MidsMagazine

ALERT: Many Colorado communities will have public votes this November to ban dispensaries– and many others are considering enacting bans. Sensible Colorado is working with local activists in communities across Colorado to fight these restrictions on safe access. If you live in one of these communities, the time to begin fighting these bans is now!

Here is a list of communities which either have a November vote planned, have a current ban, or are discussing a ban.

**URGENT** Broomfield
Activists in Broomfield are currently gathering signatures to overturn their local ban. They have just a few weeks to collect almost 2000 signatures and need help gathering signatures today!
Contact: Pamela Gianola: 303 466 7420 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 303 466 7420 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Cities
Aurora, Loveland, Longmont, Windsor, Larkspur, Minturn, Grand Junction, Paonia, Broomfield

Counties
El Paso, Eagle, Larimer, Garfield, Granby, Fraiser, Douglas, Las Animas, Mesa, Ouray, Montrose

**If your community is being effected by a ban or you want to help fight these restrictions please contact us asap at info@sensiblecolorado.org or 720 890 4247 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 720 890 4247 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Rebecca DeKeuster doesn’t act like a woman who has just cornered much of Maine’s medical marijuana market.

The former high school English teacher is criss-crossing the state behind the wheel of a 1997 Chevy Cavalier. Her husband towed it from California behind a U-Haul moving truck, she said.

And when she finally pauses for a face-to-face newspaper interview, DeKeuster suggests the Augusta House of Pancakes, a favorite breakfast spot in her newly adopted hometown.

DeKeuster, 40, is the most powerful figure in Maine’s emerging dispensary business. She is the chief executive officer of Northeast Patients Group, which has been awarded state licenses to operate four of the Maine’s first eight medical marijuana dispensaries. Its licenses give Northeast exclusive dispensary rights, at least for now, to the state’s biggest markets — including Portland, Augusta and Bangor.

Just eight years ago, DeKeuster was teaching in a northern California high school and knew little about medical marijuana, she said.

“I was not a pot person.”

Then she got a call to come home to Missouri because her father was dying from lung cancer.

Friends suggested she take her father some marijuana to help with pain, nausea and depression, but she didn’t want to risk getting caught by airport security, DeKeuster said.

“I watched him die … knowing that if I just had the guts to do it, I could have helped him so much,” DeKeuster said, wiping tears from her eyes. “It shouldn’t be something that I’m afraid to tell you about. It shouldn’t be something that I’m afraid to fly with.”

Soon after that, she left teaching and took a $14-an-hour job as a salesperson at Berkeley Patients Group, a medical marijuana dispensary, and got to help other people, some with serious and terminal illnesses, she said. “It was an affirmation for me.”

DeKeuster eventually became general manager, a position that brought her to Maine last winter to meet with policy makers writing rules for the state’s new network of dispensaries.

“We’ve been very open about sharing our model,” she said.

She gave advice to the state’s task force, as well as other groups, and began to feel invested in the state’s new rules, she said. “It became harder and harder to leave.”

DeKeuster and her husband officially moved to Augusta in March and she became the sole officer of a new group, Northeast Patients Group. The group applied for five licenses, hoping to win one or two, she said.

DeKeuster has since been racking up the miles in her Cavalier, working to set up the new businesses and a central marijuana growing facility in Hermon.

DeKeuster would not say how much she was paid as Berkeley’s general manager, and said she does not yet know what Northeast’s salaries will be.

But she said she did not get rich in the medical marijuana business in California and won’t in Maine, either.

“There has always been an underlying plan to share our mission,” she said.

Seven Loveland medical marijuana dispensaries have joined to form the Loveland Association of Wellness and recently drafted a resolution outlining the group’s efforts to ensure their businesses are more acceptable to the community.

Additionally, the businesses plan to host open house events from 11 a.m. to noon Tuesday and Aug. 24.

Anthony Freitag, co-owner of Paradise City Caregivers, said he hopes the open houses bring residents into the dispensaries, allowing them to see what the businesses do.

The group’s resolution includes regulations that limit signs on and around medical marijuana centers and eliminates advertising that promotes the businesses and/or their products.

Loveland Association of Wellness, or LAW, members also promise to prohibit consumption of marijuana in retail space or common areas, limit medical marijuana sales to 2 ounces per person per 96 hours and attempt to confirm the legitimacy of incoming patients’ documents, according to the resolution.

This month, the Loveland City Council finalized ballot language to allow residents a final vote on whether medical marijuana dispensaries should operate in the community.
Source:http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100815/NEWS01/8150326/Loveland-dispensaries-join-forces

LONGMONT — The future of the Feiler family’s business is in the hands of the city and the state.

Loree Feiler — an attorney, mediator and former Florida criminal court judge — owns the Longmont and Boulder Nature’s Medicine shops. Her daughter, Allyson, who has a master’s degree in business entrepreneurship, takes care of much of the day-to-day operations.

Medical marijuana has been legal since 2000, but the constitutional amendment did not account for dispensaries. A law passed this year mandated licensing and regulation of the hundreds of dispensaries already open statewide.

Nature’s Medicine in Longmont met the Aug. 1 deadline to apply for state licensing and must meet a September deadline to ensure the business is producing 70 percent of the medical marijuana it dispenses.

That requirement meant the family had to find a location to cultivate the marijuana. They opted for a place in the county after looking at properties in and out of the city and working through zoning requirements.

