Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Army Vet, 80, Busted In Pot Raid; Had Given Names To Plants

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2010 Growing, News

An 80-year-old Minnesota man is facing felony charges after a marijuana raid, with police claiming he is the leader of a what they called a “large-scale grow operation.”

Welcome to the world of American drug enforcement, where an old man tending a few plants — at least some of which he had apparently given names — passes through the Drug War looking glass and becomes magically transformed into a major grow-op.

Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, police raided a location just south of Winona, Minn., near a family campground on August 24. They say they found an outdoor greenhouse, three firearms, and Army discharge papers dated from 1953 belonging to the man, reported Leif Knutson at My Fox 9.

The elderly suspect, Donald John Everding, had “several” cannabis plants more than eight feet tall as part of an “elaborate” grow operation, police said, reports Matt Christensen at the Winona Daily News. (Hey, you ever notice how, with the cops, grow-ops are seemingly always either “elaborate” and “sophisticated” or “dangerously primitive”?)

Michigan: Marijuana Patient Dies A Week After ‘Gestapo’ Raid

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 3, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: The Oakland Press

Sal Agro looks at what was left of his medical marijuana garden after cops raided his home. Agro, 67, didn’t get to live his final days in peace. Police officers ripped the place apart and seized his plants a week before he died.

Remember Sal Agro!

A Michigan man who spoke out last week about police tactics after an August 25 medical marijuana raid at his home died on Thursday.

Sal Agro, 67, died due to a heart attack, according to family members. He recently had hip surgery, reports Carol Hopkins of The Oakland Press.

After the raids, Agro, a retired GM worker and beloved Lake Orion sports coach, walked through areas of his home to show where police had ripped apart beds and clothing, looking for marijuana.

Several marijuana plants he was growing for medical use were torn out and confiscated by police.

Michigan Judge Allows Medical Marijuana Defendants’ Use

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 3, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Fox 2

A district judge in Ferndale, Michigan said Thursday he would allow state-approved medical marijuana defendants to keep using cannabis while out on bond — in sharp contrast to a Waterford judge’s statement Tuesday that said pot use by defendants in a parallel case would be a bond violation.

“They have every right to use whatever medications” their physicians authorize, Ferndale District Judge Joseph Longo said.

The contrast in treatment for those arrested in metro Detroit’s first major medical marijuana raids showed just how differently judges can interpret the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act, according to Wayne State University law school professor Bob Sedler, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Montana Teen Accidentally Texts Sheriff To Buy Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 3, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: The Baltimore Files

It’s usually best not to text the sheriff with a marijuana purchase request. That may seem obvious, but a Helena, Montana teen sent a text message last week looking for pot — and instead of contacting the dealer, he hit a wrong humber and accidentally sent the message to Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton.

“Hey Dawg, do you have a $20 I can buy right now?” the text read.

At first, the sheriff thought somebody was just messing with him, but then he realized it was a real request from a cannabis consumer, reports Alana Listoe at the Helena Independent Record.

“I’m thinking, ‘Hey, this is odd,’ ” Dutton said. “I was looking around to see if there was someone outside my window playing a prank.”

Prop 19 Pot Legalization Holds Onto 47-43 Lead In New Poll

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 3, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Yes On Prop 19

It’s gonna be a close one in California, as the latest poll on Proposition 19, this November’s tax and regulate voter initiative, shows the numbers tightening.

According to the latest SurveyUSA poll [PDF] of likely voters, taken August 31-September 1, Prop 19 still holds a modest lead with 47 percent of voters saying they will vote yes with 43 percent saying they will vote no. Ten percent still weren’t certain how they’d vote on the measure.

The last two times SurveyUSA polled the state, August 9-11 and July 8-11, 50 percent of likely voters said they’d vote yes for legalization, while 40 percent said they would vote no, reports Jon Walker at Firedoglake.

The initiative would allow adult Californians to possess up to one ounce of cannabis, while allowing cities and municipalities to allow, prohibit or regulate its sale in retail stores, reports Dennis Romero at LA Weekly.

Just this week, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced she will co-chair the campaign against legalization of marijuana with L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca.

“Is it no surprise that people are going to get killed behind this easy profit?” Baca said Wednesday, reports Nannette Miranda of ABC 7. The sheriff seems to be unaware that the illegal nature of pot is what leads to the violence — just as with alcohol Prohibition.

