Yearly Archives: 2011

South African Cannabis Activist Missing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Global, News

Cannabis activist Peter Charles Freeman Miller was last seen on February 23.

A South African humanitarian and marijuana activist whose cultivation case was recently thrown out of court has been missing for more than 72 hours under suspicious circumstances.

Peter Charles Freeman of the family Miller has been well known as a cannabis and industrial hemp activist in South Africa for a number of years.

Peter was arrested on Friday, February 18 for cannabis cultivation, after which his case was thrown out when he claimed his human rights, using the book The Report.

He told his wife on Tuesday, February 22 that he was under the impression that “somebody wanted to stop him” from his efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

Peter, who served as public liaison officer for NORML South Africa, was last seen at his home in the Reeds Centurion wearing a pair of blue shorts on February 23. The house was found unlocked and the door was open. His keys were left inside the house, and his blue hat was lying on the front patio.

Drug Czar Meeting With Paper After It Calls For Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Injustice In Seattle

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske requested — and got — a meeting with the editorial board of the Seattle Times after the newspaper endorsed marijuana legalization

Immediately after the Seattle Times ran an editorial last week supporting marijuana legalization, the newspaper got a telephone call from Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske in Washington, D.C., Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger reports.

Kerlikowske, who heads up the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), wanted to fly to Seattle to “talk personally” to the paper’s full editorial board, reports Dominic Holden at The Stranger.

Holden called the meeting “an apparent attempt by the federal government to pressure the state’s largest newspaper to oppose marijuana legalization.”

‘Walmart of Weed’ Opening Saturday In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Daily Mail

Retail hydroponics store weGrow is being called the “Walmart of weed.” It will open Saturday in Sacramento, selling everything needed to grow cannabis except the seeds.

The Walmart of weed is coming to Sacramento, California on Saturday.

Far from denying the ambitious title, weGrow, a huge hydroponics store marketing itself as a retail outlet for people cultivating marijuana for medical use, is embracing it, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.

The 10,000-square-foot weGrow store, at 1537 Fulton Avenue in Sacramento, is the first national franchise for a company billing itself as a “supply and training destination” for legal cannabis cultivators.

The business started in Oakland last year as a warehouse store called iGrow. It doesn’t sell any marijuana — but it does have marijuana plants there for “display purposes only,” reports the U.K. Daily Mail.

WeedMaps Website Offers Daily Coupons For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: WeedMaps

Buying bud on a budget? WeedMaps has a deal for you.

WeedMaps, known for directing medical marijuana users to nearby dispensaries in states which allow it, has borrowed an idea from Groupon, the popular coupon-swapping website, and is now offering daily coupons and discounts on medicinal cannabis, reports Jeremy A. Kaplan at Fox News.

While the service has been called “Groupon for ganja,” site founder Justin Hartfield was quick to point out the differences between the two.

“It’s only like Groupon in the sense that there’s a new deal every day,” he told FoxNews.com. “We’re not accepting money from end users.” Groupon customers buy merchandise online, he explained, meaning subscribers rely on the daily coupon website itself to handle the transactions.

Police: Stolen 25 Pounds Of Marijuana Was Legal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 News

Photo: THC Finder

25 pounds of marijuana, above, along with some plants, were taken from the home of a Newport Beach, California man whom police say was legally justified to possess that amount.

A California man who had 25 pounds of marijuana and marijuana plants stolen from his home earlier this month did have legal justification to possess that amount, according to police.

The resident in Santa Ana Heights, a suburb of Newport Beach, is protected under the California Department of Justice’s legal guidelines for possessing and cultivating marijuana for medicinal use, said Lt. Bill Hartford, reports Joseph Serna at the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot.

“The individual had the appropriate issued medical marijuana paperwork and/or licensing for the amount of marijuana and marijuana plants there were in his possession,” Hartford said.

