Author William Breathes

Minnesota state Sen. Branden Petersen.


After spending the last legislative session pushing medical marijuana and a cell phone tracking bill, Sen. Brandon Petersen (R-Andover) is now looking toward a totally different cause: Bitcoin, the semi-controversial digital currency.
This week, Petersen announced that he’s founding a new nonprofit, yesbitcoin, with a mission to communicate to people and organizations how Bitcoin works and the ideas and infrastructure behind it. Petersen will serve as the executive director of the organization, but his role as senator will stay separate. Minneapolis City Pages has more.

See more photos from the Organic Alternatives Facebook page below.

The first recreational marijuana dispensary in Fort Collins opened its doors on June 20. Well, sort of.
Organic Alternatives had already been operating as a medical dispensary since July of last year, but didn’t obtain a local license to sell recreationally until this past Friday. But since Choice Organics, which has been selling recreationally since April 9, is technically in Larimer County, just outside Fort Collins, it’s officially FoCo’s first.

Denver on 4/20.


Marijuana smoking is not legal in public in Colorado, despite laws passed in 2012 legalizing the use and possession of limited amounts for adults 21 and up. But – right or wrong — with the relaxed pot laws comes an expectation that consumption should be tolerated. Just don’t expect that tolerance from the Denver police.
So far this year, Denver police have written 351 tickets for toking in public, a $150 fine. Of that many, 130 were at the annual 4/20 rally in Denver’s Civic Center Park.


Not a single gram of herb has been illegally sold over the counter of a retail or medical marijuana center in Colorado to minors, according to a report released today by the state Marijuana Enforcement Division. The stats undermine claims from anti-cannabis groups that dispensaries are responsible for minors obtaining cannabis.
Meanwhile, the number of alcohol violations at this point in the year is likely in the hundreds. In 2013, for example, it took a 25-page state report to list all of the bars and liquor stores that blatantly sold to minors or didn’t even check an ID. Stats aren’t out for 2014 liquor violations yet, but they aren’t going to be much different.


New Approach Oregon, a group looking to legalize limited amounts of herb for adults 21 and up, will submit 145,000 signatures to the Oregon Secretary of State today, 57,000 more than required.
If the signatures are approved, it will mean that the Control, Regulate and Taxation of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp Act will be on the November ballot. Adults 21 and up would be able to purchase cannabis at retail stores as well as grow their own at home so long as there aren’t more than four pot plants growing at a time and no more than eight ounces of herb on site. Homegrowers would also be able to keep up to sixteen ounces of infused products like edibles, oils and butter.
Regulation would be left up to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.


The U.S. House of Representatives is standing in the way of Washington D.C.’s marijuana decriminalization laws, refusing to authorize funding for the law change.
Despite that, Mayor Vincent Gray says the city will still move forward with the change, which makes the possession of about an ounce of pot a civil infraction punishable by a $25 fine. But Gray also warns that House Republicans could possibly shut down the city’s medical marijuana program as well.


Cash and drugs have long drawn robbers to L.A.’s many medical marijuana dispensaries. But the bad guys also face a huge deterrent: Security guards. With guns.
Police say an alleged robber found that out the hard way today when he was fatally struck during a possible shootout with security at a dispensary near LAX. The shooting was reported at 12:18 p.m. at Nature’s Cure Inc., 5800 W. Century Blvd., LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado told the LA Weekly, which has the rest of the details.

Minnesota state Rep. Rena Moran.


Yesterday, we told you that the Minnesota NORML, for the first time, plans to push legislation next session that would legalize marijuana in Minnesota. Marcus Harcus, the new associate director of MN NORML,says the organization is targeting pro-legalization Rep. Rena Moran (D-St. Paul) as the possible author of the bill in the House. Moran, you’ll recall, recently told a pro-medical marijuana rally, “Let’s create a system where we can tax and regulate the sale, so we can invest more wisely in all of us.”
But despite those comments, Moran said yesterday she won’t serve as the sponsor MN NORML is seeking next session. Minneapolis City Pages has the full story.


The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department received $200,000 in grant funding for a drug task force that they say does not exist.
That might sound strange, but city officials tell Aaron Malin, a researcher for Show-Me Cannabis, the marijuana reform group, that they don’t know about any so-called “drug task force.” And that’s despite several government records showing that grant money has been awarded to the non-existent drug task force and other records that tally the number of arrests the unit has made. These records were obtained by Malin via Missouri Sunshine requests.

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