Tag: Medical Marijuana (page 5)

On Saturday I wrote about Chris Bartkowicz, a medical marijuana grower who, believing he was in compliance with Colorado law, showed his grow to a local news station doing a story on marijuana cultivation in the Denver suburbs, and was promptly busted by the DEA.

The case has caused a big stir, mostly because of DEA Agent Jeffrey Sweetin's initial comments that contradict the Department of Justice memorandum (pdf)issued by Deputy Attorney General David Ogden in October, implementing a DOJ policy change that was widely heralded around the country. Sweetin on Friday night said:

Nothing in federal law has changed. Wanting federal law to be different is not a great strategy....We will continue to enforce federal law, that's what we're paid to do, until the federal law changes.The only exception to that is discretion and department guidance."

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9 News in Denver was doing an investigative report on marijuana growing in the suburbs. A marijuana patient named Chris Bartkowicz who lives in a $600,000 home volunteered to participate. He said he wanted to show how marijuana growing could be done legally. He gave the news team a tour of his basement which had 2,000 square feet of growing plants. He showed them licenses and the licenses of those to whom he provided marijuana (Under Colorado's Constitution, every patient can have six plants, and patients can designate a caregiver to provide the plants to them. So a caregiver with 100 patients can grow 600 plants.)

The station ran a "tease" of the report Wednesday night. Yesterday, the DEA paid Bartkowicz a visit and took away all his plants and equipment.

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If you live in Boulder, this is your opportunity to be heard on medical marijuana dispensary rules. Please take the time to participate in this brief survey.

Background: The City of Boulder is requesting feedback on interim medical marijuana land use regulations established in November 2009, which are set to expire on March 31. They are in the process of drafting comprehensive land use regulations for medical marijuana businesses which they will bring to the Planning Board and City Council. The feedback will be used by city officials in developing recommendations for the permanent regulations. [More...]

If you're in Denver Monday night, consider stopping by the City Council meeting.

Here is the proposed ordinance, Council Bill 34, updated Jan. 4 (pdf), for licensing and regulating medical marijuana dispensaries. If adopted,according to Marijuana Policy Project, the regulations would:

• enact location restrictions requiring dispensaries to be at least 1,000 feet from any school, child-care center, or other dispensary, with an exception to grandfather in most existing dispensaries;
• prohibit patients from using their medicine on site;
• limit hours of operation to 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.; and
• prohibit anyone with felony convictions in the last 5 years (including marijuana-related felonies) from opening a dispensary.

The regulations would not establish limits on the amounts of marijuana plants dispensaries can cultivate, which means cultivation operations would only be subject to existing zoning regulations. [More...]

A recent scientific study in Israel has found marijuana may help alleviate PTSD and reverse the effects of stress on memory processes.

The study was conducted by members of the psychology department at Israel's University of Haifa. It was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Together, our findings may support a wide therapeutic application for cannabinoids in the treatment of conditions associated with the inappropriate retention of aversive memories and stress-related disorders.

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Via the Oregonian:

Oregon opened another chapter in U.S. marijuana history when at 4:20 p.m. Friday, about three dozen people christened the nation's first cafe for licensed residents to sit down, sip coffee and smoke marijuana.

...Excited patrons spilled down the outside steps at 700 N.E. Dekum St. as the cafe prepared to open at the appointed hour -- "420" being slang for using marijuana. In line were military veterans, grandmothers, young workers, men and women, old and young, black, white and Latino.

The Los Angeles City Council today rejected a proposal to ban sales of medical marijuana. And in Colorado, Attorney General John Suthers issued a legal opinion that medical marijuana sales are subject to taxation, and dispensaries must obtain a sales tax license.

Yesterday was a big day for medical marijuana in Colorado when a Denver District Court judge tossed last week's ruling by the State Board of Health changing the definition of "primary caregiver." Today, the reactions come in. Here are a few:

• Aurora Sentinel Editorial: Stop Playing Games with Medical Marijuana
• Westword: Brian Vicente on victory in hearing to void Board of Health's medical-marijuana ruling
• Aspen Daily News: Dispensaries prepare for more regulation

Last night in Boulder, just after midnight, the City Council passed temporary rules regulating dispensaries by restricting where they can be located. [More...]

Update: Judge rules for medical marijuana advocates. He even awards them attorneys' fees. From Westword,the Judge said:

[T]he Board of Appeals violated an court order two years ago that agencies considering marijuana rule changes would first notify people impacted by the rule changes.

"By the evidence presented here today, I find that the defendants have violated the court order when in November there was a meeting without notice that complied with the law and the parties changed the rules," says Naves. "I find that there was no emergency. The justification for an emergency was a Court of appeals decision that was not even final. And the Court of Appeals could not use the [Board of Appeals rule in question]...

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Grand Junction, in Mesa County, Colorado, is considering this ordinance banning new medical marijuana dispensaries for 12 months. It provides penalties -- anyone who holds themselves out as a primary caregiver for the purpose of acquiring, possessing, producing or transporting medical marijuana or paraphernalia, without having a sales tax license is committing a misdemeanor. No new sales tax licenses will be granted for 12 months. Businesses with existing sales tax licenses cannot add medical marijuana to their inventory.[More...]

After a four hour hearing last night, the Boulder Planning Board unanimously decided not to recommend a ban or moratorium on medical marijuana dispensaries to the city council.

City planners recommended a four-month moratorium while new regulations or a ban are considered. That's the route many other Colorado towns have taken. But after hearing more than two hours of testimony -- none of it from neighbors or business owners concerned about the proliferation of dispensaries -- Planning Board members questioned the urgency of a moratorium.

The board instead proposed a few regulations: [More...]

Maine is now the third state to legalize medical marijuana dispensaries.

In a landmark vote, Maine voters today approved Question 5, making the state the third in the country to license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and the first ever to do so by a vote of the people.

...Under the measure, the state will license nonprofit organizations to provide medical marijuana to qualified patients and set rules for their operation. While 13 states permit medical use of marijuana, only Rhode Island and New Mexico have similar dispensary provisions, both of which were adopted by the states’ legislatures....Question 5 also expands the list of medical conditions qualifying for protection under Maine’s law to include several conditions that are included in most other medical marijuana states, including intractable pain, agitation of Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (“Lou Gehrig’s disease”).

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Bump and Update: The amendment to the rule defining "significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient" for marijuana caregivers, prompted by last week's Colorado Court of Appeals decision, passed unanimously just before noon, but not without a fight, when the Board refused to hear public comments. The old rule, 5 CCR 1006-2, passed in July and made effective in August, 2009, is here. It defines the responsibility of a caregiver as:

“Significant responsibility for managing the well-being of a patient” means assisting a patient with daily activities, including but not limited to transportation or housekeeping or meal preparation or shopping or making any necessary arrangement for access to medical care or services or provision of medical marijuana. (my emphasis)

Question: How long will it be good for? Colorado's State Administrative Procedures Act provides that resolutions passed at agency emergency hearings are generally only valid for three months. A copy of the revised rule passed today (and rule on emergency hearings) is here (pdf). A full public hearing will be held Dec. 16. When will the appeals (pdf) begin? [More...]