While the sales taxes on recreational pot in Colorado remain at a ridiculously high rate (nearing 25 percent in some cities), at least some of the money being collected is going to helping the community as a whole. Namely: kids in underfunded schools.
The state last month said they would be giving about a million dollars worth of grant money to schools to hire nurses, psychologists and counselors in Colorado schools where those services are lacking.
Charlotte’s Web, a high-CBD strain has become such a buzz-word for all things CBD-related in this country that it has even been included in the language of medical cannabis legislation in other states. This week, Denver’s Joel Warner takes a look an excellent look at the strain, it’s origins, it’s supporters and it’s critics.
Eric Prine’s uncontrollable seizures began in late 1992, not long after the six-month-old’s parents, Ronnie and Jennifer, took him to the doctor for routine vaccinations. The near-constant seizures soon left Eric a shell of his former self. “We lost every bit that was him,” says Ronnie. “We never saw any more smiles or crying or anything like that, just seizures.” Ultimately, mounting medical bills forced Ronnie and Jennifer to declare bankruptcy. They sold the home they’d built in Lucedale, Mississippi, and in 2004 moved to the Denver area so that Jennifer could take a nursing job; Ronnie became their son’s full-time caregiver.
A story recently published about drug smuggling being on the rise at many California jails contains this interesting fact about Orange County’s lockup: Not only has there been a massive increase in illegal drugs making it inside, but the county is purchasing several full-body scanners to give deputies full views of inmates’ internal organs and any contraband they might be hiding.
It gives being sent to the hole a whole new meaning! OC Weekly has more.
| Gene Maddaus. |
| L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer. |
L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer announced this morning that he is cracking down on on Nestdrop, the “Uber for weed” app that delivers medical marijuana to your door. At a press conference this morning, Feuer said the app violates Measure D, the city’s medical marijuana initiative, which limits delivery of medical pot to patients’ primary caregivers.
“There is no lawful delivery service under Prop. D,” Feuer said. “We’re hoping that a court agrees with us.”
| Wikimedia, family photo courtesy of Jessica Hauser. |
| Wyatt Hauser, 2, suffers from constant severe seizures. His parents plan to enroll him in Minnesota’s medical marijuana program once dispensaries open in July. |
The idea is to put pot in the pocket of every Minnesotan who is in pain. If all goes according to plan, the nation’s 22nd state to legalize medical marijuana will start distributing cannabis pills and liquids to thousands of patients by mid-summer.
On Monday the state Department of Health charged two labs located in Cottage Grove and Otsego with producing Minnesota’s entire supply of medical marijuana products. LeafLine Labs and Minnesota Medical Solutions are responsible for opening four distribution centers each by July 1. For a hookup, individuals need only a doctor’s recommendation to register with the state’s medical marijuana program.
| Roger Christie in a recent interview with KITV. |
When Westword last spoke to Colorado-born, Hawaii-based THC Ministry founder Roger Christie in June 2010, he was readying a challenge to the federal government’s marijuana laws that would have treated dispensaries like churches. But mere weeks later, he was busted by the feds on pot distribution charges and spent the next four years-plus in jail.
Now, Christie is out and readying a new push to bring Colorado-style marijuana laws to Hawaii. Read more at The Latest Word.
Spanish customs officials busted a 64-year-old man pretending to be an imam, or Islamic preacher, this week who was carrying four pounds of hash under the flowing robe of his costume.
Customs officials say they stopped Azad Bishir Levi after he stepped off a boat from Morocco with a funny walk – apparently, the kind of limp you have when you’ve not done a good job of strapping hash to your body.
| CBD oil. |
Technically, CBD-only pills extracted from legal hemp grown in Europe isn’t cannabis. At least, that the argument from Boston’s Bill Downing, who operates the CBD Please store that sells CBD-only oils despite an order from the state Health Department to shut down his operations.
But Downing, who isn’t a medical cannabis patient, says he doesn’t care what the heald department says, he’ll keep selling his CBD.
| Josue Rivas / OC Weekly |
| “Your pain is our pain.” |
The story of 43 missing Mexican students from Ayotzinapa, Guerrero refuses to disappear, as their whereabouts still remain a mystery more than two months after local police clashed with them on September 26. Anger continues to fuel protests in Mexico against the government over corruption, violence and ties to narcos. And on this side of the border, activists are holding their own rallies and bringing attention to the cause.
| Jim McDonnell. |
Long Beach Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell was sworn in as Los Angeles County Sheriff yesterday afternoon.
There’s no question that he was elected in November to reform a department rocked by federal charges against deputies that included allegations of excessive force against inmates, assaults on jail visitors, and the attempting thwarting an FBI investigation by hiding an incarcerated informant. It sounds like a clear task, but it won’t be easy. LA Weekly has more.