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The California Supreme Court today upheld a state appeals court ruling that voided California’s medical marijuana growing restrictions, calling them unconstitutional.

By Steven Harmon
Contra Costa Times

Posted: 01/12/2010 01:24:04 PM PST

 
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers took a historic first step toward legalizing marijuana when an Assembly committee approved legislation that would put the drug on the open market as a regulated and taxed product.

Almost simultaneous with the passage, however, the bill died — for now. With a Jan. 22 deadline nearing for approving legislation from last year and no agreement to take it up in the Health Committee, where it must go before it reaches the Assembly floor, the author of the bill, Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, has vowed to reintroduce it.

“This is a significant vote because it legitimizes the quest for debate, legitimizes the quest for discussion,” Ammiano said. “This is far from over. Not only did we get it out of public safety, but members are now willing to say, yes, this is worthy of discussion.”

Advocates hailed the narrow passage of the bill, AB390 — it was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 4-3 vote — as a major breakthrough that will lead to a national legalization movement.

“This is the formal beginning of the end of marijuana prohibition in the United States,” said Stephen Gutwillig, director of the Drug Policy Alliance Network.

The legislation, AB390, drew fierce opposition from law enforcement groups and anti-drug advocates, who said it would empower drug cartels, make it more available to youths and send the wrong message about drug tolerance.

“We’re going to legalize marijuana and tax it and then educate our kids about the harms of drugs? You gotta be kidding me,” said Assemblyman Danny Gilmore, R-Hanford, a retired CHP officer of 30 years. “This is a classic example of the slippery slope. What’s next? Are we going to legalize methamphetamines or cocaine?”

Ammiano dismissed what he described as “alarmist” views of opponents, saying the state should take heed of the growing movement in California toward legalization. A group has collected enough signatures to place legalization on the November ballot, and Ammiano and others said it was important that lawmakers control the details of the policy.

The bill would remove all penalties in California law on cultivation, transportation, sale, purchase, possession, or use of marijuana, natural THC, or paraphernalia for persons over the age of 21.

Reach Steven Harmon at 916-441-2101.
N.J. lawmakers OK medical pot
TRENTON, N.J., Jan. 11 (UPI) — Both houses of the New Jersey Legislature Monday approved a measure allowing medical marijuana (OOTC:MJNA) use and the governor has said he will sign the bill.

The Assembly approved the bill 48-14 and the Senate voted 25-13 in favor, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported. Gov. Jon Corzine has said he would sign the measure before leaving office Jan. 19, the newspaper said.

The “Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana” bill is scheduled to take effect in six months. While it would make New Jersey the 14th state to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, its backers said during the legislative debate it would be the toughest medical marijuana law in the United States, the newspaper said.

New Jersey residents would not be permitted to cultivate their own marijuana and criminal background checks would be required for designated care givers to acquire pot on behalf of severely ill patients.

One of the measure’s sponsors, Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, said New Jersey should not “make criminals out of our very sick and terminally ill.”

“It does not make sense for many of New Jersey’s residents to suffer when there is a viable way to ease their pain,” Gusciora said. “But this is a responsible bill with enough oversight to prevent the abuses that have been reported in other states.”

An opponent of the measure, Assemblyman John Rooney, said there were “too many loopholes.”

“There are other drugs,” he said. “There are many ways to relieve pain.”
Source: UPI (January 11, 2010 – 10:01 PM EST)

News by QuoteMedia

Back in June, I wrote about the explosive growth of medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. What happened is the following: a legal loophole intended to limit the number of these storefront pot shops unintentionally led to surge in new ones. In 2007, the city, hoping to curb the further spread of new shops allowed for a “hardship exemption” for those outfits already doing business. The upshot was that in 2005 there were just four medical marijuana stores – however, by last summer 500 new applications were made by operators under the exemption status. Alarmed, the city council moved to shut the loophole down.

Rather than freezing growth, however, the move actually pushed pot entrepreneurs to quickly file applications in order to reserve their licenses (law enforcement could not shut them down while their applications were pending). Currently, there are now about 966 medical marijuana dispensaries registered in LA and the Los Angeles Times is calling this the city’s “latest retail craze.”

The paper has plotted out a map of the city’s burgeoning cottage industry that has revealed some interesting findings. For starters there are 58 applications registered on one street alone. Furthermore, although a proposed city ordinance would prohibit these growing weed shops from operating within 1,000 feet of a school, library, or park, if you look at the map, the LAT’s found tha at least 260 of those applications on file have addresses listed that would land them smack in the middle of one of these no-go areas. Apparently the review process is moving at a snail’s pace while savvy LA entrepreneurship is not.

In a city in a state with a gaping budget shortfall and some of the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates – it seems this situation is one that might give new heft to the perennially controversial debate over legalizing marijuana and its potential role as a way to generate new tax revenue…Then again it could all simply go up in smoke.

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/running_small_business/archives/2009/09/more_weed_shops.html

I knock on the locked door of the nondescript one-story building not far from downtown, willing away my anxiety.

“Can I help you?” A security guard peers from behind the door, eyeing me suspiciously. He’s an older guy, probably somebody’s grandpa, but he gives me a look that says he doesn’t have a problem tangling with a whippersnapper like me.

“I have an appointment,” I stammer. I have Xeroxed medical records and $200 in cash to prove it. At that, the security guard is all smiles.

“Come on in,” he offers, opening the door wide and beckoning me into one of Denver’s most successful

medical marijuana dispensaries.

I’m here to become a state-certified

medical marijuana patient. If I succeed, I’ll have access to one of the fastest-growing — and unusual — businesses around.

Colorado voters legalized marijuana for medicinal use in 2000 with the passage of Amendment 20, but until recently, the state’s medical marijuana community was small and fairly inconspicuous. As of January, 5,000 people had applied to the state registry, and there were less than two dozen dispensaries selling pot.

But that’s changed, thanks to the Obama administration’s move in March to end most dispensary raids, as well as a Colorado Board of Health decision in July that did nothing to limit the number of patients that

medical marijuana dispensaries can have. As of June 30, the Colorado

medical marijuana registry had swelled to more than 10,000 applicants, with the state receiving more than 400 new applications each day. To meet that demand, at least seventy Colorado dispensaries have opened, forty in the metro area alone.

