MJ News for 03/12/2014

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-marijuana-dispensaries-raid-20140311,0,7956322.story#axzz2vlMKPk13

DEA, LAPD raid marijuana dispensaries, Beverly Hills homes​

Drug enforcement agents raided and shut down several marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, the first move in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man.

About 11 a.m., agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration with the help of Los Angeles police raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park and two homes in Beverly Hills.

[For the record, 8:53 p.m. PDT, Tuesday, March 11, 2014: A previous version of this post incorrectly referred to the DEA as the Drug Enforcement Agency.]

Authorities seized “a bunch of marijuana, cash” and a handgun, said DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen.

The same man owns all four dispensaries, Pullen said. No arrests were made and the investigation is ongoing, she said. The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is also helping in the investigation.

The raid comes a day after City Atty. Mike Feuer announced the city is doing its own enforcement against L.A.'s pot shops. In a news conference Monday, Feuer said the city has closed 100 pot shops since it began enforcing new restrictions on the businesses.

The city has hired two new attorneys to exclusively tackle prosecutions under Proposition D, the measure passed by voters last spring, Feuer said. Staffers are also focusing more attention on real estate professionals and landlords renting space to marijuana dispensaries, providing them with a new brochure that warns of steep fines and jail time for breaking the rules.

"We have a long way to go, but we have a great start," said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, who joined Feuer at a news conference. Beck said that new training on the law would help 165 senior lead officers in charge of neighborhood policing detect illegal shops.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.state-journal.com/latest%20headlines/2014/03/10/between-the-aisles-bill-would-make-way-for-medicinal-marijuana-clinical-trials

(KY) BILL WOULD MAKE WAY FOR MEDICINAL MARIJUANA CLINICAL TRIALS​

Medical marijuana has been a topic for debate with no prospect of advancing in this year’s legislative session.

But Sen. Denise Harper Angel hopes a bill she filed Thursday calling for clinical trials of the illicit substance will provide a starting point for officials to study its medicinal benefits.

Senate Bill 236, filed on the last day for new bills, would direct fees currently assessed on insurers for Kentucky Access — a health insurance program for high-risk patients that is winding down with the state’s health benefit exchange in place — toward a fund for clinical health trials beginning March 31, 2015.

Angel, D-Louisville, said that amounts to about $28 million, half of which would be directed toward medicinal marijuana trials at the University of Louisville. The University of Kentucky, the state’s other public medical research institution, and U of L would apply to a nine-member governing board for the remaining funds, which could be boosted from appropriations by the Legislature, grants and interest generated in the fund account, according to the bill.

“As we’ve discussed cannabidiol and medical marijuana through committee meetings, the main issue is people fear there’s not been enough clinical trials, and so I found a funding mechanism,” Angel said, noting SB 236 would mandate a 20-year strategic plan that can be amended every two years. “I think this can be a wonderful thing long-term for the future.”

Medical marijuana research will attract a lot of attention, but Angel said her bill would also open the door for further studies on diseases such as Alzheimer’s and breast cancer.

Though the path for the legalization of medicinal marijuana is rocky, the Senate is considering a bill that would make cannabidiol — a non-intoxicating oil produced from cannabis — legal to prescribe by physicians practicing at UK or U of L.

Senate Bill 124, which cleared the Senate Health and Welfare Committee Feb. 26, would also make the substance available to those participating in studies approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Senate President Robert Stivers was noncommittal on his opinion of SB 236, though he said he would like to see additional independent research on marijuana’s therapeutic or medicinal benefits.

“If that’s an appropriate use of the money, I’ll withhold judgment,” said Stivers, R-Manchester. “Is that a valid question to ask about, we should have a study before we make a decision? I think that is a very valid question.”

House Speaker Greg Stumbo said the clinical trials on medical marijuana and funding mechanism proposed in SB 236 are “not a bad idea.” Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, has supported further debate on medicinal cannabis since hearing of its benefits in alleviating problems associated with autism.

“One of the concerns about medical marijuana is obviously that there hasn’t been a great deal of research done on it because it’s been illegal, so I favor any research effort that can be made,” he said.

