Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

California: Thousands Gather To Support Marijuana Lifestyle

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

Photo: Julie R. Johnson/Corning Observer

Ken and Kathy Prather, operators of Tehama Herbal Collective, in Corning, Calif., had a booth and were one of the main sponsors of the World Hemp Expo in Tehama County on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. From left, pictured with the Prathers are Brian Campbell and Ken West.

Thousands of people gathered in Tehama County, California last weekend to participate in a first-of-its-kind event in the area: The World Hemp Expo.

The Expo, held just south of Red Bluff, drew about 800 people on Friday, and 2,500 on Saturday. Because entrance was free on Sunday, event organizers aren’t certain about attendance figures that day.

Ken and Kathy Prather, operators of the Tehama Herbal Collective (THC) in Corning, were major sponsors of the Expo and had a booth set up, reports Julie R. Johnson of Tri-County Newspapers.

Not just anyone could walk into the Expo and start smoking marijuana, explained Ken Prather.

“People had to check in at a designated booth, show their medical marijuana recommendation and receive a blue wrist band,” Ken said. “Then, if they wanted to smoke, they could go to any of a number of patient sections.”

D.C. Could Collect $400K In Marijuana Taxes Over Next 5 Years

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

Photo: MaryjSpot.com

A medical marijuana tax could generate about $400,000 for Washington, D.C., over the next five years, according to an estimate from the city’s top financial officer released on Tuesday.

Washington’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer provided the estimate to the D.C. Council, which has proposed taxing marijuana as part of budget negotiations, reports Jessica Gresko at The Washington Examiner.

D.C. voters legalized medical marijuana in 1998, but Congress for more than a decade blocked implementation of the law, until last December.

Arizona: Medical Marijuana Qualifies For November Ballot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Reality Catcher

An initiative which would legalize medical marijuana has qualified for the November ballot in Arizona.

The Arizona Secretary of State on Tuesday informed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Policy Project (AMMPP) that it had turned in the required number of signatures — 153,365 — to qualify for the ballot. The initiative will be presented to Arizona voters for approval on November 2, reports the Tucson Citizen.

AMMPP in April turned in 252,000 signatures to make sure that the required 153,365 valid signatures were turned it.

Marijuana Legalization On November Ballot In Detroit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Shawn Wilson

The movement to legalize marijuana in Detroit appears to be ready for a decision by voters in November after petitions were certified by the Detroit Elections Commission. The initiative would legalize possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use.

The petitions were filed by the Coalition for a Safer Detroit last month with City Clerk Janice Winfrey. Backers said petitions to put the initiative before voters were certified May 19, reports Darren A. Nichols of The Detroit News.

“They met the proper number (of signatures) and we met all the legal standards,” said Tim Beck, a registered medical marijuana patient who filed the petitions.

California Patients Challenge Marijuana Restrictions

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

Photo: LAist

Medical marijuana patients say a Los Angeles ordinance violates state law and will unconstitutionally restrict their safe access to the medicine. The patients are filing a class action in California Superior Court.

L.A.’s new medical pot ordinance will cap the number of marijuana dispensaries at 70, but about 187 shops that registered with the city before November 13, 2007 will be allowed to continue operating, reports June Williams at Courthouse News Service.

“The effect of this ordinance will be to eliminate most, if not all, of the dispensing operations currently providing patients with their medicine,” the complaint reads. “Additionally, the cap of 70 is arbitrary and unreasonable given patient per capita allocations, particularly when compared to pharmacies, which have no such cap.”

“Though the city states in its findings that it desires to protect the impact of these operations on the city’s neighborhoods, the net effect of the restrictions will be to create mega-collective dispensaries that will have a greater impact on neighborhoods,” according to the complaint.

L.A. Times Poll: California Voters Back Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2010 Culture, Legislation

Graphic: Cooljuno411

California voters think they should be allowed to grow and consume marijuana, according to a new Los Angeles Times/University of Southern California poll. The poll also found more than one in three voters had tried pot, and more than one in 10 had used cannabis in the past year.

