Yearly Archives: 2011

Poland Cannabis Rally Ends In Arrests

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Global, News

Demonstrators at the Free Hemp March in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday

A pro-marijuana rally held in downtown Warsaw, Poland on Saturday ended with police arresting 40 activists on pot charges as well as “other public offenses.”

The rally, organized by the Free Hemp Initiative, was attended by up to 6,000 demonstrators — and that’s a police estimate, so the crowd could have been even larger.

“Forty people were detained during the march, including six minors,” said Deputy Inspector Maciej Karczynski of the Warsaw Police, reports TheNews.pl. Karczynski added that 28 of those detained were arrested for possession of cannabis, while one person was detained for shoplifting.

American Express Classifies Medical Marijuana With Online Porn

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: Shadow Tech

Did you know your credit card company gets input on your medical decisions?

American Express, the most conservative of the major credit card companies, recently banned its customers from using the cards to buy medical marijuana — which is legal in 16 states. Medical marijuana joins online pornography on a short list of AmEx-banned purchases, which shows you roughly where the company’s coming from, moral judgment-wise.

So why should a financial institution get input on your medical decisions? Why should they care if you pursue one method of treatment — a natural, non-toxic herb — over harsh pharmaceuticals? Why are they acting as if a medical need for many of their customers — that is to say, doctor-recommended cannabis — is some sort of shameful vice?

Why are they treating seriously ill medical marijuana patients the same as a horned-up Bigg Juggs fan?

Police Want List Of Michigan Medical Marijuana Patients

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Medical Marijuana Blog

Cops want a list of medical marijuana patients in Michigan. Patients are crying foul.

Legislation that would require the names of all medical marijuana patients and caregivers in Michigan to be given to state police, who in turn would provide the list to local law enforcement, has police excited and patients mad.

Senate Bill 377, sponsored by Senator Darwin Booher (R-Evart), has been referred to the Judiciary Committee, reports Liz Shepard at the Port Huron Times Herald. Police claim the bill would help them stop wasting resources by investigating tips about people who turn out to be legal medical marijuana patients.

“If you know ahead of time, you can sort a complaint or tip,” said St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon.

Port Huron Police Lt. Scott Pike agreed that Booher’s legislation would be a timesaver because it can be difficult to verify if someone is registered with the state as a medical marijuana patient. “It would probably clear up a lot of unknowns because the system is so new,” Pike said.

Medical Marijuana Patients Number 750,000 In California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: MJ Dispensaries of Southern California

Retail Market Is $1.5 Billion To $4.5 Billion Per Year

There are now more than 750,000 medical marijuana patients in California, representing two percent of the population according to the most recent data, estimates California NORML. At the high end, an estimate of more than 1,125,000 patients, or three percent of the population, is consistent with the data.

This represents a substantial increase from Cal NORML‘s earlier estimates of 300,000 in 2007, 150,000 in 2005, and 75,000 in 2004, but is in line with registration rates in other comparable states that enjoy similar wide access to medical cannabis clinics and dispensaries.

The exact number of patients in California is uncertain, because patients aren’t required to register in the Golden State. Under Prop 215, California’s medical marijuana law, patients need only a physician’s recommendation to be legal.

Birdwatcher Arrested For Sage In Botched Marijuana Bust

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 30, 2011 News

Photo: Orlando Sentinel

Birdwatcher Robin Brown was handcuffed, thrown in jail, stripped, and body cavity searched — for possessing sage.

Robin Brown Was Stripped, Subjected To A Body Cavity Search, And Spent The Night In Jail

A birdwatcher landed in a Florida jail on felony charges of marijuana possession after a clueless sheriff’s deputy mistook the sage she had in her backpack for pot.

Robin Brown, 49, of Hollywood, Florida, was arrested after Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Dominic Raimondi, 51, decided her sage was marijuana. Deputy Dumbass, I mean Raimondi, then searched her car and found more “pot,” which was also sage.

