Via NORML:

The Oregon secretary of state’s office completed the legalization trifecta this afternoon when they announced the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act of 2012 (OCTA) officially qualified for the November ballot. Oregon now joins Washington and Colorado on the list of states whose voters will have the opportunity to end cannabis prohibition this fall.

Supporters ended up turning in 88,887 valid signatures, slightly over 1,000 more than required for qualification. The initiative will appear on the Oregon ballot as “Measure 80.” According to the campaign, Measure 80 would “regulate cannabis (marijuana) for adults 21 years of age and older, with commercial sales only through state-licensed stores. Ninety percent of tax revenue, estimated at more than $140 million annually, would go to the state’s battered general fund. Seven percent of tax proceeds would go toward funding drug treatment programs, and much of the remaining revenue would be directed toward kickstarting and promoting Oregon’s hemp food, fiber and bio-fuel industries.” Read more at NORML.org.

There’s no shortage of news to talk about this week with Congress’ decision on Obamacare. We’re looking forward to seeing how this effects medical marijuana patients and access to the medicine in the future. Many see medical marijuana as any other pharmaceutical, yet the government doesn’t usually share that view. It will be interesting to see how it is treated under the Health Care Reform.

Other news around the country:

New Jersey to Grow This Summer. According to Big Buds Magazine, the first of two New Jersey dispensaries is on its way to opening this summer. While Medical Marijuana has been legal in the Garden State for two years, it has taken this long to certify vendors and facilities. The Compassionate Care Facility will employ about 50 people. Read more…

New Hampshire Fails to Override MMJ Veto. SB 409 sought to allow for the personal possession, cultivation, and use of cannabis by qualified patients and was vetoed by Governor John Lynch. While the House largely supported the bill, Senate was more torn and failed to achieve the 2/3 vote needed to override the veto. The veto garnered 13 or the required 16 votes. Read more…

Chicago Decriminalizes Small Amounts of Marijuana. Cannabis Culture: “Supporters said the Chicago measure, which takes effect on August 4, would help raise revenue for the city, save money and free up police to pursue more serious crimes..The issue of deploying police to handle more serious crimes is particularly pressing this year in Chicago, which has seen a 37 percent spike in its murder rate.” Read more…

In related news, check out this great graphic from The Chicago Reader about how 86% of those arrested in Chicago for marijuana possession are black (click to enlarge):

Support comes from an unlikely source this week as a notably conservative politician’s daughter publicly endorses marijuana legalization, while New York takes great steps in legalizing medical marijuana. Rhode Island meanwhile lessens the punishment for possessing marijuana; possessing an ounce or less will become a civil violation with a $150, like a ticket. Read on for the full stories.

Meghan McCain Speaks Out in Support of Legalization

The Arizona conservative Senator’s daughter went on a cross-country roadtrip with liberal comedian Michael Ian Black. They toured cultural sites, discussed gay marriage and gun rights, and wrote it all down for us to read in America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom.

On the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, she discusses why she supports the legalization of marijuana:

California Hospital Denies transplant for Legal MMJ User

Patient Toni Trujillo has been on the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s transplant list waiting for a kidney for six years…until now. Trujillo has been using medical marijuana legally for two years to stimulate her appetite and increase and maintain protein levels while on dialysis, yet she was removed from the list for “substance abuse.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened, either.  Last year the hospital removed a man with inoperable liver cancer from their transplant list for the same reason – legally smoking marijuana. Without the transplant, doctors expect him to die within 90 days.

From DrugFree.org:
Sally Stewart, a spokesperson for the hospital, said marijuana users can be exposed to a type of mold that can cause deadly disease among patients whose immune systems are compromised. They also are at risk of a fatal lung infection after transplantation, she told the newspaper. “We do not make a moral or ethical judgment about people who are smoking medical marijuana. Our concern is strictly for the health and safety of our patients,” she said.

NY General Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana Bill; RI Decriminalizes

The same day that Rhode Island Governor Chafee signed a bill to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, the New York State Assembly approved a bill to allow qualified patients to possess medical marijuana. The vote passed 90-50, setting a positive note for the Senate vote. Similar legislation have previously been stopped twice in the Senate, but supporters are optimistic for AB7347’s passing. Tell your New York Senator to support the bill here.

Drug Policy Alliance

A forthcoming biography on President Obama is making headlines, with new details about the president smoking marijuana with his teenage friends in Hawaii.

