Search Results: chris williams (21)

Wikipedia commons.
Rusell Simmons.

What do P-Diddy, Cameron Diaz, Nicki Minaj, Ron Howard and Mark Wahlberg all have in common? Aside from being ridiculously famous and wealthy, they all support the reformation of drug laws in this country.
More than 175 actors, artists, athletes and elected officials signed on to an open letter to President Obama today, asking him to change our drug policy laws from punitive, harsh jail times to one that favors evidence- based prevention and rehabilitation.

Starfishy.com
Marc Emery compared the oppression of the cannabis community to that of the Jewish people

By Bryan Punyon
Special to Toke of the Town

Fair Warning: This article begins with material that some may find offensive, but for a point.
“Why do Concentration Camp shower heads have eleven holes? Because Jews only have ten fingers.”
Find me a joke about the Cannabis community that borders on that kind of black humor. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
“What’s the difference between a Jew and a pizza? Pizza doesn’t scream when you put it in the oven.”
Same challenge. Still waiting.
“Holocaust jokes aren’t funny, Anne Frankly, I won’t stand for them!”
Gotta love wordplay. Some of my favorite jokes are the result of clever word choice. Still nothing on the offensive Cannabis jokes? Well, then.
Many will find these kinds of jokes offensive. To be honest, they’re some of the tamest Jewish jokes that I know. It’s called Gallows Humor, the art of turning tragedy into hilarity, because the alternative to doing so is to give in to despair and disgust. For an oppressed people to claim the language used in their own dehumanization is a form of cultural empowerment, and part of that includes the use of their own slurs and derogatory humor.
 If a Jew tells Holocaust jokes, do you have the right to be offended?
We will return to that question shortly.
I am a Jew, and I am a Cannabis activist, and I’m pretty annoyed that Marc Emery would equate one with the other

Christian Marijuana Organization

Faith leaders call on all Arkansans to support compassionate measure
Arkansans for Compassionate Care, the committee behind Issue 5, the Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act, on Tuesday announced a dozen clergy leaders from across the state and from a broad range of denominations have endorsed the measure. The religious coalition was announced at a press conference in Fayetteville, featuring medical professionals and Emily Williams, who used medical marijuana to cope with the side effects of chemotherapy.
 
“I am proud to be among the faith leaders who have endorsed the use of medical marijuana by seriously ill patients,” said Reverend Howard Gordon, minister emeritus at the First Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. “We are compassionate people by nature and Issue 5, at its core, is about compassion.

Jennifer Cappuccio Maher/San Bernardino Sun
Aaron Sandusky, president, G3 Holistic: “I had four patients in there and they were all handcuffed and interviewed”
 

Justice Department denies defendant ability to show evidence of state law compliance at trial; Sandusky could face life in prison
The operator of three state-compliant medical marijuana dispensaries will be tried in federal court this week in Los Angeles. Aaron Sandusky, 42, who operated facilities in Upland, Colton and Moreno Valley, was raided by federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents last November and was charged with six felonies, including manufacturing marijuana, possession with intent to distribute, and conspiracy.
Five others were similarly charged in the raid, but they have since accepted plea deals and may be called to testify against Sandusky. If convicted on all counts, Sandusky could face life in prison. Jury selection begins at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday in a trial that is expected to last all week.
“This trial is nothing more than a cynical attempt by the federal government to intimidate dispensary operators in Los Angeles and undermine the implementation of California’s medical marijuana law,” said Kris Hermes, spokesperson for the medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA). “The Justice Department holds all the cards in federal court and uses that leverage to terrorize the medical marijuana community.”

The World Through My Specs
Peter Reynolds of CLEAR is engaged in a tug-of-war with ex-members of the organization’s Executive Committee

By Denzil White
Special to Toke of the Town
In suit and tie, Peter Reynolds looks more like an extra from the set of Mad Men than like the hairy-headed hippie stereotype of a cannabis activist. He’s definitely not hairy-headed, but when he promised to clean up the image of cannabis campaigning in the UK, few people expected the makeover to result in a beauty only skin deep.
Claiming a background in advertising and public relations, Peter Reynolds won leadership of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, a small, single-issue political party, then set about changing the name of the party to CLEAR (Cannabis Law Reform) and brought on help to spruce up the party’s website and logo.
Reynolds wrote at the time, “We will build a new and effective brand and campaign. We are reasonable, responsible, respectable members of society from all walks of life and professions.” 
Things were looking good; MPs hit Reynolds’ “Friend” button on Facebook and the CLEAR “Comment Warriors” plagued the popular press with pro-cannabis comments on any article reporting a factory raid or medicinal marijuana critique.