Many of these are operated by what insiders are calling a “second wave” of ganjapreneurs — savvy, experienced businesspeople and professionals. Some honed their chops running ventures that have nothing to do with marijuana; others are opportunists from the heady California dispensary scene who see a new market ripe for investment.

In the meantime, legal consultants, insurance companies and real-estate brokers are carving out their own niche, building industry-wide infrastructure for a form of commerce that never before existed.

Whether any of it is truly legal — and whether any of it will last — is anybody’s guess, because marijuana, after all, is still illegal under federal law. And although Amendment 20 allows people in Colorado to use pot for medical reasons, the law says nothing about dispensaries or whether buying and selling marijuana at them is legal. (”Growth Industry,” February 5.)

“I saw it coming,” says Colorado Attorney General John Suthers about the growth of the dispensary industry, of which he disapproves. “Even when we looked at the amendment in 2000, it was very purposely designed, in my opinion, by the advocates so it was so broad you could drive a truck through it.”

Cities and towns aren’t waiting for Suthers and his colleagues to sort the laws out. To deal with the reality of a business model that isn’t going away, one municipality after another is looking into their zoning or planning codes, and some have passed dispensary-specific rules, like where they can be located and what type of signage is allowed.

I’m not waiting, either. Past the security guard, I can see a brightly lit, professional-looking operation. People shuttle paperwork to and fro, chatting and laughing. It’s a far cry from a drug-dealing operation — though a familiar smell lingers in the air. No time for second thoughts: I’m already late for my appointment.

I step inside, ready to get medicated.

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For Craig Mardick, it’s a great day for a grand opening.The windows of his new business, Golden Alternative Care, are freshly polished, and a spread of complimentary fruit, veggies and dip greets customers just inside the door. Mardick’s landlord and insurance agent stop by to congratulate him and his employees. His mom pops in, too, with a freshly framed art poster to hang on the wall.

Mardick has just launched Golden’s first marijuana dispensary, and behind a discreet curtain, a glass display case offers marijuana strains with names like Bubble Berry, AK-47 and Pot of Gold, plus an assortment of cannabis-infused edibles.

“I have never seen an economic model like this,” he says of his new undertaking. “It’s unheard of. Economists don’t know how to forecast the industry.”

A former medical technician and environmental scientist by trade, Mardick had been laid off from a couple of jobs in the past few years when he got the idea to open a dispensary. A

medical marijuana patient himself — he’s been diagnosed with a large hiatal hernia, a serious gastrointestinal ailment — he’d been using his botany background to grow medicine for a half-dozen patients.

In February of this year, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which oversees the state

medical marijuana registry, revealed that it was considering limiting marijuana caregivers to providing for a maximum of five patients — a move that would have put dispensaries out of business, since they need more than five customers to survive.

But at a heavily attended hearing on July 20, the Colorado Board of Health, the advisory board for CDPHE, voted against the proposed limitation. The decision was seen as a tacit endorsement of the dispensary model, and state registrar Ron Hyman says the state has received 6,000

medical marijuana patient applications since then.

Mardick wanted in on the action. He figured that if twenty people purchased a quarter-ounce of medicine from him each week, he’d net nearly $6,500 a month. So with an

investment of $15,000 — some of which he got from his father, because banks are reluctant to offer loans for such enterprises — he went into business.

He began by calling the Golden police chief, who told him that while he didn’t believe in marijuana use, he’d support the dispensary as long as it stayed within Colorado law. Mardick also talked with the city zoning department, which, after a week of deliberation — the staff had never considered a marijuana operation before — decided that Golden Alternative Care would be allowed to open in the city’s central business zone.

It took time to find an amenable landlord; many property owners refused to work with what they called a “drug dealer.” Mardick had to get a sales tax number, obtain a federal Employer Identification Number and register his company with the secretary of state as a limited-liability company. While he currently grows much of his medicine himself, he contracts with three Colorado growers who can each provide him within 24 hours with a quarter- to a half-pound of weed — just in case business booms.

And boom it might, considering the success of Mardick’s predecessors. In June, for example, Bob Carleton took a break from dabbling in mergers and acquisitions as the co-founder of Denver-based international strategic consulting firm Vector Group, to open Herbal Connections at 2209 West 32nd Avenue. Now he has upwards of 600 customers and some competition: At least two other dispensaries have opened in the neighborhood.

Because every aspect of the business, by law, has to stay within Colorado’s boundaries, the dispensary industry is essentially a statewide financial Petri dish — one that Carleton believes could grow to exorbitant dimensions. “You have this soon-to-be-half-billion-dollar industry with no infrastructure, and those don’t exist,” he says.

While the open nature of the industry is enticing, it also poses challenges. For instance, how do you get a loan for a copier or obtain a company credit card when national banks fear violating federal law if they work with dispensaries? How do you create dosage levels and quality standards for, say, a THC-infused trail bar when there are no health or medical regulations? How can dispensary owners work together without being guilty of racketeering as defined under the federal RICO act? It reminds Carleton of other places he’s worked that had big regulatory gaps — places like Macedonia, Russia and Azerbaijan.

“I spent a lot of time working in developing countries,” says Carleton. “It made it more intriguing thinking there is something like this in the United States.”

It’s intriguing to a lot of people.

Scott Durrah and Wanda James, the couple behind Eight Rivers restaurant in LoDo, are teaming up with Noah Westby, owner of DaGabi Cucina and Sole Coffee Roasters in Boulder, to open a Denver dispensary called the Apothecary of Colorado.

“The decriminalization of pot makes sense to us as a civil-rights issue, a medical issue and a legal issue,” says James. “That’s why we’re looking into opening a dispensary. I think medical marijuana is the first step, and I think legalization or decriminalization could be the next step.”

The trio is aiming for an up-market, professional atmosphere. “We are very proud of what has been done with the marijuana movement and the people who are involved, and we just want to create that second piece,” says James. “It’s the second generation of dispensaries, and we really want the 45-year-old professional to feel comfortable coming in.” They plan to model their business after Harborside Health Center, an Oakland, California, operation that, with its natural-wood decor, electronic checkout counters and on-site Buddha garden, is the Neiman Marcus of dispensaries.

They won’t be the only ones taking that approach; Harborside itself is coming to town.

