Medicine

In some ways, 2012 has been a year of dramatic, exciting change in drug policy, as the edifice of global drug prohibition appears to crumble before our eyes. In other ways it is still business as usual in the drug war. Marijuana prohibition is now mortally wounded, but there were still three-quarters of a million pot arrests last year. The American incarceration mania appears to be running its course, but drug arrests continue to outnumber any other category of criminal offense. There is a rising international clamor for a new drug paradigm, but up until now, it's just talk.

The drug prohibition paradigm is trembling, but it hasn't collapsed yet -- we are on the cusp of even more interesting times. Below, we look at the biggest drug policy stories of 2012 and peer a bit into the future:

1. Colorado and Washington Legalize Marijuana!

Voters in Colorado and Washington punched an enormous and historic hole in the wall of marijuana prohibition in November. While Alaska has for some years allowed limited legal possession in the privacy of one's home, thanks to the privacy provisions of the state constitution, the November elections marked the first time voters in any state have chosen to legalize marijuana. This is an event that has made headlines around the world, and for good reason -- it marks the repudiation of pot prohibition in the very belly of the beast.

And it isn't going away. The federal government may or may not be able to snarl efforts by the two states to tax and regulate legal marijuana commerce, but few observers think it can force them to recriminalize marijuana possession. It's now legal to possess up to an ounce in both states and to grow up to six plants in Colorado and -- barring a sudden reversal of political will in Washington or another constitutional amendment in Colorado -- it's going to stay that way. The votes in Colorado and Washington mark the beginning of the end for marijuana prohibition.

2. Nationally, Support for Marijuana Legalization Hits the Tipping Point

If Colorado and Washington are the harbingers of change, the country taken as a whole is not far behind, at least when it comes to public opinion. All year, public opinion polls have showed support for marijuana legalization hovering right around 50%, in line with last fall's Gallup poll that showed steadily climbing support for legalization and support at 50% for the first time. A Gallup poll this month showed a 2% drop in support, down to 48%, but that's within the margin of error for the poll, and it's now a downside outlier.

Four other polls released this month demonstrate a post-election bump for legalization sentiment. Support for legalization came in at 47%, 51%, 54%, and 57%, including solid majority support in the West and Northeast. The polls also consistently find opposition to legalization strongest among older voters, while younger voters are more inclined to free the weed.

As Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown put it after his survey came up with 51% support for legalization, "This is the first time Quinnipiac University asked this question in its national poll so there is no comparison from earlier years. It seems likely, however, that given the better than 2-1 majority among younger voters, legalization is just a matter of time."

3. Global Rejection of the Drug War

International calls for alternatives to drug prohibition continued to grow ever louder this year. Building on the work of the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy and the Global Commission on Drug Policy, the voices for reform took to the stage at global venues such as the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia, in April, the International AIDS Conference in Washington in July, and at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

While calls for a new paradigm came from across the globe, including commissions in Australia and the United Kingdom, this was the year of the Latin American dissidents. With first-hand experience with the high costs of enforcing drug prohibition, regional leaders including Colombian President Santos, Guatemalan President Perez Molina, Costa Rican President Chinchilla, and even then-Mexican President Calderon all called this spring for serious discussion of alternatives to the drug war, if not outright legalization. No longer was the critique limited to former presidents.

That forced US President Obama to address the topic at the Summit of the Americas and at least acknowledge that "it is entirely legitimate to have a conversation about whether the laws in place are doing more harm than good in certain places" before dismissing legalization as a policy option. But the clamor hasn't gone away -- instead, it has only grown louder -- both at the UN in the fall and especially since two US states legalized marijuana in November.

While not involved in the regional calls for an alternative paradigm, Uruguayan President Mujica made waves with his announcement of plans to legalize the marijuana commerce there (possession was never criminalized). That effort appears at this writing to have hit a bump in the road, but the proposal and the reaction to it only added to the clamor for change.

4. Mexico's Drug War: The Poster Child for Drug Legalization

Mexico's orgy of prohibition-related violence continues unabated with its monstrous death toll somewhere north of 50,000 and perhaps as high as 100,000 during the Calderon sexenio, which ended this month. Despite all the killings, despite Calderon's strategy of targeting cartel capos, despite the massive deployment of the military, and despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in US aid for the military campaign, the flow of drugs north and guns and money south continues largely unimpeded and Mexico -- and now parts of Central America, as well -- remain in the grip of armed criminals who vie for power with the state itself.

