| Crimestoppers U.K. |
| Anti-pot paranoia, now in scratch and sniff! |
The powers-that-be in the United Kingdom want their citizenry to rat on one another. At least, that’s the plan with a series of marijuana-scented scratch-and-sniff cards that were mailed to more than 200,000 people in the UK recently.
The ridiculously daft plan by the group Crimestoppers U.K. is that by handing out ganja-scented cards to the community, people will run to the police any time they smell anything remotely skunky.
Despite the fact that New York City has spent more than one million police hours arresting people for marijuana over the last eleven years, New York state lawmakers have dropped any talks of decriminalization in that state.
As we reported earlier this week, there was still hope that a bill that would decriminalize public display of up to 15 grams of marijuana – a technicality that allows police to skirt decriminalization laws in place since the late 1970s – would pass as part of a package deal with state budget negotiations.
| USDOJ. |
Ten people were arrested yesterday and 8,000 plants were seized in a hydroponic marijuana-grow ring that spanned Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.That’s a lot of weed.
Authorities say one of the ringleaders, a 39-year-old “top lieutenant” from Monterey Park named Andy Tran, was an at-large fugitive. Dennis Romero from the LA Weekly has the rest.
| wikipedia.com |
| A Dutch shepherd from wikipedia. |
Normally, drug dogs and I don’t get along. That whole I-smell-like-skunk-ass-daily thing really puts a damper on any chance of a mutually-respectful friendship.
But Loveland, Colorado police might have just changed that by training drug dogs that specifically do not sniff for weed thanks to voter approved Amendment 64 which legalized small amounts of marijuana for personal use and possession.
Delegate Mike Maypenny, a democrat from Taylor County, introduced House Bill 2961 on Tuesday, which would allow for a medical marijuana program in West Virginia.
This is the second bill introduced by Maypenny regarding medical marijuana this session. His first bill, HB 2230, submitted in February, did not provide protections for doctors who recommend medical marijuana to patients among other things. Maypenny has said he is putting all of his efforts into his new proposal.
Congratulations New Hampshire, you’re one step closer to having medical marijuana.
Yesterday the House approved House Bill 573 that would allow patients to grow up to three plants or get it from one of five state-regulated medical marijuana centers. Even better, it passed with more than 80 percent support from both sides of the aisle 286 to 64. The bill now moves on to the senate for approval.
| Chuck Coker/Flickr |
Who regulates medical marijuana in California? Well, basically, nobody. State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wants to change that. Today he announced legislation, introduced last month, that would bring medical cannabis under the policing of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
The proposal is called AB 473 and it would mandate that the ABC police “the entire supply chain” and “work to eliminate criminal involvement in the industry.”The language of the bill also states that pot would be tested and that guidelines for growing would be established. LA Weekly has the rest.
| Industrial hemp. |
Did Henry Ford really make a car out of hemp? Was the Declaration of Independence written on hemp paper? Did Abraham Lincoln use hemp oil in his lamps?
The hemp plant, a variety of Cannabis sativa that’s the subject of this week’s cover story “Green Acres,” is steeped in lore. Some hemp legends are true. Others are half-true, and some are completely false. Denver Westword presents ten hemp myths culled from the Internet — and attempt to separate the fact from the fiction.
Update – Wednesday, March 20, 2013: The Maryland Senate voted to decriminalize marijuana possession of up to ten grams of marijuana yesterday. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Robert Zirkin, a democrat from Baltimore, told the Washington Post that he was pleased with his colleagues and says the House would be smart to pass the legislation.
“Incarceration does not make sense [for small amounts],” he told the PostWashington Post newsroom.)
New York City police have spend more than 1 million man hours arresting making about 440,000 marijuana arrests since Mayor Michael Bloomberg took office, according to a study released by the Drug Policy Alliance earlier today.
That number could even be higher. The study, conducted by the Marijuana Arrest Research Project, used a two-and-a-half hour average for each arrest and multiplied that by the 439,056 arrests made in from 2002 through 2012.