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Browsing: Dispensaries

Medical Marijuana Industry Forming First Trade Association

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

Graphic: NCIA

​With growing financial clout and an eye on expanding to more states beyond the 15 that have already legalized medicinal cannabis, leaders of the medical marijuana industry are forming a national trade association.

While there are smaller, local trade groups, organizers said this will be the first business organization working on the national level, reports Dan Frosch at The New York Times.
Organizers of the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA) said it is the first national trade group representing the interests of the cannabis industry and its consumers. More than 20 professionals from various sectors of the marijuana industry make up the initial board of directors of NCIA, which organizers said was formed with the express purpose of improving business conditions for the industry.
Based in Washington, D.C., the group will focus mainly on lobbying, but will also help medical marijuana businesses navigate the labyrinth of laws that differ depending on state, county, and city.
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Police Search Montana Marijuana Provider’s Business

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: Michael Gallacher/Missoulian
Sgt. Collin Rose of the Missoula Police Department watches while Jason Christ, owner of Montana Caregivers Network, looks through computer files Thursday afternoon during a police search of his office.

​Police searched the offices of Missoula, Montana medical marijuana provider Jason Christ on Thursday, seizing business records and at least one laptop computer.

“They’re conducting an audit to make sure no fraudulent paperwork went out,” said Christ, adding that he had long expected a visit from police, reports Gwen Florio of the Missoulian.
“I’m surprised it took so long,” said Christ, who is notorious for smoking marijuana in public places, as he held his trademark gondola pipe.
Thursday’s search warrant applied to “suspected distribution of dangerous drugs,” which supposedly means marijuana in this case, and tampering with public records or information, according to Deputy Missoula County Attorney Andrew Paul.
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Medical Marijuana Caregivers Form Trade Group In Maine

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By on Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative
About 100 of the state’s 500 caregivers have already joined the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine trade group.

​Medical marijuana patients looking for information about the state’s new dispensary law, or checking out options on getting their medicine have a new resource: the Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, a trade association that plans to adopt cultivation standards, keep prices low and advocate for safe access in the Legislature.

None of Maine’s eight licensed dispensaries has opened yet, reports Susan Sharon at The Maine Public Broadcasting Network. But according to the Department of Health and Human Services, about 100 medical marijuana patients have registered with the state and another 100 are in the process.
Hundreds more patients are expected to sign up by year-end, according to Jonathan Leavitt, board chairman of Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine.
“Realistically the number probably is somewhere between 750 to 1,250 qualified patients in this state,” Leavitt said. “And I think those numbers will bear out by the end of the year when people are actually required to register.”
Many patients will soon access their medicinal cannabis at one of the eight new dispensaries allowed after Maine voters expanded the state’s decade-old medical marijuana law. But for those who prefer anonymity, getting marijuana through a licensed caregiver is another option.
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DEA Nominee Promises To Ignore State Medical Marijuana Laws

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Freedom To Exhale

​“If confirmed as administrator, we would continue to enforce the federal drug laws.“

~ Michelle Leonhart, November 17, 2010

It’s not looking good for marijuana advocates after day one of the Senate confirmation process for Michelle Leonhart, President Obama’s nominee to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Acting DEA director Leonhart is nominated to officially fill the position she’s already held for three years, and after being prodded by reactionary Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, she had no compunctions about pledging to continue to enforce federal drug laws in states where medical marijuana is legal.
Such a pledge is remarkable in view of the fact that just last year, the Justice Department issued a memo instructing federal attorneys to back off on enforcement against medical marijuana patients and providers who are following their state laws.
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There Goes An Industry: Dutch To Ban Cannabis Sales To Tourists

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By on Dispensaries, Global, News

Photo: NORML Blog
What do you do when you have a booming, very profitable marijuana tourism industry? Shut it down, of course! If you’re the conservative Dutch government and have your head up your ezel.

​There goes the tourism industry.

In a hare-brained move, the new conservative government of the Netherlands said on Wednesday it plans to ban tourists from buying cannabis in its famed “coffee shops,” where hash and marijuana are legally sold. The shops have become a very popular attraction for travelers from other countries.
The new government, which took office last month, has agreed to limit the sale of cannabis to Dutch residents only, to curb supposed crime linked to its production and sale.
“No tourist attractions. We don’t like that,” said Ivo Opstelten, the Dutch minister for security and justice on Wednesday, reports Gilbert Kreijger of Reuters.
“The heart of the problem is crime and disturbances surrounding the sale,” Opstolten claimed. “We have to go back to what it was meant for: local use for those who would like it.”
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Long Beach Weeds Out More Pot Dispensaries; 27 Now Left

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: mares8

​Nine more Long Beach, California medical marijuana dispensaries will be forced to shut down under amendments passed by the City Council Tuesday night, leaving 27 locations for legal patients to obtain cannabis.