With casualty figures now in the range of the Iraq or Afghanistan wars and public safety and security in tatters, Calderon's misbegotten drug war has become a lightning rod for critics of drug prohibition, both at home and around the world. In the international discussion of alternatives to the status quo -- and why we need them -- Mexico is exhibit #1.

And there's no sign things are going to get better any time soon. While Calderon's drug war may well have cost him and his party the presidency (and stunningly returned it to the old ruling party, the PRI, only two elections after it was driven out of office in disgrace), neither incoming Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto nor the Obama administration are showing many signs they are willing to take the bold, decisive actions -- like ending drug prohibition -- that many serious observers on all sides of the spectrum say will be necessary to tame the cartels.

The Mexican drug wars have also sparked a vibrant and dynamic civil society movement, the Caravan for Peace and Justice, led by poet and grieving father Javier Sicilia. After crisscrossing Mexico last year, Sicilia and his fellow Mexican activists crossed the border this summer for a three-week trek across the US, where their presence drew even more attention to the terrible goings on south of the border.

5. Medical Marijuana Continues to Spread, Though the Feds Fight Back

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have now legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and while there was only one new one this year, this has been a year of back-filling. Medical marijuana dispensaries have either opened or are about to open in a number of states where it has been legal for years but delayed by slow or obstinate elected officials (Arizona, New Jersey, Washington, DC) or in states that more recently legalized it (Massachusetts).

None of the newer medical marijuana states are as wide open as California, Colorado, or Montana (until virtual repeal last year), as with each new state, the restrictions seem to grow tighter and the regulation and oversight more onerous and constricting. Perhaps that will protect them from the tender mercies of the Justice Department, which, after two years of benign neglect, changed course last year, undertaking concerted attacks on dispensaries and growers in all three states. That offensive was ongoing throughout 2012, marked by federal prosecutions and medical marijuana providers heading to federal prison in Montana. While federal prosecutions have been less resorted to in California and Colorado, federal raids and asset forfeiture threat campaigns have continued, resulting in the shuttering of dozens of dispensaries in Colorado and hundreds in California. There is no sign of a change of heart at the Justice Department, either.

6. The Number of Drug War Prisoners is Decreasing

The Bureau of Justice Statistics announced recently that the number of people in America's state and federal prisons had declined for the second year in a row at year's end 2011. The number and percentage of drug war prisoners is declining, too. A decade ago, the US had nearly half a million people behind bars on drug charges; now that number has declined to a still horrific 330,000 (not including people doing local jail time). And while a decade ago, the percentage of people imprisoned for drug charges was somewhere between 20% and 25% of all prisoners, that percentage has now dropped to 17%.

That decline is mostly attributable to sentencing reforms in the states, which, unlike the federal government, actually have to balance their budgets. Especially as economic hard times kicked in in 2008, spending scarce taxpayer resources on imprisoning nonviolent drug offenders became fiscally and politically less tenable. The passage of the Proposition 36 "three strikes" sentencing reform in California in November, which will keep people from being sentenced to up to life in prison for trivial third offenses, including drug possession, is but the latest example of the trend away from mass incarceration for drug offenses.

The federal government is the exception. While state prison populations declined last year (again), the federal prison population actually increased by 3.1%. With nearly 95,000 drug offenders doing federal time, the feds alone account for almost one-third of all drug war prisoners.

President Obama could exercise his pardon power by granting clemency to drug war prisoners, but it is so far a power he has been loathe to exercise. An excellent first candidate for presidential clemency would be Clarence Aaron, the now middle-aged black man who has spent the past two decades behind bars for his peripheral role in a cocaine deal, but activists in California and elsewhere are also calling for Obama to free some of the medical marijuana providers now languishing in federal prisons. The next few days would be the time for him to act, if he is going to act this year.

7. But the Drug War Juggernaut Keeps On Rolling, Even if Slightly Out of Breath

According to annual arrest data released this summer by the FBI, more than 1.53 million people were arrested on drug charges last year, nearly nine out of ten of them for simple possession, and nearly half of them on marijuana charges. The good news is that is a decline in drug arrests from 2010. That year, 1.64 million people were arrested on drug charges, meaning the number of overall drug arrests declined by about 110,000 last year. The number of marijuana arrests is also down, from about 850,000 in 2010 to about 750,000 last year.

