| Jamaican sensi. |
Jamaica has long been recognized as the globe’s marijuana mecca — a place where a large percentage of the population not only enjoys the plant’s benefits but regards it as a sacrament.
So it’s more than a little surprising to discover an editorial in Jamaica’s largest newspaper calling for the nation’s leaders to emulate officials somewhere else when it comes to pot. The place? Colorado. Denver Westword has the full story.
A proposal for marijuana decriminalization of up to 14 grams of cannabis in Puerto Rico lost any chance of moving forward in 2013 after the lower house adjourned for the session.
While certainly a setback, the bill’s sponsor Senator Miguel Periera says he will reintroduce the legislation next year.The bill, which would have also lowered the penalties for possession of between 14 grams and an ounce to a fine of up to $500 and a maximum of six months in jail, heads to a yet-to-be-determined legislative committee in January.
Note to would-be cannabis growers: Taking over the apartment of a known heroin junkie for your grow op is not a good way to start. Forcing him into captivity for three days in said junkie pad grow op? Even worse idea.
He’s a heroin junkie–he’s going to get out and get his fix.
| Wikimedia commons/Shaun Merritt. |
| Rob Ford. |
The story of embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and his binge drinking, blow-snorting, crack-smoking (not so distant) past took yet another strange turn today when his brother berated city council and compared smoking crack to smoking cannabis. Toronto City councilor Doug Ford says his brother Rob is being unfairly persecuted by hypocrites.
| It may be a fixer-uper. |
If you’re going to put your former grow house up for sale in a place where cannabis is illegal, clean out your pots, vents and lights before allowing the real estate agent takes photos for an online listing.
Police in Avon and Summerset, England say they raided a $230,000 two-bedroom home back in July after receiving a tip that a grow operation was blatantly listed online through Rightmove.com. Cops haven’t made any arrests, but removed all of the grow equipment according to the Telepgraph.
A measure that would have legalized cannabis use, possession and cultivation in Ireland was defeated handily yesterday, shot down with a 111 to 8 vote in the Dáil, Ireland’s lower house of representatives.
According to RTÉ News, the cannabis bill was allowed some debate but it seems most of the rhetoric was from stuffy politicians with no real idea what cannabis is or does. Even the health minister pulled out the often-debunked “cannabis causes schizophrenia” myth.
| LACMA |
| Shiva, destroyer of worlds and enjoyer of cannabis sacrifices. |
A British couple busted with a house full of cannabis plants tell the judge that they sincerely believed that the world was coming to an end Dec. 21. The ganja, they say, was for medicine as well as for a sacrifice to the Hindu goddess Shiva.
| Photos and more below. |
Editor’s note: This is part two of correspondent Shannon Brandt’s reports about the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Denver last week. To read part one, click here.
A logo is often regarded as a condensed, compressed, symbolic summoning-up of everything that a big entity means to represent in everyday life. In most cases, the logo can even be seen as the most visible sign of the collective intelligence seething and rattling away behind it. Denver Westword has the full coverage.
| Big photos below. |
Which state will be the next to legalize marijuana? What do the Obama administration’s recent announcements about marijuana legalization and mandatory minimums really mean? What are some solutions to the national overdose crisis that takes more lives than car accidents or gun violence? Those were just some of the questions that over 1,000 people gathered to consider at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel October 23-26. Denver Westword has the entire coverage.
How far are people willing to go to get hash into Ireland? About the average length of the human intestinal tract, end to stinky end.
Unai Aguirregabica, a Spanish national, was busted at Cork Airport in Cork, Ireland, in August after a drug dog alerted on him at a customs checkpoint. Aguirregabica didn’t have anything on him. But he did have something in him: more than two pounds of hash.