Search Results department of justice

Marijuana Advocates Condemn Federal Raid Of Denver Potency Lab

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 29, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Cannabis potency testers Full Spectrum Laboratories were raided by federal agents Wednesday. Marijuana samples were seized, but no arrests were made.

Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration earlier this week raided a Denver potency testing laboratory and seized medical marijuana samples.

Cannabis advocates say the federal raid is the latest example of continued official harassment of the medical marijuana industry, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

The raid of Full Spectrum Laboratories happened on Wednesday, according to Betty Aldworth, the lab’s outreach director. Aldworth said federal agents took dozens of medical marijuana samples, both small amounts of pot and test tubes of “extraction fluid,” but left the lab’s equipment.

No employees were arrested.

Aldworth was at the State Capitol to watch lab co-owner Bob Winnicki testify about State Senator Chris Romer’s new medical marijuana bill when both Full Spectrum employees got an email letting them know the DEA had “stopped by” the lab, reports Michael Roberts at Westword.

By the time Aldworth and Winnicki got back to the lab, “it was full of DEA agents” and other local law enforcement hangers-on who spent the next several hours seizing all the marijuana they could find.

Urine Trouble: Feds Target Florida Urinalysis Test-Beating Firm

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 28, 2010 News, Products

Graphic: OC Weekly

A Florida man has agreed to plead guilty to selling, over the Internet, a powdered drink mix designed to help truck drivers, pilots, train engineers and others pass federally mandated urine tests to detect drugs.

Stephen Sharp claimed the mix is 100 percent effective in blocking the urine tests from showing metabolites of common recreational drugs, including marijuana.

WA Supremes: No Matter If You’re A Marijuana Patient, Cops Can Search And Arrest

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 21, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: thefreshscent.com

If you’re a legal medical marijuana patient in Washington and you thought your doctor’s recommendation protected you from search or arrest, you’re wrong. According to a new court ruling, you can be arrested and hauled into court every time an officer smells pot at your home — even if you are complying with the law.

In a sharply divided decision, the Washington Supreme Court Thursday ruled against a patient arrested for possessing marijuana — despite the fact that the patient had a doctor’s recommendation for medicinal pot.

Incredibly, the court found that police had probable cause to search the patient’s home, even after he presented what both he and the police believed to be a valid medical marijuana authorization form under Washington’s medical marijuana law.

Sheriff May Have To Buy Patient $40,000 Worth Of Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 15, 2010 Culture, Medical

Photo: Lewis County Herald

Enjoy your high, officers. Now, that’ll be $40,000. Cash or credit?

A California medical marijuana patient may soon be receiving almost $40,000 from the sheriff’s department for six pounds of unlawfully seized and destroyed cannabis.

Kimberley Marshall, 46, of Los Osos, Calif., has filed a claim for damages against Sheriff Patrick Hedges and the county, alleging the county unjustly seized and destroyed the medicinal pot, reports Matt Fountain of New Times.

If she prevails, Marshall could be the first medical marijuana patient in San Luis Obispo County to be paid for confiscated cannabis.

Marshall, a survivor of liver cancer and other afflictions, seeks $36,000 — $6,000 per pound of confiscated marijuana — plus attorney fees and damages, according to the claim, filed Dec. 23.

Terminally Ill Cancer Patient Being Evicted For Medical Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 24, 2009 Culture, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

A terminally ill woman in Michigan is being evicted from her apartment for legally using medical marijuana to treat the painful symptoms of her advanced brain cancer.

Lori Montroy, 49, of Elk Rapids, Mich., is facing eviction by the Gardner Group of Michigan, the company that manages her apartment complex.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan is coming to the aid of the woman. The ACLU wrote a letter Tuesday on behalf of Montroy.

“No one deserves to be put out in the cold for legally treating the crippling pain, nausea and weakness caused by brain cancer,” said Dan Korobkin, staff attorney for ACLU of Michigan. “We believe that the landlord’s decision was not motivated by malice but rather a misconception of the law.”

The Great Marijuana Rehab Scam: Feds Say You’re Addicted To Pot, But They’re Addicted To Cash

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2009 Culture, News

Wikimedia Commons

Federal pot policy is based on 70-year-old superstitions.

Why does the U.S. federal government keep pushing outdated lies about marijuana’s health consequences and potential for addiction?

Because it’s a lucrative business, according to Paul Armentano of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

In an op-ed piece over at AlterNet, Armentano, deputy director of NORML, points out that the feds are wasting their time — and your money — researching what must be the Loch Ness Monster of the drug policy world (as in nobody can prove it exists), “marijuana addiction.”

Yes, you read that right. “Marijuana addiction.”

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), “Cannabis related disorders (CRDs), including cannabis abuse or dependence and cannabis induced disorders (e.g., intoxication, delirium, psychotic disorder, and anxiety disorder) are a major public health issue.”

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