Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Marijuana Dispensary Sues Los Angeles Police Department

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 Dispensaries, News

One medical marijuana patient collective in Los Angeles is taking a unique approach in its fight to defend itself from being forced to close. It is targeting the L.A. Police Department in a lawsuit.

Other suits have been filed by other dispensaries and collectives following the city council’s unanimous decision to ban the shops from operating, but this is the first lawsuit to directly take on the city’s police department, reports the Cannabis Law Group.

The case is Collins Collective v. City of Los Angeles, LAPD. Cannabis Law Group attorney Damian Nassiri is handling the case.

According to the collective, the reason for the suit is that L.A. police officers, in violation of California law, threatened “severe repercussions” on August 13 if the collective continued in its efforts to establish a storefront dispensary. Cops said that if the collective opened, they would forcibly shut it down and arrest the members.

Marijuana Activist Launches Recall of Michigan Attorney General

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 News

MLive

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is, as my mama in Alabama would say, a horse’s ass

A new recall effort against Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette — infamous for his dogged opposition to the medical marijuana law approved by an overwhelming 63 percent of state voters in 2008 — is underway.

Attorney General Schuette has been busily trying to dismantle the state’s medical marijuana law ever since it was passed by voters. He claims to be a “states’ rights conservative” — unless the “state’s right” we’re talking about is a medical marijuana law.

Marijuana activist Richard Clement is trying, for the second time, to remove the attorney general after falling short with a petition signature drive last year, reports WKZO.

Federal Judge Calls For Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 7, 2012 Legislation, News

Speckled Axe

Judge Richard A. Posner: “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana”

Most-Cited Judge In America Criticizes Drug War As ‘Absurd’

A widely respected federal judge called for the legalization of marijuana in a lecture at Elmhurst College in Illinois on Thursday.

Judge Richard A. Posner of the influential Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago “is an intellectual giant who is the most-cited judge in America,” reports Larry Bodine at Lawyers.com. “His call for legalization is considered significant because Posner is considered a legal conservative,” Bodine wrote.

“I don’t think we should have a fraction of the drug laws that we have,” Posner said. “I think it’s really absurd to be criminalizing possession or use or distribution of marijuana. I can’t see any difference between that and cigarettes.”

Road Trip: In Search of Good Medicine – Hercules Health

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2012 Dispensaries, Products

Hercules Health Center is located in a state-o-the-art medical facility in Hercules, California, just north of Oakland

Story and Photos by Sharon Letts

Hercules Health Center, named after the bedroom community by the same name just north of Oakland, California, is located in a well-manicured, modern industrial park in a state-of-the-art, modern medical facility.

The large building is occupied by dozens of medical specialists who are no strangers to the dispensary or the magic of cannabis.

“We have many specialists in the building who send patients here for alternative therapies,” said Ed Breslin, co-founder of the center.

Uruguay: No Marijuana Tourism Under Legalization Plan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2012 Global, Legislation, News

Hispanically Speaking News

Uruguay President Jose Mujica: “We feel that putting it aboveboard, regulating it, can be a lesser evil than what is happening today”

Aw, man! If Uruguay’s parliament approves a historic plan to legalize marijuana, drug tourism will not be allowed in the South American nation, President Jose Mujica said on Wednesday.

The plan, under which Uruguay would sell marijuana to its citizens, will require people to prove they are Uruguayan before scoring any weed, Mujica told Agence France Presse (AFP). The legalization bill — the first complete legalization in the world, as opposed to decriminalization of “tolerance” as practiced in places like the Netherlands and Portugal — “is to resolve a problem that we ourselves have,” President Mujica said.

Montana Medical Marijuana Activist Receives 5 Years Probation

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Helena Independent Record

Medical marijuana provider Tom Daubert was facing a 20-year federal prison sentence — and he was following Montana state law. On Thursday, he got five years’ probation.

Tom Daubert, a drug policy reform activist with a long history of work for humane medical marijuana laws, received five years’ probation in a decision reached Thursday by federal U.S. District Court.

“I’m grateful for the judge’s leniency but I will never stop believing that patients deserve to live under a law that recognizes true science,” Daubert said upon being sentenced.

Daubert’s former business, Montana Cannabis, was raided by federal agents in March 2011. Despite having worked closely with state and local law enforcement leaders throughout his involvement in marijuana production for state-legal patients, Tom was prevented from submitting a defense under federal law that his company complied with Montana’s medical marijuana law.

