There's a problem with access to legal weed in California, and a Senate bill may help solve it. A 2016 voter-approved measure to legalize marijuana in the state gave cities and counties the authority to pass regulations outlining the types of weed businesses that can operate within their borders. With limited time to craft rules before the law took effect at the start of the year, many towns approved outright bans of all marijuana businesses. The patchwork of local laws have created vast "pot deserts" that will remain until cities and counties opt to reconsider rules. A Bee analysis in March found that 40 percent of the state is 60 miles or more from a legal dispensary. [continues 105 words]
Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions ended an Obama-era federal policy that provided legal shelter for marijuana sales in California and five other states that have allowed recreational pot, placing at risk thousands of marijuana businesses operating legally under state laws. The Justice Department move on Thursday plunged California's fledgling recreational pot market into further uncertainty, and was met with a bipartisan backlash from lawmakers in states where marijuana is now sold legally to any adult who wants to buy it. [continues 1867 words]
As Tennessee lawmakers begin discussions about possibly allowing medical marijuana in Tennessee, the top-tier candidates seeking to replace Gov. Bill Haslam have vastly different opinions. While legalizing medical marijuana in Tennessee has been brought up in the legislature several times in recent years, House Speaker Beth Harwell, who announced her run for governor in July, made headlines when she said she was open to the idea. Last month, Harwell said a treatment using marijuana for her sister's back injury caused her to reconsider whether the Volunteer State should embrace medical cannabis, the Associated Press reported. [continues 606 words]
Educating lawmakers and the general public will be a key component of the recently formed legislative committee tasked with tackling medical marijuana, according to one of the legislators heading up the panel. "I think one of the goals is to make sure that the people and the advocates and the patients are aware of what we're doing and make sure that they give feedback to their elected officials," said Sen. Steve Dickerson, R-Nashville, who along with Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, are heading up a legislative committee to study the issue. [continues 723 words]
An arm of the White House's anti-drug office has asked Massachusetts and several other states where medical marijuana is legal to turn over information about their registered patients, triggering a debate over privacy rights and whether state officials should cooperate with a federal administration that appears hostile to the drug. Dale Quigley, deputy coordinator of the National Marijuana Initiative, or NMI, has asked Massachusetts health officials for demographic data on the age, gender, and medical condition of the state's approximately 40,000 registered medical marijuana patients. Quigley is a former police officer in Colorado with a long history of speaking out against legalization. [continues 952 words]
Thirty-eight percent of the 17,591 patients registered in Hawaii's medical marijuana program were located on the Big Island. Recently released data by the state Department of Health indicates the trend of medical marijuana patients in Hawaii is changing. Thirty-eight percent of the 17,591 patients registered in Hawaii's medical marijuana program were located on Hawaii Island, according to the data released Friday. That's down from 40 percent in March and 42 percent in December. Meanwhile, the percentage of patients hailing from Oahu has jumped from 25 percent in December to 29 percent last month, a more than 1,300-patient increase. The Big Island's patient count increased by about 300 people in that same time, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. [continues 278 words]
Ruth Brunn finally said yes to marijuana. She is 98. She pops a green pill filled with cannabis oil into her mouth with a sip of vitamin water. Then Ms. Brunn, who has neuropathy, settles back in her wheelchair and waits for the jabbing pain in her shoulders, arms and hands to ebb. "I don't feel high or stoned," she said. "All I know is I feel better when I take this." Ms. Brunn will soon have company. The nursing home in New York City where she lives, the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, is taking the unusual step of helping its residents use medical marijuana under a new program to treat various illnesses with an alternative to prescription drugs. While the staff will not store or administer pot, residents are allowed to buy it from a dispensary, keep it in locked boxes in their rooms and take it on their own. [continues 1331 words]
[photo] It's been reported that President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) as his attorney general pick. Sessions has been a vocal opponent of the marijuana industry. (Scott Olson/ AP) President-elect Donald Trump's announcement that he plans to nominate Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions -- a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization - -- to be the country's next attorney general has many in the young but growing legalized marijuana industry deeply concerned. That includes in Pennsylvania, which legalized medical marijuana this spring. The state is expected to begin accepting applications for medical cannabis grower/processor and dispenser permits early next year, with the goal of making medical marijuana available to patients by 2018. [continues 889 words]
Across the country, thousands of children use medical marijuana for a range of ailments including intractable epilepsy, pain, anxiety and symptoms of multiple sclerosis. As the number of pediatric medical users grows, so do issues that confront parents, patients, doctors and policymakers. There are no federal laws specifically covering children's use of medical marijuana, and state laws on the subject are a complex and sometimes contradictory patchwork. Twenty-nine states and the District have made medical marijuana of all kinds legal. Among those state is Maryland, which has not yet set up a system for distribution. [continues 320 words]
Defending the government's classification of marijuana as one of the most dangerous drugs, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration declares on its website that pot causes mental illness and lung cancer and leads youths to heroin and cocaine. But an advocacy group says the DEA, in a legal filing in August, said it found no evidence to support any of those conclusions. The group, Americans for Safe Access, has asked the agency to remove discredited claims from its Web page. [continues 522 words]
