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Three Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Chosen to Operate in Rhode Island

The long-awaited decision on medical marijuana dispensaries was announced with the Department of Health selecting three applicants, the maximum permitted under state law. They are: Summit Medical Compassion Center in Warwick, The Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence, and Greenleaf Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth.

Announcement of Medical Marijuana Dispensary Licenses Expected in Rhode Island

The Health Department is expected to announce today the selection of up to three applicants to open the first medical marijuana dispensaries in Rhode Island. Health Department spokeswoman Annemarie Beardsworth did not offer a specific time today when the decision would be finalized and released to the public. The decision was originally set for a week ago, but the department said that it needed additional time to reach its decision.

Money Is Gone, but Proposition 36's Drug Treatment Mandate Remains

Enacted by 61 percent of voters in November 2000 as Proposition 36, the law says first- and second-time nonviolent, simple drug possession offenders must be given the opportunity to receive substance abuse treatment instead of jail time. That "must" isn't a suggestion; it would take another voter-approved ballot measure to undo it. County officials who administer the state's treatment-not-jail program for certain drug offenders are struggling with a lack of funding that's not likely to improve, but advocates say ignoring the mandate simply isn't an option.

Arizona Conducts Last Medical Marijuana Forum

The Arizona Department of Health Services has conducted three forums around the state this week to discuss rules for establishing medical marijuana dispensaries. The final rules should be released by the end of March.

Predicting Demand for Medical Marijuana in Rhode Island

Early next month, the state Health Department is poised to select from one to three proposals for dispensaries that will sell medical marijuana and related products to patients in the growing medical marijuana program. JoAnne Leppanen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient Advocacy Coalition, and others seeking to open the centers have varying views on whether it’s financially feasible for the state to have three dispensaries. On Tuesday, there were 3,239 patients and 2,039 licensed caregivers, or medical marijuana growers, in the program. Many of the patients also have caregiver licenses, meaning that they grow their own medical cannabis to deal with chronic pain, nausea and other medical ailments. But just about everyone in the industry predicts that the establishment of one, two or three dispensaries will lead to an immediate surge in the number of patients, who must get approval from the Health Department to use medical marijuana for.

Cut Funding for Failed Drug Policies (Action Alert)

We Are the Drug Policy Alliance.

Tell Congress to cut funding for the drug war!

Take Action!

Email Your Representative

Dear Friends,

I need your help to talk some sense into Congress. While they preach fiscal responsibility, they want to keep giving piles of money to state and local governments to prioritize low-level drug arrests – especially for marijuana possession. Even worse, they want to put the cost on the nation's credit card. You and I will be paying off this foolishness for decades to come if we don't act now.

Tell Congress: No more money for failed drug policies.

As I write this, Congress is working on a new federal budget. Right now we have a unique opportunity to cut the funding that helps keep the drug war alive at the local level. If we can get enough people to email Congress, I'm hopeful that we can cut spending, reduce marijuana arrests, and push states to embrace drug policy reform. It would be a three-for-one victory.

Please take a minute to write Congress and tell them to stop spending your tax money on the failed war on drugs.

Sincerely,

Bill Piper
Director, Office of National Affairs
Drug Policy Alliance

Cannabis Council Reaches Out to Help Colorado Teenager Denied Access to Medical Marijuana for Very Rare Condition

Mark Slaugh, membership director of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, wrote to Rep. Mark Barker, R-Colorado Springs, and Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs to urge legislative action on behalf of a teenage medical marijuana patient being denied access to his medicine by Colorado's Harrison School District 2. The teenager in question was diagnosed a little more than a year ago with a very rare condition that causes seizures, which can last for days. Slaugh said the district should take a more reasonable approach to the situation and the legislature should rewrite medical marijuana laws so that this situation doesn’t come up in the first place.

Greenway University Makes Medical Marijuana Education History

Greenway University has received full formal state approval from the Colorado Department of Higher Education. The university has received authorization to teach ten medical marijuana state-approved courses, the only such state-approved and regulated medical marijuana courses in the United States. Greenway University is renowned for its compliance driven medical marijuana educational services in California, Colorado, Arizona and the Western US.

New Jersey DHSS Mum About Medicinal Marijuana Program Conflicts (Press Release)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 2, 2011

CONTACT: Ken Wolski at (609) 394-2137

DHSS Mum About Medicinal Marijuana Program Conflicts

WHO:      New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services

WHAT:     Refuses repeated attempts to clarify conflicting Medicinal Marijuana Program statements

WHEN:     January and February 2011

WHERE: Trenton, New Jersey

WHY:        DHSS has not responded to requests for clarification

The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) has published conflicting statements about its Request for Applications (RFA) by which non-profit entities may become Alternative Treatment Centers as part of the Medicinal Marijuana Program.  The DHSS has refused repeated attempts to clarify the issue.

The RFA to become medical marijuana providers in the state was published on the official DHSS web site: http://www.state.nj.us/health/med_marijuana.shtml.  This RFA has an announced closing date of 2/14/11.  However, the proposed regulations, published on the very same web site, at "8:64-6.1 Notice of request for applications" note that the DHSS "shall announce a request for applications…for a permit to operate an alternative treatment center by publishing a notice of request for applications in the New Jersey Register."  The soonest this notice of RFA could be published in the Register is 2/22/11, or after the final day of open application period noted on the DHSS web site.

It is an expensive and cumbersome process to apply to become an ATC and applicants do not want to submit an application for a process that was given improper notification.  On the other hand, they do not want to be excluded either because they misinterpreted the rules or because the DHSS changed the rules when it publishes the official version.  Yet the DHSS refuses to clarify whether the RFA deadline is appropriate as noted on its web site or whether a new, initial application period will be forthcoming in an upcoming New Jersey Register announcement.

For more information, contact:

Ken Wolski, RN, MPA, Executive Director
Coalition for Medical Marijuana--New Jersey, Inc.  www.cmmnj.org
219 Woodside Ave., Trenton, NJ 08618
609.394.2137 [email protected]

CMMNJ, a 501(c)(3) public charity, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the benefits of safe and legal access to medical marijuana.

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