Further, state regulators have to complete full investigations of each of the businesses — a reported 800 of them — that applied for licenses in the state, which Feiler said could take months.

For instance, the state is expected to complete criminal backgrounds on the owners and employees. Inspectors are also expected to audit the personal and business finances for each dispensary.

Even the state license application required extensive financial information.

But while the family has plenty of legal resources, Feiler said she doesn’t believe the volume of paperwork would deter anyone intent on preserving their business.

“The (Colorado) Department of Revenue have made themselves very available,” she said.

Given the family’s legal background, Feiler said she supports the state regulation both to legitimize the business and to protect patients. For instance, she said some dispensaries were using personal kitchens to make edible medical marijuana goods. The requirement for a commercial kitchen is a plus, she said.

The state also now tracks marijuana sales. So Nature’s Medicine is launching a point-of-sale and accounting system to help track the product and accurately report sales to the state.

Feiler also appreciates that the state law seems aimed at making sure the businesses aren’t funded with money from any criminal enterprise. No one with a previous drug felony or a felony conviction in the past five years may own a dispensary.

The family bought the business last fall from Craig Clerkin, who ran it as Ancient Alternatives.

The Longmont shop, at 1260 S. Hover St., is near a dentist’s office and used to house a chiropractor’s office. It has the feel of a small health-care operation, with a waiting room and rooms to meet with patients.

Feiler thinks the new regulations will benefit Nature’s Medicine, one of Longmont’s seven medical marijuana centers. That is, if it clears all of the state’s hurdles and the Longmont City Council doesn’t ban the dispensaries, which state law allows.

“I think it would be a shame to have all the people we see here in Longmont have to go to Boulder or Denver to get their medi-cine,” Loree Feiler said.

While Feiler talked about the business, her daughter worked constantly, helping patients or dealing with the office business.

Feiler said her daughter wanted to run her own business, and her husband, who also is an attorney, researched medical marijuana for years. She said the family works hard to keep the business open.

“It is not the cash cow people think it is,” she said.

Pierrette J. Shields can be reached at 303-684-5273 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 303-684-5273 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or pshields@times-call.com.

THOMAS TWP. — On Friday, a neon-green sign that said “Tri-City Compassion Club, park here” in stenciled block letters was posted in front of the lot and Thomas Township home owned by John F. Roberts.

Roberts, 49, whose home — where he lives with his fiancée Stephanie Whisman, 38 — was raided by DEA agents July 6, is the new location of the Tri-City Compassion Club.

Roberts, a state-registered grower, patient and a former leader of the Bay City-based compassion club — now the newly named Mid-Michigan Tri-City Compassion Club, which has more 300 members, according group President Kim M. Zimmer — left the Bay City group and was allowed to use its old name to begin a separate club.

Roberts said the purpose of the club is to educate prospective patients about getting started legally and to inform current patients about growing and processing methods.

Members also bring baked goods, oils and dried marijuana to sample, purchase and trade — provided they are certified medical marijuana patients, Roberts said.

He said the clubs offer a comfortable alternative for patients who don’t wish to purchase their medical marijuana on the black market.

None of the meeting attendees wished to speak publicly about their involvement with medical marijuana or reasons for attending the club meeting.

Zimmer said her club parted ways with Roberts after his home was raided in July. She declined to speak about specifics of the separation.

“There is no conflict,” Roberts said. “The person who owned the building wanted to go in a different direction than I wanted and that I could afford.”

He wouldn’t disclose the owner or location of the building the club calls home but said he had been paying the club’s building lease until he left and could no longer afford to.

Roberts’ club is in his backyard among wooded trails and fire pits.

Cars parked on the grass at the outskirts of Roberts’ property Friday.

About 15 medical marijuana patients, two children, caretakers and others who were curious exited their vehicles and crossed a length of freshly cut grass, walking toward a brownish-red wooden storage shed with two open doors.

Inside about four medical marijuana patients sat in chairs around a coffee table, upon which lay brownies and muffins baked with cannabis butter — they were donated by one of the group members — and on another table were two jars full of marijuana buds — each containing about an ounce of marijuana, Roberts said.

An empty container on the table said “donations for baby girl.”

The anticipated donation was marijuana, not money, Roberts said.

Roberts said he and others provide medicine, what he calls “Rick Simpson hemp oil,” to a state-registered 6-year-old girl suffering from a brain tumor — free of charge — and it takes 2 to 3 ounces of marijuana to make enough of the dark, tar-like extract, which he said lasts two weeks.

Mixed with peanut butter for ingestion, the oil helps the child to sleep and to eat regularly, Roberts said.

Roberts said he’ll continue to conduct compassion club meetings at his home each Friday and Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Weed Wars: Walnut Creek builders see green in household marijuana rooms
Posted at 09:37 AM on Monday, Aug. 16, 2010
By Peter Hecht – phecht@sacbee.com

* Pot poll finds weed has grown on California
Pot poll finds weed has grown on California

John Wade, 43, a San Francisco commercial lighting specialist, takes a quick hit from a marijuana cigarette on the golf course to steady himself before putting.

Sarika Simmons, 35, of San Diego County, sometimes unwinds after the kids are asleep with tokes from a fruit-flavored cigar filled with pot.

And retiree Robert Girvetz, 78, of San Juan Capistrano, recently started anew — replacing his occasional martini with marijuana.
* Medical pot sellers cash in with direct deliveries
Medical pot sellers cash in with direct deliveries

Undeterred by laws that have closed storefront dispensaries, medical marijuana sellers across the state are flourishing — by delivering pot directly to homes and offices.

