By RACHEL LA CORTE, Associated Press, Seattle Times

December 28, 2011
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Supporters of an effort to legalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana in Washington state plan to turn in signatures this week to qualify their initiative.

New Approach Washington expects to turn in more than 355,000 signatures to the secretary of state’s office on Thursday, said the group’s campaign director, Alison Holcomb.

An initiative to the Legislature requires at least 241,153 valid signatures of registered state voters to be certified, though the secretary of state’s office suggests at least 320,000 as a buffer for any duplicate or invalid signatures.

Initiative 502 would create a system of state-licensed growers, processors and stores, and impose a 25 percent excise tax at each stage. Those 21 and over could buy up to an ounce of dried marijuana; one pound of marijuana-infused product in solid form, such as brownies; or 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquids. It would be illegal for a motorist to have more than 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood in their system. THC is the active ingredient of cannabis.

“This is an issue whose time has come, both here in Washington and nationwide,” Holcomb said.

Once the initiative goes to the Legislature, it has to take action during the upcoming 60-day legislative session that begins Jan. 9 or the measure automatically goes to the November ballot. The initiative has several high-profile sponsors, including former Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay and travel guide Rick Steves.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Chris Gregoire said that she has concerns about the legalization initiative because of the conflict with the federal government, which still says the drug is illegal. “Even if this were to pass, we’d still have to deal with federal law,” said spokeswoman Karina Shagren.

Shagren said that Gregoire would prefer to focus on getting clarity when it comes to medical marijuana laws. She noted that the governor’s focus is on a recent petition that she and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee filed with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration asking the agency to reclassify marijuana so doctors can prescribe it and pharmacists can fill the prescription.

Washington state already has a voter-approved medical marijuana law that gives doctors the right to recommend – but not prescribe – marijuana for people suffering from cancer and other conditions that cause “intractable pain.”

Some marijuana legalization supporters are opposed to the current initiative. A group called Patients Against I-502 has expressed concern that medical marijuana users will be subject to arrest because of what they see as an overly strict intoxicated driving limit.

On its website, the group wrote the limit listed in the initiative would “subject patients to highly-invasive blood testing, unnecessary confinement and a criminal conviction that will haunt them for life.”

“We want to legalize it too, but not at the expense of those who use cannabis to successfully treat terminal and debilitating diseases,” the group said on the website.

Another group opposed to I-502, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, cited concerns about increased use among young people, increase cases of drugged driving, and conflict with federal law.

“We just don’t think that it’s the right thing for state government to tell its citizens to do something that can get them arrested by federal officers,” said Don Pierce, the group’s executive director.

Holcomb said that she believes that the initiative would withstand a court challenge, and hoped that “the federal government will extend I-502 at least the same respect it has extended to state medical marijuana laws.”

Washington isn’t the only state considering marijuana legalization. Colorado will vote next year if a similar measure there makes the ballot. Supporters there are expected to turn in signatures in the coming weeks to qualify for the November ballot.

By John Ingold, The Denver Post

Dec 28 2011

The head of the Colorado Department of Revenue has written a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration asking that federal controls on marijuana be loosened slightly to account for its “potential medicinal value.”

Colorado is the third state with a medical-marijuana program to ask the DEA to reschedule marijuana. But Revenue Department Executive Director Barbara Brohl’s letter, written Dec. 22, does not come as a surprise. A law passed last year in the legislature required the state to ask for rescheduling by the end of this year.

In the letter, Brohl details briefly Colorado’s regulations for medical-marijuana sellers and argues that current federal law, under which all marijuana possession and distribution is illegal, make it difficult for her to administer Colorado’s laws.

“As long as there is divergence in state and federal law, there is a lack of certainty necessary to provide safe access for patients with serious medical conditions,” Brohl wrote.

The letter asks that the DEA consider moving marijuana from schedule I — a category that includes such drugs as heroin and LSD that are not considered to have medicinal value — to schedule II. Drugs in that category, such as methadone and cocaine, are considered to have some medicinal value but also be highly addictive.

Schedule II substances are able to be prescribed by doctors but are still subject to strict controls. It is unclear whether Colorado’s medical-marijuana laws — which allow doctors to authorize marijuana use through recommendation and allow patients to grow their own cannabis plants — would clash with those controls.

Earlier this year, the governors of Rhode Island and Washington also asked the DEA to reschedule marijuana. The DEA has in the past rejected similar requests to reclassify the substance.

by Dan Aiello, Bay Area Reporter’

Dec 29 2011

Just a week after Assemblyman Tom Ammiano met with the U.S. attorney’s office to discuss federal raids on California’s medical marijuana dispensaries and growers, California’s attorney general has issued a letter to the state’s top lawmakers warning that attempts to pass statewide regulation of marijuana must not impede upon the will of the people or further provoke the wrath of the federal government.

“We have started a conversation,” Ammiano, an openly gay San Francisco Democrat, told the Bay Area Reporter of his meeting with Melinda Haag, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.

Ammiano called Haag’s requirement that marijuana dispensaries be 1,000 feet, as per federal law, rather than California’s 600 feet from schools, parks, and playgrounds, “entirely reasonable.” But Ammiano also warned that he would “continue to push back,” against what he sees as an arbitrary and irrational enforcement of federal controlled substances laws within the borders of the Golden State.

Ammiano called the U.S. Department of Justice’s concerns “a moving target,” and expressed his frustration that any legislative efforts to regulate the implementation of Proposition 215 might pass, only to be met by new concerns of the feds.

Prop 215, passed by state voters in 1996, legalized medical marijuana in California. Since then, 15 other states and the District of Columbia have followed suit. However, the federal government does not recognize medical marijuana as legal medicine.

In the meantime, state Attorney General Kamala Harris wrote a letter December 21 to top lawmakers – Senate Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and gay Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) – and copied Ammiano and out state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), both instrumental in the medical marijuana debate. In the letter, Harris wrote that, following a series of meetings with groups representing the parties concerned with the state’s medical marijuana laws she concluded that any effort to regulate the compassionate use of marijuana in statewide legislation will be limited by the state’s constitution and by the response to such legislation by the U.S. Department of Justice’s enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act.

“I am troubled by the exploitation of California’s medical marijuana laws by gangs, criminal enterprises, and others,” Harris wrote, explaining that the 2008 nonbinding guidelines established by her predecessor, Jerry Brown (now the governor), no longer are effective in a “more complicated” present day.

