The Weekly Weed

Los Angeles To Limit Marijuana Dispensaries

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

California — The Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance on Tuesday that shutters roughly 80 percent of the nearly 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries in the city and makes the use of marijuana in the remaining outlets illegal.

The vote amounts to a major setback for backers of medical marijuana and a victory for community groups that have long complained about the proliferation of the dispensaries near residential neighborhoods, schools and parks. Los Angeles has more of the outlets than any other city in the states that allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

“These are out of control,” said Councilman Ed Reyes, chairman of the planning and land-use management committee, which oversaw the writing of the ordinance. “Our city has more of these than Starbucks.”

The measure, which passed on a 9-to-3 vote, would impose stringent rules on the location of the dispensaries — essentially moving them to industrial zones — and restrict their hours. The ordinance, which city officials acknowledged would be difficult to enforce, would limit the number of dispensaries at 70 but suggested that even fewer would be permitted if there was not ample space under the new parameters to accommodate them. Read More..

Pot Deal Puts Noses Out of Joint…

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

Los Angeles, CA — After years of wrangling, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a medical marijuana ordinance that slaps tougher restrictions on pot clinics and will likely shut down hundreds of dispensaries across the city.

The 9-3 vote drew loud protests from clinic supporters, who plan to challenge it in court, but was also blasted by medical marijuana critics who said allowing any clinics flies in the face of federal law.

“To us it looks like the council has a de facto ban on medical marijuana,” said Kris Hermes, spokesman for the pro-medical marijuana group Americans for Safe Access.

Under the new law, which is expected to be signed by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, clinics will be barred from operating within 1,000 feet of sensitive areas, such as parks, schools, libraries and churches.

While cash can be used to purchase marijuana, all sales must be documented and the dispensaries cannot make a profit; they can only recover operating expenses. Read More..

Pot Going Corporate?

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

USA — In the warm, luminescent glow of the dust encrusted light fixture, the carpeted and dank hallway disappears into unvacuumed recesses. Darren grabs an unobtrusive handle along the wall’s flimsy wood paneling, pulls, and a crack of light pierces the gloom. Pushing aside a black screen of Hefty bags intended to block light and trap heat, he reveals his miniature grow closet. A heavy, supple branch tumbles out. It brushes my hand, leaving a telltale streak of sticky, stinky moistness. The resin goes away with a bit of water. The smell stays.

A ventilator and wooden door couldn’t dilute the pungent odor of the maturing female plants. When I point this out, Darren offers me only a mischievous smile. He’s proud of this little closet-conversion. Six plants in all, two to a shelf, a 150-watt lamp substituting for sunlight in this hallway cupboard. “You can hide it no problem, but the smell is crazy. Next week my whole house is going to reek! Clipping and all that,” he tells me. Ten days away from “pulling” the plants, Darren’s “babies” are reaching their most odorous phase. Read More..

Medical Pot Advocates Riled Over Federal Raid

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

Colorado — Federal drug-enforcement agents earlier this week seized medical-marijuana samples from a Denver lab that does potency testing for dispensaries, in what cannabis advocates say is an instance of continued official harassment of the medical-marijuana industry.

The raid at Full Spectrum Laboratories, just north of downtown Denver, occurred Wednesday, said Betty Aldworth, the lab’s outreach director. She said agents took dozens of medical-marijuana samples — either small pieces of plants or test tubes of “extraction fluid” — but left the lab’s equipment and did not arrest anyone.

Neither a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman nor a U.S. attorney’s office spokesman would confirm or deny that the raid took place.

Documents that would reveal why federal authorities targeted the lab were not available Thursday. Read More..

Rethinking the whole Pot thing…?

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

California — It’s ironic that the straightest path toward clarity in laws surrounding marijuana may just be through the initiative process.

By now, it’s no secret that various groups have put forth ballot measures this election year to completely legalize the drug, which until now has only been legal as medicine. But that current qualified legality has led to mass confusion across the state, and a number of legal conundrums that threaten public safety in a number of ways.

For starters, it’s obvious that much of what is grown in California under the banner of Proposition 215 is instead channeled into the black market, where it’s turned to cash. Add to that the rash of home invasion robberies in this area and others in recent years, and it’s clear that something needs to change in regards to medical marijuana regulation. Read More..

“Weed” the College Education

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

A university called Greenway is planning to offer training for business people interested in medical marijuana dispensaries. The university says it plans to offer MBAs for entrepreneurs wanting to open their own dispensary.

They also say they’ll offer PhDds in science for marijuana growing.

They’re holding an informational event on opening a dispensary. The event took place on Saturday and another one will be held Sunday at the Westin Tabor Center from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Westin Tabor Center is located at 1672 Lawrence Street in Denver.

New Pot Laws Needed to be written by City

Jan 31, 2010Online IssueLeave a comment

Source: Aurora Sentinel

Colorado — Here’s the dope, Aurora: Mary Jane is coming, and it looks like she’s going to stay. While Denver and much of the rest of the metro area has been inflamed by the medical-marijuana controversy, Aurora officials have decided to take a look-and-see attitude about the whole thing.

Not any more. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates this week waved the red flag in front of apathetic city officials, making it clear that like it or not, the medical marijuana controversy is going to boil over at the state Capitol and spread right into our very own medical-marijuana-free community.

The city has been approached at least four times by people who want to open up medical pot-shops, lovingly dubbed “dispensaries,” but Aurora’s official opinion has been that Uncle Sam says that the famed cannabis plant and anything to do with it is illegal, and therefore the city can’t grant any dispensaries a business license because they’re not a lawful business. Read More..