The council reached a late-night compromise, voting not to fully support changes to the city’s medical marijuana law that had been supported by three Council members, but still adding some new restrictions for the collectives, reports Paul Eakins at Contra Costa Times.
Fortunately for patients, the Council didn’t, as had been proposed, restrict marijuana cultivation to industrial areas, nor limit the number of collectives allowed throughout the city. But it did create buffer zones around city parks where dispensaries will not be allowed to operate.
“I think what’s being proposed tonight is overly restrictive,” said Councilman Robert Garcia. “We are talking about patients, and these are people that have been prescribed medicine and they have a right to access that medicine.”
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Boss OG Kush Wins 4th S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition

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By on Culture, Dispensaries, Growing

Photo: Jack Rikess
Our guy gets the story: Toke of the Town Northern California Correspondent Jack Rikess hard at work doing his research at the 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition on Sunday. By the way, Jack reports there was half a pound of pot in that joint.

​San Francisco’s 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition, The Patient’s Choice, was held Sunday.
Now that Toke of the Town‘s Northern California correspondent, Jack Rikess, has sufficiently recovered from the festivities, here’s his report.
Don’t be too hard on Mr. Rikess. Judges at the competition — including our hard-working correspondent — had to sample more than 50 cannabis strains and products.
Way to take one for the team, Jack! ~ Steve Elliott, Editor
…….
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
It’s always a good sign when you can smell the party from blocks away.
The day and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect for San Francisco’s 4th Annual S.F. Medical Cannabis Competition, The Patient’s Choice. After some delays including moving the cannabis flavored festivities to a new location at the last moment (due to law enforcement objections), the Bacchanal of Buds went off without a hitch for the red-eyed competition goers.
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Three Soldiers Break Into Marijuana Dispensary, Get Trapped

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: KSDK
These three active duty soldiers were arrested after their robbery attempt at a medical marijuana dispensary.

​Surveillance Footage Shows Hapless Pot Thieves “Running Around Like Rats Trapped in a Maze” 

Three active duty soldiers from Fort Carson, Colorado, were arrested early Saturday morning after allegedly trying to rob a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs, according to the police.

Security cameras caught the three bumbling burglars on tape breaking into the Rocky Road Remedies cannabis dispensary, reports Kevin Dolak at ABC News. The three, who wore ski masks and carried crowbars, found themselves trapped inside the pot shop when the automatic security system locked all the doors.
Surveillance footage shows the hapless pot thieves “running around like rats trapped in a maze,” according to the manager of the dispensary, reports Ayinde O. Chase at AHN News.
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Tacoma Marijuana Dispensary Owner Is Also Predatory Lender

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By on Dispensaries, News

Photo: Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times
“I am a wolf”: Emiel Kandi, 34, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lending industry with few consumer protections. Now he’s in the medical marijuana business.

​Operating Cobra Medical Group, a medical marijuana dispensary in Tacoma, Washington, isn’t Emiel Kandi’s only business. The former mini-casino operator also charges desperate people as much as he can get away with — up to 45 percent interest, in one case — in deals set up so that he can quickly take borrowers’ homes, and in some cases, flip them for a profit.

Unsophisticated borrowers trying to avoid financial collapse or foreclosure then lose their property, reports Christine Williamson of The Seattle Times. “I am a wolf,” Kandi, 34, said to the paper.
“He’s in the business of taking people’s property,” said Martin Burns, a lawyer who sued Kandi on behalf of an unemployed mechanic. “He finds vulnerable people and exploits them.”
“I’m not your friend,” Kandi said. “If you step off the tightrope, I’ll take your house.”
A Seattle Times examination of numerous Kandi loan deals showed that they take advantage of lax regulations in the lending industry, which provide little protection for consumers.
Kandi knows this, and skirts mortgage requirements and disclosures by writing up his loans as “commercial,” the Times reports. Mortgages have interest-rate caps, consumer protections and full disclosure of all costs, while commercial loans do not.
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Arizona: Yes To Medical Marijuana; 120 Dispensaries Allowed

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By on Dispensaries, Medical

ABC15

​After a tally of late provisional ballots, Arizona voters have approved Proposition 203, a state ballot measure that will allow patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses to use medical marijuana with authorization from their doctor. Arizona now joins the list of 14 other states, along with the District of Columbia, that have passed medicinal cannabis laws since 1996.

“Voters in Arizona have sided with science and compassion while dealing yet another blow to our nation’s cruel and irrational prohibition on marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. MPP provided funding and support to the Arizona Medical Marijuana Project, a local group that ran the Prop 203 campaign.
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