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Feds Announce Colorado Medical Marijuana Crackdown

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

Releaf

​Some on Colorado’s medical marijuana scene have speculated that the fact that the Rocky Mountain State’s medicinal cannabis law is part of their state constitution — or maybe the state’s vigorous regulatory scheme — protected them from the ongoing federal crackdown. Looks like it’s time for a new theory.

The U.S. Attorney’s office today announced a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, the most aggressive federal law enforcement action yet against the cannabis-centered businesses in that state, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh sent letters to 23 dispensaries which his office claimed are located with 1,000 feet of schools. The dispensaries were told they had 45 days to close or face criminal prosecution and property forfeiture.
“When the voters of Colorado passed the limited medical marijuana amendment in 2000, they could not have anticipated that their vote would be used to justify large marijuana stores located within blocks of our schools,” Walsh lied in a statement announcing the crackdown. (I get really weary and annoyed with this threadbare “the poor ignorant voters didn’t know what they were voting for” argument.)
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Vermont Marijuana Dispensaries Expected By Summer

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

The Weed Blog

​Vermont’s first medical marijuana dispensaries could be slightly delayed by Tropical Storm Irene, but are expected to begin to open this summer.

A law passed last year authorized up to four privately run cannabis dispensaries, and gave the state Public Safety Department the authority to create rules for them, reports Terri Hallenbeck at the Burlington Free Press.

Those rules should be ready in the next couple of weeks, according to testimony from Francis Aumand, director of the Division of Criminal Justice Services, to the Senate Government Operations Committee on Wednesday.
Aumand said he wasn’t sure he could make a June 2 deadline for issuing certificates to applicants interested in running the dispensaries, because of Vermont’s procedures for vetting those rules. However, he said it shouldn’t take “much longer” than that.
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Supreme Court: Oregon Marijuana Patients Can Keep Their Guns

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By on Legislation, News

The Weed Blog

​Concealed handgun owners with Oregon medical marijuana authorizations will be allowed to keep their gun licenses after a U.S. Supreme Court decision not to hear a sheriff’s legal challenge which claimed U.S. federal law trumps Oregon state law.

Putting the case behind her is a victory for the rights of medical marijuana patients throughout Oregon, according to Gold Hill resident Cynthia Willis, 54, reports Damian Mann of the Southern Oregon Mail Tribune.
“Just because we’re patients doesn’t mean we don’t have real lifestyles and rights like everyone else,” Willis said.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters had denied Willis a concealed handgun license back in 2008 because she uses medical marijuana, which is considered a Schedule I controlled substance, along with heroin and LSD, by the federal government.
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Arkansas Court: Marijuana Is Cause To Deny Workers’ Comp

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By on Legislation, News

KATV

​Two workers who tested positive for marijuana after being injured in an explosion after they tried to use a blow torch to open a 55-gallon drum that had contained flammable liquid were rightly denied workers’ compensation, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.

In a split decision, the court upheld a state Workers’ Compensation Commission ruling against Matthew Edmisten and Greg Prock in a case resulting from a November 2007 accident, reports John Lyon at the Arkansas News Bureau.
Three dissenting judges said there was no evidence that the accident occurred because of marijuana use.
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Pot Smoking Not Linked To Breathing Problems; May Help Lungs

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By on Medical, News

Healthy Lifestyle
Not only does it not reduce lung capacity. Smoking marijuana INCREASES lung capacity, according to a new study

​20-Year Study Finds No Decline In Lung Function For Occasional Cannabis Smokers; Lung Function Of Most Marijuana Smokers Improves Over Time

Often, when people hear about the studies which have shown that smoking marijuana doesn’t cause lung cancer, they’ll say something like, “Well, inhaling any smoke, cancer or not, is bound to cause some breathing problems.” Guess what? It doesn’t do that, either.
A report to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that — over a 20-year period — marijuana smokers generally did not experience a loss in lung function, reports Derek Abma at Postmedia News. In fact, many actually had enhanced lung capacity, which one researcher speculated might come from the practice of “deep-lunging” hits to maximize their intoxicating effects.
Whatever the cause, the fact remains that the study showed the lung function of most marijuana smokers actually improved slightly over time.
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Mendocino County Suspends Medical Marijuana Permit Program

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By on Dispensaries, Growing, News

Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat
Matthew Cohen takes cuttings from marijuana plants in order to clone them at the Northstone Organics Cooperative, in Redwood Valley, in 2010

​Mendocino County, California’s unique, income-generating medical marijuana growing permit program has been suspended pending the outcome of a Southern California court case challenging the legality of issuing permits for activities that are illegal under federal law.

“We’re waiting to hear something,” said Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman, reports Glenda Anderson at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
The permits — popular in the medical marijuana community for the peace of mind they fostered — allowed medicinal cannabis collectives to grow up to 99 plants, with a fee structure including inspections and zip-tie identification markers for each plant.
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Dispensary Closure Protesters To Feds: Cannabis Is Medicine

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

The Petrelis Files

​By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
An estimated crowd of 50-60 loyal medical marijuana supporters made their presence known at the Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue this morning in San Francisco to show their solidarity for the dispensary, Market Street Coop that is being forced to close at 7pm today.
Market Street Coop is the last of the dispensaries in the San Francisco/Marin County area that was served by the Justice Department with the so-called infamous, ‘Five Letters.’
Toke of the Town was able to “obtain” one of those letters.
The Five Letters refer to the documents sent out by U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, Melinda Haag, starting in October of last year to landlords of dispensaries, threatening asset forfeiture. All five dispensaries that received those letters have had to close.
Two of the dispensaries, Divinity Tree and Medithrive. have been able to make the lateral move to a delivery service as many pot shops have had to do in order not to lose everything. The Market Street Coop doesn’t have that kind of wiggle room.
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Grading The GOP Candidates On Marijuana [Video]

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By on Legislation, News

Anyone who’s followed presidential politics has a general sense that a few Republicans are OK on the marijuana issue, and most of them are terrible.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), based in Washington, D.C., has now produced a video which shows that:

Marijuana Policy Project

​• Ron Paul is obviously the best in the GOP field when it comes to cannabis. In fact, his views toward marijuana policy and the War On Drugs are much better than President Obama’s views on the same — and if you’re a single-issue, marijuana-policy voter, he’s your guy. 
Unfortunately Congressman Paul comes with some other baggage of his own; if you’re fond of things like public highways, public education, college grants, protecting the environment, workplace safety, separation of church and state, Social Security, Medicare, and the like, you should be aware that his vision of the federal government doesn’t support any of those things. (Just be aware of what you’re getting — and not getting.)
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Snoop Dogg Busted For Weed In Texas

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By on Culture, News

Mad Hot Hip Hop
Snoop spoke up for Willie after that star’s Texas bust; now those same Texans popped Snopp, too.

​Music legend Snoop Dogg was reportedly arrested in Texas this weekend for possession of marijuana.

According to celebrity website TMZ, the rapper got busted after a drug-sniffing dog detected marijuana on his tour bus! What a shocker, eh?
Snoop’s bus was stopped at a border patrol checkpoint in Sierra Blanca. Does that sound familiar? Well, that could be because it’s the same town that busted Willie Nelson back in 2010.

What’s up with these Sierra Blanca hayseeds? Why do they hate music and America??
After Willie’s bust in 2010, Snoop had come to the country star’s defense, saying “They better leave Willie the fuck alone.” It doesn’t take much imagination to picture the Sierra Blanca outpost of the Border Patrol just waiting for the day when Snoop passed through…
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