On a recent afternoon, a well-dressed Californian named Don Dunkan stops by a vacant storefront downtown near the busy intersection of 22nd and Lawrence streets. “It’s an empty canvas,” he says of the 2,200-square-foot space — one that will be transformed into a swanky new breed of dispensary that will go by the name Local Product.

Dunkan is a partner in Harborside Management Consultants, an offshoot of Harborside Health Center that’s branded itself the “A-Team of medical cannabis.” The consulting group plans to help others launch Harborside-quality dispensaries around the country. Of the thirteen states besides California that allow medical marijuana use, the first place they decided to do so was in Colorado.

“We have been looking at Colorado for several years now, watching the scene,” says Dunkan. “I would say right now in the state of Colorado, there is a vacuum that needs to be filled. It’s an exciting place to be.”

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Amendment 20 authorized people with cancer, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, muscle spasms, severe nausea and other serious medical conditions to use marijuana. To get on Colorado’s confidential medical marijuana registry and obtain a certified medical marijuana card, a patient needs a doctor’s recommendation for the program.But the state health department has highlighted a suspicious trend: More and more young men are getting authorized by doctors to be on the state marijuana registry, the vast majority suffering from the vague ailment of “severe pain.” The implication, it seems, is that lots of stoners are finding a way to smoke pot legally.

It turns out I’m one of those young men with severe pain. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor for much of the past year for muscle spasms in my back, and I can say without a doubt that I’m not pretending to spend nights writhing in pain or walking around like Quasimodo just to score some reefer. On the other hand, I’m a much less appropriate candidate than someone battling cancer or suffering from muscular dystrophy. But that’s not for me to decide. That’s why I start calling around to find out about scoring a medical marijuana card.

I begin with the marijuana-focused doctor referral services. These operations have sprung up on the premise that many patients’ primary caregivers are reluctant to consider pot as medicine. My first call is to the relatively long-established THC Foundation, a three-year-old Wheat Ridge operation that’s part of a multi-state non-profit chain. My medical condition could warrant medical marijuana, says a THC Foundation representative — though she adds that they’re not about to provide me one with just my records from the chiropractor. “A chiropractor is not technically an M.D.,” she says. “We really need something from your physician.”

So I ring up the THC Foundation’s main competition: CannaMed in Denver. I’m a bit surprised to find out the place is still operating. A week earlier, FBI agents had raided the operation — not because of the pot, but because they suspected it was associated with an $80 million nationwide fraud scheme. The feds did confiscate CannaMed’s patient records, but attorney Charlie Crosse says no one at CannaMed was arrested or charged with crimes. “I am informed by the FBI that CannaMed is not a part of its case,” he says. It turns out CannaMed was quickly up and running again.

“Sure, we take chiropractic records,” the CannaMed representative tells me on the phone. It’ll set me back $200 for the CannaMed doctor’s visit, plus a $90 registration fee to the state, he says — or he can offer me a special deal for $50.

“$50?” I ask, incredulous.

The catch is that I have to let CannaMed choose my caregiver, the person who can grow up to six marijuana plants on my behalf, for one year. And during that time, I can’t grow medicine myself. “Can I switch my caregiver before then?” I ask.

“If you pay us $290,” he replies.

I’d heard about this process. Amendment 20 allows each medical marijuana patient to possess up to two ounces of marijuana or six marijuana plants at a time. Since these patients can alternatively assign these “pot rights” to a designated caregiver, the patients themselves have become a sort of key commodity in the blossoming industry.

Dispensaries and marijuana growers are trying to become the designated caregivers for as many patients as possible so they can increase the number of plants they’re allowed to grow. Some dispensaries are offering incentives to those who will sign over their caregivership. CannaMed, I’d been told, was offering this $50 “low-income” option because marijuana cultivators are sponsoring these patients in exchange for obtaining their pot rights — though there’s little guarantee that these growers were acting in a true caregiver role for these patients.

CannaMed referred all questions to its lawyer, Crosse, who says he doesn’t get into operational issues. “I don’t understand about the two price structures, and I am not informed, so I can’t comment on that issue,” he says.

As attractive as CannaMed’s price tag sounds, I decide it’s not worth signing away my pot rights. So instead I turn to the back pages of Westword, which has become a major marketing venue for medical marijuana businesses. Many dispensaries listed there advertise on-site doctors, though it’s a risky move. Amendment 20 instituted a referral-based state registry so that doctors wouldn’t be prescribing or helping patients obtain marijuana, since that practice could put them at risk of losing the Drug Enforcement Administration-issued license that lets them prescribe narcotics.

“It is my belief that having a doctor in a medical marijuana dispensary is too close to helping a patient get marijuana,” says Brian Vicente, executive director of the drug-policy reform organization Sensible Colorado, who consults with several dispensaries. “I think they are at risk of losing their license.”

Putting legal questions about these in-house doctors aside, I choose the operation with the biggest ad. The person who answers the phone explains that the dispensary works with a couple different doctors. Some won’t take chiropractic records, although the one who comes in on Wednesdays does — for a $110 fee, plus $90 to the state.

I make an appointment for the following Wednesday.

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Kevin, a marijuana cultivator, is proud of his $10,000 indoor state-of-the-art weed-growing operation, what with its hydro-organic flood tables attached to automated pumping systems and high-pressure sodium lights and perfectly calibrated carbon dioxide regulators. Just don’t expect him to show it to you.His growhouse, somewhere in southern Colorado, is protected by a security guard and movement sensors in the driveway; cameras beam footage to an off-site server. Since he’s moving his operation — something he does every six months or so — he’s not inclined to give a tour. Kevin, who didn’t want to use his last name, may be amenable to visitors at that time, but only if they wear a blindfold and a pillowcase over their heads on the way there.

“I try not to be too paranoid, but truth of the matter is, under federal law it is not a hundred percent legal,” says Kevin. The risk is worth it, however, since Kevin’s services have been in high demand lately. With the number of marijuana patients swelling, the need for medicine has outpaced the supply. Some dispensaries have instituted limits on how much medicine its customers can buy so they can ration their stock.

Kevin is a caregiver for about twenty patients, which allows him to cultivate up to 120 plants on their behalf — though he’s careful never to cultivate more than 99 at a time — the amount that would trigger a five-year mandatory minimum drug sentence if federal authorities ever come knocking. Kevin gives each of his patients an ounce of free medicine a month; he sells the rest, roughly a pound a month, to half a dozen dispensaries in Denver and Colorado Springs for $250 an ounce. The dispensaries typically turn it around for nearly double that, he says.