Harris reminded Steinberg and Perez that two legal “boundaries” limit the Legislature’s ability to regulate the issue.

First, said Harris, was the current precedent of the Second Appellate District ruling in Pack v. Superior Court , which found that state regulation of large scale cultivation and manufacture of marijuana “stand as an obstacle to federal enforcement efforts and are therefore preempted by the Federal Controlled Substances Act,” of 1970.

Second, because the Compassionate Use Act (Prop 215) was adopted as an initiative statute, legislative efforts to regulate the issues surrounding its implementation are limited by the state constitution, which prevents legislative regulation that would “undo what the people have done.”

Despite these limits, Harris indicated the need for legislative intervention, describing “significant unresolved legal questions,” regarding parts of the initiative that allow for collaborative cultivation. While the initiative itself does not include the term “dispensaries,” Section 11362.775 of the Health and Safety Code that describes collective cooperation to cultivate marijuana is the source of what has come to be known as dispensaries.

In her letter, Harris states, “strict constructionists argue the plain wording of the law only provides immunity to prosecution for those who associate in order to collectively cultivate marijuana,” while those not involved in the physical cultivation are not protected from prosecution.

The attorney general stated that others read the statute to expansively include all who are involved with the cultivation and dispensing of marijuana for medical use.

Harris called the two interpretations “irreconcilable,” and stated that until there is a clear interpretation of the statute “uncertainty” for law enforcement and patients will continue to exist.

Harris also noted that marijuana “edibles,” food with THC, marijuana’s active ingredient, also were not defined by Prop 215, noting the amount of THC in such food products as cookies, infused drinks, cakes, and butter has no standard portion established, nor are such food products regulated to ensure they are made in “a safe manner.”

“I hope that the foregoing suggestions are helpful to you in crafting legislation,” Harris concluded. “California law places a premium on patients’ rights to access marijuana for medical use. In any legislative action that is taken, the voters’ decision to allow physicians to recommend marijuana to treat seriously ill patients must be respected.”

by Joe Klare, 420 Times

Dec 28, 2011

The recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana in California has forced many dispensaries to close their doors. And now it seems some of them are turning to medical cannabis delivery as a way to continue serving their patients.

Former dispensary operators hope that they will become less of a target since the feds don’t have any landlords to threaten or doors to kick in.

“It just makes sense. When you have a storefront, you’re on the map. You don’t have those issues with a delivery service. No one’s going to know about it,” said William Panzer, an Oakland defense attorney who represents Northstone Organics, a delivery service based in Ukiah (Mendocino County).

With so many legal medical marijuana patients in California, there are always going to be businesses to serve their needs, no matter what federal law says. It’s simple economics.

But the problem is that the feds are forcing legitimate businesses with fixed locations and more stable security out onto the streets where they are much more prone to robbery because of their very valuable prohibition-era product.

And the threat of robbery becomes much higher for patients as well if their home is seen as a place where high-grade medicine is delivered.

Furthermore, delivery services are much harder to tax. They have no reason to advertise where they operate from, leaving IRS enforcers with nowhere to go.

There are just so many things wrong with the federal crackdown in CA, and this is yet another one. While delivery services will be needed for many patients, they shouldn’t be their only means of purchasing medicine besides some back alley.

December 28, 2011
THOUSAND PALMS, Calif. — Riverside County is moving forward with its push to close down marijuana dispensaries operating illegally in unincorporated county areas.Wednesday was the day dispensaries were supposed to tell the county whether they planned on staying open or closing down.More than a half-dozen are in Thousand Palms. So far, every single one that News Channel 3 has visited is still operational.The lights were on at Desert Care Solutions just before News Channel 3 arrived, but once the crew pulled out the camera, the place went black. Patients were still inside.One of the managers, Julie Montante, pushed News Channel 3′s camera two weeks ago. This time, she again declined to speak on camera, but over the phone, she confirmed that at this point, there are no plans to shut down.Inland Valley Therapeutic Healing Center is still open, and the same goes for Harmony Wellness next door. But both declined to comment and both asked that News Channel 3′s crew leave the property.Gold Star Organic Cooperative on Ramon Road has been open since Aug. 1, and it, too, has been served papers by the county.”I’m not allowed to comment on anything,” said Daniel Bosch, an employee. “You’d have to talk to my manager.”Alternative Wellness Center is less than 100 yards away from Gold Star and its business hours have not changed since the Riverside County Board of Supervisors gave the go-ahead two weeks ago to have county attorneys sue dispensaries and their property owners, unless the operations voluntarily close down.Relevance Alternative Health Care is also still serving the public.Brothers Ricky and Jake Wright co-own Sublime Remedies, and they’ve received papers similar to a county complaint against Platinum Collective in the City of Riverside dated Dec. 21, which states that the dispensary is a public nuisance, and is operating illegally under county zoning laws.”It’s frustrating. It’s sad, and it’s hard,” said Ricky Wright. “(The county) kind of looks at one person, just the dispensaries, where they should look at it across the board — like the doctors and how the doctors are modifying who they’re giving prescriptions to.”"(The patients) are very nervous,” said Jake Wright. “They’re scared. They don’t want to go back to pills, first off. A lot of people have had problems with those in the past.”When asked if they plan on staying open, Jake Wright said, “We’re playing it by ear. We’re waiting to hear back what our lawyer says.”The operators are facing fines of up to $20,000 before their case even goes to trial if they don’t shut down, said county officials.At least 35 dispensaries are operating illegally within county areas, and almost half have closed up in the past year, said county officials.

Seattle Times, Editorial Board

Dec 25, 2011

The Seattle Times editorial board expresses its support for medical marijuana and for the legalization, regulation and taxation of marijuana generally, and hopes for change in 2012.

Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town

December 22, 2011

California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Wednesday urged state lawmakers to get serious about clarifying the state’s 15-year-old medical marijuana law, saying gray areas have left law enforcement and patients in a state of uncertainty.

Harris, who was elected with backing from the state’s medical marijuana industry (OK, it wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, it was more a case of “Anybody But Cooley“), has been under pressure to defend the state’s medicinal cannabis law since October, when the state’s four U.S. Attorneys announced a coordinated crackdown on dispensaries.

Dozens of the shops — which the federal prosecutors claimed were fronts for public drug dealing — have since closed, reports Lisa Leff at the Associated Press.

