Workers at three medical marijuana businesses in Oakland will announce Friday that they have unionized, another step in a concerted campaign aimed at bringing legitimacy to a once-hidden sector of the state’s economy and boosting the marijuana-legalization initiative.

Union representatives and the business owners believe it is the first time that workers in the nation’s growing medical marijuana industry have joined a union.

“They want the community to understand them as decent, hard-working people,” said Dan Rush, who oversees special operations for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 5.

The numbers are small, Rush concedes — about 100 new members. But he believes the potential for new jobs — and union members — is enormous.

Rush, who lives in Oakland, saw marijuana businesses helping to revive a sketchy area not far from his home. He studied the legalization initiative on the November ballot. And he concluded that his union ought to tap the emerging industry and push to expand it.

He worked to persuade the employees that the union could help advance their cause. The businesses include the firm owned by Richard Lee, who is sponsoring the initiative. Lee runs a handful of operations, including a dispensary and Oaksterdam University, which teaches classes about marijuana.

Read the rest here

The big question at a gathering of local government officials Thursday was whether local officials should ban medical marijuana dispensaries and growing operations or if the issue should go to a vote of the people.

However, there were plenty of other issues discussed as municipal officials from Fort Morgan, Brush, Wiggins and Hillrose met with county leaders Thursday to discuss how to handle the changing factors involved with medical marijuana.

The Board of Morgan County Commissioners invited these representatives to a joint brainstorming meeting, because it would be wise for the cities and the county to act in concert to avoid problems of differing statutes, said Commission Chairman Brian McCracken.

Colorado legislators passed two bills regarding medical marijuana, one on regulation of dispensaries and growing operations and another concerning doctor-patient relationships. Gov. Bill Ritter has not yet signed the bills, but they will go into effect whether he signs them or not.

While the regulation bill treats medical marijuana much the same as liquor laws treat alcohol, many believe it will be challenged in court, several said at the meeting.

There will likely be a challenge to a provision that would allow cities, towns and unincorporated counties to ban dispensaries or growing operations, based on a conflict with Colorado Constitution Amendment 20, which allows the use of medical marijuana, they said.

That means that regardless of a city or county ban on dispensaries or even an election result banning medical marijuana operations, the Colorado Supreme Court could nullify bans, several said.

Both McCracken and County Commissioner Laura Teague said they would prefer a ban one way or another.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Joel Warner, Friday, May. 28 2010 @ 7:20AM

With dispensaries on every street corner, legislators having rolled out the first regulatory system for statewide marijuana distribution in the country and activists seriously considering an initiative to legalize pot this November, it might seem like Colorado has always been a marijuana Mecca. But just a few years ago, the state was hardly any more progressive about pot than, say, Arkansas.

The following is a timeline of the major developments in Colorado’s weed scene that got us where we are today, complete with photos and links to many past Westword reports. Page through below — and enjoy the trip.

1919: Colorado makes marijuana illegal, one of the first states to do so. Concern had been growing in the western states because pot was associated with Mexicans moving into the region, an influx that fueled racial tensions.

Governor William Adams.

1929: After it is reported that a young girl was murdered by her marijuana-smoking stepfather, a man who happens to be Mexican, Colorado governor William Adams signs a bill increasing penalties for sale, possession and production of marijuana.

1937: The Marihuana Tax Act leads to the federal criminalization of marijuana.

1975: The Colorado General Assembly downgrades the penalty for possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, following in the footsteps of similar measures passed in Oregon two years earlier.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Friday, May. 28 2010 @ 11:07AM

The Colorado Medical Marijuana Festival, taking place on Sunday, May 30, at Longmont’s Radisson Hotel (click here for details), has several unusual attributes.

For one thing, says event organizer Sean Bookman, the get-together will feature an on-site “medicinal garden” at which five Longmont-area dispensaries will be able to serve MMJ patients with proper identification and documentation.

And there’ll also be a handful of special guest stars, including, of all people, ’80s icon turned musician Corey Feldman. “He’s doing a big concert in Fort Collins that evening,” Bookman says. “So he’ll be dropping by about 4:20.”

Bookman, who runs his own production company, moved to Colorado about five months ago from the East Coast — one of many entrepreneurs attracted to the state by the booming MMJ industry. “I saw what was happening out here, and I thought I could contribute to it in a positive way,” he says.

He adds that he’s a medical marijuana patient: “This is something I’m passionate about. I know the value of it because of what it’s done for me and my family and friends, and I’m really excited for the community to come together.”

Read the rest here

Photo illustration by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

By KIM SEVERSON via New York Times

EVEN preschool teachers unwind with a round of drinks now and then. But in professional kitchens, where the hours are long, the pace intense and the goal is to deliver pleasure, the need to blow off steam has long involved substances that are mind-altering and, often enough, illegal.

“Everybody smokes dope after work,” said Anthony Bourdain, the author and chef who made his name chronicling drugs and debauchery in professional kitchens. “People you would never imagine.”