The poll found that voters back the marijuana legalization measure on November’s ballot, Tax Cannabis 2010, by a 49 percent to 41 percent margin, with 10 percent undecided, reports John Hoeffel at The Los Angeles Times. But support for the initiative is shaky, the Times reports, with one-third of legalization supporters saying they favor it only “somewhat.”

“The good news for proponents is that they are starting off with a decent lead,” said Dan Schnur, director of USC’s Jesse M. Unruh School of Politics. “The good news for the opposition is that initiatives that start off at less than 50 percent in the polls usually have a hard time.”

Indiana Police Waste Millions Trying To Eradicate Ditch Weed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: International Cannagraphic

Feral hemp grows on an Indiana roadside. The Indiana State Police spent untold millions of federal dollars, and thousands of man-hours, pulling up 20 million stalks of this ditch weed last year. Trouble is, feral hemp contains no THC.

Sgt. Lou Perras and a team of state troopers from the Indiana State Police launched a bizarre annual ritual in May: their patently impossible, insanely expensive, and laughably absurd effort to “eradicate marijuana” in the state.

Perras said part of the war on pot includes combating the public’s lighthearted attitude about the friendly weed.

“People have this attitude — ‘It’s just marijuana,'” Perras said. “That’s a sad misrepresentation of the drug,” the earnest lawman intoned soberly.

Perras seems to irrationally believe his team’s doomed efforts will somehow counteract the romanticism marijuana enjoys. The growing public acceptance of marijuana use — and its legality for medicinal usage in 14 states and counting — is making Perras’s job tougher this growing season, the drug warrior whined.

Montana: Most Would Still Vote For Medical Marijuana Law

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

Graphic: KFBB

A local newspaper poll indicates that Montanans still support legalized medical marijuana in their state.

The citizens of Montana legalized medical marijuana in 2004 with an overwhelming 62 percent of the vote.

The new law didn’t attract a lot of attention until the federal government announced last year that it would not go after medical marijuana patients and providers who are abiding by their state laws determining legal use of cannabis.

But since then, the medical marijuana industry has boomed in Montana, and some anti-drug zealots are now claiming the law is too vague, that it has allowed the sale of marijuana in circumstances that voters didn’t have in mind when they passed the initiative six years ago, reports the Helena Independent Record.

Minneapolis Mayor Blames Pot Smokers For Gang Violence

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: The Political Junkie

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has taken to Minnesota’s airwaves in a misguided attempt to blame violence at the hands of criminal gangs on marijuana consumers.

“When you pay for marijuana, you are paying for the bullet that goes into the head of someone on the streets,” he told the Star Tribune, in one instance of his absurdly inflated rhetoric.

But the mayor’s logic is tragically flawed. By trying to blame violence entirely on marijuana’s consumers, Mayor Rybak is conveniently ignoring the central role in gang violence played by marijuana prohibition and the politicians who support it, according to the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP).

Montana Tobacco Shop Diversifies With Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2010 Dispensaries, Products

Photo: Walter Hinick/Montana Standard

Glenn Erickson, MedMar: “We wanted to provide a safe, secure atmosphere”

One of Montana’s largest single-location retailers of cigarettes is now selling something else to smoke. But you need to be a registered patient to buy it.

Glenn Erickson at Gilligan’s Tobacco Shop has opened MarMed of Montana on the second floor of his store in Butte, reports Tim Trainor at The Montana Standard.

Before adding marijuana to his smokables, Erickson, 55, met with Butte-Silver Bow law enforcement and the county attorney’s office, making sure he was doing nothing illegal and was operating within the law.

“From a business standpoint, there are a lot of unknowns,” said Erickson, who has operated the tobacco shop for 12 years. “Let’s be honest; there is a lot that still needs to be cleared up.”

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