Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Don’t Miss 2nd Annual Tacoma Hempfest This Saturday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 23, 2011 Culture, Products

If you’re in the Puget Sound area and want to help break down the negative stereotypes surrounding cannabis and the people who use it, I have a great, free destination for you this weekend — and the weather’s supposed to be pretty, too. The second annual Tacoma Hempfest happens this Saturday, June 25, at Wright Park in Tacoma, Washington.

“We’d like everyone to come out and show the variety of people who truly support cannabis culture in the area,” Tacoma Hempfest creator and organizer Justin Prince told Toke of the Town.

New Cannabis Comedy ‘Wilfred’ Debuts On FX

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 23, 2011 Culture, Products

Photo: Cheryl Shuman

From left, Jason Gann (Wilfred), medical marijuana consultant Cheryl Shuman, Elijah Wood (Ryan) and David Zuckerman (executive producer)

Ever noticed how often TV shows get it wrong when it comes to the telling little details of marijuana culture? Inaccuracies, large and small, can diminish our enjoyment of a show because they call our attention to artifice rather than art.

Well, I can assure you those kinds of details are going to be correct in “Wilfred,” a new pot-based comedy debuting tonight on the FX television network. How am I so sure? Because, in what appears to be a first, the producers had the good sense to hire Cheryl Shuman (yes, the well-known cannabis activist and Kush Magazine media director) as medical marijuana consultant.

‘New Approach Washington’ Files Initiative To Legalize Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 22, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Don Skakie

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes: “Ending marijuana prohibition and focusing on rational regulation and taxation will free up law enforcement resources to combat violent and property crimes, and it will restore respect for government and the law”

There’s a new move afoot to legalize cannabis in Washington state. The newly formed political action committee New Approach Washington on Wednesday filed an initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in the state. Sponsoring the measure are prominent civic leaders, along with members of the public health and legal communities.

The initiative would authorize the Washington State Liquor Control Board to regulate the production and distribution of marijuana for sale to adults 21 and older through state-licensed stores. A new marijuana excise tax would be earmarked for prevention, research, education, and health care. State and local retail sales taxes would be directed to the general fund and location budgets.

Unfortunately, the initiative would not allow the cultivation of marijuana by recreational users (medical marijuana patients in Washington are already allowed 15 plants). Cannabis users would be required to buy their supply at state-licensed stores. Another possible sticking point is the codification a THC blood level of of 5 ng/ml as per se driving under the influence; that would criminalize any driving by most medical marijuana patients, although very few daily medicinal users would be impaired at that level.

U.S. Conference of Mayors: War On Drugs Is A Failed Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 22, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: The Weed Blog

United States Conference of Mayors Unanimously Passes Resolution Calling the War On Drugs a Failed Policy Driving Over-Incarceration and Racial Disparities

“The war on drugs — declared 40 years ago this weekend — has been the principal driver of mass incarceration in America,” said U.S. mayors in a resolution adopted on Monday at the United States Conference of Mayors’ annual meeting in Baltimore.

The mayors pointed out that the U.S. has by far the highest incarceration rate in the the world, with 2.4 million of its residents in prison or jail, including about 500,000 Americans behind bars for drug law violations — an increase of 1,200 percent since 1980.

In their resolution, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) officially endorsed pending bipartisan federal legislation, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2011, sponsored by Virginia Senator Jim Webb and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.

Legislation To End U.S. Marijuana Prohibition Coming Thursday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 22, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: Drug Policy Alliance

The first bill ever introduced in Congress to end federal marijuana prohibition is coming on Thursday, June 23. Historic, bipartisan legislation which would end the United States’ war on marijuana — and allow states to legalize, tax regulate and control cannabis commerce without federal interference — will be introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas).

Co-sponsors of the bill include Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)

The legislation would limit the federal government’s role in marijuana enforcement to cross-border or interstate smuggling, allowing people to legally grow, use or sell marijuana in states where it is legal.

4:20 Time? Shipment Of Pot-Stuffed Clocks Busted In Illinois

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 22, 2011 News

Photo: NBC Chicago

All four sides of the 36 clocks had marijuana concealed in them — about a half pound on each side, and a pound at top and bottom.