So while it should not come as a surprise that some chefs get high, it’s less often noted that drug use in the kitchen can change the experience in the dining room.

In the 1980s, cocaine helped fuel the frenetic open kitchens and boisterous dining rooms that were the incubators of celebrity chef culture. Today, a small but influential band of cooks says both their chin-dripping, carbohydrate-heavy food and the accessible, feel-good mood in their dining rooms are influenced by the kind of herb that can get people arrested.

Call it haute stoner cuisine.

Read the rest here

On May 24, 2010, Cannabis Therapy Institute hosted a discussion panel with 9 attorneys regarding HB 1284. Here are some of those videos. The rest can be found with the link below.

The rest of the videos can be found here

Via NJ.com
By Susan K. Livio/Statehouse Bureau
May 27, 2010, 1:13PM

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie believes New Jersey’s medical marijuana law “is very good as written,’’ but he wants to delay implementation “so we can do it the right way,’’ his spokesman said today.

The law former Gov. Jon Corzine enacted on his last day in office Jan. 18 says the program must begin within six months, but supporters expect a roll out in the fall because the rule-making process is so time consuming.

But Christie’s spokesman Michael Drewniak said the governor’s counsel is seeking a postponement until January or July 2011, to sort out the many legal and logistical questions.

“I think the governor is supportive. The law is very good as written,’’ Drewniak said. “This is not delay for delay’s sake, as I have heard suggested by some political remarks. We are going to do it the right way,’’ he added, citing the free-for-all reputation of the law in California, where reports say crime is on the rise. On the campaign trail last year, Christie said he supported allowing seriously ill people to use marijuana to ease their suffering but feared the pending bill was too lax. Upon reviewing the bill that ultimately passed, Christie does not plan to make any changes, Drewniak said

Read the rest here

via TestCountry.com

A doctor was fined by the Montana Board of Medical Examiners for not having spent enough time with several medical marijuana patients before prescribing treatment, according to a report on KECI News. Dr. Patricia Cole of Whitefish was fined $2,000, and Casey Kyler – West, Communications Director of the Department of Labor and Industry, shared: “They want to make sure that doesn’t happen especially with these travelling clinics for lack of a better word.  They want to make sure that doctor/patient care meets that standard.”

Dr. Cole, however, told KECI news that there is a need to come up with more specific guidelines regarding doctor – patient care. According to Dr. Cole, the patients for whom she prescribed medical marijuana to had legitimate conditions that make them eligible for the treatment. She gave as an example the fact that labor and outdoor activities lead to injuries to a lot of people in Montana, and that she is “relieved” that she is able to offer them something else other than narcotics.

via Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Wednesday, May. 26 2010 @ 9:13AM

Representative Jared Polis has spent a lot of his legislative capital of late defending the medical marijuana industry in Colorado from possible interference by the federal government.

In February, for example, he sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder expressing concern about saber-rattling statements made by DEA special agent Jeffrey Sweetin after the arrest of Highlands Ranch medical marijuana grower Chris Bartkowicz. And earlier this month, he quizzed Holder on similar subjects as part of the House judiciary committee.

The latest? Polis is the lead author of a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner asking him to reassure banks that the feds have no interest in targeting medical marijuana operations following the law. “We’re asking for clarification that they won’t use asset forfeiture laws to go after legal state businesses,” he says.

Polis is no Jared-come-lately on the medical marijuana issue. He’s among the most energetic backers of HR 2835, a June 2009 proposal — to read it, click here — that would prevent DEA personnel from arresting or charging doctors, patients, growers and/or dispensary owners who comply with state law. The measure would also downgrade marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule II narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By J. David McSwane, Wednesday, May. 26 2010 @ 7:07AM

Among the more controversial elements of the state’s pending overhaul of the medical marijuana industry, is a requirement that those operating dispensaries be Colorado residents — a provision that at first sounds like it could be a cash cow for local business.

But HB 1284 and SB 109, which Governor Bill Ritter is expected to sign into law, threaten to effectively exterminate a good chunk of those local businesses. Because most of the smaller joints lack the funding and resources to adhere to the strict requirements before the July 1 deadline, bigger companies are better positioned to edge in on the market.

Pot attorney Tae Darnell says that means out-of-state and even international interests will likely pick up the slack — like an undisclosed Amsterdam company that’s hoping to acquire 25 shops before the residency clause bars them on December 15.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Tuesday, May. 25 2010 @ 12:04PM

The Colorado Supreme Court has played host to some odd hearings over its history — but few have been more unusual than the May 14 proceeding involving Kurt Riggin.

Riggin, who identifies himself as a tribal chief and judge of the Kikiallus nation, based in Washington state, was present to defend himself against charges that he’d violated a previous ruling against him by acting as an attorney in Colorado.

He insists that he served as more of a patient advocate, not a lawyer, in an incident involving a medical marijuana user in Park County who said local authorities were harassing him. But next month, he’ll face felony charges of attempting to influence a public servant and criminal impersonation in Park County court.

