Medical Marijuana Update

So much is going on in the world of medical marijuana that we cannot adequately cover it all through news briefs and the occasional feature article. The news briefs and feature articles will, of course, continue, but beginning now, we will also include a weekly medical marijuana update at least noting all those stories we are unable to cover more comprehensively. This first update was updated daily through today for release with this week's Drug War Chronicle issue. Subsequent updates will appear as a regular weekly feature. Here we go:

National

On November 30, the governors of two medical marijuana states, Christine Gregoire (D) of Washington and Lincoln Chafee (I) of Rhode Island, called on the Obama administration to reschedule marijuana. The next day, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) said he would join them, but that same day, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval (R) said he would not.

California

As of the end of November, the US Attorney's Office in San Diego reported that more than 60% of the 222 dispensaries in the region have closed their doors since it began sending threat letters in October to the outlets and their landlords. That's 139 dispensaries gone in far Southern California, and the feds said they expected another 20 or so to close in the next two weeks.

On November 28, a federal judge in San Francisco declined to issue a temporary injunction blocking a federal crackdown on dispensaries in the Bay Area. US Attorney Melinda Haag had ordered those clubs to close, because they were too close to schools on parks. Two of the targeted dispensaries, San Francisco's Divinity Tree and Medithrive, have already shut down to avoid criminal prosecution or seizure of their properties. A third, the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in Fairfax, may be about to follow (see below).

Also on November 28, the last dispensary in the Stockton area shut down after receiving one of those October threat letters from federal prosecutors. County officials had banned dispensaries. One other dispensary shut down in October, and two more are on hold as city officials await clarification from state and federal authorities.

That same day, the city of Novato voted to renew its expiring moratorium on dispensaries for another year and said city staffers would move to shut down two dispensaries operating in violation of city zoning ordinances. The moratorium does not apply to the two dispensaries because they were grandfathered in, but staffers said they are prohibited under city zoning rules, which do not name marijuana sales as an allowed use.

Also on that same day, the Amador County Board of Supervisors temporarily banned outdoor medical marijuana grows in the wake of a September killing during the attempted robbery of a medical marijuana grow. A task force drafting regulations for outdoor grows will meet later this month. Amador County Counsel Gregory Gillott said Fresno, El Dorado, Glenn and Lassen counties all have similar bans on outdoor growing.

On Novmber 30, a Marin County judge declined to quash an eviction order aimed at closing the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana dispensary in Fairfax. The Marin Alliance is the longest operating dispensary in the state, but it could be doomed after being targeted by federal prosecutors in October. Founder and operator Lynette Shaw has until December 9 to answer the ruling and request a trial, but said this week she wasn't sure she will stay open.

That same day, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said that any sales of medical marijuana are illegal. After raids last month that targeted a half-dozen dispensaries and more than a dozen other locations and persons, the department said Proposition 19 and laws passed to regulate medical marijuana in the state "do not authorize sales of marijuana."

Also on November 30, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich announced that his office is targeting nine dispensaries to be shut down because they're within 600 feet of a school. He said he would seek $2,500 a day penalties if they stay open while being sued. Meanwhile the city reports that 372 marijuana businesses had filed to begin paying a city business tax by the October 31 deadline. An unknown number had not filed, but city officials said there could be as many as 500 dispensaries in the city, down from a peak of 850.

On December 1, prosecutors in Oroville dropped the charges against three members of a Chico-area medical marijuana collective because, they said, one of their codefendants was seriously ill. The three had been charged with marijuana cultivation and possession with intent to distribute after their Mountainside Patient Collective in west Chico was raided in a June 30, 2010, sweep of seven dispensaries and 11 residences raided that day.

Also on December 1, disgruntled residents of Northern California's Lake County filed a notice of intention to circulate a petition for "Lake County Act to Adopt Federal Marijuana Laws." The petition's statement of reasons explains, "Voters of Lake County, California, need an alternative to the aggressive pro-pot agenda being pushed by entities within and outside of the county." If the petition receives enough signatures, it would qualify as an initiative on the June 2012 ballot.

