Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

DEA Agents Made Marijuana Patient Evaluations — From Across The Street

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Dispensaries, News

West Seattle Blog

DEA agents swarm the G.A.M.E. Collective Lounge in White Center. Agents who performed surveillance felt that the patients didn’t “look sick enough.”

Need To Be Evaluated For Medical Marijuana? The DEA Can Tell If You ‘Deserve’ Medical Pot — From A Distance! With No Training!

The spectacle of federal and local law enforcement agents wasting large amounts of cash in Washington state while investigating medical marijuana dispensaries, of all things, just got several orders of magnitude more absurd and maddening.

The agents, who evidently have no serious crime to investigate, spent weeks staked out at various dispensaries across western Washington, watching from afar as patients came and went with medical marijuana. Not a big shocker. That’s what happens at dispensaries; patients get pot.

Switzerland Legalizing Up To 4 Marijuana Plants January 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Global, Growing, Legislation

Cannabis Culture

The Swiss cannabis strain “Walliser Queen” with the Alps in the background. Starting January 1, cultivation of up to four marijuana plants will be legal in the Alpine nation.

Citizens of Switzerland will soon be allowed to grow up to four marijuana plants each at home, according to government officials. Four people sharing a house can grow up to 16 plants, but only if each person tends to their own crop.

The further relaxation of the Alpine nation’s already liberal cannabis laws has been agreed upon by four regions in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, reports Ian Sparks at the Daily Mail.

“We have agreed these new rules to prevent drugs tourism between regions where the rules are different, and to stop them buying it on the streets,” said a spokesman for the Neuchatel region of Switzerland.

Transplant Denied To Med Marijuana Patient With Liver Cancer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 17, 2011 Medical, News

Americans for Safe Access

Norman Smith: “Since I am the only successful patient in the clinical trial, to take away something that’s been part of a successful regimen does not make any sense”

Patient Advocacy Group Calls On Preeminent Health Center To Change Harmful Transplant Policy

A medical marijuana patient in Los Angeles with inoperable liver cancer has been removed from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s transplant list after testing positive for marijuana.

Sixty-three-year-old medical marijuana patient Norman B. Smith was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer in 2009 and sought treatment from the internationally known Cedars-Sinai in L.A. Smith’s oncologist at the medical center, Dr. Steven Miles, approved of his medical marijuana use as a means to deal with the effects of chemotherapy and pain from an unrelated back surgery.

In September 2010, Smith became eligible for a liver transplant, but after testing positive for marijuana in February he was removed from the transplant list. Smith’s cancer was in remission until just recently, but now he is scheduled to undergo radiation treatments in a few days.

Washington Marijuana Patients Protest Federal Dispensary Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Stephanie Bishop

From left, activists Anthony Martinelli, Cydney Moore, Daniel Erdmann and Steve Phun protest at the Federal Building in Seattle on Wednesday

About 40 medical marijuana patients were stirred into action on Wednesday, protesting at the Federal Building in Seattle after Tuesday’s raids by the federal government on dispensaries across Western Washington.

“I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see over 40 committed activists in the cold and rain in front of the Federal Building today,” said activist Don Skakie of legalization effort Yes End Penalties Washington (YEP WA). “Forty might not seem like much to some, but they represent many who could not, weren’t able or were just plain too scared to show up to defend our rights and tell the Feds to back off.”

One of those patients, 28-year-old Juliana Plemitscher, who treats her epilepsy with cannabis, said she wouldn’t normally join a public protest against marijuana laws outside the Federal Building, reports Scott Gutierrez at the Seattle P.I.

“It never really occurred to me to get involved in something like this, but when it was Seattle Cross that got shut down — those were good guys,” Plemitscher said. “It makes it kind of personal.”

Federal Marijuana Raids Sweep Across Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Gweedopig.com

Twelve criminal search warrants for marijuana were executed on Wednesday, November 16, at premises in Kalispell, Missoula, Somers, and Whitefish, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana.

The execution of the warrants comes after a year-long investigation into “drug trafficking” activities of a “criminal enterprise” operating in Montana, claims a press release from office of U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter.

