Author William Breathes

New York Police union president Patrick Lynch A pig.


On Monday, we told you about Ramsey Orta, the man who filmed New York City police officers killing an unarmed, nonviolent alleged illegal cigarette dealer named Eric Garner last month and Orta’s arrest over the weekend for firearms charges after cops stop-and-frisked him along with a teenage girl he was with. In case you had any doubt that was purely for revenge, the police union rep has since come out to further drag Orta’s name through the mud. On Sunday, he issued a release, calling Orta a “criminal” who “stands to benefit” by smearing the good name of police officers.
“The arrest of Ramsey Orta for criminal possession of a firearm only underscores the dangers that brought police officers to respond to a chronic crime condition in that community,” he wrote. “It is criminals like Mr. Orta who carry illegal firearms who stand to benefit the most by demonizing the good work of police officers. Sadly, in the effort to keep neighborhoods like Tompkinsville safe, a tragedy occurred. But that doesn’t change the fact that police officers routinely risk their lives for the benefit of the community and that they have earned their support and understanding.”

ErgoSum88/Commons.


There have been fewer deaths this year on Colorado roadways than years past. Colorado also began legal sales of recreational cannabis this past January. Coincidence? Not likely. In fact, we’re not saying that pot had anything to do with lowering the fatalities, mind you.
We’re just pointing out that the blood-bathed roads and warzone-level death totals the prohibitionists warned people about (and continue to try and scare people with) just aren’t coming true.

Keith Bacongo-Flickr edited by Toke of the Town.


Washington D.C. voters will have the chance to legalize limited amounts of cannabis for recreational use for adults 21 and up this November. The D.C. board of elections today announced that a measure legalizing up to two ounces of pot as well as limited home cultivation will be up to voters.


Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke wants to know why African Americans are not invited to the pot party.
There’s big money being made in the marijuana legalization movement. But African Americans are still getting screwed when it comes to pot. In fact, black people are being squeezed out of the marijuana game. Even the New York Times, in an op-ed column calling for an end to America’s pot ban, admitted that marijuana laws target African-Americans: “Even worse,” they wrote, “the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.”


Kadesha Roberts was camped out at a friend’s condo in a cookie-cutter, tile-roofed development off McNab Road when the knock came. The short Jamaican woman with spiked hair opened the door to find a UPS man clutching a large package. After identifying herself, she grabbed it. Then all hell broke loose.
Broward deputies bolted toward her. Roberts dropped the package and tried to squeeze inside, but not fast enough. Cops snatched up the box, discovering bales of marijuana wrapped in green cellophane. Roberts was put in cuffs and the evidence shipped off to the county’s crime lab. That was July 2010, and normally the story would have ended there. Roberts would have been popped for trafficking and the UPS box would have been the prime evidence against her.
But the case wasn’t a slam dunk. Several pounds of the marijuana apparently vanished. More on this scandal at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.


The Minnesota Department of Health on Friday released rules governing future medical cannabis manufacturers, stressing that the 40-page document is only a first draft. State officials acknowledge that the rules are pretty vague, but also ask for public feedback.
The security requirements are no joke. Manufacturers will be prohibited from employing anyone with a felony criminal record and must visually record the entrances of their facilities 24-hours a day — even in the event of a power outage. The vehicles transporting cannabis are not allowed to make stops away from facilities and fueling stations. Their routes must be random.


Those in favor of marijuana legalization frequently stress that cannabis users don’t conform to hippie-centric stereotypes. Rather, they’re folks in all walks of life, including suit-wearing business executives, as suggested by the image above.
Not that this pic is supposed to inspire people to support pot-law reform. Far from it: The image is part of an ad in the August 2 New York Times by a group affiliated with Project SAM, an anti-marijuana-legalization organization that launched in Colorado last year. Denver Westword has the complete details.

William Breathes.
Golden Goat kief.


The war of attrition between advocates for and opponents against medical marijuana in Florida entered another chapter this week, after the Florida Police Chiefs Association put out a media release on the dangers of medical weed legalization. In the statement, the FPCA cited studies and stats showing how the number of automobile accidents and ER visits in Colorado have gone up, and drawing a direct correlation to the legalization of medical marijuana in that state.
This, United For Care says, is all false and they’ve issued a media release of their own.

The last time we heard legislators arguing about medical cannabis, it was in May, with politicians, law enforcement officials, and activists taking swings at each other over how broad the legislation should be. The bill the state ultimately passed was underwhelming, and left several legislators fuming over just how narrow it was.
On Thursday, those same legislators, activists, and law enforcement officials gathered together again, for the first meeting of the state’s 23-member medical marijuana task force. This time, the mood was far more cordial, reports the Minneapolis City Pages.

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