Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Montana Still Wastes Tax Money Arresting Medical Pot Patients

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

Under Montana law, qualifying patients and caregivers may grow and possess up to six marijuana plants and one dried smokable ounce of cannabis.

Officers knocked down a Montana man’s door with a battering ram, and once inside, found what they expected — 39 marijuana plants. But they claim that it was only after thousands of dollars in equipment and cannabis were seized and destroyed that they learned Alan Edson is a legal patient, allowed to grow and sell marijuana for medical purposes.

“They proceeded to go through my entire home,” Edson said. “They confiscated and destroyed my legally licensed property and my personal property. They even went through my wife’s underwear drawer,” he said, reports Kim Skornogoski of the Great Falls Tribune.

Similar incidents are probably happening weekly across the state, according to State Narcotics Bureau Chief Mark Long. “If we get a tip that a person is growing plants — whether it’s six plants or 600 — we have to investigate it,” Long claimed.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services licenses medical marijuana patients and providers under state law. But in an all-too-common practice of pot-phobic law enforcement officers acting as if they are qualified to practice medicine, local police officers and sheriff’s deputies claim it’s their job to “make sure those people follow the law,” and they go about “making sure” with what seems close to unhealthy zeal.

L.A. City Council Approves Pot Dispensary Fee Schedule

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Medical Marijuana Blog

The Los Angeles City Council gave final approval Friday to a fee schedule for medical marijuana dispensaries, adding the last element to the years-long effort to regulate pot shops in the city.

The council approved the measure by a 9-1 vote, with Councilman Bill Rosendahl continuing to oppose the measure, which he said is too restrictive, reports Rick Orlov at the Los Angeles Daily News.

Disabled Patients Take Pot Case To Federal Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Michael Goulding/The Orange County Register

A woman leaves the Evergreen Holistic Collective in Lake Forest, California. The collective is one of 11 remaining in the city, which is trying to shut them all down

A federal judge is expected on Monday to hear arguments on whether four marijuana patients can use the Americans with Disabilities Act to prevent two Orange County, California cities from closing medical pot dispensaries.

The lawsuit, being filed against Lake Forest and Costa Mesa on behalf of Orange County residents Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel DeJong, alleges the cities’ efforts to shut down dispensaries deny them access to public services, reports Erika I. Ritchie at The Orange County Register.

Pot Patients, Growers Prepare To Fight County Restrictions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Photo: Julie R. Johnson/Corning Observer

Ken and Kathy Prather, owners of medical marijuana dispensary Tehama Herbal Collective in Corning, California

Hundreds of people are signing up as litigants in a class action lawsuit to be filed against Tehama County, California, for its recently approved medical marijuana cultivation regulations.

Many of the potential litigants, medical marijuana growers and patients, met in Red Bluff on Thursday to fill out forms naming themselves as plaintiffs in a lawsuit being backed by California NORML, reports Julie R. Johnson of Tri-County Newspapers.

Kathy Prather, co-owner of Tehama Herbal Collective (THC), a marijuana dispensary in Corning, said the lawsuit will be filed against Tehama County because of its recent ordinance regulating medical cannabis cultivation.

Denver 4/20 Rally Photos: Best Of The Best [NSFW]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 23, 2010 Culture

Photo: Aaron Thackeray/Westword

Denver celebrated the year’s highest stoner holiday, 4/20, in Civic Center Park — and there were plenty of interesting things at which to look.

MI: Medical Pot Demand Booming; Agency Can’t Keep Pace

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

Graphic: Medical Marijuana Blog

One year into Michigan’s medical marijuana law, health officials can’t keep up with the demand.

Because of a growing backlog of about 3,000 applications, those wishing to use marijuana medically or grow it for patients have a three-month wait for registry cards, according to the Michigan Department of Community Health, reports Scott Davis at Lansing State Journal.

“We’re (now) getting a thousand applications a week,” said department spokesman James McCurtis. “It’s going to take some time to get through all applications, even with new help.”

The department said it had issued 13,239 permits for use of marijuana and 5,460 permits for caregivers to grow it, as of April 16. The program kicked off in April 2009.

Florida Senate Unanimously Passes Bong Ban

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 22, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Florida House Democratic Caucus

Are these bongs “destructive utensils” that “destroy communities”? The Florida Senate thinks so.

The Florida Senate has unanimously passed a bill that would ban the sale of glass smoking pipes at most stores that currently carry them.

Senate Bill 366 requires 75 percent of a business’s gross sales to come from tobacco products before they are allowed to sell bongs, water pipes and “air-driven pipes,” reports WJHG.

It passed the Senate unanimously, 36-0, on Wednesday.

Supporters of the legislation claim the pipes can be used to smoke illegal drugs like marijuana and cocaine.

The proposal could hurt some businesses, like Condom Knowledge in Panama City Beach.

Colorado House Approves Medical Marijuana Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 22, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis N.I.

The Colorado House of Representatives has approved and sent to the state Senate a bill that would allow the state to license medical marijuana dispensaries, growers and people who make medical cannabis-infused edibles.

Under the bill, HB 1284, owners of medical marijuana dispensaries would be required to undergo criminal background checks. Anyone with a drug felony would be barred from owning a pot shop.

The bill passed 39-23 with bipartisan support, reports the Vail Daily.

Many medical marijuana activists are unhappy with the legislation.

“These bills will create a government-sponsored monopoly of a few mega-Walmart dispensaries,” said Lauri Kriho, director of Cannabis Therapy Institute (CTI).

Lawyers Say Marijuana’s Drug Status Should Change

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

Graphic: Salem News

The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday published an editorial by two law professors arguing that the federal government should change to a less restrictive status for marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act.

Marijuana’s current Schedule I status, according to the professors, stops researchers from studying the medical benefits and health risks of cannabinoid-based medicine, even though state laws in 14 states allow doctors to recommend the drug, reports Lauren Cox at ABC News.

“Although state laws represent a political response to patients seeking relief from debilitating symptoms, they are inadequate to advance effective treatment,” the professors argue. “Medical experts emphasize the need to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug to facilitate rigorous scientific evaluation of the potential therapeutic benefits of cannabinoids and to determine the optimal dose and delivery route for conditions in which efficacy is established.”

New Poll: Majority Says Pot Should Be Treated Like Alcohol

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 22, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: NORML

Careful who you trust to interpret poll results. You may have seen the poll that was trumpeted just in time for 4/20, supposedly showing that “55 percent of Americans oppose legalizing marijuana.”

The headlines about the April 20 Associated Press/CNBC poll (PDF) on marijuana legalization read “Most In U.S. Against Legalizing Pot,” but Huffington Post reporter Ryan Grim dug down into the results and found that one of the poll’s questions actually appears to show majority support for legalizing and regulating marijuana like alcohol.

“[W]hen pot is compared to alcohol, support for reforming the laws surges,” Grim writes. “Forty-four percent of respondents said that ‘the regulations on marijuana [should]be the same as those for alcohol.’ Another 12 percent said they should be ‘less strict,’ meaning that a full 56 percent support the policy change — perhaps the highest number ever recorded in favor of legalization. (Alcohol is, after all, legal.)”

Kind of odd, wouldn’t you say? The results of a nationwide poll show that a substantial majority — 56 percent of Americans — support either the same restrictions or looser restrictions on marijuana than on alcohol, which is already legal. But somehow, that gets reported in the national press as “Most In U.S. Against Legalizing Pot”?