Global Ganja Report

The Rhode Island Senate passed compromise legislation May 9 intended to revive a stalled effort to open medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, with new limits on quantities the facilities may possess. If the measure passes the House, the dispensaries could be open within months. The vote represents progress for dispensaries that were poised to open last year, when Gov. Lincoln Chafee held up their permits citing the threat of federal prosecution.

Federal agents from the DEA and IRS, backed up with Santa Barbara police, served search warrants at a medical marijuana dispensary and a grow house on May 2 and 3. No arrests were made, but search warrants were executed at the Pacific Coast Collective dispensary and, the next morning, at 305 E. Haley St., which was named as a grow house. Agents and detectives also searched the residences of PCC operator Charles Jeff Restivo in Carpinteria, who is already facing local felony charges related to the dispensary; and Steven Kessler in Santa Barbara, who was said to operate the cultivation site.

Connecticut's Senate on May 5 passed HB 5389, which will allow citizens to obtain cannabis for medicinal use under defined conditions. The bill cleared the Democrat-controlled Senate in a 21-13 vote. The new law will make Connecticut the USA's 17th medical marijuana state. Opponents of the law raised the usual concerns that those who do not qualify under the act might be able to purchase cannabis with faulty prescriptions. The Connecticut law, however, seeks to eliminate this problem by requiring that qualified patients purchase only from licensed pharmacists who also must obtain a permit to dispense cannabis. The bill has already been passed by the state's House and now only needs to be signed by Gov. Dannel Malloy (D), who has already expressed support for the measure. (Journal Inquirer, Manchester, CT, May 7; Jurist, May 6)

A May 5 report in the Sacramento Bee portrays an Emerald Triangle hard-hit by the federal crackdown on medical marijuana in California. Cultivators who sought legitimacy through the medical market are fleeing to the black market, leading to a glut—which is now ironically hurting the remnant medicinal market. With cheap weed getting dumped in the college town of Arcata, some local dispensaries say business is down 75%. The price of top-line bud has dropped from around $5,000 to under $1,000. "Last I heard, a pound of marijuana is $800 for outdoor grown," gloated Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman. "That's plummeting. You might do better with tomatoes."

US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) issued a statement May 2 condemning the escalated attacks on state-compliant medical marijuana businesses in her state. Responding to the recent federal crackdown on California dispensaries, Pelosi said she has "long supported" and will "continue to strongly support" efforts to "advocate federal policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana, that respects the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill individuals, and that prevents the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law."*

The San Francisco Democratic Party adopted a resolution April 25 demanding that President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder and US Attorney Melinda Haag "cease all Federal actions in San Francisco immediately, respect State and local laws, and stop the closure of City-permitted medical cannabis facilities." The resolution was co-sponsored by 21 members of the party's San Francisco County Central Committee (DCCC) including its author Gabriel Haaland, Assembly member Tom Ammiano, State Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor David Campos, Supervisor David Chiu, former State Senator Carole Migden, and former Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

President Barack Obama clarified his position on medical marijuana in an interview with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, to appear in the May 10 issue: "What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana—and the reason is, because it's against federal law. I can't nullify congressional law."

Israel's High Court of Justice on April 17 rejected a petition by a cannabis legalization group asking for a police permit allowing participants to publicly smoke the herb at a "420" rally in Tel Aviv advocating legalization. The petition was filed by the Dor Haemet (Generation of Truth) youth movement. According to Dor Haemet, Israel has over 1 million cannabis users. (InfoLive TV, Israel, April 17; Jerusalem Post, April 10)