Toke of the Town

Browsing: Global

British Judge Ignores Guidelines, Jails 6 For Growing Cannabis

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By on Global, Growing, News

Clear Cannabis Law Reform
Judge Alan Goldsack has decided he’s on a moral mission to wipe out cannabis cultivation — and he’s ignoring new reduced sentencing guidelines

​A senior British judge, ignoring new reduced drug sentencing guidelines, has jailed six men for growing marijuana.

Judge Alan Goldsack (no, that’s really his name, man) criticized new regulations that became effective last week and ignored the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, reports Chris Brooke at the Daily Mail.
Under the new sentencing guidelines, at least four of the six cannabis growers who were jailed at Sheffield Crown Court should probably have been given only “community penalties” not involving incarceration.
British tabloids have done everything they can to whip up reefer madness-style hysteria over so-called “skunk” cannabis, claiming its homegrown production in South Yorkshire, the area around Sheffield Crown Court, has supposedly become an “epidemic.” Judges there have been routinely jailing even low-level offenders “in an effort to clamp down on the industry,” the Daily Mail reports.
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Tiny Spanish Village Plans To Raise Money Growing Marijuana

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By on Global, Growing

postnoon

​The town council in a tiny village in Spain voted 4-3 last week to allow a nearby cannabis association to use city land to grow marijuana for its 5,000 members. Rasquera, which is near Barcelona, believes it can address its unemployment problem and replenish empty city coffers by leasing out its land for cannabis cultivation.

Town leaders of Rasquera, population 900, voted to sign a deal worth 1.3 million euros ($1.7 million) with the Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Association (ABCDA), part of a growing movement of private marijuana clubs in Spain, reports Giles Tremlett at The Guardian.
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VP Biden Visiting Latin America Amid Drug Legalization Debate

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Charles Fox/Philadelphia Inquirer
Vice President Joe Biden will get an earful from Latin American presidents who are weary of the failed War On Drugs

​Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Mexico and Honduras on Sunday in the midst of rapidly escalating demands by Latin American leaders that legalization should be included among the options for reducing drug-related violence, crime and mayhem.

The presidents of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia and Mexico, all struggling to stem the violence associated with a failing Drug War, have said in recent weeks they’d like to have a discussion on legalizing drugs, reports Martha Mendoza of The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, and Peru already allow the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, and the leaders of Brazil and Colombia are discussing alternatives to jailing drug users.
“U.S. government officials are worried because the smartest among them know that the current strategy, both domestically and internationally, cannot be defended on economic, scientific or ethical grounds,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA).
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5 Tons Of Marijuana Seized In Colombia

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By on Global

Boardistan

​Could Colombia be making a play to return to its days of glory, back in the late 1970s, when it was likely the number one supplier of marijuana in the world? One could easily assume as much based upon the multi-ton busts happening there recently.

Colombian police seized almost 10,000 pounds — nearly five tons — of marijuana over the span of three drays in Medellin and Pereira, authorities said on Monday, reports Sara Gates at The Huffington Post.
According to Colombia Reports, in the main bust, Medellin police arrested four men who tried to smuggle 5,000 pounds of weed in a truck carrying oranges. The payload, consisting of “more than 101 bales of marijuana,” weighed about 5,597 pounds.
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Napolitano Says Mexican Drug War Not A Failure

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By on Global, News

Miguel Tovar/AP
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: The Drug War is “a continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs”

​Never mind what your ears, your eyes and your brain tell you. The Mexican Drug War, despite the fact that it has produced a river of blood and no results, is “not a failure,” claimed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

The bloodshed began in earnest in December 2006, and has, to date, claimed more than 40,000 lives in Mexico, according to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which published an online Google map of the killings, reports Daniel Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

Secretary Napolitano on Monday called the drug policies of both the U.S. and Mexico “a continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs” at a press conference in Mexico City, reports Rafael Romo at CNN. She made the remarks after meeting with Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire.
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Canada To Cite US Medical Cannabis States To Justify Pot Laws

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By on Global, Medical, News

Freaking News

​Editor’s note: Canadian medical marijuana patient, activist, and blogger Matt Mernagh won perhaps the biggest marijuana court victory in Canada’s history last year, forcing the Canadian government to argue in court for the validity of its marijuana laws.