Prices for marijuana vary widely, depending on the quality, the grower and the dispensary. As an example, however, a patient could typically buy a quarter ounce for $100 to $150 (on the high side). There are around 28 grams in an ounce, so if a person put half a gram in each joint and smoked one joint per day, that pot would last for two to three weeks. At that rate, a month’s worth of medicine would cost $200 to $300.

The industry has also spurred a wide range of pot-related support services and products. Lakewood commercial insurance agent Edward Leonard, for instance, helped a Boulder dispensary obtain a policy last October, and has since become the go-to guy for dispensary insurance, having worked with 23 operations.

“There are lots of insurance agents in Denver that would like to have this business,” says Leonard, since he’s one of the few who’s been able to find an insurance company (which he wouldn’t reveal) willing to write a policy that covers general liability and personal property at a dispensary, plus limited coverage for product for sale.

Then there’s Naresh Chandranatha, whose website, MMJLine, and call-in phone number, catalogues the ever-increasing number of Colorado dispensaries. “We are essentially a 411 for dispensaries,” says Chandranatha, who gets a few hundred calls a day for information. Dispensaries are listed for free, but some pay for advertising.

Those who want to grow their own meds might want to seek out the expertise of “Hans,” a legendary marijuana cultivator known for helping develop the “sea of green” mass-production technique. Hans recently relocated to Colorado from Tucson, and he’s teaching growing classes at a downtown dispensary, the Peace in Medicine Center.

Hans recently shot footage in town for his popular “Cooking with Marijuana” DVD series — quite fitting, since he filmed the first movies here a decade ago.

“The atmosphere in Denver ten years ago when we made the videos was such that we had to hide the house we were working in, we all wore masks, and we swore the cameramen to secrecy,” he says. “Now we did it in an open, public forum at Owsley’s Golden Road. We smoked right on stage, and the patients who were there with their cards were able to share in the food.”

In Crestone, two businessmen just opened the High Valley Healing Center, the state’s first medical cannabis retreat, and in Longmont, Mitchell Shenassa has been singing the praises of the Incredibowl. “We are putting people on the moon, and pipes haven’t changed in 300 years,” he explains. “For soccer moms and business executives who were smoking joints in high school, we wanted to step it up to the next level.”

Shenassa and his business partners spent the past three years developing three-dimensional models and working with engineers they located through Craigslist ads. The result was the Apollo 11 of weed pipes — featuring a polycarbonate expansion chamber and a smoke-injection nozzle — which now retails primarily at Colorado dispensaries for $200, or half that for registered patients. “The dispensaries are a new market,” Shenassa says.

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Waiting in the dispensary for my appointment with the on-site physician is every bit as tedious and mind-numbing as a trip to a run-of-the-mill doctor’s office.As soon as I’m inside the dispensary, the security guard shows me to a waiting room where a table is stocked with clipboards full of forms to fill out. Through a doorway, customers lounge on a cushy leather couch, watching the History Channel on a flat-screen TV while waiting for their turn to enter the pharmacy room in the back. While the dispensary features a pool table, free fruit and munchies, complimentary chair massages and even a bar where people can ingest their medicine of choice by inhaling it through a vaporizer, all that’s off limits to me until I get certified. To help speed up that process, well-dressed workers scurry all around me, Xeroxing driver’s licenses, collecting appointment fees, pointing out the on-site ATM, writing out $90 money orders to be sent to the state health department along with each application. Between the chaos and the fact that my back is acting up, I’m starting to feel like I could really use a hit.

I’m not the only one waiting for the doctor. One guy, who looks to be in his twenties, inquires about whether the physician can authorize him for more than two ounces of pot at a time, so he can keep enough product on hand to cook edibles with it. An elderly woman sitting next to me nervously tells a staff member, “My family has been pushing me to do this for a while.” She says she hasn’t touched the stuff in forty years. A young man who looks to be her grandson watches over her shoulder.

My paperwork filled out, I’m finally called to see the doctor. I’m led into a small office where an older man in shorts and a short-sleeved button-down shirt sits behind a desk. The desk is empty save for a takeout menu for Cheba Hut, a restaurant franchise specializing in “toasted” (wink, wink) subs. He immediately gets down to business.

“I know why you are here, but why are you here?” he asks, and it takes me a moment to realize he wants to see my medical records. I hand over my chiropractor’s notes and mumble nervously about my symptoms. I feel like I’m back in high school, taking a major test — one I might be cheating on.

The doctor reads over my records, then clears his throat. “There’s only one problem,” he says. My spirit drops; it sounds like I’m about to fail.

“I don’t know what to write down for your diagnosis,” he continues, gesturing to my state registry application. I realize he can’t find the chiropractor’s diagnosis on my medical records. I point to the top of a page where my chief complaints are listed as muscle spasms and tortacollis, a painful neck and back condition. “Oh,” he says, satisfied. “I didn’t look up that high.

“Tortacollis isn’t bad,” he says. “That’s serious.” But it would be better, he adds, if I got some additional diagnoses, maybe have some X-rays done. No rush, he adds. Just think about it for next year, when you come in for a renewal.

And with a flash of his pen, he recommends me as a medical marijuana patient. “Okay,” he says, concluding our five-minute appointment. “You’re all set.”

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Englewood’s city council faced an unusual conundrum at its August 17 meeting. Two dispensaries had recently opened in the city, and more were on the way. The news was a bit overwhelming to elected officials, who were considering an emergency ordinance that night that would impose a six-month moratorium on all new dispensaries.”I need to get a better handle on why these things are coming along so fast,” councilmember Wayne Oakley told the room.

Rob Corry, a Denver-based legal consultant for several dispensaries, spoke up at the hearing to argue that the moratorium would be a mistake. “It would be a bad idea for the City of Englewood to remove itself from this growing — no pun intended — industry in Colorado,” he said. “The City of Englewood would be walking away from hundreds of thousands of dollars, potentially millions of dollars, in potential revenue.”

It wasn’t enough to appease the concerns of Englewood’s city council, however, which passed the moratorium. Corry told councilmembers that, going forward, if they needed help developing regulations, he’d be happy to offer his services free of charge.