On Monday, the city of Oakland advanced in its plan to double the number of dispensaries from four to eight. It posted on its web site the 10 finalists for the four club permits. They are: Oakland Community Collective; G8 Medical Alliance, Inc.; Tidewater Patients Group; AMCD, Inc.; Agramed; East Bay Conscious Collective; South Bay Apothecary Collective; Magnolia Wellness Inc.; Abatin Wellness Center of Oakland; and Green Light District. Public hearings begin in January.

On Tuesday, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors passed an amendment to the zoning code that will effectively bar medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. "Notwithstanding any provision of the zoning code, any land use activity or establishment that contravenes state or federal law or both is prohibited," the amendment reads. There are seven or eight dispensaries left in the unincorporated area of the county.

Also on Tuesday, the Redding City Council voted to seek a court order to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. At least seven dispensaries remained open this week despite a city ban that went into effect last week. The vote came after a Shasta County Superior Court judge last week denied a request for a temporary restraining order against the city's ban. A hearing for a preliminary injunction against the ban is set for January 17.

Massachusetts

The Committee for Compassionate Medicine, which is seeking to put a medical marijuana initiative on the ballot next year, announced December 1that it had had handed in more than 74,000 signatures and planned on handing in another 10,000 by next week's deadline. They need 68,911 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, so even if they get that additional 10,000, it's still going to be a very close call, given that some sizeable fraction of signatures gathered will be found to be invalid.

Michigan

An Oakland County circuit court judge November 28 threw out a lawsuit filed by the ACLU and two medical marijuana patients against the cities of Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills, which had passed ordinances saying it is unlawful for anyone to engage in an activity contrary to state, local, or federal law. The judge dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiffs had not been charged with any crimes. The ACLU and the plaintiffs had hoped to force a ruling on whether state and local law enforcement had to obey the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, but they didn't get it.

On November 29, two Oakland County dispensaries were raided by the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Police arrested three people at one dispensary and four at the other and seized a combined five pounds of medical marijuana and three pounds of edibles. No charges have been filed yet.

New Jersey

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released November 30 found overwhelming Garden State support for medical marijuana and high levels of support for marijuana law reform as well. A whopping 86% of respondents supported the availability of medical marijuana, while 60% thought penalties for pot use should be relaxed, just over half didn't think pot possession should be a crime, and one-third would completely legalize its sale and use.

The poll was released just a day after Gov. Chris Christie (R) announced that he had appointed a law enforcement figure, retired State Police Lt. John O'Brien to oversee the program, which has yet to actually serve a single patient nearly three years after it was passed into law. The first strictly-regulated compassion centers are set to open next year.

The state Department of Health and Human Services last month finally published rules and regulations for the program, which were roundly denounced by the Coalition for Medical Marijuna-New Jersey, the state's leading patient advocacy group.
 

Washington

On Monday, the Issaquah City Council set rules governing medical marijuana collective gardens to limit such operations near schools, parks and other collective gardens. The measure sets a 1,000-foot buffer between a collective garden and a community center, school or another collective garden. The ordinance also sets a 500-foot buffer between a collective garden and park, preschool or daycare center. Its passage was greeted with applause by medical marijuana advocates present at the meeting.

Wisconsin

At a November 28 news conference at the state capitol in Madison, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) announced that he is introducing  LRB-2466, the Jackie Rickert Medical Marijuana Act (JRMMA), named after the wheelchair-bound patient, activist, and member of Is My Medicine Legal Yet, the state's most prominent medical marijuana activist group.

Pocan and state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) will be the lead sponsors of the bill, which died without a committee vote last session. Activists in Wisconsin have been working for a decade to pass medical marijuana legislation. Whether it will happen this session, given the bitter political atmosphere and Republican nomination at the state house remains to be seen.