Dispensaries

California Cities Taxing Pot Dispensaries To Trim Budget Deficits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 16, 2010 Dispensaries, News

On July 13, the city council of Berkeley, California asked voters to approve a 2.5 percent tax on the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries, three of which grossed a total of $19 million last year.

“This is huge,” said Mayor Tom Bates. According to the mayor, the tax will help close a $16.2 million budget gap, but it’ll do more than that, report Christopher Palmeri and Michael Marois at Business Week.

It also makes sure that as marijuana sales go mainstream, the local community — not outside business interests — benefits. “We don’t want to have Philip Morris coming in here, sucking up all the money,” Bates said.

Life In Prison For Running A Medical Marijuana Collective?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Operation Green Rx

James Stacy with supporters in front of the San Diego Federal Courthouse

James Stacy could face life in prison, even though he thought he was following the law.

After the Obama Administration urged federal agents to no longer raid medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives that are following state laws, Stacy opened Movement In Action, a collective of his own, in Vista, California, reports Elex Michaelson of San Diego 6.

“I follow the rules,” Stacy said. “If they say I can’t do it, I won’t do it.”

MT: Pot Dispensary Applications Exceed Cap In Just One Day

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 14, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: KXLF

It took only one day after a cap was proposed for the number of medical marijuana dispensary applicants to exceed the number of available slots in Bozeman, Montana.

Eight medical marijuana providers applied Tuesday for licenses to do business in Bozeman, leaving the city with one more application than the 32-dispensary cap the City Commission has proposed.

“It’s too early to know what the final end game is because we’ll have to see what happens with those applications,” said Commissioner Chris Mehl on Tuesday afternoon, reports Amanda Ricker at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

If the city ends up with too many people competing for not enough dispensary licenses, “We’ll have to deal with that if and when it happens,” Mehl said.

Blind Woman’s Medical Marijuana Suit Thrown Out

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 14, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis N.I.

There is no constitutional right in California to obtain medical marijuana, according to an Orange County Superior Court judge. The judge on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit filed by a blind San Clemente medical marijuana patient who said she had a state constitutional right in California to cannabis to help her cope with cerebral palsy and other illnesses.

Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann showed an unbecoming heartless streak as she granted a motion to dismiss Malinda Traudt‘s lawsuit against the city of Dana Point, Calif. Her attorney, Jeffrey Schwartz, vowed to appeal, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Traudt buys medical marijuana from Beach Cities Collective in Dana Point, and is trying to stop the city’s attempts to shut down the dispensary.

S.F.’s ‘Mainstreaming’ Medical Marijuana Regs Draw Praise

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 12, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Terry Schmitt/UPI

“Sativa Steve” shows off one of dozens of varieties of pot in a medicinal cannabis shop in San Francisco.

San Francisco medical marijuana dispensaries have to play by the rules — and some marijuana advocates couldn’t be happier about it, reports Chris Moody at The Daily Caller.

The City by the Bay passed new rules last week regulating the sale and distribution of medical marijuana in baked goods and other edible items, which according to observers takes the city one step closer to making pot a mainstream product.

The new regs, announced by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, require that all baked goods including marijuana are individually wrapped with labels that list the exact amount of cannabis in the product.

Marijuana edibles cannot resemble any kind of candy that may attract children, and no one under legal age may be present during the baking of manufacturing process, according to the new regulations.

Dispensaries that offer both hot and cold products on the same premises, such as brownies and milk shakes, are required to have a special permit from the Public Health Department.

Michigan Man Wants To Run State’s Largest Marijuana Grow

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 12, 2010 Dispensaries, Growing

Photo: MLive.com

A Royal Oak, Michigan man met with city officials in May to discuss his plan to avoid foreclosure on his 23,000-square-foot warehouse by leasing it to medical marijuana growers, according to documents posted on the city’s website.

If all the warehouse’s space is used for growing cannabis, the building could become the biggest marijuana facility in the state, Michigan Medical Marijuana Magazine publisher Rick Ferris told the Detroit Free Press.

Maine Awards 6 Of 8 Marijuana Dispensary Licenses

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

Graphic: Reality Catcher

Maine’s medical marijuana program took a big step towards safe access for patients Friday, with the announcement of three licensed, non-profit corporations to grow and sell marijuana.

Northeast Patients Group, a recently formed corporation with roots in California, was selected to establish four of the eight approved dispensaries. The nonprofit organization will establish facilities in Portland, Thomaston, the Augusta area and the Bangor area, reports Meg Haskell at Bangor Daily News.

Aroostook County will be served by Safe Alternatives for Fort Kent, and western Maine will be served by the Remedy Compassion Center.

With 27 separate applications to start one dispensary in each of Maine’s eight public health districts, the state approved only six. According to state officials, the criteria for approval included applicants’ experience and proposed plans for record keeping, inventory control, security and patient education.

No applicant was approved for the districts that serve York County and Washington and Hancock counties., said applications for these regions failed to meet the state’s dispensary standards.

Maine Pot Dispensary Applicants Wait For Friday Decision

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 8, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

Maine will announce on Friday which of seventeen applicants will get the eight dispensary slots as part of the state’s medical marijuana law.

The prospective dispensaries said they will charge anywhere from $200 to $400 an ounce for medicinal cannabis, reports John Richardson at the Waterville Morning Sentinel. The state has not set any limits on prices, but said it is “reviewing” the pricing information as part of the application process.

Many of the shops will also provide massage, acupuncture and yoga as extra services, the Morning Sentinel reports. One plans to organize knitting and quilting groups. Another wants to hire a pastry chef to turn marijuana into gourmet organic edibles.

While the Maine medical marijuana market is untested, since there have been no state-licensed dispensaries until now, most prospective dispensary owners said they expect to sell at least $1 million worth of cannabis in the first full year of operation, starting July 1, 2011.

L.A. County Moves To Ban Pot Dispensaries In Unincorporated Areas

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 7, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Hidden Treats

Spineless Los Angeles County Supervisors are about to cut off safe access for 1.5 million people.

A million and a half people are about to lose safe access to marijuana.

Worried that Los Angeles’s new crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries is pushing the pot shops out into other communities, pot-phobic Los Angeles County supervisors took steps Tuesday to ban dispensaries from unincorporated areas countywide.

“It leaves the unincorporated portion vulnerable,” said Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, author of the motion. The board, according to Antonovich, should protect residents’ “safety and property values.”

Cash-Hungry Long Beach Wants To Tax Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 6, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: LBPost.com

Long Beach is joining other California cities which are looking at taxing marijuana to boost cash-starved city coffers.

The City Council on Tuesday, July 6, will consider a proposal to put a measure on November’s ballot that would levy a 5 percent tax on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Another tax, of up to 10 percent, would only go into effect if California voters also pass Proposition 19, which would legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use, and allow its taxation, reports Tony Barboza at the Los Angeles Times.

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