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March 25, 2011 in City
Supplier’s conviction sparks concern among medical marijuana advocates
Aaron Hale smiles as a car honks in support of medical marijuana. Marijuana advocates protested outside of the federal courthouse in Spokane on Thursday. The group says they would like the city to reduce marijuana enforcement to its lowest priority.
(Full-size photo)
Marijuana advocates still reeling from last week’s conviction of a medicinal pot supplier in Spokane are stepping up the pressure.
Nearly three dozen demonstrators gathered Thursday outside of the federal courthouse in downtown Spokane, urging the removal of marijuana from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s list of drugs considered to have no medicinal value.
They also are circulating petitions asking Spokane Mayor Mary Verner to declare the sale of medical marijuana to doctor-approved users to be the lowest law enforcement priority in the city. Supporters say they’ve already gathered more than 1,000 signatures and hope to present them Monday night to the Spokane City Council.
“We’ll be out here as long as it takes,” said Rhonda Duncan, speaking through a megaphone at the Lincoln statue. “Please don’t let these medical marijuana patients suffer.”
Earlier this week, about a dozen medical marijuana advocates asked Spokane City Council members for support in achieving legal recognition for commercial dispensaries. State lawmakers are debating legislation that would regulate the production and sale of medical marijuana across Washington. Even if a bill wins approval, however, and is signed into law by Gov. Chris Gregoire, it likely would take months to take effect as state agencies draft rules for implementing its provisions.
Prompting the increased push for legal clarity was a Spokane County Superior Court trial last week. One of Spokane’s first medical marijuana dispensary operators, Scott Shupe, was convicted by jurors on drug-trafficking charges for selling marijuana to doctor-approved users. Drug investigators estimate there are about 40 medical marijuana dispensary operations in Spokane County.
Duncan, who owns the dispensary Club Compassion, said she’s worried federal agents may begin raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in Spokane. Dispensaries in Montana were raided last week as part of a federal investigation.
Although U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said federal authorities won’t prosecute medical marijuana cases that are complying with state law, Washington’s medical marijuana law is poorly crafted and ambiguous. Among other things, the state law contains no mention of commercial dispensaries, leading to differing interpretations over how medical marijuana users are to legally obtain marijuana.
“We’re trying to get the feds to notice that we want them to leave medical marijuana patients alone,” said Charles Wright, owner of the South Perry Street dispensary the THC Pharmacy. “They’re attacking the sick and dying.”
Human trafficking suspects released 
starr120 on March 25 at 12:32 a.m.
I bet if only the pharmicutical companies could sell marijuana it would be legal. Ive given patients much more addictive destructive drugs than marijuana-I can fully endorse the fact that a hundred times over ive had to recommend medication to elderly patients that I knew would have addictive destructive side effects. I also knew while recommending it to them that marijuana would be a much safer, softer alternative…..alas, I live in a republican state! The general population has never taken a business class and have no clue about why marijuana is actually illegal. For now most states feel “moral” if they bow down to our legal drug dealers. Make no mistake the people making pain killers and sleep aids are in fact drug dealers! I get good grades at work if I push their drugs and quietly pretend that there are no safer alternatives.
shhhhhh…theres a lot of rich people out there that need marijuana to be illegal. After all you cant grow prozac in your back yard, and that means a profit can be made off of it! Healthcare is a business!!!! You dont make money off of quick cures, sorry folks. For now its better to let people needlessly suffer and make money.
SugarShane on March 25 at 10:10 a.m.
@starr120 Thank you for your informative and insightful post, well said.
mike1286 on March 25 at 10:39 a.m.
Very well put starr, people just assume that “legal” prescribtions are better and less dangerous and addictive then marijuana. If the laws were clearer or it was straight legalized and taxed, more people would see that it is used as a legitimate medication and while, it can be and is abused, the effects from abuse are far less then all narcotic painkillers and for most other medications hat are used to treat a wide variety of ailments. With the system set the way it is, with marijuana being listed as a Schedule 1 drug, which is dangerous and contains no medicinal value along with LSD, herion, mescaline, and esctasy, people remain in fear of being arrested by federal and state authorities for providing medication that actually works. According to the DEA website, cocaine, meth, and pcp are Schedule 2 drugs which, according to them, contains some medicinal value and are less dangerous then marijuana, what!? Please, someone get smart and change our marijuana laws!
RedCedar on March 25 at 12:24 p.m.
Marijuana will be legal when the marijuana smokers get past their pot-induced paranoia and pot-induced laziness and start signing the petitions and voting for the referendums to legalize it. Surveys show that most people think pot should be legalized in some manner or other, but the initiatives to make it happen always fail. The pot-heads can tell you for hours about the wonders of hemp and medicinal marijuana, and they can tell you about all the conspiracies by the government, the oil companies, the drug companies, the paper companies, etc, but then when you ask them what they’re doing to legalize it, all they can tell you is that they’re “trying to educate people” (e.g. give them the aforementioned predictable rant) but they didn’t vote because that just legitimizes a corrupt system of power, and they won’t sign the initiative because then the narcs will track them down and bust them.
