Medical

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Marijuana Activists Don’t Like CO’s New 35-Day Waiting Period

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 1, 2010 Legislation, Medical

If you just received your doctor’s authorization in Colorado, you now have to wait 35 days to buy any marijuana from a dispensary.

Medical cannabis activists are protesting a new policy requiring patients who just applied to the state’s medical marijuana registry to wait 35 days before they can shop at a dispensary.

Matt Cook, the Department of Revenue enforcement official who oversees Colorado’s new medical marijuana regulations, claims the position paper, written Monday, solves the riddle of how to handle sales at a dispensary to patients without a medical marijuana card, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

Colorado is months behind in issuing medical marijuana cards to patients. According to state law, applications not processed within 35 days will be considered approved until the state can get to them. But dispensary owners were unsure whether that mean they had to wait 35 days to sell to those patients, or whether proof of application alone was enough to legally get patients in the door.

Advocates Say Oregon Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Needed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Christopher Onstott/Portland Tribune

A West Linn, Oregon marijuana grower, who asked to remain anonymous, tends the crop he grows for a number of cardholding patients. The grower said he plans to open several medical marijuana dispensaries and farms statewide if Ballot Measure 74 passes in November.

Almost everyone who has offered an opinion on Oregon’s medical marijuana program — whether they support or oppose it — agrees that, one way or the other, the program needs fixing.

Activist John Sajo, a co-author of Ballot Measure 74, which would legalize medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, said the measure would go a long way towards doing that, reports Peter Korn of the Portland Tribune.

Medical marijuana advocates, including Sajo, executive director of pro-cannabis organization Voter Power, contend that as many as half of the state’s almost 40,000 cardholding patients have trouble consistently getting the medicine they are entitled to for pain relief.

That’s because the initial ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana in Oregon — passed by voters in 1998 — gave patients the right to grow their own, or designate a grower for them. But in a bit of impractical thinking, the original ballot measure said that growers could not be paid for the cannabis they supply to cardholders.

N.J. Medical Marijuana Advocates To Meet In October

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 30, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: CMMNJ

The Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey will host the first monthly meetings of its Patient Advocacy Group in locations around the state in October. Medical marijuana patients, their caregivers and physicians are invited to attend.

The New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law in January 2010, and full implementation is expected early in 2011, reports Shore News Today. With the law, New Jersey joined 13 other states and the District of Columbia in recognizing the medical applications of marijuana.

Patients with qualifying conditions, whose physicians have formally recommended medical marijuana as part of their treatment, are allowed to buy up to two ounces of cannabis per month from state-licensed dispensaries.

S.D. Medical Marijuana Supporters Rally For Measure 13

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: South Dakota Coalition for Compassion

About 100 people gathered in Rapid City, South Dakota Tuesday evening for the Rally for Compassion, sponsored by the South Dakota Coalition for Compassion, which has spearheaded the campaign for Initiated Measure 13, which calls for the legalization of medical marijuana in South Dakota.

South Dakota voters will have a chance to vote on Measure 13 in November, and Coalition for Compassion campaign director Emmett Reistroffer urged rally attendees to spread the truth about the initiative, reports Lynn Taylor Rick at the Rapid City Journal.

“There are some opponents out there lying (about the measure),” Reistroffer said. He encouraged rally attendees to set the record straight.

Arizona Sets The Stage For Medical Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

It’s about five weeks until Election Day, and the Arizona Department of Health Services is brainstorming ways to implement a medical marijuana policy in case voters approve Proposition 203, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.

The department has spoken out against Prop 203, reports Michelle Ye Hee Lee of The Arizona Republic. But if the measure passes, the department will need to draft an administrative code for implementation and set up an electronic verification system to keep track of records, including doctor authorizations, dispensary applications and cardholder registrations.

San Diego Jury Deliberating In Medical Marijuana Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: ASA San Diego

The jury is deliberating in the second trial of San Diego medical marijuana provider Jovan Jackson.

