Stories & Articles | Arizona Medical Marijuana Law

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Arizona Medical Marijuana Going to Young, Healthy

CBS5AZ: “Data from the state Department of Health Services show nearly half of the recipients of medical marijuana cards in Arizona are younger than 40. . . . ‘About 90 percent of our qualifying patients have cards because of severe and chronic pain,’ said Will Humble, the director of the Arizona Department of Health [...]

Former U.S. Attorney Assists Arizona Medical Marijuana Dispensary

The Daily Courier: “Chino Valley’s new medical marijuana growing facility would be hard-pressed to find a better lawyer and adviser than a former U.S. Attorney for Arizona. . . . ‘I’m of the belief that the feds aren’t going to do anything to an operation that’s legitimate, that follows the rules,’ [Mel] McDonald [...]

Chino Valley Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens this Week

The Daily Courier: “the first MMJ dispensary in Yavapai County is set to open this week. Organica Patient Group is scheduled to open as early as Wednesday at 856 Highway 89 in Chino Valley, said R.J. Alarcon, president of the company.”

Feds File Forfeiture Lawsuit Against Owner of Berkley’s Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary

The following is the contents of a press release issued by Americans for Safe Access on May 8, 2013. Note to Owners of real estate who lease land to licensed Arizona medical marijuana dispensaries: Are you paying attention?

One of California’s oldest medical marijuana dispensaries, Berkeley Patients Group (BPG), was served with a [...]

San Bernardino Raids Marijuana Dispensaries, Aims to Shut Down All

The Sun: “Years of levying but not collecting fines on medical marijuana dispensaries and fielding impatient calls from neighbors upset the shops stay open are rapidly ending now that the California Supreme Court says cities may ban them, San Bernardino officials say. The message was taken seriously by at least 18 of the [...]

Arizona University’s May Engage in Marijuana Research

East Vally Tribune: “Gov. Jan Brewer has cleared one hurdle for new research on the possible medical benefits of marijuana. Without comment the governor on Tuesday signed legislation to permit possession of the drug on college and university campuses. The measure takes effect later this year.”

California Supreme Court Upholds City’s Rights to Use Zoning to Ban Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Long Beach Post: “The California Supreme Court ruled Monday morning that local governments have the right to ban medical marijuana dispensary storefronts, a decision that for now upholds the nearly 200 bans in effect statewide . . . . In a unanimous decision on the case City of Riverside v. Inland Empire Patients [...]

How to Avoid a Marijuana DUI in Zero-Tolerance Arizona

Phoenix New Times: “For the millions of people who now use marijuana legally under their states’ laws, driving in Arizona is technically a crime. Motorists with pot metabolites in their bloodstreams who want to avoid a marijuana DUI — which comes with nasty fines and a one-year suspension of driving privileges, instead of [...]

War on Marijuana Returns with Federal Crackdown on Seattle Dispensaries

The Daily Chronic: “After a several month long cease-fire, the War on Marijuana has reignited in Washington, with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ordering 11 Seattle-area medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down within 30 days. Despite November’s voter-approved Initiative 502, which legalized marijuana for all adults 21 or over in the state of Washington, and [...]

Obama’s War on Medical Marijuana

The Daily Beast: “While a high school student at Honolulu’s elite Punahou School, Barack Obama was a high-flying member of a pot-smoking, party-hearty crew that called itself ‘the Choom Gang. . . . I inhaled frequently . . . that was the whole point.’ In 2008, he said that he wouldn’t use federal [...]

Glendale’s Medical Marijuana Shops Tread Legal Maze

Arizona Republic: “Glendale is home to two of Maricopa County’s three operating medical-marijuana dispensaries. . . . The state has 15 non-profit dispensaries operating with several others expected to open within a few days and more than 10 on the verge of approval.

Public Opinion Favors Pot Legalization but Federal Raids Continue across California

Kitsap Sun: “More than 60 percent of those surveyed also said that the federal government should not enforce federal laws against marijuana in states where it’s legal for medicinal or recreational use. Almost 80 percent of respondents said they believe that marijuana has valuable medicinal uses as well. . . . Possession and [...]

Marijuana Repeal Considered In Colorado

CBS Denver: “Marijuana legalization could be going back to the ballot in Colorado — a prospect that infuriated pot legalization activists Friday. The proposal for a marijuana ballot measure came as the House started debate Friday evening on bills to regulate and tax pot. One bill would state how pot should be grown [...]

Arizona Cities Studying Implications of Medical Marijuana Law

Casa Grande Dispatch: “the law bans discrimination in terms of employment. Specifically, the law prohibits “certain discriminatory practices including” that employers may not discriminate against a person who has qualified to use medical marijuana ‘in hiring, terminating or imposing employment conditions unless failing to do so would cause the employer to lose a [...]

Navajo County Board of Supervisors Approves Permit for Dispensary

Arizona Journal: “In an anticlimactic ending to a hotly contested issue, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a special use permit for Overgaard Compassion Care to operate a medical marijuana dispensary at a location 11 miles east of Overgaard on Highway 277.”

