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UPDATE from Americans for Safe Access:

“The Maryland State Senate voted 41-6 to pass a bill today that would give an affirmative defense to qualified patients who are arrested and prosecuted for possessing or growing medical marijuana. Senate Bill 308 amends the 2003 Darrel Putnam Compassionate Use Act, which already allows for a “medical necessity” defense but still results in a misdemeanor conviction and a $100 fine. The new Senate legislation would keep patients with “clear and convincing evidence” from being convicted and from sustaining a punitive fine.

SB 308 was amended earlier this month when its House companion bill stalled in committee due to opposition from the new administration’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH). Both houses of the state legislature were prepared to pass a comprehensive bill this year that would have protected patients from arrest and prosecution altogether, and would have established a state-run production and distribution system. However, the new DHMH Director estimated the cost of such a program at more than $7 million over a 5-year period, despite a fiscal impact assessment of less than 1/10th of that amount for an almost identical bill debated last year. Advocates called this year’s fiscal impact extremely inflated, based on an inaccurate needs assessment.

“Rather than endure another failed attempt to pass meaningful medical marijuana policy in Maryland, patients have instead decided to support this stopgap measure,” said Caren Woodson, Government Affairs Director with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country’s largest medical marijuana advocacy group. “It’s not ideal, but the bill will help patients avoid what is now a guaranteed conviction if arrested.” ASA worked with State Senator Jamie Raskin (D-Montgomery County) to craft the amended version of SB 308, which also includes language to study the elements of a comprehensive policy change with the aim of passing such legislation next year.

SB 308 will now proceed to the House of Delegates for a floor vote and, if passed, will then go to Governor O’Malley for signature. Patient advocates have vowed to pass more comprehensive legislation next year by working with DHMH and the legislature to design a policy that not only protects patients from arrest and prosecution, but also establishes a system of licensed cultivation and distribution.”

Further information:
Text of SB 308: http://AmericansForSafeAccess.org/downloads/Maryland_SB308_Amended.pdf

Maryland is moving on bills that would legalize medical marijuana for ill residents and decriminalize possession for all adults. Both had committee hearings scheduled on March 3.

HB 291/ SB 308, the medical cannabis legislation is sponsored by Dan Morhaim, the only licensed physician in the MD Assembly.

But in a battle of the doctors current Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein,  voiced concerns over using cannabis as medicine.

“This is not just because marijuana is a controlled substance. It is also because marijuana, unlike approved pharmaceuticals, has not been characterized, studied, and determined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to be safe and effective.”

In late February, the Maryland General Assembly also held a hearing for a bill to decriminalize the personal possession of small amounts of cannabis by adults.

HB 606 would reduce punishment for  small amount of pot to a civil citation and a nominal fine. Currently Maryland prosecutes possession of any amount as a criminal misdemeanor.

Phillip Strause, a marijuana activist local to Maryland and Virginia had this to say about HB291,

“The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene requested to work with Delegate Morhaim to ‘craft a better bill.’ The bill is currently not scheduled to be voted on for this reason. I believe political fear drives the system in MD, as few are willing to condone such a shift in policy.”

He added, “HB 606 has been heard in committee but has yet to be voted upon. I feel this is an excellent step in the correct direction but insufficient in fixing the heart of the problem, the perception that cannabis is more dangerous than it actually is.”

Ken Wolski, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana—New Jersey (CMMNJ) submitted supporting testimony for MD through Americans for Safe Access saying,

“The Maryland bill closely resembles the Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act that passed into law in January 2010 in the Garden State. Over one year since the NJ law passed, not a single patient has yet received legal medical marijuana in  state; there is not a single dispensary even close to opening; and not a single, legal, marijuana plant is even growing in this state.

Maryland needs to propose a bill that has at least some chance of actually getting marijuana to qualified patients. A provision for home cultivation is really the only way to guarantee this, as New Jersey’s experience proves.”

