Medical

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Clinic, Collectives Cooperate To Kick Off Cannabis Classes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 1, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

A Seattle medical marijuana recommendation clinic has joined forces with several local collectives to offer free and reduced cost educational classes to their patients.

“We wanted to offer the best training, wellness, and educational services to the access points that exemplify the best practices and standards for the industry in the Seattle area,” said director Greta Carter of the C.A.R.E. Medical Group of Seattle.

Seattle metro area collectives joining CARE to present the classes include The CPC; Conscious Care Cooperative in Ballard, Lake City and Aurora; Green Hope in Shoreline; The Dockside in Fremont; The Joint Cooperative in the University District; and NWRPC in West Seattle, according to Carter.

“With the belief that education is an important key to the success of any healthcare program, the C.A.R.E. Loyalty Program will allow patients from different medical cannabis access points to learn about a variety of topics from cooking with medical cannabis to the laws that protect the rights of patients, providers, and healthcare providers,” reads a Tuesday press release from CARE.

The Secret Weapon That Can Get Marijuana Legalized Nationwide

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Medical

The Silver Tour

Senior citizens in Florida became medical marijuana political activists by the end of The Silver Tour’s presentation, featuring Robert Platshorn, federal medical marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld and others. Imagine the impact of a nationwide Silver Tour.

What if I told you there is a secret weapon that, if understood and utilized by the cannabis reform community, could fairly quickly and very decisively decide the issue of marijuana legalization once and for all?

Everybody knows that cannabis legalization is very, very near the tipping point in the United States. Even the folks at Gallup, not exactly known for wild-eyed political statements, said this month after examining their latest poll results — which showed that a record-high 50 percent of Americans support legalization — that “If this current trend on legalizing marijuana continues, pressure may build to bring the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s wishes.”

Drilling down into the results of that same Gallup poll reveals our potential secret weapon for marijuana legalization.

Support for legalizing cannabis is directly and inversely proportional to age, ranging from 62 percent approval among those 18 to 29, down to only 31 percent among those 65 and older.

Now, let’s think about that for a moment. One of the age groups which would most directly and immediately benefit from marijuana legalization would be our senior citizens. Acquainting seniors with this fact, and energizing them politically to support legalization, could hasten the arrival of legal cannabis by years.

ACLU-CO At Odds With ACLU-WA Over Marijuana DUI?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Legislation, Medical

THC Finder

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Colorado has endorsed an initiative to legalize marijuana in that state — one which does not establish what some activists call an “illegitimate” DUIC (Driving Under the Influence of Cannabis) law. But the ACLU of Washington state, according to Seattle-based political activist Edward Agazarm, “still out of sync with voters and supporters, stumbles forward with fatally flawed Initiative 502.”

ACLU-WA has formed New Approach Washington (NAW), a political action committee with the stated goal of promoting I-502 to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. “Unfortunately, many citizen initiatives — though well intentioned — are riddled with errors and mistakes,” Agazarm said in an email to Toke of the Town and other media outlets. “Initiative 502 is a prime example.”

“In what appears to be Washington’s latest initiative blunder, I-502 contains last-minute DUI language that, because of science, has already been rejected by state state Legislatures (Colorado and Oregon) and a state Supreme Court (Michigan),” Agazarm said.

Canadian Docs Won’t Authorize Cannabis, Leaving Patients In Pain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 31, 2011 Global, Medical

Cannabis Culture

A full decade after Canada legalized medical marijuana, most doctors in the Great White North are still refusing to sign the forms that patients need to get access to cannabis — meaning patients in pain risk jail if they use what works best to help keep them functional.

Far from improving, the predicament seems likely to get worse because of proposed changes to how Health Canada regulates access to marijuana, reports Sharon Kirkey of Postmedia News.

To the casual observer, it may seem that the government is actually easing up on the strict rules for obtaining medicinal cannabis. Health Canada has proposed removing itself as the ultimate authority in approving or rejecting medical marijuana applications.

U.S. Atty. Claims Obama Didn’t Order Med Marijuana Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

U.S. Department of Justice

Rogue U.S. Attorneys? We are being told California’s four federal prosecutors: from left, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner (Eastern District), U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy (Southern District), U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag (Northern District) and U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte (Central District), went off on their own, unauthorized by the Obama Administration, and announced a federal crackdown on medical marijuana. If that’s really true, the next we hear from these morons should be their resignations — or their mugshots.

After California’s four U.S. Attorneys announced a medical marijuana crackdown in that state, a howl of protest went up from patients and advocates. After all, the Obama Administration had said that going after patients and providers who were following state law would “not be a priority.” Now, a spokeswoman for one of the four federal prosecutors involved claims that Obama didn’t order the crackdown, and in fact wasn’t involved at all.