Hundreds of these unregulated delivery businesses have sprung up in recent months — a sign of how quickly California’s fabled pot industry is moving from the shadows and into uncharted legal territory.

In Fresno, some dispensaries have moved to unincorporated areas since the city began forcing storefronts to close. Some of them deliver marijuana to Fresno residents, and the city attorney concedes the city has little authority to stop them.
* Prop. 19 raises thorny pot issue, drug czar says
Prop. 19 raises thorny pot issue, drug czar says

Proposition 19, a November ballot initiative, would legalize recreational marijuana use for California residents over 21 and allow small residential cultivation — but also would put the state in conflict with federal law that says the drug is illegal.

“The [Obama] administration opposes legalization of any drugs, including marijuana,” Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an interview Thursday.

Kerlikowske was in Fresno to announce the results of an ongoing crackdown on marijuana-growing operations known as Operation Trident. It is focused on pot farms on public lands in the foothills and mountain areas of Tulare, Fresno and Madera counties.
* Calif Chamber: Pot law would allow smoking at work
Calif Chamber: Pot law would allow smoking at work

Supporters and opponents of a ballot measure to legalize marijuana in California are dueling over the law’s possible effects on employers and the workplace.

The California Chamber of Commerce claimed in a legal analysis released Thursday that Proposition 19 would lead to more workplace accidents by forcing employers to let workers smoke pot on the job.

The analysis also contends the law would make California companies ineligible for federal contracts because employers could not guarantee a drug-free workplace.
* Calif Chamber: Pot law would allow smoking at work
Calif Chamber: Pot law would allow smoking at work

Supporters and opponents of a ballot measure to legalize marijuana in California are dueling over the law’s possible effects on employers and the workplace.

The California Chamber of Commerce claimed in a legal analysis released Thursday that Proposition 19 would lead to more workplace accidents by forcing employers to let workers smoke pot on the job.

The analysis also contends the law would make California companies ineligible for federal contracts because employers could not guarantee a drug-free workplace.

construction[1].JPGThe glossy brochure for the Good Green Builders Construction brims with photographs of home growing rooms featuring tomatoes, bell peppers and lettuce in a spectrum of leafy colors.

“We love what we do. And we are discrete,” says the leaflet for the Walnut Creek firm founded by Brett McCormick, 25, and William McKenzie, 26, two agribusiness graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The discretion the duo is promising isn’t for home-grown arugula. McCormick and McKenzie have built a successful general contracting firm by working with Californians wanting to set up safe – and discreet – residential grow rooms for cultivating pot.

McCormick says Good Green Builders works only with certified medical marijuana users and checks their physician’s recommendations to ensure they have have a legal right to grow for themselves or others.

California law permits people with physician’s recommendations for marijuana to cultivate up to 6 mature or 12 immature plants. Growers can legally cultivate for multiple medical users. And some cities and counties allow substantially higher growing limits – 72 plants, for example, in Oakland or 100-square feet in Humboldt County.

“We basically make sure they’re legal,” McCormick says. “We check their recommendations and don’t set them up with something outside of their limits.”

But Good Green Builders – and like-minded builders – may be poised for a boom if California voters in November approve Proposition 19 to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults over 21. The initiative would permit all California households to maintain a 25-square foot – or 5 by 5 – growing space for pot.

“Typically, we’re doing bigger (growing) settings than 5 by 5,” McCormick says. “We can definitely cater to that. There are going to be a lot of people who can grow their own.”

With stories of at-home growing causing house fires from faulty wiring or otherwise overwhelming household infrastructure, Good Green Builders says it subcontracts with licensed electricians, plumbers, heating and ventilation specialists and other professionals depending on the job demands.

McCormick say the firm’s specialty is doing “custom build-outs” of garages as people covert indoor parking to pot cultivation. The firm has also built basement grow-rooms with subterranean retaining walls and moisture barriers, created bedroom growing systems and a range of residential green houses.

“A lot of our customers are first-time growers,” he says. “We cater to that. We definitely make it as easy as possible.”

Pictured: McCormick with Good Green Builders residential designs for at-home cultivation. Peter Hecht/phecht@sacbee.com

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/08/16/2043141/weed-wars-walnut-creek-builders.html#ixzz0wrzr8c4U

Len Goodman can’t grow enough marijuana to keep up with demand.

He is one of just 11 growers approved by New Mexico to produce pot for all of the state’s 2,000 registered medical marijuana patients, and his customers routinely wipe out his supply. Once a strain of marijuana is harvested, dried and cured, he sends an announcement that patients can place orders, and the pot is usually gone in 24 hours.

New Mexico has been so cautious in licensing and regulating growers under its 3-year-old medical marijuana law that the small number of providers can’t grow enough, creating a shortage that has forced some patients to the street to buy illegal drugs.

The dilemma in New Mexico could have ramifications elsewhere because the state’s program has been held up as a national model, with other states looking to replicate its strong regulatory structure to avoid the chaos that has prevailed in places like California.

Prospective pot growers are subjected to a painstaking screening process before being granted a license. Once that happens, they are limited to 95 plants and seedlings and an inventory “that reflects current qualified patient needs.”

The providers’ identities and locations are kept secret, avoiding the kind of storefront dispensaries that have flourished in Colorado and California.

