Medical Marijuana

A woman who's been waiting five months for an updated license to use medical marijuana says the situation for patients is getting worse. Health Canada issues medical marijuana licenses to people with debilitating illnesses and prescriptions from their doctors. Almost 5,000 Canadians have licenses to carry medical marijuana and just over 3,500 have a license to grow it. A spokesman for Health Canada says the department streamlined its process and is now hitting its eight to 10 week processing time target.

Leaders of both political parties have already expressed an unwillingness to move to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, but that won’t stop advocates of medical marijuana from lobbying for the change when the legislature convenes in January.

Michigan's Department of Community Health is refusing to voluntarily turn over the records of seven medical marijuana patients to the federal government. The federal government is now taking the state to court to get them.

The Canada Revenue Agency is trying to collect some income tax from marijuana growers who supply B.C.'s Compassion Club. Compassion Club lawyer John Conroy says the two sides have reached an agreement and the club is now trying to convince growers to claim their income. He says many people don't realize that even if you're involved in illegal activities, declaring the illegal income won't result in criminal charges.

Weedmaps Media, Inc. grossed revenue of over $3,000,000 in 2010 compared to a gross revenue of less than $150,000 in 2009, its first year of operation. Weedmaps.com, a division of Weedmaps Media, Inc. is the largest finder site for medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the United States.

Allan Sobol, spokesman for the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, says Arizona's state Health Director Will Humble has gone beyond what voters approved in imposing restrictions on when a doctor can write the necessary recommendation for a patient to buy up to 2 1/2 ounces of medical marijuana every two weeks.

Williams was caught by TSA with his medical marijuana pipe while going through a security checkpoint. He paid the citation of $484 and was released to resume his travel plans. Williams suffers from multiple sclerosis and is a prominent advocate for legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes.

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.