Global Ganja Report

Amid a growing federal crackdown, medical marijuana advocates in San Diego County have announced plans to expand their efforts beyond the city of San Diego, proposing ballot initiatives in five other municipalities to tax and regulate storefront dispensaries. The proposals—filed in Encinitas, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Lemon Grove and La Mesa—would limit the dispensaries to commercial and industrial areas and impose a 2.5% tax on retail transactions. They also would allow municipalities to establish security measures and hours of operation and require licensing. The proposed ballot measures largely mirror one planned for the city of San Diego. All are being coordinated by Citizens for Patient Rights and the Patient Care Association, a trade organization of nonprofit dispensaries.

The number of registered medical marijuana cardholders in Montana fell below 12,000 as of March 31 for the first time in two years, the Billings Gazette reported April 13. A total of 11,993 cardholders had registered as of March 31 with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services Marijuana Program—after peaking a year ago at 31,522. In addition, there were 421 medical marijuana providers, previously called caregivers, registered with the state as of March 31—down from 4,848 a year ago. The number of physicians who can recommend the use of medical marijuana to cardholders is also down—to 254 from a peak of 365 as of last June. Activists and patients blame federal raids and restrictive new legislation in the state.

Several Boulder cannabis dispensaries have received letters from the US Attorney's Office ordering them to move or close by May 7 because they are within 1,000 feet of a school, the Denver Post reported April 11. This constitutes the third wave of threatening letters sent to Colorado dispensaries by US Attorney John Walsh this year. The first slew of such letters, in January, resulted in the closure of 23 dispensaries, although none in Boulder. Another 25 letters were sent in March. The US Attorney's Office declined to name the targeted dispensaries, but representatives of two dispensaries in Boulder's University Hill area—Fresh Republic and the Hill Cannabis Club—confirmed they received the letters. An owner of the latter dispensary said the business will close by May 7.

The latest coup d'etat in Guinea-Bissau is being linked by Western diplomats to the international drug trade. Soldiers took control of much of the capital Bissau on April 13 as the military announced that it had arrested interim President Raimundo Pereira, as well as Carlos Gomes Jr., a former prime minister and leading presidential candidate. Press accounts cite speculation that Gomes ran afoul of the military by promising to end a lucrative arrangement with drug traffickers.

The Daily News on April 9 couldn't resist two sophomoric jokes in the lead line of its story on New York's governor axing chances for passage of a medicinal cannabis bill this year: "Gov. Cuomo provided a buzz-kill Monday to a new legislative push to legalize medicinal marijuana that is being fired up." Andrew Cuomo told the newspaper that legalization of marijuana for medical purposes has "tremendous risks," and is unlikely to be taken up by the Legislature this year. "I understand the benefits, but there are also risks, and I think the risks outweigh the benefits at this point," Cuomo said, reiterating the position he took during his 2010 campaign for governor.

By a popular vote, the Spanish village of Rasquera on April 11 adopted a plan to rent out a field for growing cannabis in an urgent bid to create jobs and raise money to pay off its debts. Rasquera's village council approved the plan to rent seven hectares of municipal land to the Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association (ABCDA) in a 4-3 vote Feb. 29. A total of 804 residents were eligible to vote in the referendum, which posed the question: "Do you agree with the anti-crisis plan approved by the Rasquera town hall on February 29?" The approval—with 308 votes for, and 239 against—was hailed by Mayor Bernat Pellisa as a "magnificent result."

The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals in San Francisco April 9 issued a ruling that may open the way for protection of sacramental cannabis use under federal law. While the decision found that the government does not have to compensate a Native American church for seized cannabis, it also allowed Michael Rex "Raging Bear" Mooney and the Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii to fight for declaratory and injunctive relief barring the government from enforcing the Controlled Substances Act against their followers.

With Massachusetts lawmakers deadlocked over medical marijuana legislation, the question seems more likely to go before the commonwealth's voters in November. Two bills before the Public Health Committee on legalizing medical marijuana (S 1161 and H 625) have been sent to "study"—a move that almost always ends the chances of a bill passing. A ballot measure on the issue will only be averted if backers fail to collect 11,485 certified signatures by July 3 or if they drop their effort in deference to a plan in the legislature to pass an alternative proposal—neither of which now seem probable. (Statehouse News Service, April 10)