Browsing: Say what?

“We kill your liver!”

Marijuana is safer than alcohol. It’s a simple message based in a lot of truths. But Big Alcohol doesn’t like that, nor do they like the insinuation that their legal product leads to more violence, health issues and social problems than cannabis.
“We’re not against legalization of marijuana, we just don’t want to be vilified in the process,” an anonymous alcohol lobbyist tells the National Journal this week. “We don’t want alcohol to be thrown under the bus, and we’re going to fight to defend our industry when we are demonized.”

Hrach Shilgevorkyan was charged with a marijuana DUI after a blood test revealed no active THC in his system. It did reveal an inactive metabolite of THC, though. The presence of that inactive metabolite has nothing to do with any potential impairment.
A judge eventually dismissed the case, but the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office appealed it, as the case eventually landed at the state Supreme Court.Prosecutors have argued that this was actually the intent of the Legislature. Essentially, they’ve argued that if you smoke a joint — medical marijuana patient, or not — you are forbidden from driving, probably for a few days, and possibly up to a month. Phoenix New Times has the full, absurd story.

It may be a fixer-uper.

If you’re going to put your former grow house up for sale in a place where cannabis is illegal, clean out your pots, vents and lights before allowing the real estate agent takes photos for an online listing.
Police in Avon and Summerset, England say they raided a $230,000 two-bedroom home back in July after receiving a tip that a grow operation was blatantly listed online through Rightmove.com. Cops haven’t made any arrests, but removed all of the grow equipment according to the Telepgraph.

Denver is still considering measures to cut down on the skunky odor wafting through the Mile High city, but a recent report shows that cannabis is hardly the worst offender.
According to information that the Denver Department of Environmental Health shared at the Monday council meeting, this city’s residents are bothered by a lot worse odors than marijuana. In 2010, the DEH collected 98 total odor complaints — seven involving marijuana. In 2011, it heard 118, with eight involving marijuana. In 2012, Denver residents apparently had much more sensitive noses, making 288 complaints to the department, DEH head Doug Linkhart told councilmembers Monday — but only sixteen involved marijuana. And through September 20 of this year, there have been 85 complaints made, with just eleven involving marijuana. Denver Westword has the full, stinky story.

Could medical marijuana be sold through actual pharmacies in Michigan? That’s the hope of a few Michigan lawmakers, who say that the plant should be rescheduled to include it along with other beneficial medicines and have it sold over-the-counter in licensed pharmacies.
The only catch: the feds would have to give their okay first.
Senate Bill 660, written by Michigan state Sens. Roger Kahn and Randy Richardville, would reschedule marijuana as a Schedule II drug, alongside drugs like morphine and OxyContin. Cannabis is currently a Schedule 1 drug, which means it has no medicinal value whatsoever in the eyes of the (clearly shortsighted) federal government.

Could legal marijuana outpace smartphones on the economic front? According to a recent poll from the Huffington Post, the answer is a resounding yes.

According to HuffPo, more than $1.3 billion will be spent on legal cannabis in 2013 in the U.S,
and a growth of up to $2.34 billion next year. That’s a growth rate of about 64 percent. By comparison, smartphone industry has only grown by 46 percent at its largest.

We guess the definition of “captive audience” is pretty much epitomized by prison inmates.In Beeville, guards at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s McConnell Unit took advantage of the potential customer base and ran one hell of a drug ring, with the aid of inmates. They also smuggled in phones, because they were all about serving the customer.
How big was this thing? Fourteen guards are going to be doing time for their part in the enterprise, as will 11 other individuals. Houston Press has the full story.

Kevin Glaser.

Kevin Glaser, the retired Missouri Drug Task Force cop we told you about last week who ranted on Facebook about marijuana legalization advocates, calling them stupid welfare leeches, isn’t backing down.
“To me, Facebook’s there to put your opinion on, and I wouldn’t retract a word about it,” he tells the Southeast Missourian.

Jesse Snodgrass, now 18, was busted for Chaparral High School in December of last year after allegedly providing an undercover cop posing as a student some weed. However, the suit says Snodgrass “was aggressively targeted, harassed, hounded, on campus, within the first few days of the new school year, by a new friend, a new peer, an undercover officer, to score him some marijuana.” LA Weekly broke the story and has the full details.

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