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420 University Kick Starts Cannabis Education In Michigan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Growing, Medical

Ed Rosenthal will present “Let’s Get Growing,” a cultivation workshop, as part of 420 University’s seminar on compassionate care in July.

Michigan’s growing medical marijuana industry will have available an instructional series of classes on compassionate care and the cultivation of cannabis at a July seminar.

On July 10 and 11, Kalamazoo, Mich., will host 420 University’s first-ever weekend seminar, with instruction from prominent industry educators including cannabinoid scholar Dr. Robert Melamede, who is CEO and president of Cannabis Science, Inc., and the celebrated Guru of Ganja, Ed Rosenthal of Quick Trading.

As students, professionals, and educators gather at 420 University for the inaugural weekend of training in compassionate care, experts like Rosenthal and Melamede will provide instruction on cannabinoid science, certification, cultivation, cooking, legal issues, and public policy. All full listing of course topics can be found at 420University.com.

Washington D.C. Legalizes Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Dave’s blog of random shit

Federal medical marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld smokes a joint in front of the Capitol Building

The D.C. Council on Tuesday approved amendments to a medical marijuana law first passed in 1998 by 69 percent of District voters. Congress had blocked implementation of Initiative 59 for more than a decade, until it lifted its ban last year.

With Tuesday’s vote, the District of Columbia joins the 14 states across the country which already allow qualified patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest.

“Today marks a long overdue victory for D.C. voters and potentially thousands of chronically ill residents who will benefit from legal access to medical marijuana,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project.

What’s Up With Tightening Medical Marijuana Laws?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

There’s a disquieting trend lately in the medical marijuana arena. To this close observer of the rhetoric and results surrounding state (and District of Columbia) restrictions on medicinal use of cannabis, every law seems a little tighter than the one before.

It seems it’s become de rigueur for politicians to announce “this would be the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation” every time legislation is introduced, as if the states are in some sort of twisted competition to see who can be the meanest to sick people.

Since when is making safe access to marijuana difficult or impossible for patients something to brag about?

For instance, the new medical marijuana law in New Jersey, and, apparently the one to be voted on this week in D.C., prohibit cannabis cultivation by qualified patients. For many low income patients, this represents the only realistic chance of obtaining quality medicine.

San Diego Man Getting His Weed Back From The Cops

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

Photo: Eugene Davidovich

Eugene Davidovich on getting his weed back: “Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?”

A judge Friday morning ordered the San Diego Police Department to return all property seized from medical marijuana patient and provider Eugene Davidovich, including the dried marijuana and concentrated cannabis seized more than a year ago, in February 2009.

“Although I don’t agree with this, I have no choice but to return the property of Mr. Davidovich,” said Judge David Szumowski.

“After receiving a refusal from the District Attorney’s office to comply with our letter of demand for the return of all my property, today we were forced to spend more of our resources as well as the taxpayers’ resources on frivolous litigation caused by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s bias and hate towards medical marijuana,” Davidovich said.

“Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?” Davidovich asked.

Davidovich, the former defendant in a San Diego medical marijuana trial, said the office of the District Attorney was wrongfully holding his belongings, despite his acquittal by a jury.

Eugene became a spokesman for local medical marijuana patients when his home was raided and four charges brought against him. According to Davidovich, the reason he had to go back to court to get his belongings is likely political.

Davidovich was one of 37 people charged with criminal offenses during Operation Endless Summer in 2008. He was unanimously found not guilty by a jury on March 25.

Federal Judge Suggests Reclassifying Medical Marijuana

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

Chamot’s “Round Up Of Usual Suspects”

Federal Judge George H. Wu: “Much of the problems could be ameliorated… by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I.”

A federal judge issued a sentencing order Thursday stating that medical marijuana provider Charles C. Lynch was “caught in the middle of the shifting positions” on the issue. “Much of the problems could be ameliorated… by the reclassification of marijuana from Schedule I,” the judge wrote.

Lynch gained notoriety as a federal medical marijuana defendant who was prosecuted and convicted in 2008 under the Bush Administration, then sentenced after President Obama signaled a change in federal enforcement policy.