In a letter to the leaders of the Legislature, Harris said California needs to decide if, in fact, the hundreds of storefront dispensaries and delivery services that sell cannabis are legal, or of the only lawful way to obtain marijuana is through patient collectives in which all members jointly grow their supply.

“Without a substantive change to existing law, these irreconcilable interpretations of the law, and the resulting uncertainty for law enforcement and seriously ill patients, will persist,” she wrote in the letter to Senate President Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John Perez.

Harris also sent a separate letter Wednesday to the U.S. Attorneys advising them of her requests to the Legislature. To her credit, the Attorney General asked the federal prosecutors to focus on human trafficking and international gangs instead of California residents who are trying to comply with the state’s medical marijuana laws.

“The federal government is ill-equipped to be the sole arbiter of whether an individual or group is acting within the bounds of California’s medical marijuana laws when cultivating marijuana for medical purposes,” Harris wrote to the federal prosecutors.

Harris is empowered under the medical marijuana law as California’s top law enforcement to issue guidelines on what patients need to do to avoid arrest. Her office spent much of this year preparing to revise the guidelines issued by then-Attorney General, now Gov. Jerry Brown in 2008.

But in the letters she sent Wednesday, Harris concluded after talking with city and county governments, law enforcement and the medical marijuana community that it is up to the Legislature to clarify the law, because any directives she issued would by definition lack the force of law.

“The facts today are far more complicated that was the case in 2008,” Harris said in her letter to Steinberg and Perez. “I have come to recognize that non-binding guidelines will not solve our problems — state law itself needs to be reformed, simplified and improved to better explain to law enforcement and patients alike how, when and where individuals may cultivate and obtain physician-recommended marijuana.”

According to Brown’s 2008 guidelines, medical marijuana dispensaries are only legal in California if they are set up as nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. Under those rules, anyone running for-profit pot shops can be arrested and prosecuted by local authorities.

Among the other issues Harris would like to see clarified, in addition to whether dispensaries are legal and if they need to be nonprofits, is how pot-infused edibles should be regulated. Under current law, companies and individuals that furnish edible forms of cannabis to dispensaries “may be engaged in the illegal sale and distribution of marijuana,” she said.

The Legislature may have a certain lack of enthusiasm for tackling the thorny subject of medical marijuana again. Earlier this year, two cannabis-related bills — one that prohibited employers from discriminating against medical marijuana patients, and another that would have made growing marijuana a misdemeanor — did not get anywhere.

But some fear plans by Portland’s new marijuana outlet may instead create a hangout.
By Tom Bell, Maine Today

Dec 25, 2011

PORTLAND – A medical marijuana dispensary that’s scheduled to open in Portland next month is designed as a California-style wellness center. Its operator is promoting a free coffee and tea bar, acupuncture clinics, support groups, counseling and a “welcoming vapor lounge.”

The new website of Wellness Connection of Maine says, “Patients are always welcome to relax and socialize near our fireplace, or enjoy a free cup of tea with a friend in our cafe space.”

The manager of Maine’s medical marijuana program says a dispensary with such amenities would violate state regulations aimed at ensuring that dispensaries are places to get medicine for serious illnesses, not places to socialize.

Creating a social setting for the dispensation of medical marijuana is unhealthy because it promotes more marijuana use than is medically necessary and puts users and the public at risk if customers drive home under the influence, said John Thiele of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services.

In California, which also allows marijuana to be distributed for medical purposes, many dispensaries have become popular hangouts, he said, and that’s one reason California has run into problems with the federal government, which considers all marijuana use illegal.

“We don’t want that to occur here,” Thiele said. “You don’t encourage people to hang out in the local pharmacy.”

Wellness Connection of Maine, formerly Northeast Patients Group, is leasing a roughly 6,000-square-foot space at 685 Congress St., behind the Local 188 restaurant. The nonprofit plans to open its dispensary late next month. City officials say they expect to award an occupancy permit before the New Year.

Becky DeKeuster, a former California resident who is executive director of Wellness Connection of Maine, did not return telephone messages Thursday and Friday to address Thiele’s concerns about the plan for the dispensary.

Wellness Connection of Maine opened dispensaries recently in Thomaston and Hallowell, and plans to open one soon in Brewer. The Portland facility will be the first medical marijuana dispensary in Cumberland County.

The five dispensaries that are open now in Maine, including the one in Thomaston operated by Wellness Connection, don’t have vapor lounges or the kinds of social amenities being promoted for the one in Portland, Thiele said.

While Maine’s rules allow qualified customers to consume marijuana at dispensaries if it is baked into food, they do not allow people to smoke marijuana or inhale vapors, he said.

Vaporization, in which marijuana’s active compounds are boiled off into a vapor, lets users avoid the irritating and carcinogenic effects of smoking.

Thiele said the state doesn’t plan to take action before Wellness Connection of Maine starts operating its dispensary in Portland. The state has given the nonprofit licenses for exclusive rights to run dispensaries in four of eight districts statewide.

Timothy Smale, who operates the Remedy Compassion Center dispensary in Auburn, said no dispensary in Maine offers the kinds of services that are being promoted in Portland by Wellness Connection of Maine.

Employees at his dispensary in the Auburn Plaza counsel customers on the most effective ways to use marijuana for their specific health issues.

He said he strongly recommends that people don’t smoke marijuana, because cannabis smoke contains many of the same carcinogens as tobacco smoke. Instead, they should inhale vapors, he said, and his dispensary sells vaporizers that people can use at home.

He said his customers haven’t expressed interest in using marijuana at his facility or getting other services, such as acupuncture.

“We consider ourselves like a pharmacy – a safe and secure place to buy medical cannabis. You don’t consume your medicine in a pharmacy. You purchase your medicine.” Under state law, patients must have certain qualifying illnesses and doctors’ prescriptions to be eligible to use medical marijuana.

By Maia Szalavitz, Time

December 12, 2011

A small, new study backs a long-standing claim of advocates of medical marijuana: pain patients can safely use cannabis while taking opioid painkillers, and may actually need fewer pills because of it.

The research included 21 chronic pain patients, who were taking either long-acting morphine or Oxycontin twice a day. Adding marijuana to these opioid drugs reduced patients’ pain by an average of 27% and did not significantly affect blood levels of the prescription drugs. If marijuana had raised those blood levels, it could have increased overdose risk.

