A Case in Maricopa County Superior Court Is Another Distraction in the Medical Marijuana Saga Two lawyers walk into a bar. Then the lawsuits start flying, and nobody gets to have any fun drinking, because the lawyers are throwing briefs around like bar stools and screaming at the judge to throw that motherfucker out of here, because he's drunk and he's spilling drinks all over everyone. So the drunk motherfucker screams at the judge a little, defending his actions, and the judge eventually hears enough and orders a bouncer to throw someone into the street. [continues 619 words]
If You Are Willing to Travel Just North of Irvington, Earth's Healing Is a Welcoming (and Affordable) Dispensary It's a problem I wish I'd had two years ago-dispensaries popping so fast I can't get out fast enough to visit them all. Another one opened last Monday on the southside-Earth's Healing Pain Treatment & Wellness Center-so here's a glimpse of what they offer. The dispensary is in a great location. Where do you want to be when you walk out with $500 worth of meds? How about on Benson Highway within sight of the Pima County Sheriff's Department headquarters? Earth's Healing is also within easy reach of a big chunk of the southside, giving the city a kind of ring of protection around the east, south and west sides. [continues 606 words]
State-by-state, like a giant sticky ball, the cause of medical marijuana makes progress There's a video game called Katamari Damacy that lets you roll a tiny adhesive ball around on the screen, picking up anything you roll over. You start by picking up tiny things, like pens or pencils or silverware. Eventually you are picking up bigger and bigger things, like trees, houses, office buildings and stadiums, then planets and comets. The cannabis katamari started picking up pencils and pens in 1996, when California passed the nation's first medical marijuana law. Now we're starting to pick up some cars and trucks, and it won't be long before we're snapping up buildings and aircraft carriers across the nation as legislatures turn from the dark side to the light. Here's a sampling of some recent developments: [continues 560 words]
Arizona has proceeded with caution in implementing the state's medical marijuana program ("The Numbers Game," May 2). California is often held up as an example of what not to do. It's true that anyone in California who wants a medical marijuana recommendation can get one. The recommendation allows consumers to purchase locally grown marijuana of known quality and safety from dispensaries that generate tax revenue. That's a good thing. So-called medical marijuana abuses are not to be feared. It's the status quo that's scary. [continues 86 words]
With 17 Dispensaries Cleared to Open and 37,422 Patients, Mr. Smith Looks at the State of MMJ in AZ When the MMJ program launched in Arizona, there was a lot of cock blocking and stalling and excuses from the governor's office and other chambers of government across the state. It took more than two years to get a dispensary, and so far just 17 have been cleared to open. But viewed from where I sit (the patient chair), the MMJ program seems to be operating pretty smoothly. I haven't heard much from anyone about major problems, and it seems the state is holding up its end of the bargain now. The governor has seen the error of her ways, or at least sees the error of defying the judges who repeatedly tell Attorney Generalissimo Tom Horne to STFU and get out of the way. [continues 537 words]
While the End of the Prohibition on Marijuana Seems Imminent on Some Fronts, There Are Still Those Resisting the Path of Progress Across the nation, cannabis advocates in and out of the medical marijuana arena in recent weeks have been trumpeting a New World Order where weed is concerned. The feds vowed to back off of dispensaries and the banks that want to serve them; and Sanjay Gupta flipped his stance on cannabis, saying he hadn't really looked much at the stuff, and now that he has, well, it's legit. All hail the Gupta. [continues 612 words]
Some Very Expensive Equipment Is Being Used to Determine the Makeup of Several Dispensaries' Marijuana The first time I wondered what was in my cannabis was in the late 1970s, when the U.S. government conspired with Mexico to use the herbicide Paraquat to destroy marijuana crops south of the border. The governments sprayed the crops, then spread the rumor (later largely debunked) that any surviving Paraquat pot was unsafe to smoke. The program drew ire, and the vague health threats had folks across the nation asking pot dealers, "It isn't Mexican, is it? Because I don't want any Mexican. The feds are spraying that shit with POISON, man! Get me some Colombian." The program was short-lived and people quickly ceased worrying about what was in their cannabis. These days you don't have to wonder. [continues 518 words]
