William Breathes

Florida Attorney General’s Weird TV Ad Avoids Major Issues of Medical Marijuana and Gay Marriage

By William Breathes on September 12, 2014 Media, News

Anti-pot Florida AG Pam Bondi and her derp-faced ad.

This is pretty amazing, considering we’re talking about a talent pool that contains Rick Scott, a man with the social poise of a 13-year-old in sex ed, and Charlie Crist, a man who probably would fail the replicant test from Blade Runner, but we might have The Derp Face of the 2014 campaign season: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi just dropped her first television ad for November’s contest.
Although the spot touts the politician’s record, it fails to address to two heavyweight issues that could sink her campaign: medical marijuana and gay marriage. But she does want you to know she’s curtailed all synthetic acid manufacturing in her state. More over at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

Denver Airport Banning Sales of Marijuana-Themed Socks and Flip-Flops,

By William Breathes on September 12, 2014 Culture, Say what?

You won’t find this for sale at D.I.A.

Passengers flying out of Denver International Airport after a vacation or work trip here have lots of choices if they want to squeeze in one last Colorado activity or buy a souvenir. They can drink local craft brews at cafes branded by Rock Bottom and Boulder Beer, eat at Elway’s or Steve’s Snappin’ Dogs, and shop at the Tattered Cover or Kazoo & Company. They can buy Denver Broncos hats, Climax beef jerky, Rocky Mountain T-shirts, and shot glasses and underwear imprinted with the state flag.
But when it comes to Colorado’s budding marijuana industry, the only souvenir that tourists can take with them is a photo of DIA’s sign prohibiting the herb’s use. More at the Latest Word.

Recreational Pot Outsells Medical for First Time in Colorado in July

By William Breathes on September 12, 2014 News

Colorado tax records for July show that recreational dispensaries in the state pulled in $28,921,068 in July, while medical sales only generated $28,313,034 — roughly a $608,000 difference and the first time that rec sales have outpaced medical.
So how much is that in weed? At around $400 an ounce at a number of recreational retail stores, it comes out to about 93 pounds.

Report: Shutting Down Dispensaries Means People Will Get Medical Cannabis Elsewhere

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 Medical, News

Flickr/Hammerin Man.

The Seattle Medical Marijuana Ambulance, still easily the coolest of all medical marijuana ambulances.

L.A city voters last year decided to shut down a vast majority of the medical marijuana businesses in town, and the City Attorney’s office says many of them have indeed closed their doors. But a new anti-marijuana, federally-funded study by UCLA social welfare professor Bridget Freisthler suggests, at least, that shutting down pot shops might just put the whole business on the road.
You read that right: the government paid someone to “discover” that, if you close down legal storefronts where people access their medicine, they are going to have someone deliver it or drive to get it from someone’s house.

California Man Facing Three Years for Planting Pot Pipe, Weed in School Volunteer’s Car

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 Follow that story, News

Kent Wycliffe Easter.

The second time was a charm for prosecutors as a jury this afternoon found Kent Wycliffe Easter guilty in his retrial for planting drugs in the PT Cruiser of a school volunteer the Irvine attorney’s wife thought had insulted their then-5-year-old son. Easter was convicted of false imprisonment by fraud and deceit. Jurors in his first trial had deadlocked 11-1 in favor of guilt on that same felony count.
It’s one of the strangest court battles we’ve followed here at Toke of the Town, easily rivaling the worst daytime soap opera script ever produced. And our friends at the OC Weekly have all the juicy details.

L.A. the “Epicenter” of Drug Money Laundering in the United States

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 News

U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Federal raids on downtown Los Angeles Fashion District businesses and related bank accounts turned up a whopping $65 million, much of it in cash, that authorities say was drug money headed to the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in L.A. announced today.
The whopping seizure of bank funds and currency, the latter of which was put on display for the press, was part of three cases against various fashion businesses, including lingerie and maternity concerns, that investigators say took drug money and exchanged it for imported goods so that the money would seem legit as it traveled south to the narco lords of Sinaloa. More over at the LA Weekly.

Lessons From Day One of Marijuana for Medical Professionals Conference

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 Medical

MMJforDoctors.com

Health care professionals from all over the country are gathering in Denver through Thursday for the Marijuana for Medical Professionals Conference at the 1770 Sherman Street Event Complex. Yesterday’s speakers covered a range of topics, including a care provider’s duty to the patient, the difficulties in dosing and detailed discussions about how marijuana behaves in the brain and the body.

Chicago Bans (Already Illegal) Weed Smoking in City Parks and Harbors

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 News, Say what?

Don’t light up your herb in a Chicago park or harbor, or you could be facing a $500 smoking ticket.
Well, you could also be facing a lot of other charges. Including a $500 civic charge for possession of up to 15 grams (or 30 days in jail for a little more than that), or a $750 fine and up to a year in jail for paraphernalia possession if the officer is a real dick. And they’ll bust you, oh they’ll bust you.
But now the Chicago Parks District wants you to know they mean business as well.

Philadelphia Mayor Sets October 20 as Decriminalization Day

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 News

This year, 10/20 is the new 4/20. At least, in Philly where Mayor Michael Nutter says he will have the bill signed by that soon-to-be stoney Monday.
We reported earlier this week that the Philadelphia City Council reconvenes this week to a proposal making 30 grams of pot or less a civil infraction that has been sitting on lawmakers desks all summer break. Council comes back today and will get the measure on the fast track to becoming law.

How the University of Arizona Fired Pot Researcher Sue Sisley After a State Senator Complained

By William Breathes on September 11, 2014 Medical, News

Phoenix New Times 2014.

Dr. Sue Sisley was about to conduct some of the most important cannabis research in the United States when she was abruptly fired from her job at the University of Arizona this past June for what she says (and what clearly appears to be) purely political reasons.
Our cohorts at the Phoenix New Times have done an amazing job looking into what happened and, more importantly, what is in store for Sisley’s study that looks at how military veterans can use cannabis to help treat symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Author William Breathes