Four civil seizure warrants for financial institutions in Missoula, seeking an unspecified amount of cash, were also executed, reports KRTV.

Why Does DEA Quote Toke Signals Marijuana Review In Warrant?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Seattle Weekly

Today’s weirdness comes courtesy of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which quoted one of my “Toke Signals” Seattle Weekly medical marijuana dispensary reviews in the search warrant affidavit for a Seattle collective which was raided on Tuesday.

The review, which was a positive one for Seattle Cannabis Co-Op, was printed in the Weekly back in March. It’s not apparent why the DEA would choose to quote the review in their search warrant affidavit, since none of the alleged improprieties mentioned elsewhere in the warrant were even hinted at in the review.

But there it was to greet me this morning, before I’d even had time to fortify myself with a cup of coffee: “DEA Medical-Marijuana Dispensary Search Warrant Quotes Seattle Weekly Toke Signals Column.”

U.S. Atty.’s Office Gives Statement On WA Med Marijuana Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 16, 2011 Dispensaries, News

The Inquisitr

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan: “We will continue to target and investigate entities that are large scale commercial drug enterprises, or that threaten public safety in other ways.”

U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan of the Western District of Washington released a statement late Tuesday on the Drug Enforcement Administration’s dispensary raids.

The raids, which stretched across at least three counties and involved more than a dozen dispensaries, took many in the community by surprise, even some who had long expected such as move on the part of the federal government.

The post on the U.S. federal government’s Department of Justice website follows in its entirety:

DEA Weighs In On Washington State Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 15, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Drug Enforcement Administration

Matthew G. Barnes, Special Agent in Charge, Seattle Field Division, DEA: “The DEA remains committed to the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in all states”

Protest the DEA’s Raids on Safe Access in Washington State, 11 a.m., Federal Building, Downtown Seattle

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday evening, amidst ongoing dispensary raids, released a statement on Washington state’s medical marijuana laws.

“It has never been our policy to target individuals with serious illness,” claimed Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barnes, reports David Haviland at KBKW. “However, there are those operating commercial storefronts cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana under the guise of state medical marijuana laws and exploiting such activities to satisfy their own personal greed.

“The DEA remains committed to the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) in all states,” Barnes said.

Barnes didn’t say how the DEA would judge the difference between those who are obeying state medical marijuana laws and those who aren’t, but did seem to indicate that the agency would only be going after those in violation of both state and federal law. But who knows what the hell these federal bureaucrats even mean when they talk; they’re so full of lies, a thick lie-cloud envelops every word they utter.

“The coordinated enforcement actions of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and our state and local law enforcement partners involve violations of both state and federal law,” Barnes said.

Cannabis Song of the Day: ‘Open Your Eyes’ (The Vibratones)

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 15, 2011 Culture, Global, Products

Toke of the Town’s Song of the Day, the infectious, laid-back groove of “Open Your Eyes,” comes from Finland via talented pro-cannabis rock band The Vibratones.

”We really feel strongly for the song and the message,” the group’s drummer, Niklas Finnäs, told Toke of the Town on Tuesday. “The cannabis culture in Finland is not as open as in many English speaking countries. It’s not really socially accepted, and that’s mostly due to fear and a lack of knowledge.”

DEA Sweeps Across Western Washington With Dispensary Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 15, 2011 Dispensaries, News

KOMO News

DEA agent Tuesday morning at Seattle Cannabis Co-op’s location in the Rainier neighborhood

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided medical marijuana collectives in Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Puyallup, Rochester, and Lacey, Washington, as a coordinated raid swept across the Puget Sound region on Tuesday.

Patient advocates and legal defense groups report that at least nine dispensaries have been raided, according to The Seattle Times. Ben Livingston of the patient advocacy group Cannabis Defense Coalition said he’s spoken with several dispensary owners and defense attorney Aaron Pelley, who confirmed raids were occurring.

“I’m in shock because now I have no pain medicine,” said patient Cameron Christenson outside of Seattle Cannabis Co-op on Rainer Avenue, reports David Rose at Q13 Fox News. “I can think of 100 crack houses in town — why don’t you go raid those?”

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