Yearly Archives: 2011

Arizona Governor, AG Playing Politics With Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer won’t allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in her state, and now she’s trying to shut down the clubs that opened to provide safe access while patients wait for dispensaries.

The lawyer for one of Arizona’s medical marijuana clubs on Friday accused the governor and state attorney general of conspiring to undermine the voter-approved initiative legalizing cannabis for medicinal use.

“We believe that there’s a clear and blatant pattern that has transpired over the last few months,” said Thomas Dean, reports Howard Fischer at Capitol Media Services. Dean said that both Gov. Jan Brewer and Atty. Gen. Tom Horne had worked to stymie the will of the voters.

“There’s plenty of evidence that it was done in a way that was conspiratorial, fraudulent,” Dean told Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Dean Fink.

Dean told the judge he wants to question both Gov. Brewer and Atty. Gen. Horne under oath to prove his point.

But that’s not going to happen, at least not in the way Dean envisions, Assistant Attorney General Lori Davis told the judge.

NFL Star and Former Pothead Ricky Williams Hates Weed Jokes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 24, 2011 Culture, Products

Sons Of Bill Simmons

Ricky Williams doesn’t think weed jokes are funny.

National Football League star Ricky Williams — caught multiple times for smoking weed — doesn’t think your weed jokes are funny. In fact, one of the reasons he doesn’t use Twitter much is the constant barrage of pot punchlines, the football hero tweeted on Friday.

Williams, of the Baltimore Ravens, has quite a history with marijuana himself, reports Zach Wilt at the Baltimore Sports Report. The former Miami Dolphins running back supposedly “retired from football” after facing a whopping $650,000 fine for failing a piss test in December 2003 (his second such transgression), violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.

After taking 2004 off, he returned to the Dolphins in 2005, but failed yet another drug test after the season, which this time earned him a 16-game suspension from the NFL (that’s a full year’s worth of games, for you non-football fans).

Williams at that point took his under-appreciated talents north to Canada and played for the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts. He claimed he “found himself” during this time and returned to Miami in 2007 while following a strict drug-test regimen imposed by the NFL.

Sunday Morning Cannabis Quiz: How ‘High’ Is Your Score?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 23, 2011 Culture

SmokersWorld.info

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

How much do you know about marijuana? Hit that joint one more time to make it a little more challenging, then take Toke of the Town‘s Sunday morning cannabis quiz. If you get all the answers right, roll another doob!

1. Which one of these government agencies hasn’t gone after Medical Marijuana in California?

1) HUD

2 FDIC

3) IRS

4) DOJ

5) FBI

6) DEA

2. Which is not a Schedule I drug under the U.S. Uniform Controlled Substances Act?

1) Heroin

2) Cannabis

3) Psilocybin

4) LSD

5) Cocaine

6) Seconal

7) Demerol

8) PCP

9) Meth

Federal Threats Get Results: CA Marijuana Dispensaries Close

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 21, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Salem-News

Dispensaries in California appear to be closing as a result of the federal crackdown on medical marijuana.

In conservative Orange County, a threatening letter from federal prosecutors achieved what nearly $600,000 in legal fees couldn’t — shutting down the dispensaries, reports the Associated Press.

All eight collectives that had occupied the second floor of a mini-mall in Lake Forest have closed since California’s four U.S. Attorneys announced a couple of weeks ago that they were cracking down on medicinal cannabis sales in the state, reports Greg Risling at the Associated Press.

The healthy competition between the eight dispensaries at the Lake Forest mall was good for everyone, local patient Melissa Morales told Toke of the Town.

“It was like heaven,” Morales told us on Friday. “I got treated like a queen. One of the collectives had a frequent buyer program punch card. You got a free eighth after 10 donations and a free preroll with any edible.”