With the federal government’s relaxing stance on cannabis issues regarding states that have legalized the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana, it’s unclear how much red tape would stand between Kentucky and medical marijuana trials.

Stumbo said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has operated with a “hands-off attitude” thus far, and Stivers said the matter could be settled with an executive order from the president.

“I’m sure there’d need to be some clarification, but if they’re not going to punish people for possession, they damn sure ought to not punish people for research on it,” Stumbo said.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-elections-board-allows-marijuana-legalization-effort-to-move-forward/2014/03/11/7821db7c-a402-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html

D.C. Board of Elections allows marijuana legalization effort to move forward​

Voters in the nation’s capital could decide if they want to follow Colorado and Washington state in legalizing marijuana under a measure cleared by the D.C. Board of Elections on Tuesday.

The decision sets aside warnings by the city’s attorney general, who said that if the proposal passed, it would put D.C. law at odds with federal law. The board’s decision allows a band of activists to begin gathering the 25,000 signatures needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot.

If the signatures are collected and the ballot measure passed, it could allow people 21 and older to possess as much as two ounces of marijuana for personal use and to grow up to three marijuana plants at home. The vote could also thrust the issue before Congress, which can block a city law by approving a joint resolution that is signed by the president. But Congress has done so only three times in 35 years.

Adam Eidinger, a leading activist for the initiative, has said he is confident his group can collect the signatures needed. He said Tuesday he was excited by the board’s decision.

Eidinger had hoped to station signature-gatherers outside polling places when the city’s primary election is held April 1. But the elections board has 20 days to settle on the language for the measure, so it is uncertain whether the petition effort can start that soon.

If the measure does qualify for the fall ballot, it has a strong chance to pass, according to a recent Washington Post poll.

Support for legalization has expanded dramatically in the District. Residents who were split evenly on the issue four years ago are now in favor of allowing the drug for personal use by a ratio of almost 2 to 1. Washingtonians of every age, race and ethnicity — teenagers and seniors, blacks and whites — registered double-digit increases in support. Overall, 63 percent are in favor.

The elections board decision is the second major step in two weeks toward loosening the city’s marijuana laws.

Citing the goals of social justice and reducing racial disparity in marijuana arrests, the D.C. Council voted last week to decriminalize pot by imposing civil fines rather than jail time for most offenses.

Under that measure, possessing marijuana and smoking it in one’s home would no longer be criminal offenses, but would be punishable by a civil fine of $25. Smoking in public would be a misdemeanor equal to toting an open container of alcohol.

D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan last month urged the elections board not to go any further and to reject the proposed ballot initiative. He warned that legalization would put at least one aspect of D.C. law into conflict with U.S. drug laws.

But the elections board said in a statement Tuesday: “A ballot initiative is considered a proper subject if it does not appropriate funds, violate the Home Rule Charter, negate a Budget Act, or violate the Human Rights Act. In approving or rejecting a ballot initiative, the Board may only consider whether the measure meets these requirements.”

Nathan warned that under federal law, the city would still have to evict residents of public housing who are convicted of marijuana possession, even if D.C. law no longer considered possession a crime.

That’s a tension, however, that the city is already grappling with under the decriminalization measure, which Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) said he intends to sign.

Eidinger appeared to have won over elections board members by arguing at a hearing last month that as written, the ballot measure would allow landlords the right to set terms of lease agreements, including prohibitions against possessing marijuana.

Many questions remain about how the measure would work in practice. The ballot measure would legalize possession of marijuana, for example, but not its sale, which would remain a crime.

Eidinger said the measure was crafted to minimize differences between D.C. and federal law to encourage the board to approve it for the ballot. He said that if it passes, he would encourage the D.C. Council to rewrite it and make it more practical to implement, including legalizing the sale and taxation of the drug.

Even some advocates, however, question whether the timing is right to push for full legalization in the District. They say legalizing the drug on the streets surrounding Congress and the very agencies charged with enforcing federal anti-drug laws would be too blatant a conflict and raise the likelihood that Congress would interfere.

