Global Ganja Report

Despite being acquitted by a jury late last year of charges stemming from a 2008 arrest on marijuana possession and distribution, medicinal cannabis patient and provider Jovan Jackson is being tried by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis for a second time in less than a year. However, for the second trial Dumanis is trying to deny Jackson, the former operator of Answerdam Alternative Care Collective (AACC), a medical marijuana defense—based on the claim that "sales" are illegal under state law. Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's leading medical marijuana patient advocacy group, filed an amicus ("friend of the court") brief in support of Jackson's defense, refuting the District Attorney's allegations.

The City Commission in Royal Oak, Mich., unanimously rejected a request Aug. 9 to suspend the city's moratorium on commercial facilities involving medical marijuana, blocking an effort by warehouse owner James Canner to turn his building into what could have become the state's largest cannabis growing facility.

The District of Columbia published more than 300 regulations Aug. 6 implementing a medical marijuana law that passed earlier this year and took effect last month. Unlike the laws in the 14 states that have passed medical marijuana measures, the DC law includes a provision requiring cannabis to be provided at a discount to low-income residents.

Reports are breaking that Dennis Peron, longtime San Francisco cannabis activist and co-author of California's 1996 medical marijuana initiative,  was raided at his home Aug. 4. Citing posts on Facebook, a report on Examiner.com says that Peron, who was recovering from a stroke, suffered a seizure as city police broke down his door.

The US Senate last week approved a bill ostensibly aimed at toughening penalties for those who peddle pot brownies to minors. But the proposed law is actually far more sweeping, and will apply to those who simply bake brownies at home, doubling the penalties for the amount of cannabis involved.

A "Medical Marijuana University" is now open for students in central Michigan's Genesee township. The California-based trade school Oaksterdam University is holding weekend seminars hosted by the Genesee County Compassion Club, featuring a horticulture lab. Director of the Genesee County Compassion Club, Jeremy Rupinski, says students learn how to cultivate medical marijuana within the law. (ConnectMidMichigan, Aug. 1)

Medical marijuana patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) filed a legal brief July 28 in a Ninth Circuit case aiming to correct statements by the federal government that "marijuana has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." The ASA legal filing points to a policy directive issued last week by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), recognizing medical marijuana and distinguishing it from other illegal controlled substances. In its brief, ASA contends that the VHA directive bolsters advocates' arguments that cannabis does indeed have medical value.

Coordinated protests were held July 21 by medical marijuana patient advocates in both Saginaw, Mich., and San Diego, Calif., against the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) over several raids it conducted earlier this month. The raids came despite a Justice Department policy issued last October discouraging such actions.