MJ News for 03/21/2014

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-03-20/news/**-md-medical-marijuana-growers-20140320_1_marijuana-industry-medical-marijuana-commission-medical-use

Legislators consider how to launch a marijuana industry​

As state lawmakers try to get Maryland's medical marijuana program off the ground, the focus has turned to the practical matter of establishing an industry to provide the drug — and the details are proving daunting.

While there is broad agreement in Annapolis that marijuana should be widely available for patients who need it, there's no consensus about how best to accomplish that end.

Legislators are hearing from frustrated patients and their families who still can't get marijuana legally to treat intractable pain, seizures and other medical problems. They're also being buttonholed by lobbyists representing people hoping to get in on the ground floor of what has proven in other states to be an extremely lucrative market.

The challenge is to devise a plan that would encourage entrepreneurs to become growers and distributors — while allowing enough competition to keep prices down for the consumer.

Last year, the General Assembly made it legal for the state's academic medical centers to dispense medical marijuana. But the hospitals have not moved to do so, prompting lawmakers to consider authorizing physicians on staff or affiliated with hospitals to, in effect, prescribe it.

Legislation passed by the House of Delegates would do that. But it has raised other concerns about creating a cartel of sorts, with a relatively small clutch of businesses holding exclusive rights to grow and sell the drug throughout the state. The House bill calls for awarding 10 licenses to cultivate and dispense marijuana. The licenses would run for five years initially, with an option renew them for another decade.

Some say that's a prescription for trouble. They worry that limiting the number of growers could restrict the supply and boost the price of the drug, making it hard to get in some places and unaffordable to poor patients.

"The poor guy in the city with HIV is not going to be able to avail himself of the drug because he can't afford it," predicted Sen. Bobby A. Zirkin, a Baltimore County Democrat. "I do not think we should be setting up a monopoly, whether it's five, 10 or 25 [growers]," he told colleagues on the Judicial Proceedings Committee on Thursday.

"Let the market decide," Zirkin said, urging panel members to authorize an unlimited number of growers and dispensers.

Some also worry that awarding lengthy licenses would handicap regulators dealing with any problems that may surface with startup operations.

"Doctors have to be relicensed every two years," noted Dr. Paul Davies, chairman of the state Medical Marijuana Commission and head of an Annapolis pain management practice. Having a shorter license term would enable regulators to keep closer tabs on growers and distributors, he said.

Twelve of the 20 states plus the District of Columbia that have allowed for medical use of marijuana require growers to be licensed every year or two, according to state health officials.

Advocates of the House plan say limiting the number of growers would help ensure there would be demand for their product.

"When people throw out the term 'monopoly,' I think that's not fair," said Del. Dan K. Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and one of the architects of the House bill. The state needs to give new businesses stability if it wants them to take a risk on a brand-new industry that is at odds with federal drug laws, he said.

Having the growers act as distributors would prevent another layer of bureaucracy, Morhaim said

"The legislation can always be adjusted," said Morhaim, a physician. "People can make decisions informed by fact, not by speculation. In a year or two, we're all flexible."

But others worry that if the state's not careful, it could be making a small number of business owners very rich while not ensuring that everyone who needs medical marijuana in Maryland can get it.

"Overnight we're going to create millionaires," predicted Sen. Christopher B. Shank, a Washington County Republican. He said capping the number of licenses would make them extremely valuable.

"There's big money in marijuana," said Sen. Lisa A. Gladden, a Baltimore Democrat, who said there are lobbyists in Annapolis representing growers in Colorado interested in getting into the Maryland industry.

"I'm just amazed that they would come here," she added.

Sen. Jamie Raskin, sponsor of the Senate legislation, said he's not surprised the medical marijuana program has also attracted a grower's lobby.

"This is America, and people want to make money however they can," said Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat.

Lobbyist J. Darrell Carrington said he's representing a local firm looking to get into the business.

"This is a brand-new industry, and you're creating it from scratch," Carrington said. He urged lawmakers not to fret about the length of licenses, saying regulators can always revoke them at any time for cause. The reason to start small, he said, is to ensure a smooth startup

"You want to make sure you don't oversaturate a market that hasn't been created yet," he said. "The state needs to be very deliberate, so that the businesses that start out have an opportunity to be successful."

Sen. Jennie M. Forehand, a Montgomery County Democrat, said she wanted to give state health officials some discretion on issues like licensing."Otherwise it's the Wild West," she said.