229 Marijuana Dispensaries Make Deadline For L.A.’s Lottery

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: Kevork Djansezian

More than 200 medical marijuana dispensaries have applied to be in a lottery to select 100 legal dispensaries in Los Angeles.

The lottery is L.A.’s second try at narrowing down the number of pot shops in the city, reports John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times. The first attempt relied on a moratorium ordinance, but was ruled unconstitutional by a judge.

According to the city clerk’s office, 229 applicants had filed by the February 18 deadline to participate in the lottery. The office released only the number of applicants, declining to provide any information on them.

Mendo Farmers Collective Delivers Marijuana… In Orange County

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2011 Culture, Growing

Photo: Peter Hecht/The Sacramento Bee

Tim Blake, a legendary Mendocino County marijuana grower, tends his outdoor greenhouse with his dogs. Blake cultivates medical marijuana and runs Area 101, a spiritual retreat celebrating Mendocino’s marijuana culture.

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

It might be hard to believe for some of my younger readers that at one time, in order to get a Starbucks coffee, you had to brave the suicide-invoking rain, a thang called “grunge” and have to be in Seattle or thereabouts. Now that concept seems preposterous. As Janeane Garafalo once said, “I don’t want to say that Starbucks are everywhere, but I woke up this morning and they were building one in my living room.”

Maybe one day the same will be said about Mendocino and Humboldt marijuana. Maybe one day, getting your medicine will be as easy as standing in line at your nearby coffee shop or getting it delivered right to the house, just like the wine clubs that we belong to have done for 50 years.

And the race is on…

Charlie Sheen’s New Girlfriend Is A Marijuana Bikini Model

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2011 Culture

Photo: Cali Chronic X/Dagwood

Natalie Kenly, AKA “Natty Baby,” was the “Official 2010 Chronic Girl” for Cali Chronic X magazine.

Charlie Sheen’s new girlfriend, 24-year-old Natalie Kenly, is a marijuana bikini model. Kenly is regularly featured in Cali Chronic X magazine and was even named “Chronic Girl 2010.”

Kenly, a graphic designer and former cheerleader also known as “Natty Baby,” was recently featured on the cover of the magazine posing with a bong, reports X17.

Sheen first showed off his new girlfriend on Monday while doing an educational video for “at-risk kids” for his pal Todd Zeile’s foundation, L.I.F.E.

Sheen, 45, was photographed smooching Kenly, who recently dyed her hair blonde.

According to Radar Online, Kenly, who was reared in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles, was arrested in 2006 for underage drinking in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

Charlie began to pursue Natalie a few months ago after seeing her on the cover of Cali Chronic X‘s February 2010 issue, co-editor Jeffrey Peterson told TMZ.

Charges Dropped Against Washington Pot Dispensary Owners

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: North End Club 420

Pierce County, Washington prosecutors have dismissed numerous marijuana charges filed last year against two men who run a Tacoma medical marijuana cooperative, North End Club 420.

Guy Lewis Casey and Michael Jonathan Schaef — who operate the dispensary on Oregon Avenue in Tacoma — had been scheduled for trial in April, reports Adam Lynn at the Tacoma News Tribune.

DEA Says Woman Called From Jail About Marijuana Money

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2011 News

Photo: Inmate Telephone Service

Almost as soon as she was jailed last year for allegedly shipping hundreds of pounds of marijuana to Ohio in suitcases, a woman placed calls to a California accomplice asking about the status of proceeds from the operation, the Drug Enforcement Administration said Thursday.

Lisette Lee asked Christopher Cash several times about “paperwork,” a phrase the DEA said is commonly used for drug money, even though Cash warned Lee over and over to be careful what she said because the calls were being recorded, the DEA said, reports Associated Press legal affairs writer Andrew Welsh-Huggins.

After Lee’s arrest, she called Cash in California on June 21 and told him to get some items out of her apartment, including a white Christian Dior bag. “You know what I’m talking about, right? Everything?” Lee asked Cash, according to the DEA.

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