In the late 1970s, Robert "The Tuna" Platshorn was a marijuana smuggler and leader of South Florida's notorious "Black Tuna" gang.

Now, after spending 30 years in prison, Platshorn, 70, is a book author (Black Tuna Diaries), subject of a documentary film (Square Grouper) -- and an activist working to make medical marijuana legal in the Sunshine State.

The goal of The Silver Tour, according to Platshorn, is to educate and inform seniors on the benefits and exciting discoveries in the medical cannabis field, and to encourage activism for legalization and create demand for safe access to medical marijuana.

Secretary of State Sam Reed's office announced Friday that New Approach Washington, sponsors of Initiative 502 submitted nearly 278,000 valid signatures, more than the 241,153 needed to qualify, reports the Associated Press.

"I am not for it mostly because I don't know how you regulate common, everyday things such as driving while impaired," the Republican former attorney general said, reports Kim Kozlowski at The Detroit News. "If it becomes legal, I don't think I'll ever use it again. That being said, philosophically I am not against it. They haven't come up with a good way to regulate in the workplace or driving to measure it and deal with it."

"I don't think a state legislature has done this before," Seattle-based activist Philip Dawdy told Toke of the Town Thursday evening.

​Welcome to Room 420, where your instructor is Mr. Ron Marczyk and your subjects are wellness, disease prevention, self actualization, and chillin'.

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This post is dedicated to these two great medical researchers. The fathers of homeostatic cannabinoid based medicine:

 

Lumír Ondřej Hanuš, discoverer of the endogenous ligand, anandamide, from the brain (1992) and Raphael Mechoulam, discoverer of the psychoactive compound, THC, from Cannabis sativa (1964). Both compounds bind to the CB1 and 2 cannabinoid receptors in the brain.

These two men need to be nominated and awarded the 2012  Nobel Prize in medicine for discovering the healing potential of cannabis. Their discoveries will save the human race a great deal of suffering. Thank you for your gift to humanity, gentlemen.

Nobel ballots open this summer!

Permits had been on hold since last fall, after a state appeals court case halted similar permitting programs across California, reports Chris Roberts at SF Weekly. That case was appealed to the state Supreme Court, and during the appeal, permits could resume being processed, a spokesman for the City Attorney told SF Weekly last week.

Meriden police were called to Hanover Elementary School on Tuesday afternoon after the young special needs student displayed the weed, reports Lauren Keiper at Reuters.

The nine individually wrapped bags of cannabis appeared to be ready for sale, the cops claimed.

Hanover Elementary School principal Miguel Cardona called the incident "extremely unfortunate," adding that it was "isolated" and was not witnessed by any other students.

"What's so disheartening is this is really an adult issue and problem and adult behavior put a student at risk," Meriden schools Superintendent Mark Benigni told Reuters.

In July 2011, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) denied a petition filed in 2002 by the Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC), which was denied only after the coalition sued the government for unreasonable delay. The ASA brief filed on January 26 is an appeal of the CRC rescheduling denial.

"By ignoring the wealth of scientific evidence that clearly shows the therapeutic value of marijuana, the Obama Administration is playing politics at the expensive of sick and dying Americans," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the appeal Thursday.