Search Results: law professor (113)

Graphic: Fred Noland/SF Weekly

​When San Francisco narcotics officers showed up at a Castro District home early on the morning of January 11, they had a search warrant for “proceeds” from an illegal marijuana grow.

But the SFPD and federal DEA officers didn’t find any cannabis cash at that address, one of six raided simultaneously that morning, reports Chris Roberts at SF Weekly.
Instead, they found Clark Freshman, a UC Hastings law professor and the main consultant to the TV show Lie To Me.
Freshman was handcuffed while in his bathrobe as agents searched, despite his insistence that they had the wrong place and were breaking the law.
“I told them to call the judge and get their warrant updated,” Freshman said. “They just laughed at me — I guess that’s why they’re called pigs.”
Soon the porcine police may be defendants, in addition to douche bags. Freshman, who is furious about the incident, has pledged to sue the DEA and the SFPD for unlawful search and seizure of his home.

“Hi, we’re in Delaware.”


A University of Delaware poll released this week shows that 56 percent of Delawareans would support the legalizaiton and regulation of limited amounts of cannabis.
The poll, conducted on 902 adults in September, showed a meager 39 percent opposed marijuana – that group mostly populated by old conservative voters.


The press used to be so well-respected in this country that they were referred to as “the fourth estate”. In February 1891, Oscar Wilde wrote, “Somebody — was it Burke? — called journalism the fourth estate. That was true at the time no doubt. But at the present moment it is the only estate. It has eaten up the other three…We are dominated by Journalism.”
Today, well over a century later, with the advent of 24-hour cable news stations, AM talk radio hero worship, and the internet, the media holds more power than ever.

An off-color joke by a Missouri college professor on Facebook led to would-be comedian being busted for growing marijuana last week.
Matthew Rouch, a 57-year-old professor at Northwest Missouri State University, allegedly either sent a message to or posted on the wall of a friend that he looked forward to the start of a new year at the University, but that “by October I’ll be wanting to get up to the top of the bell tower with a high powered rifle – with a good scope, and probably a gatling [sic]gun as well.”

Growing up in a rough Miami neighborhood in the 1970’s, Carl Hart was no stranger to life on the streets. One of eight kids, living in decrepit low-income housing projects, Hart watched his abusive father physically torment their mother for years.
Raised amid gunshots, domestic violence, and utter poverty, Hart was using and pushing a variety of drugs, had held someone at gunpoint, was committing robberies, and had unknowingly fathered a child – all by the age of 16. He seemed to be right on track to becoming another statistic in south Florida, another wasted youth.

Photo: The Republican
Lyle E. Craker, UMass-Amherst professor of plant, soil and insect sciences, in the campus greenhouse

​One well-known professor’s attempt to get federal permission to grow marijuana for research into its potential medical benefits has been — once again — rejected by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA has for years claimed that letting anybody other than the federal government grow marijuana would “lead to greater illegal use” of the herb, reports Robert Rizzuto at The Republican.

Lyle Craker, a University of Massachusetts professor of plant, soil and insect sciences in Amherst, has been trying for 10 years to get a license to perform potentially life-saving research on medicinal cannabis.

Photo: Matt Mernagh
Canadian medical marijuana patient and Toke of the Town contributor Matt Mernagh won big this week, with an Ontario judge striking down Canada’s pot laws

​An appeal by the federal government of yesterday’s Ontario court decision striking down Canada’s marijuana laws is all but certain, according to political observers.

The government is now awaiting direction from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, reports Jennifer Yang at the Toronto Star. Lawmakers and law enforcement officers are “looking for guidance” on how to react to the court ruling.
“We are disappointed with this decision,” said Tim Vail, spokesperson for Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq. “The independent Public Prosecution Service has to decide whether to appeal this decision. While the courts have said that there must be reasonable access to marijuana for medical purposes, we believe that this must be done in a controlled fashion to ensure public safety.”
The Public Prosecution service is “studying” the decision and has 30 days to appeal the ruling, which it is expected to do.
In the meantime, Ontario Provincial Police will continue to enforce the marijuana laws, even though they could soon cease to exist.

Jonathan Beller/Boston Magazine
Dr. Lyle Craker, UMass-Amherst: “I’m disappointed mostly because of all the patients who could potentially benefit”

​Respected horticulturalist Lyle Craker of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has been trying for almost a decade to persuade the federal government to let him grow marijuana for medical research. He wanted to learn more about the plant’s medical benefits. But Craker, 70, was over and over again rebuffed, and now he’s finally giving up.

Craker said he saw no end in sight to the legal wrangling, with an appeals process that could run for years or even decades, reports Andrew Miga of The Associated Press. Craker was also frustrated that he never got a hoped-for boost from the Obama Administration.
“I’m disappointed in our system,” he said. “But I’m not disappointed at what we did. I think our efforts have brought the problem to the public eye more. … This is just the first battle in a war.”
Craker, who said he has never smoked marijuana, started his challenge to the government’s monopoly on growing and distributing research cannabis in 2001. One garden at The University of Mississippi is the federal government’s only marijuana-growing facility.
But government-grown pot lacks the potency medical researchers need for breakthroughs, according to Craker. Besides, there isn’t enough of the Ole Miss-grown cannabis available for scientists across the U.S., or even if there is, the government isn’t letting them have it.

Graphic: The Tulane Hullabaloo

​Marijuana legalization went down in flames at the polls in California on Tuesday, and local experts in Louisiana say it’s very unlikely to happen there anytime soon, either.

“The chance of [marijuana law]changing here is extraordinarily remote,” said Robert Hogan, a political science professor at Louisiana State University. “The political system here does not lend itself to things like that.”
Hogan said Louisiana’s laws are unlikely to change because voters in Louisiana do not have the right to put an initiative like Proposition 19 on the ballot, reports Frederick Holl at The Daily Reveille.

Graphic: Fishbowl LA
Allison Margolin, “L.A.’s Dopest Attorney,” is joining forces with her famed dad Bruce Margolin to form a powerhouse law firm.

​When Allison Margolin went into the practice of law, she followed in the footsteps of her distinguished father, attorney Bruce M. Margolin. Bruce is currently the director of the Los Angeles chapter of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws), a post he has held for more than 30 years.

It took ambitious Allison just under a decade to establish herself as an equally sophisticated criminal defense lawyer in her own right, gaining fame as “L.A.’s Dopest Attorney.”
Now father and daughter are merging to form a new law firm which will unite two of the country’s most prominent marijuana law experts.

In his career, spanning four decades, Bruce has successfully represented thousands of clients, including Dr. Timothy Leary, well known attorney Tony Serra, Marlon Brando’s son Christian Brando, and porn star Linda Lovelace.
He has also been involved in the “Lawyer in the Classroom” Program on behalf of the Constitutional Rights Foundation.
A Columbia College graduate and Harvard Law School alumnus, Allison’s greatest professional achievements have come in the courtroom as a successful trial lawyer. She is as known for her toughness in the courtroom as she is for being easy on the eyes (Allison isn’t averse to appearing in ads rocking tank tops and fishnets.)
Profiled in front-page stories for the Los Angeles Times and Daily Journal in 2006 and recently appearing on the cover of the April issue of California Lawyer magazine, Allison has been quoted in newspapers throughout the U.S.
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