Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Toke of the Town Welcomes World-Famous Cartoonist Aboard

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Culture, News

We’re excited to welcome world-renowned, award-winning cartoonist Jerry King to the Toke of the Town team.

King is one of the most published, prolific and versatile cartoonists in the world today, with his work appearing in thousands of greeting cards, magazines, websites, books and newspapers.

His client list includes Disney, American Greetings, the United States Golf Association, and many others.

His magazine credits include work for Better Homes & Gardens, Golf Digest, the Saturday Evening Post, National Enquirer, Woman’s World and hundreds of other publications worldwide.

Amazingly, Jerry has also created nearly 2,000 greeting cards for more than 25 different companies.

Former President Bill Clinton mentioned one of Jerry’s greeting cards in a USA Today article. His work has also been recognized by former President George Bush.

Brit Reefer Madness: Paper Claims 1 Joint Causes Schizophrenia

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Global, News

Addiction Inbox

The sad tradition of inaccurate, sensationalistic cannabis reporting continues in the United Kingdom’s tabloid press. Deeply clueless reporter Tamara Cohen at the Daily Mail plumbed new depths of silliness on Tuesday with the breathless headline: One cannabis joint ‘can bring on schizophrenia’ as well as damaging memory.

Never mind that, even as cannabis usage rates have skyrocketed, the ratio of schizophrenics in the population has remained constant at one or two percent for the past 60 years. Never mind that no human beings were involved in the tests, and never mind that no marijuana was used, either.

Denver Medical Marijuana Patients Win With Toke Daily Deals

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

Toke Daily Deals

$20 of merchandise for $10? Count me in.

Denver Westword, an alternative weekly owned by Toke of the Town‘s parent company, Village Voice Media, has launched a dispensary promotion called Toke Daily Deals through which medical marijuana patients can receive discounted medicine.

“Toke Daily Deals works like this,” Westword tells us. “We email you one terrific deal on the best dispensaries in your city. If you’re interested, you buy the deal. If you’re not, you don’t.”

Simple enough, eh?

10 Years of the PATRIOT Act: Bait and Switch for the Drug War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 26, 2011 Culture, News

Sweeping Surveillance Law’s ‘Sneak-and-Peek’ Provision Primarily Used In Drug Cases, Not Against Terrorists

Ten years ago today, on October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act. Congress had brushed aside constitutional concerns and overwhelmingly passed the law just weeks after the 9-11 attacks. The law gives the FBI vastly increased powers to collect information in cases that involve “national security.”

In the decade since this steaming pile of Constitution-shredding nonsense was passed by a gutless and lemming-like Congress, civil liberties groups have pointed out that the PATRIOT Act goes too far by gathering too much data and violating peoples’ right to privacy.

One of the worst parts of the PATRIOT Act (PATRIOT stands for Providing Appropriate Tools Required [to]Intercept [and]Obstruct Terrorism) is Section 213, its “Sneak-and-Peek” provision, which allows authorities to search a home or business without immediately notifying the target of an investigation that they have been searched.

Of course, the idea that Sneak-and-Peek would only be used against potential terrorists was quickly left in the dust, as the provision became a key tool in the federal government’s War On Drugs. Sneak-and-Peek is now primarily used for drug cases and minor crimes, NPR’s Carrie Johnson reported on October 26.

S.F. Advocates Protest Obama Medical Marijuana Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

All photos: Jack Rikess

Medical Marijuana Activists In San Francisco Challenge the Obama Administration Crackdown; Toke of the Town Was There

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

Last time we thought it was some sick joke when Obama came to fundraise in San Francisco on April 20, the pot smoker’s holiday, after having changed his stance and began his reversal on medical marijuana in California.

Today, no one was laughing.

Phoenix Medical Marijuana Collective To Open Nov. 13

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Products

THC Finder

Grand Opening Festivities Feature Job Fair, Patient Fair and Open House

One year after Arizona residents voted to legalize medical marijuana, things are falling into place for patients in Phoenix to get safe access to their medicine.

The doors of Elements Caregiver Collective, which calls itself “the one-stop-shop for medical marijuana, wellness services and products,” will open with a job fair, patient fair and grand opening event on Sunday, November 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The caregiver collective, located 12620 N. Cave Creek Road in Phoenix, said it offers a secure, safe, environment for caregivers to provide wellness services and cannabis to patient members.

Colombia’s President: Marijuana Should Be Legalized Globally

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Global, Legislation, News

Xinhua

These bricks totaling more than seven tons of marijuana were confiscated by the Colombian army from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos said this week that legalization of marijuana would allow the war on drugs to move forward by shifting focus to harder drugs and helping to stop the international violence associated with drug trafficking.

Santos said more world leaders should rethink their approach to the War On Drugs in order to deal with drug trafficking and the use of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, reports Natalie Dalton of Colombia Reports. The Colombian president made the remarks in an interview with Metro News.

“The world needs to discuss new approaches … we are basically still thinking within the same framework as we have done for the last 40 years,” the president said.

Federal Judge Blocks Florida’s New Welfare Drug Testing Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 News

WTXL

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Florida’s new law requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits. U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven said it may violate the Constitution’s ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judge Scriven ruled in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father of a four-year-old who sought welfare benefits while finishing his college education, but refused to take the drug test, reports the Associated Press.

According to the judge, there is a “substantial likelihood” that plaintiff Luis W. Lebron will succeed in his challenge to the law based on the Fourth Amendment, which is supposed to protect Americans from being unfairly searched.

Appeal Court Rejects Marijuana Search Based On Smell

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 News

THC Finder

A California court of appeal on Monday rejected a pound of marijuana as evidence in a case where police opened a shipped package they claimed smelled strongly of pot. If upheld on further appeal, the case could have far-reaching effects on future California prosecutions in which a “probable cause” search was based on smell alone.

“Was the warrantless search justified based on smell alone?” wrote Presiding Justice Arthur Gilbert of the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura, reports Kate Moser at The Recorder. “Not according to the California Supreme Court. To smell it is not the same as to see it.”

Obama Turns Up The Volume On His Medical Marijuana War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 25, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Phoenix New Times

The puzzling new federal crackdown on medical marijuana announced on October 7 by four U.S. Attorneys in California continues to send shockwaves through the industry. Safe access by seriously ill patients is endangered in many locales after the stunning reversal by the Obama Administration, which had initially pledged to respect state medical marijuana laws.

It seemed things were just going too well after the “Ogden Memo,” which announced the feds wouldn’t prioritize going after providers and patients who were abiding by state laws. Medical marijuana bloomed into an industry worth up to $100 billion (it’s difficult to know the exact figure), and apparently it got too big too fast for the prohibitionists.

What, exactly, happened to the Obama Administration’s medical marijuana policy?

What’s behind this strange about-face with which the President has alienated a sizable portion of his constituency?

Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times takes a look at the issue.

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