Medical Marijuana

A grassroots petition drive to get medical marijuana on the 2010 ballot in Florida is underway. Organizers need almost 700,000 signatures and $5 million for the drive and the election campaign, and they're counting on web-based activism to get them there.

Minnesota's medical marijuana bill won its fourth and final Senate committee vote Thursday. It's won that many House committee votes, too. Floor votes loom, but so does the grim visage of a veto-wielding Republican governor.

Oaksterdam wants to pay more taxes! The unusual gesture could help Oakland raise revenues in tough times and win more legitimacy for the city's marijuana industry.

The Justice Department will/will not raid medical marijuana providers in states where it's legal. Who knows? Attorney General Holder said last week the DEA would only go after dispensaries violating state law, but this week, the DEA hit a San Francisco dispensary that appears to be operating legally. Confusion and concern abound.

Medical marijuana is on the move in the statehouses -- bills advanced this week in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Hampshire.

California medical marijuana dispensary operator Charles Lynch was supposed to be sentenced to federal prison Monday. It didn't happen, and Lynch can thank Attorney General Holder for signaling a change of federal policy toward such prosecutions.

A medical marijuana bill in New Hampshire has passed a key committee vote and is now headed for the House floor. A similar measure failed there by a handful of votes two years ago.

The Hawkeye State turns a deaf ear to the entreaties of medical marijuana patients. A bill that would have helped has died without action.

For the second time in three weeks, Attorney General Holder has said there will be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where it is legal -- as long as they are operating under state laws. But that still leaves some wiggle room.

The Obama administration may have signaled an end to the federal war against medical marijuana in California, but there is unfinished business from the Bush era crusades. A tragic case in point is that of Morro Bay dispensary operator Charles Lynch, who faces years in federal prison when he is sentenced Monday.