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Yesterday, we told you about a campaign to scare kids off of pot that uses a giant rat cage and the statement: “Don’t be a Lab Rat”. Never mind the fact that criminalizing cannabis and keeping it illegal will likely get those same kids put in a similar cage down at the county jail.
Mike Sukle, the advertising agency pro who worked with Colorado officials to develop a new anti-pot campaign, had a significant challenge on his hands. He wanted to warn teens away from marijuana use without engaging in the sort of hyperbole they’d likely reject. Hence, “Don’t Be a Lab Rat,” which presents controversial facts and then asks viewers the equivalent of “Wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?”

KeoniCabral/FlickrCommons


In February of this year, local pro-cannabis activists in Kern County in Southern California concocted a defense of pot dispensaries that you have to be toking on some top shelf herbs to come up with.
Their argument was that by forcing the closure or re-location of the vast majority of local medical marijuana storefronts, they would be violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) by making the region’s cannabis consumers drive their pollution-spewing cars even further to get their medication.
Half-baked or not, the defense stood up in court and the de facto ban on medical marijuana in Kern County was delayed. As we reported at the time, the court’s decision set a potential landmark precedent for other counties or cities on the verge on instituting their own crackdowns on the chron. The example we used was San Diego, and sure enough, America’s Finest City has become the new proving ground.

This should not equal life in prison.


Back in May, we told you about Jacob Lavoro, a 19-year-old who was arrested in Round Rock, Texas after cops busted in his door and found a tray of pot brownies. Lavoro isn’t simply facing pot charges, he’s looking at anywhere from ten years to life in prison thanks to ass-backwards laws in Texas regarding hash and hash oil and how products are weighed

theurbanshepherd.over-blog.com


Operating under the Department of Transportation since its inception in 1966, the Federal Railroad Administration’s stated mission is to “enable the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of people and goods for a strong America, now and in the future”.
Since 1986, the FRA has been federally mandated to perform drug and alcohol tests on railroad employees. These tests include pre-employment screening, random and/or “reasonable suspicion” testing, and post-accident tests. Traditionally, the testing excluded what the railroads refer to as “maintenance-of-way employees”, those whose job it is to service the tracks and infrastructure.
But facing increasing pressure from Congress in the nation’s capital, the FRA has proposed an expansion of its drug testing to include all employees, and even independent contractors and volunteers.


Washington D.C. effectively decriminalized possession of up to one ounce of marijuana July 17, but that hardly means the end to marijuana-related arrests.
According to DCist, there were 26 arrests involving cannabis during the first two weeks of decriminalization– July 17 to July 31– just one less than the amount of citations (27) issued for possession. Data from D.C. Police says the 26 arrests were for public consumption, distribution, possession with the intent to distribute and possession of more than one ounce.

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After spending five years in six different prisons across six different states, Canada’s Marc Emery has been scheduled for release and is due back in Canada between August 10th and the 25th.
He recently gave his first interview to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) since earning that release, and if authorities in either country thought he may just silently go about his business after being caged up with thieves and killers for a half a decade, they have sorely underestimated the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot”.


As we reported yesterday, 88 percent of Florida voters polled say they support medical marijuana. That number is among the highest medical pot has ever polled in any state, and our friends at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times point out that it’s freakishly high for a poll in the Sunshine state:
“Floridians have been supporting the idea of legalized medical marijuana since the idea of it getting onto the ballot was brought up. With each successive poll, Florida has shown a growing support for medical weed. Now the latest Quinnipiac poll released Monday gives us the clearest picture to changing attitudes. According to the survey, nearly 90 percent of Floridians polled say they back the legalization of medical marijuana.”
Read the rest of the local angle at the Miami New Times and the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

AlexanderTorrenegra/FlickrCommons


The internet was abuzz this weekend about the announcement from the New York Times regarding a series of editorial articles to be released in the upcoming week covering the argument in favor of legalizing marijuana nationwide.
Though the title of the series may not be too creative, “High Time” will consist of a week’s worth of interactive articles, web-based seminars, and Q&A sessions that promise to take an honest look at all sides of the debate.

Flickr Commons
Homegrown Lemon Kush


Stretching from the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, all the way to the western Arizona border, Riverside County in California’s Inland Empire has been rapidly rising in the ranks of the most populous counties in the entire nation.
In an almost synchronized timeline of events, the population explosion in Riverside County coincided with the massive growth of medical marijuana demand in the region, and local growers soon found the Mediterranean-esque climate to be more than adequate for growing their own crops. However, a newly proposed county-wide ordinance would put an outright ban on outdoor cultivation of cannabis.

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