Members of the Judicial Proceedings Committee spent about an hour Thursday grappling with how many businesses to license, for how long and under what circumstances. But the complications and disagreements mounted, until the chairman, Sen. Brian E. Frosh, set up a work group to wade through the details and report back with a set of recommendations next week.

Any differences between a House and Senate proposal would have to resolved if a bill is to pass.

For Gail Rand of Annapolis, legislative gridlock is not an option. Her 41/2-year-old son, Logan, suffers daily seizures, and his doctors have said they think his condition might be helped by a type of medical marijuana. She's readabout a Colorado boy who's been seizure-free since taking the drug, and is anxious for her son to have the same opportunity.

Rand said she has no advice to offer on the economics of establishing the medical marijuana industry, but she hopes lawmakers leave many of the decisions up to the state commission, so it can adjust as circumstances dictate. Her biggest fear, she said, is that debate will bog down and nothing will change.

"We need to get this passed this year," she said. "These kids cannot wait another year."

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobsullum/2014/03/21/after-allowing-legalization-of-recreational-marijuana-will-the-feds-crack-down-on-medical-marijuana/

Will The Feds Crack Down On Medical Marijuana After Allowing Legalization Of Recreational Marijuana?​

Last week Washington’s legislature ended its 2014 session without approving new restrictions on medical marijuana, a step that supporters portrayed as necessary to prevent federal interference as the state begins allowing the sale of cannabis for recreational use. After all, the Justice Department indicated in an August 29 memo that it would allow legalization to proceed in Washington and Colorado only if both states created “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems.” Washington’s medical marijuana dispensaries, which are not licensed or regulated by the state, seem inconsistent with that expectation.


Jenny Durkan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, said as much the very day the DOJ memo was released. “The Department guidance is premised on the expectation that the state will implement strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems,” she warned. “The continued operation and proliferation of unregulated, for-profit entities outside of the state’s regulatory and licensing scheme is not tenable and violates both state and federal law.”

Now that it looks like these unregulated entities will continue selling marijuana for another year or so at least, competing with the state-licensed stores that are supposed to start opening this summer, will Durkan feel compelled to crack down? Probably not, judging from her past behavior and a close examination of her public statements. Patience certainly seems like a more appropriate response, especially since Durkan is largely responsible for creating the situation that she now views as “not tenable.”

In Washington it has been legal for patients with doctor’s recommendations and their “designated providers” to grow and possess marijuana since 1998, when voters passed an initiative to that effect. But there has never been an explicitly approved commercial source of marijuana for patients who were not up to growing their own medicine and could not find someone willing to do it for them. Until 2011 dispensaries operated based on a model in which a given seller became the temporary designated provider for each patient who bought cannabis from him. That year the legislature finally approved a bill aimed at regulating the medical marijuana business. But Gov. Christine Gregoire vetoed almost all of the bill, citing advice from Durkan and Michael Ormsby, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

“The Washington legislative proposals will create a licensing scheme that permits large-scale marijuana cultivation and distribution,” Durkan and Ormsby wrote in a letter to Gregoire. “This would authorize conduct contrary to federal law…Accordingly, the Department could consider civil and criminal legal remedies regarding those who set up marijuana growing facilities and dispensaries…Others who knowingly facilitate the actions of the licensees, including property owners, landlords, and financiers, should also know that their conduct violates federal law. In addition, state employees who conducted activities mandated by the Washington legislative proposals would not be immune from liability under the CSA [Controlled Substances Act].”

Gregoire interpreted that last sentence as a threat to prosecute state employees involved in licensing and regulating medical marijuana suppliers. She therefore vetoed all the provisions of the medical marijuana bill that would have put them in that position. All that was left was a provision letting patients grow cannabis in “collective gardens” rather than buy it from the state-licensed outlets that were supposed to be the main source of medical marijuana. That provision, which allowed up to 10 patients and 45 plants per garden, became the new legal rationale for dispensaries. Today medical marijuana suppliers in Washington typically operate as collective gardens (or collections of collective gardens) with rotating memberships: When a patient enters a dispensary, he becomes a member for the length of the transaction.