Read – Health chiefs in NJ and MD fight marijuana as ‘medicine’

Find out more about the efforts in The Free State:  http://www.mpp.org/states/maryland/

Diane Fornbacher has been a cannabis law reform activist for 15 years. She has worked with some of the top reform organizations (NORML, Drug Policy Alliance, ASA, The November Coalition). Fornbacher is the current Vice Chair of the NORML Women’s Alliance and serves on the board of The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ). When she isn’t working to change the cannabis laws, she enjoys photography and writing/performing poetry.  Contact grassroots {at} freedomisgreen.com

Legislation is active in the Bay State to legalize and regulate medical marijuana through 18 distribution centers. A non-binding referendum last year regarding medical cannabis showed overwhelming support among voters.

The sponsoring legislator told the Boston Herald:

“Since the 1930s, we’ve been fighting marijuana as the killer weed, and that has to stop,” said state Rep. Frank I. Smizik, a Brookline Democrat championing the bipartisan bill. “There are so many people suffering with serious diseases where marijuana is the only way to stop the pain and keep them going.” Read full

A lot of new territory is opening up on the East Coast for the medical marijuana industry. Maine, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Washington DC are all currently in the process of approving medical marijuana production and distribution facilities.

Massachusetts made news in 2008 when voters decriminalized minor marijuana possession for adults. Those caught with small amounts of cannabis are currently issued a non-criminal ticket and are not arrested.

More info: http://masscann.org

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Medical Cannabis helps ALS patient outlive her own doctors

Last month, Cathy Jordan sat on a panel at the Cannabis Therapeutics Conference in Arizona.  Before taking the stage, she discussed the medical use of cannabis for ALS with Jahan Marcu, the Science Editor at Freedom is Green.

Cathy Jordan first noticed something was wrong in summer of 1985 when she couldn’t pick things up. Her muscles weren’t responding. In 1986, she was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is characterized by the death of motor neurons leading to loss of limb control, breathing, swallowing, speech and widespread cellular dysfunction. Most cases of ALS are sporadic; it is not a viral or autoimmune disease.

“Most people start using a feeding tube because they are afraid of choking to death”, says Cathy.

In 1986, she was given 3 – 5 years to live according to her neurologi st. Nearly 3 decades later, she is still alive and living with ALS.

“All my docs are retiring or dead. I’ve outlived 5 support groups and 4 neurologists,” said Cathy. This actually posed a problem for Cathy who lost her social security benefits because she lived passed her expiration date. The state of Florida said her ID and regular documentation wasn’t good enough to prove she was alive and to continue to receive benefits. She had to ask her neurologist to fill out paperwork to prove she was still alive.

Mrs. Jordan began using Cannabis from a Florida grower to treat her ALS in the late 80’s. “Donny Clark provided my medicine, grown in the Myakka River Valley…he was busted and sentenced to life in prison, and that strain of Cannabis was lost.

“You know, they say the fountain of youth is in Florida. Maybe it was something in the soil that made this plant helps me…and I don’t understand why doctors wouldn’t study me. But I still would like to know why this is helping me.”

At first, doctors wouldn’t accept Cathy’s that marijuana could be responsible for her extended life span. Other doctors thought that smoking anything would impair her lung function and even threatened to have this paralyzed women committed, simply based on the fact that she thought Cannabis was actually helping her.

“I visited a neurologist at Duke University. When I told him that I was smoking Cannabis, he didn’t know what to do with me. He was afraid. He wouldn’t even take my blood pressure because I was using an illegal drug.”

Cathy adds:

“I asked my docs if they would take a drug if it was neuroprotective, an antioxidant and an anti-inflammatory. They say ‘yes’ and ask me if I know of one. Cannabis, I tell them.”

Nearly three decades later, the science has caught up with this miracle patient. Scientists created a mouse with ALS, which was very exciting for Cathy. Research has shown that THC and other cannabinoids can benefit mice with ALS. The mounting evidence of cannabinoids halting the progression of ALS has started to change the attitudes of doctors and prominent researchers have recently called for ALS clinical trials with Cannabis or cannabinoids.

“They all agree today that I should smoke Cannabis,” says Cathy. Twenty six years later, my original neurologist fought [successfully] to make sure Cannabis is legal for patients in Delaware.”

Researchers think Cannabis may help ALS patients relieving pain, spasticity, drooling, appetite loss and has minimal drug-drug interactions and toxicity.

“There are ALS patients associations that fight for the right of patients to die with dignity. But what about my right to life?” asks Cathy. “Keeping my medicine illegal removes my right to life.”

