MAP - Cannabis

Record Searchlight, 24 Dec 2011 - While I agree with your observation ("Nasty outbursts do nothing for marijuana cause," Dec. 14) that marijuana proponents are not always fond of the rules of decorum, it seems inappropriate to castigate them like unruly children. Please consider what is actually happening here: People dealing with serious medical issues are being systematically denied access to the medicine that best eases their suffering. Faced with the looming likelihood of being unable to obtain relief from that suffering and dealing with stress caused by such knowledge, it is understandable that they find it difficult to be polite to those hellbent on worsening their situations. It is time to consider the overlooked components of this issue - scientific facts. The results of several recent studies clearly show why federal reclassification of marijuana and an end to onerous local restrictions both make good sense.

The Press Democrat, 23 Dec 2011 - Just in time for Christmas, "Reefer Madness" is back. Federal prosecutors are threatening to shut down California's medical pot dispensaries, which are legal under state law. California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking the state Legislature to clarify and close loopholes in the state's medical marijuana laws, saying those laws are so confusing that users, growers, sellers, cops and even the people who work in her office have a hard time telling what's legal from what's not. Meanwhile, one group is preparing a ballot initiative for next year that would tax and regulate medical marijuana, while another group is pushing for a vote to legalize pot for any and all uses.

The Voice, 23 Dec 2011 - A Macomb County judge Wednesday said he would revise his recent opinion and allow operators of a former Chesterfield Township medical marijuana dispensary to maintain, use and transfer the drug in limited fashion. Big Daddy's Management Group, which operates the facility, asked the judge to clarify his ruling last month that declared the facility a nuisance and banned marijuana on the premises. Big Daddy's says it complied with the ruling, which followed a Nov. 3-4 evidentiary hearing.

The Daily Inter Lake, 22 Dec 2011 - One of two men suing for clarification of Montana law on caregiver-to-caregiver medical marijuana transfers was sentenced Thursday in Flathead District Court. Lief Erickson, 48, Kalispell, was given a four-year suspended sentence as part of a plea agreement on a charge of criminal possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

The Bakersfield Californian, 22 Dec 2011 - California Attorney General Kamala Harris formally asked the state Legislature earlier this week to clarify state laws on medical marijuana to bring certainty and consistency to both law enforcement and patients. It's about time someone took action on the issue. The Legislature needs to take up the request. Under the state's medical marijuana law, the attorney general is authorized to issue guidelines on legality. As attorney general, Gov. Jerry Brown essentially made dispensaries legal if they were nonprofit cooperatives or collectives. As a result, storefront dispensaries boomed -- and the federal government stepped up efforts to go after them.

The Villager, 22 Dec 2011 - A joint oversight committee of the City Council held a contentious hearing last month over an attempt by the Council to support passage of a state law legalizing medical marijuana. The Council's resolution asks the state Legislature to pass the bill - which is sponsored by Tom Duane in the state Senate and Richard Gottfried in the Assembly - but which has languished for years in the warrens of Albany. Similar to a law recently passed in New Jersey, the legislation would closely regulate use and distribution of marijuana. Currently, 16 states and the District of Columbia make provisions for medical use of pot. All except California require the patient to suffer from major illnesses. California leaves it to the patient's doctor to decide if the condition would be helped by a joint.

Spinal Column Newsweekly, 21 Dec 2011 - The Milford Village Council voted on Dec. 5 to approve an extension of the village's moratorium on medical marijuana facilities for another six months, a move that now pushes the moratorium's expiration date to June 4, 2012. The village originally passed its moratorium for six months back in June 2010, and this marks the third time that the moratorium has been extended for six months.

Record Searchlight, 21 Dec 2011 - SHASTA LAKE -- Council members reversed the local trend of banning medical marijuana dispensaries Tuesday night and voted instead to ditch their permit system. The council voted 4-1 to have city staffers prepare an ordinance that will remove dispensary permitting requirements from the municipal code while keeping existing zoning regulations in place, City Manager Carol Martin said Wednesday.

The Durango Herald, 20 Dec 2011 - No dope. A typographical error has made it impossible for the local municipal court to rule on cases of possession of an ounce or less of marijuana since 2009. Instead, these cases have been going to county court, said David Smith, the city's attorney. The city has been losing some "minimal" revenue because of the small fines and court fees associated with minor marijuana possession.