Supreme Court Regulation Counsel John Gleason adds that the Supreme Court keeps a roster of people who would present a risk to the public if they practiced law in Colorado — “and Mr. Riggin is on that list.”

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Thursday, May. 27 2010 @ 10:30AM

The Spencer’s Gifts outlet in the Town Center at Aurora mall sells a cap with a marijuana leaf on it. But if you buy it and wear it out of the store, cops could immediately evict you from the shopping center and order you not to return until 2011.

That’s the logical conclusion to draw from what happened to John Gailey, a medical marijuana patient who was cited for trespassing and banned from the mall for a year for wearing a “Yes We Cannabis” T-shirt.

According to Jessica Corry, who’s representing Gailey in tandem with her husband, fellow attorney Rob Corry, Gailey and his girlfriend visited the Aurora mall last Saturday and bought a Denver Broncos hat. But shortly after making the purchase, he was stopped by a security guard quickly joined by colleagues and representatives of the Aurora Police Department. They told him he could take off the “Yes We Cannabis” T-shirt, wear it inside-out, or leave.

Read the rest here

via Billings Gazette
MATT HAGENGRUBER Of The Gazette Staff | Posted: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 12:00 am

Any doubt that medical marijuana is the biggest issue facing the city of Billings right now was erased Monday night at the City Council meeting.

The council spent an hour on a relatively light business agenda and then spent two hours on medical marijuana.

The city faces a collection of pressing issues, such as budget problems, stormwater regulations and the future of public safety. But no issue is taking more time and causing more gray hair for city leaders right now than medical marijuana.

Early in the meeting, the council voted down a plan to add two more members to the ad hoc medical-marijuana advisory committee it created last year. The council then got into a lengthy debate over the committee’s purpose and then decided that the committee’s first priority is to focus on where medical-marijuana shops can operate.

Read the rest here

via TradersHuddle.com
Written by TradersHuddle Staff

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 25, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTCBB:CBIS), a pioneering U.S. biotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis products, is very pleased to report that 15 members of Congress led by U.S. Representative Barney Frank (D. MA) are urging the Treasury Department to set rules that encourage banks to provide financial services to medical marijuana clinics, which are lawful businesses.

Richard Cowan, Cannabis Science CFO, explained, “A number of members of Congress, led by Barney Frank (D. MA) and Jared Polis, (D. CO), have written Treasury Secretary Geithner urging the Treasury to issue ‘formal written guidance’ assuring banks they won’t be targeted for doing business with companies that distribute medical marijuana. This is just one more important step toward a realistic federal policy on medical marijuana.”

“Legitimate state-legal businesses are being denied access to banking services, which does not serve the public interest,” the lawmakers said in a May 20 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, that was distributed today by Americans for Safe Access, a patient-advocacy group.

The letter was written by Representative Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat whose state is one of at least 14 that have legalized marijuana for medical use. Bloomberg reports that Polis warned that denying financial services to medical marijuana dispensaries creates “an increased risk to public safety with potential theft or robbery that any cash-only or cash-reliant business faces” and makes it harder for vendors “to accurately account for tax liability.”

“This is a growing effort by the states to regulate a legal trade, and the more states allow it, the more outcry there will be for the federal government to take action,” Polis said. “The biggest barrier to these legal businesses is this banking issue.”

The Company is also pleased to respond to the multiple inquiries regarding impact of its acquisition of a medical marijuana dispensary and organic cannabis growing facilities. Yesterday, Cannabis Science announced that it had acquired 100% of a private company, RockBrook Inc., located at Suite 323, 2865 South Colorado Blvd., Denver, Colorado 08222; Telephone: 303.756.0595. RockBrook is both a fully licensed dispensary providing patients with medical marijuana in Colorado and an experienced grower of medical cannabis in accordance with state laws.

Read the rest here

via Huffington Post
by Bob Kerrey and Jason Flom
Posted: May 24, 2010 04:35 PM

The U.S. Veterans Administration (VA) recently adopted a policy prohibiting VA physicians from recommending medical marijuana to their patients, even if marijuana is the safest and most effective medicine to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other service-related conditions.

No doubt the policy stems, in part, from the VA’s efforts to address the serious problem of drug abuse among returning veterans. Veterans’ advocates and organizations like the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) certainly share this concern; last fall, DPA issued a report calling for immediate policy changes to improve veterans’ substance abuse and mental health treatment.

Yet seen from the larger perspective of helping veterans adjust to civilian life, the VA’s stance on medical marijuana is counterproductive and harmful. The ban means that–despite their service to our country–veterans who reside in the 14 states that have legalized medical marijuana are denied the same rights as every other resident of these states.

At minimum, the VA should be actively studying whether cannabis and its unique chemical ingredients can be used to reduce post-combat trauma without contributing to drug dependency. Ample research and anecdote strongly suggest this is the case.

