CBS5AZ.com:  “A group [The Regulated Dispensaries of Arizona Association] representing licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Arizona is asking police and sheriff’s authorities statewide to crack down on unlicensed and illegal medical marijuana clubs.”

A search of the Arizona Corporation Commission’s website for “The Regulated Dispensaries of Arizona Association” and “Regulated Dispensaries of Arizona Association” did not find an entity in Arizona with that name.  Does anybody know anything about this so called association?

Azcentral.com:  “The half-empty shopping strip at 24 W. Camelback Road looks like so many others in the city . . . . But . . . one of the spaces in this shopping center could soon house Urban Greenhouse Dispensary, central Phoenix’s first and only medical-marijuana dispensary. Unlike many other prospective Valley dispensary owners, who seemingly have tried to stay under the radar, the principals behind Urban Greenhouse have taken a pre-emptively open approach.”

Associated Press:  “A United Nations-based drug agency urged the United States government on Tuesday to challenge the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, saying the state laws violate international drug treaties.”

Associated Press:  “Eight former Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs say the federal government needs to act now or it might lose the chance to nullify Colorado and Washington’s laws legalizing recreational marijuana use.  The onetime DEA heads are issuing joint statements Tuesday saying the Obama administration has reacted too slowly and should immediately sue to force the states to rescind the legislation.”

Annarbor.com: “It is illegal to sell medical marijuana through private shops, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Friday in a decision one lawyer called ‘the end of the road’ for the hotly debated issue. In a 4-1 decision, the state’s highest court affirmed an Appeals Court finding that Michigan’s 2008 medical marijuana law does not allow people to sell pot to each other, even if they’re among the tens of thousands who have state-issued marijuana cards.”

azcentral.com:  “A professional group promoting medical marijuana protested at the state Capitol on Thursday, calling on lawmakers to get educated on the facts about the medicinal value of cannabis before they decide whether to send the entire issue back to voters.  The Arizona Wellness Chamber of Commerce, which includes physicians, accused some legislators of making “false and misleading” claims about medical cannabis as they attempt to pass a bill aimed at overturning the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act.”

Politico:  “Flanked by more than 150 advocates from around the country, Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer on Monday put forward his legislation allowing states to legalize medical marijuana in an effort to end the confusion surrounding federal pot policy.  Blumenauer’s legislation, which has 13 co-sponsors — including GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California — would create a framework for the FDA to eventually legalize medicinal marijuana. It would also block the feds from interfering in any of the 19 states where medical marijuana is legal.”

See “Marijuana Legalization is Far from Inevitable.“

Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona A. Melvin McDonald wrote an article in which he expresses his opinion about medical marijuana and how he saw first hand how it helped his son.  He says:

“Nothing worked until a friend with severe pain issues gave him some marijuana, which proved to be the only substance that would curtail the nausea. This was prior to Arizona’s medical marijuana law.

So there I was – the man appointed by President Reagan to head the drug war in Arizona – with pot being used to help my son find some peace and to have some semblance toward a quality of life.

My wife had to be resourceful to gain access to marijuana. But if you are a parent, if you are a mother, is there anything you won’t do to aid your ailing child? The choice for her was brutally harsh – find ways to give your son life-saving marijuana so he could eat and diminish the nausea knowing that her loving help for our son could potentially result in criminal prosecution.”