Englewood is not alone in its confusion. Dozens of dispensaries have opened in the past months in places like Wheat Ridge, Federal Heights, Lakewood, Littleton and Highlands Ranch. And while Aurora and Greenwood Village have laws preventing them from issuing business licenses to operations that violate federal law, other cities and towns have discovered that they have no rules about dispensaries whatsoever.

In the past month, Durango, Steamboat Springs, Craig, Basalt, Dillon, Breckenridge, Silverthorne, Frisco and Northglenn have all instituted temporary moratoriums on new dispensaries until they develop guidelines for them. Some municipalities, like Aspen, have decided that dispensaries should be treated like pharmacies when it comes to zoning issues, while others see them as nuisance businesses like strip clubs that should be a certain distance from schools and public parks. Denver and Boulder aren’t currently considering any dispensary-specific policies.

Commerce City recently revised its city code to include rules for dispensaries (it prohibits public advertisement and outdoor use of medical marijuana), but other communities are reluctant to follow suit, because there’s little legal precedent for anything other than requiring that they have a business license and pay sales tax. To figure out how Wheat Ridge should proceed, city staff there borrowed recommendations from “Medical Education and Dispensary Safety,” a guide prepared by Colorado Springs-based Cannabis Therapeutics, one of the oldest and largest dispensaries around.

But city officials in Englewood and elsewhere might be wise to take Corry up on the offer of free advice. He and two other Colorado lawyers — Brian Vicente at Sensible Colorado and Warren Edson, co-author of Amendment 20 — know more about the dispensary industry here than anybody, since they’ve built it from the ground up.

Nearly every dispensary seems to keep at least one of these three legal gatekeepers on retainer, and they constantly rely on their opinions, not to mention their Rolodexes of marijuana-friendly landlords, realtors and doctors. “Everything you do, you contact your attorney and you develop a procedure that you think is the best argument in court,” says Jill Leigh, co-owner of a dispensary called Boulder County Caregivers. “You have three attorneys who essentially developed dispensary policy in the state.”

The legal trio didn’t have a choice, says Vicente; no one else was going to do it. “The three of us have been guiding people to act in a proper and legal manner,” says Vicente. “Warren, Rob and myself attend a handful of conferences a year and learn how to effectively mold this industry. It’s fleshing out the law in favor of patient providers.”

The key for dispensaries and vendors, says Vicente, is to develop a web of patients and caregivers. When a new dispensary opens, for example, its owner or employees have to be designated caregivers for enough patients to legally warrant all the pot they have at the operation. These caregivers will have to take on more patients as business grows, and they need additional product. If the dispensary contracts with outside growers to provide them with marijuana, some of its customers will likely have to designate these growers as their caregivers so the crops abide by state law.

Since there are no rules about dispensaries, however — in Amendment 20 or anywhere else — many patients haven’t limited themselves to shopping only at the dispensary associated with their designated caregiver. And many enterprises are operating under the premise that as soon as a patient walks in their door, that dispensary becomes his or her de facto primary caregiver for the duration of the visit. That means that any patient can buy marijuana there without changing his or her designated caregiver.

Several questions remain about these arrangements. Can caregivers really sell leftover pot they don’t provide to their patients to other caregivers and to other caregivers’ patients? Is it really permissible for patients to frequent any dispensary in town? What is legal and what isn’t may eventually come down to a court battle, and that’s where the dispensary model could be tested. “They’re juggling medical marijuana cards and ounces,” says Scott Carr, Colorado manager of the THC Foundation. “If you are not the caregiver, you are not protected if you take money for the cannabis. Everyone seems to be excited by the California model, but nobody seems to read the law.”

Ted Tow, executive director for the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council, agrees that dispensaries don’t hold up to legal scrutiny. “Medical marijuana is legal, but nothing says by definition that dispensaries are,” he says. “We didn’t define them in the amendment. We define everything else in the constitution. If you pull out the blue-book description they put out about Amendment 20, it specifically said it will not legalize the distribution of marijuana. And that’s what dispensaries do.”

So far, law-enforcement agencies have largely left the dispensaries alone — possibly because Amendment 20 suggests that the authorities would have to continue cultivating any marijuana they seized from dispensaries or grow facilities until they obtained a conviction in court.

But this could change.

Attorney General Suthers suggests that the state Board of Medical Examiners should look into parts of the medical marijuana industry; he adds that he may have his own office do so, too. “We knew we would have these dispensaries and have thousands more patients than medicine would dictate. You would have a lot of people claiming chronic pain without much specificity. And the roles of medical marijuana would be pretty large.”

Dispensary owners and their legal advisors say they’d like to work with state officials to clear up vagaries in the law and develop reasonable regulations, but they say they don’t have much confidence that state officials are willing to work with them.

“There is a history of the state engaging in underhanded tactics in an attempt to destroy and weaken the medical marijuana law,” says Vicente. As an example, he points to the fact that the health department first instituted the five-patient rule at a closed meeting in 2004, a fact that led Chief Denver District Judge Larry Naves to suspend that limit in 2007 because it lacked public input. Then, at the Board of Health hearing to consider re-instating that limit this past July, health officials said the average medical marijuana patient age had recently plummeted from 42 to 24, insinuating that patients were abusing the system. A week later, however, the health department noted there’d been a numerical error and the actual average patient age was 41.

Leigh at Boulder County Caregivers is playing it safe by requiring her customers to designate someone associated with the dispensary as their caregiver and refusing to host doctor referral services on site. While her business is still growing by leaps and bounds — she’s planning to open two additional locations in the Boulder area — she doesn’t like having to second-guess every business decision she makes.

“I would like to see some legislation that clarifies the law, but I don’t see that happening,” she says. “Now anything officials do to change it will end up in court. If law enforcement and district attorneys don’t deal with it, we are going to stay in this gray area forever.”

---

A day after I become a state-certified medical marijuana patient, I discover my perfect cure. It’s dispensed by the Candy Girls.Eventually the state will send me an official medical marijuana ID, but in the meantime, a copy of my signed doctor recommendation works the same way. So, after my appointment with the physician, I’m offered a no-pressure visit to the pharmacy room, even though I didn’t make anyone at the dispensary my designated caregiver. But looking at the spread of glass jars filled with green, lumpy buds with names like Afwreck, Mendocino Madness and Green Crack, I pass. The stuff seems too traditional, too much like old-fashioned dope smoking. Now that I’m official, I want something special.

