State & Local Government

In a surprise move, the state Health Department on announced that none of the 15 applicants seeking to open the state’s first compassion center for medical marijuana patients are qualified to open their doors. The announcement did not sit well with several of the applicants and with JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition. The coalition concerns itself with patients in the medical marijuana program.

New Mexico’s approach to medical marijuana is one of the most strictly regulated in the country, but patients share problems with those in less regulated states when it comes to lawfully obtaining seeds or plants. Currently, New Mexico patients who are authorized to grow their own medical marijuana don’t have many legal ways to buy seeds or starter plants. Now the state has proposed a fix to the program that could change that.

Medical marijuana advocates are concerned that proposed new regulations for the industry will result in patient tracking, scaring patients away from wanting to be a part of the system. The Cannabis Therapy Institute is asking advocates to oppose the draft rules by the Colorado Department of Revenue because they say it will lead to fear.

Phoenix officials are discussing how to deal with a November ballot measure that would legalize marijuana for medical purposes.

Americans for Safe Access, the country's leading medical marijuana patient advocacy group, issued letters today to more than 140 localities across California with bans on distribution, demanding that they come into compliance with state law. The letters were sent two weeks after California's Fourth District Court of Appeal issued a long-awaited decision rejecting the argument that local or state dispensary laws are preempted by federal law.

The state of Maine has finished deciding who will get to give out medical marijuana, and officials say the new dispensaries could be up and running by this fall.

New Mexico proposes to raise fees on medical marijuana producers to bring in money to administer the program.

According to Ron Hyman of the Colorado Department of Health, there is a backlog of 60,000 to 70,000 applications for state-issued medical marijuana licenses waiting for approval. The delay is costly -- there is more than $5 million in application fees waiting to be processed.

As predicted, a Las Vegas coroner's inquest into the Trevon Cole shooting found the police officer's actions justified. Only one police officer has been found at fault in a shooting in the procedure's 30 year history. Officer Yant by contrast has shot peole three times, twice fatally.

A patient approached the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in March armed with research that suggests Tourette’s patients may find relief with medical marijuana. Now, pending approval this fall, people with Tourette’s Syndrome may be able under state law to use medical marijuana to help quell symptoms of the disorder.