William Breathes

Attorneys ask Minnesota supreme court to change rules for pot lawyers

By William Breathes on August 4, 2014 News

Medical cannabis is quickly becoming a lucrative business in Minnesota, with potential manufacturers and consulting companies wanting to get in on the action. But one group — lawyers — is being locked out of the market so far by their own code of ethics, and they’re trying to get it fixed as soon as possible.
The law firm Thompson Hall sent a petition to the Minnesota Supreme Court last week looking to change the state’s rules for lawyers. Right now, the rules say that lawyer’s can’t give advice to those applying to be one of the state’s two cannabis manufacturers. The conflict boils down to a few lines in the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct, basically an ethics guide for lawyers in the state.

New York pot activists takes credit for bleached white flags on Brooklyn Bridge

By William Breathes on August 4, 2014 Culture, News, Say what?

Bud Green.

A man who once told Wally George in his Anaheim TV studio that Nancy Reagan smoked pot is now telling a whopper on the East Coast: that he was the one who replaced American flags with bleached white versions of Old Glory.
The Reverend Bud Green of the People Opposing Tyranny Party (POT Party … get it?) makes the claim on his blog:

Man who filmed NYPD killing arrested in NYC on gun charges in yet another ‘stop and frisk’ pot bust

By William Breathes on August 4, 2014 News, Say what?

Ramsey Orta in a Time interview.

According to several news sites out of New York, Ramsey Orta, the guy who filmed New York City police officers killing Eric Garner in a chokehold, was arrested Saturday. Cops say he was profiled after going into a Long Island hotel that cops say is a known drug hangout and arrested afterward for gun charges. A 17-year-old female he was with was also charged with marijuana possession.

Seattle cop busted writing 80 percent of pot tickets, many to minorities and homeless

By William Breathes on August 4, 2014 News, Say what?

Seattle police officer Randy Jokela apparently missed the memo that marijuana possession and use is now legal in Washington state, largely citizens people were sick of people like Jokela abusing his power.
This week, Seattle police Chief Kathleen O’Toole announced that Jokela was responsible for 80 percent of the 82 marijuana-related citations issued between January 1 and June 30 of this year – with 37 percent of those tickets going to blacks and about half going to the city’s homeless. To say he was still abusing his power is an understatement.

How Denver Westword baked a marijuana apple pie for the Denver County Fair

By William Breathes on August 1, 2014 Culture, Say what?

Straight off the cooling rack, the pie hit all the right notes. Its filling was gooey and sweet, full of chewy chunks of apple, its Dutch-style crust crumbly and buttery, with pleasant herbal overtones. This pie wouldn’t have been out of place at a family picnic or Thanksgiving dinner — if not for the fact that it was packed to the rim with marijuana.
We’d decided to bake a weed-infused pie in order to do our bit for the upcoming Denver County Fair.
Inspired by Colorado’s legal-weed wave, earlier this year the fair announced it would have a pot pavilion that put a stoner spin on traditional county fair festivities, complete with Grateful Dead karaoke and a prize for the best marijuana plant. In the months leading up to the fair, the buzz around the pot component grew big enough that organizers axed a planned beer pavilion and doubled the area devoted to cannabis.

Ask a Stoner: Can I make weed tea?

By William Breathes on August 1, 2014 Culture

Denver Westword.

Editor’s note: Our sister paper, the Denver Westword, runs a weekly marijuana advice column, Ask a Stoner. Today, we bring you one of the more frequently-asked questions:
Dear Stoner: Can you just brew up cannabis like tea and drink it to get stoned? I figure a bud in a teabag in the morning is much easier than taking an afternoon to make myself butter and then all those fatty treats. — T Sipper

Missouri prison work crew finds 678 pounds of herb on side of highway

By William Breathes on August 1, 2014 News, Say what?

Did you or somebody you know accidentally leave more than 600 pounds of marijuana on the side of a road in Missouri? Because if you did, we have some bad news: Cops got it.
The St. Joseph News-Press reports that a prison work crew cleaning up the side of a road near St. Joseph in northeast Missouri stumbled upon a substantial sativa stash.
“In all, there were 678 one-pound marijuana packages and three large sacks of loose weed,” Mike Donaldson, commander of the Buchanan County Drug Strike Force, tells the News-Press. Read more at the Riverfront Times.

New York governor pushed to expedite state MMJ program after two epileptic children die

By William Breathes on July 31, 2014 Medical, News

Facebook.com/Compassionate-Care-NY

Anna Conte passed away July 17.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo sent a letter to acting Commissioner of Health Howard Zucker on Tuesday asking Zucker to consider expediting the medical marijuana legalization specifically for epileptic children in New York.
Cuomo’s letter comes after two children, nine-year-old Anna Conte and three-year-old Olivia Marie Newton, died this month. In June, state legislators passed the Compassionate Care Act, legalizing marijuana for patients with conditions including epilepsy, but legalization will not be implemented in the state for at least 18 months.

Colorado health officials want new rules for the Medical Marijuana Registry

By William Breathes on July 31, 2014 Medical, News, Say what?

State health officials are calling for a public rule-making committee this fall to iron out details involving the medical marijuana patient registry, including limiting the ability of caregivers to serve more than five patients. In a letter to the Colorado Board of Health earlier this month, Ron Hyman, director of the Medical Marijuana Registry, outlined areas that he says will require a rule-making hearing on September 16.

High-CBD oil hemp oil has been legal in Florida since 2003

By William Breathes on July 31, 2014 CBD, Medical, Say what?

Moriah Barnhardt has a three-year-old daughter, Dahlia, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last May. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a soon-to-be-legal brand of low-THC pot called Charlotte’s Web might help her condition. If not, legalizing medical marijuana as a whole would give her a plethora of treatment options by allowing her to tweak the formula she administers to her kid.
But this Tampa mom doesn’t need to wait for 2015, or for Florida voters to make up their minds. She’s one of the many parents who are already purchasing hemp oil online and making Rick Scott’s decree obsolete before it even happens. Read more over at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

Author William Breathes