I find what I’m looking for the next day in a tidy, sunlit kitchen. Here, three women are hard at work: rolling maraschino cherries in fondant and dipping them in Ghirardelli dark chocolate, slicing up cookie pans of coconut crunch bars into bit-sized hunks, assembling confectionary boxes jam-packed with professional-looking sweets. All of it is made with cannabis-infused oils or butters.

The women, wearing matching aprons and pot-leaf bracelets, are Jennifer Hawkins, Jennifer Smith and Katie (last name withheld), but they usually go by their company name, the Candy Girls. For a while, they operated under the title Growers for God, since they believe the Tree of Life was a cannabis plant, but their customers kept calling them the Candy Girls, and the name stuck. The undertaking began less than a year ago, when the women began making cannabis-infused candies for medical marijuana patients they knew who couldn’t afford to buy their own. Soon dispensaries started seeking out their repertoire of chocolate truffles, lemon pies and mini-cheesecakes.

“People who will never, ever smoke pot will eat it,” says Hawkins. “It’s a whole additional market of people.” The candies go for about $4 each.

Now they bake up about 800 goodies a week for eight Colorado dispensaries, including a customer who drives in from Grand Junction and a Chinese restaurant in Colorado Springs that sells their medicated chocolate-dipped cherries. They obtain raw cannabis from outside growers and make sure they’re covered under state law by having some of the customers at each of the dispensaries they contract with designate one of the Candy Girls as their caregiver. To keep these relationships personal, the Candy Girls hold meet-and-greets with their patients, as recommended by their lawyer, Edson.

It wasn’t always like this, says Hawkins. Diagnosed with a seizure disorder, she was one of the first hundred Coloradans to get a medical marijuana card. To get it, she had to go to twenty different doctors before one was willing to help her. And she visited some dispensaries so shady that she was glad she’d brought her husband along.

Now, not only is their medicine of choice gaining acceptability, but it’s helping them support their families. “From my position, we were all in a really difficult spot in life,” says Hawkins, who’d been laid off from her previous job. “This became an opportunity, and everything has fallen into place.”

When the Candy Girls hear I’m a new patient, they offer me a sample box of their signature specialties: chocolates, brownies and trail bars, several of which feature stickers that say “For medicinal use only.” Enjoy it, they tell me, with one note of warning: No matter how good they might taste, it’s best to sample one at a time.

I’ve never been so excited to take my medicine.

(By Joel Warner | Denver Westword News)

LOS ANGELES, CA, Jan. 5, 2010 (Marketwire) –

LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwire) — 01/05/10 — Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) is proud to announce the launch of its first National Educational Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Theatre Room on January 16 & 17, 2010. Featured prominent industry experts and celebrities include the former NORML Director and current CFO of Cannabis Science, and the founder, editor, & publisher of Marijuana News, Richard Cowan; and Medical Marijuana Inc Chairman, Bruce Perlowin. Special guest speaker and long suffering marijuana defendant, Robert Platshorn, author of “The Tuna Diaries” (featured in “The 35 Year Anniversary Issue of High Times Magazine”) will regale you with tales of smuggling, federal court trial and “doing hard time” (3 decades in prison). Bobby’s post release commitment to changing public opinion through education and information is engaging. Interact with The Executive Officers of MJNA, including the Director of Investor Relations, who will be present and available for consultation.

Enjoy and educate yourself with two days of segmented Classes & Workshops given by Law Makers, Tax Advisers, Northern California Growers, Cooperative Founders, Medical Marijuana Doctors, Patient Testimonials, Caregivers and Certified Addiction Therapist(s). Classes on the History of Hemp, Cannabis, Marijuana around the World, the Political Climate and Not for Profit Structuring, Legal Compliance, Cannabis Cultivation, How to Quick Start Your Medical Marijuana Delivery Service, Alchemy, Trademark & Patent filing, Franchising, Barter, Where to find The Best Products to Cultivate and Deliver the Benefits of Medical Cannabis.

A Private Screening of Jack Herer’s recent documentary “The Emperor Wears No Clothes” based on his book about the history and uses of Hemp will be shown Saturday at 8:00 pm in the LA Convention Center Theatre, followed by a SOCIAL NETWORKING EVENT, featuring the diverse musical talent of DJ Dre Ghost – Presenting “THE HEMP CHRONICLES” along with other performing artists Saturday night from 9:00-Midnight.

To purchase your tickets online go to http://www.medicalmarijuanaeducationalexpo.com/

Tweet us at http://www.twitter.com/medmarijuanainc

Medical Marijuana Educational Seminars

Additionally we will be launching and teaching an entirely New Business Opportunity for Anyone wanting to get into the Medical Marijuana industry that until recently did not exist. An entrepreneurial opportunity that is faster to get up and running and earning income; one that is safer than opening a collective dispensary or grow operation with all the shifting laws and unsure and unstable battling political environments, and one you can open in any state regardless of where that state is in the legalization process.

These kinds of seminars are filled with people wanting to learn how to enter the Medical Marijuana Business. Therefore, we will be presenting our ground breaking new Medical Marijuana Institute Educational Center business opportunity where the licensed Center owner receives 60% of the ticket sales and a percentage of all products & services offered to them by licensor MJNA. You can extrapolate what your earning potential could be and how many Medical Marijuana Institute Educational Centers will open in cities All Across America in 2010.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana has developed a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that provides the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System provides verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The provisional patent pending Stored Value Platform System is further described at: http://www.MedicalMarijuanaInc.com/index/html

Scientific Research and Development

MJNA acquired 20 acres of land in the mountains of Southern California in order to develop a research facility targeting medical cannabis strains specific to a wide range of medical conditions. By diligently developing the most efficacious strains and matching those strains to ailments, such as glaucoma, MJNA is poised as the industry leader in medical cannabis genetic research.

About Medical Marijuana, Inc.

Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) the first US public company in the cannabis industry to have its shares trade in the US stock market, recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought Medical Marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities while engaging in compassionate socio-economic models.

Forward-Looking Disclaimer

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties.