MPP’s Kampia Publishes Misleading Chart About I-502

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 6, 2012 Legislation, News

Mary Jane’s House of Glass

Rob Kampia, shown here partying at the Playboy Mansion, doesn’t seem too concerned about getting a marijuana DUI. Oh yeah, those are only for Washington state, right?

Rob Kampia, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, published a Huffington Post column this week which included a chart supposedly illustrating “the Facts on I-502” which included an unintentionally humorous section.

Under “Arrests,” the chart tells us “If I-502 passes in WA on November 6th,” “NO ARRESTS,” and then in smaller print, “as long as you’re complying with the new law.” Gee, Rob, how many law degrees do you have, again?

It’s much the same with the rest of the chart. Under “Penalty for Wholesale Cultivation,” it’s “NO PENALTY if you have a marijuana producer’s license.” What the chart doesn’t tell you is that after an initial $250 setup fee, “marijuana producer’s licenses” will cost $1,000 per year (expect this number to go up quickly.)

Even the chart has to admit that the penalty for growing your own “Doesn’t change from current law. Manufacture becomes legal for licensed producers, not for home growers.”

Kampia, much of whose staff at MPP resigned a couple years ago after a sex scandal, spends most of the article lecturing Washington state activists on how the 502 debate is “off-track,” presumably because patients are insisting upon actually reading and questioning the legislation upon which they’re being asked to vote.

German Authorities Shut Down Planned Cannabis Rally

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 5, 2012 Culture, Global, News

Dampfparade 2012

Rally Would Likely Have Been Largest Cannabis Demonstration In German History

A cannabis demonstration and parade planned for Saturday in Cologne, Germany — which was shaping up to be the largest marijuana protest ever held in Germany — is being shut down at the last minute by the Versammlungsbehörde, a local government office that oversees public gatherings.

“This is the first time a pro-cannabis march has been planned for Cologne, which is located in the most populous area of Germany,” Daniel S. of Duisburg, Germany, told Toke of the Town on Wednesday morning. (Dan in no way speaks for the parade or any associated organizations; he just happens to live nearby and knows some people involved in the parade’s planning.)

The march was shaping up to possibly be the largest demonstration of its kind ever in Germany, thanks in large part to a positive response on Facebook and word-of-mouth advertising.

Planned speakers included Lars Scheimann, the first German citizen to be granted a medical marijuana card to treat his Tourette’s and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Scheimann has since helped more than 60 other people get similar approval for medicinal cannabis to treat various conditions through his organization, “Cannabis Als Medizin” (Cannabis As Medicine).

What If Obama Had Called A Real Marijuana User?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 5, 2012 Culture, News

On September 3, in what President Obama’s press secretary described as an attempt to appeal to “the youth vote,” the Obama campaign released an ad featuring fictional potheads Harold and Kumar.

The President asks them for their support and they agree, mindlessly gobbling junk food and chuckling at cartoons. But the Obama Administration has waged a war on marijuana users at a faster pace than President Bush, even attacking state-legal medical marijuana at nearly every turn.

Your vote is worth more than a stoner “wink-and-nod” commercial.

Caravan For Peace To Visit NYC To Call For End To Drug War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 5, 2012 Culture, News

Caravan For Peace

Poet-turned-activist Javier Sicilia galvanized the Caravan For Peace, Justice and Dignity movement to end the Drug War in Mexico after his son was killed last year

Unprecedented Coalition of NY Organizations to Welcome Caravan September 6-7 with Vigil-March, Press Conference at City Hall, Action at HSBC Bank, and More

Poet Javier Sicilia and Other Drug War Survivors Will Honor 60,000+ Lives Lost in Mexico and Demand Accountability for Wall Street’s Money Laundering for Drug Traffickers

The “Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity” will arrive in New York City Thursday, September 6, on its voyage across the United States calling for an end to the failed Drug War that has left more than 60,000 dead in Mexico in the last five years.

Poet and movement leader Javier Sicilia and other people from Mexico who have lost loved ones in the Drug War have joined with Americans impacted by the War On Drugs to travel more than 6,000 miles together through more than 25 cities — including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago — before arriving in Washington, D.C., on September 10th.

Several New York-based organizations, including the Drug Policy Alliance, YoSoy132NY, New Sanctuary Movement-NY, CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies, Make the Road New York, Occupy Wall Street, Women on the Rise Telling HerStory, VOCAL-NY and others will welcome the Caravan when it arrives on Thursday by holding a candlelight vigil to commemorate drug war victims in both countries.

Previous 1 … 31 32 33 34 35 … 377 Next