A proposed New Jersey bill that would “allow” other patients to purchase medical cannabis out of state and then bring it back to New Jersey passed through a state Assembly committee yesterday.
The bill has a number of setbacks, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who has said he is done expanding the state’s medical marijuana program. The other setback is that a marijuana laws passed in New Jersey have no bearing in other states.
Yesterday, Colorado officials unveiled the Marijuana Inventory Tracking Solution, or MITS, a system intended to keep tabs pot for sale in Colorado. But while the press was invited to the event, a number of medical marijuana patients coordinated by the Cannabis Therapy Institute invited themselves — to protest what they believe will be regular breaches of confidentiality.
Get details about the event and the history of allegations regarding alleged info sharing over at Westword.com
Three marijuana-related bills in Michigan leaped initial hurdles this morning, passing out of the House Judiciary committee. The first would allow for medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the state again legally and the other makes legal marijuana-infused products including edibles and tinctures.
A third measure passed allowing pharmacies to sell and produce “pharmaceutical grade” cannabis that is if the FDA ever allows such a thing to happen. All three measures move on to the full House for consideration.
| Paige and Charlotte. |
The number of minors under the age of eighteen on the Colorado medical marijuana registry grew by thirty children in September, bringing the total number of kids with parental-approved medical pot recommendations to ninety, according to state records.
That’s more than double the 35 minors that were registered as of June of this year.
And Paige and Charlotte Figi are two big reasons why. Denver Westword has more.
| Big photos below. |
Of all the conditions that bring patients to The Clinic Medical Marijuana Centers, one is especially important to master grower Jay Price: multiple sclerosis. He knows which strains help the muscle pains and which strains help the eye spasms or the depression that often comes from battling the incurable disease. But helping a handful of patients find the right strain to ease their symptoms can only do so much, which is why for the last four years, the Clinic has been committed to fundraising for the national MS Society, quickly becoming one of the top donors in the region.
| YouTube.com |
The Garden State has a new legal medical marijuana garden and dispensary opening today. The appropriately-named Garden State Dispensary in Woodbridge is the third dispensary in the state to open since the program was approved and signed into in 2010.
The dispensary, which has been legally allowed to grow cannabis since August in a converted electronics superstore, received their operations license in late November. They’ve actually been serving a few patients for the last few weeks to make sure things work smoothly, but plan to hold a grand opening ceremony today.
A proposed New Jersey law would allow medical marijuana patients in New Jersey to purchase meds in other medical marijuana states and travel back to New Jersey with their meds.
While it has good intentions, it seems the authors are missing a few key components: namely that New Jersey law only extends to the border of New Jersey and they can’t compel other medical marijuana states to follow New Jersey law.
Colorado isn’t the best place to grow cannabis outdoors, what with the early falls and cold, dark winters and all. Because of that, medical marijuana dispensaries (and soon recreational dispensaries) grow a large portion of their cannabis indoors.
With that comes the energy costs of running lights, air conditioning and heating and fans, and when you’re talking thousands of square feet it can get expensive quickly. One Denver dispensary says they regularly get $21,000 electricity bills and say competitors are facing monthly energy bills of $100,000 or more.
| TokeoftheTown.com |
In just six days on Dec. 5 the Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether or not a proposed medical marijuana initiative already in the signature-gathering process will be allowed to move forward.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says that the language proposed would open the floodgates for rampant abuse of the medical marijuana program. Medical marijuana supporters – including nearly 80 percent of Florida voters – think Bondi is horribly out of touch.
While he hasn’t come around completely on recreational cannabis use, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, Jamaican Minister of Health, says medical cannabis should be legalized in his country.
“Jamaica can’t lock off itself from the rest of the world or the research findings that are available, that is pointing to a significant number of elicits that medical marijuana is responding to, so I want that to be very, very clear, that when it comes to medical marijuana, I am fully on board,” he tells the Jamaica Observer.