Video: Tucson AZ – The Use of Cannabis for ALS – Jahan Marcu & Cathy Jordan

Jahan Marcu is currently investigating the pharmacology of cannabinoid receptors. He was working at the California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute when exciting discoveries were made showing enhanced anti-cancer effects with THC and CBD from the Cannabis plant. The findings were published in the Journal of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. In 2009 he received the Billy Martin Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS). Jahan is currently the vice-chair the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board at Americans for Safe Access (ASA). Questions?   Contact   [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent any University, business or affiliates. While the information provided in this blog is from published scientific studies it is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.

2/16/2012 – Activists are preparing to gather at the Federal building in Trenton today to destroy a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ruling as part of a national medical marijuana protest. Members of NORML-NJ and The Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey will shred a copy of The Federal Register Vol. 76 No.131 dated July 8, 2011. The document contains the DEA’s most recent denial of a petition to reschedule marijuana.

Thursday’s protest is organized by Americans for Safe Access and is taking place in cities across the country. Portland, Maine is another East Coast city participating in the “Rally for Safe Access.”

The Schedule I status under the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 is the reason that marijuana is prohibited. Schedule I drugs are described as having “no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States;” and lack “accepted safety for use under medical supervision;” and, have “a high potential for abuse.”

In the past 40 years voluminous criminal code has since been created at the federal and state level to enforce the Schedule I prohibition of cannabis. Suffering the worst part of this continued effort are seriously ill Americans. They live in fear of losing their lives not just to their disease, but to prison because they find relief from a medication that remains illegal.

Advocacy groups including NORML and MAPS petitioned the DEA for many years seeking to move cannabis to another schedule. The most recent denial last summer culminated a process that the DEA under several presidents, obfuscated for more than a decade.

There are two important factors in the re-scheduling debate. The first is a 1972 report entitled “Marijuana, A Signal of Misunderstanding.” Commissioned by President Nixon and Congress it was crafted by former Pennsylvania Governor Raymond Shafer who lead a group that spent almost two years on the issue. Their final recommendation was that cannabis should not be regulated under the CSA or prohibited with criminal laws.

“The actual and potential harm of use of the drug is not great enough to justify intrusion by the criminal law into private behavior, a step which our society takes only ‘with the greatest reluctance.”

The second important factor is a ruling from an Administrative Law Judge within the DEA. In 1986 Francis L. Young said that “Marijuana is one of “one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man. (T)he provisions of the (Controlled Substances) Act permit and require the transfer of marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II.”

In ’72 and again in ’86 the Executive Branch tossed aside serious and well-thought recommendations about cannabis policy. Instead of considering solid information millions of Americans have been arrested, trillions of tax dollars spent and untold lives lost or ruined.

Modern science that investigates the natural plant and its component cannabinoids continues to re-verify the tremendous medical benefits of cannabis. The reality is that marijuana is used as a medicine every day by millions of seriously ill Americans – legal or not. That’s why medical marijuana activists say the DEA ruling is good for nothing but shredding and recycling.

More on the ASA rally locations: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/article.php?id=7062

More the CMMNJ Trenton action: http://cmmnj.blogspot.com

Chris Goldstein is a respected marijuana reform advocate. As a writer and radio broadcaster he has been covering cannabis news for over a decade. Questions?  [email protected]

A bill to legalize the use of marijuana for qualifying medical patients and create a system of “Compassion Centers” has been introduced in the Keystone State. Senate Bill 1003 was brought forward on April 25th by Senator Daylin Leach with Senators Larry Farnese, James Ferlo and Wayne Fontana as the initial co-sponsors. The bill has been referred to the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.  READ SB 1003

The language is essentially a re-introduction of legislation from 2009-10 that was active in both houses of the General Assembly. The bill includes provisions for home cultivation and collects the state sales tax on medical cannabis. Last year the issue saw impressive public hearings in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh before the House Health and Human Services Committee.  Seriously ill residents, religious leaders, cannabis advocates, doctors and nurses spoke in favor of the measure but the the bill never got a vote.