“The combination may allow for opioid treatment at lower doses with fewer side effects,” the authors concluded.

For the duration of the study, participants were housed and monitored in the hospital for five days, so that their vital signs could be tracked and any complications rapidly treated. They were given vaporized cannabis to inhale: the first day, they used it in the evening; for the next several days, they smoked three times a day; and on the last day, they used it in the morning.

No medical problems occurred. The patients did report feeling “high” when given the marijuana, but not when given opioid drugs, to which they were already tolerant. The study was not placebo-controlled so it’s possible that some of marijuana’s painkilling effect was due to patients’ expectations of the drug— but previous research has found that marijuana is superior to placebo as a pain reliever.

With rising concerns about opioid overdose — the death toll associated with prescription painkillers has recently surpassed that of traffic accidents — the new finding is striking. While marijuana will never be able to replace opioids for the most severe pain, it carries no overdose risk and a far lower risk of addiction than prescription painkillers do.

Further study to determine which patients would benefit most, and to what extent marijuana can actually reduce opioid use should be conducted. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is currently engaged in a crackdown on marijuana dispensaries in the 16 states that have legalized medical use. Researchers report difficulty getting funding to do these types of studies.

Moreover, many prescribers of opioid medications view any marijuana use as substance abuse and refuse to care for people who use both, presenting a barrier to pain patients who would like to try marijuana to reduce their reliance on opioids.

Last year, the Veterans Administration dropped its policy of prohibiting opioid prescribing to medical marijuana patients in states where it is legal. But even if private physicians wish to permit medical marijuana use among pain patients, it poses a legal risk. Cannabis use can be construed as a “red flag” that was missed, if the patient turns out to be misusing drugs. Doctors can be criminally prosecuted if they are fooled by such patients.

Considering the risks posed by the two types of drugs, the current legal situation makes no sense. Cracking down on medical marijuana while trying to fight overdose is not only a waste of money, but it may also be, as the new study suggests, actively counterproductive.

The research was published in Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

By Michael Montgomery, California Watch
Dec. 12, 2011

A crackdown by federal prosecutors is casting a long shadow over the state’s marijuana industry, but there is one bright spot, at least for some Northern California growers willing to risk prison time: Wholesale prices appear to be on the rise.

After slumping precipitously, prices for a pound of high-grade, outdoor-grown marijuana are stabilizing and in some areas are up between 20 and 40 percent, according to interviews with growers, law enforcement agents and analysts.

“It’s been a downward thrust since 1996, but this year, prices have been up,” said Kym Kemp, a Humboldt-based blogger who closely follows Northern California’s marijuana scene.

“People are saying, ‘Maybe this isn’t our last season,’ ” she said. “I don’t think people are ready to be optimistic, but they’re less depressed.”

In recent years, California’s booming medical marijuana industry attracted a rush of new players who harvested increasingly large amounts of pot – for storefront dispensaries and the black market. Some longtime operators responded by also “growing big.”

Surging production pushed down prices for some strains to less than $1,000 per pound. This led more growers to illegally ship their marijuana out of state, where they can double or triple their profits.

But this year, production levels have dropped, in part because of rainy weather and a “bumper crop of mold,” said medical marijuana grower and activist Charley Custer. “It was a perfect storm,” he said.

It wasn’t just the weather. Stepped-up enforcement actions by local and federal law enforcement led some growers to lay low and reduce their plant counts to double digits.

“Some growers decided to keep it small this year,” said Dale Gieringer, state director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

With marijuana supplies under pressure, prices responded as they would with any other commodity.

Since the fall harvest, Northern California growers have seen prices jump to between $2,000 and $2,500 per pound for “good-quality” marijuana, according to Kemp.

Law enforcement agencies say it’s too early to get a clear read on this year’s harvest.

“Marijuana remains readily available in California, and we have not noticed a substantial change in prices,” said Casey McEnry of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s San Francisco office.

But data collected by local law enforcement and a federally funded drug task force indicate street prices have nearly doubled in some parts of the state.

“Supply is down, so prices are up,” said Tommy LaNier, director of the White House-funded National Marijuana Initiative.

LaNier credited the shift in prices to new law enforcement tactics, including the use of more informants, undercover agents and wiretaps and an aggressive effort to intercept marijuana being shipped in vehicles and through commercial carriers like FedEx and UPS. He also said recent actions by the state’s four U.S. attorneys have shaken the marijuana industry.

“The market is significantly disrupted,” he said.

LaNier said creating market disruptions has been a top priority for law enforcement because it could make marijuana less affordable for minors. But law enforcement agencies are not the only groups welcoming the changes. Black market growers say rising prices mean a return to higher profits.

“This is a relief, since my margins were getting very thin,” said one Bay Area grower, who asked that his name be withheld because he is operating outside of state medical marijuana laws. Because of the profit margins, he said he had given up trying to sell his product in California. Instead, he’s been delivering it to the East Coast concealed in private vehicles.

The grower said he might return to the California market if prices continue to rise. “I’d rather not take the extra risk of shipping out of state,” he said.

But Tim Blake, a Mendocino-based medical marijuana grower, activist and impresario, said it is an outrage that illegal growers stand to benefit from the federal crackdown while medical marijuana operators are the targets of raids and forfeitures.

“Prices are going up, but the people who will cash in are the men hiding in the mountains,” he said. “If this continues, the people who are trying to follow medical marijuana laws won’t get anything because they’ll be out of business, thanks to the feds.”

By Scot Kersgaard, The Colorado Independent

December 08, 2011

Shortly after filing the petition, Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont signed on as well. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper apparently has no plans to sign the petition, but Colorado will file its own request to reclassify marijuana.

Currently, marijuana is listed as Schedule I by the Drug Enforcement Administration alongside heroin and LSD, which means that the federal government considers marijuana to have no accepted medical use.

“This is a good first step, in that it shows that politicians are catching up with the scientific consensus, which is that marijuana has medical value,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “If it succeeds, federal law will finally acknowledge that fact. Rescheduling marijuana, however, will not change the federal penalties for possessing, cultivating, or distributing medical marijuana,” he said in a prepared statement. “That is the change we really need. These governors should be insisting that the federal government allow them to run their medical marijuana operations the ways they see fit, which should include selling medical marijuana through state-licensed dispensaries.”

