| cityofjackson.org |
| Jackson, Michigan. |
Lawmakers in Jackson, Michigan apparently know how medical marijuana patients should use the space in their homes better than medical marijuana patients themselves.
At least, that’s the message they sent last night by passing an ordinance on a 4 to 3 vote that would limit medical marijuana use and cultivation to just 20 percent of someone’s home. The law goes into effect Sept. 12, according to the Jackson Citizen Patriot.
Working as a lifeguard in South Florida is more than just about keeping your eyes open in case somebody drowns. It’s also about keeping your eyes open in case drugs wash up on shore. And, at around 11:45 a.m. Monday morning, Gulfstream Park lifeguards earned their pay when they spotted a giant bale of weed in the water near 4000 N. Ocean Blvd.
In most cases, bales of weed come in square shape. Unless the smuggler inexplicably decides to shape their bale of weed like a beer keg. Which was the case here. Because, why not?
New Times Broward-Palm Beach has the full, strange story.
| Facebook.com |
| Eli Traufield. |
Eli Traufield’s Facebook photo gallery alternates model-esque shots like this one with family pics featuring his son. But most of the posts tout the healing abilities of marijuana — appropriate given that he’s listed as an owner of Fort COllins ORganics and Earthly Elements, a dispensary. Problem is, Earthly Elements is no longer open — a fact that appears to have grabbed the attention of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, which participated in a bust of Traufield that included serious charges and the seizure of 350 plants and more than 61 pounds of pot. Denver Westword has the full story.
| Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine. |
A proposal from three Ohio residents to legalize cannabis in that state failed to get over its first political hurdle today after the state attorney general rejected the proposed summary for not being “fair and truthful”.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, the proposal wouldn’t have been on the November 2013 ballot anyway as the deadline for proposed measures has come and gone. That’s good in that it gives End Ohio Cannabis Prohibition, the group who submitted the petition, to get things right.
The Baton Rouge Advocate doesn’t seem to care much about reality. Reporter Ellyn Couvillion’s post today on an ongoing study at Louisiana State University today claims a link between anxiety and “marijuana addiction” when there is no actual link whatsoever.
Frankly, the “study” lost us when it claimed that there are 4.5 million people in the U.S. “addicted” to marijuana. Someone should tell the researchers that they can’t really establish credibility after completely blowing it out of the water from the start.
It seems that marijuana decriminalization has been a windfall for Rhode Island state coffers.
Laws making cannabis possession on-par with a traffic tickets were approved and put into law back in April, which some might see as a directive to police to make marijuana possession a low priority. It seems nobody told the police that though, and since April cops have written about 850 marijuana tickets totaling about $110,000 in fines.
As we told you last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce some rather substantial changes to federal drug policy this week including dropping mandatory minimum sentencing in some drug cases, early release for non-violent offenders, allowing states to handle more drug cases and, eventually, bi-partisan drug reform at the congressional level.
According to the Drug Policy Alliance, we can expect Holder’s comments sometime today in his remarks to the American Bar Association national convention in San Francisco.
In testimony offered last fall under immunity from prosecution, Hutchinson, Minn. police officer Karl Willers admitted to giving people pot while he was in Minneapolis for Drug Recognition Expert program training in 2012.
Given that other officers testified they saw both Willers and his brother Kenneth use free pot to entice people to participate in the DRE program, that revelation might not come as a surprise. But Willers also said he twice saw his partner give someone money to buy crack, then watched as the person smoked it in the back of a squad car. Minneapolis City Pages has the full story.
| state.nj.us |
| New Jersey Governor Chris Christie isn’t sympathetic to severely sick children. |
Yesterday was the original deadline for a New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to sign a bill increasing access for medical marijuana for sick and needy children in his state, and here we are today with no signature.
Thankfully, Christie has been given an extension of sorts until August 19. We say thankfully, but every day that this asshole holds off on signing the bill is one day longer that children have to suffer and pushing the signing back by even an hour is despicable at this point.
The State of Michigan is one step closer to allowing people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder to access medical cannabis legally this week after a state panel gave approval to a citizen petition to add the condition to the list of qualifying medical marijuana ailments.
The Michigan Marihuana Act Review Panel voted 7-2 Tuesday, pushing the motion forward to a public hearing sometime in the next 60 days according to state law. An official vote only be can be taken after public testimony.