The Distribution System for Medical Marijuana Hasn't Evolved As Quickly As Most Expected If you build it they will come. Maybe. Back in the day (the day being late 2010), when a functional medical cannabis program was a gleam in our collective eye, there was hope spilling all over the ground where medical cannabis was concerned. There was hope that we would quickly have that functional system. Hope that dispensaries and patients would soon be trading green for green. Hope that a thriving cannabis economy would spring to life across the state, leaving relief and comfort in its wake. Or not. [continues 513 words]
Mr. Smith Becomes the Martha Stewart of Cannabinoid Cooking I made butter once - just plain, old regular butter. It's actually really easy. All you have to do is put some heavy cream in a jar and shake it for a while. You can do it much quicker by beating the cream with a hand or bowl mixer until it forms stiff peaks, then beating it some more. Eventually (after about 10 minutes) the cream breaks down, separating into fat solids (butter) and buttermilk. Drain off the buttermilk, and you have butter. Try it at home - it's surprisingly simple and fun and kids love it. Plus, you then get to eat fresh butter. Six cups of cream makes about a pound of butter. [continues 570 words]
Surprisingly Likely to No One, the Arizona Legislature Is Out to Subvert the Will of the Voters Again Our esteemed state Legislature is hard at work up in Phoenix, collectively yea-ing and nay-ing its way through huge piles of legislation, some of which will surely make your life better and some of which will just piss you off. To wit: A few weeks ago, I wrote about a suggestion from a Phoenix valley 'stick to bring the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act before voters again. The resolution in the state House of Representatives, brought by a Republican, would not have required the governor's signature to pass. Thankfully the Teabilly attempt didn't get a hearing in committee, so it goes nowhere, at least until he or another of his ilk tries again. Politicians have a way of doing that, as evidenced by the 30-some attempts in Congress to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. [continues 442 words]
If You're Avoiding Smoke, Making Your Cannabinoids Soluble Could Be the Solution I work out a lot. I'm a bit of a fitness buff who took a year off recently to study exercise science in college-real college, not a set of personal-training books I ordered on the Internet. So I'm a fitness buff and a bona fide, qualified fitness expert ... but I smoke. It's not cigarettes, it's cannabis, so I only smoke eight or 10 hits per day, but I undeniably breathe in a lot of cancer-causing agents and tar and ash and other bullshit I'd rather not breathe. It's annoying and filthy, and I know it's doing absolutely nothing to better my life in any way. I stress a little over smoking, but it's arguably the fastest, most convenient way to get cannabis into the nerve center. [continues 462 words]
Our Columnist Checks in on Developments From New Hampshire to Bullhead City You can't throw a rock these days without hitting an interesting medical cannabis development somewhere in this great nation of ours. From coast to coast, a rising tide of legislatures, lawyers and patients is washing up against a sea wall of cock-blockers and naysayers. It's fun to watch, and interesting to muse upon. To wit: New Hampshire In the bucolic state that nestles up beside Vermont, medical marijuana is crashing on the rocks. Advocates there are trying for the fourth time in six years to pass an MMJ law, facing an apparent uphill climb since the previous governor, Democrat John Lynch, vetoed previous attempts. This time around, with a bill pending in the Legislature, Gov. Maggie Hassan, also a Democrat, is hinting she might also strike down the current attempt. It's about homegrown. [continues 519 words]
Is It Fair That Someone Can Be Prosecuted for Driving Under Last Week's Influence? Once there was a scientist named Friedrich Wurst. There probably still is, but back in 2003, he did a study of alcohol metabolites in the corpus humanum. He found that one, ethyl glucuronide (EtG), is an excellent indicator that a person had a drink up to 80 hours prior to testing. EtG is among a new generation of biochemical markers that could be used to document alcohol use among professionals who have to prove sobriety for licensure (some doctors) and folks in treatment programs, Wurst said. [continues 550 words]
Courts Are Looking at the Legality of Cannabis Clubs, but Are They Delaying the Inevitable? God bless medical marijuana clubs and the people who run them, but a Michigan Supreme Court ruling last week might be the death knell for cannabis collectives everywhere. Hmpf. The highest court in the mitten state decided on Feb. 8 that it's illegal for the shops to exist, that the club owners are astray of the law when they facilitate transfers between patients and/or caregivers. The state of Michigan started the lofty legal spat when it sued Brandon McQueen and Matthew Taylor of Mount Pleasant (it's in the hand part, just west of the bottom end of the thumb), claiming the Compassionate Apothecary club was illegal. [continues 603 words]
