Montana Stops Issuing Medical Marijuana Cards

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

The Montana Department of Health and Human Services has stopped issuing new medical marijuana cards, a spokesman announced on Tuesday.

The agency is complying with a strict new medical marijuana law that requires the department to stop issuing the cards on May 14, according to spokesman Jon Ebelt, reports the Associated Press.

Ebelt had previously said the department would continue issuing the cards to patients because of confusion over the law.

Connecticut Bill Would Make Pot Possession Like Traffic Ticket

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: NBC Connecticut

It’s about time for the politicians to catch up with the people in Connecticut.

Connecticut lawmakers are taking up a bill that would decriminalize marijuana. The legislation has made its way to the state Senate.

If passed, it would mean that adults caught with less than half an ounce of cannabis would face a penalty similar to a traffic ticket, instead of a criminal charge, reports NBC Connecticut.

The idea of loosening Connecticut’s pot laws is predictably meeting resistance in the Senate among hidebound Republicans and a handful of regressive Democrats.

Arizona Governor Sues To Stop Medical Marijuana Program

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: News Real Blog

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will not defend her state’s medical marijuana law, approved by the voters last November. Instead this asswig is asking the feds for instructions on how to run her own state. Nice “leadership” there, Jan.

Redundant Lawsuit Supposedly Aims To Establish Federal Legality

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne announced that they are filing a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the medical marijuana program established in Arizona by the passage of Proposition 203 last November.

Even though the law was passed by a majority of Arizona voters, the governor and attorney general will not defend the law and instead asked the courts to decide if it is illegal under federal law.

“We are deeply frustrated by this announcement,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “The law Governor Brewer wants enjoined established an extremely well thought-out and conservative medical marijuana system.”

Happy 73rd Birthday To Stoner Comedian Tommy Chong

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

Photo: Rolled Too Tight

Tommy Chong is a legend among stoners. The Canadian-American comedian, actor and musician, well known for his stereotypical portrayals of hippie-era pot smokers, turns 73 years old today. He was born May 24, 1938 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Chong is most widely known for his involvement in the Cheech & Chong comedy duo, which recorded a series of albums and then filmed a series of movies centered around marijuana-related humor. He also became well known for playing the hippie character “Leo” on Fox’s That 70s Show.

In 2003, Chong — as a highly visible and successful symbol of the stoner lifestyle — was targeted by two American investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter. He was charged for his part in financing and promoting Chong Glass/Nice Dreams, a company started by his son Paris.

New Yorkers To Hold May 25 Pot Rally Outside Mayor’s House

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 News

Photo: Death By 1000 Papercuts

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he enjoyed smoking marijuana. He must also enjoy busting people for it, since his city is the world capital for pot busts.

Thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York City has the dubious distinction of being the marijuana arrest capital of the world.

Marijuana possession arrests are the number one reason for arrest in New York City, making up 15 percent of all arrests there, according to activists. On average, police arrest 140 people every day in New York City for possessing small amounts of pot.

More than 50,000 marijuana possession arrests were made in the Big Apple in 2010, despite marijuana being decriminalized statewide in New York 34 years ago, in 1977.

Marijuana Decrim Bill Returns To Rhode Island Senate

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Senator Joshua Miller

Sen. Joshua Miller: “I think it’s an appropriate time for Rhode Island to act”

One year ago, Senator Joshua Miller’s bill to decriminalize possession of up to an ounce of marijuana got held up in committee, but the Democrat from Cranston doesn’t give up that easy. He’s introducing the legislation again this year and hoping for a different result.

Senate Bill 0270, scheduled for a Tuesday hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, would make possession of an ounce or less of cannabis a civil offense, punishable by only a $150 fine, reports Randal Edgar of the Providence Journal.

The fine would double repeatedly over time, up to a maximum of $1,000 if it remained unpaid, but there would be no other criminal or civil punishment, except for repeat offenders who — on their third offense — could be charged with a misdemeanor.

Croatia’s Prime Minister Says Marijuana Decrim ‘Not Acceptable’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Global, Legislation

Photo: Where I Come From…..

Croatia’s first woman Prime Minister, Jadranka Kosor, had a chance to lead her country into the future. But she blew it.

The prime minister of Croatia has said her party, the conservative Christian Democratic Union, would not support the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana.

Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, the first female prime minister of her country, said she is against a working group’s proposal to change Croatia’s criminal law to make possession of small quantities of cannabis legal, reports the Croatian Times.

“A decriminalization of the possession of quantities of any sort of drugs has never been acceptable to our party,” Kosor said.

The prime minister added that the Christian Democratic Union (HDZ) would “stick to their position” among coalition partners in the Croatian government.

No distinction is made in Croatian law between marijuana and other illegal substances. According to the current law, growing or sale of cannabis (or any other drug) is considered a felony punishable by a mandatory three-year minimum prison sentence.

The possession of any amount in Croatia is a felony with either a fine or a one-year prison sentence, depending on the circumstances of the case, although people arrested with smaller amounts of cannabis are typically just fined after the court’s ruling.

Canadian Marijuana Bears Wake Up With The Munchies

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: CBC News

RCMP officers were amused last year when the friendly bears came out to greet them as they raided a marijuana grow operation. Now they’ve woken up after a long winter’s nap — and they have a major case of the munchies.

The infamous marijuana bears of British Columbia have woken after their winter hibernation, and they have the munchies — but they seem to be weaning themselves off dog food, according to the man who was once feeding them $100 of kibbles a day.

Allen Piche of Christina Lake, B.C., pleaded guilty in March to feeding the roughly two dozen wild black bears on his remote property after the B.C. Conservation Service last summer charged him and ordered him to stop, reports CBC News. Piche was charged after police found the mellow bears when they raided a marijuana grow operation on his property last August.

Initially there was speculation the bears might be guarding the cannabis crop, but Piche denied that.

Drive To Legalize Marijuana Dispensaries Fails In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Steve Elliott

The Washington Legislature’s main proponent of legalizing and licensing medical marijuana dispensaries announced on Tuesday that the attempt has failed. Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles said even her most recent, scaled-back bill won’t go forward.

Kohl-Welles called it “the greatest disappointment of my legislative career,” reports Jordan Scrader at the Tacoma News Tribune.

Her first try regulating the pot shops — which have already sprung up statewide, especially in the Seattle and Spokane areas — was gutted by Governor Christine Gregoire, who hen-heartedly claimed she was concerned about state employees being federally prosecuted, even though that has never happened, even once, in any state which licenses dispensaries.

Supreme Court Upholds Order To Reduce Prison Overcrowding

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 23, 2011 News

Photo: Drug War Chronicle

Overcrowding at Mule Creek State Prison, Ione, California

Advocates Urge Ending Prison As A Response To Drug Use

The United States Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the unconstitutional conditions of California’s prisons were caused primarily by overcrowding, and ordered California to reduce its prison population from more than 200 percent of design capacity to 137.5 percent of capacity within two years.

“The U.S. Supreme Court was right to uphold the order to reduce California’s prison population,” said Theshia Naidoo, staff attorney for the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). “Tough-on-crime policies have crowded prisons so severely with people convicted of nonviolent offenses, including drug possession, that they are not only unsafe and overly costly, but also a net negative for public safety.”

Yearly Archives: 2011