On a recent chilly morning, Fort Lauderdale stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld interrupted his client calls for a quick marijuana cigarette in the company parking lot. Then he went back to work.
The cigarette — perfectly legal for him — was one of about 120,000 the federal government has provided to him at taxpayer expense for the past 29 years. He’s one of only four people who remain in a now-closed “compassionate” drug program that at its peak provided 13 patients across the country with daily doses of pot to help manage medical conditions. Read more »
Licensing of marijuana-grow facilities continues to vex Denver's City Council as the board remains divided over whether to allow existing facilities to operate in areas where the zoning has changed.
"This is going to continue to be the center of the debate," said Assistant City Attorney David Broadwell.
The city is wrestling with licensing requirements that must be in place by July 1, according to a state law passed last year that requires local governments to license dispensaries, grow facilities and manufacturing.
The new state law requires that dispensaries grow 70 percent of the product they sell, which last year spurred a rush to set up grow facilities. Read more »
In Stormy Ray's proposed legislation for medical marijuana cooperatives in Oregon, there is a mandate for a new sort of "income tax." The medical marijuana cooperative bill, LC-798, will be presented to the legislature in the coming week, according to Stormy Ray of the Stormy Ray Cardholders' Foundation.
While it makes sense to pay an income tax on net profit like any other business, LC-798 will require medical marijuana cooperatives to pay an additional "income tax" based on a flat 10% rate to the Oregon Department of Revenue. This tax will be comprised of the following:
5% to the Oregon Health Authority (formerly DHS) for the purpose of administering the OMMP Read more »
Lifted Health and Wellness (aka Lifted420) is literally the buzz around San Francisco. The new company delivers a selection of high-quality, low-priced medical marijuana products to their patient-members’ doors on environmentally friendly electric scooters.
“We offer one-hour delivery to member-patients’ home, office, or other convenient location,” said William, founder of Lifted Health and Wellness. “We offer at least ten different types of premium grade medicinal marijuana—and post daily specials on our website and Facebook that feature different combinations of cannabis varieties.”
Leaders of groups involved in medical marijuana issues said Wednesday that they are integrating their efforts to preserve patients' rights in the face of opposition and backlash at the Montana Legislature.
They urged medical marijuana patients and caregivers around the state to join the effort in a constructive way.
“With two dozen bills being drafted relating to medical marijuana and a lot of support among legislators to repeal Montana's medical marijuana law completely, we face an uphill climb to overcome the distortions and misperceptions that unethical behavior by a few has incited,” said Tom Daubert of Helena, founder and director of Patients & Families United. Read more »
The Illinois House on Thursday narrowly voted down the authorization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
The bill would have allowed people suffering from chronic pain or nausea caused by certain debilitating conditions to be prescribed a potent dose of cannabis to alleviate the symptoms. It fell four votes short of passage.
The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, pledged to continue pushing toward legalizing the illicit herb. "I am going to continue to press on — on this particular piece of legislation, or some version of it — until I pass it," Lang said. "Next year, the year after … I'm a young man. I'll be here awhile." Read more »
Don't hold your breathe on this one. But a one-time Seattle police chief has proposed a debate involving President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon on the legalization of marijuana.
Norm Stamper's big idea comes as the coalition Just Say Now opens a national campaign promoting legalization of pot and pushing for state ballot issues this year and in 2012.
Stamper, an adviser to the group and a spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, notes that Calderon said Tuesday he is open to a debate on legalization of pot and other drugs. Parts of Calderon's country are being ravaged by a violent and deadly drug war.
"Legalizing marijuana is the most sensible approach to stopping the border war," Stamper said in a statement. "Cartels' thrive on marijuana prohibition. Around 70 percent of the cartels' profits come from the illegal sale of marijuana, which they turn around to buy guns that have killed thousands of Mexicans."
Yet another cop-kills-the-family-dog story today, this one from Willits, California:
Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force agents, aided by a uniformed Willits police officer, serving a search warrant at 64 Franklin Avenue on July 27, shot and killed a family pet, an 8-year-old half-pit bull mix named Tonka.
When agents searched the home, they found nothing directly linking the residents to the arrest of Craig Anthony Gelber, the target of the search, according to MMCTF Commander Bob Nishiyama.
Apparently the raid came after police spotted their suspect at or near the residence with marijuana starts. Read more »
WASHINGTON — No one should be too poor to buy pot if they live in Washington, at least if the marijuana is for a medical condition. That's the conclusion of a new medical marijuana law enacted in the nation's capital.
The District of Columbia passed a law earlier this year that allows residents to legally obtain the drug for medical reasons. But it also includes a provision unlike the 14 other states with medical marijuana laws, requiring the drug to be provided at a discount to poor residents who qualify. Who will get the reduced-price marijuana and how much it will cost, however, is still being worked out.
Medical marijuana is now legal in the District after the Democrat-controlled Congress declined to overrule a D.C Council bill that allows the city to set up as many as eight dispensaries where chronically ill patients can purchase the drug.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) said in a statement the bill become law after Congress finished its business Monday night because neither the House nor Senate opted to intervene.
The council approved the bill in May, and under Home Rule Congress had 30 legislative days to review it.
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On a recent chilly morning, Fort Lauderdale stockbroker Irvin Rosenfeld interrupted his client calls for a quick marijuana cigarette in the company parking lot. Then he went back to work.
Licensing of marijuana-grow facilities continues to vex Denver's City Council as the board remains divided over whether to allow existing facilities to operate in areas where the zoning has changed.
In Stormy Ray's proposed legislation for medical marijuana cooperatives in Oregon, there is a mandate for a new sort of "income tax." The medical marijuana cooperative bill, LC-798, will be presented to the legislature in the coming week, according to Stormy Ray of the Stormy Ray Cardholders' Foundation.
Lifted Health and Wellness (aka Lifted420) is literally the buzz around San Francisco. The new company delivers a selection of high-quality, low-priced medical marijuana products to their patient-members’ doors on environmentally friendly electric scooters.
Leaders of groups involved in medical marijuana issues said Wednesday that they are integrating their efforts to preserve patients' rights in the face of opposition and backlash at the Montana Legislature.
The Illinois House on Thursday narrowly voted down the authorization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
By Tom Diemer, Politics Daily
By: Radley Balko, Reason.com
By JESSICA GRESKO (AP)
By Tim Craig, D.C. Wire
