A new law that requires patients to register with the state so as to legally use medical marijuana has brought about hundreds of applications for Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services. The law went into effect January 1, and the state has already received more than 400 applications – they’re expecting to present out over 1,000 registration cards by the spring.

Medical marijuana isn’t really new to Maine (voters approved the usage of medical cannabis in 1999), however, while patients previously could obtain legal pot with a physician’s prescription they now must apply for, and receive, a state registration card. The registration cards will cost patients $100 a year.

There are concerns concerning the flood of applications leading to delays in patients receiving their cards. The State Attorney General is advising police to match with the dept of Health if a patient doesn’t have their card, as their application should still be pending.

Other patients are wary of registering with the state and hope the legislature will overturn the rule of thumb in 2011.

In addition, the recent law allows eight medical cannabis dispensaries to open within the state. Previously patients could either grow their own medicine or obtain it from a delegated caregiver. The dispensaries will provide a third option for patients and could lead on to an increase in applications. However, the hole of the voter-approved dispensaries has been delayed and officials don’t expect the first to open until March or April 2011.

 

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While still too virtually call, medical marijuana opponent Steve Cooley leads the race for State Attorney General in California by roughly 43,000 votes. The latest count had Cooley at 3,875,037 and his opponent, Democrat Kamala Harris, at 3,831,825 votes.

On Sunday there were over one million ballots to count number. Currently there are still “enormous quantities” of uncounted ballots.

Both candidates remain hopeful, but it is unlikely that we’ll have a clear outcome from this race for several weeks. State law requires that every one ballots count number by November 30 and the general counts should be submitted by December 3.

As L.A. District Attorney, Steve Cooley opposed medical marijuana by condoning raids on dispensaries, prosecuting patients and even attempting to criminalize the sale of medical cannabis . His record as D.A. prompted Americans for Safe Access to launch a website to inform the public of the chance Cooley poses to medical marijuana.

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Supervisors in Mendocino County have decided against declaring a state of emergency over “the big marijuana gardens being grown on public lands.” Apparently the pot growing in Mendocino National Forest – which authorities believe is primarily grown “by Mexican nationals possibly affiliated with drug cartels” – caused area residents requesting the state of emergency declaration.

While authorities in Mendocino acknowledge that marijuana grown on forest land presents a difficulty, they opted for a symposium involving five nearby counties to foster a “regional effort to eradicate marijuana in Mendocino National Forest.”

Nearly three-quarters of the pot seized by California’s Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (or CAMP) last year was found on public land. 

 

More @ pressdemocrat.com