But that still comes out to a drug arrest every 21 seconds and a marijuana arrest every 42 seconds, and no other single crime category generated as many arrests as drug law violations. The closest challengers were larceny (1.24 million arrests), non-aggravated assaults (1.21 million), and DWIs (1.21 million). All violent crime arrests combined totaled 535,000, or slightly more than one-third the number of drug arrests.

The war on drugs remains big business for law enforcement and prosecutors.

8. And So Does the Call to Drug Test Public Benefits Recipients

Oblivious to constitutional considerations or cost-benefit analyses, legislators (almost always Republican) in as many as 30 states introduced bills that would have mandated drug testing for welfare recipients, people receiving unemployment benefits, or, in a few cases, anyone receiving any public benefit, including Medicaid recipients. Most would have called for suspicionless drug testing, which runs into problems with that pesky Fourth Amendment requirement for a search warrant or probable cause to undertake a search, while some attempted to get around that obstacle by only requiring drug testing upon suspicion. But that suspicion could be as little as a prior drug record or admitting to drug use during intake screening.

Still, when all the dust had settled, only three states -- Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee -- actually passed drug testing bills, and only Georgia's called for mandatory suspicionless drug testing of welfare recipients. Bill sponsors may have been oblivious, but other legislators and stakeholders were not. And the Georgia bill is on hold, while the state waits to see whether the federal courts will strike down the Florida welfare drug testing bill on which it is modeled. That law is currently blocked by a federal judge's temporary injunction.

It wasn't just Republicans. In West Virginia, Democratic Gov. Roy Tomblin used an executive order to impose drug testing on applicants to the state's worker training program. (This week came reports that only five of more than 500 worker tests came back positive.) And the Democratic leadership in the Congress bowed before Republican pressures and okayed giving states the right to impose drug testing requirements on some unemployment recipients in return for getting an extension of unemployment benefits.

This issue isn't going away. Legislators in several states, including Indiana, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia have already signaled they will introduce similar bills next year, and that number is likely to increase as solons around the country return to work.

9. The US Bans New Synthetic Drugs

In July, President Obama signed a bill banning the synthetic drugs known popularly as "bath salts" and "fake weed." The bill targeted 31 specific synthetic stimulant, cannabinoid, and hallucinogenic compounds. Marketed under brand names like K2 and Spice for synthetic cannabinoids and under names like Ivory Wave, among others, for synthetic stimulants, the drugs have become increasingly popular in recent years. The drugs had previously been banned under emergency action by the DEA.

The federal ban came after more than half the states moved against the new synthetics, which have been linked to a number of side effects ranging from the inconvenient (panic attacks) to the life-threatening. States and localities continue to move against the new drugs, too.

While the federal ban demonstrates that the prohibitionist reflex is still strong, what is significant is the difficulty sponsors had in getting the bill passed. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) put a personal hold on the bill until mandatory minimum sentencing requirements were removed and also argued that such efforts were the proper purview of the states, not Washington. And for the first time, there were a substantial number of Congress members voting "no" on a bill to create a new drug ban.

10. Harm Reduction Advances by Fits and Starts, At Home and Abroad

Harm reduction practices -- needle exchanges, safer injection sites, and the like -- continued to expand, albeit fitfully, in both the US and around the globe. Faced with a rising number of prescription pain pill overdoses in the US -- they now outnumber auto accident fatalities -- lawmakers in a number of states have embraced "911 Good Samaritan" laws granting immunity from prosecution. Since New Mexico passed the first such law in 2007, nine others have followed. Sadly, Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the New Jersey bill this year.

Similarly, the use of the opioid antagonist naloxone, which can reverse overdoses and restore normal breathing in minutes, also expanded this year. A CDC report this year that estimated it had saved 10,000 lives will only help spread the word.

There has been movement internationally as well this year, including in some unlikely places. Kenya announced in June that it was handing out 50,000 syringes to injection drug users in a bid to reduce the spread of AIDS, and Colombia announced in the fall plans to open safe consumption rooms for cocaine users in Bogota. That's still a work in progress.

Meanwhile, the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs unanimously supported a resolution calling on the World Health Organization and other international bodies to promote measures to reduce overdose deaths, including the expanded use of naloxone; Greece announced it was embracing harm reduction measures, including handing out needles and condoms, to fight AIDS; long-awaited Canadian research called for an expansion of safe injection sites to Toronto and Ottawa; and Denmark first okayed safe injection sites in June, then announced it is proposing that heroin in pill form be made available to addicts. Denmark is one of a handful of European countries that provide maintenance doses of heroin to addicts, but to this point, the drug was only available for injection. France, too, announced it was going ahead with safe injection sites, which could be open by the time you read this.  