State Health Secretary Dr. Alfredo Vigil says he must balance patients’ needs against preventing so much legal pot from being grown that it ends up in the illegal market. He said the program is being expanded methodically to ensure sufficient oversight and to get to know producers and how they operate.

He also opposes having hundreds of producers and many thousands of patients, which he said “absolutely takes it out of the arena of use for in-state patients and into the arena of defacto legalization.”

Medical marijuana patient Larry Love sees New Mexico as an example of what not to do. He contends the department approves new growers much too slowly.

Love, who runs a radio blog and has been highly critical of Vigil, got his medical marijuana card in June 2009 but said it was November before he could get a supply from an authorized grower. He said that drove him and other patients to the illegal market, despite the risks.

Goodman’s Santa Fe County business, NewMexicann, has 650 registered patients — five times the number of patients he said he can supply. Other producers are in similar shape, he said.

As a result, he has to ration pot to patients who are chronically ill.

“Sometimes they don’t have enough so they use it when it’s really severe, which is not good,” he said. “It’s like seniors cutting down on their meds because they can’t afford it.”

The situation in New Mexico is being closely watched by other states as medical marijuana becomes increasingly popular nationwide.

New Jersey, Iowa, Maine, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and some California municipalities have called about New Mexico’s law, Health Department spokeswoman Deborah Busemeyer said. They have been asking how the state manages producers and how it’s kept some control over legal pot while avoiding problems with federal agencies, since marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

New Jersey and Rhode Island have laws that are closer to New Mexico’s system than California’s much more freewheeling one.

New Mexico passed its medical marijuana law in 2007 with a groundbreaking provision to license production and distribution.

The Health Department spent more than a year crafting regulations, electing to go with a state-licensed system of nonprofits that places strict restrictions on how much pot they can grow.

Patients can get licenses to grow their own, but most turn to the state-sanctioned growers. The first producer wasn’t approved until March 2009. The health Department OK’d four more in November, then six more last week. It takes five to six months for a grower to ramp up to production.

In the meantime, patient rolls have grown to about 2,000. New Mexico approved 200 patients in the program’s first year; now it’s approving about 200 a month.

While Love praised the approval of the new producers, he said New Mexico still will have only about half the supply it needs for current patients. He claims the state needs at least 10 more producers by the end of the year to keep up.

FROM ANOTHER VIEW: Medical marijuana should be legalized
Photos
Grizzoffi.Victoria.jpg
Joe Tamborello / The Journal-Standard
Victoria Grizzoffi, Democratic candidate for 89th district state representative.

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By Victoria F. Grizzoffi
The Journal-Standard
Posted Jul 16, 2010 @ 05:34 PM
Last update Jul 16, 2010 @ 05:35 PM
State of Illinois —

I’m glad to read that I’m in such good company with so many optimists.

I have my ups and downs just like everyone else. If I can’t solve a problem myself I reach out to others and work together to find the best solutions.

I would support Senate Bill 1381. If a terminally ill person can benefit from marijuana, I don’t see why not. It must be regulated and under the strict guidelines from a physician. I have personally experienced the death of family members from cancer and frankly, there comes a point where there isn’t anything you wouldn’t do to make a loved one as comfortable as possible.

There are also situations where marijuana helps a person receiving treatments cope with the side effects better. I would trust marijuana before the countless synthetic drugs that come and go off the market. They advertise drugs on T.V. and the side effects are worse than the ailment you have. We’ve all heard them, “may cause death.”

Marijuana has been around forever and demonized. I have never seen or heard of anyone turn into the crazed maniac portrayed in the 1936 movie Reefer Madness. That was pure Hollywood, before my time, and I have seen the movie.

If anything is a “gateway” drug it starts with cigarettes and alcohol. Yet there are many people who smoke and drink and are not criminals and addicts. And just like cigarettes, alcohol, prescription drugs, weapons and even a driver’s license, comes personal responsibility.

Once again I must stress here that it must be regulated and a person must have a prescription just like any other narcotic. I am not endorsing or condoning general use and a free for all.

I see regulating it to be the biggest obstacle because here comes the patent wars. The drug companies will worry because this is something that can be grown by anyone. And the problem always is, money and greed.

There is also industrial hemp used for rope, clothing, oils and many other uses that has less than 1 percent THC levels in it. During WWII our country grew hemp to help the war effort. Farmers in North Dakota are fighting to change legislation so they can grow it. Imagine the entrepreneurism, economic growth, and revenue that could be generated by a new textile industry. I know there is space available at Mill Race.

Recent DEA raids in California are once again raising questions about the Obama Administration’s commitment to respecting state laws:

San Diego, CA — Federal agents raided at least three San Diego-area medical marijuana dispensaries [Friday] in the early morning hours. Sources say that Green Kross, Unified Collective and Kush Lounge were all served federal search warrants and were subjected to aggressive SWAT-style raids which resulted in the arrest of as many as 12 people and the seizure of money, medical marijuana and patient records. These raids come as the City of San Diego is deliberating an ordinance to regulate the local distribution of medical marijuana. [Americans for Safe Access]

It’s possible, of course, that there were violations of state law taking place here, in which case the DEA’s involvement would be consistent with Obama’s policy. But it remains unclear why California police would need federal assistance enforcing their own laws. The cynical interpretation would be that the tendency of local juries to acquit medical marijuana defendants has led San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to have the feds do her dirty work.

