inclinations.”

Crackdown: Kent, Washington Raids Cannabis Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 7, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: KING 5

Kent Police raid Suzie Q’s, one of the four medical marijuana dispensaries in town, on Wednesday. All four dispensaries in Kent were raided and shut down.

The repercussions of Washington Governor Christine Gregoire’s failure of leadership — when she vetoed most of a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana dispensaries in the state — continue to reverberate. Police in Kent, Washington served search warrants at all four dispensaries in town on Wednesday afternoon.

The businesses, all located in the Kent valley, have been the subjects of an “ongoing investigation” for selling medical marijuana to authorized patients, supposedly “in violation of state law,” a city spokesman said, reports KIRO TV.

R.I. Marijuana Advocates See Loopholes In DOJ Memo

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 7, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: RIPAC

The head of Rhode Island’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group said she is still optimistic that cannabis dispensaries will be open in the state in the not-too-distant future.

JoAnne Lepannen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition (RIPAC), said on Tuesday that she has carefully reviewed “Seeking to Authorize Marijuana for Medical Use,” the two-page memo issued last week by the Justice Department, reports W. Zachary Malinowski at The Providence Journal.

Lepannen said she sees a silver lining in the document because there is no specific threat by federal authorities to prosecute state employees who are associated with the licensing or oversight of marijuana dispensaries.

“I think there is a ray of hope here,” Lepannen said. “We have to read into this letter what [the federal government]didn’t say. That speaks volumes.”

The memo does warn that those who “facilitate” large-scale medical marijuana production (presumably, that wording was used to intimidate landlords, as well as actual cultivators) are violating the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Medical Marijuana Program Goes Forward In D.C.; Feds Watching

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Medicinal DC

The District of Columbia passed its first milestone in selecting who gets the much-coveted licenses for the city’s medical marijuana program, even as the federal government is taking a second look at its hands-off approach to those who legally grow and sell cannabis under laws allowing its medicinal use.

More than 80 individuals or businesses applied to cultivate or sell medical marijuana through letters of intent submitted to the Department of Health, reports Tom Howell Jr. at The Washington Times. The applicants range from entrepreneurial lawyers and gardeners in D.C., to medical marijuana professionals based in states like Colorado and Montana.

Arizona Medical Marijuana Club Gives Away Free Samples

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 5, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: The 2811 Club

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona have been blocked from opening, but that didn’t stop a new “club” from opening in Phoenix on Monday, giving local patients another option for getting their cannabis. The 2811 Club is giving the stuff away.

Patient Vickie Smith said she is learning everything about using medical marijuana, and she’s getting quick answers because she’s now a member of The 2811 Club, reports Ryan O’Donnell at azfamily.com.

“I get to spend time with other people with conditions like mine or something similar, going through the same thing, the same learning process that I’m going through and we can share ideas,” Smith said.

Soft music and soft lighting create a comfortable atmosphere at the club, where medical marijuana is actually being handed out for free.

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