News Nuggets

COLORADO

MMJ patient and advocate Damien LaGoy passes away

MMJ advocate—and patient—Damien LaGoy passed away last month, according to Westword. LaGoy succumbed to complications from AIDS on March 23. He was 53.

LaGoy was well known for standing up to medicinal cannabis causes and fighting for patient and dispensary rights. Two years ago, he signed on to a lawsuit challenging Colorado’s MMJ regulation, alleging that some of its provisions (such as not allowing felons to be caregivers) amount to local bans, which violate the state constitution. Three years ago, LaGoy spoke to the Colorado Board of Health after the agency decided to eliminate MMJ fees for indigent patients. LaGoy was on a fixed income.

“He was a friend, he was a freedom fighter, and he changed Colorado forever,” Sensible Colorado executive director Brian Vicente, who served as LaGoy’s attorney, told Westword. “He will be missed.”

With LaGoy’s help, and Sensible Colorado’s work, activists in 2007 helped overturn a five-patient limit caregivers had to abide by. Two years later, they successfully teamed up again to fight “emergency” restrictions on caregivers.

Denver City Council to vote on licensing recreational cannabis sales in May

Will private smoking clubs or similar businesses flock to Denver with Amendment 64 still looming? That’s the question the Denver City Council is looking into.

In May, council members are expected to vote on whether or not to license recreational cannabis sales, The Denver Post reported. Between now and then, the Amendment 64 committee is scheduled to hear from opponents and proponents of recreational cannabis. One council member, Charlie Brown, told the Post he was concerned about canna-tourism. “Do we want Denver to become a pot-tourist spot? Is that going to be a reality?”

Deputy Attorney General: Colorado will need plenty of money to properly regulate retail industry

Colorado’s recreational cannabis regulators will need a sufficient source of funding to adequately police the plant’s retail market, Deputy Attorney General David Blake told lawmakers last month, according to The Willits News.

“If (the regulation of) this industry is not fully funded, it will be a huge problem for the state of Colorado,” Blake, who also sat on an Amendment 64 task force entrusted with creating rules for the recreational market, said.

Blake’s comments came on the heels of a recent that concluded that the Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division’s oversight of the MMJ industry was inadequate, flawed and mismanaged, among other failures. At press time, the Amendment 64 task force was slated to hold its final meetings March 28 and decide on industry structure, taxes, cannabis potency and marijuana tourism.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Silicone Valley tech workers seeking relief from San Jose’s plentiful med providers

San Jose’s estimated 100+ dispensaries mean the Bay Area’s tech workers have no problem seeking relief for a computer coder’s common problems: wrist and back pain from hours spent at a keyboard, cramped hands and eye strain, according to reports in Bloomberg Businessweek and East Bay Express. San Jose boasts four times as many dispensaries as nearby San Francisco.

One dispensary claimed that 40 percent of its patient-clients were from the tech industry, such as engineers, programmers and people that work with superconductors.

In fact, the prevalence of medical cannabis use among Silicone Valley professionals is such that some employers “say they are having a hard time finding candidates that can pass the pre-employment drug test,” according to Barry Sample, director of science and technology for Quest Diagnostics Employer Solutions.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom: Time to “Come out of the closet on marijuana”

Lt. Governor—and ex-Mayor of San Francisco—Gavin Newsom publicly voiced concern and disdain for the Obama administration’s “War on Drugs” to HuffPost Live. Newsom has complained about other politicians giving a supportive stance in private and a very different stance in public forum on many occasions. “Let’s be more honest about the consequences of our failure to reconcile these laws that are no longer useful or beneficial,” Newsom said. Speaking on the many politicians who have recently publicly declared their support for gay marriage, Newsom suggested it was time for leaders to “come out of the closet on marijuana, too. Newsom referenced Bill Clinton’s after-office support of gay marriage as being useless and too little too late. A few weeks ago, Newsom expressed similar points on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, claiming that most politicians secretly support legalizing marijuana. “The consequences of this ‘War on Drugs’ is an abject failure; it has disproportionately hurt the African American and Latino communities.” he said. It’s time for politicians . . . to do the damn right thing on this.”

Oakland officials file appeal in an attempt to stop feds, keep Harborside open

Oakland officials recently appealed a court ruling that determined the city had no legal standing to sue the federal governments and stop its efforts to close Harborside Health Center, according to the San Francisco Business Times. City Attorney Barbara Parker said the appeal is part of an effort to protect legitimate MMJ patients. Federal prosecutors have been pushing asset forfeiture proceedings against Harborside since last year, arguing it defies the federal government’s criminalization of cannabis. Oakland city officials argued that shutting down Harborside would cause the community great harm.

