Toke of the Town

Browsing: Medical

Appeals Court: Medical Marijuana Use OK While On Probation

0
By on Legislation, Medical

Photo: LAist

​A Sutter County, California judge was wrong in not allowing a man who had been convicted of transporting methamphetamine to use medical marijuana while on probation, appellate justices ruled on Friday.

In a 22-page ruling, the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento said Vernon Emile Smith Jr., 23, of Sacramento, had a right to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s authorization under California’s Compassionate Use Act, reports Rob Young at the Marysville Appeal-Democrat.
Read More

Arizona’s Pot Patients Have Job Protection; California’s Don’t

0
By on Legislation, Medical

Photo: Addiction Inbox

​​When Arizona in November became the 15th state in the union to legalize medical marijuana, with voters approving Prop 203 by a thin margin, they got something that perhaps no other state has: employment protection for patients.

It’s much more difficult to get a doctor’s recommendation for cannabis in Arizona, and possession is limited to only 2.5 ounces, nobody can grow more than 12 plants, and if you live within 25 miles of a dispensary, you can’t grow at all. But unless you show up at work noticeably impaired, you won’t be fired simply for being a medical marijuana patient, points out Joe Eskinazi at the SF Weekly.
In California, Oregon, Washington, and most or all other medical marijuana states — even though you aren’t breaking the law if you use marijuana medically with a doctor’s recommendation — you can still get your ass fired in a heartbeat if, say, you have a workplace accident and get the standard urinalysis that follows.
Read More

New Mexico Says Cities Can’t Regulate Medical Marijuana

0
By on Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: ABC News

​Farmington, New Mexico has said it will quickly develop zoning regulations on medical marijuana during a six-month moratorium, but the State of New Mexico contends the city doesn’t have any authority to regulate.

The New Mexico Department of Health is the state agency tasked with regulating medical marijuana throughout the state, said spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer, reports Steve Lynn at The Farmington Daily Times.
“It doesn’t appear as if local municipalities have any legal authority over the system,” Busemeyer said. “The state is in charge of approving producers and we will continue to do so as needed. The moratorium I don’t think would affect our decisions.”
Read More

Israel’s Terminally Ill To Cops: Keep Hands Off Medical Marijuana

0
By on Global, Medical, News

Photo: Reuters
A patient sits in a wheelchair as a Tikkun Olam worker in Tel Aviv helps him smoke cannabis from a bong.

​Dozens of disabled and terminally ill Israelis protested outside a Tel Aviv medical marijuana clinic on Sunday, responding to a recent police raid of the clinic.

The protest came four days after police raided a storefront dispensary run by the group Tikkun Olam, the nonprofit where patients came to get medicinal cannabis. During the raid, police arrested two managers and held them for questioning for several hours, supposedly on suspicion of “drug trafficking,” reports Ben Hartman at The Jerusalem Post.
Police actions against the storefront and its patients mainly harm gravely ill persons seeking medical treatment, said Shai Meir, spokesman for Tikkun Olam, Israel’s largest supplier of medical marijuana.
Read More

Arizona Won’t Regulate Marijuana’s Strength Or Quality

0
By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: TestCountry.com

​Arizona has no plans to regulate the strength or quality of medical marijuana sold at dispensaries, authorized last month by voters, when they start opening next year.

The top health official in the state said buyers of medicinal cannabis will know when the pot was grown, whether pesticides were used or even how often it was watered, but not the potency, reports Howard Fischer at the Arizona Daily Star.
The Department of Health Services is writing the rules for distribution of medical marijuana once the new law takes effect in March 2011.
“We’ve got some basic labeling requirements,” state health director Will Humble said. “But we haven’t gone that extra step to require an analysis to determine exactly how much THC in every single piece of inventory. And I doubt that we’re going to go there.”
Read More

Oakland Dispensaries Sold 4.2 Million Joints This Year

0
By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Harborside Health Center
Steve DeAngelo’s Harborside Health Center, the biggest dispensary in the Bay Area, brought in about $20 million this year.

