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Obama Sticks With DEA Nominee Despite Criticism Of Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2010 Medical, News

Michele Leonhart, deputy administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries — yet Obama wants to keep her on.

It often seems as if cannabis activists can’t agree on a lot of things. But one thing they all seem to agree upon is that President Obama should rescind the nomination of Bush holdover Michele Leonhart to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A number of progressive groups released a letter last month accusing Leonhart, a deputy administrator appointed by President George W. Bush and the acting administrator since Karen P. Tandy’s resignation in 2007, of ignoring a Justice Department directive that raiding dispensaries and growers operating legally in medical marijuana states is a “poor use of resources.”

Man Busted In Alabama For Bringing Medical Pot From California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Michael Lapihuska

In happier days: Michael Lapihuska was arrested for taking his doctor-recommended medical marijuana on a trip back home to Alabama

A former Alabama resident is facing a jail sentence for bringing his doctor-recommended medical marijuana with him from California to Alabama when he came home for the holidays last December.

Michael Lapihuska, a former resident of Anniston, Ala., was arrested December 15, 2009, when a police officer stopped him for hitchhiking, reports Laura Camper at The Anniston Star. The cop searched him, found a prescription bottle of marijuana in his pocket, and asked Lapihuska to take it out.

When the man complied, he was arrested for marijuana possession despite the doctor’s recommendation he presented to the officer.

DA Moves To Deny Medical Marijuana Defense In Second Trial

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 16, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: San Diego City Beat

San Diego County D.A. Bonnie Dumanis: Despite a pledge to respect California’s medical marijuana laws, she has waged an urelenting war against cannabis patients and providers

Despite being acquitted by a jury late last year of marijuana charges stemming from a 2008 arrest for possession and distribution, medical cannabis patient and provider Jovan Jackson is being tried by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis for a second time in less than a year.

However, for the second trial Dumanis is trying to deny Jackson, former operator of the Answerdam Alternative Care Collective (AACC), a medical marijuana defense based on the claim that “sales” are illegal under California law.

Americans for Safe Access (ASA), a medical marijuana patient advocacy group, filed an amicus (friend of the court) brief in support of Jackson’s defense, refuting the D.A.’s allegations.

“To deny a medical marijuana provider the ability to defend himself in court based on an argument that what he did was illegal, not only ignores relevant medical marijuana law, but also smacks of circular logic,” said Joe Elford, ASA chief counsel and author of the amicus brief filed on Monday.

GOP Senate Hopeful Attacks Marijuana Pain Research

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 13, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Examiner.com

GOP Senate candidate Dino Rossi captured in a rare moment without his head up his ass

You’d expect a politician to promote medical research being done at local universities. But Republican Senatorial candidate Dino Rossi of Washington on Thursday tried to gain some traction in his political campaign by attacking a local research project which studies the use of marijuana cannabinoids to control pain.

Rossi thought it would make an easy target, after all: Talk about “wasteful” federal stimulus spending to rile up the Tea Party faithful, and then drag in a tired old stoner stereotype for good measure.

“This is one of those boondoggle projects that forces you to set aside the serious economic consequences of this so-called stimulus for a moment and just laugh at how out of touch Washington, D.C., really is,” Rossi said. “Washington state taxpayers are tired of their money going up in smoke. This bill isn’t going to stimulate anything other than sales of Cheetos.”

It’s time for a diversion, Rossi seems to believe, to distract voters from inconvenient little things like, well, the fact that he was recently named to a list of the 11 Most Crooked Candidates in the United States(!) by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Minister Headed To Trial; Faces 7 Years For Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 13, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Lansing State Journal

Rev. Wayne Dagit, 60, during a July preliminary hearing. The minister faces up to 7 years in prison for providing medical marijuana to patients in Michigan.

Undercover agents spent untold thousands of tax dollars and man hours “monitoring” Rev. Wayne Dagit and patrons of the Green Leaf Smokers Club in Williamstown Township, Michigan, as part of their surveillance of the medical marijuana collective. Now the minister is headed for trial on pot charges, facing up to seven years in prison.

“He was set up from the beginning,” Rev. Dagit’s son, Mike James, told Toke of the Town. “My dad didn’t even have money for the alleged marijuana. He was so broke, he couldn’t even pay attention. They think that a man that moved into town with his 15 year old six months ago would suddenly have money and connections in Michigan for 100 pounds? There’s more to the story.”