There are hundreds of such dispensaries in Washington, with as many as 200 in Seattle alone (depending on whether you count delivery operations or just storefronts). John Schochet, deputy chief of staff in the Seattle City Attorney’s Office, says state appeals courts have approved the idea of collective gardens with rotating memberships. “I couldn’t give you a clear answer as to whether it’s illegal under criminal law,” he says, but “no one’s been convicted for selling marijuana illegally using a collective garden in King County [where Seattle is located] at least.” Seattle has not tried to close down the dispensaries, although last year the city council approved an ordinance that will limit them to 45 plants and 24 ounces per location unless they obtain state licenses by January 1, 2015.

Durkan, whose office is in Seattle, views these dispensaries as illegal under state law as well as federal law. Still, she has generally tolerated them. Ormsby has been notably more aggressive in prosecuting medical marijuana suppliers, but dispensaries openly operate in his district as well. Sean Green, the recipient of Washington’s first cultivation license for recreational marijuana, has run a dispensary in Spokane for three years. The online directory WeedMaps lists about 30 dispensaries (including delivery operations) in eastern Washington.

Durkan’s office would not comment on her enforcement plans, and I have not received a response from Ormsby’s office. But in an interview with KUOW, the NPR station in Seattle, last week, Durkan provided some clues. “Under Washington state law, dispensaries are not legal,” she said. “Every dispensary that is operating is an illegal business.” At the same time, she suggested that her office will take action against dispensaries only if “they cross the line into implicating one of the public-interest factors that the Department of Justice has cited.”

Durkan was referring to the “enforcement priorities” listed in Deputy Attorney General James Cole’s August 29 memo, which advised federal prosecutors on how to deal with marijuana businesses that comply with state law. Cole suggested that prosecuting such businesses would not be a good use of federal resources unless it was aimed at addressing one or more of eight concerns, including violence, trafficking in other drugs, involvement by organized crime, and diversion of marijuana to minors or other states. Durkan seems to be extending that prosecutorial forbearance even to businesses that, in her view, do not comply with state law, provided they do not pose any of the threats mentioned by Cole.

Durkan’s description of her office’s drug-related work offers further reason to think closing down dispensaries won’t be a high priority for her. “The vast majority of the cases we bring are cases that involve or implicate Mexican [cartels],” she said. “There are huge quantities of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and bulk cash being transported internationally and between states. That’s where we’re going to focus our resources. We do not have the resources, nor is it our job, to focus on smaller drug cases that can be handled locally.”

Philip Dawdy, media and policy director at the Washington Cannabis Association, was encouraged by Durkan’s remarks. “With the feds, things are always unpredictable,” he says, “but based on Jenny Durkan’s comments on Friday, I’d say we are not a big priority for them unless people are running afoul of the guidance in [the Cole memo]. The piece of her comments that concerns me the most is her statement that all dispensaries in the state are illegal. There is state law that protects them if they’re operating as collective gardens, and I hope the feds will respect both that law and the various local ordinances that have been passed over the last three years allowing for them.” That seems only fair, since the feds had a hand in killing legislation that could have created the “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems” they are now demanding.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/blog/capitol_vision/2014/03/state-senate-green-lights-medical-marijuana-bill.html

Medical marijuana bill receives green light from Georgia senate​

Medical marijuana is one step closer to legalization in Georgia.
The Georgia state Senate passed the amended House Bill 885, or "Kids Care Act,” 54-0 on Thursday.

The bill would legalize use of certain kinds of marijuana, specifically cannabis oil for children with seizures.

According to the bill, clinical research has shown certain benefits arising from the utilization of medical research cannabis and, most recently, significant benefits of a particular strain delivered orally for the treatment of seizure disorders among children.

The bill only allows for marijuana to be ingested orally or by injection but not smoking.
The cannabis allowed by the bill is low in tetrahydrocannabinol or the chemical that produces the feeling of being “high” but lofty in cannabidoils (CBD), which according to many physicians reduces the number and duration of seizures.

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee amended HB 885 on March 12, to grant immunity from prosecution in Georgia for possession of CBD oil obtained legally in a state that allows the use of medical marijuana.

The bill is quick to state it is not to be “construed as any intent of the General Assembly to be moving in the direction of the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana or other controlled substances.

The passage would also allow qualified-Georgia physicians, their patients and academic medical centers to participate in a state-sponsored program that will research the medicinal use of marijuana and its derivatives for treatment of cancer, glaucoma and seizure disorders.

The original HB 885 or “Haleigh's Hope Act,” which was sponsored by Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, passed in the Georgia House of Representatives 171-4.
The medical marijuana bill was wed with a bill that mandates insurance coverage for children's autism treatment.

