Steve Cooley is a Quitter... Thank God!

On the Eve of Thanksgiving Steve Cooley decided to give the 420 community the best holiday gift he could think of… He quit in his futile bid for the job of attorney general of Ca. I would personally like to thank everyone that made this possible.

Steve Cooley, the Republican candidate that single handedly decided to take on the voters of Ca., and Prop 215, when he declared that all medical marijuana collectives were operating illegally as far as he was concerned. And that regardless of the overwhelming voter approval of medical marijuana and its related medical marijuana dispensaries, Mr. Cooley saw it as his “duty” to follow his own moral compass and shut down all MMJ collective in L.A. County.

It was hard to watch them swapping leads (Ms. Harris and Mr. Cooley) for the last two + weeks, and it was not until she gained an insurmountable lead over the past week that Mr. Cooley came to the obvious conclusion that he couldn't win… in spite of his declaration to the contrary on election eve, where he declared his “victory”.

The Election results as of Thanksgiving afternoon had Ms. Harris leading 46% to 45.4%, with a margin of 58,000 out of more than 9,000,000 votes cast.

The DEA and Oakland's Medical Marijuana Farms

While Oakland keeps taking steps towards becoming the first major city in the
United States to allow marijuana cultivation for wholesale medical marijuana use, the budding cannabis cultivators who showed up at Oakland City Hall Monday night wanted some kind of guarantee that their sizable business investments will be sheltered from the DEA should they come to town.

Whoever the lucky four medical marijuana farmers are will have to pay an annual permit fee of $211,000. That being said, they also stand a chance to make millions for themselves and the city of Oakland. Nevertheless, they are in unexplored legal waters and one of the principal threats out there will be the federal government and the DEA.

There were around 75 applicants attending the meeting to gain knowledge of how to apply for the one of the four (golden ticket) permits allowing for the development of medical marijuana on a large scale manufacturing level. From all I’ve read it will be a “blind selection” process.

Of course there will be rigorous environmental and safety regulations that will have to be meet by all four medical marijuana farms.

How can all of this be done when CA state law is in direct disagreement with federal law on this issue? Many of these applicants will invest somewhere around five to eight million dollars, and would like to know if the city will defend them if the DEA decides to come to town and do a search and seizure on their cannabis farms.

Arizona's Prop 203 30 most interesting facts...

The votes are counted and Arizona’s Prop 203 – the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act – has passed by a margin of 4,341 votes (841,346 YES, 837,005 NO). We’re receiving many calls and emails from people interested in the details of the new law. Here are the highlights of the measure:

1. The allowable amount of marijuana for patients and caregivers is 2.5 ounces.
2. IF a patient or caregiver is allowed to cultivate, the limit is 12 plants that must be grown in an “enclosed, locked facility”, defined as “closet, room, greenhouse, or other enclosed area”.
3. Qualifying conditions: cancer, glaucoma, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), Crohn’s, Alzheimer’s, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe and chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures (like epilespy), and severe and persistent spasms (like multiple sclerosis).
4. Caregivers must be 21 years old and pass criminal background check for certain felonies.
5. Caregivers can serve no more than five patients, must keep a card for each one
6. Caregivers may receive reimbursement for actual expenses – not labor – from their own patients only.
7. Patients’ and Caregivers’ medical marijuana cards last for one year and will contain their photo, name, address, birthdate, and indication whether medical marijuana is allowed to be cultivated at home.
8. If the state has not issued a card within 45 days, a copy of the application shall have the same force as the card.
9. Patients and caregivers must submit fingerprints to law enforcement and sign a statement that they will not divert marijuana to non-patients.
10. Patients and caregivers may share marijuana with other patients for free, as long as they don’t knowingly cause the patient to exceed 2.5 ounces.
11. Non-profit medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed.
12. A patient who lives within 25 miles of a dispensary may not cultivate their own medical marijuana.
13. Patients and caregivers may not possess medical marijuana on a school bus, school, or correctional facility.
14. Patients may not smoke marijuana on public transportation or in any public place.
15. Patients may not drive under the influence of marijuana; however, marijuana metabolites shall not be proof of impairment.
16. Fees for non-profit dispensaries shall not be greater than $5,000 or $1,000 for a renewal license.
17. Dispensaries must cultivate their own medical marijuana, which they can do onsite or at one separate physical address
18. Patients and Caregivers may give marijuana to dispensaries, but not for any compensation.
19. Neither the dispensary nor the cultivation address may be within 500 feet of a school.
20. There can be no more than one dispensary for every ten pharmacies, except that there can be at least one dispensary in every county.
21. The cards or recommendations for visiting patients from other medical marijuana states will be recognized in Arizona, but they may not shop at the dispensaries.
22. Patients in assisted care facilities can be limited to non-smoking methods of use and only in certain areas; however, such facilities are not required to enact these limitations.
23. Dispensaries must have a single secure entrance, a strong security system, and no medicating is allowed on the premises.
24. Dispensaries must track patients’ acquisitions to ensure they receive no more than 2.5 ounces from any dispensaries within a fourteen day period.
25. There shall be a secure, web-based confirmation system accessible by law enforcement and dispensaries, that reveals patients’ and caregivers’ names but not addresses and how much marijuana the patient received from all dispensaries in the past sixty days.
26. Non-patients cannot be punished for being the vicinity of lawful medical marijuana use by patients or providing paraphernalia to patients.
27. Schools and landlords cannot discriminate against medical marijuana patients and caregivers, unless they are subject to federal penalty.
28. Employers cannot discriminate against patients and caregivers and a positive test for marijuana metabolites is not cause for disciplining or terminating a patient.
29. Medical facilities and treatments, including organ transplants, cannot be denied to patients for their medical marijuana use.
30. Parental rights of patients cannot be denied solely for their medical marijuana use.