As it is, once signed by the mayor, the D.C. Council bill to decriminalize marijuana must sit before a congressional panel for 60 days before becoming law. So far, there is little evidence that Congress would organize to block the measure.

It also remains unclear how overlapping local and federal jurisdictions would affect enforcement of decriminalization, particularly in national parks. Someone could still be arrested, for instance, for possession on the Mall.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.wdsu.com/politics/state-rep-austin-badon-coauthors-bill-to-legalize-medicinal-marijuana/24924488

State Rep. Austin Badon co-authors bill to legalize medicinal marijuana​

NEW ORLEANS —Discussions around medical marijuana legalization appear to be becoming a national trend and Louisiana is no different.

During this year’s legislative session, lawmaker in Baton Rouge will take up legislation, which could legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Rep. Austin Badon (D-La.) co-authored a bill that would legalize medical marijuana.

Badon says because cannabis can come in different forms such as oil or flakes, the drug could help people dealing with different ailments.

Badon said lawmakers must hash out how the drug will be processed, its chemical compound and where patients could purchase it.

"We can really control the medical marijuana. And I think that if we can do anything to help control epileptic seizures, cancer, or any type of those maladies that certain physicians say medical marijuana helps them, I think we should explore that,” Badon said.

Badon said he hasn’t made up his mind about potential legislation that would support recreational use.

On a similar note, Badon authored a House Bill 14. That bill would reduce the criminal penalties for simple marijuana possession.

Colorado raked in about $2 million from taxes on recreational marijuana in January, the first month it was legal to sell non-medicinal pot in the state.

On Jan. 1, Colorado became the first state to permit the sale of recreational marijuana to anyone age 21 or older.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://time.com/18463/wanna-work-with-weed-marijuana-job-fair-in-denver-this-week/

Wanna Work With Weed? Marijuana Job Fair in Denver This Week​

Dubbed “CannaSearch,” as the name indicates, the smoke-free event Thursday is a marijuana-themed gathering intended to match job seekers with Colorado employers in the cannabis industry--a field that could now be described as "fast-growing" and/or "budding."

Your dreams of becoming a “budtender” could come true this week during “CannaSearch,” a first-ever weed-related job fair in Denver.

This Thursday, March 13, a very special, first-of-its-kind job fair is being held in Denver. It has been dubbed “CannaSearch,” and as the name indicates, it’s a marijuana-themed gathering intended to match job seekers with Colorado employers in the cannabis industry—a field that one is now all but required to cutely describe as “fast-growing” and/or “budding.”

At last check, 15 employers were scheduled to participate in the event, being held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Denver headquarters of the job fair’s sponsor and host, O.PenVAPE, a company that specializes in vaporizer pens that get filled with cannabis oil—and that also bills itself as the “the largest national brand in cannabis.”

No advanced registration is necessary for job seekers. Everyone in attendance must, however, be 21 or older. And to answer the question on everyone’s minds: The event is strictly smoke-free.

Participating cannabusinesses looking to hire include medical marijuana dispensaries such as Walking Raven, the online school Cannabis Hemp Academy, an online school, and My 420 Tours, which runs marijuana-themed adventure tours in Colorado and cannabis growing and cooking classes. The positions that companies want to fill range from tour guides to graphic designers to web developers, as well as retail employees and “budtenders” in recreational pot stores and lab workers operating behind the scenes.

Todd Mitchen, the chief revenue officer at host company O.PenVAPE, told the Denver Business Journal that the event will be a classy affair, complete with velvet ropes and food for all in attendance. As of Monday, slightly over 400 people said they would be at the job fair on the CannaSearch Facebook page. The actual turnout could be much larger. Job seekers are expected to be driving in from nearby states to attend the event, which could attract 1,000 people, maybe more.

Again, Mitchem noted, the job fair will be a non-smoking event. “We anticipate turnout will be high … but not ‘high,’” Mitchem said. “Seriously, this is a fun event, but keep your cannabis at home.”