Is it just me, or does that “revelation” lead to mental images of a headless beast thrashing about, dangerously and inexcusably out of the control of any leader who can be held to account? Is anybody in charge here?

Are we really to believe that four rogue U.S. Attorneys have actually staged a medical marijuana coup of sorts in California, forging off on their own and writing a new federal policy 180 degrees opposed to the President’s previous position?

If that’s so, then the next we hear from these four ass-clowns should be their resignations — or their mugshots.

In any event, the outpouring of rage and dismay from the medical marijuana community must be making an impact for this sort of ridiculous announcement to be seen as necessary.

Obama Turns Up The Volume On His Medical Marijuana War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Phoenix New Times

The puzzling new federal crackdown on medical marijuana announced on October 7 by four U.S. Attorneys in California continues to send shockwaves through the industry. Safe access by seriously ill patients is endangered in many locales after the stunning reversal by the Obama Administration, which had initially pledged to respect state medical marijuana laws.

It seemed things were just going too well after the “Ogden Memo,” which announced the feds wouldn’t prioritize going after providers and patients who were abiding by state laws. Medical marijuana bloomed into an industry worth up to $100 billion (it’s difficult to know the exact figure), and apparently it got too big too fast for the prohibitionists.

What, exactly, happened to the Obama Administration’s medical marijuana policy?

What’s behind this strange about-face with which the President has alienated a sizable portion of his constituency?

Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times takes a look at the issue.

Czech Republic Works On Plan To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Global, Legislation, Medical

Mary Jane’s Garden

A government committee in the Czech Republic is working on a law to legalize medical marijuana in that Eastern European nation.

The country’s experts have proposed that marijuana would either be imported or grown locally by farmers who are registered and licensed for such a crop, which is currently illegal, reports the Associated Press.

The group also proposed on Monday that all medical marijuana patients should be registered with the government.

The draft of the new marijuana bill is scheduled for completion in December. It could become law in the Czech Republic next year if it is approved by Parliament and the executive branch of government.

Arizona Governor, AG Playing Politics With Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

The Weed Blog

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer won’t allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in her state, and now she’s trying to shut down the clubs that opened to provide safe access while patients wait for dispensaries.

The lawyer for one of Arizona’s medical marijuana clubs on Friday accused the governor and state attorney general of conspiring to undermine the voter-approved initiative legalizing cannabis for medicinal use.

“We believe that there’s a clear and blatant pattern that has transpired over the last few months,” said Thomas Dean, reports Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services. Dean said that both Gov. Jan Brewer and Atty. Gen. Tom Horne had worked to stymie the will of the voters.

“There’s plenty of evidence that it was done in a way that was conspiratorial, fraudulent,” Dean told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink.

Dean told the judge he wants to question both Gov. Brewer and Atty. Gen. Horne under oath to prove his point.

But that’s not going to happen, at least not in the way Dean envisions, Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis told the judge.

Protest For Medical Marijuana During Obama’s California Tour

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Village Voice Media

The Weed Blog

Los Angeles, High Noon, Oct. 24

San Francisco, 11:30 a.m., Oct. 25

Advocates will be protesting the federal crackdown on medical marijuana when Obama comes to visit California next Monday and Tuesday, October 24 and 25, according to California NORML.

In Los Angeles, there will be a protest at high noon on Monday, October 24 at the Federal Building downtown, 255 East Temple Street. A press conference will be held with Proposition 215 coauthor Anna Boyce, who will be demanding a meeting with President Obama at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. (The President will be visiting elsewhere in west L.A., but security will make him inaccessible.)

In San Francisco, protesters are urged to gather on Tuesday, October 25 at the northwest corner of 3rd and Mission, near the W Hotel where Obama will be attending a fundraiser lunch. “The lunch starts at 11:30, but be there early so that we can stake out a visible presence amidst a likely crowd of other protesters,” advised CA NORML director Dale Gieringer.

Witness Arrested After Testifying At Medical Marijuana Hearing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Cafe Sozo

A witness was arrested Tuesday in California after he testified in the preliminary hearing of another man facing felony charges of cultivating marijuana and possessing it for sale.

Deputies grabbed Jeffrey Lee Sanford in Butte County Superior Court after his testimony at Timothy Ole Skytte’s preliminary hearing, reports Ryan Olson of Chico ER. Skytte was arrested on August 18 after deputies found 54 marijuana plants growing on his property in Concow. Officers also found 369 more plants on a property Skytte rented to another man identified as Lawrence Evans.

“It is obvious that Butte County is using this oppressive tactic to suppress people from testifying in defense of medical providers and it is this type of behavior that challenges the fabric of our democracy,” said Mickey Martin of the website Cannabis Warrior.

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