2011 June

Monthly Archives: June, 2011

Advocate Goes To Prison Rather Than Quit Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2011 Medical, News

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Greeson holds up a jar of marijuana obtained from defendant Joel Castle’s hotel room ore than a year ago. Castle, left, was ultimately found guilty of possession and sale of marijuana. He chose nine months in prison rather than three years’ probation.

A California medical marijuana patient said he prefers being behind bars to being told he can’t use cannabis. Joel Castle is going to prison for nine months rather than spending the next three years on probation, because a condition of the probation a judge offered him was that he quit smoking pot.

Castle, the former Chico Cannabis Club operator who was found guilty last month of two felonies associated with a guitar-for-pot trade in January 2010, was sentenced earlier this month, reports Meredith J. Graham at the Chico News Review.

Judge Robert Glusman at first offered Castle three years’ probation. But the medical marijuana patient refused, and was sentenced instead to two years, eight months in state prison.

“It was the first time I really spoke my mind to that judge,” Castle said. Castle ended up being ejected from the courtroom during his sentencing, never a good sign.

Grace Slick’s ‘420 Collection’ Art Premieres On Saturday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2011 Culture, News, Products

Photo: Grace Slick

Rock legend Grace Slick supports the legalization of cannabis through her art.

You’re invited to the premiere showing of the 420 Collection™ of artwork by rock and roll legend Grace Slick, this Saturday in San Francisco.

Singer/songwriter Slick, formerly at the helm of the high-flying Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship, isn’t just a singer, she’s also an accomplished artist and a dedicated marijuana activist.

Saturday’s special exhibit will feature art by Slick, supporter of efforts to end prohibition and ensure safe and legal access to medical cannabis, according to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

Grace has created a series of paintings and limited edition prints especially for this exhibit, and a portion of each sale with benefit the MPP.

The exhibition will be held from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at SPARC, a medical cannabis collective at 1256 Mission Street in San Francisco.

If you’re in the Bay Area, this is a unique opportunity to view and purchase art by Grace Slick, and at the same time support MPP’s work to make marijuana legal for adults.

Mich. Store Sold Alcohol And Marijuana From Same Location

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, News

Photo: NewsChannel 3

Jeffrey Hagerman, Karl’s Korners: “We had opened up a dispensary in the back”

A corner store in West Michigan, specializing in party items like beer and chips, was recently raided for also dispensing marijuana.

The son of the owner of Karl’s Korners in Oswego said he has a medical marijuana license, and so does his partner. But selling marijuana out of a party store is against both liquor laws and a local ordinance, reports WWMT NewsChannel 3.

“We had opened up a dispensary in the back,” said Jeffrey Hagerman.

Hagerman said they started up a compassion center in the back of the business, beyond he beer cooler and the snack counter.

“My partner and I both hard medical marijuana cards, performed patient-to-patient transactions,” Hagerman said.

Elected Officials and Celebrities Denounce War On Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2011 News

Graphic: Emilie_Ann_McGregor

40th Anniversary of President Nixon’s Declaration of a ‘War On Drugs’ Will Be Marked By Thursday Press Conference

June 17 will mark 40 years since President Richard Nixon, claiming drug abuse was “public enemy number one,” officially declared a “War On Drugs.” A trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives later, the War On Drugs has proven to be a catastrophic failure, according to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).

The DPA, considered one of the nation’s leading organizations promoting drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights, will host a press conference on Thursday, June 16 with elected officials, celebrities and VIP’s to call attention to the failures of the Drug War and to propose new solutions.

The press conference is intended to raise awareness about the failures of drug prohibition and call for an exit strategy from the failed War On Drugs.

The press conference will also be streamed on the web and can be viewed live at http://www.newseum.org/streaming/index.htm.

Failed War On Drugs’ 40th Anniversary: Cops Call Out Drug Czar

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske wouldn’t meet with a group of former law enforcement officers who were concerned about the bad effects of the War On Drugs. Instead, he sent a staffer to take their report.

Cops Hand-Deliver Report To Drug Czar’s Office While Czar Refuses To Meet

In conjunction with this week’s 40th anniversary of President Nixon declaring “War On Drugs,” a group of police, judges and jailers who support legalization released a report Tuesday showing how the Obama Administration is ramping up a war it disingenuously claims that it ended two years ago.

