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All other instances would be governed by state drug laws, which make it a crime to transport marijuana…..In fact, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office sent a letter to Green Access in February warning that "the distribution of marijuana is illegal, subject only to the narrow state law exception for collective cultivation of marijuana." Fallah's attorney, Scot Candell, sent a letter in response, and no action has been taken since. Candell said cities can prohibit dispensaries from setting up in their jurisdiction using zoning rules, but they can't stop a delivery service from driving into their towns. "They don't have the authority to say what is traveled on their streets and brought to somebody," he added. Hermes said a delivery service is essentially a mobile medical marijuana collective, and collectives are allowed under California law…… http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_15215184?nclick_check=1 Medical Marijuana food truck hits Lakers' victory parade in Los Angeles, hands out weed lollipops BY Meena Hartenstein /DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER /Monday, June 21st 2010 A food truck at the Lakers' parade Monday had some fans cheering it was high time. The truck, which boasted the phrase 'Weed World Candies.com', touted marijuana lollipops along the parade route, the Los Angeles Times reported. This seems to be the first reported sighting of the truck, and no website exists yet at that address. The Times reported that the truck was run by Bilal Muhammad, who said he had recently been forced to close his store in West Hollywood and had taken his show on the road. "It's been working out very well," he told the LA Times, before driving away at the sight of police. In addition to orange and blue marijuana lollipops, the truck carried a variety of marijuana, included brands like OG Kush and Grand Daddy Perp, the Times reported. Interested customers had to present a prescription card verifying that they were allowed to purchase marijuana, and then were given a lollipop for free. In the past, companies like Chronic Candy stirred up controversy by selling marijuana-flavored lollipops, which were endorsed by Snoop Dogg and Paris Hilton, according to a 2006 NPR report. But those lollipops didn't require a prescription -they didn't contain THC, the chemical that causes marijuana users to feel a high. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/06/21/2010-06-21_medical_marijuana_food _truck_hits_lakers_victory_parade_in_los_angeles_hands_out.html California sprouts marijuana 'green rush' By Lisa Leff, Marcus Wohlsen, Associated Press Writers /Jul 19, 2009 SAN FRANCISCO — A drug deal plays out, California-style: A conservatively dressed courier drives a company-leased Smart Car to an apartment on a weekday afternoon. Erick Alvaro hands over a white paper bag to his 58-year-old customer, who inspects the bag to ensure that everything he ordered over the phone is there. An eighth-ounce of organic marijuana buds for treating his seasonal allergies? Check. An eighth of a different pot strain for insomnia? Check. THC-infused lozenges and tea bags? Check and check, with a free herb-laced cookie thrown in as a thank-you gift. It's a $102 credit card transaction carried out with the practiced efficiency of a home-delivered pizza — and with just about as much legal scrutiny. More and more, having premium pot delivered to your door in California is not a crime. It is a legitimate business……The plant's prominence does not come without costs, say some critics. Marijuana plantations in remote forests cause severe environmental damage. Authorities link the drug to violent crime in otherwise quiet small towns. Still, the sheer scale of the overall pot economy has some lawmakers pushing for broader legalization as a way to shore up the finances of a state that has teetered on the edge of bankruptcy……Sparky Rose sits in the federal prison in Lompoc, serving a 37-month term. Law enforcement officials insist he is one of many sellers who have used the medical marijuana law as a guise for old-time drug dealing. Rose does not disagree, although he would like to think he helped some legitimate pot patients in the process. A one-time Web designer, he started out in 2001 making $15 an hour working the counter at an Oakland pot club. Four years later, he was overseeing a dispensary chain with stores in seven cities, 283 employees and sales reaching $5 million a month. Rose says he was making $500,000 a year before his 2006 arrest, a sum he considers fair given the chain's volume and the risk he assumed as the company's public face. "While I was still in the business, a lot people would ask me, 'I'm thinking about starting a club, what advice do you have?'" he says. "And I'd say, 'The biggest warning is sooner or later, you will start to think it's legal.'" Even people accustomed to buying marijuana over the counter are impressed when they visit the Farmacy, a dispensary-cum-New Age apothecary with three locations in Los Angeles. Decorated in soft beige and staffed by workers in lab coats, the Venice store sells organic toiletries, essential oils and incense along with 25 types of pot stored in glass jars. During a two-hour span, the dozen or so customers who made a purchase all bought pot products and paid the 9.25 percent state sales tax on top of their purchases. The clubs, which are not supposed to turn a profit, call their transactions "donations."