MICHIGAN

Burton lawyer suggests new dispensary model to bypass Supreme Court ruling

If you don’t like the way the game is played, change the rules. That seems to be the basic principle behind the latest attempts to keep dispensaries going despite the Michigan Supreme Court’s recent McQueen ruling, according to The Flint Journal.

Grand Blanc-based attorney Bruce Leach has come up with a new business model that, while described as complicated, is designed to allow caregivers to provide medical cannabis to five patients each through a locked locker set-up at a dispensary. Burton Mayor Paula Zelenko is among the skeptics, but would consider the plan if it was able to keep the dispensaries open and not illegal.

In February, the state Supreme Court recently determined that patient-to-patient sales were not covered under Michigan’s MMJ law—essentially making access points illegal.

Ingham County Court: Patients are eligible for unemployment benefits

Unemployed patients can breathe easier—they’re still eligible for benefits. An Ingham County judge has ruled that using medical cannabis should not disqualify anyone from collecting unemployment benefits, according to the Lansing State Journal.

The new ruling, reversing a prior decision by a state-run appellate commission, was tied to a case involving a former Hayes Green Beach Memorial Hospital employee, Jenine Kemp. Kemp—a patient who suffers from lupus and neuropathy—failed a workplace drug test because of her cannabis medicine use.

Judge William Collette openly supported Kemp, stating that the test “merely demonstrated what she had informed her employer of prior to the test—that she uses medical marijuana.”

Jackson and Flint hit with access point closings and bans

Over 200 patients and activists protested the decision to shut down dispensaries in Jackson, according to mLive.com. The protest took place at the Jackson County Tower Building and was organized by Joe Cain, the owner of Jackson Medical Marijuana Farmer’s Market.

Cain said he organized the protest at the building to emphasize the issue to the city and county officials, as the Tower is across the street from City Hall. Patients and advocates in Flint are also reeling from a ban that was recently extended for 180 days as of late February. Unlike Jackson, however, the ban in Flint is intended to be temporary.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Santa Ana Council: Pro-dispensary measure on the November 2014 ballot

A recent vote by the Santa Ana city council could be good news to patients—and dispensaries, according to the Orange County Register. The council ruled 5-0 (with two absent) to approve placing a measure on the November 2014 ballot that would allow MMJ storefronts to operate within city limits.

The council passed a measure in 2007 that made cannabis dispensaries illegal in the city. Despite that, dispensaries remain open throughout the city, although enforcement efforts threaten them. The proposed Medical Cannabis Restriction and Limitation Initiative would eliminate the ban and create a registration process, zoning restrictions and a business tax requirement for dispensaries. It would also allow at least 22 dispensaries to operate.

Santa Ana lawmaker pushes for a flawed “Driving Under the Influence” bill

State Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) is expected to introduce a new bill to the senate’s Public Safety Committee that would outlaw operating a motor vehicle with any trace of marijuana in the blood—without a doctor’s recommendation. Similar bills were attempted last year but failed—and faced stiff criticism from MMJ and cannabis activists, who argued that such a law would basically criminalize sober drivers who otherwise have old, trace amounts of cannabis in their systems.

“This bill would effectively outlaw EVERY driver who has within recent hours or days used marijuana,” California NORML director Dale Gieringer told the East Bay Express.

Drug Policy Alliance policy director defends proposed legalization bill

Amanda Reiman, California policy director for the Drug Policy Alliance, came out swinging in her op-ed piece recently published in the Los Angeles Times, defending a legalization bill by U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer.

Reiman referred to an earlier editorial opposing the bill as “shortsighted,” writing that it is “virtually impossible to regulate marijuana as other prescription drugs because of the restrictions placed on researching cannabis, the very kind of research that the Food and Drug Administration requires to bring a drug to market.”

Reiman said she hopes Blumenauer’s bill—which would make the federal government treat cannabis like alcohol and allow states to keep it legal or not—will promote research and safe access.

WASHINGTON

Large-scale growing proposed for Port of Willapa Harbor

A large-scale cannabis-growing facility is in the works for an old log yard in Raymond, with hopes that such an operation could create up to 40 jobs, the Associated Press and The Olympian report. Marcus Charles, the managing owner of Seattle’s Crocodile Café, has agreed to lease at least three buildings at the Port of Willapa Harbor. The deal is conditional until the state Liquor Control Board finalizes Initiative 502’s laws and regulations—as yet unwritten—that will guide the state retail framework.

