Global

Morocco: Cannabis Farmers Angry Over Police Bribes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 30, 2010 Global, Growing

Cannabis has for centuries been grown in northern Morocco’s Rif Mountains.

For centuries, the remote town of Bab Berred has been the heart of Morocco’s cannabis-growing region, where farmers carried on the time-honored tradition of cultivating fine marijuana as their fathers and grandfathers did before them.

Growing marijuana is against the law in Morocco, but police looked the other way as farmers grew their pungent crops in the heart of the Rif Mountains. But now farmers are angry they are being forced to pay bribes to local police to continue growing the herb, reports Aida Alami at GlobalPost.

Bermuda Sucks: Passenger Hauled Off Cruise Ship For Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 28, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Cruise Law News

Bermuda is not a good place to vacation, if you like marijuana.

Yet another passenger has been hauled off a cruise ship in Bermuda for allegedly arriving on the backwards-ass island with marijuana.

Hey, Bermuda? Get a fucking clue. If you really want to be a vacation paradise, you need to let people smoke weed. Arresting tourists is bad for business, morons.

George Koumoulis, 37, of Abingdon, Maryland, was removed from the Norwegian Dawn on July 22 after police found just over seven grams of cannabis in his cabin, reports Nadia Arandjelovic at Bermuda newspaper The Royal Gazette.

Here’s What Pot Freedom Feels Like: Report From Spain

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 23, 2010 Culture, Global

Photo: Bubbleman’s Hideout

Very strong privacy laws prevent Spanish police from entering your house — even if they can see weed. How cool is that?

British citizen Andy was looking for weed freedom — and he believes he’s found it in Europe. But he’s not in Holland. Andy’s chosen abode is not yet known as a stoner mecca, but judging by his account, it may soon be.

For a fascinating look at the Spanish cannabis scene, let’s travel to Andalusia now with our host, who writes on the excellent website “Dope Smoker.”

~ Steve Elliott

…….

Freedom To Act Without Fear

By Andy

Dope Smoker

I am smoking a joint whilst sitting by my front window.

Actually, that’s right where I rolled it too, and people were walking by the house. Sometimes, I pass the joint out the window to a neighbor on the street.

Tempest In A Teapot After UK Official Calls For Drug Decrim

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 21, 2010 Global, News

Photo: CanIdoit.org

Don’t ask me why they do it, but Brits traditionally mix their cannabis with tobacco. But they’re just like Americans in another way: Most of their politicians are reactionary cowards.

The chairman of the Bar Council for England and Wales, Nicholas Green QC, has said it is “rational” to consider “decriminalizing personal drug use.”

Other politicians, terrified at even the faint appearance of taking a stand or displaying any leadership qualities at all, quickly and predictably attacked Green’s remarks, claiming they “sent out the wrong message on drug use.”

Taking this step would save billions of pounds (drug-related crime costs the British economy £13 billion a year), free up police time, cut crime and improve public health, reports Christopher Hope at the Telegraph.

Presumably, actually being rational about drugs is considered quite a radical position.

Ban-Happy Town May Be First In Canada To Nix Pot Growing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 20, 2010 Global, Growing, Medical

Photo: Lincoln Clarke

If this is your garden and you live in Pitt Meadows, Mayor Don MacLean has a message for you: Get the hell out of town.

Pitt Meadows may be the ban-happy capital of Canada.

The list of outlawed businesses in the sleepy little British Columbia town include massage parlors, X-rated video stores, strip bars, hydroponic gardening stores, nuclear power plants, used car lots, and even giant advertising icons placed on the tops of buildings — you know, those big gorillas you see at car dealerships.

Existing municipal bylaws ban all those things in Pitt Meadows, and now they’re going after legal medical marijuana — the first town in Canada to do so, reports Rod Mickleburgh at The Globe And Mail.