Dr. Harry Swidler, an Emergency Medicine physician said at the hearings: “Marijuana is non-addicting. There is no physical dependence or physical withdrawal associated with its use. It is, from a practical standpoint, non-toxic. Marijuana is safer by some measures than any other drug. There is simply no known quantity of marijuana capable of killing a person.”

WATCH VIDEO OF TESTIMONY HERE

Advocates at Pennsylvanians for Medical Marijuana PA4MMJ (this author sits on the Board at PA4MMJ) are pushing for several changes to the bill when it gets to committee this session. These include re-naming the bill to The Governor Raymond P. Shafer Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

In 1970, just after stepping down as governor in Pennsylvania, Shafer chaired a blue-ribbon commission for President Nixon that recommended two main points: 1) Marijuana should not be placed in Schedule I of the federal Controlled Substances Act 2) Marijuana possession should be decriminalized at the federal level. Nixon ignored those suggestions and ever since the federal government has aggressively enforced the Schedule I classification that describes cannabis as having “…no currently accepted medical use in treatment …” This is the reason that states independently legalize marijuana for medical uses.

Polling conducted by Franklin&Marshall  in 2010 showed that a striking 80 percent of residents support passing a medical marijuana law in Pennsylvania.

Visit www.pa4mmj.org to contact state officials.

Medical marijuana press conference in Trenton

Delaware and Maryland recently introduced medical cannabis bills that follow some of limitations in New Jersey’s compassionate use law. The DE/MD bills offer potential medical marijuana patients low amounts of cannabis per month, restricted strains and no provisions for home cultivation. Still, in a refreshing move, the DE bill outlines some of it’s own shortcomings right in the synopsis:

Patients would be allowed to possess up to 6 ounces for their medical use. Six ounces is less than the federal government has determined is a one-month supply for patients in the Compassionate Investigational New Drug Program. READ FULL

New Jersey’s law offers minimal access to cannabis. A short list of very serious medical conditions qualifies like MS, AIDS and Crohn’s Disease. NJ Patients are allowed just two (2) ounces of marijuana each month.Governor Chris Christie has delayed the implementation of the law several times. Christie’s administration has offered regulations that would limit cultivation to three strains of marijuana all less than 10% THC.This has caused a fight with the NJ Legislature who passed resolutions last month to invalidate the proposed regulations. So far no medical marijuana has been grown (legally) for any New Jersey residents.The efforts in Delaware and Maryland recently got a big boost with the support of the Marijuana Policy Project and celebrity Montel Williams. A multiple sclerosis patient, Montel traveled to both states to share his personal story of using therapeutic marijuana at the bill’s introductions.

A San Francisco clinic states what many women already know: pot is quite effective in treating cramps, PMS and other menstrual issues as well as helping women with eating disorders:

Many women come to Greenway Medical Marijuana Physician Evaluations seeking help with ailments that only or primarily affect women, such as eating disorders, menstrual cramps, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), mood swings and menopause. The San Francisco medical marijuana doctors at Greenway Medical Marijuana Physicians Evaluations know that properly administered medical marijuana can provide relief, and they are seeing an increase in female patients.

Women who have developed eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa may find relief in the use of certain medicinal cannabis strains that aid relaxation, alleviate anxiety and stimulate the appetite. The naturally occurring marijuana compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is known for improving desire for food and thereby helping patients gain weight. Strains high in THC are more likely to stimulate the appetite.

For many women, monthly menstrual cycles include cramping, and they can also include nausea and backaches. Cannabis is prescribed for cancer patients specifically because it helps target pain and nausea, so it follows that it would also be a good herbal remedy for cramps. Medicinal marijuana also has many secondary, non-psychological effects on the body, including the relaxation of smooth muscles that may be causing the cramps. Indica strains would be beneficial both prior and during the cycle.

Read more at SF Gate.

Joe is a 20-year-old straight-A college student from Lebanon County who was never in trouble with the law until October.Now he worries about a prospective employer going online and finding that Joe pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a charge that makes it sound like he is prone to fighting.

