Search Results: paraphernalia (171)

Kansas City Democrat Jeremy LaFaver.

Missouri State Rep. Jeremy LaFaver is apologizing to nobody in particular after being arrested over the weekend in Columbia, Missouri with a pipe and an ounce of marijuana. While his instant reaction was to beg forgiveness, we think he should have taken the opportunity to announce that he enjoys cannabis and that it’s high time Missouri change their laws.
Of course, the Kansas City Democrat wants to remain a politician, so of course that would never happen.

Greg Dewald/Clay Middle School
The new law will fix an imbalance under which possession of marijuana paraphernalia received a stiffer penalty than possession of marijuana itself

Ohio will start treating people who get caught with a marijuana pipe the same way it treats those who get traffic tickets starting this fall, reversing an imbalance that punished possession of marijuana paraphernalia more harshly than possession of marijuana itself.

While the removal of barriers that keep reformed felons from getting jobs was the portion of Senate Bill 337 that got lots of attention when Republican Gov. John R. Kasich signed it — it’s a considered a national model of how to write such a bill — the part that decriminalizes possession of most marijuana paraphernalia isn’t as well known, report M.L. Schultze and Simon Husted of WKSU.

Photo: Tobias Elgen
The ferry Wenatchee enroute to Bainbridge Island, Washington (background), where your pockets are considered pot paraphernalia

​Ever hear that if cops really want to bust you, they can find a way? Well, maybe it’s true.

Because there’s no local statute for misdemeanor level marijuana possession — under 40 grams — if you get arrested on Bainbridge Island, in Washington’s Puget Sound, you aren’t prosecuted under any law dealing with pot, reports Josh Farley at the Kitsap Sun.
But that won’t keep you from being busted.

“We can arrest someone for having drug paraphernalia,” said Scott Weiss, an island officer. “But not for marijuana.”
Turns out “paraphernalia” can be defined pretty loosely, to say the least.
“Even if they have marijuana in their pocket, then the pocket becomes the paraphernalia,” Kitsap County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Claire Bradley said.

Photo: Polluxx
Not in Norco, or you may get Narco’d.

​Norco, Calif., is proposing a local law against selling drug paraphernalia.

Doing so is already against both state and federal law, but having a city law on top of that would “make it easier for authorities to enforce the regulation,” Norco officials claimed, according to the Press-Enterprise.
Norco officials admit there isn’t a problem with drug paraphernalia being sold in the city. Nobody in recent history has even been cited for the offense. But the bright idea of putting a local law on the books just seemed irresistible after officials noticed neighboring town Corona had passed its own local law.
“The councils of Norco and Corona have been trying to coordinate their responses to regional issues, and drugs are currently a regional issue,” said Lt. Ross Cooper of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Norco station. (Blah, blah, blah.)
Cooper said other cities also have adopted similar ordinances, and Norco wants to spread the anti-drug message. Great idea, Lt. Cooper. Show what a moron you are by wasting the city’s scarce resources going after potheads.
The ordinance would echo a California Health and Safety Code section making it unlawful to sell drug paraphernalia, including water and ceramic pipes, scales and balances, and roach clips for joints.
If passed, the ordinance would become law in 30 days.

You have the right to remain silent…seriously


With cannabis laws in flux not only from state to state these days, but even from city to city and county to county, it is more important than ever to know your rights should you ever get pulled over by the police.
More often than not, the best advice is to keep your record – and your car – clean as can be, and if you do get rolled, shut the hell up and give as little information as possible.
Here we present two recent examples of exactly how not to deal with the cops when it comes to cars and cannabis.

Flickr/danxoneill


Lots of folks get a little lonely around the holidays, and they all deal with it in their own way. For 30-year old Jared Kreft, the best way he could think of to cope with the holiday blues was to seek out a little romance.
When he entered some stranger’s barn last Wednesday night in Wasau, Wisconsin, he knew he was trespassing… but love was in the air.

In Colorado, if you’re 21 or older, you’re free to buy, use, grow and give away cannabis. You can even apply for a sales license to grow and sell it for profit. But what you can’t do is take pounds of it across state lines and try to make a killing selling it for double what it goes for in Colorado. That’s no secret — as anyone with common sense knows.
According to Nashville cops, two Coloradans visiting Tennessee had a lot more cannabis than they did common sense: They were busted with more than 425 pounds of pot — worth an estimated $1.5 million — and $355,000 in cash.

Virginia isn’t very friendly when it comes to cannabis. Less than a half-ounce can get you up to a year in jail and $2,500 in fines and anything over a half-ounce nets you anywhere from a mandatory year in jail to 10 years. Even paraphernalia can get you a year in the pokey.
But a proposal from Virginia state Sen. Adam Ebbin would ease some of that by decriminalizing an ounce or less of pot and dropping the fine to $100. The bill would also lessen the penalties for people caught growing six plants or less – though that would still remain illegal.

Denver International Airport is suffering through one of its busiest weeks of the year as Thanksgiving travelers jam the ticket and security lines, baggage claims and cab stands, and the restaurants and souvenir shops. And while their suitcases may be full of warm sweaters, early holiday presents and leftover pie, travelers won’t be able to find many last-minute marijuana-themed souvenirs while they’re waiting for a delayed flight.
And soon, DIA may not allow the sale of any pot-themed merchandise at all.

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