Legislation

Medical Marijuana Advocates Accuse L.A. City Attorney Of Entrapment

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 23, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) responded Tuesday to the Los Angeles City Attorney’s latest effort to shut down registered dispensaries by threatening to intervene in the lawsuits the city filed recently against raided collectives Organica and Holistic Caregivers.

According to ASA, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has taken preemptive enforcement action before dispensaries have a chance to comply with the recently adopted regulatory ordinance, which took more than two years to write and pass.

“It’s clear that the City Attorney is attempting to intimidate and close dispensaries before the Los Angeles ordinance even goes into effect,” said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford.

Is The Washington Legislature Really ‘Too Busy’ To Protect Medical Marijuana Patients?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Artwork: Jimmy Wheeler

The late Jimmy Wheeler, a medical marijuana patient in Washington, created this artwork. Now a proposed patient protection bill will be named in his honor.

As most medical marijuana patients in the state already know, the current medical marijuana law in Washington doesn’t protect patients from search, arrest or prosecution.

The recent Washington Supreme Court ruling in State v. Fry further highlighted how little protection — as in almost none! — the current law gives “legal” patients.

Medical marijuana activists Ken Martin and Steve Sarich of patient advocacy group CannaCare contacted every Senator and Representative in Washington at the beginning of the current 2010 legislative session, attempting to find a sponsor for their new bill that would finally offer legal patients protection from arrest and prosecution.

“We could not find a single sponsor for this bill,” Sarich told Toke of the Town. “Those I actually spoke with told me they were ‘too busy’ this session.”

“This made us curious about what, exactly, these legislators were so busy working on (besides new taxes on just about everything),” Sarich said. “What we found amazed us.”

Medical Marijuana Becomes Gray Area For Law Enforcement In Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Growing, Legislation, Medical

Photo: KTVQ

Law enforcement agencies say they have faced a bit of a struggle since medical marijuana was approved in Montana in 2004, reports Nikki Laurenzo at KTVQ.

“We are in a quandary because we have conflict between state law and federal law,” said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John.

No quandary at all, Chief. Your duty is to enforce state laws. Leave the federal laws to federal agents. Problem solved!

Denver Pot Dispensaries Have Five Days To Get A License

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Out Front Colorado

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver have only five days to apply for a city-required specific dispensary license.

Under Denver City Council Bill 34, the pot shops must have a city sales-tax license and also must apply for a specific dispensary license by March 1, reports Patricia Calhoun in Westword.

Washington, D.C. Council Sets Hearing To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 19, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Medical Marijuana Patients of the District of Columbia

The District of Columbia Council is scheduled to hold a hearing next week to discuss legislation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes in D.C.

The bill was introduced in late January when Congress — after waiting more than 12 years — finally lifted restrictions that had prevented a 1998 voter initiative from being impolemented, reports Martin Austermuhle at The DCist.

The legislation would allow the creation of five marijuana dispensaries where patients with specific ailments and a recommendation from their primary care physician could go to buy pot. Patients would also be allowed to grow their own cannabis.

Medical marijuana advocates feel the proposed legislation is too restrictive and doesn’t live up to the spirit of the 1998 voter initiative. The advocates plan to propose a set of amendments to the bill.

Victory In Washington: Jury Finds Medical Marijuana Patient Not Guilty

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Reality Catcher

Once again, a jury has seen through the lies and distortions and found a medical marijuana patient not guilty

Washington state jurors took less than two hours Thursday afternoon to find Cammie McKenzie, who grows marijuana to treat her chronic back pain, not guilty of all charges in a case where prosecutors tried to portray her as a drug dealer.

The prosecution’s unsuccessful case was notably nasty, even for a medical marijuana arrest in a state where some law enforcement officials have been slow to adjust to the legalization of medicinal cannabis passed by voters in 1998.

“This case is not about medicine. This case is about money,” Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Matthew Baldock said in his opening statements Tuesday. “The defendant was masquerading as a marijuana patient and was in reality a drug dealer, no question.”

One can only imagine the incensed reaction of Snohomish County’s good voters when they realize their scarce tax dollars are being wasted on foolishness like this.

Prosecutors and narcotics detectives claimed McKenzie, 24, was using her medical marijuana authorization as a front for an illegal pot farm at her home in Bothell, Washington, reports Diana Hefley of the Everett Herald Net.

Bill To Legalize, Tax And Regulate Pot Reintroduced In California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has reintroduced a bill to legalize marijuana in California

A bill to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol was reintroduced today in the California Assembly.

Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) reintroduced the legislation, A.B. 2254, which would create a regulatory structure similar to that used for alcoholic beverages. The bill would permit taxed sales to adults, while prohibiting sales to or possession by those under 21.

Marijuana is California’s largest cash crop, with an estimated value of $14 billion in 2006, nearly twice the combined value of the state’s number two and three crops, vegetables and grapes.

San Diego Dispensary Asks Cops To Return Its Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Last Blog on Earth

The defense team for a San Diego medical marijuana collective manager is requesting the return of several pounds of cannabis and all other property seized in a 2008 raid after Jovan Jackson was acquitted of all pot charges.

During their “investigation” of Answerdam Collective, law enforcement agents “confiscated” computers, business records, and several pounds of medical marijuana, reports Eugene Davidovich of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) San Diego.

Dispensary owner Jackson is a medical marijuana patient, Navy veteran, and the victim of two “Operation Green Rx” raids, part of San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s quixotic and misguided war against medical marijuana patients and providers.

Pot Patients Picket Obama: ‘Get The DEA Out Of Colorado’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: KDVR

Medical marijuana patients and advocates Thursday will participate in a Denver protest of the continuing federal raids of patients and providers in Colorado, according to Sensible Colorado.

The protest is in response to the recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids of two medical marijuana testing laboratories and the February 12 raid of a licensed grower in Highlands Ranch.

Iowa Pharmacy Board Opens Door To Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Patients for Medical Cannabis

One of Iowa’s biggest crops may be headed towards becoming one of its best medicines

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to recommend that the Legislature reclassify marijuana in a way that would open the door to medical uses.

The board recommended that Iowa lawmakers move cannabis from Schedule I, for which there are no permitted uses, to Schedule II, which allows medical uses, reports Tony Leys at the Des Moines Register.

Also recommended by the board was the creation of a state task force, including patients, medical professionals and law enforcement officers, to devise a way to safely implement a medical marijuana program in Iowa.

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