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State & Local Government

Felons Who Want Medical Marijuana Put State in Awkward Position

Out of 320 requests from felons on supervision in Washington, seven people have gotten permission to use medical marijuana — a select group that includes a forger wasting away from AIDS and a white-haired grandmother named Kathy Parkins with fibromyalgia. A frustrated group of advocates, attorneys, physicians and patients says the state's Department of Corrections is ignoring the state medical marijuana law by substituting its judgment for that of doctors who recommend the drug. The policy, they say, is ripe for a legal challenge, although none has been filed.

Medical Pot Sales in Oakland Reach $35 million This Year

The economy is still tanking, but Oakland’s medical cannabis industry is banking. The city’s finance wizards are projecting that Oakland’s three dispensaries will sell between $35 million and $38 million worth in medical cannabis this year. The industry will bring in $1.5 million in taxes this year to the city.

Draft of Arizona Medical Marijuana Rules Released

The first draft of the rules that could govern medical marijuana use in Arizona are now online. The rules are laid out in a 47 page document on the Arizona Department of Health Services website. The rules cover everything from who can qualify to use medical marijuana, how dispensaries will be regulated and the role doctors need to play in the process.

High Fees Hobble California Medical Marijuana ID Card Program

California, by some estimates, has as many as 350,000 medical marijuana patients -- yet only a tiny fraction has signed on to a state ID card program meant to protect them from arrest or seizure of their medicine. That doesn't appear likely to change, say marijuana advocates, patients and some county health officials who administer the program locally, as the cost of the cards can't compete with privately issued cards or even doctors' recommendations. When the state created the program in 2003 and launched it two years later, officials figured 100,000 patients would sign on for the optional cards, but the state issued just 12,659 to patients and caregivers last fiscal year.

Arizona Medical Marijuana Act Goes Into Effect Today

Prop. 203, the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, goes into effect today. This means the state health department has until April 16 to finish its rule-making process, two weeks more than it had expected. The Arizona Department of Health Services will publish the first draft of its rules Friday, kicking off a public-comment period.

Washington State Tries to Collect Medical Marijuana Sales Tax

The Washington Department of Revenue has launched a statewide effort to collect sales tax from medical marijuana dispensaries - even as some prosecutors and the Health Department maintain such dispensaries are illegal. Spokesman Mike Gowrylow said that the Revenue Department mailed letters to 90 dispensaries and related organizations on Friday, insisting that medical marijuana is not exempt from state sales tax and that dispensaries must collect that money and turn it over to the state. The letter said dispensaries must also pay the state business and occupation tax.

Proposed Medical Marijuana Database Worries Some Patient Advocates

Among the 90-some pages of draft rules and procedures for Colorado’s medical marijuana industry unveiled earlier this week by the Colorado Department of Revenue's Medical Marijuana Advisory Board is one that makes some patients particularly nervous. It's a plan for a massive new database of MMJ patients who enroll in the Medical Marijuana Registry -- and it will be available to law enforcement agencies round the clock. "This patient and medicine tracking database is a clear violation of Article XVIII, Section 14 of Constitution, Colorado's Medical Marijuana Amendment, which requires that the health agency maintain a confidential registry of patients, which can only be accessed by law enforcement for the purpose of determining whether a person who has been detained is a member of the Registry," said The Cannabis Therapy Institute in a press release.

Colorado Clears Backlog of Applications for Medical Marijuana Cards

About 2 percent of Colorado residents now have cards to buy medical marijuana. The state health department said that it came up with the figure while clearing a backlog of medical marijuana applications. Officials said the number of approved medical marijuana users totals about 116,000.

Draft of Colorado Medical Marijuana Rules Is a 90-Page Tome

Medical marijuana advocates and government representatives hammered out the final details of proposed new rules that would give Colorado the most comprehensive seed-to-sale cannabis business regulations in the nation. The rules would govern everything: how state officials regulate marijuana cultivation; how dispensary owners keep track of their sales; what makers of marijuana-infused pastries should put on their labels. Several of the rules would place Colorado in unprecedented territory — for instance, requiring marijuana growers to install security cameras through which state auditors could remotely monitor their crop.