This has been another year of slogging through the mire, with some inspiring victories and some oh-so-hard-fought battles, not all of which we won. But after a century of global drug prohibition, the tide appears to be turning, not least here in the US, prohibition's most powerful proponent. There is a long way to go, but activists and advocates can be forgiven if they feel like they've turned a corner. Now, we can put 2012 to bed and turn our eyes to the year ahead.

Lots of action -- good, bad, and ugly -- in California this week, plus a Washington appeals court ruling that appears to clear the way for dispensaries. Let's get to it:

California

Last Tuesday, Humboldt County supervisors extended a moratorium on new dispensaries. The extension was the second one and lasts for one year. The county began the moratorium last December after the federal government began threatening local governments with legal action over medical marijuana-related ordinances.

Last Wednesday, an appeals court ruled a Rancho Mirage dispensary must shut down until the city's efforts to close it are resolved. Rancho Mirage Safe Access Wellness Center must close while the city's appeal of a Riverside County Superior Court judge's ruling allowing it to stay open is under consideration by Division Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeals, the court said, granting a request from the city.

Also last Wednesday, Palm Springs police put un-permitted dispensaries on notice that they must shut down or face fines that begin at $1,000 and rise to $5,000 for each week they remain open. Palm Springs is the only Coachella Valley city to permit the sale of medical marijuana, but it limits the number of available licenses to three. There are about 10 collectives in Palm Springs without a city permit. The city and the un-permitted collectives have battled with competing lawsuits, and no end is in sight.

Also last Wednesday, an appeals court held that medical marijuana use alone is not sufficient cause for removing a child, reversing a trial court order that the father undergo drug testing and parenting courses because of his medical marijuana use. The court found that, "Although father uses medical marijuana pursuant to a physician's recommendation, there is nothing in the record to indicate that he has a substance abuse problem." Accusing a parent of child abuse or neglect merely for using medical marijuana "without any evidence that such usage has caused serious physical harm or illness or places a child at substantial risk of incurring physical harm or illness is unwarranted and will be reversed," the court said.

Last Friday, Los Angeles activists handed in 70,000 voter signatures for a referendum that would regulate but not ban dispensaries in the city. "The Medical Marijuana Regulation and Control Act" is supported by Americans for Safe Access and a local committee and is a response to the city council's effort to ban all dispensaries. If the city fails to regulate the dispensaries, the referendum will be waiting.

On Monday, a new Murrieta dispensary was served notice of the city's moratorium on dispensaries. Diamond Star Remedies opened despite being denied a business license, and its operator, John Szwec, said he had plans to pave his lot and put up a permanent building as soon as the city is willing "to stop harassing and start following state laws." Murrieta city council voted in September to extend its moratorium for one year while it awaits a state Supreme Court decision on whether cities have the power to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries in their jurisdictions.

On Tuesday, Yuba County supervisors approved a progressive grow ordinance. The ordinance allows up to 18 plants to be grown on parcels of less than an acre, while up to 99 plants may be grown on parcels greater than 20 acres. The ordinance eliminates a misdemeanor provision for violators and instead allows penalties and gives the county the authority to remove marijuana that doesn't follow growing guidelines.

Also on Tuesday, the city of Concord moved closer to banning outdoor grows. The move comes after the council heard complaints about offensive odors from residential grows and the risk of robbery or theft. The city council voted unanimously to review the city of Moraga's ordinance and possibly follow the Moraga model, which bars outdoor cultivation and demands that indoor grows be hidden from view.

Also on Tuesday, Pittsburg city planners recommended a ban on dispensaries. Planning commissioners approved the ban on a 4-1 vote, with a final vote before the city council set for January 22. The city has had a two-year moratorium on dispensaries, which expires in April, while staff studied whether to permanently ban them.

Also on Tuesday, Mendocino County supervisors hired a San Francisco attorney to deal with the federal government's subpoena of the county's medical marijuana records. Supervisors announced after a closed-door meeting with county counsel that the board "has retained the legal services of William Osterhoudt of San Francisco to assist the county in representation regarding the subpoenas." The subpoenas from the US Attorney Office for Northern California seek "any and all records" for the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance from January 1, 2010 to the present, including those with third-party garden inspectors and Mendocino County Board of Supervisors. The county quit issuing permits under its program in March, when federal prosecutors threatened to file an injunction against the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance and seek legal action against county officials who supported it. The county has until January 8 to respond to the records request.