The Stubborn Truth A wise man once said: "You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true" by J.M. Smith Opinions about cannabis are like ... well ... opinions. Everybody has one, and you almost certainly think at least a couple of mine suck. But some people, myself included and hopefully you, try to base their opinions on facts, when they can get them. Fortunately, this being the 21st century and all, facts are actually pretty easy to come by, so I looked up some recent ones. To wit: [continues 626 words]
Surveys Say That Public Opinion Is Trending Toward Legislation It seems marijuana polls are all the rage these days, given the way the winds of change swept through Washington, Colorado, Connecticut and Massachusetts in November, and they pop up all over the place when you search the Internet for, say, ideas for a medical marijuana column. Just last week in Hawaii, which seems far away but is actually a neighboring state if you skip over Mexico, a group seeking legal reform released a survey (http://acluhawaii.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/dpagmarijuanapolicyfindings.pdf) highlighting public opinion there. [continues 549 words]
Read three times and committed to the editor, Tucson Weekly, made the order of the day and days henceforth until Dec. 31, 2013, and ordered to be printed, Mr. Smith, medical marijuana columnist, reported the following resolution concerning Medical Marijuana. Sec. 1: Be it resolved that Mr. Smith will exercise more due diligence in fact-finding. I've spent a fair amount of my Mr. Smith time telling you what I think. That's what I'm here for, largely, but at a certain point, telling you what I think with a thinnish foundation of facts starts to sound pretty empty. [continues 560 words]
J.M.'S Question: Should He Come Out of the Closet to His Mom As a Pot-Smoker? When I was 17, I flunked out of high school. It wasn't a slow descent into failure, as it is with a lot of kids. It was an abrupt, spectacular, fail-every-class-my-senior-year crash into the deck. Despite the darkest, most-fervent efforts of my subconscious, I almost made it anyway, barely falling short of a D in biology. I missed graduation by one credit. [continues 601 words]
The President Talks A Nice Game About Marijuana, But That Doesn't Mean Much As the presidential election was unfolding, and it started to look like an Obama victory, cannabis advocates across the nation started wondering what the Choomer in Chief would do about the drug. It was looking like voters would make it legal for recreational use in Colorado and Washington and maybe Oregon, too. President Obama had offered a few hints about how he feels, never advocating full legalization or even directly backing the medical paradigm, but saying he thinks the Department of Justice should consider it a low priority to bust medical-marijuana establishments in states where it's legal. It was a weak endorsement, of sorts. Some thought his post-election lame-duck status would allow him the freedom to revert to his high school days and come out for legalization. Then on Election Day, all hell broke loose when voters (the smart ones, anyway) gave the nod to recreational use in Washington and Colorado, prompting my daughter to say on Facebook, "Everyone is going to move to Colorado now and the current residents are going to be like 'wut is going on' and it's going to be a huge mess." I don't know how many people are planning to move, but I do think a huge mess is developing. [continues 421 words]
Judges continue to hand down harsh sentences for marijuana-related charges Last winter, Kaleb Phillips stalked a man to a Maryland parking lot, then gunned him down for being in the wrong gang. Phillips and six of his friends plotted the murder of Arnold Fagans for several hours and abruptly ended his life outside of his apartment on Jan. 12. Last Thursday, Phillips, 20, took his medicine in the form of a 30-year sentence, half of which must be served, because gunning people down is a violent crime. Yes, he won't be eligible for parole for 15 years. Violence, being so aggravating, is an aggravating factor when it comes to murder sentencing. Give worse, get worse. [continues 531 words]
More Than 3,600 Tucson-Area Residents Have Obtained Marijuana Cards I've been thinking about a lot of numbers this week---heart rates, survival rates, ejection fractions, likelihoods of various disasters---so I thought it might be a good time to reflect on the Arizona medical marijuana numbers. I touched on some of the latest figures a couple of weeks ago, but it's been a while since I've offered a detailed look, so ... As of Sept. 19, the last update from the state Department of Health Services, there were 32,110 cannabis patients statewide. Of those, 4,901 were renewals. About 16 percent of the cardholders applied for half-price cards under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), which sounds like a lot until you know that's the percentage of Arizonans on SNAP. Actually, it is a lot, but that's an issue for another columnist. There were just 824 caregivers statewide. [continues 1144 words]
