This church of ours is open to all. . . . There will be no outcasts,” reads a banner looming over comedian Pat Leborio as he struts onto the stage. He’s in the church hall of St. Clement’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente, ready to start a set for an audience that seem to be the last people on earth ready to listen to an hour of insults thrown their way: addicts.
As past weed-themed gift lists we’ve run featuring the best marijuana gifts of 2012 and 2013 demonstrate, Colorado pot shops have embraced the holidays for a while now. But 2014 promises more deals than ever, with a number specifically pegged to Black Friday.
As the Associated Press has reported, The Grass Station is promising to sell $50 ounces to the first sixteen customers per day Friday-Saturday, November 28-30. Here’s a graphic featuring all its Black Friday “door busters:” The Latest Word has more.
| VVM/Christine Cool. |
It’s become a common sight in Colorado — at Broncos games, in movie theaters and malls, in the bathrooms at bars and clubs, even behind high schools and in employee parking lots. People will quickly, slyly grab a device from their pocket that looks like a pen and put it to their mouth. Then, after just a tiny puff and the mere hint of the smell of pot or cigarette smoke, they’ll put the device — which doesn’t get hot — back into their pocket and go back to whatever they were doing.
The use of vape pens and e-cigarettes has been common for a while, but it caught on big in 2014 after recreational marijuana became legal in Colorado at the beginning of the year. So big, in fact, that Oxford Dictionaries chose “vape” as its word of the year for 2014. Denver Westword has more.
Dennis Action said that the side effects of cancer treatment nearly killed him in 1999. If it wasn’t for medical cannabis, he likely wouldn’t be here. And now he wants to help others, proposing what would be New Hampshire’s first medical marijuana facility in Epping.
But he’s facing some pretty ignorant opposition from the county selectmen.
“Marijuana is marijuana, whether you’re using it for medical purposes or enjoyment, it’s still illegal,” Thomas Gauthier, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said to Action Monday night at a hearing according to WMUR.
| Evan Amos. |
A former city councilman in Harford, Maryland was arrested with more than two pounds of pot in September and will be facing multiple felony and misdemeanor charges that could land him jail for years.
According to court records unsealed last week, Lance Miller was busted with multiple bags of pot totaling 2.25 pounds in September in a house that cops imply was used as a grow facility.
Visiting Colorado soon? You’ll want to know what is going on in the cannabis community.
Remember those never-ending working group meetings surrounding the never-say-die edibles bill? The working group has been unable to reach a consensus, but you still have a chance to offer a public comment…if you do it quickly. Denver Westword has more.
| Ray Stern. |
| A homeless guy in Phoenix. |
Lingering on a road median in Phoenix can now mean a possible fine or jail time, but police are required to give first-time warnings to offenders. In an apparent effort to limit a dangerous form of panhandling, the Phoenix City Council last week passed an ordinance that bans pedestrians from hanging out in the middle of a street. Designated as an “emergency,” it took effect immediately, and enforcement begins this week.
Phoenix New Times has more.
Another night of violence, looting and property damage plagued Ferguson last night with the grand jury’s announcement that Darren Wilson would not be charged with the killing of Michael Brown. Although the initial reaction on South Florissant Road in front of the Ferguson Police Department seemed peaceful at first, the violence many were expecting ultimately prevailed.
Here is the arrest data provided this morning by the St. Louis County Police Department: 61 total arrests last night in Ferguson. There were seven for unlawful assembly, one for assault, one for arson, 29 for burglary second, six for misdemeanor possession of stolen property, ten for misdemeanor receiving stolen property, one for felony receiving stolen property, seven for trespassing, one for unlawful possession of a firearm, one for marijuana possession. Yes, the cops actually arrested someone for marijuana possession in the middle of all of this. Riverfront Times has more.
We told you last week about a Michigan prison cop who died prior to being sentenced for his role in a medical marijuana brownie sting. It turns out that 49-year-old Tim Bernhardt committed suicide, rather than face the felony charges of maintaining a drug house – charges he saw for simply being a medical marijuana patient and making some brownies. Bernhardt was facing up to two years in jail and $25,000 in fines.
According to Michigan law, concentrated forms of marijuana are illegal even for medical cannabis users – that includes infused butter, arguably the most common way to make pot edibles. The court has upheld that ruling as recently as July of 2013 – despite overwhelming evidence that it’s an absurd qualification. The judge based the ruling on the language of the state medical marijuana law, which defines marijuana as the “the dried leaves and flowers of the marihuana plant, and any mixture or preparation thereof.”
| Part of a new marijuana-edibles-education billboard introduced earlier today. Additional images below. |
Earlier today, a new billboard encouraging responsible storage of marijuana edibles was introduced by the Marijuana Policy Project; see more images below. MPP spokesman Mason Tvert stresses that the display is part of an ongoing educational campaign and shouldn’t be interpreted as message to legislators, who’ll be making decisions about edibles packaging after a working group essentially punted following many weeks of work on the issue.