Rhode Island passed a law mandating the creation of three compassion centers throughout the state prior to Gov. Chaffee’s term, but Gov. Chaffee failed to implement the law, citing fears of federal enforcement against compassion center operators. Similar legislation was passed in Washington earlier this year, but significant portions of the bill were vetoed by Gov. Gregoire, including a plan to legally establish medical marijuana distribution centers. Both governors pointed to a series of threatening letters sent by U.S. attorneys suggesting that medical marijuana dispensaries could be targeted.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper’s spokesperson told Fox News that the governors had a valid point in pushing the petition.

“The governors in Washington and Rhode Island raise a valid conflict that needs to be resolved,” said Eric Brown, a spokesman for Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. “Colorado law requires we make a similar ask of the federal government by Jan. 1. We will do that. We will also continue to consult with other governors on this issue and with Colorado’s attorney general before deciding whether anything else will be done.”

Brown told The Colorado Independent that Hickenlooper would not sign the petition but that Colorado law requires the Colorado Department of Revenue to make the same request of the feds by no later than January 2012, and Brown said that will be done.

Mark Couch, spokesperson for the Department of Revenue, said the letter is currently in the draft phase and will be sent as required by law.

The pertinent section of HB 10-1284 is below:

(g) IN RECOGNITION OF THE POTENTIAL MEDICINAL VALUE OF
MEDICAL MARIJUANA, MAKE A REQUEST BY JANUARY 1, 2012, TO THE
FEDERAL DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION TO CONSIDER
RESCHEDULING, FOR PHARMACEUTICAL PURPOSES, MEDICAL MARIJUANA
FROM A SCHEDULE I CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE TO A SCHEDULE II
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE.

On the campaign trail, Hickenlooper said he supports medical marijuana but is opposed to broader legalization.

From the Fox story:

The DEA has rejected prior petitions seeking to reclassify marijuana, but Gregoire noted that this is the first petition signed by governors.

Gregoire also said the science on the issue has changed. The American Medical Association reversed its position two years ago and now supports investigation and clinical research of cannabis for medicinal use.

Gregoire said she was on a phone call in August with other governors in medical marijuana states and said that there was a “huge volume” of interest.

Asked why no other governors have signed onto the initial petition, Gregoire said she and Chafee wanted to take the lead on the initiative.

“I have every expectation that you will see other governors join us,” she said.

From an editorial in The Seattle Times:

Anything that moves the medical marijuana issue along and advances public understanding of its therapeutic value is a plus. There was high hope that the Obama administration would reclassify marijuana and provide safe access to qualifying patients across the country. At the very least, the expectation was that the administration would leave 16 medical-marijuana states, including Washington, alone. Instead, the federal government has been a stubborn, unhelpful player.

Gregoire wins points for sticking her neck out. She and Chafee are the first governors to take this step. But she should have done so sooner. Reclassifying would be a big first step, but the federal process could take years. Still, medical marijuana advocates are impressed with the enormous amount of time and effort put into the exhaustive petition.

An editorial at Bakersfield.com, urged California Governor Jerry Brown to join in the petition as a way to increase public safety.

The governors want marijuana reclassified to Schedule II, which is the classification for cocaine, morphine and opiates, which have “some accepted medical use and may be prescribed, administered or dispensed for medical use.”

As we in California well know, conflicting state and federal views on marijuana have created a marketplace for medical marijuana that is void of legitimate regulation and patient safety protections.

A reclassification of the drug could potentially lead to marijuana being dispensed by pharmacies, which would be safer than, and preferable to, the hodgepodge system of dispensaries, doctor “recommendations,” patient cards and uneven enforcement that has resulted in illicit, back-door distribution to recreational users and unnecessary difficulties for legitimate medical users.

As recently as July, the DEA decided against reclassifying marijuana, but the decision was primarily based on old studies. A number of medical associations and organizations support the reclassification, including the American Medical Association, which reversed its position because current law limits clinical research.

sfagate.com

December 9, 2011

CBS News

(AP)  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — More than 1,000 New Mexicans have applied for medical marijuana licenses since Republican Gov. Susana Martinez took office in January, prompting the administration that had advocated repeal of the law to instead propose taking the program outside of the public health department.

Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Catherine Torres said in a telephone interview this week that she will ask lawmakers for authorization to create a new, self-supporting unit with seven full-time employees to administer the program.

Asked whether that meant Martinez had changed her stance against the legalization in 2007 of medical marijuana, Torres said only that “the governor and I are following the statutes.”

She declined to speculate on whether the governor might in the future pursue attempts to repeal the law.

“Our biggest priority is to make sure that the program runs efficiently and effectively and that the patients are served in a timely manner,” she said.

Torres said the new unit would be funded from revenue generated by the medical marijuana program, which includes fees collected on license application fees and growers. Among the employees she wants to hire is a full-time director for the program. Until last month, the medical marijuana program was run by a health department employee, Dominick Zurlo, who also ran the department’s syringe and other drug abuse prevention programs. Zurlo resigned and has been replaced by an acting director, Torres said.

New Mexico in 2007 became the 12th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana. Its program differs from most in that the state oversees the production and distribution of marijuana. A medical advisory board determines what medical conditions qualify a patient for the program. Doctor’s do not prescribe medical marijuana. They certify that patients have one of the approved conditions and that standard treatment doesn’t work for them. Patients then apply to the state, and, if approved, receive a registry card with information on how to contact nonprofit growers licensed to supply marijuana.

Since post-traumatic stress disorder and several other conditions were added to the list of qualifying illnesses, applications have soared

“When I started in January in 2011 there were 3,613 apps. And now there’s over’s 5,000,” Torres said, noting that most are cancer patients or people suffering from PTSD.

In October the department hired five temporary employees to help clear the backlog, and Torres said she will take her request to add seven full-time workers for the new unit workers to lawmakers in January.

Medical marijuana advocates said they were encouraged to hear the news as the Martinez during her campaign had talked of repealing the law. The governor did not pursue that effort during her first legislative sessions, citing the state’s pressing budget issues.

“This is one of the best run, highly regulated programs in the country and we’d like to see it continue to be that model for the rest of the country,” said Emily Kaltenbach of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico. “So we are hopeful that their hiring of staff means that they are going to be fulfilling the intent of the statute and the regulations.”

By Scot Kersgaard, The Colorado Independent

December 09, 2011

By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services, Ahwatukee Foothills News

December 8, 2011

Attorneys for would-be marijuana dispensaries asked a state judge Wednesday to order Gov. Jan Brewer to follow the law approved by voters and begin issuing licenses as the statute directs.

