Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Kurtis Blow Busted For Marijuana At LAX After Body Scan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2010 Culture, News

A few years ago, Kurtis Blow found God. Thursday morning, the TSA found weed in Blow’s pants.

TSA Finds ‘An Anomaly’ In Rapper’s Pants

Legendary rapper Kurtis Blow, 51, was busted Thursday morning at Los Angeles International Airport after a TSA body scanner detected “an anomaly” in his pants, which turned out to be a bag of marijuana.

Law enforcement sources told website TMZ that after the new body scanner detected an item in his pocket, a resulting pat-down revealed the weed.

Blow, real name Kurtis Walker Combs, who now says he is a pastor, got a ticket for marijuana possession — after all, an ounce or under of pot is decriminalized in California — and went, weedless, on his way.

Democratic Senator Threatens To Block DEA Nominee Leonhart

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Politics of Pot

Michelle Leonhart’s nomination has hit a snag, and it’s not about marijuana, it’s about access to painkillers for nursing home patients

A Democratic Senator is threatening to block the Obama Administration’s pick to head the Drug Enforcement Administration due to a dispute over restrictions on how nursing homes dispense prescription drugs to patients.

The DEA has stepped up a crackdown on facilities allowing nurses or other nursing home staff to dispense powerful prescription drugs without a doctor’s authorization, reports Evan Perez at The Wall Street Journal.

The nursing home crackdown is supposedly part of a wider DEA effort to “prevent abuse” of prescription painkillers, which are often diverted to the black market for large profits.

Nursing home facilities aren’t staffed with enough doctors to be on hand to prescribe drugs every time they’re needed, according to industry groups. And nursing homes don’t seem inclined to change their “business models,” since keeping more doctors on staff would reduce profits.

Workplace Battles Coming For Arizona Medical Marijuana Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Arizona Capitol Times

Perhaps inspired by the plight of employees such as Joseph Casias, a Michigan Wal-Mart worker who was fired for legally using pot for medicinal purposes, Arizona’s new medical marijuana law prohibits employers from discriminating against medical marijuana cardholders.

But zero tolerance of “drug use” is the workplace norm in the state, and some say the new law clouds what had been a clear-cut issue for workers and employers.

Employment attorneys say the new Arizona law does allow employers to fire or discipline workers who use medical marijuana on t he job, or whose work is impaired by pot, reports Jahna Berry at The Arizona Republic.

But important questions remain. If a supervisor suspects that a medical marijuana patient’s pot use affects the quality of his or her work, how should they respond? If employees who are medical marijuana patients get injured on the job are they eligible for worker’s compensation? And what happens if a legal medical marijuana patient fails a company’s drug test when applying for a position?

Stoner To Cops: Go Ahead, You Heard Him Say He Smelled It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 News

Graphic: KMVT

A 27-year-old Florida man was arrested on November 9 on charges of marijuana possession after giving a unique consent to search.

Deputies were searching the home of the man and his roommate, who was on probation, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Department, reports Angel McCurdy of the Northwest Florida Daily News.

While searching, a deputy remarked that he smelled marijuana.

When another deputy asked the man if he would consent to be searched, the man said, “Go ahead, you already heard him say he smelled it.”

A plastic, ziplock bag was found in the man’s pocket and was confirmed to be marijuana, according to deputies.

ACLU Sues Michigan Cities That Have Banned Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: WWJ

Saying the rights of patients are endangered, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan on Wednesday filed lawsuits against three metro Detroit communities that have passed ordinances banning medical marijuana.

The ACLU filed the suit against the cities of Livonia, Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills on behalf of a Birmingham couple who want to use medical marijuana in their home, take it to private clubs in Bloomfield Hills and grow it in the husband’s warehouse in Livonia, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

The suit, filed on behalf of Linda and Robert Lott of Birmingham, alleges that the three cities have each adopted ordinances that effectively ban the couple and other patients from legally using medical marijuana as overwhelmingly approved by 63 percent of Michigan voters in 2008, reports RoNeisha Mullen of The Detroit News.

AC/DC Drummer Pleads Guilty To Marijuana Possession

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Streaming Oldies

Phil Rudd, 56, drummer for AC/DC, was convicted and fined for possessing 27 grams of cannabis.

AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd was convicted of marijuana charges in his hometown of Tauranga, New Zealand, earlier this week after being caught with just under an ounce of cannabis.

Rudd, 56, was fined only $250 plus $132.89 court costs, but the “drug conviction” could make it problematic to travel on AC/DC’s world tours, reports RTT News.

Police said had discovered the marijuana in the drummer’s boat, the Barchetta, at the North Island’s Tauranga Bridge Marina on October 7, according to the website SunLive.

Law enforcement officials claimed they found 25 grams of cannabis on the dock and another two grams on the boat.

Rudd’s attorney Craig Tuck requested a minimum sentence to limit the effect on the heavy metal drummer’s career, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.

GPS Directs Confused Canuck Into U.S.; He Gets Busted For Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Methods of Healing

Welcome to America! A Canadian man is in a U.S. jail after the GPS in his vehicle directed him to a remote border crossing, where agents found a pound of marijuana in his car and busted him.

Darrell Fudge, 54, was driving from British Columbia back to his home in Newfoundland Sunday and said he did not intend to enter the United States. But his GPS gave him the shortest route, which led through northern Maine, authorities said.

Federal agents claimed they found the cannabis in a cooler, according to The Associated Press. They turned the case over to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Feds Charge 13 In Scheme To Ship Marijuana With Toilet Paper

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2010 News

Photo: 10tv.com

Now it’s all in the crapper: About 6,000 pounds of marijuana was seized at a Columbus, Ohio warehouse. Another 2,000 pounds was found at a vacant condo in suburban Hilliard.

Drug Enforcement Administration officials have charged 13 people in an alleged scheme to ship tons of marijuana to Ohio stashed between packages of toilet paper.

The whole scheme went down the crapper Saturday when nearly 8,000 pounds of marijuana was found in two locations. The pot had a value of more than $5 million, claimed Anthony Marotta, the top DEA official in Columbus, Ohio, report Kathy Linn Gray and Jim Woods of The Columbus Dispatch.

Marotta said about 6,000 pounds of marijuana — more than three tons — was found hidden in a delivery of toilet paper rolls at a Columbus warehouse.

Another 2,000 pounds of pot was found in a vacant condominium in suburban Hilliard, Ohio, Marotta said.

The group allegedly used U-Haul trucks filled with toilet paper to hide the pot, authorities said, reports Ashleigh Barry of WBNS-10TV.

Pot Collectives: Road To The Future Or Path To Frustration?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Humboldt County News

Exclusive Interview: Humboldt County Growers Find Collectives Bring Complications

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

“It seemed so much easier when it was illegal,” my knowledgeable friend told me candidly. “You basically had to hide what you were doing and find your own way to get your crop to market. Trying to do this legally with others and letting the government and the law in? It’s a headache.”

Toke of the Town spoke with a grower in Humboldt County who, along with others, has taken the steps to establish a farmer’s collective, primarily a way to come out of the shadows legally in an effort to develop safe and fair practices for the distribution of marijuana.

Illinois House Defeats Medical Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: The Fresh Scent

The Illinois House on Tuesday defeated a measure that would have made Illinois the 16th state to allow patients to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s approval.

The medical marijuana bill got 53 votes, but needed 60 to pass, report Ray Long and Monique Garcia at the Chicago Tribune. Voting against the bill were 59 lawmakers, and one voted “Present.”

The measure was aimed at helping people with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses have a better quality of life, particularly after doctors have tried multiple medications that have not helped, according to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie).

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