Marijuana Bill In Congress: Barney Frank, Ron Paul Legislation Would End Federal Ban On Pot

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) will introduce legislation on Thursday to end the federal ban on marijuana and let the states decide whether to legalize it.

“The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or inter-state smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal,” according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for pot legalization. “The legislation is the first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition.”

                                           Photo Courtesy of Huffpost Politics

More than a dozen states allow the sale of medical marijuana, but the practice is not legal under federal law, leading to confusion and clashes between local and federal authorities.

In March, for example, DEA agents raided two medical marijuana dispensaries in West Hollywood, California, and 26 dispensaries in 13 cities across Montana.

This despite the Obama administration's announcement two years ago that it would not arrest or prosecute medical marijuana users or suppliers who are not violating local laws -- a reversal of the Bush administration's policy that federal drug laws should be enforced even in states that had legalized medical marijuana. Attorney General Eric Holder has said he will clarify the Justice Department's position.

The bill by Frank and Paul comes 40 years after President Richard Nixon first declared a war on drugs. Last week, to commemorate the anniversary, a group of former law enforcement officialsunveiled a new report detailing the failures of the government's long battle against illegal drugs and denounces the Obama administration's current drug policies.

"Since President Nixon declared 'war on drugs' four decades ago, this failed policy has led to millions of arrests, a trillion dollars spent and countless lives lost, yet drugs today are more available than ever," said Norm Stamper, former chief of police in Seattle and a speaker for legalization-advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. "President Obama's drug officials keep saying they've ended the 'drug war,'" the LEAP member said. "But our report shows that's just not true."

Marijuana Bill In Congress: Barney Frank, Ron Paul Legislation Would End Federal Ban On Pot

Washington Marijuana Legalization: Former Seattle U.S. Attorney Sponsors State Pot Initiative

A man who once served as the Justice Department's top official in Seattle said Tuesday that he is sponsoring an initiative to legalize possession of up to an ounce of dried marijuana in Washington state, a measure he hopes will help "shame Congress" into ending pot prohibition.

John McKay spent five years enforcing federal drug laws as the U.S. attorney in Seattle before he was fired by the Bush administration in early 2007. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that laws criminalizing marijuana are wrongheaded because they create an enormous black market exploited by international cartels and crime rings.

In this Dec. 14, 2010 photo, a marijuana plant is seen growing at Med Grow Cannabis College in Southfield, Mich. 

Photo Courtesy of Huffpost Politics                                                                     

"That's what drives my concern: The black market fuels the cartels, and that's what allows them to buy the guns they use to kill people," McKay said. "A lot of Americans smoke pot and they're willing to pay for it. I think prohibition is a dumb policy, and there are a lot of line federal prosecutors who share the view that the policy is suspect."

McKay is joining Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, travel guide Rick Steves and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union in forming a group called New Approach Washington. They're pushing an initiative to the Legislature that would regulate the recreational use of marijuana in a way similar to how the state regulates alcohol. Their bill would legalize marijuana for people over 21, authorize the Liquor Control Board to regulate and tax marijuana for sale in "standalone stores," and extend drunken driving laws to marijuana, with blood tests to determine how much of pot's active ingredient is present in a driver's blood.

New Approach Washington planned a news conference Wednesday to announce the effort. No state has legalized marijuana for recreational purposes in such a way, though some have decriminalized it, and the initiative would put Washington squarely at odds with federal law banning the drug.

The legislation would set limits on how much cannabis people can have: an ounce of dried bud, 16 ounces of marijuana-infused foods in solid form, and 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquids, or all three, said Alison Holcomb, drug policy director of the ACLU of Washington. The limits are necessary to help ensure that people don't buy large amounts for resale in other states, she said.

The bill would not allow for the recreational growing of marijuana; it would be up to the state's Liquor Control Board to license grow operations and set limits for how large they can be. The measure would not affect the rights of medical marijuana patients in Washington, who are allowed to have at least 24 ounces and 15 plants, and more if needed.

Activists would have until the end of this year to gather more than 240,000 signatures to get the initiative before the Legislature. Lawmakers will have a chance to approve it or allow it to go to the ballot.

Taxing marijuana sales would bring the state $215 million a year, conservatively estimated, Holmes said.

Another group, Sensible Washington, is already pushing a legalization initiative this year that would remove all state criminal and civil penalties for marijuana use, possession and cultivation in any amount. Their effort is an initiative directly to the voters, meaning that if it qualifies for the November ballot and passes, it would become law without any input from the Legislature.

