The Arizona Republic published a TKO of its editorial board this weekend, after the writers declared that the state’s voter-approved medical-marijuana program was “one of the biggest cons around.”
Dr. Gina Mecagni, a local emergency physician, simply annihilated the Republic’s assertion that most medical-pot patients probably are fakers, echoing arguments we’ve also made here at Toke of the Town. Check out Dr. Mecagni’s response over at the Phoenix New Times.
Author William Breathes
Denver City Council has taken the first step towards banning cannabis use on your property if it can be viewed from the street. That pretty much eliminates all toking in front yards and on balconies within the city limits.
As one Denverite so eloquently said at the meeting: “I would rather see police going after serious drug problems than playing security patrol for the Stepford wives.”
Might Denver City Council’s proposed sniff test, which would outlaw residents’ use of marijuana on their porches and balconies if others could see or smell it, give one of Amendment 64’s main proponents nowhere in his hometown to legally smoke?
That’s among the contentions of Mason Tvert, and to dramatize his concerns, he’s holding a press event on the balcony this morning, in advance of the council once again discussing the proposal at a meeting this evening. Denver Westword has the full story.
Peter Lewis, the 80-year-old billionaire founder of Progressive Insurance and major donor to marijuana-related causes, died over the weekend of natural causes.
It was with Lewis’s help that bills passed in Washington for recreational marijuana use and Massachusetts for medical use last year. According to Forbes, Lewis dropped nearly $3 million in 2012 for freeing the weed in one way or another.
| Corey Ann. |
Here’s a strange one from our friends at the Dallas Observer. Legend has it that the slaves who once labored in the fields of the LeBeau Plantation never entirely left. Cruelly mistreated, some to their death, their restless spirits wandered through their master’s sprawling mansion, taking revenge upon its occupants. One by one, the LeBeau family was driven mad, two of them hanging themselves in the upper rooms. Decades later, a little girl was mysteriously thrown to her death from a fourth-floor window.
Police say it was those stories that inspired Fort Worth’s Dusten Davnport, 31, to visit the house Thursday nights with a group of friends, get stoned then burn it down. Click over to the Dallas Observer for the details.
| Wikimedia commons/Public domain image. |
The mayor of Amsterdam is pushing for laws that would close cannabis-friendly coffee shops within 250 meters of schools, but only for part of the day. After about 6 p.m. as well as all weekend long and on holidays, the shops can open back up to tokers and space-cake eaters alike.
In the states, heads would roll over shops being within 250 feet of a school or even 1,000 feet of a school. Actually, that’s not true. The feds simply send out $.49 letters to everyone within 1,000 feet of schools and shut them down without really lifting a finger.
According to the Washington State Patrol, more drivers are testing positive for pot than this time last year.
Whether or not there are actually more stoned drivers out there remains up in the air, however.
(Ex) Buffalo Police Officer James Hamilton is a hypocrite. On one hand, he’s a cop. His job is to bust pot dealers, growers and users in his town along with the rest of the Buffalo Police. They are good at it, too.
On the other hand, Hamilton allegedly was a mid-sized pot grower and dealer who tended a basement garden with 82 marijuana plants while on the force where he recently was named “Rookie of the Month,” according to the Buffalo News.
| TokeoftheTown.com |
Smoke it if you’ve got a recommendation. That’s what the vast majority of Floridians say about marijuana. A new Quinnipiac poll shows that 82 percent of Floridians support the use of medical marijuana.
But only 48 percent support decriminalization of small amounts of pot for recreational use, which, hey, is still almost 50 percent. Miami New Times has the rest of the story.
A bill that would have legalized marijuana in Maine (albeit with some rather heavy restrictions) will not be seeing any action this year in the state legislature.
The ‘Act to Align Maine’s Marijuana Laws with the Guidelines Governing Taxation and Regulation Issued by the Federal Government” last night failed to make it through a ten-member council charged with approving bills for consideration in the coming legislation session.