Protest For Medical Marijuana During Obama’s California Tour

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Village Voice Media

The Weed Blog

Los Angeles, High Noon, Oct. 24

San Francisco, 11:30 a.m., Oct. 25

Advocates will be protesting the federal crackdown on medical marijuana when Obama comes to visit California next Monday and Tuesday, October 24 and 25, according to California NORML.

In Los Angeles, there will be a protest at high noon on Monday, October 24 at the Federal Building downtown, 255 East Temple Street. A press conference will be held with Proposition 215 coauthor Anna Boyce, who will be demanding a meeting with President Obama at the U.S. Attorney’s Office. (The President will be visiting elsewhere in west L.A., but security will make him inaccessible.)

In San Francisco, protesters are urged to gather on Tuesday, October 25 at the northwest corner of 3rd and Mission, near the W Hotel where Obama will be attending a fundraiser lunch. “The lunch starts at 11:30, but be there early so that we can stake out a visible presence amidst a likely crowd of other protesters,” advised CA NORML director Dale Gieringer.

Marijuana Promotes Creativity: The Evidence

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 21, 2011 Culture

You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos by Robert Arthur

By Robert Arthur

Narco Polo: a blog

Author: You Will Die: The Burden of Modern Taboos

Lawrence O’Donnell: Marijuana Is Healthier Choice Than Alcohol

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 Culture, News

The simple truth about marijuana is shining through more and more cracks in the mainstream’s tottering wall of denial.

During an impassioned argument for the legalization of cannabis, MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell, host of “The Last Word,” highlighted the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol.

Federal Officer Arrested For Marijuana Smuggling After Chase

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 News

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office

This photo provided by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office shows Jason Alistair Lowery. Lowery, a deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is accused of leading police on a high-speed chase in the Arizona desert while dumping bales of marijuana out the window of his government vehicle.

It was one of those Kodak moments when you just wish you could’ve been there.

A deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement led Arizona state police and federal agents on a high-speed desert chase in his government vehicle, all the while chunking bundles of marijuana out the window as he fled, reports Amanda Lee Myers of the Associated Press.

They’d been watching the officer, Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, for more than a month after a known smuggler who had been busted gave authorities a tip about Lowery in an effort to get lenient treatment, Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook told the AP.

DPS and federal agents tried to pull Lowery over on Tuesday after he picked up a load of marijuana in the desert in his unmarked ICE pickup truck, according to Cook. The officer made a run for it instead, leading agents on a 45-minute chase at speeds up to 110 miles per hour as he threw 10 of the 14 bundles of cannabis he had in the truck out the window.

“He got pretty desperate,” said Captain Obvious, I mean Officer Cook.

Witness Arrested After Testifying At Medical Marijuana Hearing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Cafe Sozo

A witness was arrested Tuesday in California after he testified in the preliminary hearing of another man facing felony charges of cultivating marijuana and possessing it for sale.

Deputies grabbed Jeffrey Lee Sanford in Butte County Superior Court after his testimony at Timothy Ole Skytte’s preliminary hearing, reports Ryan Olson of Chico ER. Skytte was arrested on August 18 after deputies found 54 marijuana plants growing on his property in Concow. Officers also found 369 more plants on a property Skytte rented to another man identified as Lawrence Evans.

“It is obvious that Butte County is using this oppressive tactic to suppress people from testifying in defense of medical providers and it is this type of behavior that challenges the fabric of our democracy,” said Mickey Martin of the website Cannabis Warrior.

Two-Thirds Of Seattle’s 105 Marijuana Dispensaries Are Licensed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Of Seattle’s 105 medical marijuana dispensaries, almost two-thirds — 68 — have business licenses, according to a report in alternative weekly The Stranger.

“We only have 68 dispensaries currently licensed in our system,” said Denise Movius, a spokeswoman for Seattle’s business licensing division, reports Q13 Fox News Online. “We’ve gotten the names of the rest by reading The Stranger and other advertisements.”

The business licensing division has been contacting the out-of-compliance shops to remind them they need the $90 business licenses.

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