Patient reports and published research indicate that marijuana can be a highly effective treatment for PTSD, a condition afflicting nearly one in five veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And overwhelming scientific evidence has already proven marijuana’s safety and efficacy for treating conditions like chronic pain, which affects many combat-injured veterans.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Joel Warner, Tuesday, May. 25 2010 @ 7:10AM

Colorado’s new medical marijuana regulations ushered in by House Bill 1284 mean lots of changes for a lot of pot businesses, not the least of which is the part of the law that prohibits all on-site marijuana consumption. That means Ganja Gourmet and all other marijuana restaurants and coffee shops that have opened in the past year will need to require customers get their selections to go — or shut down for good.

There are several reasons to grumble about this scenario, says Denver lawyer Bob Hoban. For one thing, he says, lots of patients could benefit from having a private and safe establishment where they could medicate. Furthermore, such establishments could be a very viable business model and tax revenue generator, if the current examples in the Netherlands are any indication.

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Monday, May. 24 2010 @ 12:47PM

Aurora City Councilman Bob Broom’s comments about that city’s efforts to ban medical marijuana dispensaries are sure to be a subject of conversation during a free MMJ panel discussion at the Loews Denver Hotel, 4150 East Mississippi.

After all, a whopping ten MMJ lawyers will be in attendance, including big names such as Jessica Corry, Lauren Davis and more.

The event is being organized by the Cannabis Therapy Institute, whose Laura Kriho thinks the recently passed medical marijuana bills HB 1284 and SB 109 are terrible pieces of legislation. And she sees lawyers as the folks best positioned to ameliorate their worst aspects.

“The impetus for doing this panel discussion was a group called the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers,” Kriho says. “Back in the ’20s and ’30s, they banded together across the country to determine ways to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot to repeal prohibition. Lawyers really helped bring down alcohol prohibition, and it’s my belief they will play a big part in bringing down cannabis prohibition.”

Read the rest here

via Westword Latest Word
By J. David McSwane, Tuesday, May. 25 2010 @ 7:24AM

A ten-lawyer panel oiled the big guns Monday for its coming fight against sweeping marijuana legislation set to be signed by Governor Bill Ritter, urging an overflow crowd of medical pot entrepreneurs to remain vigilant as the state mounts an overhaul of the industry.

Calling HB 1284 and SB 109 “monstrosities,” among other things, members of the panel (hosted by the Cannabis Therapy Institute) spoke fervently of its opposition to the laws, which they say are riddled with unconstitutional provisions.

Among the most targeted provisions are residency requirements for dispensary owners and the edict that dispensaries also manage their own grow operations, of which 70 percent of the stock be tied directly to its patients.

With ninety pages of new laws, which are expected to put a good number of existing operations out of business, the lawyers who have streamlined the industry are now at the front lines of the marijuana fight. And based on last night’s performance at Loews Denver Hotel, they’re pulling no punches.

In an unusual pledge to take on the issue collectively, “without the egos,” the group — which included big names like attorneys Jessica Corry and Lauren Davis — vowed to attack the legislation head on.

Read the rest here

Ordinance prohibits any new dispensaries from opening up for six months

John Gardner
Post Independent Staff
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado — City Council approved on first reading, by a 4-3 vote Thursday, a temporary moratorium restricting any new medical marijuana dispensaries from opening up shop in town.

Council proposed the moratorium on the establishment of new dispensaries for six months to allow the state time to clarify pending legislation and to allow staff to analyze the need for local regulations at its May 6 meeting.

However, with the recent passage of HB 1284, and the bills anticipated being signed into law by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter in the coming days, some councilors thought that the local moratorium was unnecessary because the state regulations would impose a year-long moratorium to begin July 1.

“One reason I supported this a few weeks ago when we started talking about this is because we weren’t sure when the state rules were going to pass,” said Councilman Matt Steckler. “Now we have a better idea, so the impact of a moratorium is probably not as significant as maybe we thought it once was.”

Most councilors agreed that a moratorium would also allow them to see how the state Legislature would vote on HB 1284, which was passed by both the state Senate and House earlier this month. The bill creates stricter regulations and licensing requirements for the industry and may affect several of the dispensaries in town. Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to sign the bill into law in the next week.

Read the rest here

via Examiner.com
May 24, 10:17 AMMadison NORML ExaminerGary Storck

The vigil is scheduled for 4-6 pm at the South Hamilton/West Main entrance of the Capitol. IMMLY Founder Jacki Rickert is planning to be on hand to speak and will be joined by others including Gary Storck. Wisconsin Ojibwe drummer and carrier of sacred songs Al Baker is also scheduled to be on hand to add his music. Singer-songwriter Rick Harris, inspired by Jacki Rickert to write his song “Legal Medicine Blues” has been invited to reprise his 2009 vigil performance of the Wisconsin medical cannabis anthem.