“My father was doing everything by the book,” Jones told us. “He was set up by some kid named Matt that was supposedly a new friend of my dad’s church. He was an informant sent in to do everything in his power to set my dad up. This guy was a snake, and he did everything he could to get my dad to do something that he could get busted for. My dad never had money to buy the amount that is advertised that they confiscated.”

Discovery Can Increase Potency Of Cannabis Chemicals In Brain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2010 Medical, News

The latest research points the way towards increasing the potency of cannabis chemicals or their synthetic analogues

Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered the latest in a long list of chemicals your body naturally produces that resemble those found in marijuana — chemicals they say could eventually be turned into a smokeless cannabis replacement that offers and increases the full efficacy of marijuana’s most useful effects.

In previous papers, scientists have noted that the body manufactures several cell signals that mimic the actions of marijuana-derived chemicals. This class of compounds known as endocannabinoids, from the Latin “endo,” for inside, and cannabis, the scientific name for marijuana, plays a vital role in the human body’s regulation of things like inflammation, reports Jason Mick at DailyTech.

Good News: OR, MT Pot Cards Available To Out-Of-State Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Medical Marijuana U.S.A.

If you’re an American with a qualifying medical condition, you can legally smoke marijuana in Oregon or Montana.

If you’re an American with a qualifying medical condition, you can legally smoke marijuana in Oregon or Montana — whether you live there or not.

With the discovery of a loophole in Montana’s medical marijuana law, the Big Sky State joins Oregon in no longer requiring state residency to obtain legal authorization to use medicinal cannabis.

Montana health officials said Friday that patients don’t have to live in the state to receive medical marijuana cards.

The discovery was made after the Department of Public Health and Human Services reviewed plans to require a Montana driver’s license or state-issued ID, according to department spokesman Chuck Council.

Report: Medical Marijuana Now Allowed In Airports

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 6, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NBC Montana

Under new TSA rules, medical marijuana is allowed in airports in states where it is legal.

Medical marijuana is now allowed in airport terminals, reports Heidi Meili at nbcmontana.com.

Patients have reported “no problems” as they boarded with carry-on luggage and cannabis plants, Meili reports.

Under the new Transportation Safety Administration regulations, Meili reports that authorized patients are allowed to fly with medical cannabis, and can even change planes in states where it’s illegal.

TSA officials told Meili that state laws supersede what the agency would do in the aviation sector, and it would be up to local law enforcement officials to determine their course of action “based on whatever the person was trying to bring on board an aircraft.”

Hawaii Judge Refuses To Honor Medical Marijuana Card

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 6, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: www.medicalmarijuanablog.com

An arrogant Hawaii judge said the court wouldn’t recognize the medical marijuana card of a man who was ordered to perform 500 hours of community service as part of five years’ probation in a pot case.

Kaleo Roberson, 35, was also ordered to pay a $2,000 fine as part of his sentence imposed July 29, reports The Maui News.

Second Circuit Judge Shackley Raffetto followed a plea agreement in sentencing Roberson, who had pleaded no contest to two counts each of “first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug” (when did medical marijuana become a “detrimental drug”?) and possessing “drug paraphernalia.”

Officers got a search warrant to search professional surfer Roberson’s home after marijuana plants were seen on the property by police in a helicopter during a marijuana eradication mission, according to court records.

D.C. Medical Marijuana Patients Forced To Wait Until 2011

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 6, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Awesome DC

Advocates Say Delays Come

At Cost To Patients

Patients in Washington, D.C., who are suffering from conditions such as cancer and HIV/AIDS will now be unnecessarily forced to wait even longer for relief, according to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

Agencies tasked with overseeing D.C.’s recently approved medical marijuana law will not have the authority to begin licensing providers or accepting patient applications until January 1, 2011, according to a series of proposed regulations released Friday by Mayor Adrian Fenty and the City Administrator.

The District still needs to consider and license potential applicants to manage medical marijuana dispensaries before patients can legally obtain medical marijuana to alleviate their symptoms. Under the District’s law, qualified patients will only be allowed to legally use marijuana that comes from a licensed dispensary.

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