Yearly Archives: 2011

The Return of Panama Red: Legendary Marijuana Strain Is Back

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Growing

All Photos: No Longer Sad

Whenever aging stoners gather around a burning bush and discuss the legendary strains of yore, it’s a sure bet that the mighty Panama Red will be mentioned. Along with Acapulco Gold, Panama Red was one of the first cannabis “brand names” that caught the imagination of the American public, becoming a, well, “hit” nationwide.

While hippies in the late 1960s thought that Panama Red was so strong because of the rain-forest climate in which it was grown, we know today that its legendary potency was due to genetics — and thank Jah, those genetics have been preserved for modern smokers to enjoy, despite the fact that the culture of cannabis in Panama was mostly blown away during the cocaine-fueled 1980s.

Chafee Chokes: No Marijuana Dispensaries In Rhode Island

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Business Insider

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee: “This has been a difficult decision”

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has blinked first in his stand-down with the federal government over medical marijuana dispensaries in his state.

The governor officially rejected pleas from patients and advocates to provide safe access for seriously ill Rhode Island patients who have doctors’ authorizations to use medicinal cannabis.

“It’s a sad day for those of us from Rhode Island,” Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) told Toke of the Town Thursday afternoon.

Medical marijuana advocates had called upon Gov. Chafee to open the dispensaries, allowed under state law, but Chafee refused, citing the supposed threat of federal prosecution after receiving one of the recent threatening letters sent by U.S. Attorneys in several medical-marijuana states.

Reactionary Idaho Groups Fighting Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review

Anita Kronvall of the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council doesn’t smoke cannabis, and she doesn’t want anybody else to use it, either — even medical marijuana patients.

Expecting both a November 2012 ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana in Idaho, and state legislation to do the same, reactionary elements in Coeur d’Alene are mobilizing to “educate” the public about what they claim are the “dangers” of cannabis legalization.

“Our whole goal is we want our people educated so we can put pressure on the legislators not to pass it,” said Anita Kronvall, director of the Kootenai County Substance Abuse Council, reports Alison Boggs of the Spokane Spokesman-Review. The council is supporting the Kootenai Alliance for Children and Families in hosting two mid-October anti-marijuana events.

The keynote speaker will be anti-pot wing nut Monte Stiles, a real asshole’s asshole who retired early from his job as assistant U.S. Attorney for Idaho — so that, you guessed it, he could spend full time battling the “Marijuana Menace.” Stiles, a Brigham Young University graduate who just can’t let go of the Drug War, may be living proof that marijuana really does make you crazy — if you oppose it.

New Group Aims To ‘Keep Nebraska Off Weed’ (KNOW)

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Legislation, News

Freaking News

You can breathe a sigh of relief, Nebraska. There’s a group volunteering to protect you from cannabis. Now, who’s going to protect you from them?

PRIDE Omaha officials announced on Wednesday a new campaign to combat efforts to legalize marijuana in Nebraska, reports Jay Withrow at the Omaha World-Herald.

The local anti-drug organization, which has been pissing off potheads since 1978, is unveiling KNOW, Keep Nebraska Off Weed.

The campaign is officially opposing at least two efforts to legalize marijuana in Nebraska, according to Susie Dugan, PRIDE Omaha’s executive director. The legalization efforts are collecting signatures to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the November 2012 general election ballot.

Medical Marijuana Grower Dazed After Big Federal Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Growing, Medical

KDRV

Here’s what the marijuana grow operation looked like before the DEA raided it on Tuesday

An Oregon medical marijuana grower is dazed and confused after federal agents searched his home, took his cannabis, and hauled it away in dump trucks.

James Anderson, 25, is part of a group of marijuana growers in Gold Hill who share a plot of land to collectively grow for their respective patients, reports Chris Conrad at the Medford Mail Tribune. “We are growing within our limits,” Anderson said. “Some of us are under.”

Drug Enforcement Administration agents, U.S. Marshals and a motley crew of local police officers pulled into his property at 9 a.m. on Tuesday to serve a search warrant, according to Anderson.

