Medical

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Sheriff Pays Woman $20,000 To Replace Her Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 26, 2010 Medical, News

In yet another embarrassing loss for law enforcement in California, who have tried for years to ignore the fact that medicinal cannabis is legal in the state — and has been for 14 years now — San Luis Obispo County cut a $20,000 check on Monday to a patient whose medical marijuana was wrongfully destroyed.

The county paid 46-year-old Kimberly Marshall the equivalent of $3,333 per pound, the replacement value for six pounds of a specially grown outdoor strain of pot, reports Karen Velie at Cal Coast News.

Blind Medical Pot Patient’s Case Against City Fast-Tracked

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Miguel Vasconcellos/The Orange County Register

Shelly White feeds her daughter, Malinda Traudt, peanut butter balls after Malinda started showing signs of being in pain. White is afraid officials at the city of Dana Point will close a local dispensary where she gets medical marijuana to treat her daughter’s severe osteoporosis pain and cerebral palsy.

A September trial date has been set for a lawsuit brought by a blind woman with cerebral palsy and epilepsy who is trying to stop the city of Dana Point, California from shutting down a collective that supplies her with medical marijuana.

A Superior Court judge on Monday scheduled a trial date of September 20 for San Clemente resident Malinda Traudt, 29, according to The Associated Press.

Traudt’s attorney, Jeffrey Schwartz, argued that her lawsuit, filed last week, should be put on a “fast track” because Traudt has “serious, life-threatening health problems” and may not live long enough for it to go through the normal legal process, reports Vik Jolly at The Orange County Register.

Congress Tries To Stop Denial Of Banking To Marijuana Providers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: North Coast Journal

In yet another example of America’s weird double standard when it comes to medical marijuana — which is now legal in 14 states — legitimate medical cannabis providers have been denied banking services or even had their existing accounts terminated, just for being involved in the medical marijuana business.

Fifteen members of Congress sent a letter Friday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him to issue “written guidance for financial institutions,” which would commit the Department to not targeting institutions whose account holders are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

The patient advocate group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) said it has received “dozens of reports” over the past couple of years from medical marijuana providers in California, Colorado and other states who have either been denied financial services or even had their existing bank accounts terminated with little or no justification.

Legal Michigan Patient’s Property Destroyed In Marijuana Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: Edwyn W. Boyke

This photo was taken by legal medical marijuana patient Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, after police raided his home and destroyed his $7,000 grow setup.

When U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents and the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Department raided Edwyn W. Boyke Jr.’s house on April 15, they didn’t just thuggishly bust up his grow room.

They also confiscated a lot of his property — including a car, TV, two lawnmowers, a little pocket cash, scales, five jars of harvested marijuana, little seedlings, and larger plants — along with Boyke’s Michigan medical marijuana card.

Boyke still hasn’t been charged with a crime, and he is legally allowed to grow and use marijuana under a law Michigan voters passed in a landslide with 63 percent of the vote in 2008, reports The Saginaw News.

Maine Will Have Eight Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Opposing Views

Medical marijuana patients in Maine soon won’t have to go very far for their doctor-recommended and legally protected medicine. The state will announce the locations of eight regional dispensaries in July, reports Charles McMahon at SeaCoastOnline.com.

Earlier this month, the state started accepting applications from nonprofit corporations to become dispensaries under Maine’s Medical Use of Marijuana Act. The Division of Licensing and Regulatory Services (DLRS) in the Department of Health and Human Services will be in charge of the selection process.

The state will only allow eight dispensaries, one in each of Maine’s eight public Health Districts, according to a DHHS release. John Martins, DHHS director of employee and public communications, said the state has determined it will regionalize the dispensaries.

Pennsylvania Legislators Say Medical Marijuana ‘Not A Priority’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Lara Brenckle/The Patriot-News

Supporters of the movement to legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania rallied on the steps of the state Capitol in Harrisburg in July 2009.