Sensible Washington failed to gather enough signatures to make the ballot last year, and Seattle medical marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt, who leads the effort, said Tuesday he did not know whether their measure would qualify this year. Hiatt criticized the approach of the ACLU-led effort, saying it wouldn't allow Eastern Washington's farmers to grow hemp or really end prohibition at all. Furthermore, he said, the blood test limit for driving under the influence purposes – 5 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood – are so strict that most medical marijuana patients would fail even if they hadn't recently medicated.

Last year in California, voters rejected Proposition 19, which would have allowed for personal possession and growing of limited amounts of marijuana, 54 percent to 46 percent.

In a telephone interview from Idaho, where he was about to leave on a six-day rafting trip on the Salmon River, McKay said he has long considered marijuana prohibition a failed policy, but that as U.S. attorney his job was to enforce federal law, and he had no problem doing so. Among the people he prosecuted was Canada's so-called "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery, who fought extradition after his 2005 arrest but eventually was sentenced to five years in prison for selling millions of marijuana seeds to U.S. residents.

"When you look at alcohol prohibition, it took the states to say, `This policy is wrong,'" McKay said. "This bill might not be perfect, but it's a good step forward. I think it will eventually shame Congress into action."

Holmes said McKay's involvement in the legalization effort helps demonstrate its sensibility.

"Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, in law enforcement or a medical provider, you look at the data and you come to the same conclusion: The war on drugs has failed," he said.

___

Array

Washington Marijuana Legalization: Former Seattle U.S. Attorney Sponsors State Pot Initiative

Local News | Former U.S. attorney McKay backs effort to legalize pot in Washington | Seattle Times Newspaper

A coalition that includes former U.S. Attorney John McKay, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes and travel guide Rick Steves is launching an initiative that would legalize marijuana in Washington state.

The group, led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, decided to push the initiative this spring after Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed most of a medical-marijuana bill that had passed the state Legislature.

Photo Courtesy of Seattle Times

"We did some more public-opinion research, looked at the numbers and said, 'Yeah, this is the time,' " said Alison Holcomb, campaign manager for the initiative and drug-policy director of the ACLU of Washington.

The initiative would regulate the recreational use of marijuana in a way similar to how the state regulates alcohol.

It would legalize marijuana for people older than 21, authorize the state Liquor Control Board to regulate and tax marijuana for sale in "stand-alone stores" and extend drunken-driving laws to marijuana, with blood tests to determine how much of the substance's active ingredient is present in a driver's blood.

Taxing sales would bring the state $215 million a year, conservatively estimated, Holmes said.

McKay, who spent five years enforcing federal drug laws as the U.S. attorney in Seattle before he was fired by the Bush administration in early 2007, said he hopes the initiative will help "shame Congress" into ending pot prohibition.

He said laws criminalizing marijuana are wrongheaded because they create an enormous black market exploited by international cartels and crime rings.

"That's what drives my concern: The black market fuels the cartels, and that's what allows them to buy the guns they use to kill people," McKay said. "A lot of Americans smoke pot, and they're willing to pay for it. I think prohibition is a dumb policy, and there are a lot of line federal prosecutors who share the view that the policy is suspect."

Supporters would have until the end of this year to gather more than 240,000 signatures to get the initiative before the Legislature. Lawmakers could approve it or allow it to go to the ballot next year.

The coalition pushing the initiative is called New Approach Washington. It also includes Dr. Robert W. Wood, former director of the HIV/AIDS Program of Public Health — Seattle and King County, and state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, who this year sponsored an unsuccessful bill to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana. Both McKay and Holmes supported Dickerson's bill.

While Dickerson's effort failed, separate legislation to license and regulate medical-marijuana dispensaries and grow operations, and give patients broader arrest protection, was approved.

Gregoire, however, vetoed parts of the bill in late April, saying it would put state workers at risk of prosecution under federal law, which bans marijuana.

Although the veto wasn't the only factor behind the initiative, that's when members of the coalition began talking more about a measure that would go beyond medical marijuana, the ACLU's Holcomb said.

"The public opinion is there to support full legalization," she said. "If you're going to put the effort into doing an initiative, it doesn't make sense to limit yourself to medical marijuana."

New Approach Washington planned a news conference Wednesday to announce the effort.

No state has legalized marijuana for recreational purposes in such a way, although some have decriminalized it. The initiative would put Washington squarely at odds with federal law.

It would set limits on how much cannabis people can have: an ounce of dried bud, 16 ounces of marijuana-infused foods in solid form, and 72 ounces of marijuana-infused liquids, or all three, Holcomb said. Limits are necessary to help ensure that people don't buy large amounts for resale in other states, she said.

Holmes called the measure the "first comprehensive legalization, regulation and taxation initiative. It addresses every concern that has been voiced in the debate over the last several decades."