The bills were combined because of a lack of time left in this year's session, according to Sen. Renee Unterman, R –Buford.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/20/alabama-medical-marijuana_n_5003301.html

Alabama Lawmakers Approve Medical Marijuana Bill​

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 20 (Reuters) - A medical marijuana bill unanimously passed both the Alabama House and Senate on Thursday and is headed to the desk of Gov. Robert Bentley, who has said he will sign it into law.

The measure makes it legal to possess only a prescribed medical grade extract known as CBD or cannabidiol, which is non-intoxicating.

The U.S. Congress in 1972 deemed the oil to have no accepted medical use and banned it.

However, some studies have shown it to be useful in treating a number of conditions, including seizures, and it has been legalized for use in 20 states, according to the Medical Marijuana ProCon website.

Called Carly's Law, the bill in Alabama originated to help control violent seizures suffered by a toddler with a severe neurological disorder.

The girl's family won the backing of Republican state Rep. Mike Ball, sponsor of the bill, and the governor, who has indicated his support.

The bill includes $1 million in funding for a neurology research project into cannabidiol oil at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

"UAB will undertake research into the mechanisms underlying cannabidiol to learn more about its function and effect on seizures," said David Standaert, chairman of the university's Department of Neurology.

The extract is low in tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive compound that gives users the feeling of being high.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/medical_marijuana_in_oregon_ne.html

Medical marijuana in Oregon: New rules require child-proof packaging, outlaw many sweet treats​

The Oregon Health Authority late Wednesday issued draft rules aimed at keeping marijuana-infused foods and candies from children.

The proposed rules are the result of Senate Bill 1531, which Gov. John Kitzhaber signed into law Wednesday. They are bound to be extremely controversial and opposed by medical marijuana patients and advocates since they essentially ban many sweet treats popular with patients.

Oregon's draft rules state that a dispensary may not transfer to patients marijuana-infused products "manufactured in a form that resembles cake-like products, cookies, candy, or gum, or that otherwise may be attractive to minors because of its shape, color, or taste."

The rules, drafted by Oregon Health Authority Officials, will go into place next week, said Karynn Fish, a spokeswoman for the agency. Dispensaries, at that point, won't be allow to legally dispense marijuana-infused items such as cookies and candies. She said the agency is accepting public comment on the draft rules. Email comments to medmj.dispensaries @ state.or.us .

The rules require child-proof and opaque packaging so the product isn't visible from the outside. If the product isn't meant to be consumed in a single serving, the package must be closable. The packaging also may not feature cartoons "or images other than the logo of the facility, unless the logo of the facility depicts the product or cartoons, in which case only the name of the facility is permitted."

Colorado this week extended child-proofing requirements to its medical marijuana program. The state already had child-proofing rules in its recreational program.

Oregon's new law allows local governments to impose moratoriums on medical marijuana dispensaries. That provision and the ones on child-proofing were sought by the Association of Oregon Counties.

Tamara Staples, president of a statewide group that represents people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome, said she opposes the new rules targeting sweets. She said it should be up to adults to keep marijuana-infused products, like any other medicine, away from children.

Staples said many people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome prefer to break off a piece of a cookie or cake instead of smoking the drug.

"That way is a more pleasant way to take their medicine," she said.

 

[7greeneyes]

hMPp://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/9855903/Cannabis-found-growing-at-prison

(NewZealand) Cannabis found growing at prison ​

Thousands of dollars worth of cannabis was discovered growing at a Waikato prison.

An agricultural contractor discovered the crop on the Waikeria Prison farm when he went to harvest a maize crop.

Waikeria Prison manager Kevin Smith said around 15 cannabis plants were discovered on the farm, three to four kilometres from the prison, in February.

Cannabis plants typically have a street value of around $500 each.

"While the land is prison property, the area where the plants were found is near a neighbouring farm and a main road," Mr Smith said.

He would not say who the contractor was, for security reasons, and there was no evidence anyone connected to Waikeria Prison was involved in the operation.

"The prison farm is over 1000 hectares in size and is outside of the prison wire, making it as accessible to the public as any other farm," Mr Smith said. "Any prisoners working outside the wire are closely supervised.

"The plants were destroyed and Corrections notified a Police Liaison Officer from Te Awamutu."

Police did not return the Waikato Times' call on the haul.

 

[Ruffy]

canada's mmj system is doing good, all patients, patient growers and growers for patients are allowed to keep growing until next court date.