Dispensaries

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Dutch Mayor Wants To Ban ‘Too Strong’ Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 14, 2010 Dispensaries, Global

Coffee Chop DE OS in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, may soon be forced to stop selling its most potent cannabis and hashish — if reefer madness-infected Mayor Ferd Crone has his way.

The old “marijuana is stronger than it used to be” and “reefer madness” arguments, so popular in the United States, are taking a tour of Europe. Marijuana and hashish which he considers to be “too strong” could soon be banned in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, if local Mayor Ferd Crone has his way.

Mayor Crone has submitted his proposal to the city council, under which “coffee shops” would eventually lose their license if they sell marijuana with more than an agreed level of the main active ingredient, THC, reports Dutch News.

The THC level in marijuana and hashish in Dutch coffee shops has supposedly doubled over the past few years, from 10 percent to around 20 percent. Some samples tested by Trimbos Institute have turned up a THC level up to 64.8 percent, Volkskrant reported on Monday.

California Pot Dispensary Finds Sweet Market Niche: Ice Cream

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Creme De Canna

I want! I want!

If you hear talk around this place about getting stoned on a bowl, they may not be talking about smoking.

Santa Cruz County’s newest medical marijuana dispensary serves half pints of Banannabis Foster, Straw-Mari Cheesecake and TRIPle Chocolate Brownie ice creams, all infused with cannabis, alongside the regular offerings of smokable pot, reports Kurtis Alexander of the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

No on-site consumption is allowed, but card-carrying marijuana patients have some cool options at the new Creme De Canna Non-Profit Collective. For now it’s just the three flavors of ice cream, according to proprietor Jonathan Kolodinski, but others are planned.

Nevada: Medical Marijuana Legal But No Place To Buy It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: KTNV

Nevada’s debate over medical marijuana is heating up after recent raids on local dispensaries. No arrests were made, but federal agents did seize boxes of documents, patient records and “other evidence.” Now, patients who rely on medical marijuana are joining forces to fight back, reports KTNV.

Dozens of people showed up for a meeting to discuss how to change state law. In Nevada, people authorized to use medical marijuana are allowed to have one ounce on them at all times. But there’s no legal way to actually get it, besides growing it themselves.

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided several medical marijuana dispensaries for, they claimed, selling cannabis to patients. The clinics are only licensed to consult with patients, according to the DEA, and advise them on how to grow and use marijuana. They’re not specifically allowed by the language of Nevada’s medical marijuana law to provide cannabis.

Famous Pot Critic Talks About His First Year On The Job

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries

Photo: WBAL

Marijuana critic William Breathes at work

It’s been a year now since Denver Westword rolled up, I mean rolled out its Mile Highs and Lows dispensary reviews. The process of a newspaper looking for and hiring a marijuana critic attracted lots of attention from the press last year, and rightly so, as it is yet another sign of the generational shift in attitudes toward the weed that seem to be all around us these days.

Pot critic William Breathes came to national prominence in the flurry of coverage, including reports on CNN and BBC, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Cannabis connoisseurship has of course existed as long as marijuana consumers have known the difference between schwag and dank. But actually getting paid to be a pot critic is a relatively new development.

Judge Calls Earlier Order ‘Joke,’ Won’t Return Pot To Collective

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Grinning Planet

Claiming that an earlier proposed court order had been a “joke,” a judge on Wednesday formally denied a defense motion seeking the return of large amounts of seized medical marijuana to a Concow, California collective.

Assigned Judge William Lamb pointed out that none of the collective’s members had petitioned the court for the pot’s return, and that in any event, he “felt” the amount confiscated by sheriff’s offices exceeded what he thought was “medically necessary” for the group and was thus “not subject to return,” reports Terry Vau Dell of the Chico Enterprise Record.

And here we were, thinking that doctors were supposed to make medical decisions!

A jury earlier this year acquitted both Michael Kelly and his father, Sean Kelly, of identical felony charges of illegal cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale.

Feds Raid At Least Five Vegas Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Salem-News.com

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducted raids early Wednesday on at least five medical marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas, Nevada, and reportedly seized patient and financial records, but made no arrests.

The federal search warrants and supporting affidavits stemming from what she called ‘an ongoing law enforcement operation’ were sealed by federal court order, said Natalie Collins, spokesperson for the local U.S. Attorney’s office, according to the Associated Press.

