Search Results: department of justice (396)

Interview: Federally Charged Medical Pot Grower Chris Bartkowicz

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 19, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: AP

Chris Bartkowicz faces up to life in prison on federal charges for growing medical marijuana.

A Colorado medical marijuana grower facing federal drug charges after he bragged about his cannabis business to a TV station may not be allowed to use the state’s medical marijuana law in his defense.

U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer on Thursday morning was asked by federal prosecutors to block the medical marijuana defense in their case against Chris Bartkowicz of Denver, reports The Associated Press.

“The provisions of state law cited in the Government’s brief demonstrate the quagmire of Colorado state law and its medical marijuana provisions, and further demonstrates that none of those provisions have relevance to the federal prosecution of the Defendant,” said a motion filed Tuesday by prosecutors, reports Felisa Cardona at The Denver Post.

Prosecutors contended that Bartkowicz should not be allowed to use Colorado’s medical marijuana laws as a defense, or try to argue that he was singled out or didn’t know he would be subject to prosecution.

D.C. Patients Can Expect To Buy Legal Marijuana In Early 2011

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Graphic: NotionsCapital

According to political leaders in the District of Columbia, it will be months before D.C. begins allowing the sale of medical marijuana from licensed dispensaries, even though the law authorizing up to eight of the pot shops took effect Tuesday after the Democratic-controlled Congress declined to intervene.

The delay is caused by a lack of detail about how the city will operate the program, which includes a very cool, first-in-the-nation provision requiring dispensaries to price their marijuana on a sliding scale so the city’s poorest patients can get their medicinal cannabis for free, reports Tim Craig at The Washington Post.

Council member David A. Catania, chairman of the Health Committee, said he doesn’t expect the first dispensaries to open until early next year, and that would be a best-case scenario.

“I know people are eager for this to go forward, but I think we have to do this judiciously and slowly and carefully,” Catania said.

Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading? Seattle Forum Sept. 12

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 26, 2010 Culture, Legislation

Photo: ACLU-WA

Famed travel writer and TV host Rick Steves will be among the panelists at “Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading?”, a public forum in Seattle on September 12 sponsored by the WA ACLU.

Sure, it seems that the wind is at our backs. The tantalizing possibility of marijuana legalization looks more possible than it ever has before. But what comes next?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington on September 12 will present a discussion on the history, current status, and future of marijuana-law reform in Washington and the United States.

The event will be Sunday, September 12, 2010, 7 pm – pm (doors open at 6:30 pm), at the Great Hall at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Avenue at Seneca Street. Enter on 8th Avenue. (Directions and Parking)

Local and national panelists include travel writer Rick Steves; Keith Stroup, founder of and legal counsel to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML); Washington state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles; Rob Kampia, co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP); and Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).

V.A. Says Veterans Can Now Use Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 23, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Veterans Today

In a historic decision, the V.A. has announced veterans will no longer be endangering their pain prescriptions by using medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

In a historic decision, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will now formally allow patients treated at its hospitals and clinics to use medical marijuana in states where it is legal.

It’s a day to remember, according to Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “We now have a branch of the federal government accepting marijuana as a legal medicine,” Fox said.

The policy clarification has been sought by veterans and advocates for years, reports Dan Frosch at The New York Times.

A department directive, expected to take effect next week, resolves the conflict in V.A. hospitals between federal law, which outlaws marijuana for any purpose, and medical marijuana laws in the 14 states that allow medicinal use of cannabis.

Like the decision by Obama’s Justice Department to back off on marijuana dispensary raids in states that have legalized medical pot, the new V.A. policy essentially means the federal government is deferring to state medical marijuana laws.

Marijuana Advocates Protest DEA Raids In Michigan & California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 22, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NBC 25

Michigan protesters say Saginaw County Sheriff William Federspiel is targeting medical marijuana patients who speak out

Coordinated and lively protests were carried out Wednesday by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw, Michigan, and San Diego, California, against the Drug Enforcement Administration for raids it conducted earlier this month.

The raids were made despite an official Justice Department policy issued in October 2009 discouraging such enforcement.

The Michigan Medical Marijuana Association organized the Saginaw protest march, and Americans for Safe Access (ASA) organized a rally at the federal courthouse in San Diego.

