Growing

Colorado: Medical Pot Records Seized In Grow Op Search

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 11, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

A Colorado search warrant executed Tuesday authorized the seizure of records for more than 300 medical marijuana card holders, including doctors’ recommendations and personal contact information.

The warrant was issued after officers from the Grand Junction Police Department were called out Tuesday to investigate a suspicious odor emanating from a building near the offices of the U.S. Census Bureau, reports Paul Shockley at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

The warrant, signed by District Judge Thomas Deister, allowed for Western Colorado Drug Task Force officers to confiscate records “in order to verify who the current primary caregiver is” for the approximately 308 patient files found inside a large marijuana grow.

Mother & Son: The New Face Of Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 10, 2010 Growing, Medical

Argentine Grandma Faces Trial For Two Pot Plants

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 8, 2010 Global, Growing

Photo: Country.com.br

A federal appeals court in Argentina has ruled that a grandmother has to stand trial for growing two marijuana plants in her back yard.

Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled in August 2009 that it is unconstitutional to punish adults for privately using marijuana, as long as the use doesn’t hurt anyone else. For that reason, a federal judge had previously issued a stay against prosecuting the woman, who swore she used the cannabis solely for herself, reports CNN.

But the public prosecutor’s office appealed the ruling, and a federal appeals court overturned the previous decision because the woman lives with her two sons and a grandchild.

The three-page appeals court ruling said the grandmother could not prove the marijuana was solely for her personal consumption.

Last year’s unanimous Supreme Court ruling made Argentina the second Latin American nation within a one-week span to allow personal use of a formerly illegal drug.

Dispensary: Hundreds Of Pot Plants Could Perish After Lockdown

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 5, 2010 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

Photo: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Plants that could help an estimated 2,400 local medical marijuana patients are in danger of dying with the power cut at CannaHelp dispensary after Thursday’s lockdown of the California pot collective’s building, owner Stacy Hochanadel said Friday.

“The just pulled out all the power so the plants are going to die,” Hochanadel said, reports Marcel Honore of The Desert Sun. “The heat, the lack of light, the lack of watering” puts the 400 plants “in danger of being unusable.”

Covering Your Cannabis: Marijuana Crop Loss Insurance Offered

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 1, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Graphic: Statewide Insurance Services

A California-based insurance company says it is now offering cannabis crop loss insurance from coast to coast, targeting the rapidly growing medicinal marijuana business.

Statewide Insurance Services Medical Marijuana Specialty Division provides what the company says is “the only, nationally available insurance coverage designed specifically for the medical marijuana industry.”

The company is “revolutionizing the cannabis industry with its nationwide program covering growers and their products,” according to a press release.

Latest Victim Of Pot Prohibition: Public Lands

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 1, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: Seattle P.I.

A federal agent carries plants away during the bust of a 16,742-plant grow operation at Ross Lake National Recreation Area, Washington state.

Due to the enormous profits made possible by marijuana prohibition, Mexican drug gangs are taking over U.S. public land to grow cannabis, using smuggled immigrants to cultivate the plants.

Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, report Alicia A. Caldwell and Manuel Valdes of the Associated Press, but Mexican cartels have taken clandestine cannabis cultivation to a whole new level, using armed guards and trip wires to secure grow operations containing tens of thousands of plants.

DEA To Burn Boastful Grower’s Bud

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 26, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: 9News

Chris Bartkowicz’s garden is going up in smoke… but not the fun way

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what’s happening to the 224 beautiful marijuana plants seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration from that guy who was really good at pot farming but not so much when it came to discretion…

Well, there’s no easy way to say this. They’re gonna burn ’em.

Highlands Ranch, Colorado medical pot farmer Chris Bartkowicz didn’t mind bragging as he told TV reporters he spent $500,000 constructing his basement grow operation, and expected to rake in $400,000 this year for his crop.

Ohio Man Kills Himself After Son Rats Him Out For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 24, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: Portage County Jail

Robert Batsch: Another victim of the war on pot

Police said a 55-year-old man killed himself Tuesday after he and his wife were charged with child endangering in connection with growing marijuana.

Robert Batsch and his wife Pamela, 54, of Rootstown, Ohio, were arrested Monday on warrants of allowing a juvenile to live in their home where marijuana was being grown. Their son told school officials about the marijuana, which led to a police investigation, reports Michael Sangiacomo of Cleveland.com.

Pamela found Robert’s body with a .22 rifle in the woods behind their home about noon on Tuesday, according to Portage County Sheriff David Doak.

A spokesman for the Portage County Coroner said Batsch’s death would be declared a suicide.

Medical Marijuana Becomes Gray Area For Law Enforcement In Montana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Growing, Legislation, Medical

Photo: KTVQ

Law enforcement agencies say they have faced a bit of a struggle since medical marijuana was approved in Montana in 2004, reports Nikki Laurenzo at KTVQ.

“We are in a quandary because we have conflict between state law and federal law,” said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John.

No quandary at all, Chief. Your duty is to enforce state laws. Leave the federal laws to federal agents. Problem solved!

Marijuana Could Be New Crop In New Jersey; Farm Bureau Investigates

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 22, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Graphic: Phawker

New Jersey farmers see a chance to add a profitable new crop now that the state legalized medical marijuana last month.

“We would all like to grow it because we think it would be a good cash crop — literally,” said Fairfield, N.J., nurseryman Roger Ruske, reports Joseph P. Smith of the Vineland Daily Journal.

The idea is being taken seriously ever since outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine, in one of his last official acts, signed the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.

The New Jersey Farm Bureau has looked into the issue in depth, and found both good news and problems with the concept.

Farm Bureau research associate Ed Wengryn said the legislation isn’t written clearly enough for the state Department of Health and Senior Services to write regulations.

“But I will say there are growers interested in it,” Wengryn said.

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