Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Marijuana Activist Joe Grumbine Thrown In Jail At Court Hearing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 13, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Joe Grumbine — who has fought so hard for the right of California medical marijuana patients to safely access their medicine — has been thrown back in jail

California medical marijuana defendant and activist Joe Grumbine was put in handcuffs and hauled off to jail at what was supposed to be a short scheduling hearing in court on Tuesday.

According to Cheri Sicard, who works with The Human Solution, a medical marijuana patient advocacy/court support group formed by Grumbine, the prosecutor brought up a traffic stop that happened in Riverside, Calif., a few months ago.

Alabama House To Hold Medical Marijuana Hearing Wednesday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 13, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Marijuana.com

The Alabama House Health Committee will hear testimony about medical marijuana on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Alabama State House.

The hearing won’t specifically address House Bill 2, which would legalize medical marijuana in the state, according to bill sponsor Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Jefferson County), who sponsors the legislation.

“I have seen a lot of people die a miserable death and some benefited from the use of marijuana,” Todd said, reports Bill Britt at the Alabama Political Reporter. “I also believe that it can be very beneficial for people who suffer from cancer and migraines.”

Marijuana: Past The Tipping Point, Waiting For The Flipping Point

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 12, 2012 Culture

ACLU

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

I am such a downer. Since Election Day, many friends, colleagues, and even my in-laws and family members who don’t fancy one of theirs being a pot writer, called or wrote wanting to know what I thought of Washington and Colorado passing what they’re calling “the legalization of marijuana.”

I should be ecstatic, as many of the well-wishers have commented. I tell them that it is a win. I tell them that it is progress. What I can’t tell them… is what’s going to happen next.

What we’re dealing with here are cultural norms.

The question to me is, what is society going to do? How as a nation are we going to look at marijuana? What kind of resistance is there going to be?

Cannabis and Pain: Soothing a Soft Society

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 12, 2012 Culture, Medical

By Sharon Letts

Knee surgery this past week has me thinking about pain, true tolerance, and why so many Americans are bent on being anesthetized.

The Institute of Medicine states, 100 million Americans suffer from some kind of pain at a cost of $635 billion a year.

ABC News reported in January of 2012, 80 percent of the world’s pain meds are consumed in the good old U.S. of A.

Experts site our increased life expectancy, cancers, and a soft, sedentary lifestyle as the cause, but what of the rest of the world? Why are Americans suffering so? Or are we?

Update: Brave Student Won’t Cop A Plea In Marijuana Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 12, 2012 News

Law Offices of David Sloane

Attorney David Sloane shared with Toke of the Town this photo of Zach Walker in the cage of the patrol car immediately following his arrest (taken by the patrol car camera system), telling us he finds the photo “particularly nauseating”

A college student in Texas who has elected to take his chances with a jury following his arrest for marijuana possession is now set for jury trial. Zachariah Walker, 23, has rejected the state’s final offer of 60 days in jail. No date has yet been set for the trial, but the court coordinator predicts it will be in Denton County Criminal Court Number 2 sometime in February 2013, according to Walker’s attorney.

Back on July 13, Walker, of Denton, Texas, was stopped for an alleged traffic violation by the University of North Texas Police Department. During a subsequent search of the vehicle, officers claimed they found about two grams of marijuana. Walker was immediately arrested and booked into the Denton County Jail; he was later released after posting $1,000 bond.

As previously reported on Toke of the Town, Walker already elected to reject the state’s October 10 plea bargain of 180 days in jail, probated for 18 months, and a $600 fine; or 70 days in jail without a probationary term or fine. A member of The University of North Texas student chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (UNT-NORML), Zach said if anybody is going to send him to jail for possession of marijuana, it is going to be a jury of his peers.

Post-502: Washington Prosecutors Dismiss 220 Marijuana Cases

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 9, 2012 Legislation, News

Graham Lawyer Blog

Prosecutors in Washington’s two most populous counties are dismissing more than 220 misdemeanor marijuana cases after state voters on Tuesday decriminalized small amounts of cannabis.

King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg is dismissing 175 cases, and Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said he was dismissing “about four dozen” such misdemeanor cases where marijuana is the only offense, reports Jonathan Martin at The Seattle Times.

The prosecutors decided to apply I-502 — which removes criminal penalties for up to an ounce of marijuana — retroactively. I-502 comes into effect on December 6, one month after voters approved it in Tuesday’s general election.

Will Alabama Get Medical Marijuana? Hearing Next Week

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 9, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition/Facebook

Co-Presidents Ron Crumpton, left, and Chris Butts of the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition

Eighteen states now allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes, and a movement is afoot in Alabama to make it the 19th. Next Wednesday, November 14, a public hearing will be held in the Alabama State House on the medicinal use of cannabis.
Rep. Jim McClendon of Springville, who chairs the House Health Committee, said the hearing won’t be specifically about House Bill 2, a bill that will be before the January session of the Legislature which would legalize medical marijuana. The hearing is, however, a chance for medicinal cannabis proponents to educate legislators about the medical benefits of the herb.

DPA Releases Report on Veterans and the War on Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 9, 2012 Culture, News

Opposing Views

More Than 200,000 Veterans Behind Bars; One in Five Current Conflict Veterans in VA Care Diagnosed With Substance Abuse Disorder

Report Calls for Alternatives to Incarceration; Increased Access to Overdose Prevention Programs and Medication-Assisted Therapy; and Medical Marijuana and MDMA for PTSD

The Drug Policy Alliance, an organization advocating alternatives to the Drug War, has released an updated and revised edition of their seminal 2009 report, “Healing a Broken System.” The report examines the plight of returning veterans who struggle with incarceration and psychological wounds of war such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder – and suggests reforms that could improve the health and preserve the freedom of American soldiers returning from war zones and transitioning back to civilian life.

State of Washington Estimates Legal Pot Will Be $12 A Gram

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 8, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Rusty Blazenholf/Flickr

Legal marijuana in Washington state will average $12 a gram, according to the state Liquor Control Board, which has been put in charge of regulating, taxing and selling cannabis in the state by the voters’ approval of I-502. At least a year will be spent studying and setting up the marijuana distribution system before adults 21 and older and actually walk in a store and buy weed.

The Liquor Control Board has released a new fact sheet [PDF] on a website designed to help Washington residents keep track of progress to develop regulations for selling and growing marijuana, reports the Spokane Spokesman.

Canada Toughens Marijuana Sentences As US States Legalize

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 8, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

The Fresh Scent

Talk about irony, eh? The very same day American voters in two states legalize, the Stephen Harper government in Canada brought into force tough new mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana.

As Washington and Colorado both on Tuesday approved measures loosening their pot laws, drug measures in the Conservative government’s Safe Streets and Communities Act, passed last spring, came into full force in Canada, reports Bruce Cheadle of The Canadian Press.

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