……California's pot dispensaries now have more in common with a corner grocery than a speakeasy. They advertise freely, offering discount coupons and daily specials. Justin Hartfield, a 25-year-old Web designer and business student, founded WeedMaps.com, where pot clubs and doctors who write medi-pot recommendations list their services and users post reviews. Hartfield says the year-old site brought in $20,000 this month, an amount he expects to double in August. Like just about everyone else connected to the cannabis trade, Hartfield has a letter from a doctor that entitles him to buy medical marijuana. But he sees no point in pretending he is treating anything more than his taste for smoking weed. "It is a joke. It's a legal way for me to get what I used to get on the street," he said…… http://www.sunjournal.com/node/37642?quicktabs_2=0 GreenGro Technologies Signs First Three Dispensaries to Management Cultivation Agreements BUENA PARK, CA, Apr 16, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) --GreenGro Technologies, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: GRNH), a medical marijuana provider holding company, announced today that it has entered into agreements with 3 local dispensaries to manage the cultivation of medical cannabis on behalf of their patients. First year revenues are projected to exceed $1 million. Under the agreements, GreenGro will staff and manage 3 separate collectives. The Company has agreed to provide equipment, funding and technical expertise in exchange for a fixed management fee. As a result of these new agreements, GreenGro will provide the California Non-Profit Collectives the opportunity to develop proprietary medical strains as well as enabling patients to purchase medical marijuana below current market pricing……"Under current arrangements, dispensaries have been purchasing cannabis from a large number of vendors and growers throughout the state. By entering into grow agreements, we are enabling these dispensaries to not only fully comply with SB 420 (which encourages access to medical marijuana through 'collective, cooperative cultivation projects'), but more importantly, to fall within Federal guidelines and to provide patients with the highest quality medicine at substantially lower prices by growing their own products….. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greengro-technologies-signs-first-three-dispensaries-tomanagement-cultivation-agreements-2010-04-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Going Corporate April 26, 2010 The New York Times: Medical marijuana dispensaries are going corporate as "more and more states allow medical use of the drug." As "California considers outright legalization, marijuana's supporters are pushing hard to burnish the image of pot by franchising dispensaries and building brands; establishing consulting, lobbying and law firms; setting up trade shows and a seminar circuit; and constructing a range of other marijuana-related businesses." Many supporters favor outright legalization of the drug. In California, "dispensaries already employ all manner of business gimmicks to survive in an increasingly competitive market" including advertisements in the trade magazine for everything from daily specials, free samples and home delivery to — since it is California — — free parking. "There are also new schools and seminars that can be used as credit for required continuing education classes for doctors and lawyers." But federal authorities continue to oppose decriminalization, and though 14 states allow medical marijuana, raids on dispensaries are still common (McKinley, 4/23). http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2010/April/26/Medical-Marijuana.aspx Some Medical Marijuana Millionaires Are Turning to Philanthropy By SCOTT JAMES /Published: January 1, 2010 The popularity of pot clubs in the Bay Area has led to a burgeoning crop of medical marijuana millionaires. Call them the ganja riche. Like many of their nouveaux predecessors, they are trying to figure out what to do with their cash. Some are giving to charity, but you will not see any fanfare or buildings named in their honor. Medicinal marijuana remains a legal gray area, and nothing — even philanthropy — is simple when it comes to the proceeds. Oakland’s medical marijuana headquarters, Oaksterdam University, could not even sponsor a local food bank. “They refused our sponsorship because of other money they get from the federal government,” said Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam. While marijuana money and munchies might sound like the perfect fit, the food bank worried that such a partnership would have put the federal dollars it receives in jeopardy. “We appreciated the offer from Oaksterdam and gave it due consideration,” said Brian Higgins, the food bank’s spokesman. “In the end, it was not worth the the risk…..Eric H. Holder Jr., the attorney general, has ended the Bush administration’s frequent raids on medical marijuana distributors, but dispensary operators know political winds can change. They avoid creating paper trails that might come back to haunt them. This has led to a delicate dance with financial matters, like filing taxes. Marijuana clubs and dispensaries have employees who receive W-2 forms. When it comes to filing tax forms identifying their business, it looks better if a shop is linked to a cafe or some other benign operation. Dennis Peron, co-author of the Proposition 215 referendum that legalized medical marijuana, said that those in the business know their activities are being monitored. “Giving away money to deserving people isn’t money laundering,” Mr. Peron said. But if the political pendulum in Washington swings to the right, a new Justice Department might not see it that way. Neither Mr. Lee nor Mr. Peron claims to be a millionaire. But according to insiders who asked not to be identified for fear of being singled out by the authorities, medical marijuana can be a remarkably lucrative business, especially in the San Francisco region, where zoning laws severely restrict the number of