Yearly Archives: 2011

Boulder Removes 2nd, Even More Exact Map Of Secret Pot Farms

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 7, 2011 Growing, News

Todd Young, owner of the medical marijuana cultivation site the Therapeutic Compassion Center, tends his plants in this November 2009 file photo.

Just one day after Boulder, Colorado city officials removed a map from its website that showed the locations of 60 medical marijuana cultivation centers in the city — sites that were supposed to be kept secret, due to robbery concerns — a city spokesman admitted Friday that a second, even more detailed map was also accidentally made public.

The new map, removed from the city’s website on Friday, January 7, showed the locations of more than a dozen marijuana-growing operations. It also gave the exact addresses of two sites just east of downtown Boulder, reports Heath Urie at the Boulder Daily Camera.

“There was a second map on the online version [of a packet created for the Boulder City Council]and that has been removed from the website,” said Patrick von Keyserling, Boulder’s communication manager.

Oakland Could Lose Millions In Tax By Nixing Marijuana Farms

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 7, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Gearfuse

Don’t start counting the money just yet, Brokeland.

Don’t start counting the money just yet — Brokeland, I mean Oakland, may not get that pot tax bonanza, after all.

Fiscally-challenged Oakland, California could lose millions of dollars in potential tax revenue if the city bows to pressure to scale back or cancel controversial plans to license four large-scale commercial medical marijuana farms.

Supporters say the measure approved by the city council last July could provide the city with a tax windfall of $10 million or more each year by authorizing four city-licensed cannabis cultivation facilities, reports Michael Montgomery at California Watch.

Federal Patient Wants To Save Medical Marijuana In Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 7, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: MedicalMarijuana411.com

Federal medical marijuana patient Irvin Rosenfeld holds a tin of 300 joints, which he gets every 25 days from the government.

Irvin Rosenfeld, the longest survivor of the four remaining federal medical marijuana patients in the United States, plans to visit Montana to speak before the Legislature next week. Rosenfeld will be there to educate people on the importance of medical cannabis and its true value as a medicine.

As a federal medical marijuana patient for more than 28 years, Rosenfeld has knowledge and experience to share with others. According to Irv, cannabis is a medicine like any other, and should be treated that way.

As senior vice president of investments for Newbridge Securities in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, he also understands the economic aspect and how medical marijuana creates jobs for thousands of Montanans.

“Montana is being watched nationally, and what happens in this legislative session could set precedence around the world,” said Rosenfeld, who serves as a director for the advocacy group Patients Out of Time.

Boulder, CO Accidentally Discloses Secret Marijuana Grow Sites

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 7, 2011 Growing, Medical, News

Photo: Mark Leffingwell/Daily Camera

Dustin Shroyer, owner of the dispensary Root Organic MMC, Thursday afternoon at his growing facility in Boulder. The city accidentally made public the secret locations of 60 cultivation sites.

A map showing what were supposed to be the secret locations of 60 warehouses and other structures where medical marijuana is being grown in Boulder, Colorado has accidentally been made public by the city.

Colorado state law prohibits local governments from disclosing the locations of “cultivation centers,” out of fear that would-be thieves might target the operations, reports Heath Urie at the Boulder Daily Camera.

City officials claim an “oversight” led them to publish the map on the city’s website, bouldercolorado.gov, last week as part of an agenda briefing sent to the City Council. Shown on the formerly secret map are 60 cultivation centers, 45 dispensaries and 12 product manufacturing sites that have applied for medical marijuana business licenses.

Illinois: Medical Marijuana Bill Falls Short By 4 Votes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Rose Law Group

The Illinois House on Thursday afternoon narrowly voted down the legalization of marijuana for medical purposes. The bill fell just four votes short of the 60 needed to become law.

Sponsor Lou Lang (D-Skokie) pledged to continue working for medical marijuana in Illinois, reports Hannah Hess at STLtoday.

“What we have to do now is wait for the new session to start, introduce a new piece of legislation and start over,” Lang said after the bill was defeated.