Powder Found In Traffic Stop Not Drugs, But Grandma’s Ashes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 3, 2010 News

Photo: TV Or Death

The life of the party? Troopers thought they’d found a bag of meth or coke. But it was just Grandma.

Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers thought they’d found a bag of meth or coke — but it was just Grandma.

Officers pulled over two men in a car about 7 a.m. Wednesday, and found trace amounts of marijuana, prescription drugs and “drug paraphernalia” in the ensuing search — and it sure looked they’d hit the jackpot when they discovered a powdery substance in a zip-lock bag.

The zip-lock bag containing the powder was tucked inside a purple and gold-trimmed Crown Royal whiskey bag, inside the vehicle’s center console.

Troopers claimed they initially thought the bag held some sort “poor quality cocaine or methamphetamine,” so they contacted the car’s owner — the girlfriend of one of the men — and asked her, according to Sgt. Stephen Townsend, reports Kieran Nicholson at The Denver Post.

Cal Expo Decides Medical Marijuana Is Immoral; Kills Billboard

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

Graphic: a site so dumb I ain’t linkin’ it

In an unusual alliance, Sacramento dispensary CannaCare had been running an advertisement on Cal Expo’s digital billboard along Interstate 80. But Cal Expo, a unit of California government which puts on the state fair, unaccountably got paranoid and decided to nix the ad.

“Although we haven’t had any complaints, we discussed it internally and decided it wasn’t appropriate,” said Cal Expo Assistant General Manager Brian May. So it looks like the state agency won’t be selling any more ad space to the local cannabis shop.

So how did Cal Expo officials go about killing the pot billboard? Documents show that agency bigwigs approved a “morality clause” against marijuana advertising, report Hugh Biggar and Nick Miller at the Sacramento News & Review.

That’s right, folks: Marijuana may be used for medical purposes, but it’s still “immoral,” according to these mental midgets.

Florida: Abandoned Boat Loaded With Marijuana Drifts Ashore

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 2, 2010 News

Photo: Eric Hasert/TCPalm

Ingrid Peters helps recover debris from the 33-foot boat that came ashore carrying 1,100 pounds of marijuana on Tuesday morning. “You never know what’s going to wash ashore,” Peters said.

An abandoned boat carrying about 1,100 pounds of marijuana drifted ashore this week on a Treasure Coast island in Florida.

A Hutchinson Island resident called the U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday morning, thinking the drifting 33-foot boat might be experiencing some sort of trouble, reports Will Greenlee at TCPalm. But as the vessel came close to shore, she said a man with no shirt or shoes jumped out and ran away.

St. Lucie County deputies and federal agents searched the boat, which came ashore about 6:40 a.m., and found about 1,100 pounds of neatly packaged marijuana they claimed was worth an estimated $1 million.

New Research Challenges Marijuana Gateway Theory

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 2, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NORML Stash Blog

Your tax dollars were used to pay for this dumb-ass billboard just outside of Portland, Oregon.

The widespread belief that marijuana users will eventually and inevitably move on to harder drugs has yet more evidence against it with the release of a new study from the University of New Hampshire.

Whether teenagers who smoked pot will use other illegal drugs as young adults has a lot more to do with factors such as employment status and stress, according to the new research, reports Science News. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether someone will use hard drugs is their race/ethnicity, not whether they ever used marijuana.

“In light of these findings, we urge U.S. drug control policymakers to consider stress and life-course approaches in their pursuit of solutions to the ‘drug problem,’ ” wrote UNH associate professors of sociology Karen Van Gundy and Cesar Rebellon.

‘Weeds’ Star Mary-Louise Parker Doesn’t Smoke Weed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 2, 2010 Culture, Products

Graphic: Showtime

Mary-Louise Parker may star in Weeds, but she doesn’t smoke ’em.

In some disconcerting news for those of us who have been fantasizing about hot marathon smoking sessions with Mary-Louise Parker, the star of Showtime’s Weeds has admitted she doesn’t smoke marijuana.

But at least Parker, 46, who plays the role of pot-peddling housewife Nancy on the hit cable series, doesn’t judge you for toking up, reports Gerrick D. Kennedy at the Boston Herald.

It’s not that Parker has anything against cannabis, you see. It’s just that it doesn’t seem that exciting.

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