Thank goodness Mr. Smith's grandma has access to medical marijuana should she need it. By the Numbers 32,110 registered medical-marijuana patients in Arizona 1,209 cancer patients 517 patients age 71 to 80 181 women patients age 71 to 80 One potential older MMJ patient in Mr. Smith's family It's been a rough couple of weeks in Mr. Smithville. Financial delays and the familiar sting of foraminal spinal stenosis are mounting, and someone very, very close to me got the Bad News. [continues 541 words]
A Federal Court Hears a Case That Could Lead to Marijuana Being Classified As Having Medical Value The lawyers are at it again, shoving legal briefs and filings and arguments down each other's throats and generally trying to rip new assholes in each other for the benefit of all mankind. This time, I am referring to a federal case brought by Americans for Safe Access, a medical-marijuana-advocacy group that has been fighting for more than 10 years to get cannabis removed from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act. The lawyers at ASA think the Drug Enforcement Administration made a mistake last year when it rejected a bid to reschedule cannabis. [continues 528 words]
In November, Voters in Three States Will Decide on the Legalization of Marijuana for Everyone In a perfect world, you would be able to walk into a store and openly buy your medical cannabis at will, slapping down cash in exchange for goods and services the way God, our Founding Fathers and the voters intended. But we live in Arizona, which by and large is pretty awesome, but sometimes sucks a little compared to other states, especially when our governor and attorney general get in the way of those voters I mentioned earlier. Well, it seems like we might soon have a perfect medical-marijuana world just a few states away, maybe even just a few hundred miles away. [continues 536 words]
It would not surprise me if in the next six years-the term of a U.S. senator-the federal government were to tackle the issue of marijuana-law reform. The feds have been bitch-slapping the populace over the issue for decades now, on both the medical side and the recreational, and it seems to me that America is getting tired of playing Larry to the federal government's Moe. And since incumbents have a huge advantage in U.S. Senate elections, either Richard Carmona or Jeff Flake might well have a chance to help get the feds out of the cannabis-control business, even if the issue isn't resolved within six years. [continues 605 words]
In the dead of night, they came. Strapped with threatening gear, locked and loaded for extreme prejudice, they swooped in SWAT-style on Wednesday, Sept. 12, after a month of planning to rid our city of yet another horrible scourge-to protect children, frail elderly ladies and nosy neighbors from ... pot. They are officers on the Counter Narcotics Alliance, a drug-busting task force with officers from 14 Southern Arizona law-enforcement agencies. Their perceived scourge was a group of certification clinics and collectives operating under the name Shop 420. Officers crashed into five Shop 420 locations-four in Tucson, and one in Casa Grande-and took 14 pounds of meds, 10 hostages and a gun. The hostages were later released, after they were charged with money-laundering, conspiracy, planning to sell pot and possessing pot paraphernalia. [continues 477 words]
Let's look at where the presidential candidates stand on medical marijuana With the late summer breezes cooling us south of 100 and this being an election year, it's time for you to adjust your blindfold and prepare to pin the tail on the animal of your choice. I usually prefer a donkey, but you can pick an elephant or a Teabilly fuckstick if you want. Medical marijuana isn't going to be a key issue in this campaign, despite the sad musings of at least one blogger (Steph Sherer of The Huffington Post, who laughingly seems to think MMJ can swing the election). But Mr. Smith thinks it's worth turning the grow lights on our presidential contenders to examine where they stand on the topic. I doubt many voters will decide based solely on MMJ, but surely some will. So let's take a look: [continues 550 words]
I'm writing about J.M. Smith's "Keep the Faith" (Medical MJ, Aug. 23). Unfortunately, I am not nearly as optimistic as Mr. Smith. The Mexican drug-cartels don't want any legal marijuana sold in Arizona or anywhere in the United States. So will they go after the medical-marijuana dispensaries? Not directly. Instead, they'll have politicians on their payroll to do it for them. Unfortunately, I voted for and campaigned for one of those politicians who now resides in the White House. Kirk Muse Mesa [end]
