Arizona Republic:  “Arizona’s Medical Marijuana Act was narrowly passed by voters in November 2010. The director of the Arizona Department of Health Services states that we have a ‘model’ program and that the demographics of the card users show ‘the vast majority are legitimately accessing the system’ (Valley & State, July 20).  Do the facts really support these claims? . . . It is only a matter of time before the same dispensaries licensed by Arizona officials will be shut down by our U.S. attorney.”

LA Weekly:  “Cannabis is a top, ‘Schedule I’ outlaw, which means it has ‘no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.’  This, of course, is patently untrue, seeing that doctors right here in this part of the United States have found plenty of accepted medical uses:  Is this a case of law enforcement trumping science? A new research paper out of Southern California says yes.  The paper, ‘Medical Marijuana: Clearing Away the Smoke,’ published in the latest Open Neurology Journal, concludes that there are plenty of medical uses for pot”

Here is the abstract of the paper:

“Recent advances in understanding of the mode of action of tetrahydrocannabinol and related cannabinoid in-gredients of marijuana, plus the accumulating anecdotal reports on potential medical benefits have spurred increasing re-search into possible medicinal uses of cannabis. Recent clinical trials with smoked and vaporized marijuana, as well as other botanical extracts indicate the likelihood that the cannabinoids can be useful in the management of neuropathic pain, spasticity due to multiple sclerosis, and possibly other indications. As with all medications, benefits and risks need to be weighed in recommending cannabis to patients. We present an algorithm that may be useful to physicians in determining whether cannabis might be recommended as a treatment in jurisdictions where such use is permitted.”

Arizona Republic:  “Arizona health officials are considering adding post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and migraines as qualifying conditions to use medical marijuana. Department of Health Services Director Will Humble is expected to decide this week. . . . The Republic turned to two Arizona activists to discuss whether the state should add post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety and migraines as qualifying conditions to use medical marijuana.  Ingrid Joya oversees Elements Caregivers Collective, a medical-marijuana caregiver collective in northeast Phoenix.  Carolyn Short is chairwoman of Keep Arizona Drug Free, an organization that opposed Proposition 203.”

The Payson Roundup:  “So far, 10 Valley-based companies or individuals applied to open a dispensary in Payson, while Globe received just one request. . . . Nature’s Harvest, a local collective that helps patients get marijuana cards, has applied for a dispensary certificate for its 404 S. Beeline Highway location.”

SF Weekly:  “Your credit is no longer any good at California medical marijuana dispensaries, whose accounts with credit card processors have been canceled, thanks to pressure from the federal government.  Merchant services providers — the intermediaries between retailers and credit card companies who process customers’ payments — began informing their medical marijuana dealing clients that cannabis credit card transactions would not be processed after July 1, according to Stephen DeAngelo, Executive Director of Oakland’s Harborside Health Center.”

Rob Kampia, Executive Director of the Marijuana Policy Project, sent the following email on July 3, 2012:

I’ve had many conversations in the last few days with key allies and friends who aren’t quite sure what the federal government is doing with regard to medical marijuana.

When I speak to them, there are usually two things that surprise them …

The first surprise is that the federal government’s threats and raids are focused primarily in California. But more broadly, the federal raids are happening in states that have no state licensing procedures for medical marijuana dispensaries (which means California, Michigan, Montana, Oregon, and Washington state).

The second surprise is that there have been zero federal raids against state-licensed businesses in the three states that have state licensing — Colorado, Maine, and New Mexico.

Even in Colorado — where a few dozen businesses received letters from federal prosecutors recently — the letters didn’t mandate that the businesses must shut down. Rather, the federal letters said that the businesses must move more than 1,000 feet away from a school.