Search Results: senator (345)

Photo: Aaron Thackeray, Westword
Dispensaries like Herbal Connections in Denver could be legislated out of existence if law enforcement has its way.

​Colorado lawmakers writing a major medical marijuana regulation bill plan to meet Friday with officials from the state attorney general’s office to work on what they’re calling a “compromise” to include “more law-and-order language” in the bill. But advocates of safe and legal access for patients are blasting the current version of the bill, saying it is already too restrictive, reports John Ingold of The Denver Post.

The bill “cannot be supported by any serious patient or caregiver in Colorado’s medical marijuana community,” attorney/activist Rob Corry wrote in a letter Thursday to state Sen. Chris Romer, the Denver Democrat who is drafting the legislation.

Photo: CMMNJ
MS patient John Ray Wilson, left, and a supporter

​In a move that could be huge for the medical marijuana movement, a New Jersey judge reversed course today, allowing a multiple sclerosis patient on trial for growing 17 marijuana plants to testify about his medical condition, Brian Thompson of NBC New York reports.

Although Judge Robert Reed had earlier ruled defendant John Ray Wilson couldn’t present a defense based on medical necessity, Wilson was allowed to mention his MS after multiple conferences among lawyers and the judge.
“I told them [the arresting officers]I was not a drug dealer and I was using the marijuana for my MS,” Wilson was allowed to tell the jury.
“I think it carried weight, even though it was one sentence,” said Chris Goldstein of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana in New Jersey.
No follow up on Wilson’s MS was allowed.
He faces up to 20 years in prison on the “drug manufacturing” charge.

Cannabis Therapy Institute

​The Cannabis Holiday Health Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Boulder today will be the largest gathering of medical cannabis businesses ever held in Colorado, according to organizers, and will highlight the growing industry and its importance to the economy.
Several new businesses are using this as their debut appearance, including two magazines and several wellness centers. 
The Fair is a full-day public outreach event designed to answer questions about cannabis as medicine and how to become a legal patient in Colorado.
The  event is free and open to the public.
There will be displays from medical cannabis dispensaries as well as other hemp and cannabis-related businesses, video seminars, gifts, contests and prizes.
State Senator Chris Romer and Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown will attend from 12 noon until 1 p.m.

Graphic: Jim Wheeler
Safe access to marijuana remains a distant dream to many patients — even in states which have legalized medical use

​One by one, the lights are winking out. In city after city, town after town, in states where medical marijuana is now legal, patients who had dared hope they would at last have safe access to the medicine recommended by their doctors are having those hopes dashed.

The problem? Political cowardice and the panicked reaction of the status quo.

Every week brings more news of freaked out city councils and county boards of supervisors who desperately want to appear to be “doing something” — anything — about the proliferation of marijuana dispensaries.

This phenomenon is so far mostly confined to California and to a lesser extent Colorado, but it’s unfortunately also starting to happen in Michigan and Montana.
Rather than showing true leadership by showing genuine concern for patients and communities, too many local government officials are going for the easy, knee-jerk reaction. The level of disregard for the intentions of the voters — who clearly expressed their will by legalizing medical marijuana — is breathtaking.

Photo: Coaster420
Medical marijuana: Will Pennsylvania become the Keystoned State? Oh, yeah… Stereotypes bad.

​ The good news, according to the Harrisburg Patriot-News, is that Pennsylvania is finally having a discussion about medical marijuana.

The bad news? “In our socially conservative state this is likely as far as the debate will go on the issue,” the editorial says.
Pennsylvania’s House Health and Human Services Committee last week heard from patients, doctors, and medical marijuana advocates who said the state should legalize the herb for those suffering debilitating medical conditions.
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