medical marijuana

Yorkton resident Linda Maddaford had her home invaded by the Yorkton RCMP on August 5th, 2009. Approximately eight vehicles, including civilian vehicles, police cars and vans, raided her house when she wasn’t home. Ms. Maddaford had been a licensed medical marijuana patient for five years and she had been growing for her personal use for three years. When the police came they took her two mother plants. The strain was specific to her medical needs and is gone. The police killed her medical strain and she can not recover it. She was charged with production of two mother plants and possession of controlled substances. She was growing for her own personal medical use. She faces possible jail-time, house arrest and probation. She is no longer able to be bonded. Her court date is on September 14th, 2009. The arresting officer was Constable Kaare Bruce Christensen. The search warrant was signed by Judge G. Rathgeber #2950. Read more »

Tim King Salem-News.com

An Oregon man is trying to change the rules for medical marijuana patients, allowing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to be included among the relevant conditions that allow a doctor to authorize the use.

The state of Oregon has a chance to help veterans, reduce legal and court cost, and step forward in line with California, Canada and Israel in accepting that cannabis is a usable treatment and sometimes smart option for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Activist Ed Glick and Attorney Lee Berger, are attempting to demonstrate to Oregon's Department of Human Services how and why allowing PTSD to the list of acceptable conditions will benefit veterans. U.S. jails and prisons are packed with war veterans on minor drug charges, which include marijuana. Read more »

New Jersey is taking the lead. Will we follow?
By Brendan Skwire

Last week I bellied up in my local dive and bumped into "Barry," a pothead and occasional dealer who lives in my neighborhood.

"Dude, can I just tell you what a moron I am?" he said, as he waved a few bucks in the air trying to get the barmaid's attention. "Really. Even when I try to do the right thing, it just gets all messed up."

"Oh Jesus. What happened this time?" I replied. You have to understand, Barry's a piece of work: the guy can't help but step on his own feet. Read more »

Angela Macdonald

Living in New Mexico offers more than beautiful sunsets and amazing art. You can also get a permit for medical marijuana if you are chronically sick or severely injured. However, as one of the youngest programs in the country, the resources available for patients in New Mexico are equally limited.

The New Mexico Cannabis Program offers permits for the state’s sick, injured, and dying population. To obtain a permit you must first get a doctor’s recommendation. New Mexico does not currently have any compassion clinics. However, if your private physician recommends medical marijuana, you can still get a permit in the state.

Once you have a permit you will have to wait for the current state authorized growers to gow the supply requested by the state. More information to come on the developing program.

For a list of qualifying conditions in New Mexico click here.

Kim Kozlowski / The Detroit News

Now that it can be legally sold in Michigan, Greg Francisco is looking forward to the prospect of cashing in on the state's emerging medical marijuana industry.

He may even move from Kalamazoo to Detroit, where he thinks the growth will take off.

"This is a multimillion dollar industry that is just opening up," said Francisco, a retired school teacher who insists medical marijuana isn't the same pot that some smoked in high school or college. Years of careful cultivation have led to a fluffy, fragrant variety, he says while opening a medicine bottle.

Medical marijuana is already a flourishing industry that is only going to get bigger in Michigan, Francisco and other advocates say. Since November, when voters made Michigan the 13th state to legalize it, opportunists have been organizing, networking and creating businesses to grow the crop, deliver it to the patients and everything in between. Read more »

By National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws

While states like Michigan, New Mexico and Rhode Island have recipriocity for out-of-state medical cannabis patients, to date NORML was not aware of a AUSA recognizing such (though, on occasion, we’ve seen the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) not act upon medical cannabis patients caught with small amounts of their medicine).

This may well be another change under the current Obama administration as both the Clinton and Bush 2.0 administrations prosecuted state authorized medical cannabis patients caught up in federal arrests.

PRESS RELEASE – AUGUST 2, 2009 – FROM JOHN MCCALL, ATTORNEY Read more »

Last month, Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske came under fire for his statement, reported in the Fresno Bee, that marijuana “has no medicinal value.” Giving him the chance to clear up any confusion on the matter, KOMO TV aired a follow-up interview today with Kerlikowske. The Drug Czar had this to say:

Sometimes you make a mistake and you work very hard to correct it. That happens. I should’ve clearly said ’smoked’ marijuana and then gone on to say that this is clearly a question that should be answered by the medical community.

Kerlikowske also said:

[T]he FDA has not determined that smoked marijuana has a (medical) value…

Read more »

It is time for cities to alleviate the suffering and stop fighting the Compassionate Use Act
The Orange County Register

It is amazing that this is still an issue anywhere in California 13 years after voters approved the Compassionate Use Act, permitting patients with a recommendation from a licensed physician to use marijuana to treat or alleviate various medical conditions. But it appears that the West County Patient Collective Association, a medical marijuana dispensary in Sunset Beach, will face the possibility of being forced to close if either Seal Beach or Huntington Beach annexes the currently unincorporated town.

Both Seal Beach and Huntington Beach ban such dispensaries within their city limits, for reasons we are unable to fathom. Neither city has made a decision yet on the West County group. Read more »

Advocates, juror agree that sick people should decide how much pot is appropriate

By John Aguilar

BOULDER, Colo. — Rolling out of the Boulder County Justice Center in a wheelchair Thursday with a jumble of once-confiscated pot in his lap, Jason Lauve smiled and waved to supporters after a jury acquitted him of possessing too much medical marijuana.

Eight men and four women found the 38-year-old Louisville resident not guilty of a felony drug possession charge, as well as lesser charges of possessing marijuana and marijuana concentrate.

Lauve, who was prescribed marijuana to relieve the pain from a back injury, burst out crying, grabbed his defense attorney and nearly fell to his knees when the verdict was announced.

"Thank you so much," he yelled out to the jurors.

Boulder District Judge Maria Berkenkotter had to pause and admonish Lauve's supporters as they applauded and called out during her reading of the verdicts. Read more »

Jason Lauve acquitted of all charges after three hours of deliberation
By John Aguilar, For the Colorado Daily

A Louisville man who was accused of possessing an illegal amount of medical marijuana when his home was raided last year was acquitted on all charges Thursday afternoon.

A jury of eight men and four women found Jason Lauve, 38, not guilty of a felony drug possession charge, and not guilty of two lesser marijuana possession charges.

They deliberated for a little more than three hours.

Lauve was charged with possessing 17 times the permitted amount of marijuana that the state allows for medical purposes -- which is set at two ounces and no more than six plants. Police said they found more than 30 pot plants and more than two pounds of marijuana during a raid of his Louisville home in June 2008. Read more »