“We are just saying ‘no,'” said Pitt Meadows’ longtime mayor, obvious Nancy Reagan fan Don MacLean, of the town’s move to ban the production of medical marijuana.

Medical Marijuana & Hemp Expo Fires Up In Toronto

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 16, 2010 Culture, Global

Graphic: Medical Marijuana & Hemp Expo

A three-day expo which starts Friday in Toronto is being called the first convention ever held in Canada to promote the use of medical marijuana. Organizers said they expect as many as 30,000 attendees from around the world.

The Medical Marijuana and Hemp Show is being held at the Metro Convention Centre, the same downtown location where G20 leaders met three weeks ago, reports Linda Nguyen at The Vancouver Sun.

The event will feature exhibitors from around the planet, educational seminars with doctors and a hemp fashion and cooking show.

Court Advisor Claims Dutch Cannabis Ban Justified For Tourists

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 15, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Briarpatch

It’s not going to be Easy Going for you if you want to buy hash at this coffee shop — unless you’re Dutch.

The Netherlands can ban over-the counter sales of marijuana in Dutch “coffee shops” to nonresidents to end drug tourism from other countries, a senior advisor to the European Union high court said Thursday, reports The Associated Press.

The advisor, Yves Bot, senselessly claimed a Dutch city’s ban on foreign customers in the shops is a “lawful and necessary measure” to cut crime and keep the peace, reports Stephanie Bodoni at Bloomberg.

“As drug tourism represents a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to public order in Maastricht, the exclusion of non-residents from coffee shops” is a “necessary” way of protecting residents, Bot said.

End Mexico’s Bloody Drug War: Legalize Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 7, 2010 Global, News

Photo: FrontPageMag.com

The Drug War has resulted in about 16,000 deaths in Mexico over the past three years.

When substance abuse treatment professionals start calling for the legalization of marijuana, we can be sure that we are mainstreaming our message of cannabis liberation.

That’s why Toke of the Town is running this guest editorial by Steven Lo, who is affiliated with AllTreatment.com, an online resource which offers help in finding drug rehab centers.

Let me quickly add that Toke of the Town does not endorse or support any form of “marijuana rehab,” whatever that’s supposed to entail, and that we believe the entire concept of “marijuana addiction” is so deeply flawed as to be useless.

Pot-Dealing Peruvian Women Hide Weed In Their Vuvuzelas

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 6, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Brian Currin

No, these aren’t the pot dealers. These women are Coda, and their song is called “Blow Your Vuvuzela.” Head on over to Brian Currin’s blog to download it.

Peruvian pot dealers have found a cool new use for the vuvuzela, the long, thin plastic horns whose sound has become the backdrop of the soccer World Cup — hiding their marijuana.

Two Peruvian women were arrested in front of a school in capitol city Lima on Tuesday. Police claim the women were trying to sell 100 small bags of cannabis that they had packed into their vuvuzelas, reports Terry Wade for Reuters.

The fame of vuvuzelas has spread virally during this year’s World Cup soccer matches — while, in some quarters, their popularity has dipped. Many find the buzzing blare of the plastic horns to be rather, well, annoying.

South Africa: Rastafarians Vow To Keep Smoking Cannabis

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 5, 2010 Culture, Global

Photo: Alan Eason/Daily Dispatch

From left, South African Rastafarians Zerah Mayo, his brother Adwah Kamini and ‘Rasbaruch’ said they are being discriminated against for smoking marijuana as part of their religion.

Two physically disabled Rastafarian brothers in South Africa, who have already been arrested three times for marijuana, said the law will not stop them from smoking the illegal herb, reports Kathryn Parkes at the Daily Dispatch.

The Rastas said they need to smoke cannabis, which they call “dagga,” in order to “connect with their God.”

Zerah Mayo and his older brother Adwah Kamini had their case thrown out of court on a technicality last Friday after they were arrested and charged with selling marijuana earlier this year.

The brothers called it a victory, and said they only smoke dagga and do not sell it.

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