“I don’t care whether she likes it or doesn’t like it,” Ty Taber told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Richard Gama. “Her sole job and responsibility is to implement that act.”

Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis did not dispute that last year’s voter-approved law requires the state Department of Health Services to license about 125 dispensaries where certified medical marijuana users can obtain the drug. And she conceded that Brewer has, in fact, directed the Department of Health Services not to issue any of those licenses.

But Davis told Gama the governor has a good reason.

She said the Department of Justice has sent various memos to officials in Arizona and elsewhere warning that marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. More to the point, Davis said, those memos make it clear that there is no shield from federal prosecution for state employees who are administering local marijuana laws.

That, she said, could include going after state employees who help issue licenses to marijuana retailers under federal laws making it a crime to facilitate violation of federal laws. Davis said part of Brewer’s job is to protect state workers from possible federal prosecution.

“It’s no laughing matter for the employees that are having to put themselves on the line just to do their jobs, pay their bills, when there are no other jobs out there for them to get even if they wanted to,” Davis said.

Davis said those concerns were exactly why Brewer, after directing that no dispensaries be licensed, filed a separate lawsuit in federal court asking for a declaration of whether state workers can, in fact, be prosecuted for just doing their jobs. The first hearing on that case is set for Monday.

But Taber told Gama that is irrelevant to the central question of whether Brewer has any authority in the first place to ignore a legally adopted statute.

“The governor needs to be told, by you, to do her job, just as it’s for you to do your job in telling her what her responsibilities are if she will not live up to them,” he said.

The law allows those with a doctor’s recommendation to get a permit from the state to obtain up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana every two weeks. Davis told Gama state health officials already have issued nearly 16,400 such permits since the law took effect earlier this year and continue to process new applications.

But Brewer directed state Health Director Will Humble not to implement the rest of the law which sets up a system of non-profit dispensaries for people to get their drugs.

Davis told Gama if he does not throw out the challenge, the least he should do is wait to see what U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton rules in the state’s own lawsuit seeking a declaration of immunity for its workers. Gama, however, appeared not too receptive to that idea.

First, Gama questioned whether Bolton will even allow the case to proceed. He said it appears the state wants an “advisory opinion” on the scope of the Controlled Substances Act, something federal judges are loath to provide.

And Gama said even if Bolton agrees to consider the matter, she really has little choice but to say that the federal law is valid.

But Davis said the state did not go to federal court to find an excuse to ignore the medical marijuana law. Instead, she said, it wants a determination of whether what state workers would be doing in issuing licenses is exempt.

One section of the federal laws says that officers of the state are not subject for liability if they are “lawfully engaged in the enforcement of any law or municipal ordinance relating to controlled substances.”

Davis conceded what Congress probably had in mind is ensuring that undercover cops could not be busted for having drugs and that state court personnel who handle the evidence would not be arrested for possessing illegal drugs. But she said an argument could be made that the exemption is wide enough to cover the activities of state health department employees.

Gama seemed unconvinced any of that matters. He said he doubts the opinion of a single federal judge could block federal prosecutors from pursuing charges.

Anyway, he said, whichever side loses is likely to appeal. And Gama appeared uninterested in waiting for years while that process unwinds before he can rule on the question in his own court: Does Brewer have the power to unilaterally refuse to implement a legally approved law.

Brewer’s refusal to license any dispensaries has not entirely thwarted the law.

One provision of the act says that certified marijuana users who live at least 25 miles from a dispensary can grow their own marijuana. With no dispensaries, that applies to everyone.

Several “cannabis clubs” also have sprung up around the state where medical cardholders can get free samples of the drug which have been grown or donated by other legal marijuana users. The law does allow such transfers if no money is exchange.

But the state, in a separate lawsuit, is trying to shut those down, saying the fact someone has to pay to be a member of the club or enter the premises amounts to the illegal sale of the drug.

It is this bloggers opinion that marijuana, like alcohol, should be made legal for anyone over the age of 21 to purchase, cultivate, or possess throughout the United States of America. But, if it were to be made legal in the United States, it leaves many unknown answers to popular questions on the subject.  For instance, a common question is “Where would marijuana be authorized to be sold if it were legal like alcohol?”

Would it be available at all the same places as alcohol, such as liquor stores, gas stations, grocery stores (in some states), pharmacies?  Can you imagine going in to a CVS Pharmacy and seeing a man up at the counter getting his monthly heart medication and then him asking the pharmacist “ Oh, and I’ll take an ounce of some Purple Haze while you’re back there as well?”

I wonder what the quality of marijuana would be that was available in stores that had no experience with growing marijuana? Another question I here a lot is  “would the marijuana in liquor stores and pharmacies be as potent and healthy as the marijuana that is available in medical marijuana dispensaries?”

I suppose that if marijuana were to be made illegal across the United States then their would be a lot more companies involved in growing it on large-scale levels across the country. The quality would likely go down when compared to locally organically grown marijuana that is produced on a smaller scale and cared for on a more intimate level.

A third question I get a lot is “If marijuana were made legal, how much could you buy or grow at a time?”

After all, we don’t have limits on alcohol possession. If I wanted today, I could have set out to see how much alcohol I could stockpile in my house and made trips all over town, buying ALL of the alcohol they had at each stop, and no law enforcement would be able to charge me with any crime.

Shouldn’t marijuana be more regulated than alcohol, with a system that tracked how much is purchased and in what intervals? And wouldn’t there need to be a limit on how much marijuana could be grown at a residence, and who could grow it commercially?

It seems to me, that before marijuana can be made legal in the United States, that there is a great need for a system in place that answered all of these questions.

Dec 6, 2011
Washington,DC —The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a landmark decision today in which California state courts found that its medical marijuana law was not preempted by federal law. The state appellate court decision from November 28,2007,ruled that “it is not the job of the local police to enforce the federal drug laws.”The case,involving Felix Kha,a medical marijuana patient from Garden Grove,was the result of a wrongful seizure of medical marijuana by local police in June 2005. Medical marijuana advocates hailed today’s decision as a huge victory in clarifying law enforcement’s obligation to uphold state law. Advocates assert that better adherence to state medical marijuana laws by local police will result in fewer needless arrests and seizures. In turn,this will allow for better implementation of medical marijuana laws not only in California,but in all states that have adopted such laws.

by Christopher Cadelago, signonsandiego.com

Dec. 3, 2011

An association of medical marijuana collectives will unveil a proposed ballot measure this week for the city of San Diego that would create operating zones and standards, establish a registration system, impose a cost-recovery fee and levy a tax on storefront dispensaries.

