| United we stand, divided we fall my arse. |
Medical marijuana supporters in Kentucky are celebrating a small victory this week, as a compassionate medical cannabis bill made it’s way out of a Democrat-controlled Health and Human Services Committee meeting. The bill will now go before the House for consideration.
Sadly, that might be about as far as House Bill 350 will move in the otherwise conservative House and Senate.
Indiana farmers could soon be planting fields of hemp as an industrial hemp production bill moved through the state’s House Agricultural Committee earlier this week to the full House.
With House approval, the bill would head to the governor’s desk as the measure has already been approved by the state Senate.
| Andrew Johnson. |
Minneapolis Councilman Andrew Johnson is one of those rare characters in the medical marijuana debate, playing both politician and patient. He was diagnosed only a few years ago with an extreme form of glaucoma in both eyes, he says. Before major surgeries, his doctors have prescribed conventional medicine to decreased pressure, one of which had the potential to be fatal.
“Our legislators allowed me to be on a drug that could kill me, but not medical marijuana,” Johnson says. “I have, as a result, less vision in my eyes.”
The Minneapolis City Pages has more on Johnson’s story.
| This guy. |
It feels like just yesterday Justin Bieber was down in the Sunshine State allegedly blocking off a Miami Beach roadway, drag-racing with R&B singer Khalil and being snarky with the po-po. The Biebz was placed under arrest for failing a field sobriety test, resisting arrest, and driving with an expired license.
As a first-time offender, TMZ reports the megafamous pop star was offered a pretty standard plea deal: community service, alcohol abuse classes, and random drug testing. In his infinite wisdom, he said no deal. After all, this is Florida, where people have literally gotten away with murder. Read the rest over at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
Bill O’Reilly is known for trumpeting his willingness to engage anyone, anytime on the field of intellectual combat. But is he really more interested in chatting with people who simply reinforce his views, thereby turning alleged debates into echo chambers? No surprise that KNUS talk-show host Peter Boyles has an opinion about that — one based what he characterizes as on a retracted invitation to appear on O’Reilly’s show tonight, when the Fox News star may or may not be launching an attack on Colorado’s marijuana laws.
Westword.com has more.
Last month, the Minneapolis Violent Crimes Coordinating Council did something odd. Members decided to make their “strong opposition” to medical marijuana known by sending a letter to the bill’s chief legislative proponents, including State Rep. Carly Melin. It asserted that the chronic pain of individuals did not outweigh the interests of public safety.
In response, Melin solicited the nonpartisan House Research Department for background information on the VCCC. She asked specifically about whether the council had the authority to issue opinions on pending legislation. Minneapolis City Pages has the rest.
| Pristoop. |
We all know cops aren’t the brightest bulbs on the shelf (after all, if they were smarter they wouldn’t be cops). But in case you needed a reminder of the mental heavyweights we are dealing with, Annapolis Police Chief Michael Pristoop had to publicly apologize yesterday for passing on a satirical, hoax news story claiming 37 marijuana deaths the day Colorado legalized pot sales.
Even better: Pristoop admits that he believed the information was completely accurate, and even though none of it is true he still is sticking by his wrongheaded position.
California state Senator Lou Correa (D-Anaheim) has pulled off the impossible: he’s authored medical marijuana legislation that is actually supported by both the California League of Cities (which has both lobbied against pot dispensaries and helped cities actively ban them) as well as law enforcement, which has never supported a single pro-pot bill.
Check out the OC Weekly for more.
| Video below. |
Back in 2012, Denver’s Westword offered an in-depth tour of smoke shacks — low-key structures at numerous Colorado ski resorts where particularly kind skiers stop to smoke a little pot before getting back to the slopes. Now, Inside Edition has discovered these venerable attractions, but the hilariously hysterical tone of the report, which employs hidden cameras and focuses on the prospect of carnage and catastrophe, couldn’t be more different from Breathes’. Look below to see the crazy video, which, as you may have already discovered, is in auto-play mode.
Check out the vid over at Westword.com
| Russian Federal Narcotics Service director Viktor Ivanov. |
In Russia, marijuana smokes you! Or, apparently that’s what Russian officials want the Russian public to believe. According to Russian Federal Narcotics Control Service chief Viktor Ivanov, marijuana users are 60 times more likely to be heroin users than non-marijuana users. In addition to becoming junkies, pot smokers end up depressed and schizophrenic in later life.
Not that the former KGB officer backed up those statistics with any actual documentation or anything like that.