Despite Recent Setbacks, Legal Medical Marijuana Will Continue to Be Available Being a medical-marijuana patient is beginning to feel a bit like living in a house of cards. And the wind is beginning to blow. In the past two weeks, Gov. Jan reignited the bundle of sticks at our feet by yet again siccing bulldog Tom Horne on the MMJ community. And in Los Angeles, where (and possibly in part because) the artist formerly known as Snoop Dogg touts the benefits of MMJ in dispensary ads, the city is gearing up to enforce a storefront sales ban imposed last month. In July, the U.S. attorney for Northern California-the Holy Land of MMJ-sent notice that she plans to cast the walls of the temple asunder at the biggest dispensary in the nation, San Francisco's Harborside Health Center, where more than 100,000 patients are connected with their meds. [continues 540 words]
While the Process of Opening Dispensaries Drags, the Number of Registered MMJ Patients Lags In a perfect world, we would all be freely exchanging marijuana for money like we trade our fine legal tender for bread or bananas or apples or Trek Madone bicycles. But we don't. The Man here in the great state of Arizona has made sure of that, putting a crimp in our collective style and gumming up the medical-marijuana system with all kinds of regulations and rules and Do Thises and Don't Do Thats. Those rules and regulations are grinding along ever so slowly in Phoenix this week, where state officials are gearing up to let a handful of dispensaries swing open doors to let the masses (OK, not quite the masses; more on that later) pick and choose freely among the buds. [continues 514 words]
In an apparent attempt to enforce federal law, officers from Southern Arizona's multi-agency Counter Narcotics Alliance recently closed out a two-month-long investigation into the Green Halo Caregiver Collective-and then proceeded to get all up in the collective's shit in a rude and offensive way. They stormed the collective, near Interstate 10 and Prince Road, on July 10, tearing apart a costly grow room, smashing lights and ventilation equipment, cutting down plants, intimidating the staff and generally fucking the place up in all kinds of ways. They took "evidence," including stacks of blank patient forms (but no patient records), the security cameras (but not the video), and the big-screen television from the waiting room, which was used for medical-cannabis education. [continues 520 words]
Not all MMJ patients look forward to the opening of dispensaries There's been a lot of talk lately about the 25-mile rule for medical-marijuana patients. The rule, which says no patient can grow for himself unless he lives more than 25 miles from a dispensary, will finally kick in this summer when dispensaries open. It seems to be pissing off a lot of people and causing a spate of arm-waving, foot-stomping and righteous indignation. Through the end of May, about 25,000 patients had asked to grow statewide. Assuming even that half of them did, there are roughly 13,000 Arizona bedrooms or garages or corners of dens blossoming with hardy green flowers with little white hairs on them. It was a beautiful accident of Gov. Jan's decision to halt dispensaries. Thousands upon thousands of tiny grow operations popping up all over the state for the past year, spreading joy and love and kindness in the form of cheap medication. [continues 478 words]
NORML Keeps Pushing for the Full Legalization of Marijuana Not so long ago, it wasn't cool to want pot legal. Back in the '70s, when the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, emerged, if you backed legalization, you were pretty much viewed as a loser, a hippie dropout, some kind of craazzzzy tambourine player who donned scarves, ate LSD and danced in parks. Most of America didn't take the fringe group seriously. But by the time Tucson's NORML chapter president, Jon Gettel, got involved in the early 2000s, things had changed. Aided by medical marijuana's legitimacy, NORML had grown into a much-more-respected backer of marijuana legal reform. Now NORML is a federal nonprofit that reaches coast to coast to push for legal access to marijuana-for whatever use you chose. NORML isn't just trying to appease stoners. [continues 503 words]
The State Should Make MMJ an Option for Sufferers of Generalized Anxiety Disorder Everyone feels anxious from time to time. We get tense when we have important meetings or hot dates or when we're in traffic and some asshole cuts us off. But clinical anxiety is a different animal. People who suffer from generalized anxiety disorder don't get a break when they see the date is going well or that the meeting was a success. Their anxiety is a constant, physically gripping presence, often for no good reason. It makes people fearful and sweaty in situations most of us glide through with ease. [continues 541 words]
