Toke of the Town

Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Nebraska Drug Tax Stamps Not Big Sellers

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By on News

Lincoln Journal Star
This $50 drug tax stamp is required by law for anyone selling half an ounce of marijuana in Nebraska.

​Lots of folks might tell you that taxation is the first step towards legalization, but it ain’t necessarily so. Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of legislatures passed laws establishing state taxes on illegal drugs — though very few people know about the taxes, and even fewer pay them. Nebraska, in 1990, was one of the states which decided to tax illicit drugs, and like most of the other state drug taxes, that law is still in effect.

People hauling drugs through Nebraska are required by law to buy stamps to affix on the packages, even though the drugs are illegal in the first place, reports Cory Matteson of the Lincoln Journal Star. The stamp doesn’t legalize the transport, yet it’s illegal not to have it.
Nebraska’s drug tax stamps are actually pretty cool looking, for kitsch value alone. In what lawmakers must have imagined was a bold and thought-provoking design, the somber background is a tombstone marked “RIP” with the foreground featuring a skull and… not crossbones, but crossdrugs: a syringe and a fat joint.
“The 1990 Nebraska Unicameral passed and Governor Kay Orr signed LB260 establishing a state tax on illegal drugs,” said Deepa Buss, spokeswoman for the Nebraska Department of Revenue. “The intent of the law was to give law enforcement an alternative tool against drug dealers.
“If a prosecutor couldn’t win a conviction for selling drugs, he might be able to send the suspect to prison for failing to pay the drug tax,” Buss said. “Or the prosecution could win a conviction on both charges, increasing the potential penalties.”
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Pot-Smoking Judge Fired In Georgia

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By on News

Rome News-Tribune
Catoosa County Magistrate Judge Anthony Peters has been permanently dismissed for smoking marijuana and acting crazy

​A judge in Georgia has been fired for smoking marijuana and for kicking down the doors at a relative’s house. The state Supreme Court unanimously, immediately and permanently removed Judge Anthony Peters of Catoosa County from the bench.

Peters, 49, “has not sought treatment for his admitted drug problems and has done nothing to show that he has any ability to live up to the high standard of conduct expected of members of the judiciary in Georgia,” reports Jim Galloway at the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The court cited Judge Peters’ weekly use of marijuana during a two-month period from March to May of 2010, during which he said he used cannabis to wean himself off prescription narcotics, reports Steve Visser at the AJC. The judge said he had become addicted to prescription opiates after being seriously injured in a 2005 ATV accident.
The court also cited an incident in which Peters kicked in the doors of the home of his sister-in-law’s estranged husband, reports Andra Varin at Newsmax.

In another bizarre incident, the judge pointed a gun at himself and told another judge he was “not afraid to die.”
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Psycho Killer Still On The Loose In Marijuana Country

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By on Growing, News

Photo: James Boylan.Info
Suspected killer Aaron Bassler, 35, is still on the loose in Northern California.

​​By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent


“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” ~ Joseph Goebbels

Is the L.A. Times anti-marijuana? Since the tragic shooting of Ft. Bragg city councilman Jere Melo a week ago last Saturday, the L.A. Times and other wire services have still been running erroneous information surrounding the incident.
Violence stalks the mountains above a quiet coastal town

“The slaying of Fort Bragg Councilman Jere Melo is the latest event in an area populated by marijuana growers drawn to the isolation, good weather and laissez-faire culture. ~ Los Angeles Times, September 4, 2011
Yet the local slant is going in another, totally different direction: That there is a killer loose, and it has nothing to do with marijuana.
While the Times beats the propaganda drum, suspected killer Aaron Bassler is still out there.
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Bear-ly Legal: When Marijuana Growers Learn The Bear Facts

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By on Culture, Growing

Graphic: Marijuana Muscle

​By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
Argos called me last week to see if his writer friend wanted to learn how to make Humm Tea. The first time I heard of Humm Tea, I thought it was Humboldt’s version of an Arnie Palmer. A local beverage that was probably infused with something medicinal that you’d take with natural sugar.
Imagine my surprise when I learn that Humm Tea, or Compost Tea, was a natural concoction made from guano or some other form of doodie that is blended and stirred while adding some other naturally elements like banana skins for potassium for around thirty-six hours. This living growing breathing shake is then sprayed on plants for a variety of reasons and applications.
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These Hand Wipes Are Specifically Made For Pot-Pipe Resin

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By on Products

Photo: BakedLife.com
Rezzy Wipes, infused with coconut oil, come in a resealable zip-lock bag.

​No matter your chosen field of endeavor, there are products available to make your life easier and more convenient. That’s right; it’s called “luxury,” and it’s no different for cannabis enthusiasts.

