Yearly Archives: 2011

Marijuana Advocates Sue Government Over Rescheduling Delay

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

The federal government refuses to reclassify marijuana as medicine — despite the fact that it has sent Irv Rosenfeld and a handful of other patients hundreds of joints a month for close to 30 years.

A coalition of medical marijuana advocacy groups and patients filed suit Monday in D.C. Circuit Court to compel the Obama Administration to answer a nine-year-old petition to reclassify medical marijuana.

The Coalition for Rescheduling Cannabis (CRC) has never received an answer to its 2002 petition, despite a formal recommendation in 2006 from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is unfortunately the final arbiter in the rescheduling process.

As recently as July 2010, the DEA issued a 54-page “Position on Marijuana,” but failed to even mention the pending CRC petition.

Plaintiffs in the case include the CRC, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), Patients Out of Time, as well as individually named patients, one of whom is listed on the CRC petition but died in 2005.

Court Order Reopens Shuttered Marijuana Dispensaries

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

Photo: OC Weekly

Dispensary owner and former City Council candidate Sue Lester: Judge’s decision to let shops open was the “right thing to do”

A group of shuttered medical marijuana dispensaries previously deemed public nuisances were allowed to reopen in Costa Mesa, California this weekend thanks to a court order, one of the business owners confirmed on Saturday.

Sue Lester, former City Council candidate and owner of Herban Elements at 440 Fair Drive, said an Orange County Superior Court Judge’s order Friday allowing her business to reopen was the “right thing to do” while waiting for a court hearing next month, reports Joseph Serna at the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot.

City officials in April declared several marijuana and massage parlor businesses at Fair Drive public nuisances in April. Police claimed some of the massage parlors were fronts for prostitution.

Lester’s dispensary was among those ordered to shut down earlier this month under a temporary injunction until they had a chance on Friday to appeal the decision. The judge lifted the injunction and scheduled the business owners and Costa Mesa’s attorneys to come back to court June 3 to argue their cases.

Costa Mesa has for about a year now targeted certain marijuana dispensaries throughout the city. Some were ordered to close because they allegedly violated California’s medical marijuana dispensary rules, and others were left alone because they appeared to follow state standards, according to city officials.

Superfast Computers Triggering Botched Marijuana Grow Raids

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

Photo: Bitcoin Miner

Turns out, looking only at electric usage from a residence, the consumption for bitcoin mining won’t look much different from a marijuana grow-op. Cue clueless cops.

You don’t have to be growing marijuana to get raided for it. At least one Bitcoin miner has been raided by police because unusually high power usage led them to suspect he was growing marijuana, according to unconfirmed reports on Monday.

The tip comes from an IRC chat captured by blogger Mike Esspe, though there are no corroborating details, reports Jerry Brito of Techland.

Bitcoin is the anonymous virtual currency that uses distributed computing power to validate online coins. “It’s like gold mining, except that instead of digging, a miner uses cryptographic math,” reports Techland.

Green Rush: Marijuana Superstore Opens In Arizona June 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 23, 2011 Growing, Products

Photo: ABC 15

weGrow’s third store — and first franchise outside of California — is scheduled to open June 1 in Phoenix, Arizona.

New signage on an old Phoenix warehouse is one of the first visible indicators of the billion-dollar medical marijuana industry’s arrival in the Valley of the Sun.

Marijuana cultivation equipment franchise weGrow, the so-called “Walmart of Weed,” plans to open a 21,000-square-foot superstore in Phoenix on June 1. “WeGrow is the only hydroponics franchise in the nation that openly markets and focuses on the medical marijuana industry,” said media contact Melissa Rzeppa.

“The Green Rush” grand opening event starts with an industry panel and then ends with a public festival. Attendees will be able to visit the onsite medical doctor for evaluations. The latest marijuana-related products and technology will be featured, along with live entertainment.

Charges Dismissed Against Marijuana Dispensary Operator

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

Photo: greenkind

All felony charges against Inglewood, California medical marijuana dispensary operator Paul Scott were dismissed in a Los Angeles court on Thursday, just days before Scott was scheduled to face trial, which was supposed to begin on Monday.

Scott, operator of Inglewood Wellness Collective for more than 10 years, was arrested in June of 2010 by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to Brett Stone of the Medical Marijuana News Yahoo newsgroup. Acting on an anonymous tip, detectives used helicopter surveillance of Scott’s home and saw marijuana plants growing in the back yard and also in a storage shed next to the house.

