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Medical Marijuana Bill Introduced In Kentucky

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

Senator Perry Clark (D-Louisville): “This is not a conservative or a liberal issue; it’s an issue of compassion”

Medical marijuana could be coming soon to the Bluegrass State.

Senator Perry B. Clark (D-Louisville) has pre-filed legislation for the 2013 legislative session that would add Kentucky to the growing list of states that allow patients whose doctors have recommended it to use medical marijuana to treat multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious medical conditions.

The bill would also establish a network of state-regulated dispensaries where patients could purchase medical marijuana. Senator Clark promised the bill’s introduction at a July press conference, noting he wanted to get an early start on generating support in the legislature.

Jury Nullification Works (Kind Of) In Medical Marijuana Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 27, 2012 News

Juror 110

A photo found on “Juror 110’s” blog site, with a declaration from Jury Nullifier “Peter”

Retrial Begins August 28

By Sharon Letts

Two years, twenty thousand dollars, and one hung jury later, Orange County “Pro 215” collective Executive Director Jason Andrews, heads back to court August 28 with a retrial on State (Yes, State, not Federal) charges for “Sales and Trafficking of Marijuana” in the medically legal State of California.

Jury Nullification 101

The trial is a lesson in Jury Nullification, as defined by Merriam Webster as “The acquitting of a defendant by a jury in disregard of the judge’s instructions and contrary to the jury’s findings of fact.” In other words, if one juror disagrees with the evidence before them, they can render a “not guilty,” rendering the entire proceedings a hung jury, with subsequent acquittal.

This process can be traced to early colonial legal matters from 1735 and the case of John Peter Zenger’s trial for seditious libel, as stated:

[Juries] have the right beyond all dispute to determine both the law and the facts, and where they do not doubt of the law, they ought to do so. This of leaving it to the judgment of the Court whether the words are libelous or not in effect renders juries useless (to say no worse) in many cases.

The practice was due to the colonist need for their own laws, in disagreement with the often brutal mandates brought down by British rule an ocean away. That said, it works well within the confines of State vs. Federal laws, especially concerning Cannabis as medicine.

PTSD Proposed For Oregon Medical Marijuana List

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 27, 2012 Medical, News

Arizona Medical Marijuana Blog

Medical marijuana advocates in Oregon want to add post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to the official list of conditions that qualify patients to use medicinal cannabis.

Many people with PTSD are already in Oregon’s medical marijuana program because they have other medical conditions that allow them to legally use marijuana, according to advocates, reports The Associated Press.

Medical cannabis activists said that it’s particularly important PTSD be included on the list as more and more battle-weary military veterans return home, reports Noelle Crombie at The Oregonian.

U.S. Attorney Shutting More Colorado Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 27, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Releaf

U.S. Attorney John Walsh issued letters this month to 10 medical marijuana access points throughout Colorado, ordering them to either shut down or move because they are located within 1,000 feet of schools.

The mailing is the third round of threatening letters sent to Colorado dispensaries this year, reports Josh Crank of Lawyers.com. In January, 23 letters were sent out, and another 25 were mailed in March. All of the dispensaries targeted in those mailings obeyed, either closing or relocating.

I-502 Fight Behind DEA’s Seattle Dispensary Letters?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2012 Dispensaries, News

MyNorthwest.com

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: Did he pull the trigger on Thursday’s DEA letters? Our source says yes.

Were medical marijuana dispensaries targeted for opposing I-502, which is sponsored by Seattle’s city attorney?

The Drug Enforcement Administration letters sent out to 23 Seattle-area medical marijuana access points on Thursday are already stinking to high heaven, just over 24 hours later, as allegations of improper influence cloud the air.

According to Toke of the Town‘s well-placed source in the Washington cannabis community, Seattle Attorney Pete Holmes saw, at Hempfest, the strong opposition to Washington state Initiative 502, the “legalization” measure with a strict and unscientific DUI provision that has torn the community asunder. And, according to this version of events, Pete decided he really didn’t like the medical marijuana industry very much.