“That’s one thing that sounds positive, jobs,” Raymond Mayor Bob Jungar told The Olympian. “In a town of about 3,000 people, 30 or 40 jobs is a big jump. It would mean a few more people in the community, and more people spending money.”

Seattle Councilmembers propose prohibiting MMJ from historic districts

Two members of the Seattle City Council are proposing to limit where large-scale medical cannabis activities take place, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. Councilmembers Sally Clark and Nick Licata are pro-MMJ officials—the proposed land-use revisions are merely to ensure that MMJ operations occur in the appropriate areas. MMJ, for example, would be prohibited in historic and landmark districts such as Ballard Avenue, Fort Lawton and the Pioneer Square Preservation District.

“The goal here is to actually impose some solid standards so we can properly zone the location of primarily dispensaries,” Licata told the Journal. “We want to assure they can exist in Seattle and do so in a way that they can serve their constituents and be a positive addition.”

The city’s Housing, Human Services, Health and Culture Committee will hold a public hearing on the matter on April 24.

Will raising Initiative 502 fees hurt or help MMJ business people?

State Rep. Christopher Hurst is proposing to increase the fees needed to obtain a license to grow, process and sell cannabis under Washington’s work-in-progress retail market established by Initiative 502, the Associated Press reports.

Hurst’s bill would create a new “certificate” issued by the state Liquor Control Board with a price set at no less than fair market value (which could range from $1,000 in a rural town to $250,000 in a downtown).

I-502’s author and sponsor, Alison Holcomb, said she fears such a proposal will benefit big commercial interests while pushing out others who cannot afford the high fees.

THE NATION

Hawaii moves forward toward a better MMJ program

Paradise just got a little greener, as Hawaii continued to inch closer towards decriminalization and improvements to the state’s 13-year-old MMJ program, according to Maui Time and Hawaii Reporter. Last month, the state Senate approved SB 472 SD2, which makes possession of up to an ounce of cannabis a civil violation subject to up to a $1,000 fine, instead of a criminal misdemeanor. “Amending state law to make these offenses a fine-only, non-criminal infraction will significantly reduce state prosecutorial costs and allow law enforcement resources to be refocused on other, more serious criminal offenses,” NORML stated during the bill’s testimony.

The bills aim to move the state’s MMJ program from the Department of Public Safety to the Department of Health. One bill contains amendments pertaining to confidentiality, physician requirements, plant transfers and registration requirements.

New York lawmaker Diane Savino pushes new MMJ bill

State Sen. Diane Savino is gaining support for a new bill that could bring medical use to New York, writes the MMJ Business Daily.

Savino plans to introduce the measure soon, basing the program on models currently in use in other compassionate states such as Colorado and Connecticut. She hopes it would fly through the Assembly but might meet opposition from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is not an advocate. “This is purely political . . . Nobody wants to be the drug governor,” he announced recently.

While New York decriminalized minor possession in 1977, paradoxically, the city had the highest arrest rates for possession than any other city in the world by 2008.

Efforts to legalize medicinal cannabis in Florida gears up

Florida may be enlisting some new medical assistance for its elderly population, according to Bay News 9.

State Sen. Jeff Clemens has introduced a bill that would permit those with debilitating medical conditions to use cannabis, with a doctor’s permission.

SB 1250, also known as the Cathy Jordan Medical Cannabis Act, is named after the Florida advocate who uses the treatment for her amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The bill was introduced the day after a poll indicated the 70 percent of Floridians support the medical use of the plant. A prominent Orlando attorney, John Morgan, recently announced his efforts to spend $3.5 million to get MMJ legislation on the 2014 ballot. Morgan says his father used cannabis for a number of medical issues before he died due to cancer.

THE WORLD

Copenhagen officials say legalization will mean “decreased gang criminality”

Officials in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, are pushing to legalize cannabis by first launching a three-year trial, according to The Copenhagen Post. The idea is that “the legal sale of cannabis will result in decreased gang criminality, more prevention and a better life for average cannabis users,” according to the city. The trial may also involve importing cannabis from England as well as Colorado and Washington.

“We realize, of course, that there are a lot of international conventions and regulations to deal with, but we think it is possible,” Mikkel Warming, Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for social affairs, told The Post.