by Phillip Smith, December 03, 2011, 05:11pm
So much is going on in the world of medical marijuana that we cannot adequately cover it all through news briefs and the occasional feature article. The news briefs and feature articles will, of course, continue, but beginning now, we will also include a weekly medical marijuana update at least noting all those stories we are unable to cover more comprehensively. This first update will itself be updated until the next Drug War Chronicle is published on Thursday, then the updates will appear as a regular weekly feature. Here we go:
National
On Wednesday, the governors of two medical marijuana states, Christine Gregoire (D) of Washington and Lincoln Chafee (I) of Rhode Island, called on the Obama administration to reschedule marijuana. The next day, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) said he would join them, but that same day, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said he would not.
California
As of the end of November, the US Attorney’s Office in San Diego reportedthat more than 60% of the 222 dispensaries in the region have closed their doors since it began sending threat letters in October to the outlets and their landlords. That’s 139 dispensaries gone in far Southern California, and the feds said they expected another 20 or so to close in the next two weeks.
On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco declined to issue a temporary injunction blocking a federal crackdown on dispensaries in the Bay Area. US Attorney Melinda Haag had ordered those clubs to close, because they were too close to schools on parks. Two of the targeted dispensaries, San Francisco’s Divinity Tree and Medithrive, have already shut down to avoid criminal prosecution or seizure of their properties. A third, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax, may be about to follow (see below).
Also on Monday, the last dispensary in the Stockton area shut down after receiving one of those October threat letters from federal prosecutors. County officials had banned dispensaries. One other dispensary shut down in October, and two more are on hold as city officials await clarification from state and federal authorities.
Also on Monday, the city of Novato voted to renew its expiring moratorium on dispensaries for another year and said city staffers would move to shut down two dispensaries operating in violation of city zoning ordinances. The moratorium does not apply to the two dispensaries because they were grandfathered in, but staffers said they are prohibited under city zoning rules, which do not name marijuana sales as an allowed use.
Also on Monday, the Amador County Board of Supervisors temporarily banned outdoor medical marijuana grows in the wake of a September killing during the attempted robbery of a medical marijuana grow. A task force drafting regulations for outdoor grows will meet later this month. Amador County Counsel Gregory Gillott said Fresno, El Dorado, Glenn and Lassen counties all have similar bans on outdoor growing.
A Marin County judge Friday declined to quash an eviction order aimed at closing the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana dispensary in Fairfax. The Marin Alliance is the longest operating dispensary in the state, but it could be doomed after being targeted by federal prosecutors in October. Founder and operator Lynette Shaw has until December 9 to answer the ruling and request a trial, but said this week she wasn’t sure she will stay open.
Also on Friday, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said that any sales of medical marijuana are illegal. After raids last month that targeted a half-dozen dispensaries and more than a dozen other locations and persons, the department said Proposition 19 and laws passed to regulate medical marijuana in the state “do not authorize sales of marijuana.”
Also on Friday, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced that his office is targeting nine dispensaries to be shut down because they’re within 600 feet of a school. He said he would seek $2,500 a day penalties if they stay open while being sued. Meanwhile the city reports that 372 marijuana businesses had filed to begin paying a city business tax by the October 31 deadline. An unknown number had not filed, but city officials said there could be as many as 500 dispensaries in the city, down from a peak of 850.
Massachusetts
The Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which is seeking to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot next year, announced Friday that it had had handed in more than 74,000 signatures and planned on handing in another 10,000 by next week’s deadline. They need 68,911 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, so even if they get that additional 10,000, it’s still going to be a very close call, given that some sizeable fraction of signatures gathered will be found to be invalid.
Michigan
An Oakland County circuit court judge Wednesday threw out a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and two medical marijuana patients against the cities of Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, which had passed ordinances saying it is unlawful for anyone to engage in an activity contrary to state, local, or federal law. The judge dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs had not been charged with any crimes. The ACLU and the plaintiffs had hoped to force a ruling on whether state and local law enforcement had to obey the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, but they didn’t get it.
On Thursday, two Oakland County dispensaries were raided by the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Police arrested three people at one dispensary and four at the other and seized a combined five pounds of medical marijuana and three pounds of edibles. No charges have been filed yet.
New Jersey
A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released November 30 found overwhelming Garden State support for medical marijuana and high levels of support for marijuana law reform as well. A whopping 86% of respondents supported the availability of medical marijuana, while 60% thought penalties for pot use should be relaxed, just over half didn’t think pot possession should not be a crime, and one-third would completely legalize its sale and use.
The poll was released just a day after Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced that he had appointed a law enforcement figure, retired State Police Lt. John O’Brien to oversee the program, which has yet to actually serve a single patient nearly three years after it was passed into law. The first strictly-regulated compassion centers are set to open next year.
The state Department of Health and Human Services last month finally published rules and regulations for the program, which were roundly denounced by the Coalition for Medical Marijuna—New Jersey, the state’s leading patient advocacy group.
Wisconsin
At a Wednesday news conference at the state capitol in Madison, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) announced that he is introducing LRB-2466, the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act (JRMMA), named after the wheelchair-bound patient, activist, and member of Is My Medicine Legal Yet, the state’s most prominent medical marijuana activist group.
Pocan and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) will be the lead sponsors of the bill, which died without a committee vote last session. Activists in Wisconsin have been working for a decade to pass medical marijuana legislation. Whether it will happen this session, given the bitter political atmosphere and Republican nomination at the state house remains to be seen.
by Phillip Smith, December 03, 2011, 05:11pm