Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Tightened Medical Marijuana Rules Head To Montana Legislature

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 25, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Nick Wolcott/Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Dean Folda sits among the marijuana plants he grows at his home in Bozeman, Montana, to treat chronic pain. Getting medical authorization to use cannabis for chronic pain could get a lot more difficult under the tightened rules proposed by a legislative committee on Tuesday.

A bill tightening Montana’s medical marijuana regulations will be drafted and forwarded to the 2011 session of the Legislature, a panel of lawmakers decided on Tuesday.

Medical marijuana patients and growers warned that the proposal contains some unnecessary restrictions on patients and suppliers of cannabis, which has taken off as a booming business in Montana over the past year, reports Mike Dennison of the Missoulian.

“If we the people pass a law, then how could a legislative body who we elect, completely carve that law up, do whatever they want with it because they put together a committee?” asked Jason Christ, owner of the Montana Caregivers Network, reports Matt Leach of NBC Montana.

Will Mexico Use Armed Drones Against Marijuana Farmers?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 25, 2010 Global, Growing

Photo: Project for the New American Century

Israeli Hermes 450 drones can be heavily armed, and they’ve been bought by the Mexican military for their Drug War. It doesn’t take much imagination to see what could happen next.

Mexico has bought Israeli-made unmanned drone aircraft, the government said, which may be used to spot hidden marijuana fields as officials continue their bloody Drug War against powerful cartels.

But is that all the drones — which can be heavily armed — will be used for? After all, this is the Mexican military that has bought the drones, for use in their Drug War which has already claimed 28,000 lives in the past four years.

And these are the exact same drones that were responsible for at least 48 deaths during Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza.

With neither side in the Drug War — the Mexican military and the cartels — having shown any compunctions about bloodshed, it doesn’t take much imagination to see what could happen next.

Charges Dropped Against ‘KopBuster’ Barry Cooper

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 25, 2010 Culture, News, Products

Photo: Loopy Lettuce

Former narcotics officer Barry Cooper got tired of the Drug War and switched teams. Now he advises marijuana users on how to avoid getting arrested.

Former Texas narcotics officer Barry Cooper, who turned against the Drug War and pulled a reverse sting operation against the Odessa Police Department, will walk on all charges related to the incident, an attorney for Ector County announced Tuesday.

Cooper, well known for his Never Get Busted DVDs, set up a fake marijuana grow house in Odessa, wired it for sound and video, and then used an anonymous letter to lure police into a December 2008 raid, reports Stephen C. Webster at The Raw Story.

Obama, Bush Drug Czars Team Up Against Prop 19

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 25, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: The Straits Times

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has joined with the past five Drug Czars under Bush and Clinton administrations to fight against marijuana legalization under Prop 19 in California.

What do you get when you put six Drug Czars together? Same old bullshit, except more of it.

It was probably inevitable, but that doesn’t make it any less deplorable. Obama Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske has joined forces with five past directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, including czars who served under Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush, against California’s marijuana legalization voter initiative, Proposition 19.

You would think that six so-called “drug experts” working together could come up with better-reasoned arguments against Prop 19 than these tired old talking points by tired old bureaucrats.

Not that anybody’s surprised that Kerlikowske, and by extension, the Obama Administration, opposes pot legalization. Gil’s already helpfully let us know that legalization isn’t in his vocabulary.

“No country in the world has legalized marijuana to the extent envisioned by Proposition 19, so it is impossible to predict precisely the consequences of wholesale legalization,” write Kerlikowske, John Walters, Barry McCaffrey, Lee Brown, Bob Martinez and William Bennett in an August 25 Los Angeles Times op-ed piece.

Of course, “no country in the world” had tried representative democracy “to the extent envisioned” by our Founding Fathers, either, but we didn’t let that stop us, did we?

It Could Get A Lot Tougher To Get A Marijuana Card In Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Anti/LAist

A committee of Montana lawmakers discussed on Monday plans to make it much tougher to get a medical marijuana card in the state.

The proposals would “clarify” the list of eligible diseases and “make it easier for authorities to track and regulate the industry,” according to Christian Hauser at NBC Montana.

