Dispensaries

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Cali Bill Would OK Medical Marijuana Crackdowns By Cities

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

With numerous lawsuits pending across California against cities that try to crack down on or ban medical marijuana dispensaries, a new bill aims to make it clear that municipalities are allowed to tell pot shops when, where and how they can do business.

The bill, AB 1300, just passed the California Assembly, reports Dennis Romero at L.A. Weekly. It was introduced by Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield (D-Los Angeles).

According to the bill, localities can adopt “local ordinances that regulate the location, operation, or establishment of a medical marijuana cooperative or collective…”

First Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licensed In Michigan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Tom Perkins/AnnArbor.com

Super Lemon Haze medical marijuana at the 3rd Coast Compassion Center in Ypsilanti, Michigan. 3rd Coast just became the first municipally licensed dispensary in the state.

A medical marijuana center in Ypsilanti has become the first in Michigan to receive a dispensary license from a local municipality.

The 3rd Coast Compassion Center, which was also the state’s first medical marijuana dispensary to open its doors in late 2009, received its licensed from the City of Ypsilanti in May, reports Tom Perkins of Annarbor.com.

The dispensary, located at the corner of Hamilton and Pearl streets in Ypsilanti, was open prior to the city establishing zoning ordinances and a licensing process. It was the first allowed to submit its application for a license.

Michigan patients, caregivers, law enforcement and civil authorities are still sorting out whether or not dispensaries are legal in the state since the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act was approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of voters in November 2008. Opponents argue that nothing in the law allows the centers to exist, but medical marijuana advocates argue they are acting within the law, saying that nothing in the act says they can’t operate.

AG Says Feds Will ‘Work With’ States On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 3, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Reuters

Attorney General Eric Holder: “We are in the process of working [on]these issues”

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday that the Justice Department will work with governors and other state officials to reach a “satisfactory resolution” to the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in states with medicinal cannabis programs.

“We are in the process of working [on]these issues with the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island and other U.S. Attorneys across the country,” Holder said, reports W. Zachary Malinowski at The Providence Journal. “My hope is that sometime in the not too distant future … it will be addressed.”

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Legalized In Vermont

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Prohibition’s End

Vermont Governor Pete Shumlin on Thursday signed S. 17, a bill authorizing up to four dispensaries where registered patients can buy medicinal cannabis, augmenting the state’s already-existing medical marijuana law.

Vermont joins Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Arizona and Delaware on the list of states that explicitly allow cannabis dispensaries. Washington, D.C., is also in the process of implementing a program that will allow five marijuana dispensaries in the nation’s capital.

“This is a great day for a lot of patients throughout the state that, until now, have been unsure how to go about obtaining medicine their doctor has recommended,” said Dan Riffle, legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project.

San Diego Medical Marijuana Ban Suspended; Signatures Filed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: California Cannabis Coalition

Craig Beresh of the California Cannabis Coalition turns in 47,000 voter signatures at the registrar’s office in San Diego at 4:20 Friday afternoon.

Strict new medical marijuana rules were scheduled to take effect on Friday in San Diego — amounting to a de facto ban, according to many activists — but the action has been suspended since 47,000 signatures were filed for a referendum to end the ban on medicinal cannabis in the city, according to the California Cannabis Coalition and Patient Care Association of California.

“We needed 32,000 signatures for the referendum to end the ban,” said Craig Beresh of the California Cannabis Coalition just before the referendum was filed.

“We will turn today over 47,000 signatures,” Beresh said. “This will suspend the ordinance. The ban on medical marijuana in San Diego will be suspended until the registrar verifies the signatures.”

“We filed at 4:20 today,” Beresh said. “So the end result… THE BAN HAS BEEN SUSPENDED AS OF 4:20 TODAY!”

Dutch Government Moves Ahead With Weed Ban For Foreigners

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Global, Legislation

Photo: THC Finder

The Dutch make lots of money on cannabis tourism — so obviously, they have to stop that. Wait a minute…

The Dutch Cabinet said it will go ahead with plans to force anyone wishing to buy marijuana at the country’s “coffee shops” to first get an official pass — a move designed to stop tourists from buying cannabis.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he plans to begin rolling out the system in southern Netherlands later this year, reports the Associated Press. The southern part of the country is popular with French and German cannabis tourists. The system would then be instituted in Amsterdam’s famed weed cafes, which are major tourist attractions for the city, later in Rutte’s term of office.

Arizona Governor Can’t Stop Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 26, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Opposing Views

Jan Brewer was against Proposition 203 before it passed — and now that it’s law, she wants to ignore the voters.

Prosecutors will still be prohibited from convicting legal medical marijuana patients

The misguided efforts of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne to quash the state’s new medical marijuana won’t work, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times.

Authorized patients can possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis legally in Arizona since the passage of Proposition 203 by voters — with or without “state approval,” New Times reports.

“That’s why Brewer and Horne, two Republicans who are putting politics above the wishes of the electorate, haven’t mentioned any plans to stop the state from handing out medical marijuana registration cards,” Stern writes. “The smartly written Arizona Medical Marijuana Act anticipated an anti-democratic reaction like the one we saw Tuesday and included a powerful work-around.”

S.F.: Pot Shops Must Release Names, Addresses Of Growers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

The San Francisco Department of Public Health, which licenses and polices the city’s 26 storefront medical marijuana dispensaries, announced on Friday that it will ask every dispensary to provide a list — with names and addresses — of every grower with which it does business.

The result would be a disaster for the city’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry, according to Kevin Reed, president of the Green Cross medicinal cannabis delivery service, reports Chris Roberts at the S.F. Weekly.

“It’s unacceptable,” Reed told the Weekly. “It would be a disaster.”

The list of grower names and addresses is needed, claimed Rajiv Bhatia, head of DPH’s Occupational & Environmental Health, for safety and legality reasons.

“DPH is trying to ensure that permitted MCDs [medical cannabis dispensaries]comply with all state and local laws,” Bhatia said. “By ensuring this, the industry will be best situated to be protected from code enforcement and criminal prosecution.”

California Judge Throws Out Case Against Marijuana Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: THC Finder

Deputies Conveniently Forget To Mention Existence Of A Tape Which Showed Dispensary Was Following The Law

A Superior Court judge in California has thrown out a criminal case against an Oildale medical marijuana cooperative that was shut down in 2009. According to the judge’s decision, the search warrant that led to the closure was based on incomplete information because it left out a tape recording indicating the cooperative was following the law.

Judge Michael Dellostritto on Friday called the affidavit supporting the search warrant “false and misleading,” and said he never would have issued the warrant if he had heard the recording, reports Courtenay Edelhart of the Bakersfield Californian.

Drive To Legalize Marijuana Dispensaries Fails In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Steve Elliott

The Washington Legislature’s main proponent of legalizing and licensing medical marijuana dispensaries announced on Tuesday that the attempt has failed. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles said even her most recent, scaled-back bill won’t go forward.

Kohl-Welles called it “the greatest disappointment of my legislative career,” reports Jordan Scrader at the Tacoma News Tribune.

Her first try regulating the pot shops — which have already sprung up statewide, especially in the Seattle and Spokane areas — was gutted by Governor Christine Gregoire, who hen-heartedly claimed she was concerned about state employees being federally prosecuted, even though that has never happened, even once, in any state which licenses dispensaries.

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