January 25th - A Medical Marijuana Day of Action

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 24, 2012
Jan 242012

John Doe Radio is a podcast out of Denver that covers all things cannabis and in-depth Colorado News. Check them out at johndoeradio.com

Medical Marijuana Advocates in the state of Colorado are calling for a Medical Marijuana Day of Action to protest federal marijuana enforcement against Colorado Dispensaries. The group is calling on all advocates to call their federal Representatives tomorrow and ask them to tell US Attorney John Walsh to stop working to shut down medical marijuana businesses that are compliant with state and local laws.

Federal Attorneys have recently sent out threatening letters to at least 23 dispensaries in the state giving them till Feb 27th to close their businesses in their current locations. The letters were called a “first wave” by federal officials, and dispensaries in Colorado have been feeling the pressure that more raids might be coming. Continue reading »

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Montana Judge Says Federal Law Rules Supreme in State Medical Marijuana Industry

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 25, 2012
Jan 252012

A judge on Friday has ruled that Montana’s medical marijuana law does not protect those that provide medical marijuana to other from federal prosecution. In the continuing assault, US District Judge, Donald Malloy dismissed a civil lawsuit that was filed by 14 individuals and businesses that were part of more than two dozen medical marijuana provider that were raided in March of last year in a coordinated effort between state and federal agents. The providers were saying their constitutional rights were violated because state law allows them to grow and produce cannabis for medical consumption. Malloy said that the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause applies in medical marijuana cases, because the supremacy clause says that federal law prevails if there is any conflict between state and federal statutes. Continue reading »

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NM Woman Will Be Compensated for Her Destroyed Plants

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 24, 2012
Jan 242012

Toni Armijo will be getting some compensation from the Albuquerque NM police department for her destroyed cannabis plants. She did, however, have to wait quite a while for this payday. In August of 2010, a neighbor of Ms. Armijo called the police concerned that she was suicidal. When the police came to do a wellness check on her, she was gone, but they entered and found her marijuana plants just sprouting beneath a grow light. The officers pulled all the plants from their pots and held them as evidence.

By the time Armijo came back to her house, and was able ton convince the police that she was a licensed grower for her own medical marijuana, her entire crop, now stuffed into a paper bag, was ruined. Officials in Albuquerque will have to pay Ms. Armijo $3,100 dollars for her loss. Continue reading »

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New Jersey Supreme Court Will Not Hear MS Patient's Marijuana Case

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 24, 2012
Jan 242012

John Ray Wilson after hearing his guilty verdict.

New Jersey - John Ray Wilson was arrested for a few plants in his back yard in 2008. Wilson said he did not have insurance and could not afford the MS medication to treat his symptoms. Conventional prescription medication to treat MS symptoms run upwards of $3000/month. He said that he was growing the small amount of marijuana to try and treat his condition. As New Jersey Legislators hammered out a medical marijuana provision in New Jersey, John Ray Wilson was not allowed to say anything about his illness during his trial, or tell the jurors that he used it medically.

He was found guilty and the 38 year-old man was sentenced to five years in prison. He appealed that decision saying that he was entitled to a personal use defence, that he should have been allowed to tell jurors that he has MS. Continue reading »

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Polish Lawmaker Threatens to Smoke Marijuana in Parliament

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 20, 2012
Jan 202012

Janusz Palikot, Liberal Polish Party Leader

In Poland, the leader of a new left-wing party threatened to light up a joint in Parliament in Warsaw on Friday. Janusz Palikot is trying to get soft drugs, like cannabis, legalized among other liberal ideas in his rather conservative country. Palikot wants to decriminalize small amounts of cannabis in his country, so as his party leader, he announced his plan to light up some marijuana in Parliament. But his plan was criticized by the Parliament Speaker, Ewa Kopacz who publicly vowed that she would not allow him to break any laws inside parliament walls, and had prosecutors on hand to make an arrest if he pulled such a stunt. Continue reading »

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Arizona Governor Will Allow Dispensaries Now that Lawsuit Was Dismissed

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 19, 2012
Jan 192012

A lawsuit brought on by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer to seek clarification on the Federal stance of allowing dispensaries in her state was dismissed by a federal judge earlier this month. Governor Brewer had put the dispensary provision of her states medical marijuana law on hold, and not allowed them to get licensed to operate to give the state time to sue for assurance that a state employee who may be filling out a dispensary applications in accordance with the law would not be criminally prosecuted  for drug trafficking.

A federal judge ruled to not even hear the case. tossing it out because the state could not show an imminent threat to any state employee. Continue reading »

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Washington Dispensary Bill Addresses I-502 Concerns

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 19, 2012
Jan 192012

In the state capital of Washington, Senate Bill 6265 got a hearing yesterday. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles of Seattle, a long time proponent of common sense cannabis law reform. Senate Bill 6265 would legalize nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries, but kick the regulation aspect to the cities of Washington. If passed, the bill could clear up what has been a legal limbo for dispensaries in the state that are left alone in parts, and prosecuted in others.

Storefront cannabis shops are not explicitly allowed under state law, but most dispensaries are operating under legal loopholes, and faith that they will not be raided. Under the new law, there is discussion that the dispensary business would boom in the state, especially in some cities that have refused to allow them.

Her medical marijuana bill may also have implications in the legalization bill I-502 sticking points if passed. Initiative 502 would legalize marijuana possession and distribution for adults, but it also spells out the language that would convict an adult from driving while high, specifically if they were caught with more than 5 nanograms of THC  in their blood. She specifically has language that would require police and prosecutors to have proof of actual impairment in order to convict a medical marijuana patient of a DUI – meaning they would need more than the nanogram limit proposed in I-502 to convict a patient with a state medical marijuana card. Continue reading »

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California Supreme Court to Hear Important Dispensary Cases

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 19, 2012
Jan 192012

The California Supreme Court decided today to review two lower court rulings that would look again into the legality of regulating dispensaries in the state. During a weekly closed-door session, the judges decided unanimously to hear the cases that deal with dispensaries suits in Long Beach and Riverside. In the Long Beach case, an appeals court decided that the city’s rules they passed to regulate dispensaries there clashed with federal drug laws, so those rules were struck down. In the Riverside case, a different appeals court ruled that local governments do have the right to ban dispensaries, giving local opponents, mainly law enforcement, the go-ahead to shut down the dispensaries.

The cases will be of particular interest, because state wide decisions by the California Supreme court would impact areas like Oakland, where they have regulations that appear to be functioning without such opposition. Continue reading »

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Cannabis Spray Being Tested To Ease Cannabis Withdrawal

Posted by Karri Gallaugher on January 12, 2012
Jan 122012

An intrepid team from the University of South Wales is trialing an oral spray that would help cannabis users who want to quit. The team from the National Cannabis Prevention and Information Center led by Professor Jan Copeland is hoping that a pharmaceutical extract of the plant can help diminish the cravings for cannabis and ease withdrawal symptoms. The spray works in a similar fashion to the way nicotine patches work to help tobacco smokers quit their habit. It contains a low dose of THC along with a high dose of CBD, the part of cannabis that researchers believe reduces anxiety. They are hoping the spray will target any withdrawal discomfort that would sabotage patients’ effort to quit. Professor Copeland says that the withdrawal symptoms of cannabis are not life-threatening, but can still affect sleep, and cause irritability and anger. The product development comes just days after a global study found that those down under, where the spray is going through the trial phase, are the largest consumers of cannabis in the world.

External Links:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-09/marijuana-spray-to-ease-withdrawal/3763926/?site=sydney

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