Authorities Raid San Bernardino Marijuana Dispensaries

The Sun: “Accompanied by police, fire and code enforcement, City Attorney’s Office officials raided three medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday, serving warrants and demanding that they shut down allegedly illegal activities. No arrests were made, but officials had a message for The Trio Holistic Center and Berdo Medical Center at 1455 W. Highland Ave. [...]

Arizona Lawmakers Vote to Allow Medical Marijuana Research at State Universities

Today’s New-Herald: “Lawmakers voted Wednesday to pave the way for research at state universities that eventually could allow doctors in Arizona to recommend marijuana to treat more conditions. On a 37-19 margin the House approved SB 1443 to alter last year’s law banning marijuana from college and university campuses to allow federally approved [...]

Feds Have Closed Almost All of the 525+ Marijuana Businesses in Central California

The following is the text of an April 18, 2013, press release by the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California:

In the latest of a series of federal enforcement actions against the commercial marijuana industry in California, federal authorities today moved against 63 illegal marijuana stores in the City [...]

San Diego Area Pot Dispensary, Growing Sites Raided

U-T San Diego: “One day after the San Diego City Council took up the issue of taxing marijuana, narcotics agents raided one of the last remaining medical pot dispensaries in downtown San Diego Tuesday morning. The regional Narcotics Task Force also ran a parallel operation to seize pot plants at homes and businesses [...]

4 Los Angeles Dispensaries Raided

WeHoNews: “Four dispensaries were raided, the La Brea Compassionate Caregivers in Los Angeles and Marina Caregivers in Marina del Rey and Zen Healing at 8464 Santa Monica Blvd. and Alternative Herbal Health Services, at 7828 Santa Monica Blvd.”

A press release issued by the Beverly Hills Police Department said:

“[the raid was [...]

US Drug Czar Says Legalizing Marijuana won’t Solve US Drug Problem

UPI.com: “U.S. President Barack Obama’s point man for drug policy said legalizing marijuana won’t solve the nation’s drug problem, but addiction treatment will increase. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington the legal possession of small amounts of [...]

Dispensary Operators’ Trial Date Set

The Union Democrat: “Four people arrested in a May 2011 raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in East Sonora will stand trial May 1, following an evidence hearing in Tuolumne County Superior Court on Wednesday. Jana Marie Evans, Nancy June Smith, Sara Herrin and Dannyjo Geller Herrin, all of Tuolumne, are accused of [...]

Inside the Nation’s Largest Medical Marijuana Dispensary

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After the raid: First Oaksterdam, then legal battles for Harborside Health Center

Oakland North: “He might direct the largest medical marijuana dispensary in the country, but Steve DeAngelo isn’t scared of the government’s attempts to shut it down. ‘The federal government has thrown everything they had at us and we met them and we pushed back,’ DeAngelo said, referring to Harborside Health Center, where he [...]

Sheila Polk Was Wrong: 16 Medical-Pot Dispensaries Now Open in AZ and Not Being Shut Down by Feds

Phoenix New Times: “Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk announced in dramatic fashion last July that federal authorities would shut down every medical-marijuana dispensary in Arizona ‘as it opens.’ Polk made the bad prediction in a letter she penned and sent to the governor after getting several other county attorneys to sign it. We [...]

Many Ongoing Battles of Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Law

Flagstaff Live: “How stoned is too stoned to drive? A recent decision by Arizona’s appellate court says it’s illegal for Flagstaff’s nearly 1,000 medical marijuana cardholders—and thousands of other recreational users—to drive their cars, even if they haven’t smoked in weeks. A 22-year-old Flagstaff father was on his way home from the grocery [...]

So You Want to Open A Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Yahoo! News: “according to Robert Calkin, president and CEO of the Cannabis Career Institute, there’s growing interest in how to run a successful medical marijuana dispensary, collective, or an edible marijuana (think brownies, cookies, and cake) business. ‘Aside from having a personal interest in health or the growing of [marijuana], people are realizing [...]

Legalized Pot Laws Draw Tourists to Colorado & Washington for 4/20

Associated Press: “Thousands of people are expected to join an unofficial counterculture holiday celebrating marijuana in Colorado and Washington this coming weekend, including out-of staters and even packaged tours. The events and crowds will test the limits of new laws permitting pot use by adults.”

Arizona Medical-marijuana-packaging Bill Loses Prosecutors’ Support

Arizona Republic: “The complexity of the legal debate over whether federal law trumps the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act has prompted the state’s prosecuting-attorneys association to withdraw its support of legislation their members had helped craft to protect children from accidentally eating medical cannabis. A bill to enforce bland wrapping on candy containing marijuana [...]

Marijuana Industry may Employ 1,500 in Arizona

Phoenix Business Journal: “With efforts under way to repeal the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, supporters commissioned an economic analysis that found the budding industry could employ more than 1,500 Arizona workers and provide $74 million in income to those households.”

Arizona Medical Marijuana Law

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