CA Bill Urging New Federal Marijuana Policy Close To Adoption

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: My Life, My Muse

Californians protest a DEA medical marijuana dispensary raid

California may soon urge the federal government to end medicinal cannabis raids and to “create a comprehensive federal medical marijuana policy that ensures safe and legal access to any patient that would benefit from it.”

The California State Assembly Committee on Health voted 10-3 Tuesday to pass the resolution, which urges the federal government to change its pot policy. The full state Senate already passed the measure in August 2009 by a vote of 23-15.

Federal Report: Most In Pot Rehab Were Forced Into It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 28, 2010 News

Graphic: Mirror Cracked

Surprise, surprise. Most people who go to drug rehab programs for marijuana don’t want to be there, and were in fact forced to either attend the dreary, pointless sessions or to go to jail.

Nearly six out of ten people — 57 percent — admitted to drug treatment programs for marijuana are “referred” there by the criminal justice system, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — meaning most people in pot rehab were forced to go there under threat of jail.

And only 15 percent of marijuana treatment admissions were self-referred, according to the study. This percentage is less than half the number of self-referrals for alcohol and cocaine, and about one-quarter the number of self-referrals reported for heroin, at 56 percent.

Congress Tries To Stop Denial Of Banking To Marijuana Providers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: North Coast Journal

In yet another example of America’s weird double standard when it comes to medical marijuana — which is now legal in 14 states — legitimate medical cannabis providers have been denied banking services or even had their existing accounts terminated, just for being involved in the medical marijuana business.

Fifteen members of Congress sent a letter Friday to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner urging him to issue “written guidance for financial institutions,” which would commit the Department to not targeting institutions whose account holders are in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

The patient advocate group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) said it has received “dozens of reports” over the past couple of years from medical marijuana providers in California, Colorado and other states who have either been denied financial services or even had their existing bank accounts terminated with little or no justification.

Medical Marijuana Provider First To Be Tried Under New Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Movement In Action

A North San Diego County medical marijuana provider, James Stacy, will be the first such case to go to trial after the Justice Department issued its new enforcement policy in October 2009, a month after the raid.

The trial date will be scheduled on Wednesday for Stacy, whose Vista dispensary was raided on September 9, 2009. Stacy will argue at the hearing that he’s entitled to admit evidence of state law compliance, something which has been routinely denied to defendants in federal marijuana cases. Unlike the state laws in California and 13 other states, federal law classifies marijuana as a Schedule I “narcotic,” with no medical value.

Stacy’s dispensary, Movement In Action, was raided along with more than a dozen other San Diego County dispensaries as part of local-federal joint enforcement actions known as “Operation Endless Summer” which resulted in more than 30 arrests.

CO Congressman Presses AG On Medical Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 14, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Colorado Connection

Rep. Jared Polis: “I would certainly encourage that the question of whether or not it’s consistent with state law certainly be left to state enforcement actions”

Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado on Thursday quizzed Attorney General Eric Holder about federal enforcement of marijuana laws in states like Colorado which have legalized it for medical use and are now seeing a growing number of dispensaries.

In his very first appearance as a new member of the House Judiciary Committee, Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, quizzed Holder about comments from a federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent suggesting the Justice Department planned to raid Colorado dispensaries, reports Michael Riley of The Denver Post.

Holder denied any such plans are in place, saying there were “higher enforcement priorities” and citing a directive by the deputy attorney general giving specific criteria under which federal agents would shut down dispensaries operating legally under state law.

“There are a variety of factors that are contained within the memo… that United States attorneys and assistant United States attorneys are supposed to apply, supposed to consider, when trying to make the determination about whether or not federal resources are going to be used to go after somebody who is dealing in marijuana,” Holder equivocated.

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Search Results: department of justice (396)

Photo: ACLU-WA Famed travel writer and TV host Rick Steves will be among the panelists at “Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading?”, a public forum in Seattle on September 12 sponsored by the WA ACLU.

Sure, it seems that the wind is at our backs. The tantalizing possibility of marijuana legalization looks more possible than it ever has before. But what comes next?

Photo: ACLU-WA

Famed travel writer and TV host Rick Steves will be among the panelists at “Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading?”, a public forum in Seattle on September 12 sponsored by the WA ACLU.