marijuana clubs. There are an estimated 1,000 in Los Angeles — more dispensaries than public schools, in fact — but only about 50 in the Bay Area. Less competition means that medicinal marijuana is, for some, an especially enriching shade of green. Those profiting from marijuana found a friend in Tim Patriarca, executive director of Maitri in San Francisco, the last hospice in California that cares solely for people dying from AIDS. Mr. Patriarca is a true believer in the power of cannabis, seeing first hand the comfort it gives to the terminally ill in their final days. He has also seen how those donating marijuana to the hospice for compassionate care were suddenly becoming rich. “It’s new wealth, quick wealth, and a great deal of it,” he said. “They were making money with no tradition of giving.” Many Many of the newly minted marijuana millionaires, he said, came from hardscrabble lives, with little understanding of philanthropy. So he did The Ask. The ganja riche gave, and the idea grew. It started small with $100 here and there. Then donations increased to $1,000 and $5,000. Now some clubs give as much as $20,000 in a year. The money is helping to offset the loss of more than $60,000 in state aid that Maitri received until it was eliminated during budget cuts last June. Mr. Patriarca sees a perfect circle in operation. After all, this marijuana is supposed to be for treating illness, and now some of those profits end up directly helping the sick. But the decision to accept the clubs’ donations was not made casually. “I knew it could be touchy,” Mr. Patriarca said. “I had to go to my board and ask, ‘Do we take this money?’” Now there is a push to put a referendum to legalize marijuana on the state ballot in 2010. . Even if that happens, however, federal laws are unlikely to change. The legal status of the medical marijuana millionaires and their cash will remain as gray and transitory as a cloud from a bong wafting down Haight Street. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/us/01sfme tro.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss Cannabis Medical Solutions Announces Delivery of First Stock Dividend Payments to Shareholders With Completion Date of June 4th, 2010 Company Announces Plans to Launch First Pilot Program of Medical Marijuana Payment Card to Dispensaries This Month LOS ANGELES, Jun 3, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) --Cannabis Medical Solutions Inc. (http://www.cannabismedsolutions.com) /quotes/comstock/11k!cmsi (CMSI 0.03, -0.02, -36.12%) , a leading company specializing in both brick-and-mortar and online merchant payment solutions and financial security products for medical marijuana dispensaries and high-risk merchant accounts, today announced that the Company has begun distribution of the stock dividend to most shareholders as of June 2nd, with the due bill (final date of distribution) for the dividend shares to all shareholders being on or about June 4, 2010. The Company also announced that it will begin the first pilot program for its medical marijuana prepaid card to dispensaries later this month. "CMSI has quickly become the leader in financial transactions to the medical marijuana sector by providing merchant services, secure financial transaction software, and now our closed loop system for medical payments as an alternative to cash only and credit card transactions. As more and more states vote to allow the legal use of medical marijuana by patients in their cities through medical dispensaries, it has always been our goal to provide a closed loop banking system as an alternative to cash only and standard credit card transactions. The CMSI medipayments system will provide patients with live transaction data, reload capabilities, and the operators of dispensaries administrative functions to take payments by patients, pay licensing fees, taxes, and bonus reward patients for loyalty. Our Medipayments card will be the first of its kind, creating a full scale banking alternative and payment network specifically for the medical marijuana industry meeting all requirements set forth by the participating regions," stated B. Michael Friedman, CEO of CMSI. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/cannabis-medical-solutions-announces-delivery-of-first-stockdividend-payments-to-shareholders-with-completion-date-of-june-4t h-2010-2010-06-03?reflink=MW_news_stmp SF Chronicle To Launch Marijuana Advertising Section Today By Chris Roberts, Thursday, Jun. 17 2010 Pot is big money, so big that the phrase "marijuana industry" is a legitimate mainstream term. It's no surprise, then, that mainstream media would want a piece of the cannabis cookie. The San Francisco Chronicle already runs newspaper ads from cannabis dispensaries, but will dive headlong into the pot trade beginning today with the debut of a new ad section dedicated to marijuana-related businesses and the lucrative ad trade therein, The Snitch has learned. The section is called Herbal Cure Corner, according to a sales pitch from an ad rep obtained by The Snitch. Today is the day Herbal Cure Corner is scheduled to go live online as well as in the newspaper. Beyond that, not much is known until we see the damn thing. Though The Snitch must note that the Chronicle has at least for a day succeeded in getting us to buy the paper. Calls to one of the ad reps who contacted city dispensaries hawking ads for the section were not immediately returned. That the Hearst-owned Chronicle would get into the weed business raises the cackles of cannabis and hemp activists; numerous theories lay some of the blame for the nation's anti-marijuana laws at the feet of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst (who, in all fairness, owned the San Francisco Examiner at the time). The new section was news to Steve