Also on Tuesday, Sonoma County supervisors rejected repealing the county's outdoor grow guidelines. The guidelines, in place since 2006, allow patients or caregivers to grow up to 30 plants in up to 100 square feet of space. Repeal would have meant reversion to the "state minimum" of six plants, but was voted down 5-0. Supervisors did agree to consider a proposal to ban the use of unoccupied residential buildings for grows and to establish a working group that would help the county shape its medical marijuana program.

Colorado

Last Friday, the state agency in charge of regulating dispensaries announced it is preparing a broad rewrite of the rules. The Department of Revenue's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division, or MMED, said it will release a draft of the rewritten rules by December 28. The draft rules will be the subject of three public hearings beginning in January. "Based on industry feedback, and its own experience, the MMED has determined that the majority of the existing medical marijuana rules... are in need of amendment," MMED said.

Maine

On Monday, a state representative said he would introduce a bill to eliminate the categories that limit when medical marijuana can be authorized by a doctor. The proposed legislation would also allow any physicians to recommend medical marijuana, not just a few licensed to do so. Rep. Mark Dion (D-Portland) said he would submit the bill next month.

Montana

Last Thursday, a judge pushed back the trial date for medical marijuana provider and former University of Montana quarterback Jason Washington. He is accused of violating federal drug laws in a case arising from the federal crackdown on medical marijuana in Montana in early 2011. Washington and prosecutors now have a court date of January 14 and a January 3 deadline to reach a plea agreement. If that doesn't happen, Washington will become only the second medical marijuana provider in the state to stand trial. The other, Chris Williams, was convicted and is looking at up to 80 years. Five of Washington's co-defendants have already cut plea deals.

Washington

On Tuesday, an appeals court overturned the conviction of a Spokane dispensary operator. Scott Shupe opened the first dispensary in Spokane, only to be charged with and convicted of marijuana trafficking under state law. But the Division III Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying that Spokane Police did not have probable cause to search Shupe’s residence and business and that Spokane County prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to justify Shupe’s convictions. But the opinion went further, and appears to have agreed with Shupe and that the law allows providers to sell marijuana to one person at a time rather than the state’s interpretation of providers selling only to one person, period.

Yes, it's true: Medical marijuana dispensaries really are coming in Arizona and New Jersey, and clinics in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Harborside wins in state court, and Mendocino County ponders a federal subpoena. There's more news, too. Let's get to it:

Arizona

On Sunday, Arizona's first legal medical marijuana dispensary opened for business. Southern Arizona Integrated Therapies in Tucson opened its doors to patients and caregivers for pre-registration. It will start actually distributing medicine later this month.

On Wednesday, a state court judge upheld the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act, ruling that it is not void under federal law and ordering Maricopa County to move forward with approving the operation of the White Mountain Health Center, which had sued after state and county officials proved recalcitrant. "The state court found that 'no one can argue' that the federal government's ability to enforce its drug laws is impaired to the slightest degree by the Arizona MMA," said ACLU of Arizona Legal Director Daniel Pochoda. "This should end the unprecedented spectacle of Maricopa County Attorney Montgomery and Arizona Attorney General Horne arguing that an Arizona state law passed by the voters is unconstitutional."

California

Last week, Harborside Health Centers won a victory in state court. An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled that an attempt by Harborside's Oakland landlord to evict it because of threats from federal authorities was voided because the landlord could not seek relief in state court for Harborside's alleged violations of federal drug laws. "To impose the harsher remedy of declaring a lease terminated and authorizing the sheriff to evict a tenant would be to improperly enforce federal criminal law," the court wrote. The court also noted that the landlord's lease authorized Harborside "to use the premises for the exact purpose -- i.e. distributing medical marijuana -- that Plaintiff now deems 'unlawful' … Thus, at least at first blush, Plaintiff arguably contractually waived … any legal right she had" to ask the court to terminate the lease under state law for that reason." Harborside is the state's largest dispensary, with more than 108,000 patients on its rolls.

