Browsing United States

A medical marijuana patient has been refused service at an Illinois bank because of his status as a legal medical marijuana patient. Darren Steven Miller suffers from terminal lung cancer and stage three multiple sclerosis (MS). When Illinois began implementing their medical marijuana program, he was one of the first patients to register. “This is between me and my doctor, not between me and my bank.” – Darren Miller According to Miller, The Bank of Edwardsville in Granite City, IL has refused to allow him to open a new bank account simply because he listed “marijuana activist” …

Minnesota will soon allow those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) access to medical marijuana under the state’s medical cannabis program. Petitioners in Minnesota pushed a total of nine new health conditions for consideration this year including PTSD, schizophrenia, acquired absence of limb (phantom limb syndrome), arthritis, autism, depression, diabetes, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and insomnia. Dr. Ed Ehlinger, the Minnesota Commissioner of Health, made the announcement on Thursday. “This decision was made after careful deliberation of available evidence, consultation with experts in the field and public input,” Commissioner Ehlinger said in a statement. “While the process of …

Voters in Florida will be presented once again with a proposal to legalize medical marijuana in the Sunshine State, and two polls released this week indicate that Amendment 2 will receive the 60% needed to pass. On Monday, the Florida Chamber of Commerce released a poll that found 73% support Amendment 2, while only 22% opposed it. The poll has a margin of error of +/-4 percent. “Both of these polls indicate that Amendment 2 is likely to garner the 60% super-majority required in Florida to pass.” Then, on Wednesday, the Saint Leo University …

With two different approaches to legalizing medical marijuana appearing on the November ballot in Arkansas, a new poll suggests that voters prefer Issue 6, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment, over Issue 7, the Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act. The Talk Business & Politics-Hendrix College poll, released Sunday, found 49% in favor (43% opposed) to Issue 6, while just 36% were in favor (53% opposed) to Issue 7. “With both of them on the ballot, they will both fail, and that’s heartbreaking.” – Melissa Fults, Arkansans for Compassionate Care This latest poll could …

The Massachusetts Department of Public Heath (DPH) could be making a couple of noteworthy amendments to the Bay State’s medical marijuana program — changes designed to make it easier for patients to be certified for medical marijuana use. Among the proposed changes unveiled earlier this month are two key improvements to the program that will, if ultimately included in state regulations, have a direct impact on patients. The first is a proposed amendment to the state’s medical marijuana program that will allow a Certified Nurse Practitioner (CNP) to write patient recommendations. CNPs already provide prescriptions to patients …

Supporters of a proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma have filed a lawsuit calling anti-pot Republican Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt’s rewriting of their ballot question misleading, effectively ending their long-shot attempt at placing the measure before voters in November. “No elected official has the right to rewrite these ballots in such a way that he would try to unfairly influence voters. Scott Pruitt has a habit, a pattern of doing this.” – David Slane, Oklahomans for Health Oklahomans for Heath, backers of State Question 788, had collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot …

Voters in Missouri will not be allowed to decide on a proposal to legalize medical marijuana in the state after a court decision left supporters 23 signatures short of qualifying for the November ballot. On Tuesday, Cole County Circuit Judge Daniel Green ruled that the Missouri Secretary of State and local election authorities acted properly when they invalidated hundreds of petition signatures that had been collected by New Approach Missouri, the organization behind the measure. The reason? Supporters collecting signatures used the wrong county’s form so the signatures were declared invalid. “It is with an extremely heavy …

The Minnesota Department of Health is currently considering adding several qualifying conditions to the state’s medical marijuana program including autism and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). “The Department has held two meetings to consider conditions thus far, with a third meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 22.” Under Minnesota’s medical marijuana law, which was passed in 2014 and went into effect last year, patients can petition the Department every year to request additional conditions be considered. Petitions are accepted during a two month window each year, starting June 1 and ending July 31. A seven-member review panel then holds public …

If you are a legal MMJ patient living in a cannabis friendly state, you are most likely already familiar with the process of using some of the more popular dispensary locator tools like Weedmaps and Leafly. Gone are the days of sneaking into the shadows to quickly exchange money for a bag of weed, or hoping a friend’s friend’s cousin can come through for you. Times change, businesses change, and patient’s needs change, but internet magnates such as Yelp, Google and Facebook continue to resist the idea of accepting and focusing on building cannabis-related listings. For the past …

Supporters of a proposal to legalize medical marijuana in Oklahoma have collected enough signatures to place the issue on the ballot, but the measure may not appear before voters this November because there are several steps remaining in the qualification process and there may not be enough time remaining to complete them. On Tuesday, Oklahoma Secretary of State Chris Benge announced that Oklahomans for Health has collected 67,761 valid signatures, slightly more than the 65,987 signatures needed to qualify, in support of their proposal State Question 788, Initiative Petition 412. However, …