Florida state Reps. Katie Edwards and Matt Gaetz have taken the initial steps for a bill that would legalize limited-potency medical cannabis in Florida, namely strains high in cannabidiol (CBD) that can help with pain and seizures.
The pair say that their proposal stems from the now well-known, high-CBD, Colorado-bred strain dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” that has helped dozen of children suffering from severe seizures and shows promise for many other therapies as well.
Sorry Nevada patients (and patient visitors), you’ll have to wait a little longer until you can purchase legal medical cannabis thanks to your state government dragging their heels.
Officials say that they will completely blow the April 1 deadline to begin accepting medical marijuana dispensary and grower licenses because regulations haven’t even been approved yet.
Despite the Florida Supreme Court holding up the actual petition over charges that it deceptively would open the floodgates of outright legalization in the Sunshine State from the state attorney general, the People United for Care proposal to legalize medical cannabis is gaining support.
Recent polls have shown it with support as high as 68 percent and the campaign has collected nearly 700,000 signatures so far. That’s about 17,000 more than the required 683,000 to make the ballot, but supporters say they need some cushioning in there for invalid signatures.
| Compton Mayor Aja Brown. |
Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, the city of Compton, CA gained an infamous reputation across mainstream America as a drug-addled wasteland, ruled by gangs and racked by unthinkable violence.
Fueled at the time by accounts from gangster rap titles and Hollywood portrayals of the hardened region of South Central Los Angeles, today Compton is much less violent, but just as vulnerable, running a $40-million deficit as it struggles to try to avoid all out bankruptcy. It’s not hard to see that a change of direction is needed.
Arizona’s medical-marijuana dispensaries sold more than 2.5 tons of marijuana in the past 12 months, officials say.
From December 6th, 2012 — opening day for the state’s first state-authorized dispensary, Arizona Organix — to December 9th of this year, 5,279 pounds of marijuana were sold, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. The health department provided the numbers this morning following a Phoenix New Times records request made last month. Click over to the New Times for the rest of the story.
A Chicago doctor could face a suspended or repealed medical license after the state regulatory board accused him of taking fees for “pre-approval” medical marijuana consultations with patients even before the state program is officially underway.
Dr. Brian Murray charged patients a $99 fee for an initial clinic visit needed to establish a “legitimate physician-patient relationship” as required under Illinois law. According to a Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation filed Monday, the fee is “misleading” and falls under state medical malpractice laws.
Tom Daubert was sentenced to 5 years of probation in September 2012 for a 2011 federal raid on his medical cannabis collective, Montana Cannabis. Daubert maintained his innocence through his trial despite the feds not allowing him to raise Montana’s medical marijuana for his defense, and was able to strike a deal keeping him from 20 years in prison.
But now he says that after five years on probation and watching his former business partners, Richard Flor, die in prison, he says enough is enough.
| D. Ramey Logan. |
Since September, Long Beach city officials have been working on officially allowing medical marijuana dispensaries in the southern California city. They’re just not clear on exactly how to do it.
According to the Press-Telegram, Long Beach City Attorney Charles Parkin says he has concerns with the legality of a current proposal that limits dispensaries to industrial zones, with no more than two dispensaries allowed in each city district.
According to campaign-finance reports for the month of November, lawyer and pro-medical marijuana advocate, John Morgan, has put in over $500 grand into the People United for Medical Marijuana campaign. All told, he’s put in about $972,125, almost bringing this thing to a cool million.
Meanwhile, United For Care is launching its “day of action” this weekend, looking to collect more signatures from Floridians, all while the Florida Supreme Court ponders the language in the ballot and whether or not to allow the state to choose if medical marijuana should be legalized. Broward-Palm Beach New Times has the full, local angle.
Michigan medical marijuana patients are closer to having legal pot dispensaries again after the state House approved a measure expressly allowing the retail centers to operate. Dispensaries were flourishing in Michigan up until February of this year when a state Supreme Court decided that they were public nuisances.
The House also approve measures legalizing edible forms of cannabis in response to another ruling that said medical marijuana was only legal if it was smoked.