The dispensaries raided Wednesday by federal agents and local police included Happiness Consultant, Salvation Haven, Nature’s Way, Organic Releaf, & Holistic Solutions.

Judge Says No Marijuana For Patients Arrested In Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 31, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Tim Thompson/The Oakland Press

Candi and Bill Teichman, owners of Everybody’s Café in Waterford Township, Mich., have lost their children, their bank accounts, and their dispensary.

Despite emotional pleas from several defense attorneys, a judge refused Tuesday to allow medical marijuana patients to use cannabis while out on bond — a decision met with low hisses in a courtroom packed with 13 defendants, their lawyers and supporters.

The 13 patients faced hearings following last week’s raids of a medical marijuana dispensary and a patients’ compassion club in Waterford, Michigan, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Waterford District Court Judge Richard Kuhn Jr. postponed the defendants’ pre-trial conferences, originally scheduled for Tuesday, until October.

Another four people arrested in the raid have not yet been arraigned, and therefore weren’t present Tuesday in court, according to officials.

About 60 people, including defendants, their lawyers, and medical marijuana supporters, gathered in front of the courthouse before Tuesday’s hearings to protest that their arrests were politically motivated by county law enforcement officials who are hostile to the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act.

Shirts reading “This is Michigan, not a Cheech and Chong movie!” were worn by about two dozen people in the crowd. The shirts were referring to a quote last week from Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who uttered those unfortunate words while criticizing medical marijuana establishments raided by his officers in Waterford and Ferndale.

KFC Pot Shop Reopens As LA Backs Off Dispensary Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 31, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: D.Blawg’s Weblog

Palms, California’s K.F.C. (Kind For Cures) dispensary, located at 3516 Hughes Avenue, gained worldwide fame last year when its story and photo went viral on the web.

The infamous K.F.C. dispensary, a.k.a. Kind For Cures, has reopened in Los Angeles as the city has backed off on its crackdown against allegedly illegal marijuana dispensaries.

A K.F.C. employee confirmed on Monday that the pot shop was once again open for business, reports Dennis Romero at the LA Weekly, our sister blog in the Village Voice Media world.

The MySpace page of the dispensary, based in Palms, California, advertises that it reopened on Thursday, the day after the City Clerk’s office announced it was stopping the crackdown against out-of-compliance pot shops.

“Kind For Cures is re-opening August 26th, 10 a.m. to midnight, 7 days per week!” the MySpace page reads. “Come on in for your favorite flavors!!!”

K.F.C. was one of the dispensaries which shut down after it got a warning letter from City Attorney Carmen Trutanich’s office back in June, threatening $2,500-a-day fines and even possible jail time.

Asked on Monday if Los Angeles is once again basically letting all the pot shops operate, a City attorney’s spokesperson said, “You’re basically correct.”

Read Dennis Romero’s story at the LA Weekly.

N.M. Wants To Charge $1,000 For Pot Growing License; 7% Tax

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 31, 2010 Dispensaries, Growing

Photo: RolledTooTight

The New Mexico Department of Health is asking for public input on proposals for changing the state’s state-licensed medical marijuana program, including ways to make the program pay for itself and to make it more “tightly regulated.”

One of the proposals would levy a 7 percent tax on annual gross receipts of the nonprofit organizations that cultivate medical marijuana in the state, reports Marjorie Childress at the The New Mexico Independent. The reason the producers don’t already pass gross receipts tax is because they are, by law, operated as nonprofits.

The department is also looking at increasing the producers’ application fee from $100 to $1,000.

Kidnap Suspect Nabbed Thanks To Marijuana Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 30, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Jeff Totten/The Daily Californian

Berkeley Patients Group called the police when they discovered a customer had an outstanding warrant.

It’s safe to say that a bunch of cops swarming into a marijuana dispensary is usually not good news. But when police came into Berkeley Patients Group on Friday, it was because the pot club’s management had alerted them that a woman wanted on a parental abduction warrant had entered the building.

The Berkeley Police Department confirmed the arrest of a local woman at the dispensary.

Berkeley Patients Group marketing manager Brad Senesac said his dispensary has “a really good relationship” with the police.

Bear in mind that if you have any outstanding warrants, you may not want to get your medicine at BPG.

For some feel-good reading from our sister blog SF Weekly in the Village Voice Media empire, check out Joe Eskenazi’s story here.

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