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Medical Marijuana Suit Reaches Federal Court: 1st Time In 20 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 5, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Audiotape of October 4 teleconference briefing with researchers, legal counsel and lawsuit plaintiff now available

For the first time in nearly 20 years, a United States Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no medicinal value: Americans for Safe Access v. Drug Enforcement Administration.

This historic case will force a federal court to finally review the scientific evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy of marijuana.

GOP Oregon State Senate Candidate Endorses Measure 80

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2012 Legislation, News

vote80.org

Just days ahead of the Oregon Republican Party’s State Central Committee Meeting in Bend, Republican State Senate candidate Cliff Hutchison has officially endorsed Measure 80. Hutchison, the first Oregon Republican to endorse Measure 80, is also secretary of the new Republican Liberty Caucus of Oregon.

“Alcoholism is a real problem in our society, but prohibition of alcohol didn’t work when it was tried,” Hutchison said. “Seventy-five years is long enough to see that prohibition of marijuana has failed.”

Now There’s A Drug Test For Synthetic Cannabinoids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 4, 2012 News, Products

io9

One of the chief attractions of synthetic cannabinoids — which are, make no mistake about it, NOT “synthetic marijuana” or anything near it — has been that these substances don’t show up on conventional drug screening tests, which after all, aren’t designed to detect them. God knows they don’t have many attractions, and no stoner in his or her right mind would ever smoke these blends if real weed is available.

This has made “herbal blends” (which are actually vegetable matter sprayed with chemicals) popular in such settings as the military and jobs which are subject to piss tests. But even that advantage will probably soon be gone, leaving synthetic cannabinoids the sole province of poor schlubs who can’t score any real weed.

Adding to its portfolio of test offerings for designer drugs — which also includes a bath salts drug test for synthetic cathinones — Ameritox‘s synthetic cannabinoids drug test now provides quantitative results for metabolites from 15 synthetics that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) placed into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act on an “emergency basis” this summer.

L.A. City Council Repeals Medical Marijuana Dispensary Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 3, 2012 Dispensaries, News

LAist

After a years-long demonstration of apparently bottomless ineptitude when it comes to effectively addressing safe access to medical marijuana for patients, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday repealed its own July dispensary ban with an 11 to 2 vote.

The action once again leaves L.A. with no laws regulating the city’s numerous dispensaries, but some council members were openly wishing for an expanded federal crackdown on the shops.

Tuesday’s vote followed years of attempts by the hapless council to regulate the medical marijuana dispensary scene in Los Angeles, with more than 400 dispensaries located in the L.A. metro area. The city claimed its own count revealed more than 1,000 such shops.

Council members said it was time to go back to the drawing board, saying they’d ask state legislators to “clarify” state law on how cities can regulate dispensaries.

Signatures Submitted For Marijuana Initiative In La Mesa, CA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 2, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Citizens For Patient Rights

More than 6,500 signatures were submitted on Monday to the La Mesa City Clerk for review

Citizens for Patient Rights has announced the successful submission of signature petitions for an initiative to allow and regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of La Mesa, California.

On Monday, October 1, the group submitted over 6,500 signatures to the La Mesa City Clerk for review. Next, these signatures will be forwarded on to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, who will have 30 days to verify the successful submission of the 3,034 valid signatures needed in order to qualify our initiative for a vote of the people.

“This submission is a victory for the thousands of patients, caregivers and supporter in La Mesa who supported this signature drive and is another step towards giving the voters of La Mesa a voice on whether to allow regulated medical marijuana access for the patients and caregivers in their community,” Citizens for Patient Rights said in a press release.

Sentencing of Legal Marijuana Providers Highlights Harmful Obama Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2012 Medical, News

Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle

Protesters of President Obama’s medical marijuana crackdown march down Broadway in downtown Oakland

Justice Department uses prosecutorial discretion to seek decades in prison for legal Michigan cultivators

Five medical marijuana patients and caregivers will be sentenced in federal court next week, highlighting the human cost of the federal government’s intolerance for state medical marijuana laws.

Two medical marijuana caregivers from Monroe County who were convicted earlier this year in federal court will be sentenced at 3 p.m. Monday, October 1, before U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson (231 W. Lafayette Blvd, Detroit). Gerald Lee Duval Jr., 52, and his son, Jeremy Duval, 30, were raided by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in 2011 and charged with felony cultivation, maintaining a place to cultivate marijuana, and conspiracy to distribute.

In April, the Duvals were convicted at trial, the expected result of federal laws that prohibit any medical defense or reference to state law in front of juries.

Medical Marijuana Provider Found Guilty; Faces Up To 90 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Medical marijuana provider Chris Williams on Thursday was convicted of all eight charges, and faces up to 90 years in federal prison

Montana medical marijuana provider Chris Williams on Thursday was found guilty on all eight counts related to his work at a state-licensed medicinal cannabis caregiver organization, which was the subject of a federal raid in March of 2011.

The case was seen as a big test of the federal raids of state-compliant medical marijuana in the Big Sky State. Williams ran the Helena greenhouse of Montana Cannabis, where federal agents seized 950 plants in March 2011.

The operation was the biggest of the 26 medical marijuana providers raided that day across Montana.

Yes On 80 Campaign Says Marijuana Prohibition Is The Problem

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Darryl James/Willamette Week

The Human Collective director Sarah Bennett (right) helps a client at the dispensary in Tigard. The Human Collective was raided Thursday morning.

Campaign Makes Statement on Oregon Medical Marijuana Raids: ‘Regulation is the solution.’

Washington County, Oregon sheriffs’ officers on Thursday morning raided The Human Collective, a medical marijuana facility in Tigard. Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Ray claimed The Human Collective dispensary, which opened in April 2010, was selling marijuana.

Two people were detained during the search, reports Noelle Crombie of The Oregonian. No arrests were made, and nobody has been charged with a crime.

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Initiative Approved For Ballot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Arkansans For Compassionate Care

State Supreme Court Allows Ballot Language, Arkansas Now First In South to Vote on Medical Marijuana

Great news from Dixie! The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a suit challenging the language of the ballot initiative that would allow seriously ill Arkansans to use marijuana to treat certain conditions with the recommendation of their doctors. The initiative will now appear on the November state ballot as Issue 5.

Justices rejected a challenge by a coalition of anti-marijuana “conservative” groups who had asked the court to block the initiative from November’s general election ballot, or to order the state not to count any votes cast on the issue. Gotta love those wingnuts, trying to deny voters the right to choose!

With the court’s decision, Arkansas is now the first state in the Southern U.S. whose residents will have a chance to determine if their friends and neighbors will be able to use the medicine that works best for them without the fear of arrest.

Women For Measure 80 Holding Marijuana Legalization Fundraiser

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Legislation, News

Women For Measure 80

Women for Measure 80, a group that is working to restore industrial hemp and end cannabis prohibition in Oregon, is hosting a fundraiser Saturday, September 29, at Plew’s Brews in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland.

Sponsored by Ethereal Madness Entertainment, the event promises to be a full day of live music, good conversations, good brews and cannabis & hemp education. Music will be provided by Cascadia Rising, The Roaming, Xperience of Psykosis, Sam Gustafson, Cupcake, Gringo Stars, Justin James Bridges, WeSickBoss, Miriams Well and more.

A silent auction with some great prizes and a masseuse provide even more ways to support Measure 80 at this event. A medication area will be provided for OMMP registrants.

“We are excited that this event is receiving so much local support,” said Anna Diaz, founder of Women for Measure 80. “It’s time for our state to provide a more sensible approach to marijuana laws that will create jobs and protect our children.”

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