Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Oregon Reclassifies Marijuana As Medicine

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Oregon on Wednesday became the latest state — and the first in many years — to officially reclassify marijuana from its Schedule I status as a dangerous drug with no medical value.

The Oregon Board of Pharmacy (BOP) voted 4-1 on June 16 to move cannabis to Schedule II, thereby recognizing its medical use.

The BOP decision came after months of deliberation and input from the public. The Oregon Legislature passed SB 728, which directed the BOP to reclassify marijuana to Schedule II, III, IV or V, in August 2009.

Marijuana Dispensary Initiative Likely On Oregon Ballot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Oregon Green Free

An initiative to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries appears headed for the November ballot in Oregon.

Preliminary figures show that Initiative 28, the campaign for a medical marijuana supply system in Oregon, gathered more than 115,000 signatures through May, reports Jessica Van Berkel at The Oregonian.

Supporters of Initiative 28 say the measure is needed to ensure that patients have safe and legal supply of medical marijuana.

They argue that the licensing fees imposed under the measure would generate millions of dollars in additional revenue for the state.

Polling shows that the initiative is supported by 59 percent of Oregon voters, according to the Coalition for Patients Rights 2010.

The initiative, known as The Oregon Regulated Medical Marijuana Supply System [complete text: PDF], needs 82,769 verified names of registered voters to make the ballot.

L.A. Releases Pot Dispensary ‘Priority List’ For Choice Locations

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Sookiesooker/Dangerous Minds

The Los Angeles city clerk’s office has released a “priority list” of medical marijuana dispensaries with the date and time they originally registered under the September 2007 moratorium. The list will be used to determine the order in which dispensaries will have their choice of locations in the city.

For example, the first shop registered, with first choice, can locate anywhere in the city that zoning regulations allow.

Going down the priority list, each time an additional dispensary picks a location, the available choices will get a little thinner, because no other dispensary can locate within 1,000 feet, per the L.A. medical marijuana ordinance.

Volunteers Sought For Colorado Marijuana Panel

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: JustGetThere.us

Are you interested in serving on a medical marijuana registry advisory committee? Do you live in Colorado? The Department of Public Health is seeking applications for nine positions open to members of the public. Applications will be accepted until June 30.

The committee will advise the department’s executive director on devising rules required by two medical marijuana bills recently passed by the Colorado Legislature, SB10-109 and HB10-1284, reports Loretta Sword at The Pueblo Chieftain.

Recommendations by the committee on implementation of the laws will be considered by the department’s executive director and the Colorado Board of Health.

Members of the public will hold nine spots on the 11-member advisory committee. The other two positions will be from the Department of Public Health and Environment.

The department’s two committee members will be the director of the state’s medical marijuana registry and the state’s chief medical officer (or his designee).

California Town Rejects Marijuana Tax, For Now

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: John Burgess/The Press Democrat

Rich Maloney of Santa Rosa looks through the selection of medical marijuana available at the Peace through Medicine Healing Center in Sebastopol on Monday, June 14, 2010.

The Sebastopol City Council on Tuesday night rejected, by a 3-2 vote, imposing a business tax on sales of marijuana if it is legalized by California voters in November, reports Bob Norberg at The Santa Rosa Press Democrat.

“Do we want to have storefront sales?” asked Councilman Guy Wilson, who got all bent out of shape just thinking about the measure. “Do we want Sebastopol to be the place where people come for their recreational marijuana?”

The proposal was to put a tax, not to exceed five percent, on revenues of all “marijuana-related” businesses, should California voters approve the Control & Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative, which would legalize marijuana for anyone 21 and older.

Tiny Idaho Town Makes Marijuana Lowest Police Priority

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: city-data.com

Tiny Hailey, Idaho is Mayberry — plus marijuana

Could it be the Mayberry of marijuana? Pot smokers and civil libertarians won a victory in a small Idaho town Monday when the mayor announced that cannabis use on private property was officially the lowest police priority.

“This has not been easy, but I think that we have come up with something that works for those on both sides of this issue,” said Hailey Mayor Rick Davis at a City Council meeting, reports Tony Evans of the Idaho Mountain Express.

“This means that Hailey police will not go out and actively look for people smoking pot on private property — but they never have,” Mayor Davis said afterward.

N.J. Patients Have To Wait For Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: AC Weekly

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has been asking for more time to implement the state’s new medical marijuana law, and now it appears the bill’s chief sponsor, state Senator Nicholas Scutari, is going to give it to him.

Back in January, New Jersey became the 14th state to legalize marijuana for medical uses. A last-minute change to the legislation — as part of a deal which made the law more restrictive in terms of who qualifies for medical marijuana, and how much they can get each month — speeded up the timeline for implementation from one year to six months after it was signed into law, reports Jonathan Valania at the Philadelphia Weekly.

As passed, the law directs the state Health Department to devise rules by July 1 that would control the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana. After a 60-day comment period, the state would then have until November to open the first six nonprofit marijuana dispensaries.

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.

Patient May Lose Medical Marijuana ID Card… For Smoking Pot

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

Photo: Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald

Jessica Voden holds her medical marijuana registry certificate in her car at Fort Lewis College on Monday. Voden was ticketed by FLC Police for smoking marijuana Feb. 18 while sitting in her car in the parking lot.

A Colorado college student with a medical marijuana I.D. card has been found guilty of smoking in her car. Now, because she was smoking marijuana in public, she may lose her medical marijuana card as a result of her “drug conviction.”

Jessica Voden, 22, had filed the paperwork for her card at the time of her ticket and trial, but had not received her official card until the day after the trial, reports Deb Stanley at 7News.

Voden was sitting in her parked car at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., in February when a parking attendant noticed her smoking pot and called campus police, reports Shane Benjamin at The Durango Herald.

Medical Pot Backer To Petition Iowa Board Of Pharmacy

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

Photo: StopTheDrugWar.org

Patient advocate Carl Olsen: “That creates an obligation on the part of the state to move forward and do something about it”

A Des Moines man involved in the effort to legalize medical marijuana in Iowa said he plans to petition the Iowa Board of Pharmacy to write rules allowing the use of the herb medicinally. Carl Olsen’s comments followed House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s Monday announcement the Legislature has dropped plans to have a committee study the issue.

McCarthy said it appears that according to the Iowa Code, it is the board’s duty, not that of the Legislature, to write the medical marijuana rules. According to Olsen, the matter could wind up in the courts, reports Pat Curtis at Radio Iowa.

“The question in the judicial review would be whether (the pharmacy board) has a duty to make the rules,” Olsen said. “McCarthy seems to be saying they do and he’s an attorney.”