Here, previous Toke of the Town contributor Mernagh shares his plans and insights regarding his next court appearance. 

By Matt Mernagh
To save Canada’s marijuana laws from becoming null and void, U.S. state medical marijuana programs will be cited as working examples of what other countries have created. Canada’s federal legal medical marijuana program is similar to what U.S. states have, a Canadian prosecutor will argue in May before the country’s second highest court.
It’s one of many arguments designed to overturn a landmark court ruling (R v. Mernagh) that eliminated Canada’s weed laws, decimated their federal government-run medical marijuana program, and allows me to legally grow and possess my own without a government license of any kind.
The feds really need to win their appeal if marijuana is to remain a prohibited substance, so naturally they’ve thrown plenty of arguments on why the ruling must be overturned by two of three justices on the Ontario Court of Appeal.
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U.S. Becoming More Progressive On Marijuana Than Canada

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By on Culture, Global

Cannabis Culture

​While Canada moves toward stricter sentencing with the mandatory minimums included with Bill C-10, many states in the U.S. are shifting in the opposite direction, toward control and regulation of the marijuana trade, according to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

A high-profile group of current and former law enforcement officials allied under the LEAP banner points to the 16 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that have already passed laws allowing the medicinal use of cannabis, the 14 states that have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana possession.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian senators, the law-enforcement officials point out the failure of the War On Drugs in the U.S., and that the country now seems to be moving in another direction even as Canada is poised to tighten the screws.
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U.S. Cops Call On Canadian Prime Minister To Legalize Marijuana

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Simple Cannabis

​Canada Risks Repeating ‘U.S. Mistakes’ With Mandatory Minimum Sentences In
Bill C-10

A high-profile group of current and former law enforcement officials from the United States is calling on the Canadian government to reconsider the mandatory minimum sentences for minor marijuana offenses proposed in Bill C-10, arguing that the taxation and regulation of cannabis is a more effective policy approach in reducing crime.
The law enforcers on Wednesday released a letter outlining their concerns, addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian senators. It is signed by more than two dozen current and former judges, police officers, special agents, narcotics investigators and other criminal justice professionals, all of whom are members of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
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Dutch Weed Pass: Ban On Foreigners Takes A Big Hit

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Kush And Orange Juice
Yeah, it’s nice being able to buy connoisseur-grade cannabis and smoke it on the premises in Dutch coffee shops. But the conservative government is trying to ban foreigners from the shops with the unpopular Weed Pass.

​Cities Allowed To Decide For Themselves On Enforcement

The Dutch “Weed Pass,” which in effect would have banned foreigners from the famed “coffee shops” which sell cannabis in the Netherlands, took a big hit Tuesday as the Ministry of Security and Justice announced that cities may decide what action — if any — they take against shops which defy the ban.
“Municipalities may decide themselves what sort of action they take against coffeeshops which choose not to comply with the weedpass,” the Ministry announced.
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Holy Uncool: Nepal Cracks Down On Cannabis At Hindu Festival

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By on Culture, Global

Tuhin Subhra Day/Fotopedia
Towards infinity: A Nepali sadhu smokes hashish from his chillum as part of the religious festival Shivaratri.

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​Police in Nepal say they have cracked down on public marijuana use at a major Hindu religious festival where the herb is smoked legally by thousands of holy men to honor the Hindu god Shiva.

The wandering mystics, known as sadhus, use an ancient legal loophole to smoke cannabis during a night of celebrations in honor of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, reports Agence France Presse. But unfortunately, ordinary, every-day Nepalis aren’t allowed to join them.
“We have arrested 70 people including dozens of youths who took excessive marijuana,” said Nepal police spokesman Dhiraj Pratap Shah, who apparently thinks he gets to decide what’s “excessive.”
“We have not arrested any sadhus,” Pratap claimed.
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