California voters last year rejected Proposition 19, which would have allowed for personal possession and growing of limited amounts of marijuana, 54 percent to 46 percent.

Steves, a longtime critic of the nation's marijuana laws, said he supports the Washington state initiative because "I just care about our community, and I think the war on marijuana is hurting people. ... I think it's flat out good citizenship to address a problem that needs to be tackled in a more thoughtful way."

McKay said he long has considered marijuana prohibition a failed policy, but that his job as U.S. attorney was to enforce federal law, and he had no problem doing so.

But now, he said, "I can say the law is stupid."

McKay added that he does not use marijuana and that his position is based on a belief that marijuana prohibition has failed.

"When you look at alcohol prohibition, it took the states to say, 'This policy is wrong,' " he said. "This bill might not be perfect, but it's a good step forward. I think it will eventually shame Congress into action."

Another group, Sensible Washington, already is pushing a legalization initiative that would remove all state criminal and civil penalties for marijuana use, possession and cultivation in any amount. Their effort is an initiative directly to the voters, meaning that, if it qualifies for the November ballot and passes, it would become law without input from the Legislature.

The Associated Press and Seattle Times reporters Andrew Garber and Steve Miletich contributed

to this report.

Drug War Creates Distrust Between Cops and Communities

The 40-year-old "war on drugs" and the criminalization of addiction have placed communities at odds with law enforcement, prosecutors and courts -- to the detriment of justice and respect for the rule of law. The violence driven by the astronomical profits of the illicit drug market and the life-long collateral consequences for those snared by drug laws will continue to exile generations from the mainstream.

It might be surprising to hear this from a cop like me, but the solution to our current human rights crisis will ultimately require the legalization and regulation of current illicit drugs.

I retired from a rewarding career with the Maryland State Police in 2007, and since then have had the honor of working as a lawyer and educator in Baltimore, largely in communities composed of people of color. One of the most heartbreaking things to witness - as both a law enforcement officer and a legal educator -- is a "contempt of cop" culture held by many people living in poor and blighted communities. As a police officer I understood that some people dislike the police. As a lawyer I have witnessed a generational feedback loop within communities of color that perpetuates fear, distrust and hatred for the police officers charged with protecting their communities and maintaining order.

This contempt is grounded in the failure of criminal justice system leaders to effectively screen and manage cases to ensure the fair enforcement of laws and distribution of police services in all neighborhoods -- regardless of the socioeconomic and racial demographics. It is also informed by our nation's long history of racial tension and violence between police and minority communities.

But nowhere is the racial disparity more glaring than in the enforcement of drug laws. The rates of illicit drug usage in America by race and zip code do not reflect the criminal engagement and prosecution rates. In fact, black and brown people in this country are being disproportionately impacted by our criminal drug laws and what has evolved into an incarceration and penal model of social control. Meanwhile, affluent whites are afforded the privilege of handling substance abuse as a family and health issue, often covered by insurance.

On the other end of this disconnect between the police and the community is an equally troubling "contempt of community" culture emanating from law enforcement. Police, as a group, have become increasingly jaded about the prospects of effective policing in impoverished communities riddled with the violence and disorder associated with the business of the illicit drug trade.

The violence surrounding the enforcement of drug laws leaves community members and law enforcement fearful for their personal safety. It is natural for officers working on the front lines of the drug war to be impacted by the fact that the colleagues they work with oftentimes becomearbitrary casualties. The trauma and fear associated with that reality reverberates through every relationship, every conversation and every decision the police make.

The laws, policies and procedures driving the unjust and uneven enforcement of our drug laws must be challenged and reformed. The drug laws the police and prosecutors are sworn to uphold are immoral and have eroded fairness in the justice system and undermined the rule of law.

The "contempt of community" and "contempt of cop" speak volumes about the abject failure of our contemporary justice system to deal with drugs and the illicit drug economy. If you have not observed court dockets in action and you care about access to justice issues, go and watch. The court system, particularly in the metro areas, is completely overwhelmed, and no one is getting real justice. Not the victims. Not the government. Not the community. Not the accused.

The question our society now faces is how to end prohibition and the criminal enforcement scheme without causing more harm. A logical frame is to pilot a legal drug enclave within a bounded jurisdiction where business and religious leaders, police, prosecutors, defenders, courts, community, youth and private and public health officials work collaboratively with addicts to create both time, place and manner restrictions and effective education and prevention campaigns. Simultaneously, social pacts will have to be formed with drug cartels, local gangs and the federal government to support the overarching goal of drug legalization, which is violence reduction.

