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New York Could Become 15th State To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 23, 2010 Legislation, Medical

A primo bud of Big Apple namesake New York Diesel. The Empire State is primed to become the 15th in the nation to allow medical marijuana — but, sadly, with no homegrown allowed.

Months after neighboring New Jersey became the 14th U.S. state to legalize marijuana for medical use with a doctor’s recommendation, New York appears ready to follow suit.

The Empire State’s medical marijuana bill has already passed the State House, and now has favorably cleared a Senate committee, included in the state budget.

Millions in license fees are at stake, reports Lou Young at CBS, but advocates say that’s not why the bill should be approved.

Young reports opposition to the New York bill is weakening, but marijuana being marijuana, of course there are some nervous Nellies.

“We’ve seen it in California. It doesn’t work in California,” lamented the hysterically reefer-phobic Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). “We believe, I believe personally that it’s a gateway drug and it will open up for more usage of marijuana amongst kids, and lead to further drug use across our state,” Golden said, in an apparent (and if so, successful) attempt to construct an elaborate sentence containing absolutely no trace of intelligent thought.

Humboldt County Plans To Be Ready For Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 22, 2010 Growing, Legislation, News

Photo: PhoenixPharmer

A juicy bag of primo local product, Humboldt County Kush. How will legalization affect the Emerald Triangle’s booming pot economy?

In what is being described as an unprecedented event, residents, local business people, officials, and industry leaders plan to meet in Humboldt County, California Tuesday night to talk about the potential economic effects of the legalization of marijuana, reports Donna Tam of the Eureka Times-Standard.

“It’s time to talk about the elephant in the room,” said organizer Anna Hamilton.

Shelter Cove resident Hamilton said she is “intimately involved” with the marijuana business and has seen the market get worse due to changing pot laws.

Stoner Photo Of The Day: FrankenBong

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 18, 2010 Culture

Photo: Becky Martin

Paging Rube Goldberg: Your pipe has arrived.

Gene Nelson of Santa Rosa, California, demonstrates what can only be described as a FrankenBong.

Man, I’d like to take a hit off that thing! Using your weed, of course…

L.A. Cops Try To Sell Reefer Madness To Skeptical Hawaiians

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 18, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Graphic: 300zxFreak

Two zealously anti-pot Los Angeles police officers on Wednesday warned Hawaii it could “see an increase in crime” if it legalizes medical marijuana dispensaries and softens its marijuana laws.

“It’s so bad in L.A.,” claimed Sgt. Eric Bixler of the Narcotics Division of Los Angeles Police Department. Bixler said law enforcement officers there “deal daily with the effects” of California’s Proposition 215, which allows patients and caregivers to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal medical use, reports Melissa Tanji at The Maui News.

People driving while smoking, and teens buying marijuana at dispensaries to resell on the street are just some of the problems caused by California’s medical marijuana law, the officers claimed.

Of course, since they’re good honest cops, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they really believe nobody in California history ever drove a car while high until the medical marijuana law passed in 1996. Maybe they’re just a little slow in getting around to actually reading the language of the law, which prohibits sales to anyone without a doctor’s recommendation to use pot.

Attorney: Marijuana May Not Impair Driving Ability At All

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 17, 2010 News

Photo: images.com

Does marijuana really affect your ability to drive safely? An Orange County, California attorney says there’s evidence to show it doesn’t — and testing for the presence of marijuana doesn’t measure impairment, anyway.

Drunk driving laws today typically define “driving under the influence” as covering both alcohol and drugs, with marijuana included as “drugs.” In most states, the very presence of marijuana in a driver’s blood is either illegal in itself, or is considered proof of impairment.

Rhode Island Senate Panel Recommends Decriminalizing Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 17, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Reality Catcher

A Rhode Island state Senate commission has recommended that an ounce or less of marijuana be decriminalized in the state.

The panel, chaired by state Sen. Joshua Miller (D-Cranston), voted Tuesday to approve a 24-page final report concluding that marijuana law reform would save Rhode Island money by avoiding “costly arrests [and]incarcerations due to simple possession of marijuana,” reports Katherine Gregg of The Providence Journal.

The report says that Rhode Island could take its lead from Massachusetts, where adults 18 or older caught with an ounce or less of pot are required only to pay a $100 civil fine “that goes directly to the municipality in which the penalty was issued.”

West Hollywood Councilman Backs Full Legalization Of Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 16, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: FosseTheCat

West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran: “Marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol”

West Hollywood City Councilman John Duran says he’s the first politician in Southern California to support a statewide ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for recreational use in the state.

The measure, which appears to have enough signatures but has not yet been certified for the ballot by the Secretary of State, would treat marijuana like alcohol, tax it and make it available to adults 21 and older, reports Dennis Romero at the L.A. Weekly.

Polls indicate a majority of Californians support legalizing marijuana.

The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 is funded by Richard Lee, owner of an Oakland dispensary and Oaksterdam University. His drive got 680,000 signatures; only 433,971 need be valid for the initiative to be on November’s ballot.

Dispensary: Hundreds Of Pot Plants Could Perish After Lockdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 5, 2010 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Plants that could help an estimated 2,400 local medical marijuana patients are in danger of dying with the power cut at CannaHelp dispensary after Thursday’s lockdown of the California pot collective’s building, owner Stacy Hochanadel said Friday.

“The just pulled out all the power so the plants are going to die,” Hochanadel said, reports Marcel Honore of The Desert Sun. “The heat, the lack of light, the lack of watering” puts the 400 plants “in danger of being unusable.”

Old Folks Set Up Medical Marijuana Club In Retirement Community

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 4, 2010 Culture, Medical

Photo: Todd Bigelow/Aurora for NPR

Laguna Woods resident Margo Bauer, 73, tokes up on the porch with her plant.

Residents of Laguna Woods Village retirement community have a new club to promote education on medical marijuana.

The Village Cannabis Club was started by Lonnie Painter, who also directs Laguna Woods for Medical Cannabis, a 100-member patient collective centered in the community, reports Claire Webb of The Orange County Register.

The main difference between the Village Cannabis Club and the patients’ collective is that any resident can be a member of the club regardless of medical status, while the collective requires members to have a doctor’s permission to use marijuana for medical purposes.

Joint-Smoking Obama Featured In Ad For Pot Party

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 2, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: TMZ

An upcoming “pot party” in Los Angeles to celebrate President Barack Obama’s first year in office is using Photoshopped image of the Commander In Chief smoking a joint.

The ad features the President puffing a fat doobie in a doctored photo. The event’s organizers say the party will “celebrate Obama ending DEA raids” on medical marijuana patients and providers in states where medical cannabis is legal, report David Edwards and John Byrne at The Raw Story.

According to TMZ, a White House spokesman said the President’s image was used without permission. The spokesman added the Administration has a policy of “disapproving of the use of the President’s name and likeness for commercial purposes.

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