Scott was seen leaving the shed and an LAPD detective used that information and the smell of marijuana emanating from Scott’s back yard to conclude that a cannabis grow operation was located there.

Military Police Attack Marijuana Protesters In Brazil

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2011 Global, News

Photo: AE

Police fire percussion stun bombs and rubber bullets at the Marcha da Maconha protesters, São Paulo, Brazil, May 21, 2011

Prohibited from holding a “March for Marijuana,” cannabis advocates in Brazil’s largest city had agreed with police to protest instead in defense of freedom of expression. But minutes after allowing the march, the Military Police brutally attacked the unarmed demonstrators with stun bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets.

About 1,000 people showed up for the rally Saturday in São Paulo’s financial heart. Television images showed riot troops charging toward the protesters when they tried to march down the busy Paulista Avenue.

Protesters, journalists covering the event, drivers who happened to be traveling in the opposite direction of the march and people who were simply walking down the street at the time became victims of police violence, reports Ricardo Galhardo at Último Segundo.

Henrique Carneiro, a professor of history at the University of São Paulo who was taking part in the march, was injured after being hit in the head with a percussion stun bomb and had to be taken to the hospital.

Colorado Marijuana Legalization Initiative Filed; Squabble Erupts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2011 Growing, Legislation, News

Graphic: Legalize 2012 Campaign

Marijuana advocates on Thursday filed eight initiatives with the state of Colorado aimed at legalizing marijuana. All of the initiatives would ask voters in 2012 to legalize the use and possession of an ounce or less of cannabis for those 21 and older, and all would allow the state to set up a regulatory system for retail pot sales.

That would be a good thing, right? Or at least represent a kind of forward progress? Not so fast, according to members of the Legalize 2012 Campaign, which said “Colorado cannabis patients and advocates are confused and surprised” by the attempt by what it called “a conservative faction of national and local drug policy reform groups.”

So it seems, instead of a united front for legalizing cannabis in Colorado, what we get — once again, Jah help us — is internecine backbiting, second guessing, name calling, and the type of disappointing, unseemly feuding that does the movement no favors, divides the marijuana vote, and all but ensures failure. How about a replay of California’s Prop 19? Yeah, me neither.

Willie Nelson Un-Endorses Gary Johnson For President

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

Photo: Politico

Willie Nelson, left, un-endorsed presidential candidate Gary Johnson, right, after seeming to belatedly realize there may actually be more to a politician than whether he supports marijuana legalization. Johnson was apparently so surprised, it knocked his eyebrows clean off.

It didn’t take country legend Willie Nelson long to change his mind after endorsing Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson last week. The country singer took it all back on Thursday.

“Yesterday, both the Teapot Party and Gary Johnson 2012 sent out press releases announcing the endorsement,” wrote Teapot Party member Steve Bloom, reports David Edwards at The Raw Story. “The media immediately jumped on it, with Politico, Fox and Raw Story leading the coverage. We were on a roll.”

But Nelson withdrew his endorsement after seeing press coverage of it.

Man Named ‘Stoner’ Arrested For Growing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Miami New Times

Stoner

A Florida man named Glenn H. Stoner lived up to his name when Clearwater Police searched his home and found 19 marijuana plants.

Stoner, 56, has a roommate, but he told the cops he himself smoked all the pot he grew, reports Kyle Munzenreider at Miami New Times. Clearly, Mr. Stoner is a good roommate to have.

Stoner was arrested Tuesday after law enforcement officers found the plants, growing equipment, an irrigation system, and fertilizer in his bedroom, reports Rita Farlow at the St. Petersburg Times.

This is reportedly Stoner’s second cannabis arrest; he was busted in December 2006 for possession and manufacture. He was ordered into a pre-trial intervention program in 2007.

Judge Orders Cops To Return 2 Pounds Of Marijuana

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

Photo: ndboy

A judge on Thursday ordered the California Highway Patrol to return two pounds of marijuana seized during an arrest in August 2010.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge John Spaunor ordered the police to return the personal property of Kevin Smith (not the famous movie director) of Sacramento after the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office dismissed DUI and marijuana possession charges against him, reports Tom DuHain of KCRA.

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