The legalization of drugs, reinvestment in pillaged communities and implementation of a thoughtful regulatory scheme for the manufacture, delivery and distribution of all currently illicit drugs will remove the profit, the violence and the systemic racism inherently linked to our criminal drug laws. The time to act is now. Justice and respect for human rights demand transformative change.

The author is a retired captain with the Maryland State Police, a professor with the University of Maryland, School of Law and executive board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com).

Webster!

Cannabliss 6/18/2011

Webster from Grower #2

Genetics: Sativa dominant hybrid approximately 70%/30%.
Grade: A

Personal Note: Effect is after one pipe bowl, taking about four to five hits total. I will designate a number value based on a zero out of ten scale. Zero being no effect and ten being an up enough high that I wanted to get up and clean or go for a walk. I will also do a number scale for my personal pain relief, stating pain level before and after.

Appearance: Beautiful dense sugar coated light green nugs with a few burnt orange hairs.

Production Characteristics: Well trimmed, no nutritional anomalies noted. Was a little dry when I first brought it home, but thirty minutes in a pint jar with a small reusable disk humidifier solved that issue.

Smell: Fresh citrus pine is the first thing I notice then it transitions to a dank hash smell if you continue to shove your nose in the jar as I did!

Taste: As with the smell, the first flavor notes to hit you are a sweet pine forest followed by a nice strong hash aftertaste.

Effects: A strong “up” body high which had me on my feet and doing some work that needed done but I hadn’t been able to physically get to. This sativa has enough indica traits that it provides great pain relief as well as anti-nausea properties. This would NOT make a good nighttime medication for those suffering insomnia. It does clear my head out nicely and allows me to let go of all the junk running through my mind but it also causes a wonderful sort of buzzing feeling in all my nerve endings. This is a pleasant electrifying feeling but would, in my opinion, impede good deep sleep.

Type: Sativa dominant hybrid

Overall High: 7/10

Pain level before medicating: 8/10

Pain level after medicating: 3/10

Pain relief lasted: 2 hours

Side Effects: No cottonmouth, appetite stimulation or paranoia noted. I felt slightly jittery at the very end of the high but this could also be because I was up doing a lot of stuff, which usually my pain precludes me from participating in. After I sat down for about five minutes and drank some water, I felt better.

Disclaimer:

All information contained in this blog is my opinion unless otherwise stated. Medical Marijuana is not legal in all States therefore this blog is to be used for informational purposes only. I am a registered nurse, However I am not your nurse. Consult your own health care provider before making any medical decisions. Information posted here is the property of OregonMedPotRN and may be used only with permission. All names and titles have been changed to protect the rights of all involved. All rights reserved.

Amsterdam steps out of the shadows

Forget about the red light district – the Dutch capital’s more sophisticated side is on the up!

Timothy Barber

AMSTERDAM is undergoing an image change. Earlier this month the Dutch government announced plans to ban foreigners from using the city’s coffee shops (the coy name for bars in which you can legally smoke marijuana), turning such places into members’ clubs for permanent residents only. It’s a controversial move designed to make Amsterdam a less controversial place, and will have a serious negative effect on a tourist industry driven by the city’s liberal stance on drugs and prostitution.

While managers of seedy hostels and dodgy “Irish” pubs may be up in arms, though, many Amsterdamers are breathing a sigh of relief. The millions of backpackers, students and stag partiers who flock to the red light district each year are seen by most locals as little more than pests. Real Amsterdamers, the real Amsterdamers point out, don’t go anywhere near the coffee shops – they’re too busy making the most of a city whose vibrancy and culture are often ignored.

Away from the grubby licentiousness of the red light quarter, Amsterdam is still a place of quiet elegance, whose canal-side avenues, alleys and bridges reward exploration by foot or bike. Its tremendous artistic heritage, of course, is celebrated in world class museums.

But as a centre of contemporary sophistication, Amsterdam is a city on the up. Esoteric design shops and vintage stores, a classy social scene and blossoming food culture, mixed with the romance of its history and architecture, make it a wonderful place for a weekend escape. And, to that end, a number of chic boutique hotels have been opening – the latest, Canal House, from the hip British hotel company Curious Group.

Picking one’s way round the endless knot of Amsterdam’s canals and bridges and the streets beyond, you get the sense of a confident city, a place of creativity and style – and a destination in which an entirely classier breed of tourist, compared to those for which it’s famous, will feel ever more at home.

WHERE TO STAY
CANAL HOUSE HOTEL
The brand new Canal House hotel fuses the arcane charms of a historic canal-side townhouse – thin, high proportions, wonky walls, historic features like the eagle moulding that graces the ceiling above the bar – with contemporary design cool. A sultry colour palette of blacks and purples gives it a slightly gothic, boudoir-chic atmosphere which is tempered by the clean lines of the modernist furniture.