Proctor, the Chron's managing editor. "This wasn't an editorial initiative," he wrote via e-mail. But as those of us who work in media will ask: Are they ever? http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2010/06/sf_chronicle_to_launch_weed_ad.ph p During this quarter medical studies were published which confirmed what many already suspected; that marijuana is a gateway drug and that marijuana by teens worsens the potential for mental illness. Another item of note was that the marijuana used in these studies often lacks the potency of the marijuana available though dispensaries New Research Indicates Marijuana Really Can Be a Gateway Drug for Teens Research & News — By Drug Addiction on April 30, 2010 Marijuana is widely used by teenagers as a recreational drug. The effects of using marijuana during the teen years have been debated, with some calling marijuana a “gateway drug” that leads to the use of more potent illegal drugs. Some parents consider using marijuana as a normal part of teenage life, while other parents believe marijuana is a warning sign of more trouble to come. There is a new warning for parents who have a teenager that uses marijuana. A recent study has found that even light cannabis use can lead to problems in the future. The study was led by researcher Louisa Degenhardt from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW. The study recruited 2,000 school children in Australia. The children were tracked over a decade. The results of the study indicate that children who used cannabis occasionally at the age of 13 and 14 were at a higher risk for using ecstasy, cocaine or amphetamines at the age of 24. Even those who used marijuana lightly were also at risk for addiction. The study showed that the individuals who used cannabis lightly at age 13 or 14 became addicted as adults at a rate of one in 10. In addition, the study revealed that a third of teens who used marijuana lightly were taking harder drugs in their twenties, compared with only 11 percent for those who had not used marijuana during their teen years. The study also highlighted a link between light marijuana use and alcohol. The research indicated that 15 percent of individuals who used marijuana lightly in teen years were addicted to alcohol early in adulthood. Only 9 percent of those who had not used marijuana were addicted to alcohol in early adulthood. The results of the study suggest a warning for teenagers who have used marijuana only as a recreational drug on occasion. Prior research has shown that regular use of the drug was harmful, but that light use may be of little concern. This study highlights the need for education about even the light use of marijuana. “What it definitely says is that early onset occasional cannabis use is a marker for being more likely to be engaging in a whole range of drug use behaviors in young adulthood,” said Degenhardt. The findings of this study suggest that parents take heed of warnings that cannabis use in teen years may cause problems later in early adulthood, even if the use of marijuana is occasional and light. http://www.drugaddictiontreatment.com/addiction-news/new-research-indicates-marijuana-reallycan-be-a-gateway-drug-for-teens/M arijuana Worsens Schizophrenia By Jessica Ward Jones, MD, MPH Associate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on June 19, 2010 Marijuana usage appears to worsen the symptoms of schizophrenia. New research shows that when individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia use marijuana, they experience an increased ’high,’ but symptoms of psychosis can worsen within a matter of hours. Schizophrenia is a mental illness in which patients experience symptoms such as delusions, (a mistaken belief) hallucinations, sometimes a flattened affect, (where the individual shows little emotion) and disorganized behavior. Up to 1% percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia. There is no known single cause, but genetics, as well as chemical and structural changes in the brain, may contribute to the development of the illness. Treatment includes medications and therapy. Dr. Cecile Henquet, an expert in both the study of marijuana use and psychosis, of Maasstrict University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and a team of researchers, compared a group of 42 schizophrenics who were daily marijuana users with 38 individuals without mental illness. The study participants were asked what they were doing and how they felt twelve times a day for six days. Immediately after using marijuana, the schizophrenic patients experienced an improved mood and feeling of well being that was significantly increased compared to the healthy study subjects. However, several hours later, compared to the healthy individuals, the schizophrenic patients had more hallucinations, increased vulnerability to psychosis, decreased mood, and an overall worsening of disease symptoms. It is suspected that the chemical compound responsible for the worsened symptoms is delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC. Prior research has shown that marijuana use by people at risk for mental illness can trigger hallucinations, delusions, and psychotic symptoms. Schizophrenic users of marijuana don’t respond as well to medications, and have decreased memory function. In 2005, Dr. Henquet’s team published a paper in the British Medical Journal, in which 2437 individuals between the ages of 14 and 24 were followed for 4 years. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the individuals who had risk factors for psychosis were more likely to experience psychotic symptoms from marijuana use. Although marijuana use may produce psychosis in healthy individuals, persons already at risk did in fact have more psychotic symptoms after drug use. Additional research by Henquet showed that both genetic and environmental factors play a role in this predisposition. Many researchers have postulated that schizophrenic patients have high rates of marijuana usage as a result of ’self medication’ of symptoms such as depressed mood, disordered thinking, hallucinations and delusions. Henquet’s latest findings confirm this theory by showing that patients with schizophrenia do experience an immediate improvement in mood that is more pronounced than in healthy individuals. Thus marijuana use provides a strong immediate gratification. Unfortunately, symptoms such as decreased mood appear within hours, prompting patients to use more marijuana, leading to a vicious cycle of abuse. Henquet’s findings shed light upon this cycle of abuse and may give therapists insight into the reasons why schizophrenic patients have high rates of marijuana use. New therapeutic interventions may include not only counseling patients to consider the negative consequences of drug use, but also acknowledging the positive effects. Patients can then fully appreciate the costs of marijuana use. Dr Henquet’s results are published in the June issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/06/19/marijuana-worsens-schizophrenia/14786.html Marijuana used in research lacks potency of dispensary brands May 17, 2010 Dr. Barth Wilsey, a UC Davis clinical researcher, used a supply of government-produced marijuana cigarettes when he conducted an important study showing benefits of cannabis in reducing neuropathic pain. Wilsey, spotlighted in Sunday's Sacramento Bee California Forum story, Research offers contrasting views of marijuana, conducted clinical trials on 38 patients. His research revealed that patients smoking marijuana cigarettes with 3.5 percent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive substance in cannabis, got the same pain relief as those whose smoked pot with 7 percent THC but had reduced cognitive impairment. Wilsey is now conducting additional research to see if medical pot users can still obtain pain relief at even lower doses. Yet as they branch out into other studies, marijuana researchers may need to consider that government pot -cultivated for research at the University of Mississippi -is decidedly less potent than what is sold in many California medical marijuana dispensaries. For example, some of the more popular meds at Harborside Health Center, are triple the potency of what Wilsey used in his study. Harborside, which tests its product for THC, sells an OG Kush strain that tops out at 24 percent THC with a lower potency level of eight percent. Its Mango OG tops out at 22 percent with a low potency of about 14 percent -well above the highest-potency smoke in the clinical trials. Wilsey's work was part of nearly a decade of state-funded studies conducted by the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego. Wilsey said considerable more medical cannabis research is needed -ideally with hundreds of patient subjects, not just a few dozen. And judging by what is on the shelf at Harborside and elsewhere, future studies may need to consider what is on the market. http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/weed-wars/2010/05/marijuana-used-in-research-lacks-th epotency-of-dispensary-pot.html The Long-Term Effects of Marijuana Le Bach Pham /May 23, 2010 Lack of scientific data leaves much of marijuana's effects unknown. However, there is some speculation as to the long-term effects of marijuana. Much of marijuana’s effects remain unknown, due to lack of research data. Most marijuana research that has been conducted focuses on effects on the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, immune system, and reproductive system. Researchers have yet to find any long-lasting effects. However, with additional research this may change in the future. Effects on the Respiratory System: Smoking cannabis seems to affect lung functioning, according to limited amounts of controlled research available. However, airway obstruction reverses after smoking. Although there is not enough research to ascertain long-term effects on the lungs, it is notable that marijuana cigarettes contain more tar than tobacco cigarettes. Also, cannabis tar contains greater amounts of cancerous agents than tobacco tar. This suggests marijuana may also cause lung cancer, however there is not enough research to make this conclusion. One difficulty in specifying effects of marijuana is that cannabis smokers frequently also smoke cigarettes, therefore making it difficult to scientifically separate the effects of the two drugs, according to Stephen A. Maisto in his book Drug Use and Abuse, Fifth Edition, published in 2008. Cardiovascular Effects: The majority of marijuana effects are cardiovascular. After about an hour after smoking some may experience injection of the conjunctiva, also known as bloodshot eyes. This effect is a result of vasodilatation and is generally dose-related. Some users may also experience increased heart and pulse rates. Blood pressure also elevates slightly. There does not appear to be any permanent damage to the cardiovascular system, according to Maisto. Effects on the Immune System: Marijuana’s effects on the immune system are acute and short-term. Cannabis can act as an immunosuppressant and decrease resistance to some viruses and bacteria. Although early studies were contradictory and unclear, recent research suggests cannabis poses no significant long-term threat to the immune system, says Maisto. Effects on the Reproductive System: There does seem to be significant effects on the reproductive system. Chronic marijuana use may cause decreases in sperm and sperm motility among men. Women may produce non-ovulatory menstrual cycles; meaning menstruation is not