Tag: Medical Marijuana (page 7)

Charles Lynch was sentenced today to a year and a day for possession of pot plants and distribution.

Lynch was convicted last summer of illegally possessing more than 100 marijuana plants and of distributing more than 100 kilograms of the drug from his Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers facility in downtown Morro Bay. He was prosecuted despite having the blessing of the city's mayor, city attorney and other civic leaders.

The Government had asked for five years. As Lynch says,

"The government tried to make me the Pablo Escobar of medical marijuana, and the judge saw past that."

Background here.

A name to remember. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed an emotionally charged proposal late Friday to allow terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes, but signed into law a plan to disburse hundreds of millions of dollars from the Legacy Amendment passed by Minnesotans last year.

A bill Pawlenty didn't veto:

He also signed a bill late Thursday that allows police to pull over drivers solely because they or their passengers are not wearing seat belts. Currently, officers must spot another traffic offense before they can stop a vehicle and ticket someone for not being strapped in. The new law is effective June 9, and carries a $25 fine.

In 2008, Pawlenty has the most vetoes of any MN Governor. Here's what he had to say about the pot bill: [More...]

Despite statements by the Obama Administration to the contrary, the DEA has not stopped raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in California where medical pot is legal.

The DEA raided Emmalyn's clinic tonight.

A protest quickly organized outside the clinic. The DEA says:

DEA spokeswoman Casey McEnry told CBS 5 the documents regarding the raid are sealed, so the DEA was not able to give many details.

"The documents relating to today's enforcement operation remain under court seal. Based on our investigation we believe there are not only violations of federal law, but state law as well. As of now we are prohibited from releasing further details of the case. Items of evidentiary value were seized and no arrests have been made. The investigation is currently ongoing," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams in a written statement.

But CBS News reports two people were arrested.

[More...]

Here is the video of Attorney General Eric Holder's press conference yesterday. At 25 minutes in, he is asked whether DOJ will continue raids on medical marijuana dispensaries (in states that have legalized medical marijuana.)

Holder says "what the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement." He says Obama is "formally and technically and by law my boss now, and so what he said during campaign is now American policy." [More...]

Finally, we get an answer from President Obama on the recent DEA medical marijuana raids in California. And, it's the right answer.

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.

“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.

It's good to know President Obama will keep his campaign promise. Now, the question I have is, will AG Eric Holder file federal criminal cases against those busted after Obama's inauguration? The DEA's first post-inaugural raids were reported here.

President Obama said during the campaign he would not authorize the DEA to continue medical marijuana raids in states that had legalized it.

The DEA is still raiding, since Bush's people are still leading the agency and we don't have an Obama Attorney General.

Question: Will Obama put a stop to this?

Oregon has a law allowing assisted suicides. Yesterday, the Register-Guard conducted an interview with Hillary and asked her views on the topic;

Q: What’s your attitude toward Oregon’s assisted suicide law?

A: I believe it’s within the province of the states to make that decision. I commend Oregon on this count, as well, because whether I agree with it or not or think it’s a good idea or not, the fact that Oregon is breaking new ground and providing valuable information as to what does and doesn’t work when it comes to end-of-life questions, I think, is very beneficial.

Q: Would you have voted for it if you were a resident of the state?

A: I don’t know the answer to that. I have a great deal of sympathy for people who are in difficult end-of-life situations. I’ve gone to friends who have been in great pain and suffering at the end of their lives. I’ve never been personally confronted with it but I know it’s a terribly difficult decision that should never be forced upon anyone. So with appropriate safeguards and informed decision-making, I think it’s an appropriate right to have.

In March, the Medford Mail-Tribune asked Obama his views: (More...)

The 124,000 members of the American College of Physicians, the largest organization of internal medicine physicians in the country, are calling on the feds to ease the ban on medical marijuana by reclassifying it and also to engage in more research to prove its benefits.

The American College of Physicians, the nation's largest organization of doctors of internal medicine, with 124,000 members, contends that the long and rancorous debate over marijuana legalization has obscured good science that has demonstrated the benefits and medicinal promise of cannabis.

In a 13-page position paper approved by the college's governing board of regents and posted today on the group's website, the group calls on the government to drop marijuana from Schedule I, a classification it shares with illegal drugs such as heroin and LSD that are considered to have no medicinal value and a high likelihood of abuse.

Pot is now a Schedule I controlled substance, same as heroin.

The American College of Physicians' position paper calls for protection of both doctors and patients from criminal and civil penalties in states that have adopted medical-marijuana laws.

More...

Just back from Bill Clinton's appearance at the historic Stock Pavilion on the University of Wisconsin Campus. When Gary Storck and I approached, we were directed across the street by the most polite pair of Secret Service agents I've ever dealt with, but, as it's a narrow street, not an unreasonable "Free Speech Zone."

Our signs referred to Bill's encounter, as a Candidate, with Jacki Rickert of Mondovi, Wisconsin in 1992. Jacki had been approved for the federal medical marijuana program, but not yet admitted when Bush I closed the program to new admissions in 1989. She caught up with Bill in Osseo on his post-Convention Mississippi River bus tour. After she explained her odyssey through the federal bureaucracy, Bill "I feel your pain" promised "When I'm President, you'll get your medicine."

Come the Inaugural, Jacki sent letters, made calls seeking fulfillment of that commitment, but got back only form letters. "If drugs were legal, my brother Roger would be dead."

California now has vending machines that dispense medical marijuana to users, 24/7, just like an ATM.

Check out this AP video.

The DEA wants to shut them down, even though they are legal under state law.

Another good thing about our Democratic candidates: All support ending the federal raids on medical marijuana clinics. Granite Staters has report cards for both the Democratic and Republican candidates. Here's where they were in 2003 and 2004.

Watch Mitt Romney turn away from a medical marijuana user in a wheelchair.

Here's the Granite Stater's Scorecard on the candidates. Hillary and Obama both get "A"'s. John Edwards gets an A- and Bill Richardson gets an A+.

• Hillary Clinton
• Barack Obama
• John Edwards
• Bill Richardson

John McCain, Rudy, Huckabee and Romney get "F's. [Hat tip Crooks and Liars.]

After a Fort Collins, Colorado judge last week ordered the police to return 39 plants to two medical marijuana caregivers, the police department has complied: by returning dead plants.

James and Lisa Masters, the former defendants and owners of the plants, will sue. Their lawyer puts the value of the plants at $100,000.

The Judge ordered the plants and the grow system returned after ruling the search was illegal. The D.A. says there was no obligation to preserve the plants because the Masters weren't on the registry at the time of the search. (They couldn't afford it and with help from others, were placed on the registry several days later.)