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Contact:
Email Contact
www.MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

LOS ANGELES, CA, Dec. 21, 2009 (Marketwire) –

LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwire) — 12/21/09 — Medical Marijuana, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) endorsed today the unprecedented act of President Obama signing into federal law the removal of restrictions on the use of medical marijuana in the nation’s capitol, which underscores MJNA’s foresight in becoming the first US public company to emerge, providing solutions to this revolutionary growth industry.

On Thursday, December 10th, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending measure which included a measure that provides federal funding for the District of Columbia’s medical marijuana program. This was quickly followed in an unusual Sunday vote of the Senate. Although the District’s citizens had overwhelmingly approved the use of medical marijuana in a referendum in 1998, it had been languishing due to restrictions placed on it by Congress. A House-Senate conference committee agreed to remove a handful of controversial, long-standing riders from the D.C. budget, including language that had effectively banned medical marijuana use (the so-called “Barr Amendment”).

In acknowledgement of this ground breaking enactment and in furtherance of its continuing vision, Medical Marijuana Inc is pleased to announce the Nationwide Launch of its Educational Seminar series beginning Jan 16 & 17, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets can be acquired via http://MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

Don’t miss our educational seminars with great speakers who are industry leaders and insiders. A wide range of topics will be addressed in a formal but fun and entertaining way. Topics include legalization, decriminalization, compliance solutions, business models, opportunities, medicinal benefits, debunking marijuana myths, simple home gardening techniques, green agricultural technologies and much more.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana, Inc. has developed a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System will provide verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The provisional patent pending Stored Value Platform System is further described at: http://MedicalMarijuanaInc.com/index/html

Scientific Research and Development

MJNA acquired 20 acres of land in the mountains of Southern California in order to develop a research facility targeting medical cannabis strains specific to a wide range of medical conditions. By diligently developing the most efficacious strains and matching those strains to ailments, such as glaucoma, MJNA is poised as the industry leader in medical cannabis genetic research.

About Medical Marijuana, Inc.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought Medical Marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities while engaging in compassionate socio-economic models.

Forward Looking Disclaimer

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties.

For Information on our National Seminar Series please email: info@MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

For Investor Relations information please email: InvestorRelations@MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

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Contact:
Email Contact
www.MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

LOS ANGELES, CA, Dec. 11, 2009 (Marketwire) –

LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwire) — 12/11/09 — Medical Marijuana, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) announces today the purchase of 20 acres of prime mountain valley property in Southern California intended to be used within strict governmental guidelines as a research facility targeting medical Cannabis strains specific to a wide range of medical conditions.

Today in California, a physician’s medical cannabis recommendation is based on a patient’s evaluation. However, the strain of medical Cannabis to be recommended, dosage and delivery methods must be refined and re-evaluated.

Many medical conditions are accepted by government as medical marijuana treatable. By diligently developing the most efficacious strains and matching those strains to ailments, MJNA will be poised as the industry leader in medical cannabis genetic research.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana, Inc. has developed a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s Turnkey Collective Solution ensures that collectives operate within the guidelines of all laws and regulations. By employing Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s closed loop tracking system, it can be shown to authorities and collectives alike that the source of their supply was an active member of the collective. Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s Regulatory Module provides officials with a comprehensive reporting tool that allows them to remotely audit the industry in real time to ensure regulations are being properly followed. Further, the POS system automatically recognizes the collective’s tax ID number, state and local tax rates and then provides Automated Clearing House settlement of the taxes and routes the amount to the State’s appointed financial institution.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System will provide verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The “Point of Sale” (POS) system will recognize the dispensary’s tax ID number, state and local tax rates and then provide “Automated Clearing House” (ACH) settlement of the taxes to the proper financial institutions. The ease of access to certifiably secure transactions lessens the risk of loss at each level of the transaction.

About Medical Marijuana, Inc.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized Marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

Forward Looking Disclaimer

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties.

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine

Contact:
Medical Marijuana, Inc.
Email Contact
www.MedicalMarijuanaInc.com

MARINA DEL REY, CA, Nov. 20, 2009 (Marketwire) –

MARINA DEL REY, CA — (Marketwire) — 11/20/09 — Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) announced today they have completed the taping of the Educational Seminar series as the 1st step toward the Seminar program being offered across America in those states where permitted by law. These Seminars will continue to be held in Ukiah, Ca. through the rest of the year.

Noted speakers included Oakland defense attorney James Silva, Mendocino Country Independent Editor Richard Johnson, Aeroponics cultivation expert Wayne Zallen, and MJNA – CEO Bruce Perlowin. The panel focused on current California laws and ordinances. Cultivation techniques and environmental sensitivity and solutions regarding the broad based tax solution that MJNA offers were explained in depth and unanimously agreed upon as paving the future for Medical Marijuana.

MJNA business protocol modules include Marketing, Accounting and Tax Compliance. Other modules include Trademarks and Patents, barter and their relevance to Medical Marijuana. Special attention is given to compliance issues related to extended Caregiver and Co-Op models. How-to instructions from some of the best Cannabis growers, use of Cannabis in the kitchens, legal experts, journalists and business professionals have enabled an unprecedented course of informational dialogue to move forward weekly.

Online enrollment can be accomplished at www.medicalmarijuanainc.com

Solutions

Medical Marijuana Inc has developed a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA INC

Medical Marijuana Inc recognizes the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

The growing amount of states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana have yet to establish a system for the legalized commercial production and sale of the medicine. It is likely that other states will follow California’s basic lead as the Golden State more specifically defines the regulations and protocols that are shaping the supply-side of the legal medical marijuana sector.

For further details on Medical Marijuana Inc contact:
Email Contact
www.medicalmarijuanainc.com

Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) completed its initial two day weekend Educational Seminar held Saturday and Sunday November 7 and 8 in Ukiah, CA.

Attendees arrived from Oregon, Arizona, and California, including San Francisco and Mendocino County, which is ground zero in the Medical Marijuana debate.

Noted speakers included attorney and hemp expert Don Wirtshafter, Editor of Mendocino Country Journal, Richard Johnson, Airoponics cultivation expert Wayne Zallen, trademark and patent consultant John Blue, MJNA – CEO Bruce Perlowin, and other speakers in various categories in the medical marijuana industry.
The Educational Seminar was well received and recorded on video for future webinar ventures. “This signals the beginning of a new revenue stream as MJNA continues the weekend seminar series in Ukiah — the county seat of Mendocino County — until the end of the year — with an even broader forum on the Medical Marijuana industry, which goes above and beyond the traditional curriculum offered in this arena,” said Bruce Perlowin, the CEO of Medical Marijuana, Inc.