Photo: Chris Pizzello
Montel arrives at the 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Las Vegas, June 27, 2010. Williams is part of a group which seeks to operate a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities in Washington, D.C.

​Celebrity Montel Williams is part of one nonprofit group trying for a license to operate a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities in the District of Columbia.

The Abatin Wellness Center has expressed “preliminary interest” in opening medical marijuana businesses in the city, according to D.C. records, reports Mike DeBonis at The Washington Post. Montel is already the public face of a dispensary by the same name which opened this year in Sacramento, California.

Photo: KXLH
Both federal and local law enforcement took part in the raid on Montana Cannabis in Helena.

​You have to wonder about the timing. On the very same morning that a Montana Senate committee failed to endorse a bill that would have repealed the state’s medical marijuana law, federal agents, with guns drawn, hit at least 10 dispensaries across the state Monday.

“The timing is impeccable,” said Chris Lindsey, a Missoula attorney who specializes in medical marijuana cases, reports Gwen Florio of The Missoulian.
“They’re seizing everything — plants, marijuana, grow equipment, files and computers,” Lindsey said. “It’s very, very broad in its scope.” The attorney said he retains a business interest in Montana Cannabis, one of the dispensaries where federal search warrants were executed.

Photo: AP

​Nevada state police said a 61-year-old northern Nevada businessman is facing multiple felony charges after he allegedly sold marijuana at a farmer’s market. And, OMG, we’re supposed to be even more upset because the market was down the road from an elementary school.

Christopher A. Stephenson was arrested Friday at his business in Fallon, Nevada, by members of a regional narcotics task force, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Gail Powell said Monday, reports the Carson Valley Record-Courier.

Photo: Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times
“I am a wolf”: Emiel Kandi, 34, has made hundreds of thousands of dollars in a lending industry with few consumer protections. Now he’s in the medical marijuana business.

​Operating Cobra Medical Group, a medical marijuana dispensary in Tacoma, Washington, isn’t Emiel Kandi’s only business. The former mini-casino operator also charges desperate people as much as he can get away with — up to 45 percent interest, in one case — in deals set up so that he can quickly take borrowers’ homes, and in some cases, flip them for a profit.

Unsophisticated borrowers trying to avoid financial collapse or foreclosure then lose their property, reports Christine Williamson of The Seattle Times. “I am a wolf,” Kandi, 34, said to the paper.
“He’s in the business of taking people’s property,” said Martin Burns, a lawyer who sued Kandi on behalf of an unemployed mechanic. “He finds vulnerable people and exploits them.”
“I’m not your friend,” Kandi said. “If you step off the tightrope, I’ll take your house.”
A Seattle Times examination of numerous Kandi loan deals showed that they take advantage of lax regulations in the lending industry, which provide little protection for consumers.
Kandi knows this, and skirts mortgage requirements and disclosures by writing up his loans as “commercial,” the Times reports. Mortgages have interest-rate caps, consumer protections and full disclosure of all costs, while commercial loans do not.

Photo: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Police officers Christopher Luciano, left, and Sean Alivera, right, have been charged with robbing a an undercover investigator posing as a drug dealer.

​Two Philadelphia police officers were arrested Monday evening and charged with robbing an undercover investigator posing as a pot dealer, authorities admitted Tuesday.

Officers Sean Alivera, 31, and Christopher Luciano, 23, allegedly stole 20 pounds of marijuana and $3,000 in cash, reports Troy Graham at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Both officers, who were partners in the 25th District, were arrested at the district headquarters in what must have been a priceless scene. They were still in custody Tuesday morning, after being charged with robbery, kidnapping, conspiracy, and other distinctly cop-like crimes.