Citizens for Patient Rights, in connection with the Patient Care Association, plans to announce the effort amid a coordinated campaign to shutdown medical marijuana dispensaries across California.

Scores of local collectives have shuttered in the eight weeks since U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy warned that marijuana sales and distribution were illegal under federal law and that landlords risk criminal prosecution and potential loss of their property if the outlets did not close. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has methodically sued collectives in civil court for allegedly violating local zoning laws.

Representatives with the nonprofit association and its political action committee admit there’s little they could do to slow down the federal crackdown. But they said passing city regulations were a crucial component of their mission to provide safe access to medicinal cannabis while respecting community desires such as ensuring public safety, preventing diversion of the drug for recreational use and keeping collectives away from where children congregate.

“We believe there needs to be an ordinance in which case collectives can operate legitimately and service the patients that we need to service,” said Greg Shultz, a director with the Patient Care Association. “We need rules that are responsible and respectable and, after months of outreach, that’s what we’ve come up with.”

Critics of enacting local regulations contend they have been exploited elsewhere by a pervasive and profit-driven industry. They also maintain that marijuana ends up in the hands of children and that its distribution spurs neighborhood crime.

“The best education voters could have about whether to allow pot shops has been the last two years,” said Scott Chipman, chairman of San Diegans for Safe Neighborhoods. “What has to be done to protect neighborhoods and teens, the proponents of these businesses are not likely to allow.

“Regardless of whether there is a city ordinance for pot shops, we will expect and encourage the federal agencies to continue their enforcement.”

The ballot measure, drafted in consultation with neighborhood councils, community planning groups and other stakeholders, would require dispensaries to operate away from residences and at least 600 feet from sensitive areas where children gather such as schools and playgrounds. It would spell out requirements for security at dispensaries, rules for their appearance and mandate that personnel submit to background checks.

Collectives also would agree to reimburse the city for costs to oversee the program and have added an incentive for voters in a supplemental sales tax on themselves that could only be used locally. Proponents have not settled on a tax rate.

Many cities and counties have struggled to deal with the rapid mushrooming of dispensaries since state voters approved marijuana for medical use in 1996. Municipalities that waited until recently to rein in collectives, such as San Diego and Los Angeles, have been hard pressed to gain support for their legislation from collectives because the new rules often require many — if not all — of them to shut down and apply for operating permits.

In San Diego, collectives had been in legal limbo since city officials determined in 2009 that they didn’t fit within any of the existing zones and would no longer be issued a business license. Neither Goldsmith nor San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders pressed for enforcement while the City Council worked to draft an ordinance that would determine where dispensaries could locate.

The council approved such an ordinance in April, but repealed it three months later after Citizens for Patient Rights, the Patient Care Association and the California Cannabis Coalition mounted a successful referendum signature drive. The groups objected to the legislation in part because it would have required every dispensary to close and then would relegate them to far-flung industrial areas.

The association then urged Goldsmith to hold back while they crafted an ordinance of their own to present to the council. Then, on the day they planned to present the proposed regulations to various city officials, federal prosecutors announced the statewide crackdown.

Since, 139 of 222 medical marijuana outlets in the region — many of them in the city of San Diego — had closed through last week. The City Attorney’s Office also has filed lawsuits this year against at least 88 dispensaries, with stipulated agreements, temporary restraining orders or injunctions to close 48 and the balance pending future hearings, as of mid-November.

Cynara Velazquez, a representative for the dispensary association, was critical of the amount of resources the City Attorney’s Office has devoted to going after businesses that she said were acting in full compliance with California law.

A 2009 poll showed a majority of city residents supportive of allowing dispensaries, said Alex Kreit, a law professor at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego.

“But they really want very tight regulations on them,” said Kreit, head of the city’s now-defunct task force on medical marijuana. “They don’t want them to be anywhere under the sun.”

Goldsmith has said he doesn’t choose enforcement based on his personal feelings, politics or intimidation. The city attorney also said he would hold off on the flow of legal action if that were requested by city policymakers.

The proposed ballot measure comes after a court of appeal in Los Angeles ruled that Long Beach could not approve rules allowing dispensaries because marijuana was illegal under federal law. In another case, a three-judge panel in the 4th District Court of Appeal in Riverside ruled that state law permits cities to ban collectives.

“I think it’s positive even for cities that want to regulate in this area,” said Jeffrey Dunn, an attorney who argued the case for Riverside. “Those two decisions kind of work together to establish some clarity for now.”

Jessica McElfresh, an attorney who helped draft the ordinance, said the group took into consideration the appeals court decision in Long Beach.

The city of San Diego would be responsible for broad oversight of the industry including determining whether applicants fit local zoning requirements before entering them into a registry. A third-party industry association would be tasked with verification of the operational requirements.

“We know this is going to be hard, but we are not going anywhere,” McElfresh said. “We are going to meet the task.”

Proponents would have 180 days to collect 62,057 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify the measure for the November 2012 ballot.

December 2, 2011 · Updated 6:20 PM

There’s an initiative that may go before voters next year that would legalize, regulate and tax the sale of mari-juana, and not just for doctor-authorized medicinal use.

I-502, even if it collects enough signatures to get on the 2012 state ballot, seems like a bridge too far, at least for now.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire’s petition to the Drug Enforcement Administration doesn’t. Her request to have marijuana reclassified as a Schedule 2 drug seems like a sensible step in the right direction for states such as Washington to be able to effectively implement medical marijuana laws passed by voters.

If it’s the will of the compassionate people of this state — and that 1998 election shows it is — to allow marijuana use to relieve the intractable pain of those suffering from cancer and other afflictions, then the federal government should not thwart that will.

As the governor noted in announcing her petition to the DEA, “an overwhelming majority of Americans now see medical marijuana as legitimate.”

So do plenty of doctors, who could prescribe marijuana for patients who would benefit from it, if it is reclassified as a drug that has an accepted medical use.

Patients could get their prescriptions filled by a pharmacist at a drug store, just like any other medication, but only “if the federal government stops classifying marijuana as unsuitable for medical treatment,” the governor states.