Photo: The Associated Press

Joe wasn’t busted for fighting. He was arrested for being in the same car as someone who police caught with a small amount of marijuana.Officials in Lackawanna County, where Joe was arrested, said he could avoid a license suspension and drug conviction by pleading guilty to disorderly conduct. They also said Joe could keep his record clean by completing substance abuse classes and counseling, a process known as Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition or ARD.Joe said he didn’t have $1,500 the courts wanted for ARD, so he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.“What they didn’t tell me and what I didn’t learn is that engaging in fighting is the tag that goes with every disorderly conduct charge. That’s the opposite of me. I’ve never fought. It is just an incredibly inaccurate depiction of who I am,” Joe said.Joe asked that his real name not be used. He worries knowledge of his pot bust could hurt his chances to get a job.People shouldn’t have to choose between the lesser of two evils for getting arrested for a small amount of marijuana, said Cumberland County Public Defender Taylor Andrews, who retired recently after 34 years.Andrews said Pennsylvania should follow states like California, Massachusetts and New York that have decriminalized possession of a small amount of pot — about an ounce or less — to the equivalent of a traffic ticket.“That strikes me as a sane response,” said Andrews. “There are people who have used marijuana and it has not affected their careers and their lives. It becomes almost a random thing, if they are caught and prosecuted, then their lives are significantly affected, where the prosecution has a greater affect than the actual drug.”But don’t look for any easing of Pennsylvania’s pot laws, despite others states’ steps toward making it legal to smoke and grow marijuana.Andrews emphasized he favors relaxing the law only for adults.In November, California voters rejected Proposition 19, which would have allowed people over 21 to grow and possess marijuana and for municipalities to collect taxes on retail sales of pot. Proposition 19 lost by only 53 percent to 46 percent and supporters vow to try again.That Proposition 19 got as far as it did is a game-changer, said Harry Levine, who has studied marijuana arrests as a sociology professor at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.“California is the largest state in the U.S., with 40 million people and the eighth largest economy in the world. By itself that had an enormous effect on the national conversation. It allowed for a more elevated conversation” in the country about decriminalizing marijuana, Levine said.State and local government budget woes could favor relaxing pot laws. Former-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t support Proposition 19, but signed legislation to decriminalize possession of a small amount of marijuana because he agreed with those who said California couldn’t afford devoting court resources to such cases.Andrews said, “It’s a misuse of police time and resources to be focusing a lot on just marijuana possession” when alcohol abuse is the far greater evil.“The biggest slice of the (court) docket are DUI (driving under the influence) cases and most DUI cases are alcohol,” Andrews said. “If you look at your domestic violence cases in virtually 80 percent of them somebody is liquored up. You look in your bad checks, forgery, embezzlement cases, invariably somebody’s life is out of control and often that is correlated with alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse is the biggest common denominator. It was when I started in the 1970s and it still is.”Public supportPublic support for legalizing pot in Pennsylvania is only 33 percent, but that’s up from 22 percent two years ago, according to a 2010 survey by Franklin & Marshall College.G. Terry Madonna, a political analyst at Franklin & Marshall who co-authored the survey, said he thinks public support would be even higher for reducing the penalty for possession of a small amount of pot, perhaps even to a traffic ticket as in the other states. He said that’s a question the survey hasn’t asked yet but might in light of California’s decision.Madonna said public support was highest — 80 percent — for legislation that would allow marijuana for medicinal use. State lawmakers considered such legislation during the 2009-10 session and Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia, plans to re-introduce a medical marijuana bill this year.But medical marijuana and even decriminalizing is a far cry from outright legalization.“We are in a very conservative state culturally,” Madonna said. “We do have a gaming culture. We are far more accepting of the lottery, horse racing and casinos. But we don’t have a drug culture. You are always going to find a segment of the population that will have moral objections” to relaxing pot laws, regardless of any perceived monetary benefit.He said the state budget crunch is forcing the re-evaluation of the cost benefit of strong-on-crime policies popular in the 1990s, such as sentencing guidelines that can lead to prison for people arrested multiple times for having a little pot.But Madonna sees as slim prospects for relaxing pot laws in this state soon, especially since voters just elected a more conservative legislature and governor.Jack Carroll, executive director of Cumberland County Drug and Alcohol Commission, sees no sentiment for legalized marijuana in Pennsylvania, given the state House 198-1 vote this year to ban synthetic marijuana. The ban awaited Senate action.Pot casesMidstate district attorneys don’t see pot cases as an undue burden on courts. They say a first-time offender busted for a small amount of pot usually gets ARD.“We’ve made it as non-criminal as you can possibly make it,” said Cumberland County District Attorney David Freed.The district attorneys don’t support decriminalizing pot. They see marijuana as leading to abuse of more serious drugs like heroin and cocaine. The prosecutors also worry relaxing pot laws will cause more people to use it.Perry County District Attorney Charles Chenot said “I’ve seen what smoking pot can do to a person. It really truly is a mind-altering substance. It influences your ability to drive, walk and reason. It is a substance that leads to other drugs. By decriminalizing we are kind of giving up on our war on drugs.”PossessionDauphin is the only midstate county where the number of cases filed in court for people arrested for having a small amount of marijuana exceedsed the number of DUI cases from 2005 to 2009, according to data provided by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. Dauphin’s pot cases in recent years even exceed those of York County, which has larger population than Dauphin.Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. said a lot of the small pot possession cases come from people who are arrested at concerts in Hersheypark.Otherwise, Marsico said many of the small pot arrests are accompanied by other charges. Often, people who are already on supervised probation for other offenses get caught with marijuana, as do individuals police stop on the street for suspicious behavior, Marsico said.In June, Philadelphia created a diversion court where anyone arrested with up to 30 grams of pot would pay a fine. The city said the program would divert more than 4,700 possession cases from its criminal courts.Marsico said he is watching Philadelphia to see how its diversion court goes. “The small amount of marijuana alone is not bogging down our court system but it is certainly something we should take a look at going further.”Gov. Tom Corbett while running for governor said he opposed expanding Philadelphia’s pot decriminalization court outside the city. Marsico said he does not believe Dauphin would need state approval to set up a pot diversion court similar to Philadelphia’s.Joe still smokes pot about four times a year.“I do more harm to myself eating bowls of ice cream,” he said. “We all know marijuana is not a healthy thing to do, the same as with cigarettes, fatty foods and alcohol.“In excess all these things are bad for you. But what it comes down to is these are decisions of individuals. As Americans we are allowed to do unhealthy things,” he said.