If MMJ can help people with migraines, then people with migraines should be able to use MMJ Thankfully, I've only had two migraines in my life-both when I was a freshman in high school, and both immediately after biology class. I'm pretty sure my migraines were environmental, since both came after I was dissecting animals steeped in formaldehyde. I haven't had one since, although a couple of times, I have had that sketchy eye effect, where you have blind spots, and things seem a little fractal or something. [continues 622 words]
It's A No-Brainer: The State Should Allow Sufferers of Ptsd to Use Medical Marijuana Across the nation, numerous states are considering medical-marijuana laws with a mixed bag of choices on how they address post-traumatic stress disorder. Connecticut just passed a law that includes it as a qualifying illness, while bills pending in Illinois and Indiana don't include it. In Arizona, the law does not cover the treatment of PTSD. Hopefully, that will change next month, when the state will decide whether to add PTSD as a qualifying illness. On May 25, the state Department of Health Services took public comments as a part of the process (as the state also did with depression, as I discussed last week). Here are a few tidbits from that hearing. [continues 560 words]
If you've ever been depressed or have lived with someone who is depressed, you know it sucks-and not just a little bit. Depression really, really sucks a lot in ways that make people lose their jobs and wish they were dead. It seeps out from the hearts and souls of sufferers to affect everyone around them, putting cracks in otherwise sound relationships. At times, being depressed is like being at the bottom of the pool, sucked down against the drain on your back, watching the world go by up there in the air. But down at the bottom of the pool, you can't breathe. You want to swim up to the surface, to gulp in huge gasps of atmosphere, and feel alive and vibrant. [continues 550 words]
J.M. SMITH Chemdog from Desert Dawn Caregivers. Desert Dawn Caregivers What: MMJ delivery service. Desert Dawn advertises smokable meds, tinctures, edibles, clones and mother plants. Selection is limited for the time being, since Desert Dawn is between harvests. Look for a broader selection soon, including plants for getting in one more harvest before dispensaries open, and growing becomes illegal. Why: Delivery convenience that's hard to beat. Good prices-I paid a $50 donation for an eighth, which is less than other local collectives. [continues 621 words]
Why Can't We All Just Get Along Regarding Marijuana? So. Once again, I'm ensconced in the Compound, behind numerous padlocks and chains and brick walls, down under the ghetto bird, wondering what to write about. Sometimes when I don't know what to write, I just start writing. The free flow of association often leads the horse to water, and he drinks. It worked this time, because literally in the past five minutes, since I started writing this, I figured out what this column is going to be about. [continues 487 words]
The State Is Making Prospective MMJ-Dispensary Owners Jump Through Costly Hoops The aerie is a place of the past now, so I am hunkered down, listening to too many sirens and dodging too many broken bottles in the bike lanes and chronically getting a neck ache from the stress and stark realities of life and foraminal spinal stenosis. It's a grim existence, in some ways, but there is a light: My pain will be eased in a big figurative way in August, when we will-God willing, and the governor don't rise-have medical-marijuana dispensaries sparsely peppered all over the state like fields of desert poppies. Ken Sobel, vice president of the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce and operator of Green Halo Caregiver Collective on the westside, is ready. [continues 587 words]
Crackdowns on Large-Scale Marijuana Purveyors May Indeed Be Warranted The people close to me-and maybe some folks a few tables away at the bar-know what I think about politicians. I've spent a lot of time over the years following our esteemed leaders around with microphones, and some of the things I recorded disgusted me and pissed me off-and generally made me think less of politicians as a subset of humanity. I always start with the assumption that whatever a politician says into my recorder is carefully crafted bullshit aimed at deceiving. [continues 540 words]
Two Newly Retired Experts on the Border Speak Freely About the Status of the Arizona/Mexico Dividing Line Dan Wirth and Keith Graves spent significant portions of their careers working on the Arizona-Mexico border. They know these troubled lands inside and out. Both have reputations as straight-shooters, and both retired last December. Now able to speak freely, they agreed to talk to the Tucson Weekly with only one topic off-limits-the murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in Peck Canyon on Dec. 14, 2010. At his retirement, Graves promised the Border Patrol he wouldn't discuss what he knows about the case. [continues 4845 words]