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/03/11/medical-marijuana-looks-for-another-step-in-house/

Key Lawmaker: (Minn.) Medical Marijuana Talks At Stalemate​

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO/AP) — A key Minnesota lawmaker said Tuesday she doesn’t see a path forward for legalizing medical marijuana after talks with law enforcement hit a standstill.

Rep. Carly Melin said she had conceded to virtually all demands from law enforcement over the weekend but was still unable to get their support for her bill.

“We offered basically down to the bare bones of the bill and they still rejected the compromise,” Melin said.

Melin said she had no choice but to postpone a House committee hearing that would have been lawmakers’ second look at the issue.

“Law enforcement won’t support any bill that would result in helping any patients,” Melin, DFL-Hibbing, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“The governor has to get involved.”

House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, said in an email that “it does not appear to me that a compromise is going to happen this session.”

Champlin Police Chief Dave Kolb, co-chairman of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, said in an email that state law-enforcement groups believe Melin’s latest bill still “would result in increased youth access and use of marijuana, that it would too easily be misused for the illegal transportation of marijuana, and the list of qualifying medical conditions was too broad and ripe for abuse.”
Gov. Mark Dayton didn’t immediately respond to emails to staff seeking comment. Dayton has said he won’t support any bill that law enforcement doesn’t back.

Melin said she didn’t see where the two sides could go to reach agreement.

“Unless the Governor changes his position, I see it right now as sort of a futile attempt to go forward with the bill that he can’t support,” Melin said.

Melin said she had agreed to drop an option for patients to smoke marijuana and to impose a penalty for smoking marijuana. She also said she had agreed to replace “severe and debilitating pain” as a condition for use with “intractable pain” to reduce the number of people who would qualify. She also agreed to require the state health commissioner to consult with law enforcement to set public safety standards for the program.

Medical marijuana is allowed in 20 states and Washington, D.C.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57660495-78/charlee-oil-catrina-cannabis.html.csp

Parents grieve dying 6-year-old, a candidate for cannabis​

West Jordan • No longer needed, an oxygen tank sits idle on the living room floor. Nearby is a box of purple bracelets that Charlee Nelson’s family made to raise awareness of Batten Disease and to collect donations to cover the 6-year-old’s medical costs.

Across the room, hanging from the stroller Catrina and Jeff Nelson had to buy for their once active, gregarious child is a burial dress.

"My [oldest] daughter was recently baptized and we were shopping for her when I saw this and thought, ‘This is the dress we have to get [for Charlee]. It’s the wedding dress she’ll never get to wear,’ " Catrina said, fingering the white, satin gown.

Three years ago Charlee Nelson was singing the ABCs and waving to strangers on grocery store outings with her mom. Family movies show her fearlessly plunging into the swimming pool, dancing with her older brother and sister and making silly faces for the camera.

Today she is blind, bedridden and near death.

"She’s hanging on, but she’s not doing too well," Catrina says, cradling her nearly lifeless "baby" girl on the living room couch.

Charlee is among 50 Utah children on a waiting list for a nonintoxicating cannabis oil shown to quell seizures in children with untreatable epilepsy. Utah lawmakers are debating a bill, HB105, that would allow families to import the oil from Colorado where marijuana is legal and the "hemp supplement" is produced.

The bill rests in the Senate and from there needs only Gov. Gary Herbert’s signature before becoming law.

But Senate leaders are considering placing more restrictions on the bill that could impede access to the oil, families say. "We’re working through their concerns," said an optimistic Jennifer May, the mother of a boy with Dravet syndrome and founder of the grass-roots group, Hope 4 Children with Epilepsy.

Whatever legislative fix lawmakers settle on will come too late for Charlee.

"We would have loved to try [the oil]," Catrina said. "But I’m still hopeful it will give these other kids a more normal life, that it will take away the pain and seizing and let them sing, dance and ride bikes again."

Charlee has Batten disease, a rare neurological disorder occurring in fewer than four of 100,000 births in the United States.

She lacks an enzyme needed to remove fatty waste from the cells of her brain, eyes, skin and muscles. The accumulating waste leads to seizures, mental impairment, blindness, loss of bodily control and eventually death — a fate cannabis oil can’t change.