Last Wednesday, South Lake Tahoe ordered a dispensary to fix odor problems or be closed down. The Tahoe Wellness Center, the last of three dispensaries that once operated in the city, must fix its odor problems or face revocation of its operating permit, city officials said. The dispensary said the odor was related to harvest time and it was working to resolve the problem.

Last Thursday, the LA city council planning commission approved new dispensary regulations that would require most to shut down if approved. The regulations would force the estimated 600 to 800 dispensaries that opened after September 2007 to shut down, but would allow 182 dispensaries that opened before then and filed proper papers with the city to stay open. But those dispensaries would race restrictions, including operating at least 1,000 feet away from schools, prohibiting patients from using cannabis on the premises, and banning unaccompanied minors from entering.

Also last Thursday, a state appeals court upheld Riverside County's ban on dispensaries. The order from the court’s Division Two, based in Riverside, overturns an August ruling by Superior Court Judge John Vineyard. Vineyard said local government bans of the medical marijuana stores were illegal. While the ruling only addressed one store, it affected all the city's efforts to complete its ban. There are about a dozen dispensaries in the county, down from about 45 open when the ban was first put in place almost a year ago.

On Tuesday, Kern County supervisors fined a dispensary $50,000 for violating Measure G, the rule restricting where dispensaries and medical marijuana cooperatives can operate. Supervisors had fined several other dispensaries last month, but Kern County Kind Collective's landlord had sought more time to file legal action to evict it. It is the last dispensary known to supervisors that is in violation of Measure G.

Also on Tuesday, Mendocino County supervisors agreed to hire an outside attorney to deal with a federal subpoena demanding records the county keeps on its medical marijuana program. Supervisors said they were trying to ascertain what information the US Attorney's Office is interested in and that the subpoena was "extremely broad." The move came after a public hearing where attendees urged supervisors not to release personal information about people who had paid the county for permits for collectives to grow up to 99 medical marijuana plants or for zip ties for growers to show their plants were grown legally under state law. The county stopped issuing the 99-plant permits for collectives in March after the US Attorney's Office threatened to file and injunction against the county's medical marijuana cultivation ordinance and seek legal action against county officials who supported it.

Colorado

Last week, state officials reported September patient numbers. Some 107,666 people were on the medical marijuana registry in September, up 3,500 over the previous month. That was the ninth straight month that active patient numbers have grown. From June 2011 through last December the numbers kept dropping, from 128,698 mid-year to 80,558 at the end of 2011. Of the 107,666 active patients, 100,845 claim severe pain as their primary ailment.

On Tuesday, the Fort Collins city council began moving to undo its ban on dispensaries. Voters had approved the ban last year, but overturned it this year. The council was set to do preliminary votes to establish a licensing system for medical marijuana businesses, recognize them in the city code and allow by ordinance dispensaries, manufacturers of medical marijuana-infused products and cultivators. A final vote is set for December 20.

Illinois

Last week, a vote on a pending medical marijuana bill was delayed after its chief sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) decided he didn't have the votes to pass it. He said he would be working the phones to line up support for a later vote. There are also reports that a Waukegan company's lobbying may have delayed the vote. That company wants to be the only medical marijuana provider if the bill passes.

Massachusetts

On Monday, it was reported that two medical marijuana clinics will open in Cambridge and Framingham once the state's new medical marijuana law goes into effect next month. Last week, the California-based CannaMed began moving into its first Massachusetts location, in Framingham. Integr8 Massachusetts’ website says its medical marijuana recommending clinic will open in Cambridge in January.

Also on Monday, the Massachusetts Medical Society called on the state to develop clear regulations and guidelines for implementing the medical marijuana law. While the group wants medical marijuana to be used only as a last resort, this is an improvement from its earlier position, which opposed medical marijuana.

Montana

Last Tuesday, a US District Court judge throw out the indictment of an accountant for a medical marijuana provider, saying prosecutors unlawfully indicted her by using statements she made when immune from prosecution. Lisa Fleming was an accountant for Jason Washington, who ran Big Sky Health until he was arrested last year in a federal crackdown. She was accused by the feds of helping him launder money, falsifying records, and once purchasing marijuana for him. Prosecutors can re-file the charges, but it is unclear if they will do so.

New Jersey

Today, the state's first dispensary is set to open. Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair initially will be seeing patients by appointment only, starting Thursday morning. About 20 appointments are scheduled, and after being documented and assessed, those patients will walk away with the first legal medical marijuana sold in the state. The opening comes almost three years after the state passed its law.

