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Victory In San Diego: Medical Marijuana Patient NOT GUILTY, All Counts!

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

Photo: Eugene Davidovich

Medical marijuana patient, provider and activist Eugene Davidovich was victorious in court today.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s war on medical marijuana patients and providers suffered another crushing defeat Thursday afternoon, as activist Eugene Davidovich was acquitted by a jury of all charges stemming from his arrest last year as part of Operation Endless Summer.

Davidovich was facing four felony charges and the very real possibility of a long prison sentence.

A Navy veteran with an honorable discharge, Davidovich started a legal medical marijuana collective in San Diego, carefully abiding by state law.

Eugene was arrested in February 2009 by San Diego narcotics officers for providing another legal patient with medical marijuana.

He told Toke of the Town that the chief investigative officer in his case testified on the stand that the officer based his expert testimony on “medical marijuana training” on a handout from something called the Narcotic Educational Foundation of America, “Drug Abuse Education Provider of the California Narcotic Officers’ Association.”

In these “training” materials, titled Use of Marijuana As A “Medicine” (PDF) (the quotes are theirs), we learn immediately — in the first sentence! — how these guys roll.

Arizona: Senate Decides Thursday Whether To Tax Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 25, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

Arizona lawmakers are seeing green, and it’s not just sticky buds they’re ogling. State voters may get the chance to legalize medical marijuana in November — and the Legislature is already deciding whether to tax it.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative that would allow using cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation, reports the Arizona Daily Sun.

Kansas: Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 25, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Jim Spellman/CNN

A bill has been introduced in the Kansas Legislature which would legalize the use of medical marijuana by seriously ill individuals with certain debilitating medical conditions.

House Bill 2610, titled the Medical Marijuana Act, would create registered marijuana dispensaries known as compassion centers. These are defined as a non-profit organization “that acquires, possesses, cultivates, manufactures, delivers, transfers, transports, supplies or dispenses marijuana or related supplies and educational material to cardholders,” reports Lauren Garrison at the Kansas State Collegian.

County Given Federal Clearance To Take Patients To Pot Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 25, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: V. Richard Haro/The Coloradoan

Donnie Hayes of Fort Collins, Colorado, is a blind medical marijuana patient who was initially denied a ride to the dispensary in a county vehicle for disabled people.

Larimer County, Colorado officials have given the go-ahead for a disabled medical marijuana patient to resume catching a ride to get his medicine at a dispensary in a county-owned vehicle.

The Larimer Lift, a paratransit service for disabled people living outside city limits, will now take clients to medical marijuana dispensaries “and anywhere else they wish to go,” according to Gary Darling, director of criminal justice services for the county, reports Kevin Dugan at the Fort Collins Coloradoan.

Larimer Lift officials had previously stopped taking Donnie Hayes, a blind medical marijuana patient, to a dispensary in Fort Collins, blaming their uncertainty over whether doing so could jeopardize federal funding for the program.

New York Could Become 15th State To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 23, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: GanjaGrow.es

A primo bud of Big Apple namesake New York Diesel. The Empire State is primed to become the 15th in the nation to allow medical marijuana — but, sadly, with no homegrown allowed.

Months after neighboring New Jersey became the 14th U.S. state to legalize marijuana for medical use with a doctor’s recommendation, New York appears ready to follow suit.

The Empire State’s medical marijuana bill has already passed the State House, and now has favorably cleared a Senate committee, included in the state budget.

Millions in license fees are at stake, reports Lou Young at CBS, but advocates say that’s not why the bill should be approved.

Young reports opposition to the New York bill is weakening, but marijuana being marijuana, of course there are some nervous Nellies.

“We’ve seen it in California. It doesn’t work in California,” lamented the hysterically reefer-phobic Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). “We believe, I believe personally that it’s a gateway drug and it will open up for more usage of marijuana amongst kids, and lead to further drug use across our state,” Golden said, in an apparent (and if so, successful) attempt to construct an elaborate sentence containing absolutely no trace of intelligent thought.

Colorado Lawmakers Want To Bar Cities From Banning Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: David Walter Banks

Boulder County Caregivers employees Randy (left) and Peter Kurzawski, behind the counter, help customers at the dispensary in Boulder, Colorado.

A Colorado House committee wants to bar communities in the state from banning medical marijuana dispensaries.

The House Judiciary Committee said Monday that communities already have the power to license and zone the dispensaries, making a ban unnecessary.

Lawmakers aren’t sure if the laws apply to home rule communities like Denver, reports The Associated Press.

The committee rejected a proposal that would have allowed veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to use medical marijuana, saying lawmakers “shouldn’t be making medical decisions.”

Poll: 50 Percent Of New York Voters Favor Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: NORML

A new poll shows half of New York state voters support legalizing the medicinal use of marijuana.

The Siena Research Institute says 50 percent back medical legalization, while 41 percent are opposed and 9 percent say they don’t have enough information, reports The Associated Press.

Medical marijuana was particularly popular among liberals (72 percent support), among those between 18 and 34 (62 percent), and Democrats (55 percent), according to pollster Steven Greenberg.

Conservatives opposed medical pot (61 percent), as did Republicans (59 percent).

The poll surveyed 810 registered voters in New York from Monday through Thursday of last week. The margin of error is 3.4 percentage points.

Medical Marijuana Supporters Pray For Pot At Wisconsin Capitol

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Supporters of a medical marijuana bill in Wisconsin will gather to pray on the State Capitol steps Tuesday, hoping to convince lawmakers to legalize medicinal cannabis in the Badger State.

The Statewide Day of Prayer for Compassion will include ceremonies at noon on Tuesday on the State Street steps, featuring preachers, medical marijuana patients and advocates, and others, reports Bill Novak at The Cap Times.

The day is prayer is to show support for the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act, the latest legislation in a decades-long fight to get marijuana approved as medicine in Wisconsin.

Lawmaker Says Marijuana Should Be Allowed For Veterans With PTSD

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: wussuphater.wordpress.com

A Colorado lawmaker wants veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder to be able to use medical marijuana.

Sen. Sal Pace (D-Pueblo) will try to amend proposed medical marijuana regulations, House Bill 1284, to allow the practice during a committee meeting Monday, reports The Associated Press.

The amendment would require PTSD sufferers to get a recommendation from a psychiatrist before they would qualify for medical cannabis.

“Frankly, I think it’s one small step to help our veterans,” Pace said. “An eight-member board of physicians in New Mexico just verified that medical marijuana does assist in fighting the symptoms of PTSD,” he told The Denver Channel.

Arizona: Medical Marijuana Law Would Protect Workers

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

Photo: gkissane

Arizona issued “tax stamps” for marijuana as part of Reagan’s War on Drugs in the 1980s. If a medical marijuana initiative passes in November, the Grand Canyon State will have another go at taxing cannabis.

What happened in Michigan to a WalMart worker who was fired for testing positive for doctor-recommended medical marijuana probably could not happen in Arizona — if voters approve a ballot measure in November.

The initiative would allow doctors to recommend marijuana for patients who are suffering from certain conditions, reports Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services. It would also allow creation of a network of nonprofit dispensaries that would sell cannabis to those with doctor recommendations. Patients who are not within 25 miles of a dispensary would be allowed to grow their own.

The ballot measure also contains anti-discrimination provisions, including one that says an employer cannot make hiring, firing and disciplinary decisions based on a person’s status as a medical marijuana card holder.

Possibly more significant, the protection extends to someone who tests positive unless the company could prove the person used or possessed marijuana on the job, or was “impaired” during work hours.

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