a Champion of Medical Marijuana Fights What He Considers Harassment and Uneven Enforcement Lawsuits are flying again in the Arizona medical-marijuana world-or at least requests for writs of mandamus and notices of claims are flying. Three former MMJ club owners have put the state on notice that they want $18 million in compensation for an October raid that closed their 2811 Club near Bell Road and Interstate 17 in Phoenix. Allan Sobol, Shawn Britton and Susan Miller wonder-and so do I-why police targeted their club, which never sold marijuana, but offered patients a safe, convenient place to learn about MMJ and get meds after paying membership fees. [continues 567 words]
A Man Faces DUI, Paraphernalia Charges After a Tpd Officer Allegedly Ignores the Man's MMJ Card A few days before Christmas, Tom Cadamagnani decided to help a friend who was down on her luck. The former Marine and his friend jumped in his truck and headed for the Salvation Army to get some presents for her grandkids. They never got there. A Tucson police officer stopped Cadamagnani, 50, on Dec. 20 for a minor registration glitch, saw a pipe in his truck, and cited the medical-marijuana patient for an expired registration, DUI and possession of drug paraphernalia. The expired registration was a record-keeping glitch that has since been cleared up, Cadamagnani said. [continues 666 words]
Conservatives in the Arizona Legislature Want Guns Galore on Campus-but Not a Whiff of Weed Sometimes, a parallel universe just smacks you upside the head. One such moment occurred recently, when the Arizona Legislature birthed a pair of bills that would-conversely-allow gun fanatics to pack heat on campus, and ensure that sick students can't toke medical marijuana. One bill has the support of college muckety-mucks; the other most definitely does not. But in this alternate reality called Arizona, neither measure is much of a surprise. [continues 998 words]
The word to use is "cannabis." Your column will be a lot more helpful once you read The Pot Book ("J.M. on J.M.," Medical MJ, Feb. 2). You have yet to mention that just like endorphins, the brain has its own endogenous cannabinoid receptors. This was discovered by researchers in the '90s. Also, you have failed to have a decent article on sativa versus indica, or on CBD, by far the most medically promising compound found in marijuana. Please reduce your swearing, too. My grandmother once said swearing just means you have a poor vocabulary. You can usually find a better word. [continues 88 words]
Just like many of you, I have struggled with the new onslaught of medical information about cannabis. There's a lot of data out there to parse, and it's hard to get past the fusillade of unsourced bloggers and marketing mavens who seem like they're giving you information, but are actually just telling you what they heard at a NORML meeting or trying to get your $150 for a certification. [continues 558 words]
A lot of things are happening with Arizona's medical-marijuana program--judges are ruling right and left in federal and state court; a humbled Will Humble is moving ahead with dispensary applications at the Department of Health Services; and Gov. Jan has leaped off her MMJ high horse for the time being and moved on to eating presidential crow. Arizona is 0-for-2 on lawsuits right now, having lost bids to find out if federal agents will storm state offices to arrest employees and to restrict who can open dispensaries. Because the state was legally smacked down, wheels are quickly turning toward the day when we can to walk into a shop and buy MMJ. Humble said on his blog on Jan. 25 that dispensaries could open as soon as summer. [continues 553 words]
Now she's really gone and done it. By "she," I mean Arizona's fine and esteemed Gov. Jan Brewer, and by "it," I mean launched the state toward full implementation of the voter-passed Medical Marijuana Act. Now that two judges--one federal, one Superior Court--have scolded Gov. Jan into doing what we told her to do more than a year ago, she has decided to start taking applications from hopeful MMJ dispensary operators. [continues 620 words]
I am writing concerning the Guest Commentary on legalizing all drugs except for methamphetamine (Jan. 12). I never thought that I would be saying this, but I disagree. Meth is not the only drug that needs to be illegal. Crack cocaine is just as bad as meth, and should not be legal. Having done both, and after being clean for at least 12 years, I know both are bad. I don't even think heroin and morphine should be legal. I've seen a few too many people hurt because of those drugs. I don't see anything wrong with legalizing marijuana and other herbal drugs. John Key [end]