It’s a compact place – the tiny cocktail bar doubles up as the reception – but the rooms are lovely, with huge, comfy beds and sleek bathrooms. For a cool bargain, ask for the room installed in the house’s original kitchen, a huge ground-floor espanse with the original range still in place – it’s the size of a suite, with masses of atmosphere, but priced more cheaply to account for the odd creaky floorboard from the corridor above.

Rooms from €210 per room per night, based on two sharing. Opening offer: book three nights for the price of two if staying between Sunday-Thursday.www.canalhouse.nl reservations@canalhouse.nl

THE DYLAN AMSTERDAM
A sumptuous, but effortlessly chic, hotel that’s arguably Amsterdam’s most fashionable place to stay. Its gorgeous courtyard and historic canal house façade are matched by interiors of cool, calm classiness. Its restaurant, Vinkeles, serves Michelin-starred French cuisine. From £330 for a double room on room only basis, via Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Call 0800 525 48000 or visit www.slh.com/dylan.

SOFITEL LEGEND THE GRAND
Now the European flagship of Sofitel’s most high-end hotel category, Sofitel Legend, the Grand occupies a building that dates back to 1578. Last year it underwent a major renovation – it’s a sleek, svelte place with a beautiful spa and one of Amsterdam’s most trendsetting restaurants, the Bridges. Rooms from £292 per night. www.sofitel.com

MINT HOTEL
Another British company, Mint Hotels – which opened one of the largest new hotels in the City earlier this year – has opened its first international property a few minutes walk from Amsterdam’s central station. A smart business hotel that’s also useful for weekend breaks. Opening room rates start at €199. www.minthotel.com

HOTEL PULITZER
Several ancient canal houses were knocked together to form the Hotel Pulitzer, which has its own art gallery, large restaurant and an atmospheric lounge bar. Upstairs, the rooms and corridors still follow the original, rickety layout of the original buildings. From £230 per double room per night.www.luxurycollection.com/pulitzer

WHAT TO DO
RESTAURANTS
A few years ago Amsterdam’s dining scene was no great shakes, but in the last half-decade things have come on apace. The new breed of luxury hotels includes some pretty fabulous restaurants – as well as the previously mentioned Bridges Restaurant in the Grand (www.bridgesrestaurant.nl) and the Dylan’s Michelin-starred Vinkeles dining room, Hotel Okura, a huge concrete slab of a business hotel outside the canal network, includes two world-class restaurants. A traditional Japanese menu is served in the zen ambience of Yamazato, which has one Michelin star, while top floor French restaurant Ciel Bleu has two, as well as panoramic views across the city. The hotel also has a dedicated training kitchen for one-day food courses with its top chefs, called Taste of Okura. Details for all three at the hotel’s website, www.okura.nl.

There are plenty of options away from the hotels too. De Kas (www.restaurantdekas.nl) is a fascinating project from chef Gert Jan Hageman, who took an old municipal greenhouse due for demolition and turned it into a restaurant and plant nursery, where he harvests ingredients to cook. Thanks to Holland’s old colonial associations, Indonesian food, served tapas-style in sharing dishes known as rijstafel, is extremely popular, and the place to sample it is Restaurant Blauw (www.restaurantblauw.nl), on the edge of the popular green space, Vondelpark.

SHOPPING – THE NINE STREETS
Occupying a small grid of streets at the heart of the canal network, the Nine Streets – De Negen Straatjes in Dutch – is packed with independent, esoteric shops. The vintage clothes boutiques, design shops, art galleries, jewellers and interiors specialists that crowd along these little lanes are colourful and endearingly off-beat – the pleasure is to wander from shop to shop with no agenda, seeing what you pick up.

Among the best are leatherwear and handbag designer Hester van Eeghen (www.hestervaneeghen.com), Terra (21 Reestraat) which specialises in pottery with a sideline in designer shoes, and the Amsterdam Watch Company (www.awco.nl), a simply gorgeous emporium of vintage and new watches.

CULTURE
The perfect high culture antidote to Amsterdam’s seamier offerings is a trip to Concertgebouw (www.concertgebouw.nl), the splendid concert hall that is regarded as being one of the world’s finest classical music venues thanks to its spectacular acoustics. A pleasingly intimate space, it hosts around 900 concerts a year from the finest musicians and orchestras on the planet.

