Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Brian Grimmer broke his back in a motorcycle crash years ago.
He healed pretty quickly, but the pain from a cracked vertebrae eventually returned, forcing him onto narcotic pain medication.
He decided to give marijuana a try, and says it worked. When he came from Oregon to enroll at Central Washington University last fall, he switched back to pain pills because it was difficult to find a legal supply of medical marijuana.
By January, the 42-year-old was hooked on the pills and gaining weight. In April, a health-care provider authorized him for a medical marijuana card, and his life changed.
"Shortly after that. I moved off campus and haven't had a pill since then. And unlike last time, I'm not going back to the pills," Grimmer said.
Now Grimmer is researching whether he can apply to operate a collective medical marijuana garden under a state law that took effect in July.
But he has a tricky path ahead of him as cities try to figure out exactly what they can and must do under the new law without running afoul of federal law, which doesn't recognize the medicinal use of marijuana.
The continuing debate over the legality of marijuana has put Washington cities in an awkward position. Like much of the rest of the state, the Yakima Valley's local governments are grappling with the mixed message.
Some cities haven't done anything yet, putting them in the same boat as many of the 281 cities around the state, according to a municipal lobbyist monitoring the issue. Others have enacted six-month moratoriums, seeking time to iron out zoning and other regulations about the collective gardens that are now allowed under state law.
"I think cities for the most part are sympathetic to patients who have found value in using medical marijuana, but it's a much bigger issue than that for them," said Candice Bock, a lobbyist on criminal justice issues for the Association of Washington Cities. "It's very complex balancing all of the different potential impacts. It's a real challenge."
Ellensburg is the only Central Washington city so far to push ahead with a temporary ordinance allowing collective gardens, earning praise from local advocates for medical marijuana. Residents have not rushed down to City Hall to submit applications.
"I would say it's been muted," Ellensburg's city attorney Jim Pittick said.
Given the legal quandary, Yakima has opted for an emergency moratorium, which gives officials six months to craft a local ordinance while potentially blocking garden operators who might be tempted to jump into operation and argue they are exempt from regulation.
Whatever course of action a city takes, the ambiguity of the law means litigation is possible. For example, a lawyer in Seattle has raised the prospect of suing the city over its ordinance on the grounds that it can't regulate illegal activity.
"It probably just doesn't matter what you do. There's a possibility of a lawsuit by a dispensary or a patient or someone," Bock said.
A legal challenge might help clear up some of the questions over the state law, which Gov. Chris Gregoire stripped of provisions allowing dispensaries. She cited concerns that state employees could face federal prosecution for coordinating a registry program.
Seattle has taken the most permissive stance so far, passing an ordinance that treats a medical marijuana operation much like any other business.
The ordinance allows dispensaries -- a sort of pharmacy dedicated to selling marijuana to individual patients -- to argue they can continue operating, even though that portion of the law was rejected by Gregoire.
The other two leading sources of medical marijuana are commonly known as cooperatives and collective gardens. In a cooperative, patient growers provide marijuana to other patients, Grimmer said. The collective garden is run by patients or authorized providers. The benefit of both is that they make growing marijuana cheaper than buying it off the street, he said.
But conflict remains between state and federal law, which bans marijuana as a controlled substance. Federal prosecutors have warned that they will prosecute where appropriate -- when operations appear to be commercial, for example -- although they maintain they are not focusing limited resources on the average medical user.
Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin, who serves on the board of a task force that investigates many of the larger marijuana cases across the county, says he believes there's been a slight uptick in the number of investigations involving medical marijuana cards.
Internet postings suggest that several dispensaries have been active in Yakima County. A Yakima man who said he was running a collective garden was acquitted of criminal charges earlier this year.
Tricia Rogers, a Moxee woman and medical marijuana grower who spoke in favor of a collective-garden ordinance before the Yakima City Council, estimates that several thousand people in Yakima County are medical marijuana users.
Rogers believes the federal government needs to step back. "The feds are getting too big for their britches is what's happening," she said.
Rogers and Grimmer say they want to work within the law to eliminate the need for patients to seek marijuana on the black market.
Grimmer said residents in Ellensburg don't have a steady local source. In order to stay legal, they travel to marijuana cooperatives in Seattle or Tacoma. An ounce of marijuana costs between $200 and $300 at the cooperatives, compared with up to $400 on the street, Grimmer said.
Collective gardens could help make medical marijuana more affordable to patients, Grimmer said. Small-scale gardens can produce an ounce of marijuana for about $40, he said. Gardens also reduce the need for a single producer to invest several thousands of dollars in indoor growing equipment.
He also notes that cities stand to gain revenue from permits and inspection fees.
"There is a lot of financial windfall that can come from this," he said.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)
Copyright: 2011 Yakima Herald-Republic
Contact: opinion@Yakima-Herald.com
Website: Yakima Herald-Republic
Details: MapInc
Author: Mark Morey
He healed pretty quickly, but the pain from a cracked vertebrae eventually returned, forcing him onto narcotic pain medication.