Sacramento Bee, 30 Oct 2011 - REDWOOD VALLEY The U.S. drug agents' vehicles rumbled past vineyards and cattle ranches, traversed winding roads through oak woodlands and cleared a gate marked with a sign: "Member, Mendocino Farm Bureau." Camouflaged and heavily armed, Drug Enforcement Administration officers brought a battering ram to the door of Matthew Cohen and a chain saw to cut down his 99 marijuana plants earlier this month.

Boston Herald, 28 Oct 2011 - We need to change the illegal status of marijuana. Today, a record 50 percent of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized, according to a recent Gallup poll. Marijuana is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, a fact emphasized by our Surgeon General 50 years ago. There has yet to be reported a fatal case of acute marijuana overdose. Perhaps the worst thing you can say about pot is that it may bring on symptoms of schizophrenia before they would have appeared otherwise.

The Press Democrat, 28 Oct 2011 - So what happened to "do no harm"? Our question is prompted by a puzzling position taken by the California Medical Association. At its annual convention this month, the state's largest doctors group dismissed marijuana as little more than a folk remedy that may actually pose health risks. But, they said, let's legalize pot anyway and figure out if there are any problems later.

Albany Democrat-Herald, 27 Oct 2011 - Law enforcement continues to spend time chasing marijuana growers. It will have to continue doing so until our lawmakers start applying better sense. With our voter-approved medical marijuana program, spending law enforcement resources on catching small-time growers seems pointless.

Sacramento News & Review, 27 Oct 2011 - Federal raids, plus a county crackdown and city standstill-will Sacramento's medical-cannabis community go underground, a la Prohibition? It took only 10 days for the federal government, after California's four U.S. attorneys announced a ramped-up crackdown against the state's medical-marijuana industry, to raid a local dispensary.

The Chico News & Review, 27 Oct 2011 - Butte County Ban Stays in Place After a very short discussion Tuesday (Oct. 25), the Butte County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to ban medical-marijuana dispensaries. The decision came three months before a moratorium on the facilities was set to expire. Several people spoke on the topic, mostly advocating against banning dispensaries.

New Times, 26 Oct 2011 - California Media React to the U.S. Attorney's Pot Comments California's proprietors of medical marijuana dispensaries and their landlords have taken fire lately from the Obama Administration, but the most recent federal offensive is now threatening to pull more people into its crosshairs.

Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct 2011 - California Medical Assn. Questions Marijuana's Medicinal Value but Urges It Be Regulated As Alcohol Is. Reporting from Sacramento- The state's largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.

Los Angeles Times, 14 Oct 2011 - Federal and Local Laws Are at Odds. Its Time for Government to Clear Up the Confusion What is the status of medical marijuana in California? May people possess it, use it, distribute it, sell it? Those ought to be easy enough questions to answer, but because of state and local fumbling on the issue, they're not. And now, after last week's announcement by federal authorities of a crackdown on dispensaries, the answers may be harder than ever to nail down. So complicated are the legal and enforcement issues surrounding medical marijuana that the attempt by California's four U.S. attorneys to bring some clarity - just like earlier attempts by federal Justice Department officials - actually makes things murkier.

Christian Science Monitor, 12 Oct 2011 - The four US attorneys in California announced they would enforce federal drug laws by reining in a pot industry that the state had set up to be strictly nonprofit and medicinal but since has spread like a Mexican drug cartel. The number of pot shops ("clinics") in the Golden State has exploded into a $1.5 billion business that even ships "medical" marijuana to other states, the Feds charge, and that "has been hijacked by profiteers."

Daily Forty-Niner, 12 Oct 2011 - A few days ago, four California officials from the U.S. Attorney's office announced that hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries have been ordered to close down by the federal government. Since California voters decided to legalize marijuana for medical use in 1996, the issue of medical marijuana has generally been left to the responsibility of the states. The main issue that I have a problem with is that the federal government -- specifically the Obama Administration -- is spending both time and money that we don't have on something that should by no means be at the top of their agenda. Must we remind Obama and the White House of the current financial crisis on Wall Street?