Read the rest, along with videos, here

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., May 24, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cannabis Science, Inc. (OTCBB:CBIS), a pioneering U.S. biotech companybiotech company developing pharmaceutical cannabis products, is pleased to announce that it has acquired 100% of a private company with two revenue producing operations, an organic medical marijuana growing facility and a medical marijuana dispensary providing patients with medical marijuana in Colorado in accordance with state laws.

Richard Cowan, Cannabis Science CFO, stated, “Obviously, acquiring two revenue producing operations immediately changes the nature of Cannabis Science, giving us a positive cash flow stream much sooner than otherwise would have been possible. We are now entering a new phase of our business and we expect to expand these revenue streams immediately by the acquisition of a larger facility as previously announced to meet the demand for Cannabis Science products. Our main focus remains the development of pharmaceutical cannabis products for FDA approval. In fact, these acquisitions will improve our ability to develop pharmaceuticals and increase our ability to serve the rapidly growing patient community.”

Read the rest here

Even before Gov. Bill Ritter has signed into law new rules for Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry, the next moves in the ongoing chess match of cannabis regulation and adaptation are already taking shape.

Last week, a team of attorneys who specialize in medical-marijuana cases met with several dozen potential plaintiffs in preparing a lawsuit to challenge the rules as unconstitutionally restrictive.

At the other end of the spectrum, prosecutors and others who believe the legislature overstepped its authority in liberalizing marijuana regulations were pondering their legal options.

City councils that have been unreceptive to medical-marijuana dispensaries began taking steps to formally ban them — something the new rules would allow them to do.

Read the rest here

Almost immediately after the passage of HB 1284, a bill to regulate the medical marijuana industry, and SB 109, intended to clarify the relationship between doctors and MMJ patients, attorneys like Jessica Corry made it known that lawsuits would challenge numerous provisions, including language allowing communities to ban dispensaries.

That’s not scaring off the Aurora City Council. Although a moratorium remains in effect, councilman Bob Broom says, “we assessed this and asked the city attorney to draft an ordinance with ballot language to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, commercial grow operations and facilities that use marijuana to make products for future use.”

These plans were agreed upon during a study session over the weekend. But Broom notes that the council “has been watching this for a number of months. We put a moratorium on them the last time, because we wanted to wait for the state legislature; we didn’t want to do anything that would conflict with what they came up with. But when they came up with their final law, we decided it was time to move forward.”

Read the rest here

These two videos are for Oregon….

Colorado Dem Representative Jared Polis on the Federal Protection for Medical Marijuana

The first one is for Iowa’s Medical Marijuana scene…
Part I (Due to technical difficulties, part II is not displayed, the link to the Part II has been added instead)

Part II
Click here

Denver Post
By Jeffrey Sippel
Posted: 05/22/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT

MI first met Jack in 2007, and have been with him through chemotherapy and radiation treatments. During the past four years, he has suffered countless symptoms related to lung damage from cigarettes and from side effects of cancer treatment.

The short list includes back pain, chest pain, and cough from radiation; and he has shortness of breath from cigarettes to the point where he uses oxygen daily. He is also legally blind, though that condition is unrelated to his cancer.

When I recently showed him a picture of my children, he was able to identify only the color of their shirts.

Jack first asked me about medical marijuana in 2009. “What do you think of it?” he asked. I took a neutral stance, neither endorsing nor condemning it, and asked what he thought of it. “Well, I think it works,” he said. I inquired exactly what was better with it. “I can actually sleep a full night when I use it. I’ve only used it twice,” he said. “It helps me sleep, and it helps my back pain.”

We talked about where he received the marijuana, and if his primary care physician had prescribed it. “She wants nothing to do with it,” he said.

Read the rest here

Westword Latest Word
By J. David McSwane, Friday, May. 21 2010 @ 2:58PM

Every subculture deserves its own soundtrack — sure. But a Christmas album that displays Santa, Rudolf and friends stoned? That seems a bit much… unless you’re Ken Gorman.

Gorman, the emphatic rabble-rousing pot activist who was the subject of “High Times,” this week’s feature, also dabbled in the music industry before he was murdered Feb. 17, 2007.

His magnum opus: 2002′s It’s a Cannabis Christmas.

Read the rest here

In keeping with the idea that we need to understand both sides of this debate, here is a story highlighting our opponents in the movement in Pennslyvania.

via Citizens Voice

by Bob Kalinowski – May 18, 2010

The debate over legalizing medical marijuana continues to heat up locally.

Critics of medical marijuana have planned a rally for Wednesday to voice opposition to two bills in the state legislature that would allow people to buy and smoke marijuana to treat approved medical conditions.

“Medical marijuana would grant legitimacy and cultural acceptance of this drug.  We don’t think that’s a good thing,” said Susan Mizenko, prevention education supervisor for Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services.

Mizenko’s organization will join with area law enforcement, members of the medical community and other area anti-drug coalitions for a press conference Wednesday at 3 p.m.  in the rotunda of the Luzerne County Courthouse.