Washington

On Monday, the Vancouver city council approved collective gardens, but only in certain zones of the city. Gardens must be at least 1,000 feet from schools, community centers, public parks, licensed day care facilities and other collective gardens, and they must be in areas zoned only as light or heavy industrial. The city had imposed a moratorium on collective gardens in July 2011, but that was set to expire at year's end. If the council hadn't acted, the gardens would have been allowed anywhere in the city.

Chris Williams is sitting in a private federal prison on the Montana prairie these days awaiting sentencing. If the federal government has its way, he won't be a free man again for three-quarters of a century, an effective life sentence for a middle-aged man like Williams.

So, what did he do that merits such a harsh sentence? Did he murder someone? Did he rape, pillage, and plunder? No. He grew medical marijuana. And, as is not uncommon in Montana, he had guns around as he did so. Standing on firm conviction, he steadfastly refused repeated plea bargain offers from federal prosecutors, which could have seen him serving "only" 10 years or so.

Williams is one of the more than two dozen Montana medical marijuana providers caught up in the federal dragnet after mass raids in March 2011 savaged the state's medical marijuana community, including Montana Cannabis, one of the state's largest providers, where he was a partner. A true believer in the cause, Williams is the only one of those indicted after the federal raids to not cop a plea, and he was convicted on eight federal marijuana and weapons charges in September after being blocked from mentioning the state's medical marijuana laws during his trial.

It is the gun charges that are adding decades to his sentences. As is the case in drug raids where police come up against armed homeowners, or as was the case of Salt Lake City rap record label owner and pot dealer Weldon Angelos ended up with a 55-year sentence because he sometimes packed a pistol, the Williams case is one where the rights granted under the 2nd Amendment clash with the imperatives of the drug war.

Williams was not convicted of using his firearms or even of brandishing them, but merely of having legal shotguns present at the medical marijuana grow, which was legal under Montana law. Still, that's enough for the gun sentencing enhancements to kick in, and that's enough to cause a rising clamor of support for Williams as he faces a January sentencing date.

"The sentence shocks the conscience," said Chris Lindsey, a former business partner of Williams who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a federal marijuana conspiracy charge. "Look at (former Penn State assistant football coach) Jerry Sandusky. For 45 counts of child sexual abuse, he gets 30 years. Chris Williams is going to get three times that for being a medical marijuana provider. It doesn't make any logical sense," he told the Missoulian.

Williams supporters have created a Free Chris Williams Facebook page and are petitioning the White House through its We the People online petition program for a full pardon for him. The White House responds to petitions that achieve over 25,000 signatures; the Williams petition has managed to generate slightly more than 20,000 signatures in less than two weeks. Other petitions seeking clemency for Williams are at SignOn.org and Care2.com.

Williams and his supporters are not just relying on the kindness of the White House. He is appealing his criminal conviction to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, and he is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit that claims he and other medical marijuana providers were in compliance with Montana state law and the federal raid and subsequent prosecutions were an unconstitutional usurpation of state and local powers under the 10th Amendment. That amendment says powers not granted to the federal government by the Constitution and not prohibited by the states are reserved to the states or the people.

But legal experts said his chances for victory in the civil lawsuit were small, and he would still be saddled with the federal criminal conviction.

"The war on drugs is too sacrosanct a sacred cow for the courts to weigh in favor," said California marijuana attorney Robert Raich, who has argued and lost two marijuana cases at the Supreme Court. "I think we can make better progress by doing something other than filing lawsuits," he said in an interview with the Helena Independent Record.

Still, Raich said he sympathized with Williams' plight and added that the federal attack on Montana providers was among its harshest.

"Montana is the worst," he said. "The federal government has attacked medical cannabis with a vengeance in Montana more than any other state."

Williams' attorney in the civil suit, Paul Livingston, said he would press forward with the appeal even if his client is behind bars.

"He has been made a martyr," said attorney Livingston. "It's a very solid case, it is a case that needs to be decided and I think everyone would agree once they learn the facts of what happened," Livingston said.

Ironically, as Williams languishes behind bars contemplating spending the rest of his life in prison, Montana could become the next state to legalize marijuana. Medical marijuana activists there, frustrated by the legislature's gutting of their program last year and their inability to get that overturned this year, have filed papers to put a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2014. Even that wouldn't directly help Williams, but it would serve to further underline the senselessness of his sentence.