Police have recovered 132 pounds of marijuana hidden in a shipment of wooden clocks in Illinois.

Roberto Carlin, 38, of Cicero, was charged with marijuana possession and possession with intent to deliver, according to Cicero Police spokesman Ray Hanania, reports NBC Chicago.

The bust came down on Monday, when Cicero Gang and Narcotics Officers were notified by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that a shipment of three packages containing clocks with cannabis hidden inside had been sent from Kentucky and was addressed to a Cicero address, according to officials.

Former U.S. Attorney Sponsors Marijuana Legalization Drive

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: Mike Siegel/Seattle Times

Former U.S. Attorney John McKay is sponsoring a drive to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state.

Marc Emery’s Prosecutor Switches Sides; Joins ACLU, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, and TV Host Rick Steves in Backing Inititiave

The former U.S. Attorney for Seattle who prosecuted “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery said Tuesday that he is sponsoring an initiative to legalize and tax marijuana in Washington state. John McKay, who spent five years enforcing federal drug laws, said he hoped the measure would help “shame Congress” into ending cannabis prohibition nationwide.

McKay, who was fired by the Bush Administration in early 2007, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the laws criminalizing marijuana are destructive because they create a black market fueling international drug cartels and crime rings, reports Gene Johnson.

“That’s what drives my concern: The black market fuels the cartels, and that’s what allows them to buy the guns they use to kill people,” McKay told the AP. “A lot of Americans smoke pot and they’re willing to pay for it. I think prohibition is a dumb policy, and there are a lot of line federal prosecutors who share the view that the policy is suspect.”

Montana Cops Want Caregivers To Turn In Marijuana By July 1

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: Wikiality

Montana caregivers are supposed to turn over their plants to the cops by July 1.

Montana’s medical marijuana caregivers officially have less than two weeks to turn in their cannabis plants to the police to be destroyed, but one advocate says that’s not likely to happen.

On July 1, medical marijuana providers are out of business in the state, thanks to the new law, SB 423, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, reports Matt Leach at NBC Montana. The law supposed “takes the profit out of the industry” (actually, it only drives it underground — and removes the tax benefits to local governments) and forces caregivers to turn over any marijuana they might have on hand.

It’s not gonna go down like that, according to Tayln Lang of the Montana Medical Growers Association.

Study Claims Marijuana Users Don’t Care If They Lose Money

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: NowPublic

Yikes! We can’t have people caring less about MONEY! This is a capitalistic society, after all!

Smoking marijuana makes you care less about money, at least if you believe the conclusions of a recent “scientific” study from an obviously anti-pot bunch of capitalistic Bible-thumpers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

“Smoking marijuana affects peoples’ impulsivity, attention, memory, cognition and decision-making abilities,” the authors of the study claim in a June 21 news release. “That’s been scientifically proven.” Well, yeah, man, at least if the stuff’s any good.

Reps. Frank, Polis To DOJ: Leave Medical Marijuana To States

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Just Out

According to Reps. Jared Polis (left) and Barney Frank, the Obama Administration should lay off medical marijuana patients and providers in states where medicinal cannabis is legal.

Two Democratic Congressmen want to know exactly where the federal government stands on medical cannabis. Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.) are urging the Obama Administration this week to repeat earlier vows to leave the enforcement of medical marijuana laws up to the states.

The Congressmen want Attorney General Eric Holder to renew his commitment to a 2009 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum — known as the Ogden Memo — which said the agency wouldn’t target medical marijuana patients and providers who are in compliance with their state laws, reports Mike Lillis at The Hill.

“Recent actions by United States Attorneys across the country have prompted states to deny patients safe and reliable access to their medicine,” Frank and Polis wrote in a June 20 letter to Holder.

The letter was a result of the lawmakers’ concerns that recent communications from the DOJ and from state and local attorneys indicate the agency is backtracking on the Ogden Memo in the face of conservative criticism that the Obama Administration has somehow been “too lenient” in the “War On Drugs” by allowing sick people to use the medicine recommended by their doctors.

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