AltWeeklies Wire
When Will Medical Marijuana Get the High Sign in Monterey County?new
Daniel Maniscalco dreams of getting off the road and opening Monterey County’s first medical pot storefront. “I want to provide medical marijuana patients the medicines their doctors recommend,” he says.
Monterey County Weekly |
Robin Urevich |
12-17-2009 |
Drugs
L.A.'s Medical-Weed Warsnew

Today Los Angeles stands as the nation's pot capital, a mecca for buying and selling the drug under the guise of the medicinal use initiative California voters approved 13 years ago. The conditions are testament to a breakdown in basic governance unseen in any other major California city.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
11-30-2009 |
Drugs
Recent Legal Tangles Leave Colorado's Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in a Hazenew

Owners of dispensaries around Colorado have been scrambling to expand their services -- adding everything from housekeeping to lawn-mowing -- in an effort to conform to a recent court ruling that has modified the crucial definition of the "caregiver."
Boulder Weekly |
Jeff Dodge and David Accomazzo |
11-16-2009 |
Drugs
How the Holder Memo Affects New Mexico's Groundbreaking Medical Marijuana Programnew

Doctors, growers, caregivers and patients stick their necks out under New Mexico's cannabis law. Does the AG's directive make any difference?
Weekly Alibi |
Marisa Demarco |
11-12-2009 |
Drugs
Colorado Legislator Wants University to Grow Pot for the Statenew
Al White has proposed legislation that would effectively give the state complete control over the growth, sale and distribution of medical marijuana, possibly putting an end to the gold rush of dispensaries that has emerged in Boulder and around the state.
Boulder Weekly |
Jefferson Dodge |
11-09-2009 |
Drugs
California Dopes Out Marijuana Bill as Legalization Petition Gets Passed Aroundnew

Two serious bids to legalize marijuana in California are moving forward simultaneously. And while decisions won't be made for months, both efforts have generated interest from around the world.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Rebecca Bowe |
11-04-2009 |
Drugs
Will Medical Marijuana Regulations Turn the Wild West into the Mild West?new
Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown is getting ready to give medical marijuana speculators a good, swift kick with his cowboy boot, to get them to toe whatever line the city decides to draw. Better that, he says, than kick them out of Denver altogether -- as towns across the metro area have started to do.
San Diego Pot-Raid Search-Warrant Affidavits Reveal Dubious Undercover Opsnew
California's medical-pot organizations operate in a largely untested gray area of law. Yet, the only clear crime throughout a four-month sting in San Diego was perpetrated by the police.
San Diego CityBeat |
Dave Maass |
10-29-2009 |
Crime & Justice
All Sides In L.A.'s Pot Wars Agree: City Hall is Incompetentnew

The disparate groups in the pot debate agree on one thing: Los Angeles City Hall has been almost comically inept at complying with simple state deadlines for municipalities to create rules for medicinal marijuana.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Jill Stewart |
10-23-2009 |
Drugs
A Year Late, L.A. Tries to Uninvite its Unvetted Pot Shopsnew
The Los Angeles City Council now faces one of its potentially most expensive legal battles ever, a war over medical pot that could draw in shady drug dealers, serious medical-marijuana activists, gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown -- and even U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
L.A. Weekly |
Daniel Heimpel |
09-25-2009 |
Drugs
Ganjapreneurs Are Cashing in on Colorado's Booming Medical Pot Businessnew

To meet an increased demand, at least seventy new Colorado dispensaries have opened, forty in the metro area alone. Many of these are operated by what insiders are calling a "second wave" of ganjapreneurs -- savvy, experienced businesspeople and professionals.
Success at Colorado Springs Medical Marajuana Dispensariesnew

"We have, I think, something like 13 [medical marijuana] dispensaries in Colorado Springs -- in one of the most conservative cities in the country."
Colorado Springs Independent |
J. Adrian Stanley |
09-03-2009 |
Drugs
New Mexico's Medical Cannabis Coordinator Quits, Questions Pot Producer's Practicesnew
New Mexico's Medical Cannabis Program coordinator has resigned and, due to budget constraints and a hiring freeze, the state Department of Health has not refilled the position yet. The vacancy is another hurdle for a program that some patients and advocates say has been too slow to achieve its statutory goal.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Dave Maass |
08-27-2009 |
Drugs
How Federal Restrictions Created Colorado's Medical Marijuana Industrynew

The friction between federal and state law has created a booming industry in Colorado, with enterprising men and women stepping in to provide services physicians can't. The rest of the state may be in a recession, but Colorado's medical marijuana industry is thriving.
Boulder Weekly |
David Accomazzo |
08-17-2009 |
Drugs
Will Medical Marijuana Come to Pennsylvania?new

Here in Pennsylvania, my friend Barry the Pot-Dealing Samaritan is risking his freedom to provide a sick person with the medicine he needs to fight cancer. Prison time. Fines. A criminal record that would follow him for his entire life.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Brendan Skwire |
08-10-2009 |
Drugs