Global Ganja Report

On Aug. 9, the Board of Supervisors in California's Kern County passed an ordinance that bans medical marijuana cooperatives. But advocates have already launched a referendum drive to stop the ordinance. "We want to see an ordinance that works for everybody," said Craig Beresh, president of the California Cannabis Coalition. "That regulates it, gets taxed and is beneficial for Kern County as well as the collectives." Professional signature collectors are headed to Kern County to drum up more than 17,000 names needed before the ordinance goes into effect Sept. 9. (KGT, Bakersfield, Aug. 11)

In Colorado, signature gatherers have already hit the streets to get the "Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act" on the 2012 ballot. Despite the failure of California's Proposition 19 last year, activists think that Colorado may have a better shot of becoming the first state to legalize cannabis. "I think why it would be seen as a better investment here in Colorado is based on how things are going with medical marijuana regulations," said Mason Tvert, a  Colorado  organizer. "Also the size of the state is just smaller. Everything about California is far more expensive." (The Bay Citizen, San Francisco, Aug. 1)

The Ohio Patient Network has turned over of a petition with 2,143 signatures in the first step toward putting medical marijuana before voters. The proposed "Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment" would amend the state constitution to allow patients with qualifying ailments to possess up to 3.5 ounces of cannabis, or up to 12 plants. If 1,000 signatures are validated and the language of the proposed amendment is approved, it will be before Buckeye voters on the November 2012 ballot. (WLWT, Cincinnati, Aug. 1; The Other Paper, Columbus, July 28)

Residents of Lansing, Mich., who register to vote could get free cannabis from the city's Your Healthy Choice Clinic. The dispensary is offering half a gram or a free "medible" as a thank you for registering—a move that has generated much controversy. "It wasn't ever to lure patients or try to buy their votes—no, not at all," said dispensary owner Shekina Pena. "We let them know how we feel, we don't tell them who to vote for."

On July 25, following extensive testimony from medical cannabis advocates, the San Diego City Council voted to repeal an ordinance passed in April that would have restricted dispensaries to a few remote industrial areas of the city. Only a couple of collectives would have been allowed to open after they came into compliance with one of the most strict ordinances in the state of California. The City Council must now consider the recommendations of its own Medical Marijuana Task Force, which came up with a less restrictive set of rules—although still keeping dispensaries 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds, libraries, childcare facilities.

The Oakland City Council on July 26 passed an ordinance that will double the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, to eight from the current four—the Oakland Patient Center, the Purple Heart Patient Center, Coffeeshop Blue Sky, and the Harborside Health Center. The new ordinance was passed with an amendment that provides the city with access to all the dispensaries' financial information. And accompanying legislation imposes a $5,000 application fee and a $60,000 annual regulatory fee on each dispensary. The Council put off discussion of amending the city's cultivation ordinance, which would regulate large-scale cannabis farms, until the Public Safety Committee reconvenes in the fall. (Office of the City Clerk, City of Oakland, July 26; San Francisco Chronicle's Oakland Blog, July 13)

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) passed a resolution July 26 calling for an end to the “War on Drugs” during the venerable civil rights organization's 102th annual convention in Los Angeles. "Today the NAACP has taken a major step towards equity, justice and effective law enforcement," said NAACP president Benjamin Jealous. "These flawed drug policies that have been mostly enforced in African American communities must be stopped and replaced with evidenced-based practices that address the root causes of drug use and abuse in America."

Writing on his Celebstoner blog, Steve Bloom recalls that while campaigning for the Senate in 2004, President Barack Obama said, "We need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws." But on July 22, at a town hall meeting at the Univeristy of Maryland, he stated,: "Am I willing to pursue a decriminalization strategy as an approach? No."  Instead, he offered predictable rhetoric about treatment and prevention: