Search Results: martin (205)

Graphic: Oregon NORML

​It’s full speed ahead for the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA), a ballot initiative which would legalize and tax marijuana in the Beaver State, as the Oregon Supreme Court has dismissed the only challenge to OCTA’s ballot title.

The challenge — filed by Bradley Benoit from the Beaverton, Ore., area — came from an earlier comment regarding OCTA’s summary explanation. The comment requested the summary of the measure describe in detail the fact that the Oregon Attorney General would be responsible for defending Oregonians, and the law itself, should a federal case arise.

Photo: GanjaGrow.es
A primo bud of Big Apple namesake New York Diesel. The Empire State is primed to become the 15th in the nation to allow medical marijuana — but, sadly, with no homegrown allowed.

​Months after neighboring New Jersey became the 14th U.S. state to legalize marijuana for medical use with a doctor’s recommendation, New York appears ready to follow suit.

The Empire State’s medical marijuana bill has already passed the State House, and now has favorably cleared a Senate committee, included in the state budget.
Millions in license fees are at stake, reports Lou Young at CBS, but advocates say that’s not why the bill should be approved.
Young reports opposition to the New York bill is weakening, but marijuana being marijuana, of course there are some nervous Nellies.
“We’ve seen it in California. It doesn’t work in California,” lamented the hysterically reefer-phobic Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). “We believe, I believe personally that it’s a gateway drug and it will open up for more usage of marijuana amongst kids, and lead to further drug use across our state,” Golden said, in an apparent (and if so, successful) attempt to construct an elaborate sentence containing absolutely no trace of intelligent thought.

Photo: Church For Compassionate Care
Wayne Dagit: “I’m not serving pot, I’m serving the Lord”

​Wayne Dagit wants to run a place where patrons can belly up to a table, fire up a joint and swap stories and herbal remedies with other patrons.

The Green Leaf Smokers Club, a private club for medical marijuana patients, officially opens today in Williamstown Township, Michigan, reports Scott Davis of Gannett News Service.
Dagit said the club is the first one for marijuana smokers officially launched in Michigan, although there are many reports of underground clubs operating statewide.
“I’m not serving pot, I’m serving the Lord,” said Dagit, 60, who is a founder of the Church for Compassionate Care.
Williamstown Township officials claim they only recently learned of the club’s existence, and they are now investigating whether it’s legal for the club to operate.
At the same time, police claim they are concerned that the club will lead to an increase in “impaired” driving by patrons.

Photo: julianabrint
I heart marijuana in D.C.

​As the District of Columbia Council meets Tuesday afternoon to hear testimony on the legalization of medical marijuana, they’ll be hearing different opinions from people on the same side of the argument, reports Martin Austermuhle at DCist.

Some advocates believe the legislation introduced in late January is too restrictive and unnecessarily limits access to marijuana for qualifying patients in D.C.
The bill would set up five dispensaries where patients with approved conditions and a note from their primary care physician could buy a 30-day supply of marijuana.
The dispensaries would be required to be at least 1,000 feet from any school or youth center. Patients would be required to pay registration fees.
The proposal does not live up to the spirit of the 1998 voter initiative that approved medical marijuana in D.C., according to some advocates.

Artwork: Jimmy Wheeler
The late Jimmy Wheeler, a medical marijuana patient in Washington, created this artwork. Now a proposed patient protection bill will be named in his honor.

​As most medical marijuana patients in the state already know, the current medical marijuana law in Washington doesn’t protect patients from search, arrest or prosecution.

The recent Washington Supreme Court ruling in State v. Fry further highlighted how little protection — as in almost none! — the current law gives “legal” patients.
Medical marijuana activists Ken Martin and Steve Sarich of patient advocacy group CannaCare contacted every Senator and Representative in Washington at the beginning of the current 2010 legislative session, attempting to find a sponsor for their new bill that would finally offer legal patients protection from arrest and prosecution.
“We could not find a single sponsor for this bill,” Sarich told Toke of the Town. “Those I actually spoke with told me they were ‘too busy’ this session.”
“This made us curious about what, exactly, these legislators were so busy working on (besides new taxes on just about everything),” Sarich said. “What we found amazed us.”

Medical Marijuana Patients of the District of Columbia

​The District of Columbia Council is scheduled to hold a hearing next week to discuss legislation to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes in D.C.

The bill was introduced in late January when Congress — after waiting more than 12 years — finally lifted restrictions that had prevented a 1998 voter initiative from being impolemented, reports Martin Austermuhle at The DCist.
The legislation would allow the creation of five marijuana dispensaries where patients with specific ailments and a recommendation from their primary care physician could go to buy pot. Patients would also be allowed to grow their own cannabis.
Medical marijuana advocates feel the proposed legislation is too restrictive and doesn’t live up to the spirit of the 1998 voter initiative. The advocates plan to propose a set of amendments to the bill.

Photo: The Last Free Voice
This was the scene left by DEA agents after the 2008 raid at Organica. The collective was raided again in 2009 and again Thursday.

​Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Sarah Pullen has confirmed the DEA is serving warrants at Organica Collective, a marijuana dispensary in Culver City, California.

Culver City police also participated in the raid, reports Amina Khan at the Los Angeles Times.
Witnesses saw several officers and cars congregating around 10 a.m. Thursday around Organica Collective at 13456 Washington Boulevard.
At least three people were detained, according to witness Erin Olf, officer manager at Rainbow Acres Natural Foods, a neighboring business. Olf said she saw the three handcuffed and standing in front of a graffiti-covered storage truck.

Graphic: Out Front Colorado

​Dozens of medical marijuana dispensary owners lined up before daylight in Denver Monday to apply for their licenses. It was the first day the owners could apply for the required licenses under the city’s new regulatory scheme.

The new process includes several steps, including $5,000 in application and licensing fees, a background check with excludes felons, a required security plan, and fire and zoning inspections, reports KUSA-TV.
“At $5,000 a pop for the application/licensing, all we need is another 100,000 pot shops to open up in Denver and our budget crisis is solved,” wisecracked “PugMartin1,” one commenter on KUSA’s site.

Graphic: KATU-TV
Legalization is gaining momentum in the Pacific Northwest — and the promise of big tax money is proving hard to resist for some legislators.

​Thanks to Toke of the Town‘s good friend Michael Bachara of Hemp News for alerting us to a KATU-TV news report on the legalization movement in Oregon and Washington (see video below).

Although reporter Anna Song somehow completely misses covering the Sensible Washington voter initiative signature drive, she does interview the very cool Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle) of the Washington Legislature.
“We are treating marijuana like we treated alcohol during Prohibition,” Dickerson says, “and it doesn’t make sense.”

1 18 19 20 21