The Green Cross (TGC) medical cannabis collective opened its doors in 2004 as a storefront location in the [Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco]. Instantly it was known for its professional, patient-centric operation style. The mantra that TGC followed was “patients first,” a mantra that has since been used by many other organizations entering the medical cannabis industry.

TGC broke the mold in 2006 by morphing into a delivery service. Today, TGC still offers many strains, medicated edibles and smoking alternatives directly and discreetly to your home with the same friendly service and low prices people have come to expect. TGC has also been known as an exemplar in community and outreach services by offering patient consulting, care giving services, and an online community, going above and beyond traditional dispensary services, making it clear to not only its patients, but the community and the local government as well, that cannabis is much more important than many people deem it to be.

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Washington’s first medical marijuana dispensary prepares to open next month | The Washington Post

Security cameras have been installed, scales calibrated and signs declaring “no returns” hung on the walls at Capital City Care.

By mid-April, Capital City Care plans to begin selling four strains of medical marijuana from its 2,000-square-foot perch on North Capitol Street. Two more licensed dispensaries are slated to open shortly thereafter.

District rules allow patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis or glaucoma to buy 2 ounces of marijuana every 30 days. Prices have yet to be set, but one-fourth of an ounce of marijuana is expected to cost between $100 and $120 — roughly the same as its street value, said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access.

In addition to medical marijuana, the storefront will also sell hash by the gram, as well as accessories such as pipes, grinder and vaporizers. There is a counseling room for individual and group sessions, and [general manager, David] Guard said he hopes to eventually set up a kitchen at the company’s 11,000-square-foot cultivation facility, where items like cookies and muffins can be prepared.

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Six States To Decide Tomorrow On Marijuana Measures | NORML Blog

Millions of voters will decide on Election Day in favor of ballot measures to legalize and regulate the use of cannabis by adults. Voters in three states — Colorado, Oregon, and Washington — will decide on statewide ballot measures to legalize the possession and distribution of cannabis for those over 21 years of age. Voters in three additional states — Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Montana — will decide on measures to allow for the therapeutic use of cannabis by patients with qualifying ailments. In Michigan, voters in four cities – totaling over a million people – will decide on municipal measures to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis.

Ballot measures in Colorado, Massachusetts, and Washington remain favored among voters, according to the latest statewide polls.

Since 1996, 17 states have enacted legislation to allow for the limited possession of cannabis when a physician authorizes such use. In ten of those states, voters enacted medical cannabis legislation via the statewide initiative process. But to date, no statewide proposal to remove criminal and civil penalties for the broader, personal possession and use of marijuana by adults has succeeded at the ballot box. This reality is likely to change tomorrow.

A summary of this year’s more prominent statewide and local ballot measures appears below.

ARKANSAS: Voters will decide on Measure 5, The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act of 2012, which allows authorized patients to possess up to two and one-half ounces of cannabis for various qualifying medical conditions, including cancer, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The measure also allows state regulators to establish not-for-profit facilities to produce and dispense cannabis to approved patients. Individual patients will also be permitted to privately cultivate limited amounts of cannabis (up to six flowering plants) if they reside further than five miles from a state-authorized dispensary.

COLORADO: Voters will decide on Amendment 64, which allows for the legal possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and/or the cultivation of up to six cannabis plants by those persons age 21 and over. Longer-term, the measure seeks to establish regulations governing the commercial production and distribution of marijuana by licensed retailers. Voters in the state approve of the measure by a margin of 50 percent to 44 percent, according to the latest Denver Post survey.

MASSACHUSETTS: Voters will decide on Question 3, which eliminates statewide criminal and civil penalties related to the possession and use of up to a 60-day supply of cannabis by qualified patients. It would also require the state to create and regulate up to 35 facilities to produce and dispense cannabis to approved patients. Individual patients will also be permitted to privately cultivate limited amounts of cannabis if they are unable to access a state-authorized dispensary. Voters in the state approve the measure by a margin of 55 percent to 36 percent, according to the latest Suffolk University poll.

MICHIGAN: Voters in four cities – totaling over a million people – will also decide on Tuesday whether to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Voters in Detroit will decide on Proposal M, which removes criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. In Flint, voters will decide on a citizens’ initiative to amend the city code so that the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana or cannabis paraphernalia by those age 19 or older is no longer a criminal offense. Grand Rapids voters will act on Proposal 2, which seeks to allow local law enforcement the discretion to ticket first-time marijuana offenders with a civil citation, punishable by a $25 fine and no criminal record. In Ypsilanti, voters will decide on a proposal to make the local enforcement of marijuana possession offenses the city’s lowest law enforcement priority.

