Dispensaries

Montel Williams Opens High-End Marijuana Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, Products

Montel Williams: “Why are we treating patients who seek out this medication like they’re some lesser member of society?”

Former talk show host Montel Williams lent his star power to the grand opening of a high-end medical marijuana dispensary in Sacramento, California, that aims to “set a new standard” for patients who choose to use cannabis.

Williams, a daytime TV host for 17 years, said he uses medical marijuana to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis but has seen the need for more professional distribution of the herb, reports CBS Sacramento.

“You see people standing around, sticking their nose into things,” Williams unfortunately said. “I don’t go to CVS to pick up an individual Vicodin.”

Feds Forced To Give Back $14K Seized From Pot Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 13, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Hollywood Goodfella

Federal authorities agreed last week to give back nearly half of the $29,350 in cash seized from a man who represents a man who operates a medical marijuana dispensary in San Marcos, California.

The decision to return $14,383 — about 49 percent of the money seized — was part of a settlement that stems from a December incident in which Ron Chang, the man behind the collective, was stopped by federal agents while hauling marijuana on Pala Road, reports Teri Figueroa of the North County Times.

Law enforcement claims that smugglers use the well-traveled back road to avoid the border checkpoint near Temecula on Interstate 15.

Chang’s attempt to set up a dispensary caused a stir in conservative San Marcos, which enacted rules preventing any such businesses from setting up shop in the city of about 84,000 residents.

U.S. Atty.: Feds Won’t Allow Sale Of Pot Anywhere In Oregon

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Cannabis Fantastic

The U.S. Attorney for Oregon has served notice on all medical marijuana growers and dispensary operators, saying the federal government “will not allow” the sale of cannabis anywhere in Oregon.

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton issued the warning not only to growers, but to landlords, reports Thom Jensen at KATU News. Holton’s warning is part of what seems to be a federal campaign to intimidate medical marijuana providers and patients nationwide in states that heve legalized medicinal cannabis.

“Knowingly financing a marijuana dispensary or allowing one to operate on your property also violates federal law and could subject financier and landlords to civil and criminal penalties,” Holton’s warning reads [PDF].

Coloradans Fight Back Against Marijuana Patient Surveillance

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Graphic: Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project

New statutes and rules governing medical marijuana go into effect in Colorado on July 1. But the Cannabis Therapy Institute is calling the HB 1284, passed in 2010 by the Legislature, “expensive and unnecessary government over-regulation,” and CTI is calling on patients to join “the legal fight to defeat these laws.”

Dude… Sweet! Cosmic Caramels Charm Californians

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

Photo: SF Weekly

Our friends at Toke’s sister Village Voice Media site SF Weekly have been quite impressed by smooth and creamy Cosmic Caramels, which they say both taste good and deliver medicine effectively.

The caramels are a product of Cannabis Kitchen in San Francisco.

According to the Weekly’s SFoodie blog, the candies are “buttery and chewy, but don’t make you feel like you’re sucking on a bong.” (Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course!)

Arizona AG Worked With Anti-Marijuana Leader On Lawsuit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: James King/Phoenix New Times

Whack-job Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne started working on a nefarious plan to stop medical marijuana almost as soon as voters had approved it last November.

Elected state officials busily working to defeat the will of their state’s own voters — it’s an unseemly spectacle, and it’s unfolding as we speak in Arizona. Making the entire scene even more ugly is the fact that seriously ill patients are needless suffering as a result.

Within weeks of Arizona voters approving medical marijuana in their state, the top law enforcement official in the state was devising ways to stymie the will of the people. Whack-job Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne discussed a plan to launch legal action agains the state’s medical marijuana law during a January meeting with the law’s biggest opponent, it has been revealed.

Carolyn Short, who led last year’s unsuccessful campaign to stop Proposition 203, which legalized medical marijuana in Arizona, refers to the meeting in a February 16 letter [PDF] to state Department of Health Services Director Will Humble, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times:

“It’s Really A Bummer”: Mayor Orders Pot Dispensaries To Close

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: BG Organics

The negative effects continue to mutiply after Washington Governor Christine Gregoire’s gutting of a bill that would have legalized dispensaries in the state.

Kent, Washington Mayor Suzette Cook said she is in favor of medical marijuana. In a statement issued on Tuesday, she said she supported the state’s medical marijuana law when it was approved by voters in 1998, and that she “sympathizes” with cancer patients and others who rely on cannabis for medicinal purposes. But following Gov. Gregoire’s gutting of SB 5073, which would have allowed dispensaries, Cooke and her administration felt they had no choice but to tell the four dispensaries in town to close their doors.

Governor: R.I. Marijuana Dispensaries On ‘Difficult Ground’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Business Insider

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee said dispensaries will be on “difficult ground” until federal pot laws change

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said medical marijuana dispensaries like those planned for his state will face challenges as long as the federal government takes a hard line on cannabis.

Chafee, an independent, put on hold a plan to license three dispensaries to sell marijuana to patients after the state’s U.S. Attorney warned in April that doing so could violate federal law, reports the Associated Press.

Now Gov. Chafee said state and federal officials should find “common ground” on the question of dispensaries. Last week Attorney General Eric Holder visited Rhode Island and promised to clarify the federal government’s position on medicinal cannabis.

Town Reaps Tens Of Thousands From Marijuana Dispensaries

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

Photo: Anna Hiatt/Castro Valley Patch

Mason jars are used to keep the marijuana fresh at Alameda County’s We Are Hemp

Tens of thousands of dollars in previously unclaimed taxes are headed back to the unincorporated Eden area of Alameda County, California, after two medical marijuana dispensaries were restored to local tax rolls.

We Are Hemp and Garden of Eden are the two dispensaries that, according to reporter Sonja Sharp at the Castro Valley Patch, “put Cherryland head and shoulders above Ashland and San Lorenzo in this spring’s cash-in-the-couch cushions bonanza.”

The cash in the couch cushions of which the Patch speaks is that found by local volunteers pounding the pavement for the Alameda County Redevelopment Agency, which had already uncovered some $72,000 in annual tax money “that had been falling into deeper pockets in San Leandro and Hayward.”

City Hears From Patients On Marijuana Dispensary Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Q13 Fox

Laura Stevens, Green Hope: “Our governor failed us.”

The Shoreline City Council heard from medical marijuana patients and providers Monday night. The cannabis supporters want the Washington city to stop its plans to shut down local dispensaries.

“We’ve got cancer patients who have chemo next week; they want their next medicine, they’re coming to me crying not knowing what to do,” said Laura Stevens, who runs Green Hope, a medical marijuana dispensary in Shoreline, reports Kirsten Joyce at Q13 Fox. “I don’t know what to tell them.”

“Our governor failed us,” Stevens told the council. She said many of her patients suffer from cancer, AIDS and Crohn’s disease.

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