Growing

County’s First Medical Marijuana Trial Quickly Ends In Acquittal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 25, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, News

Photo: Mark Morey/Yakima Herald-Republic

Valtino Hicks waits for the jury to enter the courtroom, Thursday, March 25, 2011 during his trial in Yakima County Superior Court. He was accused of running a marijuana growing operation in his home.

Yakima County, Washington’s first medical marijuana dispensary trial quickly ended in acquittal Thursday afternoon.

The Superior Court jury that heard the charges against Valtino Hicks of Yakima returned its verdict in less than 25 minutes, reports Mark Morey of the Yakima Herald-Republic.

At least two other local medical marijuana cases are pending, and the issue remains controversial across the state. King County, home of Seattle, has declined to prosecute marijuana dispensaries, and a bill advanced this week in the Legislature which would create a legal framework for licensed dispensaries.

Talking With A Mendo Pot Grower: Seeds of Dreams and Despair

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 18, 2011 Culture, Growing

Graphic: Geocurrents.info

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

“It’s just not worth it for me,” Argos said as he ground the pungent coffee beans.

“I put in around about a grand or so, per plant, not counting labor and love. Breaks my heart to have to let it go for anything less than $1,500 individually. Especially because I know the kids across the valley are picking up my medicine and bringing it to L.A., getting two grand and half for an elbow. Calling it whatever those Hollywood types are smoking these days.”

I sat at his table listening the rain hammering his mountain cabin while Argos hand-cranked the beans into one of those old-fashioned meat grinders.

“It’s getting bad and crazy at the same time,” he told me. “Folks I’ve known who’ve grown for years, through the droughts and the DEAs, are pulling up stakes and leaving.”

Ultimate Fighter Matt ‘The Law’ Lindland Sued For Stealing Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Mixed Martial Arts

Would you take your marijuana back away from Matt “The Law” Lindland if he stole it?

“Ultimate Fighter” and former Republican political candidate Matt “The Law” Lindland is being sued for allegedly stealing six mature marijuana plants from a patient.

In a suit filed March 3 in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Oregon, plaintiff Gonzalo Aldana Gamboa says Lindland offered last year to let Gamboa grow cannabis under the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program on Lindland’s property in Eagle Creek, reports James Pitkin at Willamette Week.

Gamboa registered the grow site with the state of Oregon and harvested six mature plants last October, according to the lawsuit. Lindland helped Gamboa load the plants into a U-Haul truck and told him he was moving them to his shed to dry, the suit says.

Caution: B.C. Medical Marijuana Grow-Ops Targeted By Thieves

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: PNG/Regina Leader-Post

Home basement grow-ops like these are being targeted by thieves around Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

Some British Columbia residents who are legally licensed to grow medical marijuana are being ripped off by thieves.

Three Langley, B.C., medical marijuana grow-ops have been robbed in the past six months, reports Cassidy Olivier at The Province. But Royal Canadian Mounted Police said there is “no way to tell” if the grows are being specifically targeted because they are a medicinal cannabis operation, or simply because they have pot.

“We’re very concerned,” said Supt. Derek Cooke of the Langley RCMP, reports CBC News. “This is a significant problem for the community.” There are more than 800 legal medical marijuana grow-ops in B.C., according to Cooke.

Video of the Day: American Dope Growers Union [SNL 1977]

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2011 Culture, Growing

Laraine Newman takes the lead in this great sketch from Saturday Night Live. I was 16 when this first aired in April 1977 (and yes, I was watching).

Cops Say Gator Guarded $1.5 Million California Marijuana Farm

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 9, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Terry Pierson/The Press Enterprise

Agents found “Wally,” a four-foot, 55-pound alligator, in a home where marijuana was being grown. They claim he was guarding the plants.

California narcotics investigators raiding what they called a $1.5 million marijuana growing operation found a four-foot alligator they claimed was guarding the crop.

Now, I know the press just loves exotic pets guarding marijuana crops, just how effective a guard would a four-foot alligator be? Not very, if one can judge by the photo of someone holding the fuckin’ thing. Turns out the gator was just as (in)effective at guarding pot as the B.C. marijuana bears were last year.

In any event, the Riverside County drug task force members, along with Department of Justice agents, moved in on the East Hemet house Monday night, seizing nearly 2,300 marijuana plants, reports KTLA News.

DC Businesses Try For A Piece Of The Medical Marijuana Action

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 8, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Graphic: VaporMe.com

Every new industry is driven by risk-taking pioneers, and it’s no different with medical marijuana in the District of Columbia. Entrepreneurs trying for a piece of the cannabis action in D.C. are crafting business plans, arranging financing, and readying for fierce competition to get licenses to operate five dispensaries and 10 cultivation centers.

Whether motivated by prospective profits or a belief in the medicinal value of marijuana, “everyone is cagey about their plans, because no one is certain who is in the hunt,” reports Paul Schwartzman at the The Washington Post.

“People are hiding in the shadows,” said Alan Amsterdam, co-owner of a hemp store and part of a team hoping to open a marijuana dispensary and cultivation center. “Then they’ll strike like a cobra.”

Stoner Photo of the Day: Sensi Star

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 5, 2011 Growing

Photo: Hapee Farmer

Here you go, man. I can only let you have these four colas, but they’ll probably last awhile.

Four colas can mean a whoooole of medicine if Hapee Farmer’s growing ’em.

Professor Gives Up Bid To Grow Marijuana For Medical Research

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 4, 2011 Growing, Medical, News

Jonathan Beller/Boston Magazine

Dr. Lyle Craker, UMass-Amherst: “I’m disappointed mostly because of all the patients who could potentially benefit”

Respected horticulturalist Lyle Craker of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has been trying for almost a decade to persuade the federal government to let him grow marijuana for medical research. He wanted to learn more about the plant’s medical benefits. But Craker, 70, was over and over again rebuffed, and now he’s finally giving up.

Craker said he saw no end in sight to the legal wrangling, with an appeals process that could run for years or even decades, reports Andrew Miga of The Associated Press. Craker was also frustrated that he never got a hoped-for boost from the Obama Administration.

“I’m disappointed in our system,” he said. “But I’m not disappointed at what we did. I think our efforts have brought the problem to the public eye more. … This is just the first battle in a war.”

Craker, who said he has never smoked marijuana, started his challenge to the government’s monopoly on growing and distributing research cannabis in 2001. One garden at The University of Mississippi is the federal government’s only marijuana-growing facility.

But government-grown pot lacks the potency medical researchers need for breakthroughs, according to Craker. Besides, there isn’t enough of the Ole Miss-grown cannabis available for scientists across the U.S., or even if there is, the government isn’t letting them have it.

Utilities Are A Cop’s Best Friend For Finding Marijuana Growers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 2, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: COTO Report

Smart energy meters send lots of data to power companies — which can then be subpoenaed by law enforcement.

Police have started the Orwellian practice of subpoenaing energy-use records of people suspected of indoor marijuana growing operations.

At least 60 such subpoenas are filed every month in Ohio alone, reports Dean Narciso at The Columbus Dispatch.

Utilities, while “sensitive” to their customers’ expectation of privacy, are compelled by law to provide information about electricity use, said Terri Flora, spokeswoman for American Electric Power, an Ohio utility.

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