-thumb-445x480.jpg)
By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, News
Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 @ 2:24PM
 |
| Photo: KOZE950.com |
| Could marijuana legalization be in Washington state's future? The office of Gov. Chris Gregoire said Thursday that it's a "legitimate idea." |
When Gov. Gregoire opened an online suggestion box on ways to fix the state's budget, she may not have expected pot legalization to come in at first place. But it has been in the lead for more than a week now, and the governor's office even has a somewhat positive response.
"It's a legitimate idea," said Gregoire spokeswoman Karina Shagren, who said the Governor is reading the list herself, as is Marty Brown, the director of the governor's budget office. "But we'd like to see how the federal government would respond."
With marijuana legalization apparently so popular among Washington's (and America's) voters, the idea is being considered right along with the roughly 1,750 others that have been submitted so far.
1 comment
 |
| Graphic: NESAHS |
| The New England School of Alternative Horticultural Studies says it will be the first marijuana training facility in the Northeast. |
The New England School of Alternative Horticultural Studies, a Rhode Island-based medical marijuana training center, announced on Thursday the September launch of its basic medical marijuana training class in Warwick, R.I., which it said is the first professional medical marijuana training class in the northeastern United States.
By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, News
Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 @ 12:58PM
The state cannot take children away from a mother simply because she tests positive for marijuana use, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
According to the decision, reversing a Marion County juvenile court ruling, the children can't be taken away without evidence showing the mother's cannabis use endangers the kids, reports Helen Jung at The Oregonian.
The juvenile court had earlier ruled that the state Department of Human Services had jurisdiction over the two children, a 19-month-old and a 6-month-old. The state had argued that the simple fact fact that the mother used marijuana "presented a reasonable likelihood of harm to her two children."
But the appeals court reasonably agreed with the mother's argument that the state had failed to provide any evidence connecting her marijuana use with risk to the children.
The children and the mother are identified only by their initials in the case to protect their anonymity.
By Steve Elliott in
Legislation, Medical
Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 @ 12:25PM
 |
| Graphic: LA Progressive |
The ASA legal filing points to a policy directive issued last week by the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), recognizing medical marijuana and distinguishing it from other illegal controlled substances.
In its brief, ASA says that the VHA directive bolsters advocates' arguments that marijuana does indeed have medical value.
"Recognition of marijuana's therapeutic benefits by a federal agency makes it more difficult for the government to argue against marijuana's medical value," said ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, who filed the notice with the court.
 |
| Photo: Hats Radio |
| A Washington medical marijuana patient will be paid for his 15 cannabis plants after they were stolen, then recovered and taken into evidence by deputies. |
The plants, which are now being held as evidence in the criminal case against two men accused of stealing them, may be needed in court, and will likely spoil before they can be returned to their rightful owner, according to Kitsap County Sheriff's spokesman Scott Wilson, reports Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun.
"We don't want to provide something back that could cause illness," Wilson said.
By Steve Elliott in
News
Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 @ 11:06AM
 |
| Photo: Let's Talk Style |
But prosecutors declined to charge the deputy after she was arrested earlier this month for hand-delivering the cannabis inside the Cook County Criminal Courts Building, reports Matthew Walberg at the Chicago Tribune.
Wait, what?
"We are still at a loss as to why this particular case did not get charged," said Joe Ways, head of the sheriff's Office of Professional Review, which investigates employee misconduct.
The state attorney's office said the case fell apart because incompetent sheriff's investigators did not follow specific instructions to ensure they had the evidence needed to show the deputy knew she was delivering drugs to inmate Brian Goolsby, 28.
 |
| Photo: Cruise Law News |
| Bermuda is not a good place to vacation, if you like marijuana. |
Hey, Bermuda? Get a fucking clue. If you really want to be a vacation paradise, you need to let people smoke weed. Arresting tourists is bad for business, morons.
George Koumoulis, 37, of Abingdon, Maryland, was removed from the Norwegian Dawn on July 22 after police found just over seven grams of cannabis in his cabin, reports Nadia Arandjelovic at Bermuda newspaper The Royal Gazette.
 |
| Photo: Andrew Bako/NBC |
| Eric Roberts, now playing the part of a marijuana addict. Hey Eric, any chance of you just shutting the hell up and going home? |
"Eric quit drugs and alcohol in 1995," Eliza told E!. "He has no interest in anything, other than marijuana."
According to Eliza, Eric had previously tried prescription pills to treat anxiety, but they didn't agree with him, so he turned to cannabis for a cure.
To the rest of us, that may sound damn close to "no problem," but that's not the way Eric sees it.
"He uses marijuana as a medication," Eliza said. "He has a prescription. However, a dependency is a dependency and he doesn't want to be dependent on it anymore."
By Steve Elliott in
Dispensaries, Medical
Wednesday, Jul. 28 2010 @ 11:38AM
 |
| Graphic: NotionsCapital |
The delay is caused by a lack of detail about how the city will operate the program, which includes a very cool, first-in-the-nation provision requiring dispensaries to price their marijuana on a sliding scale so the city's poorest patients can get their medicinal cannabis for free, reports Tim Craig at The Washington Post.
Council member David A. Catania, chairman of the Health Committee, said he doesn't expect the first dispensaries to open until early next year, and that would be a best-case scenario.
"I know people are eager for this to go forward, but I think we have to do this judiciously and slowly and carefully," Catania said.
 |
| Graphic: Miami For Change |
The First Annual International Cannabis Convention is scheduled for Halloween weekend, October 29-31, according to event organizers Medical Marijuana Inc., reports Zlati Meyer at The Detroit Free Press.
Organizers expect up to 50,000 visitors, and have scheduled entertainers, exhibits, vendors, speakers and classes for the event. Vendor booth space is for sale as of this week.