“Yet another federal judge has called on the government to reconsider the current status of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medical value,” said Joe Elford, chief counsel with Americans for Safe Access, of Judge George H. Wu’s 41-page sentencing order.

“Judge Wu’s sentencing order also begs the question of why the federal government is still prosecuting medical marijuana cases,” Elford said.

D.C. Council To Vote On Medical Marijuana Law Next Week

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 30, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Koehler Law

As the D.C. Council prepares to approve and enact amendments to a medical marijuana law first passed in 1998 by 69 percent of District of Columbia voters, advocates for sensible and compassionate medical cannabis programs remain concerned with several components of the current proposal.

“In crafting this legislation, the Council has been responsive to many concerns raised by the community, so we thank and congratulate them for their work thus far,” said Dan Riffle, a legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). “Still, a few amendments are needed in order to create a medical marijuana program that reflects the will of District voters.”

N.J. Man With M.S. Free On Bail While Appealing 5-Year Pot Sentence

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 27, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Photo: Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger

John Ray Wilson, a multiple sclerosis patient, has been granted $15,000 bail so he can remain free while appealing his five-year prison sentence for growing 17 marijuana plants behind his home

A Franklin Township, N.J., man who was sent to prison for growing marijuana which he said was used to treat his multiple sclerosis will remain free on $15,000 bail while he appeals his conviction, a Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.

John Ray Wilson, 37, is serving a five-year sentence for second-degree “drug manufacturing” and third-degree drug possession for growing 17 marijuana plants behind the house he rented, reports Jennifer Golson at The Star-Ledger.

California Courts Rule In Favor Of Marijuana Patients

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

Graphic: TopNews

It was an open and shut case — or at least, the police in a northern California town thought so when they confiscated more than two pounds of marijuana from a couple’s home, even though doctors authorized the pair to use cannabis for medical purposes.

San Francisco police evidently thought the same with a father and son they suspected of using the state’s medical marijuana law to operate what the cops claimed was an illegal trafficking organization, reports KTVQ.

But both those cases, along with possibly dozens of others, were tossed out in recent weeks because of a California Supreme Court ruling that struck down a seven-year-old state law that put an eight-ounce limit on the amount of marijuana that medical users are allowed to possess.

Montana Still Wastes Tax Money Arresting Medical Pot Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Livingston Current

Under Montana law, qualifying patients and caregivers may grow and possess up to six marijuana plants and one dried smokable ounce of cannabis.

Officers knocked down a Montana man’s door with a battering ram, and once inside, found what they expected — 39 marijuana plants. But they claim that it was only after thousands of dollars in equipment and cannabis were seized and destroyed that they learned Alan Edson is a legal patient, allowed to grow and sell marijuana for medical purposes.

“They proceeded to go through my entire home,” Edson said. “They confiscated and destroyed my legally licensed property and my personal property. They even went through my wife’s underwear drawer,” he said, reports Kim Skornogoski of the Great Falls Tribune.

Similar incidents are probably happening weekly across the state, according to State Narcotics Bureau Chief Mark Long. “If we get a tip that a person is growing plants — whether it’s six plants or 600 — we have to investigate it,” Long claimed.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services licenses medical marijuana patients and providers under state law. But in an all-too-common practice of pot-phobic law enforcement officers acting as if they are qualified to practice medicine, local police officers and sheriff’s deputies claim it’s their job to “make sure those people follow the law,” and they go about “making sure” with what seems close to unhealthy zeal.

Disabled Patients Take Pot Case To Federal Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register

A woman leaves the Evergreen Holistic Collective in Lake Forest, California. The collective is one of 11 remaining in the city, which is trying to shut them all down

A federal judge is expected on Monday to hear arguments on whether four marijuana patients can use the Americans with Disabilities Act to prevent two Orange County, California cities from closing medical pot dispensaries.

The lawsuit, being filed against Lake Forest and Costa Mesa on behalf of Orange County residents Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel DeJong, alleges the cities’ efforts to shut down dispensaries deny them access to public services, reports Erika I. Ritchie at The Orange County Register.

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