Marijuana Extract Helps Prevent Pain From Chemotherapy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 29, 2011 Medical, News

420 Magazine

Cannabidiol, a medically useful extract from marijuana, is showing potential as a treatment to help prevent pain in patients getting the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, according to researchers in Philadelphia.

According to UPI, Sara Jane Ward and her colleagues at the Temple University School of Pharmacy said cannabidiol (CBD) reduces pain and inflammation, while avoiding the psychoactive side effects of marijuana’s other cannabinoids — that is to say, the “high.”

CBD reduces paclitaxel-induced neuropathy in female mice, according to the study. Neuropathy is a potentially serious complication that can prevent patients from getting their full course of chemotherapy.

Cancer Patient’s Medical Marijuana Seized At Airport

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2011 Medical, News

Indy.com

This is Checkpoint B at Indianapolis International Airport, where cancer patient Starling Wickes was caught with medical marijuana on Tuesday

Airport police in Indianapolis will destroy medical marijuana that a 36-year-old breast cancer patient from California tried to bring aboard a flight on Tuesday.

Transportation Security Administration personnel found the cannabis in luggage after it passed through an x-ray machine at Checkpoint B of the Indianapolis International Airport, according to police, reports John Tuohy at the Indy Star.

The marijuana and a black pipe were found inside a pink case, according to police. Screeners searched the bag because the x-ray alarm had sounded.

Starling Wickes, 36, of Van Nuys, California, told the cops she had breast cancer and showed them a medical marijuana card that confirmed her doctor authorized her to use cannabis.

But the officials told Wickes that though it might be OK to possess and smoke medical marijuana in California, they don’t let you do that sort of thing in Indiana.

Federal Govt.: It’s Illegal To Sell Guns To Marijuana Users

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2011 Legislation, News

CBS News

Bye-bye, Second Amendment? The U.S. Department of Justice is notifying federally licensed firearms dealers that they aren’t allowed to sell guns or ammo to anyone who smokes pot — even medical marijuana patients.

The memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, dated September 21, says the federal government considers marijuana a Schedule I controlled substance, even in states that have legalized cannabis for medicinal uses, reports The Associated Press.

Federal law prohibits anyone who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” from possessing firearms or ammunition.

Exclusive Interview: Medical Marijuana Defendant Joe Grumbine

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Catrina Coleman

Joe Grumbine, The Human Solution: “We operated a collective. But the jury will never hear that part.”

Medical marijuana patient and provider Joe Grumbine is currently fighting for his freedom, facing 13 felony counts in a Long Beach, California court.

Grumbine, who founded the activist group The Human Solution to provide court support for medical marijuana defendants, now needs that kind of support himself, as the clueless judge in his case barred him from using the medical marijuana affirmative defense.

The jury won’t be allowed to even hear that Grumbine was operating legally under California law; I predict 12 very angry jurors when they learn the truth.

Unless and until more medical marijuana providers are willing to stand up like Joe Grumbine has for medicinal cannabis laws and the patients they are designed to protect, innocent people will keep being caught up in legal nightmares like this one.

Toke of the Town had a chance to chat with this hero of the medical marijuana movement.

Medical Marijuana Called Unlikely In Wyoming

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2011 Legislation

Rose Law Group

Wyoming is sandwiched between two states — Montana and Colorado — which have already legalized medical marijuana. Doesn’t that mean it’s just a matter of time before The Equality State equalizes things with its neighbors?

Well, no, at least not if you listen to state Senator Chris Rothfuss, who said he hasn’t heard of fellow lawmakers even discussing a Wyoming medical marijuana law, reports Bob Vines at the Northern Wyoming Daily News.

Not only that, but Rothfuss, a Democrat from Laramie, said now may not be the time for the state to start looking at that possibility.

“We have a lot of things that we want to focus on that we consider to be high-priority issues,” Rothfuss said. “There’s a general sense that when we have such short terms (in session), nobody wants to get into these types of issues.”

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