Now there are hand-cleaning wipes available specifically designed to remove marijuana resin from your fingers after cleaning your pot pipes. Yep, just when you were ready to anoint yourself as the Stoner Who Has Everything…

“No more smelly rezzy fingers!” Rezzy Wipes promises, and after having tried them, I can say they definitely work.
Rezzy Wipes, infused with coconut oil, come in a resealable zip-lock bag. I found that one wipe can be used after multiple pipe-cleaning sessions and retain its effectiveness.
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State Investigates Medical Marijuana Authorizations At Hempfest

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By on Culture, Products

Photo: Digital Journal

​​Washington state healthcare regulators have opened an investigation into two medical professionals who were issuing medical marijuana authorizations at Seattle Hempfest in August.

The preliminary investigation was started by the Department of Health (DOH) on Thursday, based on an August 21 story in The Seattle Times which described a reporter’s ability to get a medical marijuana authorization based on complaints of back pain, reports Jonathan Martin at The Seattle Times.
“It was opened as a result of media reports,” said DOH spokesman Tim Church, who declined to name the two healthcare professionals.
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Montana Medical Marijuana Backers Still Hope To Overturn Law

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By on Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Patients For Reform Not Repeal

​Backers of medical marijuana in Montana say they are still making progress in their efforts to overturn the strict medical marijuana law recently passed by the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

The group “Patients for Reform Not Repeal” said it has collected more than 30,000 signatures in their effort to second Senate Bill 423 back to the voters, reports Marnee Banks at KRTV. According to the group, SB 423 effectively shut down safe access to medical marijuana for Montana patients.
The group needs just more than 24,000 valid signatures, or 5 percent of the qualified voters in 34 House districts, to get the law on the ballot. They have until September 30 to gather the signatures.
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Oakland Hosting Nation’s 1st Marijuana Street Fair This Weekend

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By on Culture, Dispensaries, Products

Photo: Bnk Presents
Last year’s event was held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, but a state moratorium on “drug use” in state facilities necessitated a move to Oakland this year.

​Oakland, California — which has been one of the leading cities in the cannabis movement, medicinal and otherwise, for more than 15 years — will this weekend host a cannabis street fair touted as the first in the nation.

The fair will feature speakers, music, booths and vendors, along with a “215 area,” also know as the “Patient Consumption Area and VIP Lounge,” which is a designated spot — directly in front of City Hall — where patients with medical marijuana cards will be allowed to ingest, smoke or vaporize their medicine, reports Matthai Kuruvila of the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Patients need to take their medicine when they need to,” said Berkeley resident Kim Cue, chief executive of the International Cannabis & Hemp Expo (INT CHE), which kicks off at “high” noon on Saturday. “Being a patient myself, that’s something that’s mandatory.”
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Sheriff To Marijuana Patients: You Won’t Be Getting Your Pot Back

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By on Medical, News

Photo: SodaHead
Sheriff Joe Arpaio: “Possession of marijuana is still a federal felony as far as I am aware and my deputies aren’t going to violate federal law.” Well lah-de-dah, big guy.

​People who are arrested by Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff’s deputies for any criminal violation and who are card-carrying medical marijuana patients will not be allowed to retrieve their medicine upon release from jail, according to a policy decision announced by Sheriff Joe Arpaio on Wednesday.

In addition, police officers who bring suspects into the Sheriff’s jails with marijuana in their possession along with a medical marijuana registration card will be required to maintain the marijuana in their own separate police property rooms, according to a press release from the sheriff’s office.
The attention-loving, headline-grabbing ass-wig Sheriff Arpaio — who has publicly boasted that he has no idea how to use a computer — said marijuana is “deemed as contraband” in his jails, “and as such will not be stored here for other police agencies.”
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Police Say Pizzeria Owner Sold Marijuana

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By on News

Photo: Nicholas Iovino/Wicked Local
The owner of Pinky’s Famous Pizza on Main Street, Medford, Mass., was arrested and charged with possession of 250 pounds of marijuana.

​A pizza shop owner in Medford, Massachusetts is facing drug trafficking charges after police claimed they found what they described as “more than $750,000 worth” of “high-grade” marijuana in his pickup truck last week, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Police said after getting a tip that owner Nikita Yanakopulos was scheduled to receive a 
large shipment” of marijuana last Friday, August 26, in Everett, they began surveillance of him, reports Peter Schworm at the Boston Globe. 
After followed him around Friday as he drove around Everett in a white pickup truck, officers said they saw Yanakopulos that morning in a parking lot loading cardboard boxes into the back of his pickup before driving off, according to court records.
Officers tailed him to a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through, where they arrested him. Police had obtained a search warrant based on the allegation that the boxes contained marijuana. They found 11 cardboard boxes with 213 heat-sealed bags containing a total of 250 pounds of pot.
“These are troubling allegations into the suspected trafficking of over three-quarters of a million dollars of marijuana by a local business owner,” said Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr.
Police said they seized the truck, three cellphones, and $2,366 in cash in the arrest. Yanakopulos indicated he did not want to speak to officers during the booking process.
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