Meanwhile in Mendocino:

A marijuana activist group on Friday protested a federal law enforcement raid on a Mendocino County pot farm, saying it was protected by the county’s new medical marijuana cultivation ordinance.
…
The Covelo farm owned by Joy Greenfield, 68, was registered with Mendocino County authorities under an ordinance that allows medical marijuana collectives to grow up to 99 plants.
…
Federal agents removed 99 plants and took a computer and cash, the group said. Greenfield wasn’t there at the time.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman confirmed Friday that the property owner had the proper paperwork and the marijuana was legal in the eyes of the county. [Press Democrat]

Once again, there could be more to the story, but it sure sounds like classic DEA craziness. The grower’s relationship with local law-enforcement casts doubt on the possibility of impropriety, so we’re left wondering what the hell is going on here.

Events like these are inevitable under a vague federal policy left to the whims of the DEA’s bullying cowboy mentality. Only a change in federal law will bring an end to this, but for the time being, the Obama Administration would do well to eliminate all apparent departures from the well-received hands-off approach they’ve promised the American people. I don’t see what’s so hard about that. If circumstances emerge that absolutely necessitate DEA activity involving medical marijuana, then it shouldn’t be too hard to provide an explanation for why federal resources were needed. That’s the very least you can do.

Obama’s pledge to respect medical marijuana laws enjoys broader public support than almost anything else he’s done since taking office. Screwing that up would be stupid, cruel and pointless.

Source: http://www.stopthedrugwar.com/chronicle_blog/2010/jul/12/medical_marijuana_raids_continue

An Orange County Superior Court judge has firmed up her tentative ruling throwing out a woman’s case against Dana Point in which Malinda Traudt sought to prevent the city from closing Beach Cities Collective, a pot dispensary that her family says is her lifeline.

Her attorney has promised an appeal. Traudt, 29, of San Clemente, who was born with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness, had sued Dana Point in May to keep open the dispensary from which her family obtains marijuana to manage her pain.

Traudt claimed in legal documents that the city’s ban unconstitutionally interferes with her fundamental rights to life and safety, under the California Constitution.

In her ruling, Orange County Superior Court Judge Nomoto Schumann cited cases and said that:

•There is no constitutional right to obtain medical marijuana.

•The Compassionate Use Act and the Medical Marijuana Program Act do not preempt the city’s ability to regulate or ban medical marijuana collectives or dispensaries.

•There is no authority that a patient has a fundamental constitutional right to obtain any particular controlled substance.

The Compassionate Use Act, also known as Proposition 215, which was approved by voters in 1996, allows for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Patients can legally use marijuana with permission from doctors under that law. However, federal law still forbids marijuana possession in most cases, which officials and lawyers say creates conflicts.
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/news/marijuana-257658-use-dana.html

A poll released Wednesday by the Cornell University Survey Research Institute found that nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers favor legalizing marijuana for medical use.

A higher percentage of upstate residents support it than people who live downstate (which includes New York City, the northern suburbs and Long Island) — 67 percent versus 62 percent.

“It pretty much said what we’ve seen in polls across the state and across the country for many years, which is that people strongly support medical marijuana,” said Vince Marrone, a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, which favors the legalization of medical marijuana.

There is a marked difference in attitude between Democrats and unaffiliated voters on one side and Republicans on the other, according to the poll. Sixty-six percent of Democrats and 68 percent of unaffiliated voters support legalization for medical use, while a plurality of Republicans — 48 percent — said they are against it.

Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long said there is no evidence that marijuana helps with any medical conditions, and the party opposes legalization for medical use.

“There have been some leaders who … have pushed to have us change our position, but the majority of the leadership rejects the thought process that in some way shape or form it helps people,” he said.

The poll found that 79 percent of people who consider themselves ideologically liberal support medical marijuana, compared to 63 percent for self-identified moderates and 49 percent for conservatives.

More men are in favor of medical marijuana than women — 67 percent versus 61 percent, the poll said. The higher the household income, the more likely the support for legalization — 53 percent for people with household incomes below $30,000 compared to 73 percent for those with incomes of $100,000 or more, the Survey Research Institute said.

The 2010 Empire State Poll surveyed New Yorkers on a number of issues facing their community and the state. More than 800 telephone interviews were conducted in February and March.

Legislation to legalize medical marijuana didn’t get through the Senate or Assembly this year. It would have allowed patients registered with the state Department of Health to have up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana on hand at any one time. It could not be smoked in public places. The state would register organizations that would acquire, manufacture, sell, deliver, transport and distribute marijuana for medical use.

Bills on the topic have been introduced for more than a dozen years. The Assembly has passed legislation twice before. Neither house brought the bill to the floor for a vote this year.

“We don’t consider it over with yet,” Marrone said. “There’s still a lot of interest in both houses and the governor’s office to do this.”

Fourteen other states allow the use of marijuana for patients who have serious or life-threatening medical conditions, such as HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Users have said it relieves nausea and reduces chronic pain and muscle spasms.

Cornell’s Survey Research Institute has been conducting an annual Empire State Poll since 2003. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.

In a February Quinnipiac University poll, 71 percent of New York voters said legalizing marijuana for medical use was a good idea and 25 percent said it was not. The political breakdown of those supporting it was 78 percent of Democrats, 55 percent of Republicans and 73 percent of independents.

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20100714/NEWS01/7140361/Poll-Medical-marijuana-gets-strong-support-upstate

Marijuana dispensaries are a hot topic, but Maine doctors remain lukewarm about the key role they play in the state’s emerging medical marijuana program.