Wyoming Valley Alcohol and Drug Services will distribute a 10-page position paper that advocates and explains the organization’s strong disapproval for medicinal marijuana, Mizenko said.

Read more here

via Westword

By J. David McSwane Thursday, May 20 2010

When Ken Gorman heard the intruders burst through the front door, he sprang from his room and ran through the hallway toward the sounds of shuffling feet. He’d been robbed dozens of times before, always around the harvest, but that night he was equipped to fight back. Just a few days earlier, he’d told friends and family he would be ready for the next thief who tried to get away with his cache of high-grade marijuana, which he grew in his back-room nursery and sold to more than a hundred “patients.”

But the sixty-year-old Gorman never reached his brand-new shotgun. The burglars beat him to the draw.

Gorman fell as the bullet ripped through his flesh and into his heart — one clean, fatal shot — leaving his tall, slender body sprawled in the living room of his Athmar Park duplex. Minutes later, a neighbor found Gorman’s lifeless body and called police.

But the intruders — witnesses say they saw two men running from the house that February 17, 2007, night — left Gorman’s weed and his money behind. Was it panic or the plan all along? Three years later, police still don’t know the answer, though Gorman’s family members say they’ve been told that there may finally be a suspect.

Read more here

via Westword

by Michael Roberts – May 20, 2010

Coloradans for Medical Marijuana Regulation imploded at a critical stage for HB 1284, a bill to regulate the MMJ industry, and SB 109, which sought to clarify the relationship between doctors and patients.

Nonetheless, both bills passed — and now, CMMR executive director Matt Brown tries to make sense of them via a mammoth, 38-page analysis that attempts to expand on advocate Brian Vicente’s overview about what the laws will mean for patients and providers.

Brown doesn’t have all the answers, since regulatory agencies must write specific rules to put meat on the bills’ bones. But his detailed examination is the most ambitious effort to date to look at the legislation in practical terms. To read the entire document, click here, or look below to check out sample questions about caregiver-patient restrictions, plant limits and more.

Read more here

via Westword

by Joel Warner – May 18, 2009

Colorado rolled into the history books last week as the first place to codify a statewide marijuana distribution system, thanks to the passage of House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill 109. Both laws will take Colorado’s convoluted and confusing medical marijuana industry and… make it convoluted and confusing in a new way.

To figure out what it means, Brian Vicente of Sensible Colorado will be holding a series of free patient trainings along the Front Range over the next week. Meanwhile, Rob Corry will be hosting a $175 business compliance seminar tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Holiday Inn Denver, 4849 Bannock Street.

Looking for the CliffsNotes version? We chatted with Sensible Colorado’s Brian Vicente to get his take on the new laws:

Read the rest here

via Coloradoan.com
by Erik Rush • May 19, 2010

Personally, I don’t care if people use marijuana; my particular view of controlled substance laws probably leans more toward the libertarian than conservative, because I believe all they accomplish is the empowerment of organized crime. In addition, as an advocate of natural medicine, I do not doubt there are certain ailments for which patients utilizing cannabis have found relief where allopathic medicine failed.

That said, I don’t hang out with people who use pot or other so-called “recreational drugs,” and I believe people have a duty to raise their children to eschew both. Marijuana deserves its reputation as the “gateway drug,” and there’s more than enough evidence to support this.

Having some experience with addiction as well as with research science and physicians, my take is that the proliferation of medical marijuana use is far more about people getting high and other people profiting from this than the legitimate amelioration of otherwise desperate physical maladies.

As with abortion laws, which were sold in order to address the ostensibly “rare” instances of pregnancy by rape, danger to a pregnant woman’s life and things of this nature, medical marijuana use was touted as a last-resort measure for patients who could not otherwise find relief for painful and debilitating chronic conditions.

Read the rest here

(AP) – 15 hours ago

DENVER — Boulder has approved regulations for the medical marijuana industry with a twist in keeping with the sensibility of this liberal-leaning, Colorado university town.

The regulations unanimously passed Tuesday will require growing operations to offset 100 percent of their electricity use with wind or solar power.

Other rules limit dispensaries to 3,000 square feet and require them to be at least 500 feet away from schools and licensed day-care centers.

The city’s estimated 100 dispensaries have until Oct. 31 to apply for an operating license. Applications will cost up to $5,000.

City officials are figuring out how the new rules will mesh with state regulations that Gov. Bill Ritter is expected to sign into law.

Information from: Daily Camera, http://www.dailycamera.com

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Via Opposing Views
Opinion by Marijuana Policy Project
(3 Hours Ago) in Society / Drug Law

For people who still don’t believe that medical marijuana is a mainstream issue supported by a majority of Americans, last night’s GOP Senate primary in Kentucky provided just one more example.

Newcomer Rand Paul, son of Republican congressman Ron Paul, defeated establishment candidate Trey Grayson, in part, because of his support for medical marijuana laws.