The debate over legalizing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania has heated up in recent weeks, but the issue is still not a priority in the Legislature, according to a spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus.

“He believes it’s an issue that deserves greater discussion, but now is not the time for that,” spokesman Bill Thomas said, reports Bob Kalinowski at Citizens Voice.

“This is an issue that deserves further discussion, but it is not a priority,” Thomas said.

A group supporting legalization of cannabis for medical use held a rally on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre on May 8. Then, on Wednesday of last week, area police and anti-drug activists held a press conference at Luzerne County Courthouse to urge lawmakers to reject any proposals to legalize medical marijuana.

Here’s What Your Grow Room Looks Like After The Cops Raid It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: Edwyn W. Boyke

This photo was taken by legal medical marijuana patient Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, after police raided his home and destroyed his $7,000 grow setup.

Saginaw County, Michigan sheriff’s department officials claim their “destruction policy” will change after a legal medical marijuana grower released photos of his basement grow room following a police “visit.”

Deputies will discontinue their policy of destroying all grow room equipment when they serve search warrants at the homes of medical marijuana patients or caretakers, Saginaw County Sheriff’s Detective Randy P. Pfau claimed.

Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, released the sobering photos after the raid conducted by deputies and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in the basement of his home, reports Gus Burns of The Saginaw News.

Nation’s Biggest Medical Pot Farm Coming To Michigan?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: Legal Juice

All those plants, and not a pants pocket anywhere.

Let’s get one thing out of the way to begin with. If you get a job at the proposed biggest medical marijuana farm in the United States, you will be required to wear coveralls without pockets, so don’t plan on pilfering.

The huge, 25,000-plant marijuana growing operation could be coming to Michigan soon. A Florida man has approached officials to convert an empty paper plant in Frenchtown Charter Township into a gargantuan cannabis growing factory.

The planned operation would have 340 compartments, reports Dick Berry of WTOL. Each can supply five qualified patients and grow a dozen plans per patient, “which means the building could house up to 25,000 plants worth millions,” Berry reports.

Medical Marijuana Provider First To Be Tried Under New Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Movement In Action

A North San Diego County medical marijuana provider, James Stacy, will be the first such case to go to trial after the Justice Department issued its new enforcement policy in October 2009, a month after the raid.

The trial date will be scheduled on Wednesday for Stacy, whose Vista dispensary was raided on September 9, 2009. Stacy will argue at the hearing that he’s entitled to admit evidence of state law compliance, something which has been routinely denied to defendants in federal marijuana cases. Unlike the state laws in California and 13 other states, federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I “narcotic,” with no medical value.

Stacy’s dispensary, Movement In Action, was raided along with more than a dozen other San Diego County dispensaries as part of local-federal joint enforcement actions known as “Operation Endless Summer” which resulted in more than 30 arrests.

Anti-Pot Zealots Take Wild-Eyed Stand In Santa Barbara

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: The Santa Barbara Independent

Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown shows special housing he has prepared for medical marijuana patients

A rabidly anti-marijuana coalition made up of various groups in Santa Barbara, California, including one charming bunch called “Don’t Cannabis Our Community,” are “demanding a ban on marijuana dispensaries” in the city. There is still no word on when the same confederacy of wingnuts plans to take a brave stand against Vicodin, Valium or Viagra.

The misguided butt-inskys plan to gather at Santa Barbara City Hall Tuesday before the Concil meeting on a revised medical cannabis dispensary ordinance, and publicly call for a complete ban on the medicine.

The mission statement for the coalition quickly removes any doubt that this is a group of people seriously disconnected from reality.

“We, the citizens of Santa Barbara demand protection for all of our citizens, schools, and recovery centers from the harm of marijuana sold from storefronts, and we demand immediate enforcement of all pot shops operating without permit,” the statement, undoubtedly damp with indignant spittle, reads.

“Our permitted dispensaries are breaking the law and we demand the city close them immediately,” the statement says.

The usual robotically anti-pot dunderheads were quick to join the low-IQ chorus.

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