Toke of the Town

Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Govt.: Nearly Half Of Drug Courts Do Not Reduce Recidivism

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By on Legislation, News

The Daily Record

​Only 18 Of 32 Drug Courts Showed Statistically Significant Reduction In Re-Arrest Rates Of Participants

Drug courts, hailed just a few years ago as the salvation of our criminal justice system — they were supposed to rescue the courts from being swamped with low-level possession cases — have problems of their own.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week released a report in which it finds that only 18 of 32 drug courts — or just more than 50 percent — showed statistically significant reductions in recidivism among participants.
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Spanish Basque Country Legalizing Marijuana In 2012

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Flashpoints
The Basque Country in Spain (yellow area on the map) is legalizing marijuana in 2012.

​As the U.S. federal government torques up its war on marijuana, parts of Europe are going in the other direction. The Socialist government of the Basque Country in Spain will approve a law in early 2012 which legalizes the cultivation, sale and consumption of cannabis, according to health authorities in the province.
The Basque government, led by Patxi Lopez, has decided it is better to regulate clubs where consumers will be able to use marijuana which will be produced and distributed by members of the club themselves, reports Typically Spanish.
Spanish drug laws currently distinguish between possession for personal use, and production or sale. Possession carries administrative fines, but production and sale currently can result in jail time.
Government officials said the new law would better explain the consequences of consumption to the public, and would create “a certain space for personal autonomy,” adding that prohibition only leads to “clandestine action, delinquency and the black market.”
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CA Supreme Court Urged To Review Medical Marijuana Case

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By on Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Cheryl Shuman
Medical marijuana advocates hold a rally outside Long Beach City Hall

​A coalition of advocates and public officials filed an amicus “friend of the court” brief on Monday, asking the California Supreme Court to take the appeal of Pack v. City of Long Beach, a controversial medical marijuana decision from early October.

The coalition, which includes Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), as well as the County of Santa Cruz, is also seeking outright depublication of the Second District ruling.
The Long Beach City Council decided in November to appeal the Pack decision to the California Supreme Court.
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FILM THE POLICE: Toke of the Town’s Video of the Day

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By on Culture, Products



B. Dolan’s “FILM THE POLICE” pays tribute to N.W.A.’s infamous “Fuck the Police,” serving as a call to action for the digitized media movement while responding to the recent explosion of police brutality all across the world.

This free MP3, courtesy of Strange Famous Records, features a reconstruction of Dr. Dre’s original beat, brilliantly reanimated by UK producer Buddy Peace. Label CEO, Sage Francis, opens the song by picking up the gavel where Dr. Dre left it 23 years ago, introducing a blistering, true-to-style flip of Ice Cube’s original verse by SFR cornerstone, B. Dolan.

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Dispensary Break-In Foiled: Would-Be Robbers Leave Weedless

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By on Dispensaries, News

Yahoo! Local
Nature’s Way, a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs, had an attempted robbery by two men Saturday night. The would-be robbers left empty handed.

​Two would-be robbers were foiled Saturday night at a Colorado Springs medical marijuana dispensary when the cops arrived faster than expected.

The employees at Nature’s Way said two men broke into their store by going into the coin laundry next door, then using their bathroom to gain access to the dispensary’s ceiling, reports Catherine Bilkey at KKTV. From there the would-be robbers were able to climb over the tiles and break into Nature’s Way.
But that’s about all that went according to plan for the two bumbling crooks.
“It was almost like a movie scene,” said Nature’s Way employee Mark Cebula. “The alarms are going off; because that alarm is pretty loud … they must have started panicking.”
Most of the cannabis at the dispensary is locked up in a safe at night, so Cebula believes the frustrated pot-rustlers tried to leave through the front door, but probably saw the cops pulling up. With locked doors all around, they were stuck in the lobby.
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Doctor: My Patients Showed Me Medical Marijuana Works

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By on Medical

Brittney Lohmiller/The Saginaw News
Dr. Bob Townsend meets with a patient in Saginaw, Michigan. “My patients didn’t tell me it helped them; they showed me by getting rid of narcotics,” Townsend said.

​One Michigan physician says that counter to what he was told in medical school, his patients have shown him that medical marijuana produces results.

“I, like most physicians, was taught that ‘medical marijuana’ was a political movement and marijuana has no medical use,” wrote Dr. Robert Townsend in the Lansing State Journal on Saturday. “But we were also taught to listen to our patients and base our decisions on evidence, not dogma.”
“Take chronic, severe pain — a qualifying condition for medical marijuana,” Dr. Townsend wrote. “IF my professors in medical school were correct, if marijuana is a Schedule I narcotic because it has no medical value, I would not expect marijuana use to result in a decreased need for pain medication.
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Colorado Punishing Medical Marijuana Patients For Doctor Snafu

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By on Legislation, Medical

High Country Caregiver

​Colorado patients whose medical marijuana authorizations were signed by physician’s assistants have been told by the state’s public health department that they should have been examined by doctors, not assistants. And as punishment, patients will have to wait six months before they can apply again for medicinal cannabis.

Yes, really!
“This delay will undoubtedly anger many patients who’ve already been waiting for months to get their red card renewed,” reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword, “and all because a number of doctors are accused of failing to conduct examinations themselves, thereby rendering their recommendations ‘fraudulent.’ “
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Grumbine Medical Marijuana Trial: ‘We Got Pounded This Week’

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By on Dispensaries, Medical, News

Joe Grumbine
Joe Grumbine addresses supporters outside the courtroom

​The out-of-control antics of an octogenarian, rabidly anti-marijuana judge continued to appall activists in Long Beach, California this week. Superior Court Judge Charles Sheldon, the 79-year-old judge in the trial of Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron, former operators of a pair of Long Beach cannabis collectives, didn’t even bother to conceal his obvious bias against the defendants, according to observers.

“We got pounded this week and especially the last half of today,” Grumbine posted on Facebook Friday night. “In spite of three motions for a mistrial due to bias, we move forward in this landmark case.”
Right at the outset of the trial, Judge Sheldon denied the two Joes their right to mention medical marijuana in their defense — upon which, of course, the whole case hinges. This prevented their attorneys from calling it witnesses who could testify that they were following California state law. But after a ruling last week by the California Court of Appeal, Sheldon was left with no choice but to allow such witnesses to testify.
On Monday, when confronted with this ruling, Sheldon refused a follow-up motion by the defense to delay the trial for a week so defense attorneys Alison Margolin and Christopher Glew could get ahold of the previously off-limits witnesses. But Judge Sheldon insisted the trial start right away.
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Mendo Board Supports Use Of Spy Agencies In Marijuana War

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By on Growing, News

U.S. Forest Service
A federal drug agent prepares to destroy a marijuana crop in Northern California

​You too, Mendo? Say it ain’t so! The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors has voted 3-2 to support the use of federal intelligence agencies in the war against marijuana.

The most liberal member of the board of supervisors, Green Party member Dan Hamburg, joined the most libertarian member, Supervisor John Pinches of the American Independent Party to cast the two votes against the “consent calendar” item at Tuesday’s board meeting, reports Jennifer Poole at The Willits News.

​​Both opposed the item asking the board to support California Congressman Mike Thompson’s attempts to involve federal spy agencies in the fight against illegal marijuana cultivation by so-called “international drug trafficking organizations” on public lands.
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