It’s hard to watch the twisted medical marijuana power play in California and not cringe a little. What happened to that rogue hippie state, living by its own wacky free-minded rules and dancing around buck naked through fields of daisies? The federal and state government have combined efforts to rule the state with an iron fist, needlessly and clearly for its own benefit. Now California seems to be falling, like a New Age long-haired giant, to its aging knees.

But signs of hope arise in it’s kinky, smoggy epicenter, Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles City Council’s effort to close down the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries next week could face a serious challenge Wednesday, when activists say they will submit a petition with 50,000 signatures to overturn a recently approved ban.

The petition that will be turned over to the L.A. City Clerk’s Office calls for a referendum next March on the new ordinance banning storefront dispensaries effective Sept. 6. But the petition’s immediate effect will be to prevent the ordinance from even going into effect.

The City Council voted last month to ban the dispensaries, citing conflicting court opinions about whether the city can legally regulate cannabis collectives. While banning storefront dispensaries, the city will allow licensed patients or caregivers to grow and transport their own medical marijuana under the ordinance.

After the vote, the City Attorney’s Office sent letters to 1,046 suspected dispensary locations, warning them to shut down by Sept. 6 — or face court action and a $2,500 fine for every day they remain open past the deadline.

Medical marijuana supporters quickly mounted a signature-gathering effort in hopes of forcing a referendum on the issue. A minimum of 27,425 signatures is required to get the issue on the ballot, according to petition- drive organizers, who say they’ve collected around twice that many.

Read more…and check out the comments, a decent barometer of public opinion.

Here are some old school Cali images by photographer Hugh Holland (first image) and Jeff Divine. And as always, turn on, tune in and drop out, man.

Opening image: photographer unknown.

California in the good old days

My Cali Hippie Shot:

Beth Mann is a popular blogger and writer for Open Salon and Salon. She is also an accomplished actor and director with over 15 years of experience, as well as the president of Hot Buttered Media. She currently resides at the Jersey shore where she can often be seen surfing or singing karaoke at the local dive bar.

Contact: maryjane {at } freedomisgreen.com

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