For art lovers, the Riksmuseum (www.rijksmuseum.nl) is a temple to the great artists of the Dutch tradition – it has the world’s finest collection of Rembrandt paintings (including the Night Watch), as well as works by Vermeer, Frans Hals, Jan Steen and many others. A few minutes’ walk away, the modernist edifice of the Van Gogh Museum (www.vangoghmuseum.nl) contains a massive collection of Vincent Van Gogh’s works, as well as many by his contemporaries. For modern art, the Stedelijk Museum (www.stedelijk.nl) is one of Europe’s finest.

If you’re interested in jewellery, consider a trip to Gassan Diamonds (www.gassandiamonds.nl), the diamond company who’s workshop HQ is open to tours, and reflects the city’s historic position at the heart of the global diamond industry.

TRAVEL DETAILS
BY RAIL
Changing in Brussels, you can go from St Pancras to Amsterdam in just over four hours – a great service for those who want to do away with the hassle of airports and get some work done on the move. From £116. www.eurostar.com

BY AIR
British Airways flies from London City Airport from £129.95. www.ba.com

All I have to say about this is booo. I can't help but think that they really aren't fully understanding how much revenue is going to be lost from those, "controversial tourist dollars." If they don't want our money I'm sure there is another city in Holland jumping at the chance for all that tourism, so where do we want to visit?

Medical-marijuana proposal abandoned; dispensaries now 'clearly illegal'

According to the Seattle Times,
An intensive effort to overhaul Washington's medical-marijuana law died Tuesday in Olympia, leaving cities and law enforcement to muddle through changes that will clip short the boom in dispensaries.

Medical-marijuana champion Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said lawmakers were too focused on the state budget to fix confusing provisions left over from Gov. Chris Gregoire's partial veto of an earlier bill.

"By far, this represents the greatest disappointment of my legislative career," she said in a statement. She plans to take up the issue again next year.

As a result, a law will take effect in July that allows 45-plant collective gardens for the first time while undercutting dispensaries' best legal defense. Cities around the state will have to choose between tolerating dispensaries or cracking down.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that as a result of Gregoire's veto, the law took "a significant step backward."

"The commercial dispensaries jumped the gun, and are out aggressively marketing their services. Whatever gray area used to exist to allow that is gone now. They are clearly illegal as of July," he said.

The new law "puts cops and prosecutors back in the business of making the medical-marijuana law work. I don't think that's fundamentally the law that cops and prosecutors should be in. It should be a medical issue, not a law-enforcement issue," Satterberg said.

Dispensaries popped up over the past year by seizing on vague patient-provider definitions in the 1998 voter-approved law.

Responding to concerns from police and cities about the uncontrolled dispensary boom, the Legislature passed a landmark law to legalize and regulate dispensaries and growers, create a central patient registry and provide arrest protection.

Gregoire vetoed most of the bill, citing a harsher tone from federal prosecutors that could potentially expose state regulators to arrest, even though that has not been seen in other states with legal dispensaries.

In Seattle, City Attorney Pete Holmes said the new collective gardens will be a headache for police and could lead to more arrests of patients. He has asked the Seattle Police Department for an inventory of operating dispensaries — estimated to be at least 50 — with the idea that the city could try to "grandfather" them in.

But enacting a city-based regulatory scheme could run Seattle afoul of federal prosecutors, he said, and it could make Seattle a magnet.

"We're back to the worst-case scenario," said Holmes, an advocate of legalization. "We've only had a few hours to get used to that again."

Cities, including Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and Federal Way, have already begun trying to shut down dispensaries through civil actions. Satterberg said that is his preferred way to respond, instead of criminal charges.

Tacoma had put on hold cease-and-desist letters to 42 dispensaries pending the outcome in Olympia, but now must decide what to do, said spokesman Rob McNair-Huff.

In Kent, City Attorney Tom Brubaker said the city would decide how to deal with its four or five dispensaries soon.

"We've told these dispensaries that they're illegal, but haven't taken any stiff enforcement action," he said. "I'd just as soon they weren't in my town."

Scott Snyder, an attorney who advises a dozen suburban cities, including Issaquah and Redmond, said cities could take a mixed approach: denying business licenses while requiring dispensaries to pass fire and safety codes. "I think it's something most communities will get into gingerly within the vacuum we're in now," he said.

As cities sort it out, entrepreneurs still have ads on Craigslist seeking real estate to open dispensaries. Ben Livingston of the Cannabis Defense Coalition, a patient-advocacy group, said reality doesn't seem to be sinking in.

"What's next? Raids," he said. "The question, is who is going to be first. My money is the people who were bolder, more out there."

David Ahl helped open a nonprofit dispensary, Greenside Medical, on Seattle's Lake City Way Northeast on April 20, investing in a security system that includes a concrete-walled check-in booth and sophisticated alarm system.