Our source tells us that when Holmes got home from Hempfest, still smarting from public relations drubbing the No On 502 folks handed the Yes team at the protestival, he allegedly influenced his good friend U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan to send the letters which went out to dispensaries on Thursday.

Moms For Marijuana To Unveil Cannabis Quilt In D.C.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2012 Culture, News

Moms For Marijuana

Beginning in October, the quilt will be sent across the U.S., to be on public display through a series of regional conferences and rallies

Moms For Marijuana, a grassroots network of parents and other citizens across the world who are concerned with the ignorant war being fought against the cannabis plant, is sending a Cannabis Quilt across the United States in a show of solidarity and unity, demanding the legalization of marijuana.

In just a few short years, Moms For Marijuana has grown from a MySpace page (started by founder Serra Frank) to 120 chapters in 14 different countries, with more being added literally every week. The group has had more than 20,000 “Likes” on its Facebook page in the last year alone, according to Candace Junkin, Maryland chapter leader with Moms For Marijuana.

Arizona AG Seeks To Stop Licensing Of Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2012 Dispensaries, News

James King/Phoenix New Times

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is busily trying to block the medical marijuana law approved by state voters two years ago

None of the shops has yet opened its doors; not a single patient has yet been sold a single joint of marijuana. But Arizona’s top cop on Thursday asked a judge to void a key provision in the state’s two-year-old medical marijuana law, arguing that judges are legally powerless to authorize anyone to sell cannabis as long as it remains illegal under federal law.

Attorney General Tom Horne’s real goal is to get a ruling declaring the state and federal laws are in conflict, reports Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services. Horne said that would allow him to direct the Arizona Department of Health Services to stop the process already underway of licensing up to 126 marijuana dispensaries.

23 Seattle Marijuana Dispensaries Get DEA Notification Letters

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2012 Dispensaries, News

MMJ Truth

The Obama Administration’s medical marijuana crackdown came to Seattle in a big way today.

On Thursday, the Drug Enforcement Administration sent notification letters to the operators and property owners of 23 “marijuana store fronts,” as they called them, “located in school zones.” The letters informed the owner/operators that such enterprises “operating as ‘dispensaries’ ” within 1,000 feet of a school, playground or “other prohibited area,” “could result in the seizure and forfeiture of assets, as well as criminal prosecution.”

The seizure could include the property where the dispensary operates, any money received from the business, and potential criminal prosecution. The letter orders dispensary operators and property owners to cease the sale and distribution of marijuana “within 30 days.”

“We all work hard to create a safe zone for kids in school,” claimed U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan of the Western District of Washington. “There is a reason that both federal and state laws prohibit the sale of marijuana in school zones. We need to enforce one message for our students: drugs have no place in or near our schools.”

NAACP Joins Effort To Legalize Marijuana In Colorado

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2012 Legislation, News

Favim.com

Civil Rights Leaders Denounce Egregious Racial Disparities in Marijuana Law Enforcement at the Historic Five Points Intersection in East Denver

The NAACP Colorado Montana Wyoming State Area Conference has endorsed Amendment 64, the campaign to regulate marijuana like alcohol in Colorado. This endorsement is the third of its kind. The NAACP California State Conference endorsed a similar measure in 2010, and the NAACP Alaska Oregon Washington State Area Conference recently endorsed an Oregon legalization effort.

CA Supreme Court Throws Out Marijuana Dispensary Ban Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

THC Finder

High Court prohibits municipalities from using Pack v. City of Long Beach to ban dispensaries

The California Supreme Court dismissed review on Wednesday of an important appellate court ruling affecting medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state. Specifically, the High Court threw out the controversial decision in Pack v. City of Long Beach, which previously held that federal law preempted some forms of dispensary regulations.

The Pack decision has been used by several municipalities, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, to suspend or ban outright the distribution of medical marijuana. However, Wednesday’s dismissal of the Pack decision throws into question the viability of such bans.

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