He decided to give marijuana a try, and says it worked. When he came from Oregon to enroll at Central Washington University last fall, he switched back to pain pills because it was difficult to find a legal supply of medical marijuana.
By January, the 42-year-old was hooked on the pills and gaining weight. In April, a health-care provider authorized him for a medical marijuana card, and his life changed.
"Shortly after that. I moved off campus and haven't had a pill since then. And unlike last time, I'm not going back to the pills," Grimmer said.
Now Grimmer is researching whether he can apply to operate a collective medical marijuana garden under a state law that took effect in July.
But he has a tricky path ahead of him as cities try to figure out exactly what they can and must do under the new law without running afoul of federal law, which doesn't recognize the medicinal use of marijuana.
The continuing debate over the legality of marijuana has put Washington cities in an awkward position. Like much of the rest of the state, the Yakima Valley's local governments are grappling with the mixed message.
Some cities haven't done anything yet, putting them in the same boat as many of the 281 cities around the state, according to a municipal lobbyist monitoring the issue. Others have enacted six-month moratoriums, seeking time to iron out zoning and other regulations about the collective gardens that are now allowed under state law.
"I think cities for the most part are sympathetic to patients who have found value in using medical marijuana, but it's a much bigger issue than that for them," said Candice Bock, a lobbyist on criminal justice issues for the Association of Washington Cities. "It's very complex balancing all of the different potential impacts. It's a real challenge."
Ellensburg is the only Central Washington city so far to push ahead with a temporary ordinance allowing collective gardens, earning praise from local advocates for medical marijuana. Residents have not rushed down to City Hall to submit applications.
"I would say it's been muted," Ellensburg's city attorney Jim Pittick said.
Given the legal quandary, Yakima has opted for an emergency moratorium, which gives officials six months to craft a local ordinance while potentially blocking garden operators who might be tempted to jump into operation and argue they are exempt from regulation.
Whatever course of action a city takes, the ambiguity of the law means litigation is possible. For example, a lawyer in Seattle has raised the prospect of suing the city over its ordinance on the grounds that it can't regulate illegal activity.
"It probably just doesn't matter what you do. There's a possibility of a lawsuit by a dispensary or a patient or someone," Bock said.
A legal challenge might help clear up some of the questions over the state law, which Gov. Chris Gregoire stripped of provisions allowing dispensaries. She cited concerns that state employees could face federal prosecution for coordinating a registry program.
Seattle has taken the most permissive stance so far, passing an ordinance that treats a medical marijuana operation much like any other business.
The ordinance allows dispensaries -- a sort of pharmacy dedicated to selling marijuana to individual patients -- to argue they can continue operating, even though that portion of the law was rejected by Gregoire.
The other two leading sources of medical marijuana are commonly known as cooperatives and collective gardens. In a cooperative, patient growers provide marijuana to other patients, Grimmer said. The collective garden is run by patients or authorized providers. The benefit of both is that they make growing marijuana cheaper than buying it off the street, he said.
But conflict remains between state and federal law, which bans marijuana as a controlled substance. Federal prosecutors have warned that they will prosecute where appropriate -- when operations appear to be commercial, for example -- although they maintain they are not focusing limited resources on the average medical user.
Yakima County Sheriff Ken Irwin, who serves on the board of a task force that investigates many of the larger marijuana cases across the county, says he believes there's been a slight uptick in the number of investigations involving medical marijuana cards.
Internet postings suggest that several dispensaries have been active in Yakima County. A Yakima man who said he was running a collective garden was acquitted of criminal charges earlier this year.
Tricia Rogers, a Moxee woman and medical marijuana grower who spoke in favor of a collective-garden ordinance before the Yakima City Council, estimates that several thousand people in Yakima County are medical marijuana users.
Rogers believes the federal government needs to step back. "The feds are getting too big for their britches is what's happening," she said.
Rogers and Grimmer say they want to work within the law to eliminate the need for patients to seek marijuana on the black market.
Grimmer said residents in Ellensburg don't have a steady local source. In order to stay legal, they travel to marijuana cooperatives in Seattle or Tacoma. An ounce of marijuana costs between $200 and $300 at the cooperatives, compared with up to $400 on the street, Grimmer said.
Collective gardens could help make medical marijuana more affordable to patients, Grimmer said. Small-scale gardens can produce an ounce of marijuana for about $40, he said. Gardens also reduce the need for a single producer to invest several thousands of dollars in indoor growing equipment.
He also notes that cities stand to gain revenue from permits and inspection fees.
"There is a lot of financial windfall that can come from this," he said.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Yakima Herald-Republic (WA)
Copyright: 2011 Yakima Herald-Republic
Contact: opinion@Yakima-Herald.com
Website: Yakima Herald-Republic
Details: MapInc
Author: Mark Morey
