| NY Daily News |
| Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Because of the harm that substances like marijuana and other narcotics pose to our society, I have concerns about this legislation” |
From time to time we are reminded just how much work remains when it comes to educating politicians and the public about cannabis. One of those times is now: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has warned a constituent via a letter that he doesn’t support medical marijuana legalization because, among other reasons, smoking pot can lead to death.
In a February 4 reply to his constituent, McConnell ticked off some “serious concerns” he has about legalizing weed for medicinal purposes, the topic about which the constituent had written him, reports Jennifer Bendery at the Huffington Post.
| Cheryl Shuman |
| Green Asset International CEO Cheryl Shuman, right, with Aerosmith legend Steven Tyler. Shuman has 25 years of experience working with media, celebrities, marketing and healthcare in Beverly Hills. |
Green Asset International Inc., which targets for acquisition cutting-edge medical marijuana and social media companies, is dedicating an unprecedented $100 million funding facility to develop the corporatization and rebranding of the cannabis industry’s ancillary businesses, CEO Cheryl Shuman announced on Wednesday.
Shuman, who estimates at least a billion dollars in current ancillary business opportunities, will review and acquire legal businesses within the medicinal cannabis industry.
“As one of the world’s most respected voices of the movement, it’s Shuman’s challenge and responsibility to remove the negative stigma and stereotypes of the cannabis user,” Green Asset said in a press release. “Real men and women in the corporate world are taking a stand to make a change by boldly ‘coming out of the closet’ to show their support and the validity of this great, growth-potential business by investing in the cannabis sector.”
| The Weed Blog |
In a case that could change everything, a hearing has been ordered in the voting rights case brought by medical marijuana patients against the federal government.
U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford set March 26 to hear arguments regarding whether federal authorities should be enjoined from sending letters ordering the closure of medical marijuana collectives in Costa Mesa, California.
The patients in the case allege they have been denied the right to vote on medical marijuana legalization despite Congress’s December 2009 decision to grant that right to Washington, D.C., voters. A team of likeminded attorneys has now started working cooperatively to defend disabled patients’ rights on this case and additional suits.
“It is anomalous for the U.S. Attorney to claim that marijuana has no medical value based on the more than 40-year-old Controlled Substances Act considering Congress allowed the District of Columbia to vote on and implement its ‘Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Purposes Act’ in 2009,” Matthew Pappas, an attorney on the case, told Toke of the Town Wednesday morning.
| Robert Platshorn |
| This is one of two different billboards that went up today in Florida as part of a push for the passage of medical marijuana in the state. |
This billboard greeted motorists on a busy Florida highway after being unveiled Tuesday morning.
It’s one of two giant 48-foot billboards urging passage of medical marijuana for Floridians which Charles Stroud donated. Both are placed on Pompano, Florida’s busiest thoroughfare, Sample Road.
The billboards, donated by disabled Pennsylvania truck driver Stroud to The Silver Tour, are part of a push for the passage of medical marijuana in the Sunshine State, according to founder Robert Platshorn, who also directs Florida NORML.
| Drug Policy Alliance |
| Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson (left) will join Drug Policy Alliance Executive Directeor Ethan Nadelmann (right) to speak about the need for greater momentum and political debate to end the failed War On Drugs |
To Be Discussed Thursday, March 15: Legalization Debate in Latin America, Portugal’s Decriminalization Experience, Marijuana Legalization Ballot Initiatives in Colorado and Washington, and the State of National Drug Policy Reform Efforts
Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson will join Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann to speak about the need for greater momentum and political debate to end the failed Drug War this Thursday, March 15, at a forum organized by The Atlantic (600 New Hampshire Ave. NW, 8th Floor) from 9:15 to 10:30 a.m.
Steve Clemons, editor at large of The Atlantic, will host the session and interview Branson and Nadelmann before opening to questions from the audience and media.
