Search Results: hawaii (79)

Photo: DEA
Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries — yet Obama is keeping her on.

​After more than two years as acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Michele Leonhart, who served as deputy DEA administrator during George W. Bush’s presidency, is scheduled to be confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, November 17.

No friends to medical marijuana patients, Leonhart and her former boss, DEA Administrator Karen Tandy, were responsible for more than 200 paramilitary-style raids on patients and their providers.
As acting DEA administrator, Leonhart has continued to raid dispensaries, growers and medical marijuana testing labs despite a change in federal policy under President Obama.

ABC15

​After a tally of late provisional ballots, Arizona voters have approved Proposition 203, a state ballot measure that will allow patients suffering from cancer, AIDS, and other life-threatening illnesses to use medical marijuana with authorization from their doctor. Arizona now joins the list of 14 other states, along with the District of Columbia, that have passed medicinal cannabis laws since 1996.

“Voters in Arizona have sided with science and compassion while dealing yet another blow to our nation’s cruel and irrational prohibition on marijuana,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. MPP provided funding and support to the Arizona Medical Marijuana Project, a local group that ran the Prop 203 campaign.

Photo: Hawai’i News Daily

​Outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has until Thursday, September 30, to decide the fate of Senate Bill 1449, which would reduce adult marijuana possession charges from a criminal misdemeanor to a criminal infraction.

If you have not yet contacted the Governor in support of this historic legislation, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and Toke of the Town encourage you to please do so today.
Senate Bill 1449 amends the California Health and Safety Code so that the adult possession of up to 28.5 grams of marijuana is classified as an infraction, punishable by no more than a $100 fine — no court appearance, no court costs, and no criminal record.

Photo: Binside TV
T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle face felony drug charges after a traffic stop Wednesday night.

​Police arrested rapper T.I. and his wife Tameka “Tiny” Cottle for alleged possession of a controlled substance Wednesday night after Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana emitting from vehicle.
The newlyweds — they just got married on July 30 in Miami — were booked at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station, reports Jolene Michael at Gather. Both were held on charges of felony possession of a controlled substance, and bail was set at $10,000 apiece. Both had posted bail as of 4 a.m. Thursday, and are due back in court on September 3.

Photo: ACLU-WA
Famed travel writer and TV host Rick Steves will be among the panelists at “Where Is Marijuana Reform Heading?”, a public forum in Seattle on September 12 sponsored by the WA ACLU.

Sure, it seems that the wind is at our backs. The tantalizing possibility of marijuana legalization looks more possible than it ever has before. But what comes next?

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington on September 12 will present a discussion on the history, current status, and future of marijuana-law reform in Washington and the United States.
The event will be Sunday, September 12, 2010, 7 pm – pm (doors open at 6:30 pm), at the Great Hall at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Avenue at Seneca Street. Enter on 8th Avenue. (Directions and Parking)
Local and national panelists include travel writer Rick StevesKeith Stroup, founder of and legal counsel to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML); Washington state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-WellesRob Kampia, co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP); and Ethan Nadelmann, founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).

Photo: The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry
Roger Christie of THC Ministry is “a danger to the community.” That is, if you believe federal prosecutors.

​A Hawaii-based marijuana minister who has for years been preaching the good news about ganja is now under federal indictment, and agents on Friday managed to persuade a federal judge that he is somehow “too dangerous” to be allowed out on bail.

Roger Christie, the founder of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry (THC Ministry), has been ordered held without bail after the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested him, along with 13 current or former employees and growers, on July 8.

Christie and the others are charged with marijuana trafficking offenses related to their alleged distribution of marijuana as a sacrament at the ministry, reports Stop The Drug War.
Christie had already been raided by the DEA in March, with agents “seizing” cash and marijuana, but not arresting him at that time.
Federal agents claim that after that raid, Christie continued his marijuana distribution at the ministry. He and the others were secretly indicted last month.

Graphic: Cannabis Culture

​With numerous states facing significant budget cuts, legislators and voters across the United States this month have been giving overwhelming support to measures that would reduce the penalty to a civil fine for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

On Wednesday in New Hampshire, the state House voted 214-137 to pass HB 1653, a bill the would reduce the penalty for possession of up to a quarter-ounce of marijuana with a civil fine of up to $200.
In Hawaii, the state Senate voted 22-3 to March 2 to pass SB 2450, a bill that would eliminate criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of up to $300 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.

420girls.com
“What do you mean, what would I do for a lighter?”

​Marijuana activist/visionary Rob Griffin set the standard, simply because he was there before almost anyone else. When he launched 420 Girls in 1993, there weren’t any other sites centered around photos of naked women smoking weed.

The goal, Griffin says, was always to draw more people into the legalization movement through the beauty, glamor and sex appeal of the nude female figure.
The site features nude women smoking pot, posing with cannabis paraphernalia, marijuana plants and buds, posing in dispensaries, fields and grow rooms.
While the formula has certainly caught on — there are many others like it today — 420girls.com was the original.
Griffin’s mission came into being as a result of a marijuana possession conviction from 1992, while Rob was living in Maryland. Because he was then considered, by law, to be a felon due to drug-related charges, his right to vote was permanently suspended.
(NSFW after the fold)

www.norml.org

​Yesterday’s Whittier Daily News carried an extraordinary piece by Frank C. Girardot, senior metro editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group.

The piece was so interesting and so well done that I wanted to share it with you in its entirety, which Frank has graciously given Toke of the Town permission to do.
Frankly, I’m with Frank.

Dear President Obama:

Over the weekend I think I stumbled on a great plan to put people back to work.
What I need from you is some stimulus money. Think of it as seed money if you will.
I’m going to use it to start a business. And in a matter of months I think the business can be one of the Fortune 500.
Tax money generated by this startup can go to work fixing our health care system, our roads and our schools. By some estimates consumers already spend $110 billion a year on the product I plan to sell.
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