MONTANA: Voters will decide on Initiative Referendum 124. A ‘no’ vote on IR-124 would repeal newly enacted restrictions to the state’s 2004 voter-approved medical marijuana law.

OREGON: Voters will decide on Measure 80, the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, which provides for the state-licensed production and retail sale of cannabis to adults. The measure does not impose state-licensing or taxation requirements upon those who wish to cultivate cannabis for non-commercial purposes.

WASHINGTON: Voters will decide on I-502, which regulates the production and sale of limited amounts of marijuana for adults. The measure also removes criminal penalties specific to the adult possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for personal use. Voters in the state back the measure by a margin of 56 percent to 37 percent, according to the latest KING 5 poll.

facebook links:

Legalize It 2012 
The Colorado Marijuana Initiative 2012 (Colorado)
YES on WA’s Marijuana Initiative 502 (Washington)
Cannabis Tax Act (Oregon)
VOTE YES on Question 3 (Massachusetts)
Arkansans for Compassionate Care (Arkansas)
Marijuana Policy Project
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
NORML
Marijuana Majority
Fuck Yeah Drug Policy

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Former drug smuggler and founder of The Silver Tour, Robert Platshorn (left), at an event dedicated to teaching seniors the benefits of medical marijuana.

Former Drug Smuggler Leading “The Silver Tour” for Medical Marijuana | NBC Miami

In the late 1970s, Robert Platshorn was a marijuana smuggler and leader of South Florida’s notorious “Black Tuna” gang.

Now, after spending 30 years in prison, Platshorn, 70, is a book author, subject of a documentary film – and an activist trying to make medical marijuana legal in the Sunshine State.

During a recent speaking engagement on legalizing marijuana, Platshorn came up with the idea for “The Silver Tour.” The idea was cemented after a neighbor told him about his elderly wife who has multiple sclerosis. 

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Sample Road, Pompano Beach, Florida - unveiled March 13, 2012

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Medical Marijuana: Obama’s War On Pot Ramps Up In Colorado, Key Swing State

In its official party platform, the Colorado Democratic Party endorses the legalization of marijuana.

In March, 56 percent of the Denver County Republican Assembly voted to support legal and regulated pot, a question which will be on the November ballot.

And the state’s Department of Revenue has announced it is seeking reclassification of marijuana to allow doctors to prescribe it as medical treatment.

The state has embarked on an ambitious effort to regulate its thriving medical marijuana industry. When it comes to marijuana policy, Colorado’s voters, businesses, tax collectors, doctors and policy makers are moving forward. The lone holdout: President Barack Obama.

On Sunday, 25 medical marijuana centers across Colorado closed their doors in response to a Department of Justice crackdown which did not appear rooted in state or local law, as the administration had previously promised it would be.

The Obama administration, through U.S. Attorney John Walsh, ordered the centers in March to either move, shut their businesses down, or face criminal charges because, according to Walsh, they were within 1,000 feet of a school.

Although nothing in Colorado’s medical marijuana law specifies the distance between a shop and a school, the decision, like most such zoning matters, is left to local communities.

“I can see no legitimate basis in this judicial district to focus the resources of the United States government on the medical marijuana dispensaries that are otherwise compliant with Colorado law or local regulation,” Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett told Walsh in a recent letter. “The people of Boulder County do not need Washington, D.C., or the federal government dictating how far dispensaries should be from schools, or other fine points of local land use law.”

A woman oversees the production of Ayurvedic medicine, a traditional Indian remedy with roots in the early Hindu era which makes wide use of herbs and natural remedies with the goal of healing the body and mind. In Sri Lanka, ayurveda practitioners outnumber Western-trained doctors. 

Sri Lanka government wants to grow its own marijuana | Reuters (September 2008)

Facing a lack of the fresh weed for use in traditional Ayurvedic medical preparations, the government ministry responsible wants to be excepted from laws that have made marijuana illegal on the Indian Ocean island since the 1890s.

The Ministry of Indigenous Medicine this month broached a plan to grow 4,000 kg a year of marijuana, also known as cannabis, on a proposed 20 acre farm. 

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