Medical Marijuana Proponents Predict Big Increase in Users New data from the state Department of Health confirms Hawaii County has nearly twice as many medical marijuana patients as Oahu, with about 11 percent living in Pahoa alone. On June 30, there were 6,101 patients residing on Hawaii Island, comprising 42 percent of the 14,492 patients statewide. The island has about 13 percent of the state's total population. Pahoa, with an estimated 14,565 residents in 2014, had 702 of those patients. Meanwhile, Hilo - with roughly three times the population as Pahoa - had 637 patients. Kona had 705 and Oahu had 3,408 patients. [continues 607 words]
There's no reason someone would know the vehicle across the street is delivering medical marijuana. Such deliveries, which happen in Nevada County, produce no strong odor like marijuana grows. They draw no increased traffic and lead to no formal complaints. And then, once the transaction occurs, the vehicle is gone. What remains are questions about the legality of delivering medical marijuana in a county that prohibits commercial cannabis and in cities that forbid dispensaries. Stakeholders in the state's burgeoning medical marijuana industry have different opinions about the law and the delivery of medicinal cannabis. Authorities point to local ordinances restricting the practice, though they add they've taken a hands-off approach. Managers of collectives say they're within the law to deliver medicine to their members. [continues 984 words]
A series of town hall meetings are underway to help Sonoma County create a comprehensive set of rules to regulate and capitalize on a burgeoning marijuana industry, from seeds in the ground to manufacturing, delivery and sales. County supervisors have signaled their intent to bring marijuana cultivation and related businesses into the legal sphere - and under local control - before regulations and license programs under the state's landmark Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act are likely operational in 2018. No draft rules have yet been written. County staff from nearly every department are taking part in the meetings to gather public input. Three meetings remain, including town hall events Wednesday in Sebastopol and Thursday in Santa Rosa. [continues 423 words]
Nevada County Supervisors have released a proposed interim marijuana cultivation ordinance in advance of Tuesday's meeting, when supervisors are scheduled to replace their own implemented ban with the new ordinance. Nevada County officials on Thursday released the interim marijuana grow ordinance that supervisors will vote on next week, a document calling for no residential grows, a maximum of 25 plants in approved zones and a fee structure calling for a per-day, per-plant fine. Supervisors will hear public comment and vote on the ordinance at its Tuesday board meeting. Discussion on the marijuana ordinance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. [continues 376 words]
As she battles symptoms of lupus and depression, Alexandra Rice says she depends on easy access to medical marijuana to control widespread pain and to improve her mood. The 21-year-old resident of Grand Terrace, near Riverside, has pictures of cannabis flowers on her Twitter profile and friends whose live lihoods depend on the pot industry. She's also an unlikely opponent of a November ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for all adults in California. "If it is legalized, more people who don't respect it and just want to get high are going to take advantage of that," Rice said. "And people who genuinely need it as medicine will be misplaced and thrown to the side." [continues 1317 words]
New proposed rules for medical marijuana grows led to anger on Tuesday as some medicinal cannabis proponents said they couldn't support the new recommendations while urging supervisors to compromise. County officials, however, said they had to consider environmental concerns and secure four out of five supervisor votes on July 26 to pass interim grow rules and repeal the existing outdoor grow ban. An ad hoc marijuana grow committee met Tuesday for the third time in its attempts to craft an interim grow ordinance in the wake of Measure W's failure. An advisory committee is expected to help write a permanent ordinance over the following months. [continues 458 words]
Medical marijuana advocates bristled at a Monday meeting over suggested grow regulations, saying the proposed plant count restrictions go too far. Grow supporters also opposed the creation of a per-plant, per-day fine for violators of any new marijuana ordinance, though some advocates indicated they'd support the fines if their implementation was postponed a year. "We're trying to find a balance," Supervisor Nate Beason said. County officials on Monday presented possible regulations to the ad hoc committee that will help craft an interim grow ordinance. The committee is scheduled to meet again on July 12. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote July 26 on the new ordinance. [continues 531 words]
Hey, what's all this about a company in Santa Rosa getting raided? I thought raids were a thing of the past? - -Lou Kout Sigh. You heard right. The CBD Guild (the company behind the brands Absolute Xtracts and Care By Design pills and tinctures) in Santa Rosa, was raided last week. According to reports, a disgruntled former employee went to the police and accused CBD Guild of making butane hash oil and concentrates. Using butane or other volatile solvent to make hash is illegal in California, although possessing or selling butane extracted marijuana concentrates is not illegal. [continues 423 words]
The Wednesday police raid that halted production of a popular line of cannabis oil-infused products made in Santa Rosa - and widely distributed throughout California - has revealed the deep political connections of a homegrown collective and raised questions about the safety of marijuana extraction methods. At least 150 medical marijuana patients, activists and supporters of the CBD Guild collective filled the steps outside the Sonoma County Superior Courthouse on Thursday. They demanded an end of criminalization of the medical marijuana industry. [continues 1096 words]
Medical marijuana supporters on Tuesday urged supervisors to immediately rescind their existing outdoor grow ban, and permit patients to again cultivate their medicine in Nevada County. Grow advocates also asked Supervisor Dan Miller to allow media to attend a meeting today on grow regulations, arguing that in turning down Measure W, voters have asked the Board of Supervisors for transparency. Hours later, Miller granted that request. Four media representatives were permitted to attend today's meeting, which isn't covered by the Brown Act. [continues 528 words]