Tellingly, the dimwitted deputy’s notoriously unreliable field kit said the sage — bought at an airport gift shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico — tested positive for marijuana, reports Susannah Bryan at the Orlando Sentinel.

San Diego Medical Marijuana Ban Suspended; Signatures Filed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: California Cannabis Coalition

Craig Beresh of the California Cannabis Coalition turns in 47,000 voter signatures at the registrar’s office in San Diego at 4:20 Friday afternoon.

Strict new medical marijuana rules were scheduled to take effect on Friday in San Diego — amounting to a de facto ban, according to many activists — but the action has been suspended since 47,000 signatures were filed for a referendum to end the ban on medicinal cannabis in the city, according to the California Cannabis Coalition and Patient Care Association of California.

“We needed 32,000 signatures for the referendum to end the ban,” said Craig Beresh of the California Cannabis Coalition just before the referendum was filed.

“We will turn today over 47,000 signatures,” Beresh said. “This will suspend the ordinance. The ban on medical marijuana in San Diego will be suspended until the registrar verifies the signatures.”

“We filed at 4:20 today,” Beresh said. “So the end result… THE BAN HAS BEEN SUSPENDED AS OF 4:20 TODAY!”

Canada Couple Wants Province To Buy Pot Growing Equipment

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Global, Growing

Photo: Bristol County District Attorney’s Office

The government of Nova Scotia is facing a lawsuit by a couple who say the Canadian province should pay for their equipment to grow medical marijuana because they’re too poor.

Sam and his wife, Tanya, have disabilities and are on income assistance, reports CBC News. They both have medical marijuana licenses from Health Canada, and are allowed to grow a total of 25 plants.

But the couple said they don’t have enough money to buy the lights.

“We’re out of medication quite often,” Sam said. “We can’t keep up on the amount that we need to grow.”

Government Forced NCI To Censor Medical Cannabis Facts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: NORML Stash Blog

Fuck censorship.

In March, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), a component agency of the National Institutes of Health, acknowledged the medicinal benefits of marijuana in its online treatment database. But the information only stayed up a few days, before it was scrubbed from the site.

Now, newly obtained documents reveal not only how NCI database contributors arrived at their March 17 summary of marijuana’s medical uses, but also the furious politicking that went into quickly scrubbing that summary of information regarding the potential tumor-fighting effects of cannabis, reports Kyle Daly at the Washington Independent.

Phil Mocek, a civil liberties activist with the Seattle-based Cannabis Defense Coalition, obtained the documents as a result of a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request he filed in March after reading coverage of the NCI’s action. Mocek has made some of the hundreds of pages of at-times heated email exchanges and summary alterations available on MuckRock, a website devoted to FOIA requests and government documents.

Dutch Government Moves Ahead With Weed Ban For Foreigners

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 Dispensaries, Global, Legislation

Photo: THC Finder

The Dutch make lots of money on cannabis tourism — so obviously, they have to stop that. Wait a minute…

The Dutch Cabinet said it will go ahead with plans to force anyone wishing to buy marijuana at the country’s “coffee shops” to first get an official pass — a move designed to stop tourists from buying cannabis.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he plans to begin rolling out the system in southern Netherlands later this year, reports the Associated Press. The southern part of the country is popular with French and German cannabis tourists. The system would then be instituted in Amsterdam’s famed weed cafes, which are major tourist attractions for the city, later in Rutte’s term of office.

Report: Marine Never Fired On Officers Who Fatally Shot Him

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 27, 2011 News

Photo: CNN

Jose Guerena was shot up to 60 times by five police officers. There was nothing illegal in the house.

A United States Marine who died in a flurry of bullets in a botched drug raid near Tucson, Arizona, never fired on the SWAT team that stormed his house, according to a new report from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The revelation added to national outrage over the death of Jose Guerena, who died May 5 after a SWAT team descended on his home with a search warrant, reports Chuck Conder at CNN. Guerena’s home was 0one of four that police claimed were “associated with a drug smuggling operation” in the area.

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