City’s Medical Pot Sales Reach $35 Million In 2010 
Most sectors of the economy are pretty grim right now, but that assessment doesn’t include the medical marijuana business in Oakland, California.

The city is projecting that Oakland’s three dispensaries will sell between $35 million and $38 million worth of cannabis this year, reports Zusha Elinson at The Bay Citizen. That means about three and a quarter tons of marijuana — 104,000 ounces, or 4.2 million joints.
The total has been getting higher and higher since Oakland started keeping track in 2004, when the dispensaries paid taxes on $4.2 million worth of sales. The figures are derived from the business tax paid to the city by dispensaries on their gross receipts.
Read More

Public Comments Open On Colorado Medical Marijuana Rules

0
By on Legislation, Medical

Photo: examiner.com

​The Colorado Department of Revenue has released 99 pages of new regulations governing medical marijuana in the state.

The public has until January 14, 2011 to submit written comments on the new rules.
In addition, there will be a public hearing on January 27 and 28, 2011.
One item among the regulations and procedures for Colorado’s medical cannabis industry is making some patients particularly nervous — the plan for a massive new database of patients who enroll in the Medical Marijuana Registry.
The list will be available around the clock to law enforcement agencies.
The Cannabis Therapy Institute has called the new plans a violation of the Constitutional amendment approved a decade ago by Colorado voters when they legalized medical marijuana.
Read More

Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards This Weekend

0
By on Culture, Medical, News

Graphic: Oregon NORML

​The Oregon Medical Cannabis Awards, in which premier marijuana strains will compete for the highest honor, will be held this weekend in Portland. The day-long event encompasses much more than just the awards ceremony, with a unique green shopping bazaar and plenty of educational programs also on the agenda.

The day event is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, December 18, at the World Famous Cannabis Cafe, 322 SE 82nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97216.
The Cannabis Cafe is a private club that serves Oregon Medical Marijuana Program registrants, and is not usually open to the public, reports Anna Diaz at Hemp News. The OMCA provides a special opportunity for the curious to get a peek inside, as well as the chance to shop for a wide variety of hemp and cannabis friendly products in one place.
Read More

Washington Wants To Collect Medical Marijuana Sales Tax

0
By on Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Boulder Weekly
Washington State wants its cut of medical marijuana sales — and if it doesn’t get them, the DEA could be visiting.

​Activists Worry It’s A Way To Open The Door To The Feds

The Washington State Department of Revenue has launched a statewide effort to collect sales tax from medical marijuana dispensaries.

The department mailed letters to 90 dispensaries and “related organizations” on Friday, insisting that medical marijuana is not exempt from state sales tax — as are other medicines — and telling dispensaries they must collect that money and turn it over to the state, according to The Associated Press.
The letter also warned dispensaries that they must pay Washington state’s business and occupation tax, according to Department of Revenue spokesman Mike Gowrylow.
“Are sales of ‘Medical Marijuana’ subject to sales tax?” asks an informational page on the website of the Washington State Department of Revenue, and of course no time is wasted in giving the answer.
“In the state of Washington, sales of medical marijuana are retail sales,” the site informs us. “As such, the seller is subject to the business and occupation (B&O) tax under the retailing classification. This is true even if it is sold by a medical marijuana dispensary.”
Read More

California Medical Marijuana User Free After Alabama Plea Deal

0
By on Medical, News

Photo: Reality Catcher
Michael Lapihuska (left) being interviewed by Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott, Birmingham, Alabama, October 9, 2010

​A former Alabama resident who was busted for pot while back home for the holidays last December — and who is a legal medical marijuana patient in California — will finally be able to return home after signing a plea deal Monday for 13 months’ unsupervised probation.

“I really don’t even feel like it’s over yet,” said Michael Lapihuska, who was arrested in Anniston, Alabama in December 2009 for the medical marijuana authorized by his doctor. “I don’t — maybe after I get back to California,” he said, reports Laura Camper at The Anniston Star.
Monday’s plea deal lowered the felony marijuana charge to a misdemeanor, and allowed Lapihuska to plead guilty to that count and an original misdemeanor possession charge, reports the Mobile Press Register.
Read More
1 … 154 155 156 157 158 … 203