Medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon are nothing new, but for the first time they are opening under new state regulations that require state licenses of the shops before they can sell even a gram of herb.
That’s good news for patients, but it’s also bad news for some dispensary owners as the new laws also allows communities to ban marijuana centers outright by May 1. The Oregonian reports that at least one dispensary has a state license to operate, but might not be able to open their doors for at least a year.

Utah parents of children suffering from severe seizure disorders can now obtain CBD-based medicines for their children thanks to a bill signed into law yesterday by Gov. Gary Herbert.
The only catch: the parents can’t purchase the oil anywhere in Utah, nor can they grow plants to make the oil themselves. Instead, Utah lawmakers are forcing the families to travel out of state, purchase the oil, then break federal and local laws bringing it back home with them.

Gov. Mark Dayton took to the radio yesterday morning to say that his proposal to research medical marijuana hasn’t gotten any love from the advocates of broader legalization. He put the prospects of passing it between “slim and none.”
However, those same advocates plan to add part of the Dayton proposal as an amendment and are open to compromising on some points. They contend that the governor’s version of a medical marijuana program — despite his assertions — would help no one in the immediate future.

When Jacqueline Patterson took her first toke of marijuana at the age of fourteen, she experienced what it was like to be without pain for the first time in her life. It’s also why she eventually had to leave Missouri. Patterson was born with cerebral palsy. The muscles on the right side of her body are significantly weaker and less developed than her left, and she speaks with a severe stutter, or as she prefers to call it, a “speech spasm.” Medical marijuana, Patterson says, has helped her deal with the pain her medical condition causes every day of her life, and it also helps with her speech. When she smokes, her brain doesn’t feel as rushed, and she’s able to get the words out easier, she says.
Although using marijuana to treat cerebral palsy is not unheard of these days, it wasn’t an accepted notion roughly twenty years ago when Patterson first tried it and noticed a remarkable difference it made on her body.

A new report published in the medical journal Neurology proves what thousands of multiple sclerosis patients already know: cannabis can help considerably alleviate some of the symptoms of MS. And actually, that’s exactly what Dr. Pushpa Narayanaswami, lead researcher on the report, says got him interested in the plant in the first place. The report is meant to be a guideline for physicians with patients seeking alternative treatments.

In a ruling with wide impact on the Arizona medical-marijuana program, Zander Welton and his family have won their battle to provide extracts to the boy for his seizures.
The East Valley family sued on October 29 in Maricopa County Superior Court, receiving legal help from the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, after threats of possible felony prosecution by County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
Judge Katherine Cooper sets Montgomery straight in a ruling filed on Friday, telling him and the state plaintiffs that the Arizona Medical Marijuana Law “authorizes qualifying patients to use extracts, including CBD oil, prepared from the marijuana plant.”

Since 2012, Westword been reporting about DISH’s firing of Brandon Coats, a paralyzed medical marijuana patient, after he failed a drug test.
Coats’s lawsuit over the issue has failed in Arapahoe District Court and the Colorado Court of Appeals. It’s now headed to the Colorado Supreme Court, where powerful forces are lining up against him, including some of the most prominent business organizations in the state.
Denver Westword has details and a newly filed court document.