Legislation

Referendum Would Challenge L.A. Pot Dispensary Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 15, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

A medical marijuana dispensary on Santa Monica Boulevard offers prizes.

Medical marijuana advocates are gathering signatures for a voter referendum to block a recently passed Los Angeles law that will shut down hundreds of pot dispensaries.

The referendum is designed to overturn the city’s medical marijuana dispensary ordinance before it takes effect in May, reports The Associated Press.

The group is looking for 27,425 signatures by Monday to get the issue on the ballot. Organizer Dan Halbert, who runs the Rainforest Collective in Mar Vista, said it’s going to be close.

Halbert’s dispensary opened last year, and is one of around 700 that would have to close under the ordinance, which caps the number of pot shops at 70.

The law has a loophole for about 128 dispensaries that registered in 2007, before the City Council instituted a moratorium.

Marijuana collectives reportedly outnumber both public schools and Starbucks outlets in Los Angeles.

Bill Calls For Five Marijuana Dispensaries In Vermont

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 12, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Darwinek

A state Senate panel voted 3-2 Thursday to support a bill that would allow the establishment of five medical marijuana dispensaries to serve the needs of 169 Vermonters who have registered with the state as cannabis patients, reports Nancy Remsen of the Burlington Free Press.

Supporters on the Senate Government Operations Committee argued that patients with permission to use marijuana shouldn’t be forced to deal with criminals as they try to obtain cannabis to help cope with debilitating medical conditions.

Opponents claimed Vermont couldn’t afford the new oversight and enforcement expenses that would come with the establishment of dispensaries, which would be called “compassion centers.”

The bill must be reviewed by at least one more Senate committee before it comes before the full Senate for a vote, Remsen reports.

Despite the split committee vote, the bill might receive a push from Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin (D-Windham).

“I’d like to see it pass,” Shumlin said. “We get calls in my office from elderly Vermonters, sick people, who have followed the law and ask us what a drug dealer looks like so they can get the medicine they need.”

Canada: All 3 National Parties Support Prince Of Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 12, 2010 Culture, Global, Legislation

Photo: Jodie Emery

Jodie and Marc Emery in a legal industrial hemp field outside Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

MPs from all three of Canada’s major national political parties — Conservative, Liberal, and New Democrat — are about to submit petitions calling for marijuana activist Marc Emery to not be extradited to the United States.

Scott Reid of the Conservative Party, Ujjal Dosanjh of the Liberal Party, and Libby Davies of the New Democratic Party will submit the petitions, reports Carlito Pablo at Vancouver’s Georgia Straight.

According to press reports, the petitions will likely be submitted by the three MPs on Monday, March 15.

Last Summer, Emery agreed to a plea bargain with American authorities that will probably see him thrown into a United States prison for at least five years for distributing marijuana seeds through the mail.

Naturopaths Included In Washington’s Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 12, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Emerald Herb

A bill to expand Washington State’s medical marijuana law cleared the Legislature Thursday, and is headed to the governor’s desk.

Gov. Christine Gregoire is expected to sign SB 5798, which allows naturopathic doctors, nurse practitioners, and advanced physicians’ assistants to recommend the medical use of cannabis to their patients.

The new law will increase patient access to health care professionals willing to authorize medical cannabis.

Because of the conflict between state and federal pot laws, many doctors fear retribution from the federal government and are reluctant to sign medical cannabis paperwork. To comply with the law, many qualifying patients are forced to travel to the city and pay $200 to see a doctor willing to sign a medical marijuana authorization form.

More States Embrace Marijuana Decriminalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 11, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

With numerous states facing significant budget cuts, legislators and voters across the United States this month have been giving overwhelming support to measures that would reduce the penalty to a civil fine for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

On Wednesday in New Hampshire, the state House voted 214-137 to pass HB 1653, a bill the would reduce the penalty for possession of up to a quarter-ounce of marijuana with a civil fine of up to $200.

In Hawaii, the state Senate voted 22-3 to March 2 to pass SB 2450, a bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of up to $300 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.

Marijuana Patients To Legislators: Please Give Safe Access A Vote

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 11, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

A group of medical marijuana patients Thursday held a press conference in Boston to ask lawmakers to support legalizing medical marijuana in Massachusetts.

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health is currently considering a bill that would make Massachusetts the 15th state in the U.S. to give seriously ill patients safe and legal access to medical cannabis.

Patients called for the bill to receive a committee vote before a deadline on March 18, after which passage out of committee becomes much more difficult.

“Watching my 29-year-old son struggle with the side effects of brutal chemotherapy treatments was heart wrenching,” said Lorraine Kerz of Greenfield, Mass., who said her son benefited from medical marijuana.

N.H. House Overwhelmingly Passes Marijuana Decriminalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Mother Jones

The New Hampshire House of Representatives Wednesday voted, as it did in 2008, to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

House Bill 1653, which would reduce the penalty for possessing one-quarter ounce or less of cannabis, passed by an overwhelming 214-137 vote. That’s almost 61 percent of the House voting in favor of decrim.

Previously, the bill had been recommended “out to pass” in a 16-2 vote by the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on February 11.

“This makes three years in a row that the House has passed a bill attempting to reform New Hampshire’s archaic marijuana policies,” said Matt Simon, executive director for the New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy.

Marijuana Patients Will Ask Mass. Legislators To Support Safe Access

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: ABC News

A group of medical marijuana patients and advocates will hold a press conference Thursday to ask Massachusetts lawmakers to support medical marijuana.

The Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health is currently considering a bill that would make Massachusetts the 15th state in the nation to give seriously ill patients safe and legal access to medical marijuana.

Last September, Suffolk University released poll results showing that 81 percent of Massachusetts residents support allowing “seriously ill patients to use, grow, and purchase marijuana for medical purposes if they have the approval of their physicians.”

Marijuana Dispensaries Coming To Vermont? Committee Votes Thursday

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

Photo: Grateful Meds

An effort to provide eligible patients in Vermont with safe and legal access to medical marijuana could move forward this week when a Senate committee votes on whether to create state-licensed dispensaries for cannabis.

The Senate Committee on Government Operations is scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill which would establish up to five “compassion centers” at which patients could buy medical pot, reports Peter Hirschfield of the Vermont Press Bureau.

U.N. Meddles With U.S. State Pot Laws; Group Cries Foul

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 9, 2010 Global, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: ficiency.com

Hear the latest from those prohibitionist drug warriors at the United Nations? They don’t like medical marijuana, and they’re offering free (and unsolicited) input to the 14 states in the U.S. that have legalized the medicinal use of cannabis.

The U.N.’s International Narcotics Control Board’s (INCB) attempts to meddle in marijuana reform in the United States were denounced by the Marijuana Policy Project on Thursday.

The INCB, which is currently meeting in Vienna, Austria, said in a recent report that they were “deeply concerned” that the 14 U.S. states that have medical marijuana laws are sending the “wrong message to other countries.”

And here you were thinking that American states got to decide for themselves what “messages” to send! Silly you, they’re supposed to get the permission of the United Nations, first!

“The last thing the INCB should be doing is meddling in our states’ affairs,” said Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations.

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