Do You Smoke Weed

Cities across the state, trying to rein in pot dispensaries, have gone to great lengths and huge costs to keep Californians from legalizing the use of marijuana.

The appeals court, however, did reject Anaheim’s contention that the federal Controlled Substances Act preempted the state’s medical marijuana laws and thus made dispensaries illegal. Orange County Superior Court Judge David R. Chaffee had sided with the city on that issue.Anthony Curiale, the attorney for the dispensary that filed suit, said cities and counties can no longer cite federal law to argue dispensaries are not allowed. “That’s out the window,” he said. “This opinion is very, very important from our point of view.”Several previous court decisions have reached similar conclusions. “As much as we want to put that argument out of its misery, we just can’t shake it,” Elford said.

via California appeals court declines to say if local authorities can ban medical marijuana dispensaries – latimes.com.

A judge is now saying that a proposed court order to return seized medical marijuana to members of a Concow collective was clearly intended as a “joke,” but the attorney for a man acquitted by a jury in the case isn’t laughing.“I didn’t understand this to be a joke,” Chico attorney Jodea Foster said Wednesday of discussions that took place in the judge’s chambers last month over a motion Foster filed seeking the return of 56 marijuana plants and more than 250 starter “clones.”The plants were seized by Butte County Sheriff’s officers during two raids on his client’s Concow property in 2008 and 2009.At a trial earlier this year, a Superior Court jury acquitted Foster’s client, Michael Kelly and his father, Shawn Kelly, of illegal cultivation and possession of marijuana for sale stemming from the two busts.Jurors said they believed the pair were growing the marijuana as part of a loosely-organized but lawful 16-member medical marijuana collective.Michael Kelly was found guilty by the same jury of a related misdemeanor charge of illegally diverting water from a small creek to irrigate the plants.On Wednesday, assigned Judge William Lamb denied a defense motion for a new trial on the Fish and Game violation, rejecting Foster’s claims that the evidence presented to the jury was insufficient to establish that a “substantial” amount of creek water had been diverted by Kelly.The judge indicated he was also prepared to deny the companion motion to return the seized marijuana to Michael Kelly at least in part because he had not shown himself to be the owner.

via Judge Says Pot Return Only A ‘Joke’ | Cannabis News – Medical Marijuana, Marijuana News, Hemp, Cannabis.

Legally Compliant Grow Room Management

The Colorado law allows medical marijuana patients to have 3 plants in a vegetative state and three mature plants flowering and drying. It is really important to plan your garden well and develop a clone/veg, flowering/drying and curing timeline that will allow you stay within legal limits.

via Grow medical marijuana in Colorado legally form a collective , cannabis cure, mmj card, marijuana patient.

Left out of the discussion – other uses of hemp – clothing, paper, industrial oil and a number of other uses. For far too long, the industrial machinery has hyped the evil of marijuana as a way to keep from using hemp in industry. When we pass marijuana legalization, these additional uses of a generally benign crop will create “green” jobs, compete with outmoded industries and provide demonstrable proof that our current marijuana laws are far more damaging to our society than the benefits we will get from hemp.

From the LA Times article “The chance that a California voter has used marijuana is higher for college graduates than high school graduates and rises with income. Use is highest among single voters and lowest among married ones. Voters north of the Bay Area, home to the weed-raising Emerald Triangle, are most likely to have used marijuana, while voters in the Central Valley are least likely.”

via California voters back pot legalization, but support is shaky – latimes.com.

Even with published information regarding the benefits of medical marijuana for treating PTSD, the VA is prohibited from eve talking about medical marijuana to veterans.

“Of course, veterans in states without medical marijuana laws fare far worse. These veterans risk arrest for using marijuana to treat their combat injuries, joining the more than 800,000 Americans arrested annually for marijuana offenses.”

via Bob Kerrey: VA Docs Prohibited From Discussing Medical Marijuana With Returning Vets.

Of course, veterans in states without medical marijuana laws fare far worse. These veterans risk arrest for using marijuana to treat their combat injuries, joining the more than 800,000 Americans arrested annually for marijuana offenses.

via Bob Kerrey: VA Docs Prohibited From Discussing Medical Marijuana With Returning Vets.

MOre of the Catch-22 – tests show that medical marijuana is effective in treating PTSD, but the VA won’t discuss it. In the 36 states without medical marijuana, veterans who get the medicine on their own are treated the same as the over 800,000 Americans arrested each year on marijuana charges.

Stop the draconian drug laws and bring some common sense to our medical community.

“We monitor [newspaper] columns, and editors have swung in favor of reform,” he says. “I will go give a lecture in Des Moines, Iowa. The questions people are asking come right out of watching Weeds on Showtime. It’s quite remarkable.”

via Orange County News – Today, Medical Marijuana. Tomorrow, Legalize It! – page 1.

For all of the personal lives destroyed in a  misguided “War on Drugs” these changes can not come soon enough.

And I hope to do bong hits with Sarah Palin, Michael Steele and Rush Limbaugh – I bet they would all be hilarious stoned, but I’m not sharing my Oreos and Onion Dip.

Smoking Marijuana Does Not Cause Lung Cancer | The Media Freedom Foundation.

From a study at UCLA.

Where is America’s Cannabis Capital?

via Where is America’s Cannabis Capital? | NORML Blog.

Take a guess before reading.

As part of the policy change earlier this year, the DMV Driver Safety Procedure Manual was revised to include reference to medical marijuana, stating that “use of medicinal marijuana approved by a physician should be handled in the same manner as any other prescription medication which may affect safe driving.”

via Toke of the Town – California DMV Ordered To Pay Almost $70K In Fees For Medical Marijuana Case.

Have to love our bureaucrats in the DMV. They are almost as wasteful as the City of Huntington Beach’s pot confiscation case.