Yearly Archives: 2011

Nebraska Man Sues Over Rejection Of NE420 License Plate

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 18, 2011 Culture, News

What’s the big deal?

An attorney and marijuana advocate from southwestern Nebraska is suing the state Department of Motor Vehicles after his application for a personalized license plate was denied because state officials claimed it would “promote illegal drug use.”

The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed the federal lawsuit Thursday on behalf of Frank Shoemaker of Holbrook, saying that Nebraska violated Shoemaker’s constitutionally protected right to free speech, reports KETV.

Read ‘Em Here: CA Guidelines For Federal Marijuana Prosecutions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 18, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Seattle P.I.

U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner of the Eastern District of California is flanked by California’s other U.S. Attorneys, from left, Laura Duffy of the Southern District, Andre Birotte Jr., of the Central District, and Melinda Haag of the Northern District, at a news conference announcing the federal crackdown, Oct. 7, 2011.

The full text of a February 2011 memo outlining the California U.S. Attorneys’ guidelines for federal medical marijuana prosecutions in California has been obtained by Cal NORML.

“There may be slight errors in transcription because the source was not allowed to make a photocopy of the document, but we believe it is accurate in all major respects,” said Dale Gieringer of Cal NORML.

“It states that the minimum threshold for federal interest generally is 200 kilos or more for distribution and 1,000 plants or more (on private land) for cultivation, plus one or more additional factors such as involvement with an international drug cartel, poly-drug trafficking organization, significant distribution outside California, et cetera,” Gieringer said.

“Note however that the memo was issued early this year, before the recent crackdown by the four CA US Attorneys,” Gieringer said.

Czech Republic Celebrates ‘Cannafest’ Next Weekend

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 18, 2011 Culture, Global, Products

Cannafest Prague 2011

Next Friday, one of the best festivals in Europe — Cannafest Prague 2011, celebrating the cannabis plant and the culture which has sprung up around it — will kick off in the Czech Republic’s capital.

This will be the second annual Cannafest, and organizers say they’re expecting more than 130 participants from the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Austria, France, Australia, Great Britain, Italy, the U.S.A., and, of course, the Czech Republic, reports Czech-netz.com.

Disabled Cops Oppose City Ban On Marijuana Cultivation

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Growing, Legislation, News

LPP

An organization of retired and disabled members of the law enforcement community who have become medical marijuana patients is joining with other cannabis patients and advocates in calling on the City of Live Oak, California to regulate medical marijuana cultivation instead of banning it.

“The City of Live Oak is going to force legitimate medical marijuana patients to put themselves in danger by buying their medicine from the underground market,” said Nate Bradley, executive director of Lawmen Protecting Patients (LPP).

Medical Marijuana Bill Will Be Introduced In Alabama

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Alabama Republican Party

Rep. K.L. Brown’s sister used cannabis medicinally to control her pain and nausea before she died of breast cancer 25 years ago

An Alabama legislator is going forward with his bill that would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes, and he expects to pre-file the legislation within a week.

Rep. K.L. Brown (R-Jacksonville) said on Wednesday that he had submitted the bill Monday to the state’s Legislative Reference Service, reports Patrick McCreless at The Anniston Star. Lawmakers submit their legislation to that department before filing it in the Legislature.

Brown said it should be about a week before he gets the revised bill back from the Legislative Reference Service.

“Hopefully I’ll have it in a week and get it filed,” he said.

Brown’s sister used cannabis medicinally to control her pain and nausea before she died of breast cancer 25 years ago, and the lawmaker said he sees the measure as a way to help many Alabamians who are in similar situations.

Rep. Brown emphasized that his bill is in no way part of an effort to legalize marijuana completely in Alabama.

DEA Agents Made Marijuana Patient Evaluations — From Across The Street

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Dispensaries, News

West Seattle Blog

DEA agents swarm the G.A.M.E. Collective Lounge in White Center. Agents who performed surveillance felt that the patients didn’t “look sick enough.”

Need To Be Evaluated For Medical Marijuana? The DEA Can Tell If You ‘Deserve’ Medical Pot — From A Distance! With No Training!

The spectacle of federal and local law enforcement agents wasting large amounts of cash in Washington state while investigating medical marijuana dispensaries, of all things, just got several orders of magnitude more absurd and maddening.

The agents, who evidently have no serious crime to investigate, spent weeks staked out at various dispensaries across western Washington, watching from afar as patients came and went with medical marijuana. Not a big shocker. That’s what happens at dispensaries; patients get pot.

Switzerland Legalizing Up To 4 Marijuana Plants January 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Global, Growing, Legislation

Cannabis Culture

The Swiss cannabis strain “Walliser Queen” with the Alps in the background. Starting January 1, cultivation of up to four marijuana plants will be legal in the Alpine nation.

Citizens of Switzerland will soon be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants each at home, according to government officials. Four people sharing a house can grow up to 16 plants, but only if each person tends to their own crop.

The further relaxation of the Alpine nation’s already liberal cannabis laws has been agreed upon by four regions in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, reports Ian Sparks at the Daily Mail.

“We have agreed these new rules to prevent drugs tourism between regions where the rules are different, and to stop them buying it on the streets,” said a spokesman for the Neuchatel region of Switzerland.

Transplant Denied To Med Marijuana Patient With Liver Cancer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Medical, News

Americans for Safe Access

Norman Smith: “Since I am the only successful patient in the clinical trial, to take away something that’s been part of a successful regimen does not make any sense”

Patient Advocacy Group Calls On Preeminent Health Center To Change Harmful Transplant Policy

A medical marijuana patient in Los Angeles with inoperable liver cancer has been removed from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s transplant list after testing positive for marijuana.

Sixty-three-year-old medical marijuana patient Norman B. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009 and sought treatment from the internationally known Cedars-Sinai in L.A. Smith’s oncologist at the medical center, Dr. Steven Miles, approved of his medical marijuana use as a means to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and pain from an unrelated back surgery.

In September 2010, Smith became eligible for a liver transplant, but after testing positive for marijuana in February he was removed from the transplant list. Smith’s cancer was in remission until just recently, but now he is scheduled to undergo radiation treatments in a few days.

Washington Marijuana Patients Protest Federal Dispensary Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Stephanie Bishop

From left, activists Anthony Martinelli, Cydney Moore, Daniel Erdmann and Steve Phun protest at the Federal Building in Seattle on Wednesday

About 40 medical marijuana patients were stirred into action on Wednesday, protesting at the Federal Building in Seattle after Tuesday’s raids by the federal government on dispensaries across Western Washington.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see over 40 committed activists in the cold and rain in front of the Federal Building today,” said activist Don Skakie of legalization effort Yes End Penalties Washington (YEP WA). “Forty might not seem like much to some, but they represent many who could not, weren’t able or were just plain too scared to show up to defend our rights and tell the Feds to back off.”

One of those patients, 28-year-old Juliana Plemitscher, who treats her epilepsy with cannabis, said she wouldn’t normally join a public protest against marijuana laws outside the Federal Building, reports Scott Gutierrez at the Seattle P.I.

“It never really occurred to me to get involved in something like this, but when it was Seattle Cross that got shut down — those were good guys,” Plemitscher said. “It makes it kind of personal.”

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