Author Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

Gary Johnson Picks Pro-Marijuana Judge For VP

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 30, 2012 News

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson, left, has selected Judge Jim Gray as his running mate.

Libertarian presidential candidate and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has selected retired California Judge Jim Gray, a prominent marijuana legalization advocate, to be his running mate.

Judge Gray’s selection “puts pot front-and-center in the campaign,” a Johnson campaign staffer told Will Rahn of The Daily Caller, before adding that the campaign’s defining issue will likely remain Johnson’s opposition to the war in Afghanistan.

Kimmel Addresses Marijuana Legalization At White House Dinner

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 29, 2012 Culture, News

Yahoo! News

“What is with the marijuana crackdown?” Kimmel asked, looking directly at President Obama.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel addressed the issue of marijuana legalization while delivering his remarks at the 2012 White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.

“What is with the marijuana crackdown?” Kimmel asked, looking directly at President Obama, reports Paige Lavender at the Huffington Post. “Seriously, what is the concern? We will deplete the nation’s Funyon supply?” A slightly uncomfortable-looking Obama smiled broadly at this.

“Pot smokers vote, too,” Kimmel continued. “Sometimes a week after the election, but they vote.”

Moms Unite To End The War On Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 27, 2012 Culture, News

Moms United to End the War On Drugs

Mothers Groups, Who Played Key Role in Ending Alcohol Prohibition, Aspiring to Repeat Success 80 Years Later

Moms, Cops and Students From Around Country to Share Personal Experiences of Tragic Drug War and Unveil “Mom’s Bill of Rights”

Mothers from around the country will join with law enforcement and students at the National Press Club on May 2nd in honor of Mother’s Day. The press conference will launch a new campaign comprised of national organizations representing mothers, police and students that seek to finally end the disastrous Drug War.

Moms, cops and students will share powerful stories of losing loved ones to drug prohibition-related violence, incarceration, overdose and addiction, unveil the “Mom’s Bill of Rights,” and highlight a series of activities around the country timed to Mother’s Day.

Dutch Court Upholds Ban On Foreigners Buying Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 27, 2012 Culture, Global, Legislation

Radio Netherlands Worldwide

The “Wietpas” (Weed Pass) will exclude foreigners from the Dutch coffee shops where cannabis is sold

A Dutch court on Friday upheld a new law banning foreigners from buying marijuana in coffee shops in the Netherlands, possibly ending decades of “weed tourism” for which Amsterdam and other cities have become world-famous.

A Dutch judge in the Hague ruled that the new law is legal. The move to ban foreigners from buying cannabis is being fought in the city of Amsterdam, where the coffee shops are a major tourist draw and where many shops owners have vowed to ignore the law once it comes into effect.

The conservative government of the Netherlands seems hellbent on turning back the clock to a darker time in Dutch history — a time when the cannabis trade was underground and people had to depend on the black market for marijuana. According to expert observers, the ripples could reverberate internationally.

S.F. Democratic Party To Obama: End Medical Marijuana Attacks

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2012 Medical, News

Salem-News.com

The San Francisco Democratic Party has given a blistering rebuke to President Obama’s assault on the medical marijuana community.

A resolution was adopted Wednesday by the party’s Central Committee (DCCC) demanding that President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag “cease all Federal actions in San Francisco immediately, respect State and local laws, and stop the closure of City-permitted medical cannabis facilities.”

The resolution was co-sponsored by 21 DCCC members including: its author Gabriel Haaland, Assembly member Tom Ammiano, State Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor David Campos, Supervisor David Chiu, former State Senator Carole Migden, and former Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

How Portugal Successfully Decriminalized Drugs [Infographic]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2012 Global, Legislation

Via: Rehab Info
Should the United States decriminalize drug possession and focus more on treatment than punishment?

4/20 Denver Whupped My Ass

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 26, 2012 Culture

All photos by Bob Starrett

By Bob Starrett

That’s not true; I admit it right off. Replacing the radiator in my car whupped my ass, or rather my right shoulder and neck. So when we did arrive at Civic Center Park, too late to get a place in the ampitheater and me brandishing a new camera, it wasn’t long before I realized that my goal of getting a bunch of great shots of the event was in jeopardy; I could barely lift my right arm to manipulate the camera. A crippled wannabe cameraman with an erroneous date stamp on his pictures.

I bought a new camera small enough to slip into my pocket in case we had to mix it up with the authorities. Of course that never happened and I really didn’t expect that it would, and I wouldn’t have been able to do much mixing even if it had. The Denver 420 event was a permitted two-day event and the cops were a small and quiet presence on the perimeter.

Because of our tardiness we were relegated to the Stoners section of the park. That’s how I characterized it. Activists and Stoners. As my companion put it, “Those aren’t political people, those aren’t activists. Those are just kids getting stoned. Babies.” And she was right. Wrapped in the protection of a crowd that knows it is largely safe from raid or citation, the folks that we ended up with looked like high schoolers.

Deep Green Fest: Educating, Enlightening, Inspiring [Photos]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 25, 2012 Culture, Products

All photos by Sharon Letts

Canna Comic Sherry Glaser on the main stage “Being Mother Earth.”

Photos and Story by Sharon Letts

Deep Green Fest II was held the day after 4/20 in the picturesque locale of the historic Craneway Pavilion, located just over the Richmond Bridge from San Francisco.

Joining up purposefully with Earth Day celebrations, Deep Green’s intent is to educate and enlighten on all things green – including Hemp, Cannabis, and holistic healing, with a healthy dose of politics thrown in for good measure.

Four stages featured music, lectures, and panels on everything from beekeeping to Cannabis, Hemp and legalization of both, Canna economics, responsible business models, and protecting children in the crossfire.

The star of the event was Stephen DeAngelo of Oakland’s Harborside Health Center, with his brother Andrew close by. Both were featured in the Discovery Channel’s Weed Wars, and promises of a second season of the hotly debated super miniseries were tweeted earlier in the week by Stephen, but quelled by event day with a promise of finding a new network.

Worth Repeating: Meet Your Marijuana Brain Module

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 25, 2012 Medical

Green Wellness

Worth Repeating

By Ron Marczyk, R.N.

Health Education Teacher (Retired)

Medical marijuana treats so many human illnesses so well due to its stimulation of the endocannabinoid system (ECS).

Why is this so?

Because the present day medical therapeutic application is based on the evolution of the endocannabinoid system and the psychology of our species.

Together, there is nothing more natural than medical marijuana and how it works in the human body. Let me explain.

Garden Grove Invites Feds In Against Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 25, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Leonard Ortiz/The Orange County Register

Kandice Hawes, 30, director of Orange County NORML, protests outside the Costa Mesa City Council in February after they called in the feds to raid medical marijuana dispensaries. Now, Garden Grove’s police chief has done the same thing.

Police officials in Garden Grove, California — apparently unwilling to uphold state law, which allows medical marijuana dispensaries — have invited federal authorities who raided collectives in Costa Mesa earlier this year to do the same in their town.

The Garden Grove Police Department has already been in touch with federal agents, and “they will be coming to Garden Grove in the future,” promised Police Chief Kevin Raney at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, reports Roxana Kopetman at The Orange County Register.

Chief Raney would not give details of the city’s request, but said his department is seeking the help of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in “enforcing federal law.” The Chief seems unaware that he is charged with enforcing state law; maybe he always wanted to be a “federal agent,” or something.

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