Medical

Marijuana Could Be New Crop In New Jersey; Farm Bureau Investigates

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

New Jersey farmers see a chance to add a profitable new crop now that the state legalized medical marijuana last month.

“We would all like to grow it because we think it would be a good cash crop — literally,” said Fairfield, N.J., nurseryman Roger Ruske, reports Joseph P. Smith of the Vineland Daily Journal.

The idea is being taken seriously ever since outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine, in one of his last official acts, signed the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

The New Jersey Farm Bureau has looked into the issue in depth, and found both good news and problems with the concept.

Farm Bureau research associate Ed Wengryn said the legislation isn’t written clearly enough for the state Department of Health and Senior Services to write regulations.

“But I will say there are growers interested in it,” Wengryn said.

Washington, D.C. Council Sets Hearing To Legalize Medical Marijuana

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

Medical Marijuana Patients of the District of Columbia

The District of Columbia Council is scheduled to hold a hearing next week to discuss legislation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes in D.C.

The bill was introduced in late January when Congress — after waiting more than 12 years — finally lifted restrictions that had prevented a 1998 voter initiative from being impolemented, reports Martin Austermuhle at The DCist.

The legislation would allow the creation of five marijuana dispensaries where patients with specific ailments and a recommendation from their primary care physician could go to buy pot. Patients would also be allowed to grow their own cannabis.

Medical marijuana advocates feel the proposed legislation is too restrictive and doesn’t live up to the spirit of the 1998 voter initiative. The advocates plan to propose a set of amendments to the bill.

Victory In Washington: Jury Finds Medical Marijuana Patient Not Guilty

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Reality Catcher

Once again, a jury has seen through the lies and distortions and found a medical marijuana patient not guilty

Washington state jurors took less than two hours Thursday afternoon to find Cammie McKenzie, who grows marijuana to treat her chronic back pain, not guilty of all charges in a case where prosecutors tried to portray her as a drug dealer.

The prosecution’s unsuccessful case was notably nasty, even for a medical marijuana arrest in a state where some law enforcement officials have been slow to adjust to the legalization of medicinal cannabis passed by voters in 1998.

“This case is not about medicine. This case is about money,” Snohomish County Deputy Prosecutor Matthew Baldock said in his opening statements Tuesday. “The defendant was masquerading as a marijuana patient and was in reality a drug dealer, no question.”

One can only imagine the incensed reaction of Snohomish County’s good voters when they realize their scarce tax dollars are being wasted on foolishness like this.

Prosecutors and narcotics detectives claimed McKenzie, 24, was using her medical marijuana authorization as a front for an illegal pot farm at her home in Bothell, Washington, reports Diana Hefley of the Everett Herald Net.

San Diego Dispensary Asks Cops To Return Its Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Last Blog on Earth

The defense team for a San Diego medical marijuana collective manager is requesting the return of several pounds of cannabis and all other property seized in a 2008 raid after Jovan Jackson was acquitted of all pot charges.

During their “investigation” of Answerdam Collective, law enforcement agents “confiscated” computers, business records, and several pounds of medical marijuana, reports Eugene Davidovich of Americans for Safe Access (ASA) San Diego.

Dispensary owner Jackson is a medical marijuana patient, Navy veteran, and the victim of two “Operation Green Rx” raids, part of San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s quixotic and misguided war against medical marijuana patients and providers.

Pot Patients Picket Obama: ‘Get The DEA Out Of Colorado’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: KDVR

Medical marijuana patients and advocates Thursday will participate in a Denver protest of the continuing federal raids of patients and providers in Colorado, according to Sensible Colorado.

The protest is in response to the recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids of two medical marijuana testing laboratories and the February 12 raid of a licensed grower in Highlands Ranch.

Decade-Long Scientific Studies: Medical Marijuana Works

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: intellectual vanities

Next time someone says “there’s no reliable research,” call BS. The results are in. Medical marijuana works.

The evidence is in. In a landmark report to the Legislature, the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research announced that its studies have shown marijuana to have therapeutic value.

CMCR researchers, in a decade-long project, found “reasonable evidence that cannabis is a promising treatment” for some specific, pain-related medical conditions.

These long-awaited findings are the first results in 20 years from clinical trials of smoked cannabis in the United States.

“We focused on illnesses where current medical treatment does not provide adequate relief or coverage of symptoms,” said CMCR Director Igor Grant, M.D., executive vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine.

Marijuana Grower Who Bragged For TV Cameras Faces 40 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Photo: 9News

Chris Bartkowicz bragged about his $500,000 basement grow operation and expected $400,000 profits. Hours later, he was busted.

Federal prosecutors Tuesday filed drug-distribution charges against a Colorado man who operated a large marijuana garden in his basement that he said legally served medical marijuana patients.

Chris Bartkowicz, charged with a single count, could face up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Bartkowicz’s suburban home in Highlands Ranch, Colo., last week and seized 224 marijuana plants after he boasted in a television news report about his basement garden, predicting $400,000 profits this year.

ACLU To City: Give That Man His Marijuana Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: David N. Posavetz/Macomb Daily

This is the amount of marijuana — seven grams, or a quarter ounce — Royal Oak police seized from registered patient Christopher Frizzo.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is asking the city of Royal Oak to return medical marijuana that it says was illegally confiscated from a man during a traffic stop last month.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the police chief and city attorney, the ACLU said Royal Oak isn’t abiding by the law passed by 60 percent of Michigan’s voters in 2008, reports Catherine Kavanaugh at the Oakland County Daily Tribune.

Dan Korobkin, staff attorney with ACLU of Michigan, said the actions of the Royal Oak Police Department show a misunderstanding of the new law.

Iowa Pharmacy Board Opens Door To Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Patients for Medical Cannabis

One of Iowa’s biggest crops may be headed towards becoming one of its best medicines

The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted unanimously Wednesday afternoon to recommend that the Legislature reclassify marijuana in a way that would open the door to medical uses.

The board recommended that Iowa lawmakers move cannabis from Schedule I, for which there are no permitted uses, to Schedule II, which allows medical uses, reports Tony Leys at the Des Moines Register.

Also recommended by the board was the creation of a state task force, including patients, medical professionals and law enforcement officers, to devise a way to safely implement a medical marijuana program in Iowa.

Legalization For Medication: College Student Speaks Out

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Ron Crumpton

Ron Crumpton: “The truth is that the war on marijuana is almost over; the stigma is gone.”

From time to time, Toke of the Town reads something that helps to shore up our sometimes shaky faith in the possibility, at some time in the future, of sane marijuana laws in the United States. Now and again, we see a piece of writing on the Web that makes us say, “Yeah! Things are going to be just fine.”

I had one of those moments recently when reading an op-ed from a student-run university newspaper in Alabama.

“Which university?” You might ask. Well, I can’t tell you, since they don’t want their name associated with Toke of the Town… which shows us there’s still a lot of work to do.

In any event, Ron Crumpton, who wrote the editorial in question, has generously agreed to allow us to reproduce the piece in its entirety.

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