Medical Marijuana Inc.’s educational seminar series continues this weekend at The Discovery Inn located at 1340 State St in Ukiah, CA, beginning at 10 am on Saturday and Sunday, November 14 and 15 and will continue every weekend until year’s end excluding the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday weeks. Included in this schedule is free Informational Seminars every Tuesday and Thursday night at 7 pm — also at The Discovery Inn.

Attendees will be lectured by scheduled speakers including noted Oakland NORML attorney James Silva, who was in attendance at the oral argument and will elaborate on the pending “Kelly” decision. “Kelly,” in layman’s terms, is a potential ordinance changing the California “plant limitation” a landmark case to be decided in the near future.

Mendocino Country Journal editor Richard Johnson will follow Mr. Silva and engage in a dialogue of topics which will also include the latest and most pertinent California city, county and state ordinances and court cases. MJNA takes pride in staying on the leading edge of consulting, which begins with city council and court decisions, particularly in “ground zero,” Mendocino County.

Cultivation modules will include airoponics, an alternative to outdoor grows, and a potentially integral aspect of Medical Marijuana cultivation as it is accomplished in a closed environment. Traditional hydroponics and outdoor grow modules are also featured at these events.

Business protocol modules will include Marketing, Accounting and Tax Compliance, a detailed view of MJNA’s Tax Remittance Card and Closed Loop Inventory Management Control System, Trademarks and Patents and Barter and their relevance to Medical Marijuana, Extended Caregiver Models for Prop 215 compliance, and Peripheral Industries from Cannabis Kitchens to Cannabis Magazines.
Online enrollment can be accomplished at www.medicalmarijuanainc.com

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA INC

Medical Marijuana Inc is the first public company to recognize the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc to be materially different from the statements made herein.
For further details on Medical Marijuana Inc contact:
Email Contact
www.medicalmarijuanainc.com.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System will provide verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The “Point of Sale” (POS) system will recognize the dispensary’s tax ID number, state and local tax rates and then provide “Automated Clearing House” (ACH) settlement of the taxes to the proper financial institutions. The customers of the dispensary are issued a plastic debit card or medical revenue card. The ease of access to certifiably secure transactions lessens the risk of loss at each level of the transaction.

Internal Management

All collectives/dispensaries in the U.S. are cash businesses. This presents a number of challenges. Dispensary owners risk employee theft and possible competition for sales with unsupervised employees. Our stored value card also eliminates the risks of carrying cash. For the investor looking to open more than one dispensary, this card allows him the ease of mind of knowing all transactions are accounted for in all of his locations.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana, Inc. is developing a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC.
Medical Marijuana, Inc. is the first public company to recognize the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. has developed a suite of turnkey business and management solutions for the fledgling medical marijuana collective industry in California. The growing number of other states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana have yet to establish a system for the legalized commercial production and sale of the medicine. These regions are also strong potential targets for Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s products and services down the road. It is likely that other states will follow California’s basic lead as the Golden State more specifically defines the regulations and protocol that are shaping the supply-side of the legal medical marijuana sector.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

Source and for More Info:
info@medicalmarijuanainc.com
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Official Website
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Twitter
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – MySpace
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Tax Remittance Card Flier

Medical Marijuana Inc (PINKSHEETS: MJNA) has entered into discussions with a publicly traded coffee distribution company for licensing of its patent pending tax remittance solution. Medical Marijuana Inc’s tax remittance technology was originally designed to be industry and product neutral; it can be implemented in any industry. Execution of this agreement will launch phase one of Medical Marijuana Inc’s multi-industry implementation strategy.

Once daily tax remittance becomes standard practice in the medical marijuana industry, government officials are likely to have a strong interest in implementing Medical Marijuana Inc’s patent pending technology across all industries. The windfall to the government could be enormous, with sales taxes being delivered to government coffers on a daily basis versus the currently accepted practice of submitting taxes every ninety days or more.

Tax Collection

The Stored Value Platform System will provide verifiable solutions to manage the difficult task of revenue and taxation collection. The “Point of Sale” (POS) system will recognize the dispensary’s tax ID number, state and local tax rates and then provide “Automated Clearing House” (ACH) settlement of the taxes to the proper financial institutions. The customers of the dispensary are issued a plastic debit card or medical revenue card. The ease of access to certifiably secure transactions lessens the risk of loss at each level of the transaction.

Internal Management

All collectives/dispensaries in the U.S. are cash businesses. This presents a number of challenges. Dispensary owners risk employee theft and possible competition for sales with unsupervised employees. Our stored value card also eliminates the risks of carrying cash. For the investor looking to open more than one dispensary, this card allows him the ease of mind of knowing all transactions are accounted for in all of his locations.

Solutions

Medical Marijuana, Inc. is developing a suite of solutions to deliver an efficient and secure infrastructure for the Medical Marijuana Industry that will provide the tools to industry operators to effectively manage their businesses with the confidence that they are in full compliance.

ABOUT MEDICAL MARIJUANA, INC.
Medical Marijuana, Inc. is the first public company to recognize the vast and unequaled opportunities that exist in the rapidly expanding medical marijuana industry. The scientific recognition of marijuana as a powerful medicine, and as an effective, non-narcotic pain reliever, has brought legalized marijuana use to the forefront of mainstream discussion thus opening the door for safe and lucrative investment opportunities.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. has developed a suite of turnkey business and management solutions for the fledgling medical marijuana collective industry in California. The growing number of other states that have legalized the use of medical marijuana have yet to establish a system for the legalized commercial production and sale of the medicine. These regions are also strong potential targets for Medical Marijuana, Inc.’s products and services down the road. It is likely that other states will follow California’s basic lead as the Golden State more specifically defines the regulations and protocol that are shaping the supply-side of the legal medical marijuana sector.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Medical Marijuana, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

Source and for More Info:
info@medicalmarijuanainc.com
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Official Website
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Twitter
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – MySpace
Medical Marijuana, Inc. – Tax Remittance Card Flier