Ohio police spent $500,000 last year arresting a whopping 27 people for marijuana cultivation under the state’s flyover marijuana eradication program. That’s more than $18,500 per person and in total they only destroyed 20,747 plants – down nearly 64,000 plants from just two years before.
Sound like a waste to you, too?
It is a sad fact of cannabis life: glass bongs break despite the amount of care put into keeping them safe and operational. Sometimes it is an accident, other times it is on purpose but if you’ve got a bong there’s a good chance it is going to be reduced to rubble at some point in your lifetime.
Just hope you don’t have a friend their to capture it like the ten people below in our favorite bong breakage videos from YouTube.
| Big photos below. |
Look folks, if we’re going to responsibly legalize recreational cannabis for adults, then be responsible with it. And it’s sad that it even has to be said, but being responsible means not feeding it to unknowing children (among many other things).
By that (very minimum) standard, Denver’s Davirak Ky is not an example to follow. Ky is accused of giving unsuspecting people weed edibles — specifically, marijuana cookie dough. And because the diners in his case were juveniles, he faces child abuse charges and more according to the Denver Westword which has the full story.
Health officials in Arizona say they want more detailed information on medical marijuana patients claiming “chronic pain” on their state applications in an effort to cut down on falsified recommendations, they say.
We say they’re sticking their noses where they shouldn’t be.
Project SAM (Smarter Approaches to Marijuana) likes to tout themselves has having some progressive ideas on marijuana legalization and criminalization. They say their goal is to “inform public policy with the science of today’s marijuana,” for example. But they’re really an anti-marijuana group trying a new approach to the same old Reefer Madness.
And now the Marijuana Policy Project is calling SAM out on it, with MPP Maine director David Boyer urging SAM to join forces with MPP to promote “an honest, evidence-based public dialogue about marijuana” in Maine, where recreational cannabis legalization efforts are starting to take shape.
| Orange County District Attorney’s office. |
| Kyle Handley. |
In what is arguably one of the most vile stories out of the medical marijuana world we’ve ever seen, four people have been charged with kidnapping, torturing and castrating the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in California.
Their reasoning? They thought the unnamed owner has buried a large amount of cash in the desert and they wanted the location.
When it comes to medical marijuana — or any relaxing of pot laws whatsoever — Gov. Mark Dayton has said, “I don’t think we need another drug operating in our society.”
He’s also said he wouldn’t sign a bill legalizing marijuana unless it has the support of law enforcement, which seems about as likely as me finding part-time work as a supermodel if this blogging thing doesn’t work out. You might assume Republicans would be even less in favor of marijuana reform than Dayton, but in some cases, you’d be wrong. Minneapolis City Pages has the full story.
Alan David Nixon willingly allowed his name to be used to hide the true owner of a Southern California medical marijuana operation, but his military service, age and extensive medical woes helped a federal judge find mercy at this week’s sentencing hearing.
Assistant United States Attorney Christine S. Bautista recommended five months in prison followed by five months of home detention for Nixon, who admits he aided John Melvin Walker’s massive, flagrant marijuana distribution scheme busted by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers. OC Weekly has the full story.
| Michael Saffioti. |
Last year, 22-year-old Michael Saffioti had a warrant out for a misdemeanor pot charge in Washington state. Despite having severe allergies and asthma, Saffioti turned himself in and turned over his life to jailers who let him die from an allergic reaction to his breakfast despite knowing full well of his condition.
At the time, the state denied pressing any criminal charges against anyone in his death because there wasn’t enough evidence. But a new video turned up by KIRO 7 in Seattle shows Saffioti questioning what he was being fed to guards who had medical files on him.
| “We kill your liver!” |
Marijuana is safer than alcohol. It’s a simple message based in a lot of truths. But Big Alcohol doesn’t like that, nor do they like the insinuation that their legal product leads to more violence, health issues and social problems than cannabis.
“We’re not against legalization of marijuana, we just don’t want to be vilified in the process,” an anonymous alcohol lobbyist tells the National Journal this week. “We don’t want alcohol to be thrown under the bus, and we’re going to fight to defend our industry when we are demonized.”