Such a reclassification would also help cities such as Port Orchard that face a quandary in trying to develop suitable local zoning regulations for medical marijuana dispensaries and collective gardens.

Who knows if Gregoire’s petition will change any minds at DEA.

But it’s time for the feds to get out of the way of states whose citizens want to see their government set up a legal, properly controlled system for providing medical marijuana.

Health Department to choose five dispensaries from 17 applications

By Tisha Thompson and Rick Yarborough, nbcwashington.com

Dec 2, 2011

When it comes to medical marijuana, the D.C. government is handing out two different kinds of licenses. The News4 Iteam has already shown the proposed sites to grow medical marijuana, which are called cultivation centers, and now we have the list of dispensary applications — where people will go to buy medical marijuana.

If you want medical marijuana in Washington, D.C., you will need to get a prescription from a doctor and buy it from a licensed dispensary. The News4 Iteam mapped out where 17 different dispensaries want to locate — neighborhoods like the Palisades, Takoma Park, Eastern Market, Ivy City and Anacostia.

“It’s a facility to provide medication to patients,” said applicant and former talk show host Montel Williams. “This isn’t some place for people to run out and get high.”

Williams wants to set up a dispensary on Columbia Road in Adam’s Morgan. He’s also applied for two cultivation center licenses in a building on Queens Chapel Road in Northeast, which he said will create jobs and improve the neighborhood.

“We’re looking at a facility that No. 1 right now is a blighted building,” Williams said. “It’s a building that was burned out. This building is now the perfect building to put together what we’re proposing, and that’s a greenhouse that could be an urban farm.”

“Rehab the buildings for themselves, yeah,” Jackie Manning said. “Bring jobs, no, because they’re not required to hire in the city.”

Manning is an ANC commissioner for 5B, where 24 cultivation centers and three different dispensaries have applied to set up shop — by far the highest concentration in any one neighborhood. Her neighbors all agree they’re worried about crime and don’t want any of the facilities in their community.

“They don’t want it,” Manning said. “Bottom line: They don’t want it. Why is it that we’re always considered the dumping ground?”

We have put together this map of all the dispensary locations so you can read the applications yourself. You can also see where they’re located in comparison to the cultivation centers.

The Health Department is in charge of determining who will actually get a license and had announced it would start deciding who would get the 10 cultivation licenses and five dispensary licenses in the next month.

But we’ve been told by several sources that they’ve missed some of their internal deadlines, which may force the agency to push back their final decision.

Beto O’Rourke and Susie Byrd, mysanantonnio.com

December 2, 2011
In 1913, El Paso became one of the first cities to ban marijuana. Other communities soon followed suit, and by 1937 the drug was banned by the federal government. The drive to prohibit marijuana was not motivated by efforts to reduce dependence, improve health outcomes or alleviate criminal activity in the general population. Its prohibition has a much more dubious provenance in the fears and prejudices that accompanied growing Mexican migration at the beginning of the 20th century.

That march towards marijuana prohibition has helped create a lucrative marijuana economy. Mexican drug cartels smuggle many things into the US, but marijuana is the most profitable portion of the cartel’s portfolio. Marijuana has the larger customer base with the most stable demand and steady prices. And, the Mexican cartels own the value of the marijuana from farm to market.

Nearly 100 years after El Paso enacted its initial ban on marijuana, the city bears daily witness to the violence that the marijuana economy inflicts on Juarez, our neighbor on the U.S./Mexico border. Since 2008, more than 9,000 people have been murdered in Juarez. The violence stems at least in part from a declared war between the two largest cartels for control of the El Paso/Juarez trade corridor.

In a ground-breaking 2010 Associated Press report, Martha Mendoza found that the U.S. has spent over $1 trillion on the drug war since it was first declared in the Nixon administration. And our return on that investment? In 2010, 35 percent of high school seniors reported that they had used marijuana, a number that has been fairly consistent since 1975. In fact, more high school sophomores tried marijuana last year than tobacco.

At some point, sooner rather than later, we must admit that our current course has not worked. It has made things worse for those who are most vulnerable (children and addicts), has led to bloated enforcement budgets at every level of government, has invited contempt for law and justice, has destroyed thousands of lives, and has left us billions of dollars poorer as a result.

At some point, we must challenge our elected leaders to enact laws that reflect reality and not an unattainable ideology.

We must come to a reckoning, much the same way we did 80 years ago, and repeal a prohibition that does more harm than good. If Washington won’t do anything different, if Mexico City won’t do anything different, then it is up to us — the citizens of the border who understand the futility and tragedy of this current policy first hand — to lead the way.

By Carol Hopkins, Daily Tribune

December 03, 2011

McKinnon said no one had ever asked him about his position. He also believes if they could, other law enforcement officials would agree with him.

“I’m not a crusader and don’t think all drugs should be legalized. But to me it’s a waste of our resources, for today’s officers.

“They need to put (efforts) toward dealing with more serious crimes.”

Whitty said he and McKinnon are in agreement on the subject.

“It would be better looked at through the lens of public health,” said Whitty, “and we could spare all our grandchildren from having rap sheets.”

Published by MaryJane

Getting a medical marijuana card is not always a simple task. Depending on which state you reside in, you may find it incredibly easy, or painfully difficult.

If only it were as easy for everyone in the United States as it is for those of us that live in California, Colorado, Michigan and Montana!!

Fortunately CTU has created a free directory of doctors, and or clinics in each state that has medical marijuana laws in place at this time.  You will see that some states have hundreds of physicians willing to write recommendations while others only have a few.

In California, it is very easy to get a medical marijuana card. All that it requires is proof of a prior medical condition and an appointment with a valid and currently licensed physician in the state. Meaning that all you need is a current prescription for a drug of some sort that you were prescribed for ANY MEDICAL CONDITION. You basically will be going in to the doctor looking to try medical marijuana as an alternative treatment method for your condition for which you have been previously treated for by a licensed physician.
If you can’t find a doctor that will write you a recommendation because you do not have record, or evidence of your medical condition, you will need to find a medical doctor with whom to establish a doctor/patient relationship with before qualifying for a medical marijuana recommendation.

Some states will require multiple visits to the doctor before you can be considered for medical marijuana.
Other states have no medical marijuana laws in place and in those states you are unfortunately just out of luck! (sorry to say)

Please visit our 420 listing of doctors and clinics to set up an appointment for your medical marijuana evaluation.