California
Fresno city councilor says medical marijuana users should leave town
Council member Lee Brand says if medical marijuana dispensaries are so important to people, "maybe they should move to San Francisco."
Guru of Ganja demonized in editorial masquerading as news item after six year (so far) court case
Oakland Tribune, Independent Political Report
California law and Oakland ordinances allow for medical marijuana use, possession and cultivation, but federal law — which bans all marijuana use, possession and cultivation — trumps them.
San Diego County attempts to repeal medical marijuana law
San Diego County filed papers this week asking the U.S. Supreme Court to erase California's medical marijuana law, arguing that federal prohibitions outlawing the substance supersede California's law allowing sick people to use it.
Child eats a brownie laced with pot.
A Butte County jury will decide whether giving a marijuana-laced brownie to her 5-year-old daughter constitutes felony child abuse by a Chico mother.
The kindergartner was taken to Enloe Medical Center in Chico last April 17, after she reportedly told a school nurse she felt "icky and sloppy."
The child's mother, Madeline McChesney, 32, maintains through her lawyer that a roommate, who had a doctor's recommendation to use medical marijuana, normally left the drug-laced brownies on top of the refrigerator.
Due in part to several medications that had been prescribed for McChesney earlier that month for depression, the single mother contends she didn't realize the single brownie she gave her daughter from a pan on the kitchen counter contained pot until it was too late.
Mother acquitted by jury
In closing summation Thursday afternoon, McChesney's lawyer, Jodea Foster, argued the single mother simply made an "error in judgment," caused in part by several anti-depressant medications she was taking, and that the child was never at risk of serious harm.
Mendocino County gets tough on growers
Marijuana prosecutions in Mendocino County increased by 60 percent last year, further eroding the county's reputation as a haven for pot growers and swamping the criminal justice system.
"It's a challenge," said Mendocino County Assistant District Attorney Beth Norman. "We're filing an average of two cases a day every day."
Massachusetts
DEA blocks medical marijuana research
Salem News, Boston Globe, Scientific American
In 2007 DEA Administrative Law Judge Mary Ellen Bittner recommended that Craker's application be granted, saying that there wasn’t enough pot available for research purposes and that there was "minimal" chance marijuana grown in the proposed lab would be used for non-research reasons. But DEA Deputy Administrator Michele Leonhart disagreed, characterizing the country's supply of research-grade pot as "adequate and uninterrupted."
Michigan
Medical marijuana clinic opens in Michigan
The state’s first medical marijuana clinic is defending its legality as residents, government officials and law enforcement agencies learn more about the controversial proposal voters approved in November.
“I am in the exploratory stages, trying to figure out what is what,” said Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence, who had a meeting scheduled for Jan. 12 with the president, founder and CEO of The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, Paul Stanford. The clinic recently opened up shop in the Southfield Town Center.
Montana
Bill proposes Medical Marijuana patients be subjected to blood tests but not those prescribed more debilitating drugs
Senate Bill 212, sponsored by Sen. Verdell Jackson, R-Kalispell, said that if a medical-marijuana patient or caregiver is involved in a traffic accident or traffic stop by police, the police can demand a blood test of that person.
If the person refuses, his or her medical-marijuana registration card can be revoked, and if the test shows the patient has a certain level of marijuana residue in the bloodstream, the card can be revoked for life.
New Jersey
Federal law does not trump state law on medical marijuana
Times columnist Gregory Sullivan acknowledges marijuana's therapeutic potential, but he argues that federal law must be changed before New Jersey passes its Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act (The Times, "Compassionate, but still illegal," Dec. 30). Mr. Sullivan is apparently unaware of the recent U.S. Supreme Court action in the Garden Grove case, which resolved the conflict between federal and state marijuana laws. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear, and thus let stand, a decision from California's Fourth District Court of Appeals, which said: "Congress enacted the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) to combat recreational drug abuse and curb drug trafficking. Its goal was not to regulate the practice of medicine, a task that falls within the traditional powers of the states. ... Congress regulates medical practice (only) insofar as it bars doctors from using their prescription-writing powers as a means to engage in illicit drug dealing ... . Beyond this, however, the statute manifests no intent to regulate the practice of medicine generally."
North Carolina
Patients prepare for legislative battle
Representatives of the nonprofit N.C. Cannabis Patient Network have toured the state this winter, meeting with politicians, clergy and medical professionals and airing programs on local public-access TV stations.
On May 2, proponents are scheduled to march in Raleigh on behalf of legalization as part of a global one-day protest called the Million Marijuana March.
Rhode Island
Senate overrides veto to pass medical marijuana law
When it comes to the legalization of medical marijuana in Rhode Island, the question has generally been when — not if — it would happen.
Sure, Republican governor Donald L. Carcieri, whose vetoes have withstood the Democratic-controlled General Assembly in the past, could cite a litany of concerns, from distribution to the fear that legalizing medical marijuana will make it far more available to children. But by resoundingly overriding Carcieri’s veto in a 59-13 vote, the Rhode Island House of Representatives on Tuesday embraced the compassionate theme long sounded by proponents.
Texas
California-Texas marijuana supply disrupted by sting operation
Nearly everyone arrested Thursday claimed to be medicinal marijuana users and had medical recommendations. Carney said although some were within the medical guidelines for the size of their indoor gardens, selling the pot to the Texan via Scott violated the medicinal exception.
UPS delivers 30 pounds of marijuana to wrong address
A man in Denton, Texas who was expecting a shipment of tools instead received a 30-pound brick of marijuana that police say is worth more than $10,000.
UK
Pot hotel
Police have discovered a massive haul of 1,580 cannabis plants packed into 30 bedrooms of a hotel by a suspected drugs gang.
The giant haul was found at the Waverley Hotel in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. More than 200 bags of fertiliser were also found stacked up in the stairwell.
Marijuana rescheduling a mockery
The 'Penalty Notice Disorder' or PND was introduced in 2001, originally to give police a quick and simple tool for dealing with what ministers described as minor 'nuisance' offences.
But the Government has repeatedly expanded the scheme and added more serious crimes, including shoplifting up to a value of £200. Critics claim such fines have become little more than an occupational hazard for hardcore thieves.
The latest dramatic expansion of the powers is due to come into effect on January 26.
Cannabis possession will become punishable with an £80 fine - just as ministers have supposedly toughened the law by reclassifying cannabis from a Class C to a Class B substance.
That increases the maximum punishment for possession to five years in jail.
But giving police the option of an instant fine will make it far less likely that offenders will face prosecution.
US
Will potheads derail Holder nomination for attorney general
Will Potheads Derail The Holder Nomination?
No.
But they're going to try.
Reason examines paraphernalia law
Unsubstantiated claims of impotence due to marijuana use
Cannabis smokers should be aware that their drug habit could cost them their erectile function. Practically everybody knows that the simple act of smoking increases the chances of a man suffering from erectile dysfunction and now new research shows that cannabis use adds to the likelihood of suffering from the condition.
The claim of “new research” in this article is just that, a claim, no evidence of any research is presented.
This Week's Action:
Protest at the sentencing of Charles Lynch
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