David Maraniss’ book, “Barack Obama: The Story,” describes Obama as a marijuana enthusiast: “When a joint was making the rounds, he often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted ‘Intercepted!’ and took an extra hit,” Maraniss writes. Maraniss also describes Obama’s technique of “roof hits” while hot-boxing cars. “When the pot was gone, they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of smoke from the ceiling,” he writes. Obama has been less than shy about his drug use in the past, writing about the topic in “Dreams from My Father.” “Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it,” he writes in the memoir.

While Obama’s term began with great promise for drug policy reformers, in the past two years it has been difficult to distin¬guish Obama’s drug policies from those of his White House predecessors. Although President Obama has acknowledged that legalization is “an entirely legitimate topic for debate” – the first time a sitting president has made such a statement – his administra¬tion has made a string of increasingly disappointing moves over the last year. Half of all U.S. drug arrests are for marijuana – more than 850,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana in 2010 alone, 88 percent for mere possession.  Read more.

Despite the setback in Los Angeles as a dispensary ban is considered, the medical marijuana cause is still going strong with very positive news across the country.  It’s still unclear if the Los Angeles ban, which would hurt both patients and the economy, will go into effect. Meanwhile, in Sacramento positive steps are being made for the regulation of medical marijuana. Even more encouraging is the fact that Connecticut has officially passed its medical marijuana law. Finally, New Jersey is on the verge of opening its first dispensaries.

California
Los Angeles
Earlier this week, a three-person council voted to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area and outlaw new ones from opening. The city has struggled with regulation of distribution for years, but shutting down the dispensaries will only make it more difficult for patients to receive treatment and will leave hundreds unemployed. It is being argued that banning dispensaries will only take the industry back to dealing illegally – and dangerously.  A highly supported counterproposal was advanced to leave 100 dispensaries open.

Sacramento
In a 41-28 vote, the California State Assembly passed a bill that would regulate the production and distribution of medical marijuana for qualified patients. AB 2312, the Medical Marijuana Regulate, Control and Tax Act, was introduced earlier this year by Assembly member Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) and others.

“More than 15 years after Californians passed Proposition 215, patients are still in need of a commonsense approach to the production and distribution of medical marijuana,” said Don Duncan, California Director with Americans for Safe Access. The bill would assist patients in accessibility of medicine while increasing revenue for California significantly.

The implementation of the bill is largely thanks to a grassroots movement, led by Americans for Safe Access. More than 300 patients and policy advocates stormed the Capitol, meeting with each member of the state legislature and urging them to pass the bill. AB 2312 will now proceed to the State Senate, where it must pass out of committee by July 6th and must come to a Senate floor vote by August 31st.

Connecticut
In May, Connecticut passed a bill to legalize medical marijuana for illnesses such as cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy and Chrohn’s disease…and it passed! Connecticut’s government website has all the information. Congratulations on becoming the 17^th state to legalize, Connecticut!

New Jersey
The New York Times provides coverage of two soon-to-be dispensaries in New Jersey. Jersey legalized medical marijuana use almost two and a half years ago, but dispensaries have not yet opened.

weGrow is opening at the end of the month in New Jersey and we are hiring an expert grower. If you want to be a part of the weGrow team, apply!

After a slow start with only 15 applications turned in on the first day, the Arizona dispensary permit applications have poured in.  By last Friday’s deadline, 484 applications were completed and sent to the Arizona Department of Health Services (DHS).

Each application consisted of a business plan, an inventory control plan, and a $5000 application fee. The 385-or-so applicants who will not receive permits will be refunded $1000 of their fee, resulting in huge revenue for the state. It was initially estimated that Arizona would make around $1 million from applications, but we estimate that around $2,035,000 will be brought in assuming that one dispensary opens in each of the 99 districts that applied.

This incredible turnout for the chance to supply Arizona’s medical marijuana patients – nearly 29,000 of them – with their medicine marks the state’s turn towards accepting medical marijuana use. This DHS map displays the areas represented by applicants with Estrella topping the list at 16 applications.

On Friday, a hearing was held to expand the list of conditions for which medical marijuana can be a treatment. The law that passed two years ago already permits medical marijuana use for cancer, glaucoma, AIDS, chronic pain, muscle spasms and hepatitis C. Other conditions being considered are PTSD, migraines, depression, and general anxiety disorder. Says DHS Director Will Humble, “I’m OK with including other conditions. I just want that decision to be based on science.”

