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Medical Marijuana

D.C. Medical Marijuana: Ask Mayor Gray: What's the Hold Up? (Action Alert)

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March 25, 2011

 

Ask Mayor Gray: What’s the hold up?

Dear Friends:

It’s been over a decade since Initiative 59 was passed and almost a year now since the D.C. Council passed legislation to implement D.C.’s medical marijuana program, but you’d be forgiven if you haven’t noticed. That’s because the mayor still hasn’t signed off on the regulations that were issued last November and approved by the Council in January.

Ask the mayor when we can expect to see the District’s medical marijuana program up and running.

We’re willing to give the mayor some slack here. I’m sure he had a steep learning curve and a lot of very important issues to grapple with in his first couple months on the job. But now that he’s settled in and had time to review the proposed rules, there’s no reason District residents should have to wait any longer – they’ve already been waiting over 12 years. It’ll take less than a minute of your time to send an email to the Mayor's office asking when patients in the District will finally have access to medical marijuana.

In the mean time, I’ll let you know if we hear any announcements from the mayor. Thanks everyone!

Sincerely,

Dan Riffle signature (master)

Dan Riffle
Legislative Analyst
Marijuana Policy Project

 

From Dover to Olympia, medical marijuana is on the move. (Image via Wikimedia.org)
From Dover to Olympia, medical marijuana is on the move. (Image via Wikimedia.org)

Medical Marijuana Bills Advance in Delaware, Washington

Bills that would allow state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries are moving in Washington, which already has a medical marijuana law, and Delaware, which doesn't.

California Medical Marijuana Dispensary Plans to Take IRS to Court

The IRS is thought to have begun audits on at least 12 medical marijuana dispensaries in California under the determination that past business deductions are invalid because of a clause in the federal tax code prohibiting any business that traffics in Schedule I or II drugs from making business deductions on their tax returns. Lynette Shaw, founder and owner of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, is hoping to strike back before the IRS can deliver any more "final determinations" to other dispensaries currently being audited. Shaw intends to file an appeal in U.S. Tax Court within the month. There is actually a precedent for just such a case, when in 2007, a San Francisco dispensary primarily catering to terminal AIDS patients got its payment cut down to just over 1 percent of what the IRS originally said it owed in back taxes.

Federally-Approved Medical Marijuana Patient Stumps Through Montana

Irvin Rosenfeld, as one of only a few surviving federal medical marijuana patients was in Montana, stumping for what he calls a 'Wonderdrug.' Every month, the federal government sends Rosenfeld his medicine: 360 rolled marijuana cigarettes. He suffers from a rare disorder that produces tumors at the end of long bones. "I haven't developed a new tumor or had an existing one grow since I was 21, which was 37 years ago, and I attribute that to my medicine: medical cannabis," he said.
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Obama's DEA Needs to Stop Raiding Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

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By now, you've probably heard about the DEA's full-scale assault on medical marijuana dispensaries in Montana on Monday. You're probably asking yourself what the hell happened to Obama's promise that state laws allowing medical marijuana would be respected, and I'm going to answer that question as best I can.

Washington State Marijuana Bill Should Reflect Shift in Culture (Editorial)

The Spokesman-Review opines that because Congress refuses to update the absurd Controlled Substances Act, states are trying to figure out the best ways to implement the sane and popular wish that marijuana be made available for medicinal purposes. The newspaper says Washington's bill should put patients first by not erecting barriers that make it more difficult to legally obtain medical marijuana, and that the House should strip the bill of these excessive limitations. It says the bill represents a cultural shift in attitudes toward marijuana, and that regulation and enforcement ought to reflect that reality.