William Breathes

Oregon officials change position, allow marijuana-infused foods

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 Medical, News

Brownies are okay, but candies like this will remain illegal.

As we reported last week, Oregon recently began re-allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to operate in the state under a new, uniform set of guidelines. Among those rules: dispensaries weren’t allowed to sell edibles that could be “attractive to minors”. That meant no cookies, brownies, crackers, candies or anything sweet and loaded with cannabis extracts could be sold.
But state officials fixed that problem last night, issuing a revised set of rules that allows for baked infused-foods but still banning anything that is colorful and childlike, or anything that is “an animal or any other commercially recognizable toy or candy.”

Pot smugglers unknowingly hire cop to deliver 1,000 pounds of schwag to Dallas

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 News, Say what?

Your average U.S. truck driver in the makes something like $.30 or $.40 cents per mile. It’s enough to make a living but not much else.
Swap the 18-wheeler full of widgets for one full of Mexican marijuana, and the job becomes way, way more lucrative. Reliable data are tough to come by — this particular sub-occupation isn’t tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it’s not a topic that comes up in online trucking forums — but anecdotally, a driver transporting weed can make $50,000 for a 430-mile trip, or roughly 300 times his law-abiding counterpart. That’s at least the amount that was offered last week to an undercover law enforcement officer in Laredo for the eight-hour drive to Dallas.

Arizona sheriff ordered to return medical marijuana to patient by state Supreme Court

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 Medical, News

Wing-Chi Poon/Commons.

Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot told the media last summer that returning marijuana to a medicinal user was “not how we do business.”
But Wilmot did not return calls or even issue a statement this morning after the U.S. Supreme Court decided — by its inaction — that Wilmot must give the pot back to the patient. With the decision to turn down the Yuma case for a hearing, the U.S. Supreme Court has sided squarely with the state’s medical-marijuana law.

Washington D.C. mayor okays measure decriminalizing possession of an ounce of pot

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 News

U.S. Navy images.

Washington D.C. elected officials have decriminalized up to an ounce of cannabis in our nation’s capitol, though the law still needs approval from the U.S. Congress before it is official.
Mayor Vincent Gray signed the measure last night, making the possession an ounce or less a civil offense punishable by a $25 fine at most. Smoking ganja in public remains illegal, and you can still be jailed for up to two months for lighting up a spliff anywhere other than the safety and privacy of someone’s home. Marijuana possession does remain illegal on federal property in the city, however (which is practically everywhere).

Florida medical marijuana activist questioned by Child Protective Services on anonymous tip

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 Medical, News, Say what?

A Florida woman was abruptly visited by Florida Child Protective Services last week on an anonymous tip that she had been administering marijuana to her son, who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy.
Turns out, Renee Petro was not administering any marijuana to her 12-year-old son, Branden. Petro has, however, been an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana. The real crime, it would seem, was the intrusion of CPS agents arriving at her home to interrogate her 9-year-old daughter and the nurse who takes care of Branden.

Nauru, world’s smallest island nation, legalizes marijuana, bans booze

By William Breathes on April 1, 2014 Global, Legalize It, Say what?

The world’s smallest island nation is banning alcohol and legalizing cannabis. Members of the Nauruan Parliament approved a measure legalizing the sales, cultivation, use and possession of marijuana for adults on the island with a fifteen to four vote.
Nauru now joins Uruguay as one of the two nations to outright legalize the plant. Government offiials say the hope to boost travel to the extremely remote island, which has been almost entirely decimated by 50 years of phosphate strip mining.

Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary crackdown now targeting landlords

By William Breathes on March 31, 2014 Medical, News

Basil Soufi/Commons.

Los Angeles has had a contentious relationship with medical marijuana dispensaries for years that culminated last year with Proposition D, which banned all but 135 dispensaries in the city, shut down hundreds of shops.
But not all of them closed quick enough, prompting the Los Angeles City Attorney, Mike Feuer to begin filing criminal complaints with dispensary landlords and building owners – more than 120 since September of last year.

Virginia voters mixed on marijuana law reform according to latest poll

By William Breathes on March 31, 2014 Legalize It, Medical, News

Virginia is for medical marijuana lovers, with 84 percent of registered voters polled in a recent Quinnipiac University Polling Institute study saying they want legal access for sick Virginians.
But support for medical marijuana doesn’t equal support for the recreational use of cannabis, with 46 percent of people in the same poll agreeing that adult use be tolerated. That could shift in the next few years, however. Seventy-one percent of voters aged 18 to 29 said they want to legalize cannabis.

Coloradan sues Idaho State Police, claims Colorado license plate profiling

By William Breathes on March 31, 2014 News, Say what?

Increasingly, Coloradans driving out of state are finding themselves the target of questionable highway patrol stops that seem to always end with an attempt to flush out any weed the driver may have on themselves. Cops in other states deny they are singling out Coloradans, but anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention knows that’s crap.
One Coloradan is stepping up and doing something about it: 69-year-old Darien Roseen, a man who has never once tried marijuana in his life. Roseen has filed a lawsuit against Idaho State Police officers in Payette County, Idaho.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton now denies telling moms to buy pot off street

By William Breathes on March 31, 2014 News, Say what?

Mothers of children with afflictions they believe could be treated by medical marijuana claim Governor Dayton “suggested” to them during a private March 13 meeting that they should just buy pot off the street in lieu of having legal access. (Watch video of one mother detailing what was said at the meeting at the bottom of this post.)
According to a WCCO report, Dayton wasn’t contradicting that version of events as recently as Wednesday. “The governor does not deny he told at least one of the parents to buy illegal pot off the street,” Pat Kessler reported. Gov. Waffles tune changed during a news conference late last week, however.

Author William Breathes