A Superior Court jury has heard the evidence in the trial of Jovan Jackson, accused of illegally selling marijuana at a now-defunct medical cannabis dispensary in Kearny Mesa, California, and is expected to begin its first full day of deliberations Tuesday.

Jackson, 32, faces charges of possession and sale of marijuana at Answerdam Collective Care on Convoy Court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to more than six years in prison, reports Dana Littlefield at Sign On San Diego.

Jackson owned Answerdam, described as a “marijuana store,” according to Deputy Attorney Chris Lindberg. The prosecutor claimed that Jackson misused California’s medical marijuana law, which he said was intended to help the sick and suffering, to “line his own pockets.”

S.D. Tea Party Leader: Medical Pot Leads To Widespread Laziness

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2010 Medical, News

Tea Party of South Dakota

Allen Unruh: “They would not want to work”

”One of the side effects is, they would not want to work.” ~ Allen Unruh, organizer for a local South Dakota Tea Party group

Supporters of a measure to legalize small amounts of marijuana for medicinal use in South Dakota on Monday sought to assure the public that it would not create pot dispensaries or open the door to full legalization.

“This is about ill people,” said Tony Ryan, a retired police officer whose wife suffers from multiple sclerosis. “It’s only about ill people. It’s not a free-for all.”

The rally also came on the same day that conservative firebrand Allen Unruh, an organizer for a local Tea Party group, denounced the medical marijuana measure as a back-door effort to legalize cannabis, which Unruh complained would lead to “widespread laziness” among users.

“One of the side effects is, they would not want to work,” Unruh said. “Unemployment is already through the roof.”

(Damn, I don’t really feel like doing the rest of this story, man. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Just kidding!)

15 Firms File Papers To Sell Medical Marijuana In Arizona

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

The rush is on. It isn’t even legal yet, unless and until the voters approve in November. But more than a dozen companies are setting up shop in Arizona in hopes of getting into the business of selling medical marijuana.

The initiative, if passed, will allow 120 dispensaries across the state, reports Howard Fischer of the Arizona Daily Star. Each one will be permitted to grow an unlimited amount of marijuana onsite and at one additional location, but cannot cultivate it within 500 feet of a school.

The Arizona law requires that medical marijuana dispensaries be set up as nonprofit corporations. But that isn’t deterring prospective dealers who hope to get one of those 120 licenses.

Entrepreneurs Eager To Tap Into Saginaw Medical Pot Market

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2010 Medical

Photo: Jared Hamilton/The Saginaw News

Keith Beyerlein, left, and Christopher Krieger, both of Reese, Mich., are the owners of GrowMart, a new hydroponic indoor growing store. The store’s merchandise could be used to grow any plant indoors, but they said 85 percent of their sales are to people who grow marijuana.

Getting their first retail business off the ground in Saginaw, Michigan’s untapped medical marijuana market made sense to two 20-something entrepreneurs from Reese.

High school buddies Keith Beyerlein, 25, who graduated from Reese High School in 2003, and Christopher Krieger, 28, a 2001 graduate, opened their new hydroponics business, GrowMart, in Saginaw in mid-July, reports Gus Burns of The Saginaw News.

The business partners are quick to point out that their store doesn’t sell marijuana or paraphernalia.

Canadian Medical Marijuana Patient Frustrated By Federal Delays

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2010 Global, Medical

Graphic: Flagspot.net

Jeff McKay has had a stressful eight months as he waits for Health Canada permit allowing him to possess and use an additional eight grams of marijuana to alleviate symptoms of HIV and Hepatitis C.

McKay, 37, of Guelph, already has a Health Canada permit allowing him to possess three grams of marijuana per day, which he takes to improve his appetite that he says has been drastically affected by HIV treatment, reports Thana Dharmarajah of the Guelph Mercury.

“Everything is riding on the balance of possessing that card,” McKay said. Following a doctor’s appointment in February, with a recommendation that he increase his daily intake of marijuana, McKay sent his application to Health Canada.

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