I’m sorry, but they don’t get my sympathy. I’ll sign ever pro-pot initiative and vote for every such issue that shows up on the ballot, even though I have no use for the stuff myself, because I don’t think it’s any of the government’s business what people want to intoxicate themselves with. However, these efforts will continue to fail until the pot-heads start signing and voting and stop expecting the prohibitionists (who as a rule have better voter turnout) to legalize it for them.
fishinjay on March 25 at 1:37 p.m.
I totally agree with legalizing marijuana, but the guy with the open mouthed stoner smile and the sign that reads “Where do we now! Get our medication” probably isn’t helping the cause.
spokanesausage on March 25 at 1:51 p.m.
Calling pot medication is just stupid. I don’t have a problem with legalizing it, but medication? Come on.
Put down the bong and the cookie dough and follow Red Cedar’s advice.
force_vector on March 25 at 2:16 p.m.
The “medical” excuse for being a pothead is growing very old.
DemoDriver on March 25 at 2:19 p.m.
I all too often wonder where the “Tea Party” is on this issue, as they seem all over the map.
Any group promoting core, Constitutional values (a GOOD thing! IMHO) ought show tolerance, compassion, and outright support for an individual’s right to choose a relatively inert (compared to alcohol or tobacco—read the stats) substance of recreation and/or medicinal relief.
JayNW on March 25 at 2:21 p.m.
I’d like to see the comparison of the case vs Scott Shupe and the guy who was just acquitted in Yakima. And that guy had 201 plants in his house (and selling from his house), the jury heard no mention of his medical card.
Meghann, can you look into that?
Shazamm on March 25 at 3:08 p.m.
Medical marijuana is such a scam. Everyone knows that marijuana makes you slow and stupid, and that it has significant long-term impacts to health and brain function. It should NEVER be legalized.
RedCedar on March 25 at 6:17 p.m.
Medical wine such a scam. Everyone knows that alcohol makes you slow and stupid, and that it has significant long-term impacts to health and brain function. It should NEVER be legalized
mike1286 on March 26 at 11:29 a.m.
People who think marijuana is not beneficial for medication purposes are flat our ignorant and, quite frankly, are not that intelligent. Like I said before, marijuana is abused, but it is and can be used as a legitimate substitution for many harmful medications that are prescribed in pharmacies. As longs as it remains illegal and is considered to have “no medical value” people will try and find ways to obtain it, whether through a illegal drug dealer or a legitimate dispensary. I just don’t get why people are so uncompassionate when it comes to people who use it for medical purposes. To say it is scam is judgmental and flat out wrong. Oh and the fact is most people who do use marijuana both medically and recreationally, do go out and vote and are more then just “lazy potheads” and contribute to society, so get off your stupid high horse redcedar and actually read up on why these intiatives fail. Actually, the last time I checked the residents of Washington, voted to legalize medical marijuana in 1998, and just recently California damn near passed full on legalization. The federal and state drug laws need a complete overhaul and until that happens these initiatives may never pass.
mike1286 on March 26 at 11:36 a.m.
And the only reason why people can “scam” the medical marijuana system is because of the unclarity of the state laws. Therefore, the state and feds need to regulate medical marijuana much better and outright legalize and tax cannabis for people who want to use it recreationally. End of the “scams.”
RedCedar on March 27 at 3:34 p.m.
“so get off your stupid high horse redcedar and actually read up on why these intiatives fail.”
I think your horse is probably higher than mine, but be that as it may, unless I’m missing something in the state constitution, the reason the pro-pot initiatives fail is that not enough people vote for them. Perhaps you could supply the numbers, but from what I recall, in survey after survey, most people have smoked pot at least once and most think that it should be legalized to some extent with some amount of regulation that they can argue about. Therefore, I can only conclude that if an initiative fails, it’s either because anti-pot voters turn out at a higher rate than pro-pot voters, or pot smokers (medicinal or otherwise) don’t vote for the initiatives. And yes I have personally had numerous pot smokers tell me they won’t sign the petition because they’re afraid they’ll get busted.
It may also be that people who make a living in the pot industry are against legalization because it would cut into their profits. I would be curious to know, in the recent California legalization initiative, whether Humboldt County’s “Yes” vote was higher (so to speak) than that of the rest of the state or lower. I know that the Humboldt growers were worried enough about legalization that they had hired a consulting firm to tell them how to adapt. The consultants’ idea was that price would drop dramatically, but they could hold on by becoming promoting appellations like the wine producers do, and having tasting rooms and tours, essentially becoming a Napa Valley of pot.
mike1286 on March 27 at 7:51 p.m.
The real reason most of these intiatives dont pass isnt because people dont go vote, its because a lot of the older generations are very misinformed on marijuana and the intiatives are worded so that people wont vote for them. For example, Prop 19 in California, it was on track to pass last year before the state added a lot of technical issues in the proposition and therefore, it barely failed to pass. If a bill is altered enough, of course people will either not vote or vote against it.
mike1286 on March 27 at 8:08 p.m.
I do agree that there are people in the marijuana industry that are against legalization, espescially in California, and that did probably contribute to the proposition not passing, but for the most part, people want to see it legalized. Washingtons initiave clarifies a lot of the issues that hurt the prop in California and as long as it remain unaltered, the general concensus is that it will pass with an average voter turnout. Of course, the state will probably amend the bill to hell and by the time it gets on the ballot, nobody will vote for it.