In the past year, Branson has stepped out as a prominent supporter of drug policy reform. His involvement with the Global Commission on Drug Policy electrified the international media and brought a new level of attention to the growing movement to end the 40-year-old War On Drugs.
| MedBox |
| MDS says its MedBox machines are the most secure and transparent method to assure patient verification and compliance |
Want to run a medical marijuana dispensary in the Grand Canyon State? A California-based firm is consulting with companies, groups and individuals on the steps necessary to successfully complete their applications to establish medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona.
To date, Medicine Dispensing Systems, Inc. (MDS), a subsidiary of Medbox, Inc., says it has been hired to consult for more than 60 individuals and small groups vying for approval of dispensary certification applications in Arizona, which are limited to a total of 124 approvals statewide.
Arizona votes approved Ballot Proposition 203 in 2010. Prop 203 allows registered qualifying patients who have a physician’s written certification that they have been diagnosed with a debilitating condition that would likely receive benefit from marijuana, to obtain the product from a registered nonprofit dispensary, and to possess and use medical marijuana to treat the condition.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer recently dropped her lawsuit which had put the application process on temporary hold, and now the Arizona Department of Health Services expects to begin accepting dispensary applications as soon as April.
| BudGenius |
| MenuGenius is, according to BudGenius.com, the only free menu that supports both tested and untested medicine |
BudGenius.com, an online medical marijuana laboratory system, has announced “MenuGenius,” a new online tool available to all cannabis caregivers. The application is offered to all marijuana professionals who sign up for a free account on the BudGenius.com system, according to the company.
The online medicine menu displays statistics for both tested and untested variants of medical marijuana, and is deployable to nearly any website at no additional charge, according to BudGenius.
Medical marijuana directory websites can also take advantage of the tool, as it has been developed to integrate as an add-on module into several popular content management systems, offering native search capabilities for listed strains. According to BudGenius, directory websites can also increase their revenue through an affiliate business model for medical cannabis testing, which comes integrated with the MenuGenius software.
| GOOD |
It’s been something approaching boom times on the California medical marijuana scene for the past three or four years now, particularly after the Obama Administration’s Ogden Memo, which seemed to open the door for medicinal cannabis providers in states where it is legal.
But following every boom comes a bust; that’s the way the pendulum swings, and that rule’s been around a whole lot longer than the nascent economy-saver that medical marijuana seems to have the potential to be.
When will that bubble burst? How will it happen, and whom will be hurt?
| WeedMaps |
| This Wonka Umpa Lumpa ($20 gram, $450 an ounce) is among the strains available at Desert Heart Collective. A judge on Tuesday morning ordered the city of Rancho Mirage to issue a certificate of occupancy to the collective |
A Riverside County, California judge ruled in favor of a medical marijuana dispensary on Tuesday, ordering the city of Rancho Mirage to have the building inspected for code violations and to issue a certificate of occupancy.
Desert Heart Collective, co-owned by four people, opened in 2010 and was later shut down by the city, reports Erik Sandoval at KESQ. The owners filed a $2 million lawsuit against
Rancho Mirage on February 3, 2011.
Rancho Mirage has a city ordinance prohibiting storefront medical marijuana dispensaries “due to the significant negative secondary effects that such dispensaries have been found to create — such as increase crime,” City Attorney Steve Quintanilla claimed in a written statement. (He’s mistaken or lying; the shops have been shown to create no such thing.)
| ABC 7 News |
| Terminal patient Angel Raich was thrown out of UCSF Hospital last night for vaporizing medical marijuana |
A well-known medical marijuana patient and advocate suffering from a terminal brain condition was escorted out of a San Francisco hospital Monday night for using a cannabis vaporizer inside the facility, according to media sources.
Angel McClary Raich, who said she believes she has about a year to live, was at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Hospital to receive a brain scan, reports the Oakland Tribune. A resident of Oakland, Raich suffers constant severe pain, according to her website.