After a summer’s worth of work, the legislators describe the proposed bill as “tightening up and cracking down,” reports Marnee Banks of KXLH-Helena, all in a misguided response to the state’s rapidly growing medical marijuana community.

Governor Dislikes Medical Marijuana, But Likes Tax Money

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: The Associated Press

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter: “I was not in favor of medical marijuana, but I’m also a lawyer and a governor, and I believe in the law”

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter doesn’t like medical marijuana, but he sure likes the tax money that comes from it. Gov. Ritter said on Monday that the state is using $9 million from medical marijuana registrations to help the state meet a $60 million “fiscal emergency.”

Ritter said the state expects to end the year with 150,000 applicants for medical marijuana licenses, up from 41,000 in 2009, reports The State Column. Colorado marijuana cards cost $90 per year.

“I was not in favor of medical marijuana, but I’m also a lawyer and the governor, and I believe in the law,” Ritter said, reports Tim Hoover at The Denver Post. “And it’s the law in this state.”

Facebook Says No To Pro-Legalization Just Say Now Campaign

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Firedoglake

Facebook has banned the ads of anti-prohibition group Just Say Now, a campaign for marijuana legalization. Just Say Now ran ads that showed their logo, which uses a marijuana leaf. Despite the ad running more than 38 million times, Facebook has flip-flopped and starting censoring the ads, claiming they promote “tobacco products.”

“In a nutshell, they allowed us to serve our ads for 10 days (38 million impressions), then suddenly reversed their approval and told us we could no longer show the image of a marijuana leaf,” said Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake and the Just Say Now advisory board.

“They said they decided to reclassify it as similar to tobacco, but we said we weren’t trying to encourage people to smoke marijuana, we were supporting a change in U.S. drug policy,” Hamsher said, reports Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing.

Save The B.C. Marijuana Bears! Jason Priestley Joins The Fight

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 24, 2010 Global, Growing, News

Photo: RCMP

An RCMP officer poses with two of the bears found at a marijuana grow-op in British Columbia. The bears were quite friendly and wanted to lay on top of investigating officers’ patrol cars.

Actor Jason Priestley has joined a growing global campaign to save more than a dozen docile, mellow black bears that were found protecting a marijuana crop in British Columbia, Canada.

Police discovered 14 bears — which they believed to have been lured there with dog food by the owners to protect the illegal crop from cannabis thieves — wandering happily around the property during a pot raid on July 30.

Officials originally said they planned to destroy the bears if they couldn’t fend for themselves and continued to depend upon human food.

Massachusetts Towns Giving Up On Marijuana Enforcement

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: ABC News

Some Massachusetts towns are throwing in the towel when it comes to marijuana enforcement. Puzzlingly, some folks, mostly cops, seem upset about that.

Some towns in Massachusetts have given up enforcing the state’s marijuana law which decriminalized the possession of small amounts of pot, saying the law is written with too many loopholes to be effective.

The decrim law established a civil fine of $100 for those caught with an ounce or less of cannabis. That punishment replaced what had been a criminal offense carrying a penalty of six months in jail and a $500 fine, also for possession of an ounce or less.

But the decrim law, which voters overwhelmingly passed in November 2008, doesn’t require offenders to correctly identify themselves, nor does it give a way for cities to make them pay the fines, reports The Associated Press.

What has resulted is a patchwork of marijuana enforcement across Massachusetts, as some communities continue to hand out hundreds of the $100 civil citations for pot, while others look the other way when it comes to personal cannabis use.

Top 5 Exciting Quotes From Seattle Hempfest

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 23, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Steve Elliott/Reality Catcher

Seattle Hempfest 2010 Hemposium participants, from left: Rob Kampia, MPP; Doug McVay, Berkeley Patients Group; Alison Holcomb, ACLU of Washington; and David Nott, Reason Foundation

Another Seattle Hempfest has entered the history books, and this 19th gathering of the tribes was another great one.

Among the highlights of the event — you know, other than the obvious ones, like 4:20 at the Seeley Stage — were the Hemposium discussion panels including marijuana policy experts from across the country.

For policy wonks and committed marijuana activists, some very exciting quotes came out of those sessions.

Here are five of the best.

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