The medical marijuana bill — SB 1381 — would have allowed people suffering from chronic pain or nausea caused by certain debilitating conditions including cancer and AIDS to use cannabis medicinally with authorization from their doctor.

Drug War Now Killing More People Than Afghanistan War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 News

Photo: Alejandro Bringas

People mourn the death of victims of a Drug War shootout in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

More people were killed in Drug War-related violence in Mexico last year than died in the war in Afghanistan, according to year-end reports from both countries.

In Afghanistan, about 10,000 people — 2,043 of them civilians — died in the fighting last year.

Although that conflict involves air power, heavy weapons, and numerous roadside bombs, it was less deadly last year than the Mexican Drug War, with a death toll estimated at around 13,000 by CNN.

In mid-December, the Mexican attorney general’s office reported that 12,456 people had been killed through the end of November, reports Phillip Smith at AlterNet. With a death toll of more than 1,000 per month in 2010, a year-end figure of more than 13,000 looks to be accurate.

Pot-Hating Bush Holdover Unanimously Confirmed To Head DEA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 News

Photo: Huffington Post

Michele Leonhart, just confirmed by the Senate as administrator of the DEA, is a Bush-era drug warrior who has overseen raids of legal medical marijuana dispensaries

The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed Michele Leonhart, a Bush-era holdover who has overseen dozens of federal raids on medical marijuana providers and producers, to head the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“Ms. Leonhart’s actions and ambitions are incompatible with state law, public opinion, and with the policies of this administration,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). “It is unlikely that we will see any serious change in the DEA’s direction under Ms. Leonhart’s leadership.”

Leonhart had served as interim director of the agency since November 2007. President Barack Obama nominated Leonhart in February 2010 to serve as the agency’s permanent director, NORML reports.

Numerous drug policy reform groups, including NORML, Marijuana Policy Project, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and others had opposed Leonhart’s confirmation, arguing that her actions as interim DEA administrator violated the Obama Administration’s pledge to allow science, rather than politics, rhetoric and ideology, to guide public policy.

Group Sues To Dump Parts Of Colorado’s Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project

A medical marijuana advocacy group in Colorado has filed a lawsuit to overturn parts of that state’s medical marijuana law dealing with patient privacy, safe access, Department of Revenue regulation, and physician recommendations.

Kathleen Chippi and the Patient and Caregiver Rights Litigation Project want to scrap parts of House Bill 1284 and Senate Bill 109. The suit was filed by Wednesday with the state Supreme Court, in an attempt to fast-track the process and bypass lower appellate courts.

“This petition was necessary to stop the state’s blatant attack on fundamental constitutional patient and caregiver rights,” Chippi said. “Coloradans need immediate clarification on rights they enjoyed from 2000 through 2009, and why some of those rights were extinguished by the state Legislature in 2010.”

“Medical marijuana patients are sick of being treated like second-class citizens,” Chippi said.

Illinois House Reportedly Ready To Legalize Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: The Fresh Scent

”As of this moment I have enough committed votes to pass the bill”

~ Rep. Lou Lang

The Illinois House may vote on a bill to legalize medical marijuana on Thursday, January 6, the sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), said this morning.

“As of this moment I have enough committed votes to pass the bill if, number one, everyone’s here, and number two, everyone told me the truth,” Lang said, reports Hannah Hess at STLtoday.

The bill would allow people receiving treatment for cancer, AIDS and other serious illnesses to use marijuana for pain and nausea, with a doctor’s authorization and state certification.

6-Year-Old Expelled From First Grade For Marijuana Possession

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 6, 2011 News

Photo: The Independent

The mother of a six-year-old formerly in the Richmond Public Schools said she’s appealing the one-year expulsion of her first grade son for possession of marijuana.

The student, enrolled at G.H. Reid Elementary in Richmond, Virginia, approached the physical education teacher in November on the playground and pulled out a bag of pot, according to his mother, reports Vernal Coleman at Style Weekly.

“Look at this,” the boy said. “This is weed. My mother gave it to me.”

The P.E. instructor and another teacher questioned the boy and escorted him to the school’s front office, where he was questioned again by a school security officer.

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