He said shady dispensaries, or those opened purely for profit, already are shutting down. He sounded rattled. "I definitely know there's a big ax above my head," said Ahl, 26.

Another dispensary owner, Steve Saarich, filed a referendum Tuesday to roll back the law to its pre-session status, which would restore a legal defense for dispensaries. Sponsors must gather 120,577 voter signatures by late July for it to qualify for the November ballot, according to the Secretary of State's office.

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com

Arizona sues Justice Dept. over medical marijuana

PHOENIX —

Arizona officials are taking the state's own medical marijuana law to court.

Attorney General Tom Horne late Friday sued the U.S. Justice Department and other defendants on behalf of the state and Gov. Jan Brewer.

The suit asks a federal judge to rule on whether strict compliance with the Arizona law provides protection from federal prosecution or whether the Arizona measure is pre-empted by federal law.

The state law approved by voters in November, like those in other states, decriminalizes distribution, possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes under specified circumstances.

However, the U.S. attorney for Arizona has reminded state officials that marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Horne said the Arizona suit was intended get a court ruling "that makes it clear what direction we can safely go - either to implement the law or that we cannot."

The suit also named medical marijuana supporters, a group representing would-be dispensary operators and others as defendants in the case. Horne said they accepted invitations to be included in the case to ensure the state law gets a vigorous defense.

Brewer announced the planned lawsuit Tuesday, saying she's concerned that state employees could face federal prosecution for regulating the state program.

The governor and Horne, both Republicans, opposed the medical marijuana law but said they weren't trying to thwart the will of the voters. They said the lawsuit is specifically prompted by a May 2 letter in which U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke noted that marijuana remains illegal under federal law and that criminal prosecutors of traffickers and others are possible.

Burke's letter did not specifically mention state employees, but he said his office intends to prosecute individuals and organizations engaged in illegal manufacturing, distribution and marketing involving marijuana.

Burke did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday, but he told The Arizona Republic there had been no policy change.

"We have no intention of targeting or going after people who are implementing or who are in compliance with state law," Burke told the newspaper. "But at the same time, they can't be under the impression that they have immunity, amnesty or safe haven."

Horne said Burke's letter and similar letters sent by U.S. attorneys elsewhere raised the prospect of federal prosecutions related to medical marijuana, and he noted that a letter signed by U.S. attorneys in Washington state said state employees administering a medical marijuana program would not be immune from liability under a federal drug law.

Saying she was worried about federal prosecution of state workers, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed key parts of a legislative measure to clarify her state's medical marijuana law.

Elsewhere, Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has suspended plans to license three medical marijuana dispensaries after a U.S. attorney warned the dispensaries could be prosecuted for violating federal law.

In Montana, two medical marijuana providers sued the Justice Department on May 10 to challenge March 14 raids of their businesses. The lawsuit claimed the raids exceeded the federal government's authority, pre-empted Montana's medical marijuana law and violated the providers' civil rights.

A spokesman for a Washington-based medical marijuana advocacy group said the Arizona lawsuit won't accomplish anything because it won't change federal law or enforcement policies and because individual patients can grow their own marijuana.

"Gov. Jan Brewer is trying to hamstring this program," said Morgan Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project.

Between April 14 and Tuesday, Arizona approved 3,696 applications for patients to have and use medical marijuana, including 2,694 for growing up to 12 plants each. An additional 69 applications have been approved for caregivers, who can provide marijuana for up five patients other than themselves.

An application period for dispensaries is supposed to begin Wednesday, but Brewer is expected to direct the Department of Health Services to not proceed with that part of the program.

M. Ryan Hurley, a Scottsdale lawyer for would-be dispensary operators, said they're troubled because the state is not proceeding with full implementation of the law.

"They've invested a lot of time and effort and money in this process in reliance of the law," he said.

Seniors' medical pot collective stirs up trouble

LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. —

Joe Schwartz is a 90-year-old great-grandfather of three who enjoys a few puffs of pot each night before he crawls into bed in the Southern California retirement community he calls home.

The World War II veteran and stroke sufferer smokes the drug to alleviate debilitating nausea and is one of about 150 senior citizens on this sprawling, 18,000-person gated campus who belongs to a thriving - and controversial - medical marijuana collective operating in the middle of one of the largest retirement communities in the United States.

The fledgling collective mirrors a nationwide trend as more and more senior citizens turn to marijuana, legal or not, to ease the aches and pains of aging. But in Laguna Woods Village, tucked in the heart of one of the most conservative and wealthiest counties in California, these ganja-smoking grandparents have stirred up a heated debate with their collective, attracting a crackdown from within the self-governed community.

