Medical

Michigan Medical Marijuana Smokers Club Reopens After Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 4, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Rev. Wayne Dagit before the bust: “I’m not serving pot, I’m serving the Lord.” Dagit remains in jail on $500,000 bond.

A Michigan medical marijuana smokers club has reopened for business while its owner, the Rev. Frederick Wayne Dagit, remains in jail on $500,000 bond.

Dagit, 60, was arrested May 26 after the Tri-County Narcotics Team raided the Green Leaf Smokers Club and his home in Meridian Township east of Lansing. Police said they seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana, mostly at Dagit’s home, reports the Lansing State Journal.

“They treated us like criminals, forced us to the ground, even though I have to walk with a cane,” said patient Terry Clark, 48, who said he suffers from arthritis, seizures and chronic pain.

Clark and the one other customer in the club at the time eventually were asked to show their state-issued medical marijuana cards, which they did, according to Clark. They were then allowed to leave.

Oakland Could Allow, Regulate Commercial Marijuana Growing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 3, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: Humcounty.com

Two members of the Oakland City Council are planning to propose legislation, possibly this month, that would allow and regulate the commercial cultivation of medical marijuana.

Council members Larry Reid and Rebecca Kaplan said they hope the rules will limit the public hazards sometimes associated with large-scale illegal marijuana growing operations, reports Kelly Rayburn of The Oakland Tribune.

Under their plan, Oakland, California would allow a small number of commercial marijuana cultivators, regulate them carefully, collect taxes on the revenue, and, Reid and Kaplan hope, keep neighborhoods safer.

Elementary Schoolkids Given Anti-Medical Pot Propaganda

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 3, 2010 Culture, Medical

Graphic: KAJ18

A controversial anti-medical marijuana flyer forced upon elementary school students in Billings, Montana, is causing an uproar.

About 300 Newman Elementary School students went home with the propagandistic flyer Tuesday afternoon. The flyer asks people to “take action” against the medical marijuana business, reports KAJ18.

With the headline “Medical Marijuana Crisis,” the bright-yellow flyers call marijuana a “gateway drug” and urge parents to “take back control” by contacting local officials, attending public meetings or volunteering time, reports the Billings Gazette.

“Our community and our children are at risk,” the flyers read in capital letters.

The inaccurate and often alarmist information on the flyers is not credited to any source, and an email address listed at the bottom does not work.

Group Pushes For Legalized Medical Marijuana In Pennsylvania

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 3, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: PennLive.com

Bills that would legalize the medical use of marijuana are before the Pennsylvania House and Senate — and polls show that a majority of Pennsylvanians support them.

If the Legislature follows the will of the people, the Keystone State would be the 15th in the nation to legalize medicinal use of cannabis.

The Legislature is seriously considering making marijuana legal for seriously ill patients with specific conditions, but as usual, opponents are claiming it will make pot more available to everyone — as if anyone who wants weed can’t find it already.

Colorado High Court Declines To Hear Big Medical Pot Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 3, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Johnny California

The controversial court ruling last year requiring medical marijuana caregivers and dispensaries to do more than simply supply cannabis will not be heard by the Colorado Supreme Court.

The high court on Thursday declined to hear on appeal People v. Clendenin, a case in which the Court of Appeals upheld Stacy Clendenin for cultivation and sale of marijuana, reports Matt Masich at Law Week Colorado. Clendenin argued it was legal for her to sell medical marijuana because she qualified as a caregiver under Colorado’s medical marijuana law approved by voters in 2000.

D.C. Could Collect $400K In Marijuana Taxes Over Next 5 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: MaryjSpot.com

A medical marijuana tax could generate about $400,000 for Washington, D.C., over the next five years, according to an estimate from the city’s top financial officer released on Tuesday.

Washington’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer provided the estimate to the D.C. Council, which has proposed taxing marijuana as part of budget negotiations, reports Jessica Gresko at The Washington Examiner.

D.C. voters legalized medical marijuana in 1998, but Congress for more than a decade blocked implementation of the law, until last December.

Arizona: Medical Marijuana Qualifies For November Ballot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

An initiative which would legalize medical marijuana has qualified for the November ballot in Arizona.

The Arizona Secretary of State on Tuesday informed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP) that it had turned in the required number of signatures — 153,365 — to qualify for the ballot. The initiative will be presented to Arizona voters for approval on November 2, reports the Tucson Citizen.

AMMPP in April turned in 252,000 signatures to make sure that the required 153,365 valid signatures were turned it.

California Patients Challenge Marijuana Restrictions

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

Photo: LAist

Medical marijuana patients say a Los Angeles ordinance violates state law and will unconstitutionally restrict their safe access to the medicine. The patients are filing a class action in California Superior Court.

L.A.’s new medical pot ordinance will cap the number of marijuana dispensaries at 70, but about 187 shops that registered with the city before November 13, 2007 will be allowed to continue operating, reports June Williams at Courthouse News Service.

“The effect of this ordinance will be to eliminate most, if not all, of the dispensing operations currently providing patients with their medicine,” the complaint reads. “Additionally, the cap of 70 is arbitrary and unreasonable given patient per capita allocations, particularly when compared to pharmacies, which have no such cap.”

“Though the city states in its findings that it desires to protect the impact of these operations on the city’s neighborhoods, the net effect of the restrictions will be to create mega-collective dispensaries that will have a greater impact on neighborhoods,” according to the complaint.

Montana: Most Would Still Vote For Medical Marijuana Law

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

Graphic: KFBB

A local newspaper poll indicates that Montanans still support legalized medical marijuana in their state.

The citizens of Montana legalized medical marijuana in 2004 with an overwhelming 62 percent of the vote.

The new law didn’t attract a lot of attention until the federal government announced last year that it would not go after medical marijuana patients and providers who are abiding by their state laws determining legal use of cannabis.

But since then, the medical marijuana industry has boomed in Montana, and some anti-drug zealots are now claiming the law is too vague, that it has allowed the sale of marijuana in circumstances that voters didn’t have in mind when they passed the initiative six years ago, reports the Helena Independent Record.

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