Many physicians are skeptical about the benefits of treating medical conditions with marijuana, and others are unclear about the implications of recommending a drug that remains illegal for nonmedical use. Physician skepticism and ambivalence may prolong patients’ inability to legally obtain a drug they say brings them significant relief.

Dr. John Woytowicz of Augusta says marijuana’s effectiveness in relieving pain, nausea and muscle spasms is well-established. For the past decade, Woytowicz has provided the documentation his patients have needed to legally possess small amounts of marijuana under Maine’s previous law. But that law didn’t help patients obtain marijuana, leaving them either to grow their own or purchase it from illicit dealers.

“The dispensaries are a great feature,” Woytowicz said Thursday. “People are going to feel much more comfortable because they don’t have to do anything illegal.”

But patients can purchase from the dispensaries only if they sign up with the state’s program, and that includes getting a doctor’s certification. Woytowicz said many doctors are hesitant to participate in the program.

Some have concerns about the possibility of running afoul of federal law if they prescribe the use of a drug that not only does not have the endorsement of the Food and Drug Administration but that also remains illegal under federal statutes, he said. Other doctors doubt the effectiveness of marijuana over mainstream pharmaceuticals, or fear that their practices will be overrun by drug-seekers if it becomes known they’re willing to certify patients for the program.

But if doctors cultivate good relationships with their patients, use good clinical judgment and keep careful documentation, he said, marijuana can provide an important alternative to prescription drugs.

Dr. David McDermott, president of the Maine Medical Association and director of emergency services at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover Foxcroft, said many physicians do not understand how the new medical marijuana program works or what their obligations are.

The medical association, which neither endorses nor opposes the use of marijuana, has held several physician education programs around the state that have been well-attended. But that doesn’t mean doctors will decide to get on board, McDermott said.

“The law does not obligate physicians to prescribe marijuana for their patients,” he said.

In Bangor, Dr. Erik Steele, chief medical officer for Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, said he is unaware of any decision about the organization’s member hospitals, physician practices or individual doctors participating or not participating in the medical marijuana program.

“I know the debate is going on, but I know of no decision that has been made,” he said.

Steele, a practicing emergency room physician, said some patients recently have asked him to certify them for the marijuana program. “I’m struggling with it,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s a good thing.”

For patients nearing the end of life who find that marijuana relieves their pain and nausea, he said, he would be more comfortable.

But for chronic disorders, he said, “I would probably rather you used other treatment.”

Steele predicted it would take at least a year for most Maine physicians to make an informed decision about whether to participate in the new program.

Source: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/148425.html

Even as San Jose city leaders wrestle with how to regulate the growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries, a new business is launching to teach people the ins and outs of this budding industry.

Jeffrey Zorn is a graduate of Oaksterdam University located in Oakland, which is billed as America’s first college for students looking into that line of work. Zorn says the timing is right for San Jose to have its own education facility. This weekend marks the first “weekend boot camp classes” by the Cannabis Training University and more sessions are scheduled.

Zorn says “Our workshops provide students with knowledge how to open their own medical marijuana dispensary, how to properly run the dispensary, how to cook with cannabis, how to grown their own cannabis.”

Zorn says his first session has attracted about 30 pre-registered participants. The list of students includes Pat Knoop who is the executive director of Holistic Health Care Cooperative in San Jose. Knoop says he is going to have anyone who works or volunteers at his operation go through the training.

Knoop says “It’s like anything. You’re always learning, you never stop learning so the more people that you can be exposed to the more knowledge I get, the better job I’m going to do for the patients.”

San Jose estimates there are 50 to 70 medical marijuana outlets in the city. City leaders are going to hold a community meeting on July 20th to talk about how to best regulate medical marijuana dispensaries.

For now, the Cannabis Training University is online, offering and scheduling its courses at various south bay locations. Zorn says the University will soon have a physical store front location. He says “This is an exciting time in the cannabis industry and there is definitely a great need for a school like ours in San Jose.”

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=7546698

Mayor Tony Santos said a group of investors have inquired with him and Councilman Jim Prola about opening a large medical marijuana growing facility in the city’s industrial area.

“I don’t want to give the impression that I’m promoting it, because I’m not,” Santos said Friday. “The group is looking for a location to grow medical marijuana — no direct sales. They can only do it in certain locations, and they need a lot of power to do it.”

“There are some people that have made preliminary overtures about warehouse space,” Prola said. “We told them to talk to the city manager, the city attorney and the police chief.”

Santos and Prola did not say who they spoke with, but described a group of investors looking to expand a small-scale medical marijuana growing operation in Oakland, and that the group included an attorney and a real estate agent. The group is eyeing San Leandro for a growing, warehousing and distribution facility, they said.

“I gather it would take $10 million to set up a facility,” Santos said. “They obviously need a lot of security and that kind of stuff. They are talking about growing $100 million a year. They would be willing to give us 5 percent of gross receipts.”

Santos said attitudes toward marijuana are changing, pointing to Berkeley and how medical marijuana brings tax revenue to that city and to Proposition 19 on November’s ballot, which would legalize marijuana in California and allow local governments to regulate and tax it.

City Manager Stephen Hollister said he will be meeting with city staff and the city attorney about whether an application for such an operation can be entertained. Several years ago, the city passed a six-month emergency moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries that has expired.

