Search Results medical-marijuana-patient

Washington Drug Agents Seize Pot Legalization Petitions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Citizen Alert

Washington drug agents have illegally seized signed petitions for marijuana legalization, according to organizers of ballot initiative I-1068.

Marijuana advocacy group Sensible Washington says it has learned that a dozen signed copies of the marijuana legalization initiative for Washington State of which it is the sponsor, were seized last week by the federally-funded WestNET drug task force.

Advocates say that the drug agents who seized the petitions are interfering with a constitutionally-protected legislative procedure.

“Our estimate is that 2009 signatures are sitting in WestNET’s offices in Port Orchard, apparently seized as ‘evidence’ during a series of raids against the North End Club 420 in Tacoma,” said Sensible Washington campaign director and initiative co-author Philip Dawdy.

San Diego Man Getting His Weed Back From The Cops

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 30, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Eugene Davidovich

Eugene Davidovich on getting his weed back: “Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?”

A judge Friday morning ordered the San Diego Police Department to return all property seized from medical marijuana patient and provider Eugene Davidovich, including the dried marijuana and concentrated cannabis seized more than a year ago, in February 2009.

“Although I don’t agree with this, I have no choice but to return the property of Mr. Davidovich,” said Judge David Szumowski.

“After receiving a refusal from the District Attorney’s office to comply with our letter of demand for the return of all my property, today we were forced to spend more of our resources as well as the taxpayers’ resources on frivolous litigation caused by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s bias and hate towards medical marijuana,” Davidovich said.

“Will Ms. Dumanis ever stop going after medical marijuana patients and begin respecting state law?” Davidovich asked.

Davidovich, the former defendant in a San Diego medical marijuana trial, said the office of the District Attorney was wrongfully holding his belongings, despite his acquittal by a jury.

Eugene became a spokesman for local medical marijuana patients when his home was raided and four charges brought against him. According to Davidovich, the reason he had to go back to court to get his belongings is likely political.

Davidovich was one of 37 people charged with criminal offenses during Operation Endless Summer in 2008. He was unanimously found not guilty by a jury on March 25.

California Courts Rule In Favor Of Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: TopNews

It was an open and shut case — or at least, the police in a northern California town thought so when they confiscated more than two pounds of marijuana from a couple’s home, even though doctors authorized the pair to use cannabis for medical purposes.

San Francisco police evidently thought the same with a father and son they suspected of using the state’s medical marijuana law to operate what the cops claimed was an illegal trafficking organization, reports KTVQ.

But both those cases, along with possibly dozens of others, were tossed out in recent weeks because of a California Supreme Court ruling that struck down a seven-year-old state law that put an eight-ounce limit on the amount of marijuana that medical users are allowed to possess.

Acquitted Patient Seeks Return Of Marijuana From D.A.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 9, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Eugene Davidovich

Eugene Davidovich: “I don’t know why I can’t get my property back”

The former defendant in a San Diego medical marijuana trial says the office of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is wrongfully holding his belongings, despite his acquittal by a jury.

Eugene Davidovich, who became a spokesman for local medical marijuana patients when his home was raided and four charges brought against him, said the D.A.’s refusal to return his property is likely political, reports Hoa Quach at San Diego News Network.

“I dont’ know why I can’t get my property back,” Davidovich said. “I don’t understand but it seems to be politically-driven.”

Davidovich was one of 37 people charged with criminal offenses during Operation Endless Summer in 2008. He was unanimously found not guilty by a jury on March 25.

Despite his acquittal and repeated attempts to reclaim his property, Davidovich said his belongings haven’t been returned.

Attorney Michael McCabe contacted deputy district attorney Theresa Pham at least five times to obtain Davidovich’s belongings, to no avail. Finally, on Wednesday, McCabe sent a letter to Pham with the formal request.

“Since Mr. Davidovich was acquitted of all charges by the jury’s verdict on March 25, 2010, your office has no legitimate reason to continue to maintain possession of these items,” McCabe wrote in the letter. “Thus, under the express power conferred upon the Court by Penal Code 1536, these items must be returned to Mr. Davidovich.”

Two Redneck CA Counties Still Refuse To Give Medical Pot Cards

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 8, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

See those two little red counties? Those are the heart of redneck California, ladies and gentlemen. Sutter and Colusa counties are the only two in the state still violating state law by refusing to issue medical marijuana ID cards.

Fourteen years after Californians voted to legalize the medicinal use of marijuana, two counties — in violation of state law — are still refusing to issue official identification cards to cannabis patients.

The Sutter County Board of Supervisors’ rejection of a plan Tuesday night left the county as one of only two in the state, along with Colusa County, without such a program, reports Howard Yune at the Yuba Appeal-Democrat.

Senate Bill 420, passed in 2003, directs California counties to issue ID cards to patients using medical marijuana with a doctor’s approval. Unfortunately, SB 420 doesn’t list specific sanctions against counties that refuse to do so.

The plan voted down by the myopically marijuana-phobic Sutter County supervisors was so reasonable, so middle of the road, that even the county sheriff endorsed it.

San Diego Medical Marijuana Ordinance Developed In Secret

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 2, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Fox 5

Medical marijuana advocates have responded with shock and concern at a draconian proposal that would create strict new rules for medical marijuana collectives in unincorporated areas of San Diego County.

According to advocates, the ordinance, as drafted, threatens to cut off San Diego patients’ access to medical marijuana by making compliance with the absurdly too-strict rules almost impossible.

Gun Dealer Won’t Sell To Medical Marijuana Patients

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

Photo: Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight

Veteran Sean Merritt has spoken out against gun store owners who won’t sell firearms to medical marijuana patients.

Morphine? Klonopin? No problem. But if you use medical marijuana, no gun for you!

Redding, California gun dealer Patrick Jones — who happens to also be mayor of the town — refuses to do business with known medical marijuana patients.

That refusal has drawn lots of criticism from patients such as Army Spc. Sean Merritt, an honorably discharged and disabled veteran. The patients, who have twice gone to Redding City Council chambers to denounce Jones, say he is violating patients’ rights, reports Scott Mobley at the Redding Record Searchlight.

“There is nothing in state law that says I cannot own or possess a firearm,” Merritt said at a recent city council meeting. And to be told as such is branding me as a severe mental patient or a felon. I am neither.”

Pot Patients Picket Obama: ‘Get The DEA Out Of Colorado’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: KDVR

Medical marijuana patients and advocates Thursday will participate in a Denver protest of the continuing federal raids of patients and providers in Colorado, according to Sensible Colorado.

The protest is in response to the recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids of two medical marijuana testing laboratories and the February 12 raid of a licensed grower in Highlands Ranch.

N.M. Medical Marijuana Tax Could Push Patients To Black Market

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 2, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Photo: Flickr / Westword

New Mexico: Land of Enchantment. And, well, taxing the sick.

New Mexico’s Legislature has been looking mighty hungrily at the state’s medical marijuana program as a source of tax revenue. But according the state’s Tax and Revenue Department, such a tax could cause patients to turn to the black market.

A 25 percent excise tax on medical marijuana could potentially raise about $1.2 million for the state, according to the Legislative Finance Committee’s fiscal impact report on Sen. John Sapien’s bill, SB 56, reports Marjorie Childress at The New Mexico Independent.

The analysis estimated a typical patient spends $6,256 annually on medical marijuana, and would pay about $1,564 in excise tax per year.

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