Yearly Archives: 2011

Montana Appeals Decision Blocking Med Marijuana Restrictions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 10, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Flowering cannabis plants at Montannabis, Inc., Billings, Montana, March 16, 2011.

Montana on Tuesday appealed to the Montana Supreme Court a judge’s ruling which blocked tight new restrictions on medical marijuana on the state, and will argue there’s no constitutional right to sell cannabis for a profit. The new restrictions have been described by some patient advocates as a de facto repeal of Montana’s medical marijuana law, passed by 62 percent of the state’s voters in 2000.

The Montana Justice Department will ask the state’s high court to overturn portions of Helena District Judge James Reynolds’ decision from June 30, which suspended enforcement of several provisions of the tough new law passed the the Republican-dominated 2011 Legislature to crack down on the state’s growing medical marijuana industry, reports Mike Dennison at the Billings Gazette.

Marijuana Dispensary Owner Nabs Smash-and-Grab Suspect

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 10, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: DAVC

Don’t try to rob these guys at DAVC, or they will chase your dumb ass down and “detain” you until the cops arrive.

A California man accused of breaking into and burglarizing three medical marijuana dispensaries is now behind bars after being nabbed by a collective owner.

Jose Ramon Vidrio, 20, of Redlands, was arrested on suspicion of trying to smash the front window of Disabled American Veterans Collective cannabis dispensary in French Valley, reports Maggie Avants at the Temecula Patch.

The dispensary owner told deputies that around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Vidrio tried to smash the window with a concrete block. After he screwed that up — he was unable to break the glass — he allegedly tried to flee the area in his car.

Michigan Attorney General Goes After Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 10, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: Voice of Detroit

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette hates medical marijuana, and he thinks you’re faking to get it.

Michigan’s attorney general has been busily trying to dismantle the state’s medical marijuana law ever since it was passed by voters. Attorney General Bill Schuette announced legislative proposals on Wednesday targeting patients he claims are “exploiting” the law.

Schuette is not a fan of the law, passed by an overwhelming 63 percent of Michigan voters in 2008. In the sort of political gymnastics also favored by Republican attorneys general in other states (examples: Rob McKenna of Washington state and Tom Horne of Arizona), Schuette claims to be a “states’ rights conservative” — unless the “state’s right” we’re talking about is a medical marijuana law.

In that case, the rules are different, and in Schuette’s mind, it’s open season on medical marijuana patients, because, in a brief he filed back in June in support of the City of Livonia — which is trying to ban medical marijuana use and sales — the attorney general claims the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act is preempted by federal law.

Most Americans Want To Legalize Marijuana: New Poll

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2011 Culture, Legislation, News

Graphic: Misplaced In The Midwest

Just give me the ganja. A new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found that a majority of Americans continue to believe that marijuana should be legalized, but don’t support the legalization of other drugs.

In the online survey of a representative sample of 1,003 American adults, 55 percent of respondents support the legalization of cannabis, while 40 percent oppose it.

Democrats are the group most supportive of legalizing cannabis in the United States, with 63 percent in favor of ending the war on marijuana. Almost as many Independents, at 61 percent, also support the move.

Republicans were out of step with the majority on the legalization issue, with just 41 percent supporting marijuana legalization and 56 percent opposed.

Marijuana legalization enjoyed big majorities among men (57 percent) and respondents aged 35 to 54 (also 57 percent).

Northern California Pot Wars: 632,058 Marijuana Plants Seized

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2011 Culture, Growing, News

Photo: California Department of Justice

Local, state and federal personnel were involved in the three-week Operation Full Court Press, which wasted taxpayer money across six Northern California counties.

Operation Full Court Press, an incredibly expensive, mind-numbingly futile, and ultimately quixotic multi-agency anti-marijuana operation in Northern California, has wound up its three weeks of fun this year, claiming the seizure of 632,058 marijuana plants.