“The city’s position is that dispensaries are not permitted in any zoning district within the city,” he said. “There are also issues with conflict with federal law.”

He added that the city as yet has no position on growing, warehousing and distribution. He said he has not been contacted by medical marijuana growers.

Jeff Starkovich, managing partner for the commercial real estate firm Cassidy Turley, said his company has warehouse space for lease in industrial San Leandro. He said he has received inquiries by many types of businesses into his firm’s properties, including from medical marijuana growers.

“There’s been interest in the past, but no proposals,” he said. “Until it happens, it’s still rumor.”

“It’s like any other commercial thing. They have to go through the proper channels,” Prola said. “I flat out told them that there would be absolutely no dispensing. There will be no, I repeat, no dispensaries anywhere in my district, anyway.”

“There are so many codes and so many hoops that they have to jump through, the chances of it happening right now I’d say are very small,” Prola added. “They are looking into the possibilities and the legalities. Nothing has been negotiated. It’s all speculation right now.”
Source: http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/localnews/ci_15479473

Obtaining an Oregon medical-marijuana card will no longer be limited to Oregon residents.

Current administrative rules require applicants to show Oregon identification and proof of residency. But as part of a review of otherwise routine changes proposed in the rules, the Department of Justice has advised the Department of Human Services that the 1998 law authorizing medical marijuana is not limited to residents.

Temporary rules will allow the program to accept a driver’s license, government-issued identification card, U.S. passport or military identification.

The other rules changes, including what is considered acceptable documentation, will be heard at 11 a.m. July 30 in Conference Room 1-A at the State Office Building, 800 NE Oregon St., Portland.

Oregon does not recognize medical-marijuana cards issued in other states.

As of April, there were 36,380 card holders. A card authorizes a patient, or a designated caregiver, to grow a specified amount of marijuana and possess it for medical use. Doctors must approve the underlying condition, specified in the law, for which medical use is sought. The state does not furnish the names of physicians or supply medical marijuana, although a potential ballot initiative Nov. 2 would allow the state to license dispensaries.

The secretary of state is verifying signatures submitted last week for that measure.

Source: http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20100709/UPDATE/100709042/-1/update

You know you’re a Californian when you have to ask if the brownies someone brought to a potluck are “special” or not.

But while the casual peddler of edible marijuana on sunny days in the City’s parks still faces arrest, the City’s Department of Public Health has rules for legitimate edible cannabis treats at medical marijuana dispensaries.

For instance, anything that requires refrigeration is right out unless the dispensary applies for an exemption, so you might want to rethink your plans for a soda fountain at your dispensary.

In fact, making anything look like candy which might attract children — such as candy bars wrapped in packaging meant to mimic popular brands — is also forbidden.

The packaging does, however, have to state the amount of marijuana in the food, and whether it contains any potential allergens such as nuts.

Only members of a dispensary are allowed to make the products, and if they intend to sell them at more than one location, they need to have a food handler’s permit.

If California voters pass Proposition 19, the Tax Cannabis Act that would effectively decriminalize the recreational use of the drug, you can expect similar regulations to apply to entrepreneurs looking to bake goods that will get you baked.

In fact, it’s probably only a matter of time before you’ll be able to get full nutritional information labeled-goods — so that you can count your calories both before and after the munchies kick in.

Jackson West wonders what people who complain about the nanny state might say about pot brownie regulations.

Source: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/health/San-Franciscos-Rules-for-Making-Pot-Brownies-jw-97897874.html

The celebration over a new contract with Health Canada worth nearly $17 million didn’t last long at Prairie Plant Systems Inc. (PPS) last week.

Now, the Saskatoon company — the only federally licensed medical marijuana producer in Canada — must get to work hiring new staff and expanding its secret growing facility to accommodate the contract.

It’s a project the biotechnology company is happy to have, the company’s president and CEO Brent Zettl said Wednesday.

“We envision this as just a continuation of our business plan along with becoming a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals using plants,” Zettl said.

In addition to its CanniMed medical marijuana business, which drives between 60 and 65 per cent of its revenue, the company is working toward developing therapeutic enzymes using plants.

PPS also has a bio products division, which sells fruit plants and seed potatoes to farmers, and an environmental division, which helps mining companies reclaim worksites.

The new contract with Health Canada, which started earlier this month and runs through 2014, will see the company hire about 15 more staff members and double its CanniMed capacity, Zettl said. Under federal regulations, the CEO is unable to disclose the current capacity of the business or its location.

Zettl did say, however, the product is grown using a peat moss-based soil mix and an innovative irrigation system. No chemicals are used during the process.

The company was awarded the contract after responding to a request for proposals set out by the federal body in April 2009. PPS provides cannabis to patients authorized by Health Canada.

“It basically was a request to make sure there was a sufficient supply for the Canadians that are licensable and are requiring access to the federal source,” Zettl said. Running parallel to the new contract is a second, older contract that expires in October 2011, he added.

PPS was awarded the new contract after its proposal was chosen by a committee of experts, Health Canada spokesperson Gary Holub said in a statement to The StarPhoenix. The contract, he said, encompasses development, production and distribution of dried marijuana and marijuana seeds.

“This contract will allow the government of Canada to continue to provide reasonable access to a legal source of dried marijuana for medical purposes while the government of Canada currently considers longer-term options for reform of the Marijuana Medical Access Program,” Holub wrote.

He said the review of the program is focusing on three objectives: Public health, safety and security; reasonable access to marijuana for medical purposes; and examining overall costs to the government.