Read the rest here

Mon, 17 May 2010 23:19:37
By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director

One of the indirect though no less serious consequences of marijuana prohibition is the mischaracterization of clinical research in order to support the federal government’s bankrupt policy.

For example, last week the Obama administration called for the expansion of states to enact laws criminalizing motorists who drive with the residual presence of drug or inactive drug metabolites in their body. In the case of marijuana, these policies are especially egregious because its metabolites may remain present in urine for weeks or months after past use. Further, studies have consistently reported that the presence of marijuana metabolites is not associated with psychomotor impairment or an elevated risk of motor accident — a result that should be self-evident given that cannabis metabolites only form in urine after the drug’s primary psychoactive compound, THC, has been broken down and converted by the body over a period of several hours.

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Huffington Post
Kevin Armento
Posted: May 17, 2010 05:37 PM

Few phrasings have encapsulated the need for marijuana legalization better than this: “You can hold people accountable for their actions and not put the blame on what’s in their body.”

Words which were spoken two weeks ago by retired Superior Court Judge James R. Gray – a conservative judge from conservative Orange County, a former staff judge advocate for the U.S. Navy, and a father of three; a man who does not condone marijuana use, nor use it himself; and who is by all accounts one of California’s fiercest advocates for its legalization.

Or, consider the similar sentiment expressed by Colorodoan mother – and loyal Republican – Jessica Corry:

If we believe that smaller government is better government, we must trust people to choose what to put into their bodies. If we support legalized access to alcohol, cigarettes, and 700-calorie cheeseburgers, we should legalize marijuana – a far less harmful substance.

A Denver-based attorney, Ms. Corry was named one of Colorado’s most influential women by the Denver Examiner, has worked for Senators Fred Thompson and Olympia Snowe – and is also the co-founder of “Guarding Our Children Against Marijuana Prohibition”.

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These videos are from Nightlines Twitter debate on the if marijuana should be legal.
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Westword Latest Word
By Michael Roberts, Monday, May. 17 2010 @ 2:27PM

Yesterday morning, a medical marijuana dispensary in Gilpin County was robbed by two unknown men. And at this writing, the Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t have much more information than that — or isn’t releasing it at this point.

When contacted earlier today to flesh out a press release on view below, GCSO public-information officer Cherokee Blake said that if the dispensary had a name, she hadn’t heard it. As far as its legality, she noted that the person who called in the crime said the business was on the up and up, but she doesn’t have independent confirmation at this point. Meanwhile, the suspects remain at large, with no clues to their identity — “but the investigation is continuing.”

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Poll: Growing support for legalization; med pot industry braces for likely regs
Gene Davis, DDN Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 18, 2010

A leading marijuana-legalization activist believes a poll showing that almost half of Coloradans’ support legalizing and taxing marijuana is a “sign of things to come.”

Meanwhile, some medical marijuana activists are figuring out how to move forward following the Legislature’s passage of bills aimed at limiting the industry.

Mason Tvert of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), a group dedicated to pointing out the ways they believe marijuana is safer than alcohol, believes the Rasmussen poll released last week showing that 49 percent of the state’s voters support legalizing marijuana is proof that marijuana legalization will happen in the foreseeable future.

“Right now, the percentage of Coloradans who support legalizing and regulating marijuana is above the support voters have right now for one governor candidate,” he said. “Whose fringe now?”

Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, said he was surprised that almost half of Coloradans would like marijuana to be legalized and taxed. Renfroe said earlier this month that he believed Coloradans would not only reject legalizing marijuana, but would likely approve a ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

“That’s shocking to me, if that’s as high as it is,” he said of the Rasmussen poll.

The statewide telephone survey of 500 likely voters also showed that 39 percent of likely Colorado voters do not think marijuana should be taxed and legalized. The pro-legalization poll numbers are significantly higher than when Colorado voters rejected a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana on a 61-38 percent vote in 2006.

Tvert remains undecided on whether SAFER will try to get an initiative on this year’s ballot that would legalize and regulate marijuana in Colorado. Getting an initiative onto a ballot requires significant funding, and Tvert is considering waiting until 2012.

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By MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY (AP) — After 40 years, the United States’ war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread.

Even U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske concedes the strategy hasn’t worked.

“In the grand scheme, it has not been successful,” Kerlikowske told The Associated Press. “Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified.”

This week President Obama promised to “reduce drug use and the great damage it causes” with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment.

Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget.

Kerlikowske, who coordinates all federal anti-drug policies, says it will take time for the spending to match the rhetoric.

“Nothing happens overnight,” he said. “We’ve never worked the drug problem holistically. We’ll arrest the drug dealer, but we leave the addiction.”

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Via Westword Latest Word

As Colorado’s medical-marijuana industry grows, marijuana dispensaries of all types and sizes are proliferating around the state. Some resemble swanky bars or sterile dentist offices; others feel like a dope dealer’s college dorm room. To help keep them all straight, Westword is offering a no-holds-barred look at what goes on behind these unusual operations’ locked doors in “Mile Highs and Lows,” a regular online review of dispensaries around the metro area and beyond. (You can also search our directory of dispensaries for one near you.)

