Author William Breathes

This year has not been a good one for the NYPD. The department has found itself in an uphill PR battle for pretty much all of 2014, starting as far back as December 2013 with then-Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s announcement that Bill Bratton, considered to be the architect of the NYPD’s much-reviled “broken windows” policing policy, would be returning to the force as its commissioner. There was the death of Eric Garner, who was killed when Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo used an apparent chokehold while trying to arrest him for selling illegal cigarettes on Staten Island. There was the shooting death of Akai Gurley at the hands of a rookie police officer. And then there was the Garner grand jury decision and the subsequent protests. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the NYPD will probably be happier than anyone to see the ball drop on New Year’s Eve.

Benjamin Russell Halgren via GoFundMe.com.

Even messier than gay marriage, the wild inconsistencies of marijuana policies across the nation are really too chaotic for anyone to keep up with. In the span of a week, the federal government came out in support of medical marijuana, and two states neighboring Colorado sued the weed mecca over its lax laws.
Congress’s shift on medical marijuana policy came rolled up in a massive spending bill that President Barack Obama signed into law on Tuesday. For the first time, the federal government is giving individual states the option to decide whether weed has any medicinal value. For more, visit the Minneapolis City Pages.

Richard DeLisi, sentenced to three consecutive 30-year terms, or 90 years, for a marijuana importation conviction in 1989, will remain incarcerated. Judge Michael E. Raiden denied a motion requesting a review of his sentence last week. DeLisi has spent the past 26 years behind bars for a nonviolent offense that has a normal guideline sentence range of 12 to 17 years.

Anna Cozy, the owner of Colorado Alternative Medicine in South Denver, has been arrested and accused of faking documents related to her marijuana business and supplying them to inspectors. According to a report from the Denver D.A.’s office, Cozy was charged with two counts of attempting to influence a public servant and three counts of forgery.
According to the arrest affidavit on view below, the investigation started in late November, after a Marijuana Enforcement Division investigator suspected Cozy of handing over forged documents regarding a Marijuana Infused Product (MIPs) license and the store’s grow operation.

Videos and more below.

Stephen Colbert isn’t going anywhere — other than CBS, where he’s been chosen to take over the Late Night franchise from David Letterman. But last week was his final episode of his signature show, The Colbert Report, on which he’s given plenty of coverage to cannabis. Below, check out one our favorite of all time.
Videos: Stephen Colbert dubs Colorado “Potsylvania” in hilarious “reports”
Published March 14, 2014 at Westword.com. Page down for the video.

We told you late last week about the lawsuit filed in federal court by the states of Nebraska and Oklahoma against the state of Colorado over the legalization. Basically, their complaint is that marijuana from Colorado is finding it’s way to their states and causing law enforcement to work overtime busting people for minor amounts of ganja.
We’d say it’s a surprise, but it’s not an anyone that has been paying attention to the growing rift between the two states over the last few months would probably agree. The Denver Westword has more on the border battles.

Where does 25 equal 30, and 22.7 percent equal “most?”
The Arizona Republic’s “Fact Check: Keeping Arizona Honest” column, of course.
In Sunday’s paper, as a reader informed us this week, a fact-check completely flubs the evaluation of Mark Brnovich’s comment on TV last month about the state’s medical-marijuana patients.

The Missouri marijuana-legalization activists who filed an initiative petition to get legal weed on the 2016 ballot are re-filing their paperwork after the secretary of state’s office rejected it for minor form issues. So if you were looking to comment on or sign the petition, you’ll have to wait a little longer.
Before a new ballot initiative is approved by the secretary of state’s office, the attorney general takes a look-see to make sure the language conforms to legal style, which can be tricky. After KC NORML submitted its proposal to regulate marijuana like food — meaning no age restrictions, no DUI risk, no taxes for medical product — the attorney general’s office rejected it for minor style issues, including incorrect underlining and brackets.


This is exactly what marijuana cooking needed: a 91-year-old Italian grandmother that knows how to throw down in the kitchen teaching her skills to the masses via the internet.
For what it’s worth, Aurora Leveroni, star of Vice’s “Munchies” series doesn’t partake in the pot she cooks — but she knows it can help and wants to share her love of healing through food with the world.

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