Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Congress Set To Escalate Drug War After Decades Of Failure

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 7, 2011 Legislation, News

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on two bills that would escalate the War On Drugs.

One bill scheduled to be voted on Wednesday (HR 1254) would criminalize possession and sales of chemical compounds found in products such as “K2,” “Spice,” and “bath salts.” A second bill which is expected to be voted on next week (HR 313) would make it a federal crime to engage in an activity in another country that would violate U.S. drug laws if committed in the United States — even if the activity is actually legal in the other country.

Both bills are expected to pass and would subject more Americans to lengthy federal prison terms — while increasing already-skyrocketing prison expenses that taxpayers have to pay. This comes at a time when members of Congress are cutting drug education, treatment and prevention, citing the need to “reduce federal expenses.”

Medical Marijuana Patients Propose L.A. Regulation Solution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

UMMP

James Shaw, director of the Los Angeles-based Union of Medical Marijuana patients, on Tuesday announced an alternative to a ban on nearly 400 local medicinal cannabis dispensaries which was proposed by City Councilman Jose Huizar last month.

“Councilman Huizar seems unaware that there is a reasonable way to regulate medical cannabis patient associations now using technology which we have developed in conjunction with AgSite Secure,” Shaw said.

If that sounds like Shaw is selling something, yes he is; however, keep an open mind, because third-party verification may be a way out of the conundrum in which California dispensaries find themselves.

According to Shaw, the recent Second Court of Appeals decision cited by the Councilman, known as Pack v. Long Beach, which rejected the ability of cities to issue paid permits to authorize dispensaries, did not mean a ban was the only alternative to a complete lack of regulation.

N.J. Medical Marijuana Program Gets The Green Light

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 6, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

The Weed Blog

Almost two years after the law was passed, New Jersey lawmakers finally announced last week that the state’s medical marijuana program — the most restrictive medicinal cannabis law in the United States — would be fully functional sometime in 2012.

Gov. Chris Christie had issued a surprise announcement in July that the state would go forward with its often-stalled medical marijuana program, reports John Farley at Thirteen.

The Garden State’s medicinal cannabis program has been in transition for months now. In 2010, the State Senate passed the Compassionate Care Act, which required the state to license six medical marijuana dispensaries.

But even though an overwhelming 86 percent of New Jersey voters support medicinal cananbis, Christie put the program on hold, seeking assurance from federal officials that state marijuana workers and doctors would not be prosecuted, reported the Star-Ledger.

Study Finds Marijuana Could Increase Pain Relief With Opiates

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 6, 2011 Medical, News

UCSF

Hector Vizoso, RN, left, and Donald Abrams, MD, prepare a cannabis vaporizer for inpatient use at San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center’s Clinical Research Center.

A medical study suggests patients with chronic pain could experience more relief if their doctors added cannabinoids — the main ingredients in cannabis or medical marijuana — to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

More than 76 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. That’s more people than have diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined, according to the National Centers for Health Statistics.

Science vs Stigma: Putting A Human Face To The War On Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 5, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, Products

SCIENCE VS. STIGMA-TRAILER from Dave Wilkinson on Vimeo.

The new documentary film Science vs. Stigma does a wonderful thing: It puts a human face on some of the collateral damage from the War On Drugs. The film does this by allowing medical marijuana patients to share their struggles to safely access an unjustly demonized medicinal herb that helps them.

True stories and scientific research reveal the difficult lives of patients who require the ancient medicinal plant, cannabis, which is now legal in some states, but still so demonized that it cannot even be named in an advertisement.

The medicinal components of cannabis have been shown to be effective in treating dozens of conditions, but patients who are ill and disabled are still senseless persecuted and socially stigmatized.

Santa’s Secret Revealed! Toke’s Canna-Toon of the Moment

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 5, 2011 Culture

Jerry King for Toke of the Town

Drug War Ho: Mexico’s Prez Says Cartels Threaten Democracy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 5, 2011 Global, News

World Economic Forum

President Felipe Calderon scolded “political forces” that don’t have the “vision” to support his Drug War

President Felipe Calderon of Mexico admitted on Sunday that despite five years of all-out war against the drug cartels in his country, the organizations continue to pose “an open threat” to democracy in Mexico. He must have lost the part of his speech that would have detailed how his own Drug War has done exactly the same thing.

In a frankly worded speech marking the start of his sixth and last year in office, Calderon said interference in elections by drug gangs “is a new fact, a worrisome fact,” reports Tracy Wilkinson at the Los Angeles Times. “It is a threat to everyone,” Calderon said.

President Calderon was probably thinking about last month’s local elections in Michoacan, his home state, where drug traffickers intimidated voters and told people how to vote.

Cops Fired For Supporting Marijuana Legalization; Lawsuits Filed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 5, 2011 Culture, Legislation

Rose Law Group

Border Patrol Agent Bryan Gonzalez was fired merely for verbally expressing frustration with the war on marijuana and voicing support for LEAP

Maybe Frank Zappa was right to ask, “Who are the Brain Police?” Remarks from a Border Patrol agent expressing dissatisfaction with the Drug War — made on the job to a fellow agent, a few feet from the Mexican border — later resulted in the agent’s firing after his remarks were passed along to headquarters.

Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent stationed in Deming, New Mexico, was in his Border Patrol vehicle next to the border when he pulled up to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job, reports Marc Lacey at The New York Times.

If marijuana were legalized, Gonzalez told the other agent, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then mentioned an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), consisting of former cops, judges and prosecutors who favor ending the War On Drugs.

“Now that The New York Times has featured LEAP and the emerging debate in the law enforcement community about ending the ‘war on drugs,’ hopefully this will lead to more sympathetic cops getting in touch with us and joining the movement,” LEAP’s media relations director, Tom Angell, told Toke of the Town on Monday morning.

“I’m already hearing from a lot of news outlets that don’t normally cover LEAP that the Times story caught their attention,” Angell said.

Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. Says All Sales Of Marijuana Illegal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

THC Finder

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has announced it considers all sales of marijuana to be illegal — whether they are for profit or not, and whether they are for medical use or not, despite the fact that medicinal cannabis has been legal in California for 15 years.

In response to questions regarding a search warrant served on half-a-dozen collectives and more than a dozen other locations and persons on November 8, Sheriff’s Lt. David Doyle told Greggory Moore at the Long Beach Post that “the CUA and MMPA do not authorize sales of marijuana,” and therefore all cash-for-cannabis transactions are illegal.

‘Blunt’ Joke At Burger King Drive-Thru Leads To Marijuana Bust

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Culture, News

Volusia County Sheriff’s Office

Shawn Porter’s marijuana joke landed him in jail with felony pot charges

Hey, stoner, don’t make pot jokes in the drive-through line. A Florida man tried to add some high humor to his drive-through order at Burger King, but when he asked for “a blunt and some herbs,” the store called the cops and the man ended up in jail on felony marijuana charges.

Shawn Porter, 32, of Deltona, is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach with bail set at $1,000, reports Gary Taylor at the Orlando Sentinel.

It all started innocently enough, with a late-night munchie run to the Burger King in Deltona, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gary Davidson.

Porter and another man pulled into to the drive-through lane in a white Saturn just before 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. When it came time to order, one of them yelled out that he wanted “a blunt and some herbs,” Davidson said.

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