Search Results: ryan/ (5)

Mae Ryan/KPCC; votealanjackson.com
Chief Deputy DA Jackie Lacey, left, and Deputy DA Alan Jackson

Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-dumber? So much for actual choices at the ballot box.

Los Angeles County district attorney candidates, Deputy District Attorney Alan Jackson and Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey, on Thursday night held what may be their last debate before the November general election — and while they disagreed on many issues, both candidates vowed to continue to prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries, even if voters overturn the city of Los Angeles’ dispensary ban, reports The Los Angeles Times.

Marc Ryan/The Midwest Cultivator
Above, happy revelers at Hash Bash 2010. This year, 6,000 people are expected to attend the 41st annual smoke-in.

After 41 years of epochal parties at the world famous Hash Bash, Michigan finally has a legalization effort in full swing. Activists are, for the first time since Hash Bash began, collecting signatures to amend Michigan’s Constitution and repeal marijuana prohibition for adults 21 and older.

The Hash Bash rally on the University of Michigan Diag began in 1972, after cultural activist John Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years in prison for selling two joints to an undercover narcotics agent. The Michigan Supreme Court declared the law used to convict Sinclair unconstitutional, and ever since, the annual Hash Bash gathering focuses on the goal of reforming federal, state, and local marijuana laws.

Photo: LBPost.com

​Long Beach is joining other California cities which are looking at taxing marijuana to boost cash-starved city coffers.

The City Council on Tuesday, July 6, will consider a proposal to put a measure on November’s ballot that would levy a 5 percent tax on medical marijuana dispensaries.
Another tax, of up to 10 percent, would only go into effect if California voters also pass Proposition 19, which would legalize and regulate marijuana for recreational use, and allow its taxation, reports Tony Barboza at the Los Angeles Times.

Photo: Long Beach Marijuana Collective

​The Long Beach, California City Council is moving towards passing rules for medical marijuana businesses, but some local dispensaries are worried that the balance is shifting too far in the direction of unnecessary regulation, like the ordinance recently passed in Los Angeles.

Carl Kemp, of the Kemp Group, which represents about 10 local dispensaries, said that supporters of medical marijuana collectives haven’t been allowed enough time for discussion and presentation with the City Council, reports Ryan ZumMallen at LBPost.com.

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.