There is no cure, said Catrina, who nevertheless wonders whether the oil might have kept the brain-damaging seizures at bay, prolonging and improving her daughter’s quality of life. "We lost a lot of time diagnosing and treating her atonic seizures. Time is what it might have bought us. That’s what it kind of boils down to, time."

Charlee’s first seizure was in May 2011.

Nelson and her husband, Jeff, had flown to Colorado for a [niece’s] graduation. They had just landed and were grabbing lunch at Popeye’s when Nelson’s sister-in-law called to say Charlee had a seizure and had been taken to the hospital by ambulance.

"We just looked at each other and both of us started to sob," Catrina recalled.

Doctors initially thought it was an isolated event but scheduled testing a week later to be sure.

While waiting in her hospital room, Charlee froze and stared at the wall, then fell to the ground. "That was the first seizure I had seen. I broke down and thought, ‘This isn’t happening,’ " Catrina recalled.

For six months they treated Charlee for epilepsy. But when she started tripping on the stairs and having recurrent tremors and shakes, the family renewed testing and discovered a part of her brain was shrinking.

Charlee started having drop, or atonic, seizures, sometimes as many as 200 or 500 a day. "She would just cry for hours at a time. She couldn’t communicate or tell us if it hurt but I just know she was in pain," Catrina said.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/57666171-90/oil-cannabis-bill-charlee.html.csp

Cannabis oil may be coming to Utah as Senate passes bill​

A bill that would allow compassionate use of nonintoxicating cannabis oil by Utahns with untreatable epilepsy passed the Senate Tuesday by a wide margin, despite reservations some senators have about the oil’s safety and long term benefits.

Senators applauded families seated in the gallery and they recognized Charlee Nelson of West Jordan, a 6-year-old who might have benefitted from cannabis oil, but is near death.

Charlee and her parents, Catrina and Jeff Nelson, were invited onto the Senate floor. "This is Charlee. The bill will come too late for her," said co-sponsor, Sen. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George.

The House must consent to the changes to HB105 before sending the bill onto Gov. Gary Herbert for his signature.

During the debate Tuesday, controls were added to prevent the oil from being abused and to protect families from unsafe products.

The oil would have to be certified to contain at least 15 percent cannabidiol (CBD), the chemical believed to have anti-seizure properties, and less than 0.3 percent of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive chemical that gives marijuana users a high.

"How do we determine quality control? Are there pesticides in it, herbicides in it? Are there bacterial contaminants? Are the CBD amounts at the proper level to actually do any good? Are there too high amounts of THC?" asked Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, who pushed for the changes.

"This bill has been a very difficult issue for me," he said. "I have people in my district who have the type of epilepsy that the hope is this extract will assist them … But it gave me pause for concern because I realized we were creating a hope, a hope that it does work."

Nevertheless, HB105 was approved 20-0 following testimony by Republicans and Democrats who were moved by the plight of children who have exhausted all other remedies — including prescription drugs that cause brain damage and death.

"These kids can’t wait," said Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

HB105 would give families trial access to the oil under the auspices of research. Only those with intractable epilepsy and written permission from a board-certified neurologist could apply to the Utah Department of Health for a waiver giving them permission to import cannabis oil.

The bill would expire in two years, allowing lawmakers to test its results.

Nevertheless, HB105 was approved 20-0 following testimony by Republicans and Democrats who were moved by the plight of children who have exhausted all other remedies — including prescription drugs that cause brain damage and death.

"These kids can’t wait," said Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan.

HB105 would give families trial access to the oil under the auspices of research. Only those with intractable epilepsy and written permission from a board-certified neurologist could apply to the Utah Department of Health for a waiver giving them permission to import cannabis oil.

The bill would expire in two years, allowing lawmakers to test its results.

It was also amended Tuesday to allow law enforcement officials who encounter "hemp waivers" to check their authenticity with the health department. In addition, neurologists would have to send their written permission to health officials electronically to avoid fraudulent recommendations.

Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City, a pharmacist, said the latest version of the bill "is as good as we can possibly do. It does put some pressure on physicians and parents … it will be upon them to make sure patients get the right dose during the right time."