Police in a northern California town thought they had an open-and-shut case when they seized more than two pounds of marijuana from a couple's home, even though doctors authorized the pair to use pot for medical purposes.
San Francisco police thought the same with a father and son team they suspected of abusing the state's medical marijuana law by allegedly operating an illegal trafficking operation.
But both cases were tossed out along with many other marijuana possession cases in recent weeks because of a California Supreme Court ruling that has police, prosecutors and defense attorneys scrambling to make sense of a gray legal area: What is the maximum amount of cannabis a medical marijuana patient can possess?
No one can say for sure how many dismissals and acquittals have been prompted by the ruling, but the numbers are stacking up since the Supreme Court on Jan. 21 tossed out Patrick Kelly's marijuana possession conviction.
Growing marijuana, as challenging as it can be, is the easy part. Figuring out the state law that allows sick people to use pot is a lot harder for Washington patients.
Since Washington voters passed a law in 1998 legalizing medical marijuana for seriously ill patients with their doctor's recommendation, patients have been frustrated over how to legally get cannabis while following the rules, reports Diana Hefley at the Everett Herald Net.
Police officers, on the other hand, say they are faced with balancing the rights of medical marijuana patients and their duty to enforce the law, which makes pot illegal for everyone else.
The legal haze was evident in the criminal trial of a medical marijuana patient in Snohomish County, Washington in February.
For seventeen years, J.B. Woods, owner of Parker's Greenpoint Insurance Group, has sold policies that cover losses to individuals, families and assorted commercial and business interests.
But it's only been in the past few days that he's been able to offer medical marijuana crop insurance -- and he thinks it's a product whose time has come.
"Don't you want to protect your most valuable assets -- which are the stock and the medicine?" he asks.
"We just rolled it out last Friday, now that there are a couple of insurance companies willing to insure medical marijuana while it's being grown in the pots," says Woods, who's launched a new website at www.MarijuanaDispensaryInsurance.com. "I think that, in the history of crop insurance, it's the first time it's ever been done."
A heartless corporate board has voted unanimously in a closed meeting to ban elderly residents of Laguna Woods Village, a California retirement community also known as "Leisure World," from growing much-needed medical marijuana in community garden centers.
The despicable action was taken despite the assurance of the Orange County Sheriff's Department that it would do nothing if the retirement community residents were growing marijuana with a doctor's recommendation.
LOS ANGELES — This school doesn't have a problem with students not paying attention.
"They're paying us to come, and our classes are full," says Jeff Jones, chancellor of the Los Angeles branch of Oaksterdam University, where students learn the business of marijuana from seed to ash.
Attitudes are changing as 14 states now have laws allowing some form of legal marijuana use with a doctor's recommendation. And with legalization comes a growing cannabis industry.
In California alone, the medical-marijuana business could be worth as much as $2 billion, says Dale Gieringer, state coordinator for NORML, a marijuana advocacy group. Prices vary widely, but dispensaries have advertised an ounce of dried marijuana for $340 or more.
"Ten years ago I couldn't get a room full of people to talk about this," Jones says. Now, people from across the country come to learn how to legally grow, distribute and profit with pot, even though it remains illegal under federal law.
Why "potential" danger is a residential area may catch even small, safe, production sites
My recent discussion of the possible impact of Bill C-15 stirred up some discussion about whether I'm overstating the risk to small producers in residential areas. Specifically, at least one thoughtful commenter remarked that I went "much too far" in suggesting that the aggravating factor "the production constituted a potential public safety hazard in a residential area" would broadly apply to most, if not virtually all, production in residential areas. Because this issue is critical to understanding just how pernicious this legislation is, I wanted to make a detailed reply.
Bill C-15: What it means for cannabis producers and sellers
Bill C-15 imposes mandatory minimum jail sentences for a variety of CDSA (Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) offences including the sale and production of cannabis. It also raises the maximum penalty for producing cannabis from 7 years to 14 years. This article will focus on the impact on cannabis producers and distributors, though we should be aware that the negative consequences of this Bill will affect all Canadians.
"We're rolling back our policy of tolerance towards soft drugs which suggested that everything was allowed here. Well, it isn't." The Dutch decision to crack down on criminals involved in cannabis production is primarily a political decision, public prosecutor Kees van Spierenburg told Dutch media. "Politics is of course being fed by the call from the crime fighters, that this has become an important item in organised crime. We can't turn a blind eye to it."
Americans for Safe Access, Media Liaison Kris Hermes
Appellate court ruling protects collective cultivation and affirms civil actions by patients
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - September 24 - The California Supreme Court yesterday refused to review County of Butte v. Superior Court, a landmark appellate court ruling that protects the right of medical marijuana patients and their primary caregivers to collectively cultivate. The landmark ruling by California's Third Appellate District Court also affirmed a patient's ability to take civil action when their right to collectively cultivate is violated by law enforcement. The Butte County case involved a private 7-patient medical marijuana collective in Paradise, California. Read more »
The United States and its allies have been prosecuting the war on drugs for almost a century. They have never looked like they’re winning but they have carried on regardless. In the past year, however, the supporters of drug prohibition have suffered some important tactical defeats. The bipartisan consensus in Washington, although still powerful, is beginning to slip. But there is a strategic issue now facing supporters of prohibition that presents them with their toughest challenge yet, and Canada will be a key battleground. This will unfold in the next decade and may bring an end to the war on drugs, which has consistently failed to achieve its stated aims despite devouring hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ dollars. Read more »
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By PAUL ELIAS, AP
By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town
By Michael Roberts
By. Steve Elliot, Toke of the Town
By William M. Welch, USA TODAY
Why "potential" danger is a residential area may catch even small, safe, production sites
Bill C-15: What it means for cannabis producers and sellers
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