In order to meet the May 25 deadline, some applications may have been incomplete. Next month, potential dispensaries will receive applications back to revise if they are missing any information to give every applicant a fair chance of getting chosen. For those areas where more than one eligible applicant has filed, a random drawing will determine who gets the permit.

If your application is returned to you for revision, weGrow can help. We offer a range of plans required by the AZDHS including:

Inventory Control Plan

Qualifying Patient Record Keeping Plan

Security Plan

Patient Education and Support Plan

Business Plan

These plans are available for a special price to allow you to be considered for your dispensary permit. Save $600 by bundling all 5 for $4000. For more information on completing your order, email info@wegrowstore.com. Or, if you would like to purchase plans individually, visit dispensarypermits.com.  Non-Arizona specific plans are also available.

Good luck to all who applied and watch our blog for news on the dispensary permit process.

Phoenix New Times

With his muscular physique and energetic, fast-talking personality, the 36-year-old Las Vegas resident seems the epitome of health — except for the banana-size scar on the left side of his head.

Rodgers was on a good career track as a trade-show organizer until 2006, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Now he’s a passionate advocate of medical marijuana, lives on government disability, and earns a few extra bucks making candles that look like brains.

He was one of several patients who attended a conference in Tucson last month regarding the use of marijuana in medicine.

Rodgers was fishing in Canada when the first seizure struck. He was rushed from the backcountry to a hospital, but doctors didn’t find the cause until three months later, after another seizure. The diagnosis is seared in his memory.

“Your tumor is here,” his doctor told him while pointing at an x-ray of his head. “You’re going to die.”

Rodgers was given 18 months to live. Surgeons were able to remove about 80 percent of the tumor in 2007 and told him it probably would come back. They also put him on a chemotherapy regimen, which was when he “got involved in cannabis.” He’d tried it a few times in his late teens and early 20s, but this experience was different.

“I took two puffs, and it was incredible,” he says. “It made me feel well.” Read more.

Now that election season is upon us, lawmakers and voters are particularly riled up about medical marijuana in key states such as New York, California, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Now, a measure proposed in Fargo could make North Dakota the 18th state to approve medical marijuana use. The 22-page proposed law would require a doctor’s permission for marijuana use and they can only get the medicine from a state-approved dispensary.

The measure comes just a couple of weeks following Connecticut’s adoption of a similar law. Whereas we can hope that Connecticut’s decision may affect Massachusetts and New York, it is unclear what will follow North Dakota’s vote. In fact, North Dakota’s level of support is relatively unknown. Its neighbor Montana already allows medical marijuana use, but South Dakota has rejected laws twice in the past six years.

According to Medical Marijuana Business Daily, in order for the law to pass:

“the secretary of state must first give organizers the green light to begin gathering signatures. Supporters will then need to get enough people to sign the petition to qualify it for the November ballot, and then voters would have to approve the initiative for it to become law. In other words, there’s a long way to go. But it’s an encouraging sign nonetheless, as it furthers the MMJ debate.”

If North Dakota passes the proposition, the country will be only 8 states shy of a majority of states which have passed medical marijuana legislation.  Watch our blog for up-to-date news following the medical marijuana debate across the country.

Last week, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) began accepting applications for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries.  15 applications were received on the first day, and dozens more are expected to come in by the end of the week.

The fact that Arizona is able to offer permits comes after a surprising turn of events last year after Gov. Jan Brewer banned this very application process. In 2010, voters approved the Medical Marijuana Act, but Brewer attempted to keep it from going into effect. According to MMJ Business Daily, “Brewer delayed the start of the licensing program for cannabis dispensaries last spring, citing her fear that state employees would be prosecuted by federal agents. She ordered the state to file a lawsuit against the U.S. government, asking for clarification on the issue.”

A judge later ruled that Brewer’s efforts were illegal and ordered the state to implement the act – without the many proposed restrictions. This week, dispensaries are finally able to apply to sell to the 35,000 MMJ patients.  The act allows up to 126 dispensaries to operate in Arizona.

The information on application requirements can be found on the ADHS website. There is a $5000 application fee, and $1000 will be returned to those who are not accepted. Among other requirements, dispensaries must employ a physician as a medical director to help oversee operations and fingerprints must be turned in.

Applications will be reviewed for content in June to allow potential dispensaries to provide additional information if needed. Certificates are set to be awarded in early August, allowing patients to receive medication as early as September. The cut-off for applications is at 5PM this Friday, May 25.

weGrow offers plans for dispensaries and cultivation including business, operations, and financial plans. More information on all the plans we offer can be found at dispensarypermits.com.