Search Results reason

Denver Manicures Rules For Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 3, 2009 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Westword

“Nature’s Choice” is a dispensary located near South Colorado Boulevard and Evans. This ad appeared in a recent edition of Westword.

Denver City Council members, in the midst of hammering out regulations for the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries, suggested Wednesday that they’d bar recently convicted felons from getting into the business of dispensing pot.

The council held no formal vote on Councilman Charlie Brown’s package of proposed dispensary regulations, Christopher N. Osher reports in The Denver Post, but agreed to meet in committee again on Dec. 16.

A full set of dispensary regulations will likely go before the city council in January.

Brown’s initial language, requiring applicants for marijuana dispensaries to state whether they had “ever been convicted of a felony, or of violating any federal, state or local law governing the manufacture, distribution, possession or use of controlled substances,” struck some council members as too onerous.

California Court Calls Medical Marijuana Limits ‘Improper’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2009 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana

Plant limits may become a thing of the past in California.

A California court of appeals in San Diego has ruled that the amount of marijuana a medical user can legally possess is a question jurors should decide, and using limits defined in state law is improper.

The unanimous ruling could change the way many medical pot cases are handled at the trial stage, according to legal experts. A ruling is expected soon from the California Supreme Court that deals with a similar issue, SignOnSanDiego reports.

Medical marijuana patient Nathaniel Archer of San Diego was arrested by San Diego police with 98 pot plants in his home, along with 1.72 pounds of dried marijuana. He was convicted in 2007 for cultivating and possessing marijuana and sentenced to probation.

Public Hearing On Medical Marijuana In PA Dec. 2

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2009 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Coaster420

Nugs like this Purple Kush beauty could be legal for medical use if Pennsylvania legislators show some leadership.

A public hearing on legalizing medical marijuana is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 2, in Harrisburg, Pa., before the House Health and Human Services committee.

Discussed will be House Bill 1393, introduced in April by State Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia. According to Cohen, the bill aims to ease the lives of suffering patients, take money away from the illegal drug trade and create about $25 million a year in tax revenue from the sale of marijuana.

“The bill has a 1-in-4 chance of becoming law, but I think that health care groups will lean toward it,” Cohen told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

Jury Acquits San Diego Dispensary Manager On Pot Charges

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2009 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Artwork by Jim Wheeler

Medical marijuana patients win another battle in San Diego

The manager of a San Diego medical marijuana dispensary was acquitted today of five charges of possessing and selling marijuana for profit.

Jovan Jackson, 31, was convicted, however, of possession of ecstasy and Xanax, according to SignOnSanDiego News Services.

Jackson, who was arrested after a pair of raids at Answerdam Alternative Care in Kearny Mesa last year, began to weep quietly as the verdicts were read in the courtroom of Judge Cynthia Bashant.

The verdicts ended a weeklong trial in San Diego Superior Court. According to SignOnSanDiego, the jury foreman said afterward that the lack of clarity in California’s medical marijuana law was a major reason for the acquittals.

Medical marijuana advocates said the verdicts were a rebuke to San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis and local law enforcement. Aggressive medical marijuana enforcement has been a priority for Dumanis’ office.

The Great Marijuana Rehab Scam: Feds Say You’re Addicted To Pot, But They’re Addicted To Cash

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2009 Culture, News

Wikimedia Commons

Federal pot policy is based on 70-year-old superstitions.

Why does the U.S. federal government keep pushing outdated lies about marijuana’s health consequences and potential for addiction?

Because it’s a lucrative business, according to Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

In an op-ed piece over at AlterNet, Armentano, deputy director of NORML, points out that the feds are wasting their time — and your money — researching what must be the Loch Ness Monster of the drug policy world (as in nobody can prove it exists), “marijuana addiction.”

Yes, you read that right. “Marijuana addiction.”

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Cannabis related disorders (CRDs), including cannabis abuse or dependence and cannabis induced disorders (e.g., intoxication, delirium, psychotic disorder, and anxiety disorder) are a major public health issue.”

Fallbrook, CA: Medical Marijuana Dispensary Joins Chamber Of Commerce

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 28, 2009 Culture, Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Coaster420, Wikimedia Commons

Dispensary grade Purple Goo.

Despite District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ recent dispensary crackdown, there are towns in the San Diego area that aren’t so pot-unfriendly. In Fallbrook, California, the newest member of the Chamber of Commerce is a medical marijuana dispensary.

Dispensary co-founder Bob Riedel said he joined the chamber for the regular reasopns: getting involved in the community and networking, according to the North County Times. The dispensary will even be one of the sponsors for Fallbrook’s Dec. 5 Christmas parade, having kicked $500 into the chamber’s parade fund.

Judge Orders Cops To Give Man Back 11 Pounds Of Pot, A Little At The Time

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 27, 2009 Medical, News

Photo: Pablo-flores, Wikimedia Commons

Washington judge gives the green light to medical pot patient

An interesting thing is happening in states which have legalized medical marijuana. There’s an ongoing culture war between cops who hate all marijuana, period, and patients who take the law at its word when it says they can use pot legally. From time to time, the patients win big.

Such is the case in Kent, Washington, where King County Judge Mary Roberts ordered the police department to give 11 pounds of seized marijuana back to Matthew Zugsberger, who holds a valid California medical marijuana card.

After police (with the aid of a trusty drug dog) found the stash in the trunk of Zugsberger’s car last February in the parking lot of a pharmacy in Kent, they arrested the Californian and his girlfriend and seized the weed.

Zugsberger says the cops accused him of importing marijuana from Canada (which does happen a lot in this area, being not far from the B.C. border). “Why the hell would I buy pot from Canada if I have a field of it in my back yard?”, Zugsberger reasonably asked, according to the Seattle P.I.

The California man said he began using marijuana medicinally in 2007 to manage nausea caused by a severe injury sustained while working as a underwater welder in the Gulf of Mexico. After the accident, he was prescribed opiate painkillers; Zugsberger said the drugs gave him liver problems, and he was concerned about becoming addicted to them.

Zugsberger pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession and was sentenced to three months’ probation. But defense attorney Aaron Pelley wasn’t done with the case. Pelley, who is active with Seattle-based medical marijuana advocacy organization Cannabis Defense Coalition, filed a petition in August seeking the return of the marijuana to his client, since Zugsberger is a legal medical pot patient.

Is A Thousand Too Many? L.A. Council Discussing Dispensary Proliferation

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 23, 2009 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo by Laurie Avocado, Wikimedia Commons

We got a thousand of ’em! Medical marijuana dispensary on Ventura Boulevard in L.A.

How many medical marijuana dispensaries are needed in a city with 4 million people?

That’s the question the Los Angeles City Council will be grappling with Tuesday as they decide how to deal with an explosion of the pot shops. Two years ago, when the number reached 186 registered dispensaries, a moratorium was put in place, but a boilerplate “hardship” exemption was included that proved to be a big enough loophole for hundreds more to slip through.

Current dispensary estimates run between 800 and 1,000, and the truism that “L.A. has more marijuana shops than Starbucks” has already captured the public imagination.

Councilman Jose Huizar has suggested a cap of 70 dispensaries; “I’d rather start with a low number,” he told the Los Angeles Times, calling 70 “a reasonable number” since that would be two for each of L.A.’s designated communities. Huizar’s proposal is one of more than three dozen changes the council will consider as it resumes debate on L.A.’s proposed medical marijuana ordinance.

Search Results: reason (1018)