Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

San Jose To Pot Clubs: You’re Illegal; We’re Taxing You Anyway

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2011 Dispensaries, News

San Jose’s medical marijuana dispensaries are required to pay a new tax starting tomorrow — even though haven’t been declared legal yet.

Even though San Jose, California considers all of its 100 or so medical marijuana dispensaries to be unlawful, city officials are still welcoming the pot providers to City Hall on Monday to talk about a new program which greatly interests the cash-strapped city: a marijuana tax.

Starting Tuesday, March 1, San Jose will slap a seven percent tax on marijuana dispensaries under a measure city voters overwhelmingly approved in November, reports John Woolfolk at the Silicon Valley Mercury News.

Most dispensary owners always assumed taxation would also mean legal acceptance, but now it appears the beleaguered providers will be catching it from both sides: they’re still subject to police raids at the same time they are responsible for paying taxes.

Can Legally Using Medical Marijuana Get You Fired?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2011 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Rose Law Group

Most companies won’t fire you for prescription drug use. But they’ll sack your ass in a heartbeat for the medical use of marijuana — even in states where it’s legal.

Washington Supreme Court To Decide

Washington voters approved the medical use of marijuana back in 1998, but state law is unclear on whether employees can be fired for legally using cannabis. Now, 13 years after voters legalized medicinal pot, that question is likely to be answered by the Washington Supreme Court, which heard a test case on the issue last month, reports Jonathan Martin at The Seattle Times.

Man Killed During Drunken Argument Over How To Grow Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 26, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Hawkins County Sheriff’s Department

Gary Wayne Parker of Surgoinsville, Tennessee killed his friend after a drunken argument over marijuana growing methods.

A Tennessee man was shot dead early Friday morning during an alcohol-fueled argument over marijuana-growing techniques.

About 2:45 a.m. on Friday, deputies were called to a shooting complaint at the residence of Gary Wayne Parker, 55, in Surgoinsville, Tennessee. They found Randy J. Armstrong, 53, also of Surgoinsville, on the floor with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, reports Jeff Bobo of the Kingsport Times-News.

Armstrong was transported to Holston Valley Medical Center in Kingsport, where he later died.

Does Marijuana Really Need A Big-Box Store Like Walmart?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 26, 2011 Culture

Graphic: Adam Vieyra/SD City Beat

The future of marijuana retailing in America? We hope not.

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

It is 8:05, Pacific Standard Time and the TV is rehashing the morning news. I’ve already boogie-boarded the Net for the past couple of hours reading the wires, the tubes, The Times; NY and LA, the blogs and of course the RSS feeds I have from all cannabis-related well-springs.

While the real news should be all about what’s happening in the Mideast (over there) or the Midwest (over here), but as of a minute ago, some guy in New York on Good Morning, America has just pulled out this tease before going to commercial. “Up next, the Wal-Mart of Weed, to open today in Sacramento, California.”

South African Cannabis Activist Missing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Global, News

Photo: Missing Green Activist

Cannabis activist Peter Charles Freeman Miller was last seen on February 23.

A South African humanitarian and marijuana activist whose cultivation case was recently thrown out of court has been missing for more than 72 hours under suspicious circumstances.

Peter Charles Freeman of the family Miller has been well known as a cannabis and industrial hemp activist in South Africa for a number of years.

Peter was arrested on Friday, February 18 for cannabis cultivation, after which his case was thrown out when he claimed his human rights, using the book The Report.

He told his wife on Tuesday, February 22 that he was under the impression that “somebody wanted to stop him” from his efforts to decriminalize marijuana.

Peter, who served as public liaison officer for NORML South Africa, was last seen at his home in the Reeds Centurion wearing a pair of blue shorts on February 23. The house was found unlocked and the door was open. His keys were left inside the house, and his blue hat was lying on the front patio.

Drug Czar Meeting With Paper After It Calls For Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Injustice In Seattle

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske requested — and got — a meeting with the editorial board of the Seattle Times after the newspaper endorsed marijuana legalization

Immediately after the Seattle Times ran an editorial last week supporting marijuana legalization, the newspaper got a telephone call from Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske in Washington, D.C., Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger reports.

Kerlikowske, who heads up the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), wanted to fly to Seattle to “talk personally” to the paper’s full editorial board, reports Dominic Holden at The Stranger.

Holden called the meeting “an apparent attempt by the federal government to pressure the state’s largest newspaper to oppose marijuana legalization.”

‘Walmart of Weed’ Opening Saturday In Sacramento

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Daily Mail

Retail hydroponics store weGrow is being called the “Walmart of weed.” It will open Saturday in Sacramento, selling everything needed to grow cannabis except the seeds.

The Walmart of weed is coming to Sacramento, California on Saturday.

Far from denying the ambitious title, weGrow, a huge hydroponics store marketing itself as a retail outlet for people cultivating marijuana for medical use, is embracing it, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.

The 10,000-square-foot weGrow store, at 1537 Fulton Avenue in Sacramento, is the first national franchise for a company billing itself as a “supply and training destination” for legal cannabis cultivators.

The business started in Oakland last year as a warehouse store called iGrow. It doesn’t sell any marijuana — but it does have marijuana plants there for “display purposes only,” reports the U.K. Daily Mail.

WeedMaps Website Offers Daily Coupons For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 25, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: WeedMaps

Buying bud on a budget? WeedMaps has a deal for you.

WeedMaps, known for directing medical marijuana users to nearby dispensaries in states which allow it, has borrowed an idea from Groupon, the popular coupon-swapping website, and is now offering daily coupons and discounts on medicinal cannabis, reports Jeremy A. Kaplan at Fox News.

While the service has been called “Groupon for ganja,” site founder Justin Hartfield was quick to point out the differences between the two.

“It’s only like Groupon in the sense that there’s a new deal every day,” he told FoxNews.com. “We’re not accepting money from end users.” Groupon customers buy merchandise online, he explained, meaning subscribers rely on the daily coupon website itself to handle the transactions.

Police: Stolen 25 Pounds Of Marijuana Was Legal

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

Photo: THC Finder

25 pounds of marijuana, above, along with some plants, were taken from the home of a Newport Beach, California man whom police say was legally justified to possess that amount.

A California man who had 25 pounds of marijuana and marijuana plants stolen from his home earlier this month did have legal justification to possess that amount, according to police.

The resident in Santa Ana Heights, a suburb of Newport Beach, is protected under the California Department of Justice’s legal guidelines for possessing and cultivating marijuana for medicinal use, said Lt. Bill Hartford, reports Joseph Serna at the Costa Mesa Daily Pilot.

“The individual had the appropriate issued medical marijuana paperwork and/or licensing for the amount of marijuana and marijuana plants there were in his possession,” Hartford said.

229 Marijuana Dispensaries Make Deadline For L.A.’s Lottery

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

Photo: Kevork Djansezian

More than 200 medical marijuana dispensaries have applied to be in a lottery to select 100 legal dispensaries in Los Angeles.

The lottery is L.A.’s second try at narrowing down the number of pot shops in the city, reports John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times. The first attempt relied on a moratorium ordinance, but was ruled unconstitutional by a judge.

According to the city clerk’s office, 229 applicants had filed by the February 18 deadline to participate in the lottery. The office released only the number of applicants, declining to provide any information on them.

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