The operation, which covered Colusa, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Tehama and Trinity counties, targeted large-scale illegal marijuana grows in and around the Mendocino National Forest. It involved more than 300 personnel from 25 local, state and federal agencies, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The conclusion of this phase of Full Court Press, in addition to the plants, resulted in the seizure of 1,986 pounds of processed marijuana; $28,031 in U.S. currency; 38 weapons and 20 vehicles.

Arrested were 132 individuals, 118 of whom were booked on various federal and state charges including marijuana, firearm, and immigration violations. Fourteen of those arrested were foreign nationals and were detained on administrative immigration violations. They will be processed for removal from the United States.

Arizona Attorney General Files Lawsuit Against Cannabis Clubs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: James King/Phoenix New Times

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne says he’s “taking a softer approach” and “trying to be a good guy” by not just having the clubs raided and their employees arrested

Attorney General Tom Horne of Arizona on Monday filed a civil action agains four medical cannabis clubs, trying to stop them from providing patients with marijuana under the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act. The cannabis clubs have sprung up to provide safe access to patients since dispensaries aren’t yet allowed to open in Arizona, pending a judge’s ruling.

The motion, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, names four clubs and one individual reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times: The 2811 Club, Arizona Compassion Association, Yoki A Ma’ Club, Arizona Compassion Club and Michael R. Miller.

Horne wants a judge’s ruling that the clubs aren’t legal. He also seeks an injunction to stop them from selling marijuana. He claims he’s “taking a softer approach” and “trying to be a good guy” by not just having the clubs raided and their employes arrested.

Carl Sagan’s Widow Was President of NORML Board of Directors

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 9, 2011 Culture

Photo: Another Godless Goddess

Ann Druyan, president, NORML Board of Directors

Here’s your interesting cannabis fact of the day: Ann Druyan, author, writer, television producer — and widow of astronomy legend Dr. Carl Sagan — was listed as president of the NORML Foundation Board of Directors.

Druyan was co-writer, along with her husband Sagan, of the Emmy and Peabody Award winning television series Cosmos, and served as creative director of the NASA project to design a complex message of music, images and ideas for potential alien civilizations that was placed aboard the Voyager 1 and 2 interstellar spacecraft.

She also wrote and produced the PBS Nova episode “Confession of a Weaponeer,” which covered the life of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s science advisor, George Kistiakowsky.

Attorney On New Approach Washington: ‘This Is Not Marijuana Legalization’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 8, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Douglas Hiatt

Douglas Hiatt: “It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state”

The New Approach Washington initiative, which has gained financial support and big backers for relaxing Washington state’s marijuana laws, is not real cannabis legalization, according to Seattle-based activist/attorney Douglas Hiatt of Sensible Washington.

“It is not legalization, and it is going to criminalize patients in this state,” Hiatt told Toke of the Town Monday afternoon of New Approach Washington. “They’re using polling to justify their positions, saying we have a ‘nervous public,’ and that we have to win at all costs.”

The New Approach Washington initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.

Wild Hemp Grows Everywhere In Nebraska [Photos]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 8, 2011 Growing

All photographs courtesy of Diana Sunshine Wulf

These hardy fiber strains of cannabis sativa have a proud and storied history reaching back to the Midwestern hemp farmers of yesteryear

Back in the days before America got Reefer Madness, the good old U.S.A. was a worldwide center of hemp production. Verdant fields of the incredibly useful fiber crop were cultivated all over the country. Once cannabis was outlawed in 1937 due to Harry J. Anslinger’s scare campaign against marijuana, the economic incentive to cultivate hemp was gone.

After a brief return in the “Hemp For Victory” days of World War II — when the Japanese takeover of our fiber source, the Philippines, made it necessary to once again provide our own rope — hemp faded into American history as a crop of bygone days.

But that didn’t mean it was any less useful, it just meant it was no longer politically acceptable. And it also didn’t mean that hemp would no longer grow in Nebraska (and throughout much of the Midwest), it just meant it was no longer actively cultivated.

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