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HempCon 2010 This Weekend At L.A. Convention Center

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 19, 2010 Culture, News, Products

Photo: HempCon 2010

HempCon 2010 Los Angeles is already a huge success, with thousands of festive attendees on the convention floor. Stay tuned, San Francisco… your turn is in April.

A three-day celebration of all things cannabis opens Friday in downtown Los Angeles.

HempCon 2010 Los Angeles, at the L.A. Convention Center, will host exhibitors from across the country who’ll be showcasing products and services relating to medical marijuana and the movement to legalize pot, reports the Los Angeles Daily News.

Smoking and marijuana won’t be allowed at the event.

“There’s not going to be any cannabis — but we’re trying to spread the word,” said Cheryl Shuman, executive director of Beverly Hills NORML 90210, a branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Santa Barbara Police Raid Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Santa Barbara Police and other local law enforcement agencies Wednesday raided several medical marijuana dispensaries in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, California.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday evening, the operation was still underway, according to keyt.com.

Authorities were very tight lipped about the raids, but said “lots of marijuana was confiscated.”

Decade-Long Scientific Studies: Medical Marijuana Works

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 17, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: intellectual vanities

Next time someone says “there’s no reliable research,” call BS. The results are in. Medical marijuana works.

The evidence is in. In a landmark report to the Legislature, the University of California Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research announced that its studies have shown marijuana to have therapeutic value.

CMCR researchers, in a decade-long project, found “reasonable evidence that cannabis is a promising treatment” for some specific, pain-related medical conditions.

These long-awaited findings are the first results in 20 years from clinical trials of smoked cannabis in the United States.

“We focused on illnesses where current medical treatment does not provide adequate relief or coverage of symptoms,” said CMCR Director Igor Grant, M.D., executive vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the UCSD School of Medicine.

Patient Advocates Argue Against Marijuana Dispensary Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 16, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Laurie Avocado

Are California cities legally allowed to ban medical marijuana dispensaries? We may soon find out.

Legal briefs were filed Tuesday by patient advocates Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and California State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) in an appellate court case that is expected to decide whether local governments can ban storefront distribution of medical marijuana.

EBay Yanks High Times ‘At Request Of Federal Government’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 15, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Lisa Provence/The Hook

Merchant Fred Carwile was surprised when eBay, without warning, removed his listings for back issues of High Times magazine

A Virginia man says eBay deleted his sales listings for back issues of High Times — which he’s sold for years at the online auction site — at the request of the federal government.

Fred Carwile of Crozet, Va., said he was “frustrated and angry” that eBay pulled the ads without warning. What’s worse, he said two different eBay customer service representatives told him the marijuana-culture magazines were pulled “at the request of the federal government,” reports Lisa Provence at The Hook.

“The federal government cannot ban books,” Carwile said, noting that High Times is sold at Barnes and Noble and at convenience stores across the United States. “They’re pressuring a business to ban books.”

420 Girls: Mother Nature’s Messengers Keep It Smokin’ 17 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 14, 2010 Culture, Products

420girls.com

“What do you mean, what would I do for a lighter?”

Marijuana activist/visionary Rob Griffin set the standard, simply because he was there before almost anyone else. When he launched 420 Girls in 1993, there weren’t any other sites centered around photos of naked women smoking weed.

The goal, Griffin says, was always to draw more people into the legalization movement through the beauty, glamor and sex appeal of the nude female figure.

The site features nude women smoking pot, posing with cannabis paraphernalia, marijuana plants and buds, posing in dispensaries, fields and grow rooms.

While the formula has certainly caught on — there are many others like it today — 420girls.com was the original.

Griffin’s mission came into being as a result of a marijuana possession conviction from 1992, while Rob was living in Maryland. Because he was then considered, by law, to be a felon due to drug-related charges, his right to vote was permanently suspended.

(NSFW after the fold)

Highway Patrol Targets Medical Marijuana Delivery Service — Then Lies About It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Medical, News

KTLA

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is obviously targeting a legal medical marijuana delivery service in Orange County — and then lying about it.

California’s medical marijuana law clearly specifies caregivers may possess up to eight ounces per qualified patient. But these Highway Patrol officers pretend to believe that caregivers may possess only eight ounces total.

Long Beach Pot Dispensaries Demand Equal Time

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Long Beach Marijuana Collective

The Long Beach, California City Council is moving towards passing rules for medical marijuana businesses, but some local dispensaries are worried that the balance is shifting too far in the direction of unnecessary regulation, like the ordinance recently passed in Los Angeles.

Carl Kemp, of the Kemp Group, which represents about 10 local dispensaries, said that supporters of medical marijuana collectives haven’t been allowed enough time for discussion and presentation with the City Council, reports Ryan ZumMallen at LBPost.com.

Pot Dispensaries Again Try To Keep Patient Records Secret

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 11, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Addo Gaudium

Lawyers for five Dana Point, California medical marijuana dispensaries are asking an appeals court to reinstate their motion to avoid turning over company records, including financial data and patients’ names, to the city under a subpoena.

The Fourth District Court of Appeals has given the dispensaries until Tuesday to file a petition for an “extraordinary writ,” for which the pot shops are seeking an extension, reports Vik Jolly at The Orange County Register.

In its January 29 order, which took at least one dispensary attorney by surprise, the court found that the appeal in the “case is not from an appealable order” and deemed it an “extraordinary writ” petition.

That petition requires the pot shops to show that an Orange County Superior Court judge abused her discretion in issuing an order to enforce the city subpoena, according to attorney Lee Petros for the Point Alternative Care dispensary.

Thank You, Officer: Sheriff Gives Man His 4 Pounds Of Pot Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 11, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Bryant Anderson/The Daily Triplicate

Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Morris last year displayed some of the four pounds of marijuana seized during a traffic stop. On Friday, the pot was returned to its owner.

Daniel Sosa went to Crescent City, California last Friday to pick up four pounds of marijuana.

He had a 2 p.m. appointment to pick up the stuff — at the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office.

“It seemed weird,” Sosa said. “I was worried they were going to arrest me again.”

If the pot looked familiar to Sosa, it was because it was the same weed that had been confiscated from him a year ago, during a routine traffic stop, reports Kurt Madar of The Daily Triplicate.

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