Meanwhile, after receiving feedback from patients who feel the single strain of cannabis grown by PPS doesn’t work for everyone, the company plans to suggest to Health Canada it approve another strain of marijuana for medical use, Zettl said.

“From our standpoint what we hope is that they consider having other strains,” he said.

“We see the value that that could bring to the patient population.”

The company employs about 50 people.

Source: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/business/Plant+company+looks+grow/3249469/story.html

California Assembly to Vote on Joint Resolution

A bill sponsored by ASA that urges federal officials to adopt a new national policy ensuring safe access is now before the California Assembly. Following testimony by California Director Don Duncan last month, the Assembly’s Committee on Health voted 10-3 to pass the non-binding resolution to the full Assembly.

“This legislation is needed now more than ever,” said Duncan in his testimony to the committee. “Lest federal officials think their job is done, they need to know their work addressing medical marijuana as a public health issue has only just begun.”

Originally introduced by State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) in June 2009, Senate Joint Resolution 14 urges the federal government to end medical marijuana raids and to “create a comprehensive federal medical marijuana policy that ensures safe and legal access to any patient that would benefit from it.” The full Senate passed the bill last August by a vote of 23-15.

“Patients and providers in California remain at risk of arrest and prosecution by federal law enforcement,” said Senator Leno in a statement on the resolution. “And legally established medical marijuana cooperatives continue to be the subjects of federal raids and prosecutions.”

The Department of Justice issued a memo to US Attorneys in October 2009, discouraging them from prosecuting individuals who comply with state medical cannabis laws. But raids, arrests and prosecutions have occurred since then in California, Colorado and New Mexico. More than two-dozen patients and providers are currently being prosecuted under federal law and face decades in prison.

In California, medical marijuana provider James Stacy, whose dispensary was raided by the DEA in September 2009, a month before the Justice Department policy was issued, is scheduled to go to trial next month.

“No one should go to federal prison for treating illness or injury with a safe, effective medicine,” said Duncan. “Suffering patients across the country will benefit from a sensible, comprehensive federal medical cannabis policy.”

In addition to urging President Obama and Congress to “move quickly to end federal raids, intimidation, and interference with state medical marijuana law,” SJR 14 asks them to establish “an affirmative defense to medical marijuana charges in federal court and establish federal legal protection for individuals authorized by state and local law.”

Under federal rules of evidence, defendants facing federal marijuana charges cannot use their medical condition or compliance with state law as a defense in court. A bill to change that, the Truth in Trials Act (HR 3939), is currently pending before Congress.

If passed by the Assembly, the resolution will then be sent to President Obama, Vice President Biden, the Speaker of the House and each member of the California Congressional delegation.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/we-need-a-new-federal-policy-on-medical-cannabis

Guam – “The illegality of cannabis is outrageous, an impediment to full utilization of a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world.”

– Dr. Carl Sagan-Astronomer

There are three general types of cannabinoids: phytocannabinoids occur distinctively in the cannabis plant (THC, CBD — at present at least 66 cannabinoids have been isolated from the plant); synthetic cannabinoids that are identical substances created in the lab (Sativex, Marinol, Rimonabant); and the endogenous cannabinoids (anandamide) which are produced in mammals and humans by their bodies and brains.

We all have cannabinoid receptors in our brains. The one great thing about the “high” of cannabis was the serendipitous discovery of the “endocannbinoid system.” There are scientists and pharmacologists who have said, “Cannabis will be to the 21st century as aspirin was to the 20th century: a wonder drug.”

To prevent an individual who is suffering from a serious disorder access to a non-toxic plant, just because of the possibility that it would be abused, is absurd. Drug-control policy should be dictated by the National Academy of Sciences-Institute of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, not by individuals who have no training in cliincal pharmacology or basic medical science.

Self-medication is a self-preservation instinct in the human species. When does the legal relief of pain and suffering become the illegal pursuit of pleasure? Isn’t it the alienable right to medicate oneself contained in the rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” Is it morally wrong to alter mind/consciousness with some drugs and healthy to do so with others?

Cannabis can be a useful tool by substituting it in place of more harmful drugs. Research carried out by Berkeley and published in the Harm Reduction Journal found that “40 percent used cannabis to control their alcohol cravings, 66 percent as a replacement for prescription drugs and 26 percent for other, more potent, illegal drugs.” The reason being “because (cannabis) has less adverse side effects than alcohol, illicit or prescription drugs and has a less withdrawal potential and provides better symptom management.”

Society says that Prozac or Paxil is good and cannabis evil, but good and evil are not attributed to molecules. Drugs are neither good nor bad, in and of themselves. It how they are used and the type of person using them in a certain set and setting that determines whether there will be a positive or negative outcome.

Alcohol fuels agrression and violence. Cannabis is a safer euphoriant than alcohol.The regulation of cannabis would decrease the use of harder drugs such as alcohol, tobacco and ***************.

There would be considerable savings in government spending on prison control, the criminal justice system’s “gravy train.” Every instance of freedom and democracy, ancient through American, has sprouted from agrarian cultures. Democratic capitalism has it roots in an agricultural society, based on individual exercise of property rights.

Isn’t nature legitimate?

In no way, shape, or form am I condoning recreational drug use, but we should at least recognize that there are safer intoxicants, that personal use will continue, and that there is a significant medical benefit to certain segments of the population who finds it’s use healing.