Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

2nd Annual HOPE Fest Hemp Rally Coming To Boise, Idaho

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2012 Culture, Products

The second annual Idaho H.O.P.E. Fest, Boise’s only hemp rally, is coming up on Sunday, September 30 at Ann Morrison Park. The gathering — to educate the public on the many uses of hemp — is designed to promote awareness on the reform of marijuana laws in a positive and polite atmosphere, according to organizers.

H.O.P.E. stands for Hemp Offers People Everything, and this year’s event has a number of goals:

• To collect signatures on Compassionate Idaho’s Citizens Initiative seeking to legalize medical marijuana for Idaho’s seriously ill patients

• To promote the re-legalization of industrial hemp

• To educate the public on the growing cannabis industry, a legitimate market providing jobs and economic growth to states that have legalized its medical use

• To push for public discussions on the reform of Idaho’s archaic and unjust cannabis laws.

Sentencing of Legal Marijuana Providers Highlights Harmful Obama Policy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 28, 2012 Medical, News

Michael Short/San Francisco Chronicle

Protesters of President Obama’s medical marijuana crackdown march down Broadway in downtown Oakland

Justice Department uses prosecutorial discretion to seek decades in prison for legal Michigan cultivators

Five medical marijuana patients and caregivers will be sentenced in federal court next week, highlighting the human cost of the federal government’s intolerance for state medical marijuana laws.

Two medical marijuana caregivers from Monroe County who were convicted earlier this year in federal court will be sentenced at 3 p.m. Monday, October 1, before U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson (231 W. Lafayette Blvd, Detroit). Gerald Lee Duval Jr., 52, and his son, Jeremy Duval, 30, were raided by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in 2011 and charged with felony cultivation, maintaining a place to cultivate marijuana, and conspiracy to distribute.

In April, the Duvals were convicted at trial, the expected result of federal laws that prohibit any medical defense or reference to state law in front of juries.

Medical Marijuana Provider Found Guilty; Faces Up To 90 Years

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Medical marijuana provider Chris Williams on Thursday was convicted of all eight charges, and faces up to 90 years in federal prison

Montana medical marijuana provider Chris Williams on Thursday was found guilty on all eight counts related to his work at a state-licensed medicinal cannabis caregiver organization, which was the subject of a federal raid in March of 2011.

The case was seen as a big test of the federal raids of state-compliant medical marijuana in the Big Sky State. Williams ran the Helena greenhouse of Montana Cannabis, where federal agents seized 950 plants in March 2011.

The operation was the biggest of the 26 medical marijuana providers raided that day across Montana.

Yes On 80 Campaign Says Marijuana Prohibition Is The Problem

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Darryl James/Willamette Week

The Human Collective director Sarah Bennett (right) helps a client at the dispensary in Tigard. The Human Collective was raided Thursday morning.

Campaign Makes Statement on Oregon Medical Marijuana Raids: ‘Regulation is the solution.’

Washington County, Oregon sheriffs’ officers on Thursday morning raided The Human Collective, a medical marijuana facility in Tigard. Sheriff’s Sgt. Bob Ray claimed The Human Collective dispensary, which opened in April 2010, was selling marijuana.

Two people were detained during the search, reports Noelle Crombie of The Oregonian. No arrests were made, and nobody has been charged with a crime.

Arkansas Medical Marijuana Initiative Approved For Ballot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 27, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Arkansans For Compassionate Care

State Supreme Court Allows Ballot Language, Arkansas Now First In South to Vote on Medical Marijuana

Great news from Dixie! The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a suit challenging the language of the ballot initiative that would allow seriously ill Arkansans to use marijuana to treat certain conditions with the recommendation of their doctors. The initiative will now appear on the November state ballot as Issue 5.

Justices rejected a challenge by a coalition of anti-marijuana “conservative” groups who had asked the court to block the initiative from November’s general election ballot, or to order the state not to count any votes cast on the issue. Gotta love those wingnuts, trying to deny voters the right to choose!

With the court’s decision, Arkansas is now the first state in the Southern U.S. whose residents will have a chance to determine if their friends and neighbors will be able to use the medicine that works best for them without the fear of arrest.

Women For Measure 80 Holding Marijuana Legalization Fundraiser

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Legislation, News

Women For Measure 80

Women for Measure 80, a group that is working to restore industrial hemp and end cannabis prohibition in Oregon, is hosting a fundraiser Saturday, September 29, at Plew’s Brews in the St. John’s neighborhood of Portland.

Sponsored by Ethereal Madness Entertainment, the event promises to be a full day of live music, good conversations, good brews and cannabis & hemp education. Music will be provided by Cascadia Rising, The Roaming, Xperience of Psykosis, Sam Gustafson, Cupcake, Gringo Stars, Justin James Bridges, WeSickBoss, Miriams Well and more.

A silent auction with some great prizes and a masseuse provide even more ways to support Measure 80 at this event. A medication area will be provided for OMMP registrants.

“We are excited that this event is receiving so much local support,” said Anna Diaz, founder of Women for Measure 80. “It’s time for our state to provide a more sensible approach to marijuana laws that will create jobs and protect our children.”

Video of the Day: I Love My Bong

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Culture, Products

Toke of the Town’s Video of the Day, “I Love My Bong,” is from Washington state’s Boris Budd and the Waterboarders.
“It’s a fun look at medical marijuana patients and others passionately executing their activities of daily living while using cannabis,” band leader Boris Budd told Toke of the Town Wednesday afternoon.
“The video also includes a ‘bong cam’ and Mad Scientist scene where a super bong is invented,” Budd told us.

B.C. Municipalities Pass Marijuana Decrim Resolution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

Cannabis Culture

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities voted Wednesday in favour of a resolution calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and the study of a taxed and regulated system. The vote followed an extensive debate of the issue on Monday where delegates heard arguments in favour and against the resolution.

Speaking in favour of the resolution were Dr. Evan Wood, physician, researcher and founder of Stop the Violence as well as David Bratzer, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and Geoff Plant, former attorney general of B.C.

The UBCM vote came after the Sensible BC campaign to decriminalize cannabis through a provincial referendum held a public forum in Victoria, which drew more than 500 attendees.

Guatemala’s President: Let’s Legalize Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

U.S. Open Borders

President Otto Perez Molina says the War On Drugs has failed

President Perez Molina Breaks New Ground by Proposing Legal Regulation of Drugs on Eve of Wednesday’s Speech at U.N. General Assembly

Proposal Bolsters Opposition to Drug War Among Latin American Leaders as Drug Prohibition Debate Continues to Escalate

President Otto Perez Molina of Guatemala on Tuesday announced his intention to propose legally regulating currently illicit drugs as a means of reducing crime, violence and corruption. He is expected to elaborate on his proposal Wednesday when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

Feds Will Enforce L.A.’s Marijuana Dispensary Ban For Them

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 26, 2012 Dispensaries, News

The Native Angeleno

The U.S. federal government on Tuesday took action to shut down 71 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles, where the city council recently voted to ban the cannabis access points altogether.

The U.S. Attorney’s office for Southern California sued three property owners that rent to dispensaries, raided three shops, and sent warning letters to 68 more, enforcing federal law, which doesn’t recognize the 1996 California voter initiative that legalized marijuana for medicinal uses, reports Greg Risling of the Associated Press.

Federal authorities started targeting L.A.’s pot shops almost a year ago; the city council’s own dispensary ban is being challenged in court, and could be overturned by popular vote if a referendum appears on a future ballot. The latest round of letters targets all the dispensaries in downtown Los Angeles and in the Eagle Rock neighborhood, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s office in L.A., reports Dennis Romero of LA Weekly.

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