Following the report’s release at a press conference Tuesday morning, the pro-legalization law enforcement officers attempted to hand-deliver a copy to Obama Administration Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, the former Seattle chief of police who claimed he ended the War On Drugs two years ago.

Instead of making time to listen to the concerns of fellow law enforcers who have dedicated their careers to protecting public safety, the Drug Czar simply sent a staffer to the lobby to receive a copy of the cops’ report.

Garden Supply Sales Down After Med Marijuana Crackdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2011 Growing, Legislation, Medical

Photo: KULR 8

David Dayton, Heightened Harvests: “A lot of it is related to what’s happening with the news lately”

Montana’s medical marijuana system is set to begin a new, extremely restrictive phase, and cultivators and dispensaries aren’t the only businesses affected by the crackdown.

Owners at Heightened Harvests said they’ve seen a drop in demand for indoor growing equipment since Senate Bill 423 passed, reports Kyle Midura at KULR 8. The store specializes in indoor gardening supplies.

Store owner David Dayton said hardware sales, especially of grow lights, are down. “Indoor gardening typically is a big slower in the summer and it usually picks up in the fall, but a lot of it is related to what’s happening with the laws lately,” Dayton said.

Lifetime Supply: Doc Forced To Buy Patient’s Pot After Surgery

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 15, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: BC Daily Buzz

Michael Joinson will receive a settlement of $300,000 for botched back surgery, including $50,469 for medication including marijuana.

A Canadian doctor has been ordered to pay a patient more than $300,000 to cover expenses including medical marijuana following a botched back surgery.

Michael Joinson, who heads the nonprofit Always Growing Green Society, which operates Taggs Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Maple Ridge, British Columbia, won a total settlement of $310,289.14 to cover his loss of earnings and medical care as well as medications to treat pain, including cannabis capsules, dried marijuana and cannabis edibles, reports Monisha Martins of Maple Ridge News.

Connecticut Marijuana Decrim Kicks In On July 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: a public defender

If you have less than half an ounce of weed, you’ll get a fine, much as with a traffic ticket, after July 1.

Connecticut’s new medical marijuana decriminalization law takes effect on July 1. Current laws remain in effect through the end of June, which means you could possibly still get arrested and thrown in jail for any amount of pot.

The decrim law only applies to amounts under half an ounce, reports Sam Tracy at the Hartford Advocate. While the bill started out with a one-ounce limit, that got lowered to half an ounce during the legislative process.

“And to get real technical about it, it’s amounts under half 1/2 an ounce, meaning if you have exactly .5 ounces on you, you can still get arrested,” Tracy writes. “Word is, police are now going to have certified scales in their cars, and will be measuring the amounts they confiscate to decide if it’s a ticket or an arrest.”

Miracle-Gro Makes A Play For The Medical Marijuana Market

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: How To Grow Weed Indoors

Miracle-Gro seems to have finally gotten hip to the fact that lots of people use its chemical fertilizer to grow marijuana — and that with a little marketing, that number could get a lot, well, higher.

In an unusual move for the head of such a large company, Scotts Miracle-Gro Company CEO Jim Hagedorn said he is “exploring” targeting medical marijuana cultivators to boost sales at his lawn and garden supply firm, reports Dana Mattioli at The Wall Street Journal.

“I want to target the pot market,” Hagedorn said in an interview. “There’s no good reason we haven’t.”

Sales at Scott’s aren’t exactly suffering. In fact, they rose five percent last year, to $2.9 billion. But the company, based in Marysville, Ohio, relies on sales at three mega-retailers — Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wal-Mart — for almost two-thirds of its revenue. But with those big-box retailers not building new stores as quickly as they used to, it appears the CEO wants to “diversify.”

90 New Jersey Doctors In Nation’s First Marijuana Registry

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 14, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: Freedom Is Green

Sandy Fiaola, New Jersey multiple sclerosis patient, is still waiting for her medicine

Ninety physicians are already registered in a program for medical marijuana in New Jersey, which is the first state in the nation to require that doctors complete special requirements and register with the state to recommend cannabis.

The scheme follows a set of regulations proposed by Governor Chris Christie’s administration, reports Chris Goldstein at Freedom Is Green. After 18 months of frustrating delays, the rules still haven’t been officially finalized. The Legislature even took the very unusual move of passing a resolution saying that the regulations are working against the intent of New Jersey’s compassionate use law.

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