This week, the Wildflower Seed reviews Biocare Collective.

Biocare Collective
2899 Speer Boulevard, Denver
303-455-3187
www.biocarecolorado.com

Hours of operation: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday
Owner: Carrie Jensen
Owner’s statement: “My father-in-law was battling cancer. We saw how it helped him, and kind of got involved from there.”
Opened: October 2009
Raw marijuana price range: Grams $18 (non-members)/$14 (members), eighths $50/$40, ounces $375/$300.
Other types of medicine: Tinctures $30 per ounce; edibles $6 to $8; hash $25 to $30.
Patient services and amenities: Doctor referrals, ADA-accessible, massage therapy and chiropractic by appointment.

Our take: Sometimes life turns in a certain way, and suddenly the whole world is different forever. For about one out of three of us, the turn will come when we hear a doctor utter these three words: “You have cancer.”

Cancer has touched my life in many ways. One of my best and oldest friends has spent most of her adult years fighting off cancer, three times in and out of remission now. My godfather battles it, and many of my loved ones have fought for or lost their lives to this killer. While advances in medicine give doctors cutting-edge weapons to fight the disease, more and more patients are turning to an ancient medicine to get them through the treatments, which often result in symptoms as insufferable as the pain of cancer itself.

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The original promoter of the Colorado Cannabis Convention, Raymond Springsteel, believes he could put on a concert on the moon.

Several people he used to work with think that’s where he’s already living.

While the busy booths, scantily clad dispensary girls and crowds exceeding 12,000 made the Colorado Cannabis Convention at the Colorado Convention Center April 2-3 look like a success to many people, behind the scenes things were as messy as spilled bong water.

The convention was the brainchild of Springsteel, who has a business called the Boulder Talent Agency. Over the phone, he talks a mile a minute, frantically describing how he envisions himself as Colorado’s top concert promoter, a position gained through offering the lowest ticket prices possible. How he dreams of preventing drunk driving after concerts at Red Rocks by allowing camping in the parking lots. He says he could put a concert on the moon if he wanted to — and he’s serious.

In short: Raymond Springsteel has some big ideas.

In the beginning, he says, the Colorado Cannabis Convention was a way to prove a metaphysical point after talking all night to a former girlfriend about how he could accomplish anything he put his mind to. “I said that in six month, we could affect change in the state, people’s lives and the whole country,” he recalls. “I could make millions in revenue, but I don’t care. I want to show [her] that something can be done if you want to do it.”

So in November 2009, Springsteel started to make his dream reality. He hired “Krystal” (who asked that her real name not be used) to work in his tiny Boulder office, and got busy renting the convention center, soliciting vendors to fill it with booths, and organizing the artists and musicians crucial to executing his vision. Everything was going well, he remembers.

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via Huffington Post
First Posted: 05-14-10 11:06 AM   |   Updated: 05-14-10 11:23 AM

In his first appearance as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, Colorado Congressman Jared Polis grilled Attorney General Eric Holder on recent Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids of medical marijuana facilities In Colorado.

Polis’s questioning came in the wake of a controversial decision by the DEA in Colorado to raid the home of a Denver-area medical marijuana grower. The raid came after the release of a Justice Department memo advising the DEA not to focus its efforts on medical marijuana growers who were in unambiguous compliance with state law.

Jeff Sweetin, head of the DEA in the Denver area, has argued that the raid was justified because the agency had reason to believe that the grower was not in compliance with state law.

Polis asked the Attorney General to “describe the objective processes” by which the DEA determines whether individuals are in clear, unambiguous compliance with state law.

The AG responded that the issue is handled on a case-by-case basis, and that agents will look at factors such as whether firearms are involved in the transaction.

WATCH:

by Joseph Klare via High Times

The awful news came down today that Canadian marijuana activist, seed king, and publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine Marc Emery will be extradited to the United States to face 5 years in prison for selling seeds across the border into the U.S.

At 51 years old, this is obviously not the end of the life or career of Marc Emery, but 5 years is a long time. He will be locked away, barred from his home country, his home city, and his lovely wife – the love of his life.

All our lives will go on, including Marc’s, who I’m sure will continue his activism to the extent he can while behind bars. But we must not forget a huge chunk is being taken out of a man’s life for selling SEEDS! Something that is only a $200 fine in his own country; our country has taken it upon itself to label Marc Emery a dangerous drug kingpin because he sold seeds over the internet, allowing people to grow marijuana – something our country has deemed an evil and society destroying deed.

When Marc is released, many of us will still be here fighting, and many more will have joined the fight that Marc has fought so valiantly for so many years. We will be here ready to stand by him again, and push forward until all this reefer madness is finally at an end. But what will 5 years do to Marc?

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