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| Photo: Lewis Whyld/PA |
| PC Chloe Snell examines what the Brits like calling a "cannabis factory" in a house in East London, 2008 |
Almost 20 commercial cannabis growing operations were found by police every day in the past year by authorities, according to the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), making the total for 2009/2010 6,886 -- more than double the 3,032 discovered two years ago, and more than eight times the annual average of 800 between 2004 and 2007, reports the U.K. Press Association.
6 comments
By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ in
Global, Legislation
Monday, Aug. 16 2010 @ 1:16PM
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| Photo: Saipan Realty |
| Can you say marijuana tourism? As soon as Saipan's voters get around to legalizing marijuana -- which they'll soon have a chance to do -- the stoner dollars will start pouring in, mine included. |
A House committee on Monday recommended killing a bill which would have legalized marijuana for all uses in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), which includes Saipan, Tinian, Ascuncion and Rota islands in the Pacific. But the bill will be reintroduced as a legislative initiative to allow the people to vote on it, according to its sponsor.
Rep. Stanley Torres (I-Saipan), author of CNMI House Bill 17-47, said Monday he is "disappointed" that the committee decided to recommend killing his bill, reports Haidee V. Eugenio of the Saipan Tribune.
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| Photo: U.S. Postal Inspection Service |
All pleaded guilty last summer to conspiracy to distribute marijuana through the mail. The four were convicted of mailing cannabis from various locations in the Rio Grande Valley since May 2008. They were each arrested in May 2009.
The U.S. Attorney's Office on Tuesday announced the sentences for Leopoldo Perales-Rodriguez, 42; Juan Carlos Hernandez, 22; Victor Hugo Mares, 27; and Margarito Gallardo, 46. All four illegally lived in Mission, Texas, reports Lindsay Machak at The Monitor.
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| Photo: Brian Kersey/UPI |
| Former Mexican President Vicente Fox: "We should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs" |
The comments, posted Sunday on Fox's blog, came less than a week after Calderon agreed to open the door to discussions about the legalization of drugs. Calderon, however, stressed that he remained opposed to the idea, reports E. Eduardo Castillo of The Associated Press.
"We should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs," said Fox, who served as president from 2000 to 2006 and is a member of President Calderon's conservative National Action Party. "Radical prohibition strategies have never worked."
"Legalizing in this sense does not mean drugs are good and don't harm those who consume then," he wrote. "Rather we should look at it as a strategy to strike at and break the economic structure that allows gangs to generate huge profits in their trade, which feeds corruption and increases their areas of power."
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| Photo: Alejandro Bringas/Reuters |
| Mexican soldiers stand guard, pretending they don't have a buzz as bales of marijuana go up in smoke |
Responding to out-of-control violence related to the illegal drug trade, Mexican President Calderon on Tuesday said he is open to a debate on the legalization of marijuana and other drugs.
Calderon called the increasingly widespread public discussion of legalization "a fundamental debate."
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| Photo: Laurent Laniel |
| Cannabis has for centuries been grown in northern Morocco's Rif Mountains. |
Growing marijuana is against the law in Morocco, but police looked the other way as farmers grew their pungent crops in the heart of the Rif Mountains. But now farmers are angry they are being forced to pay bribes to local police to continue growing the herb, reports Aida Alami at GlobalPost.
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| 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.
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| Photo: Bubbleman's Hideout |
| Very strong privacy laws prevent Spanish police from entering your house -- even if they can see weed. How cool is that? |
British citizen Andy was looking for weed freedom -- and he believes he's found it in Europe. But he's not in Holland. Andy's chosen abode is not yet known as a stoner mecca, but judging by his account, it may soon be.
For a fascinating look at the Spanish cannabis scene, let's travel to Andalusia now with our host, who writes on the excellent website "Dope Smoker."
~ Steve Elliott
.......
Freedom To Act Without Fear
By Andy
Dope Smoker
I am smoking a joint whilst sitting by my front window.
Actually, that's right where I rolled it too, and people were walking by the house. Sometimes, I pass the joint out the window to a neighbor on the street.
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| Photo: CanIdoit.org |
| Don't ask me why they do it, but Brits traditionally mix their cannabis with tobacco. But they're just like Americans in another way: Most of their politicians are reactionary cowards. |
Other politicians, terrified at even the faint appearance of taking a stand or displaying any leadership qualities at all, quickly and predictably attacked Green's remarks, claiming they "sent out the wrong message on drug use."
Taking this step would save billions of pounds (drug-related crime costs the British economy £13 billion a year), free up police time, cut crime and improve public health, reports Christopher Hope at the Telegraph.
Presumably, actually being rational about drugs is considered quite a radical position.
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| Photo: Lincoln Clarke |
| If this is your garden and you live in Pitt Meadows, Mayor Don MacLean has a message for you: Get the hell out of town. |
The list of outlawed businesses in the sleepy little British Columbia town include massage parlors, X-rated video stores, strip bars, hydroponic gardening stores, nuclear power plants, used car lots, and even giant advertising icons placed on the tops of buildings -- you know, those big gorillas you see at car dealerships.
Existing municipal bylaws ban all those things in Pitt Meadows, and now they're going after legal medical marijuana -- the first town in Canada to do so, reports Rod Mickleburgh at The Globe And Mail.
"We are just saying 'no,'" said Pitt Meadows' longtime mayor, obvious Nancy Reagan fan Don MacLean, of the town's move to ban the production of medical marijuana.