Many members of the 2-year-old collective keep a low profile, but others grow seedlings on their patios and set up workshops to show other seniors how to turn the marijuana leaves into tea, milk and a vapor that can be inhaled for relief from everything from chemotherapy-related nausea to multiple sclerosis to arthritis.

The most recent project involves getting collective members to plant 40 seeds from experimental varieties of marijuana that are high in a compound said to have anti-inflammatory properties best suited for elderly ailments. The tiny plastic vials, each containing 10 seeds, are stamped with names like "Sour Tsunami."

Under California law, people with a variety of conditions, from migraines to cancer, can get a medical marijuana card with a doctor's recommendation and join a pot collective to get what they need. All the members of Laguna Woods Village's collective have medical marijuana cards and are legal users under state law, but the drug is still banned under federal law.

Lonnie Painter, the collective's president and perhaps most activist member, worries daily about his high-profile position within the tiny community of pot users. The 65-year-old grandfather supplements regular painkillers with marijuana tea for osteoarthritis and keeps stacks of marijuana collective applications on a desk in the living room, just a few feet from the Lego bricks his 7-year-old grandson plays with on his frequent visits.

"We've got people who don't like it here, they don't like marijuana and they still have that `communism' and `perversion' and `killer weed' attitude," said Painter, who has shoulder-length gray hair, a white goatee and wears several gold necklaces. "What I get more worried about is myself getting put in jail. If you were just a patient you'd be safe, but if you are active and involved in any way in making it available for others, the federal government can come and scoop you up."

In the first two years of the collective's life, however, Painter and other members have had more trouble from their fellow residents than from the government.

When things first got under way, Painter and three others were growing about two dozen plants with names like Super Silver Haze in the Laguna Woods Village community garden. Photos show his 800-square-foot plot overflowing with marijuana plants taller than a grown man butting up against the staked tomatoes and purple flowering clematis of other gardeners.

But the Golden Rain Foundation, the all-volunteer board that governs the community, cracked down and prohibited the cultivation of marijuana on all Laguna Woods Village property. The vote followed the report of the theft of two marijuana plants, tangerines and a rake and shovel from the community garden, according to meeting minutes of the Community Activities Committee's Garden Center Advisory Group.

The foundation, which maintains the 3-square-mile community's 153 acres of golf courses, seven clubhouses and other amenities, adopted the policy late last year after a lengthy legal review.

"We thought that it was not proper. It sets a precedent. Our gardens are for flowers and vegetables, and that's all, and it's been that way since 1964 or 1965 when this was started," said Howard Feichtmann, who was chairman of the Garden Advisory Group. "We thought that's what it should remain and not get involved with medical marijuana or anything else that is considered on the fringe."

Those with medical marijuana cards can still grow the state limit of six mature plants per person in their private residences.

Susan Margolis, who sat on the Garden Center Advisory Group, said the debate has divided people along generational lines in a community where the average age is 78 but new residents can move in at 55. She estimated that up to 10 of her younger neighbors take medical pot for ailments but said many older residents are fiercely opposed.

"This did stir up a lot of feelings," said Margolis, 67, who said those opposed the public pot plots had valid safety concerns. "There are a lot of people that have never used marijuana and there are younger people who have used marijuana who say, `Come on now, this is just ridiculous.'"

After the vote, the collective had to rip its plants out and has struggled to produce the pot it needs for its members.

At first, the senior citizens tried to run their own grow site by creating a greenhouse in a rented facility off-site, but they lost thousands of dollars of crop when someone plugged a grow light into the wrong outlet, giving the plants 24 hours of light a day during the critical flowering period instead of 12 hours. Then, they gave seedlings to a grower operating a greenhouse in Los Angeles, but that ended just as badly: The place was busted by police, and all the plants were confiscated and destroyed.

Now, a fellow Laguna Woods Village resident and collective member recently started growing for the group in two off-site greenhouses whose location Painter and others declined to provide. The all-organic supply is distributed to members on a sliding scale, from $35 an ounce to about $200 an ounce based on ability to pay and need. Many members also grow their legal limit of six seedlings on private patios or in space-age looking indoor tents designed to coddle the growing weed.

The collective's website, which includes three albums of photos of the pot plants growing alongside regular produce, dresses down the community's board members for the collective's rocky path, calling them "ill-informed, intolerant tyrants" who have violated members' rights.

"It's just so difficult and it shouldn't be because it makes me feel like I'm doing something criminal but I'm not," said Barbara Ayala, a Laguna Woods Village resident and collective member who says she received nasty emails when she organized a daylong medical marijuana workshop. "I'm only trying to provide people with medicine ... that is the best quality that we can provide."