| Jenny Kush. |
It was one of the most sadly ironic events of the year: On Labor Day weekend — when the heat was on to catch drunk drivers — cannabis activist Jenny Kush was killed by one of those drink drivers, as related in a Westword September cover story, “The life and tragic death of Jenny Kush.”
Now her death has been added to Arrest Angel, a site that chronicles DUI deaths across the country, and asks drivers to “think twice” before driving drunk. Click over to the Westword for more.
| New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. |
Congratulations, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: you’ve driven at least one family out of your state due to your complete lack of compassion when it comes to medical cannabis.
Meghan and Brian Wilson say that despite laws passed to help ease access to medical cannabis for children in New Jersey, their two-year-old daughter Vivian still lives a miserable existence fighting seizures caused by Dravet’s syndrome that could be helped with cannabis oil that isn’t available.
| via Timothy M. Moore, Wikimedia Commons |
Jermaine Dupri was cruising South Beach with his boys when cops noticed the black Lincoln Navigator’s tint was so dark that they couldn’t identify the race, sex, or number of passengers inside the SUV. Police pulled over the party to see who was headed north on Washington Avenue at 3:24 a.m. and what they had to hide.
Two officers noticed a “strong odor of marijuana emanating from within the vehicle.” There was no weed present, however. Still, they called in backup. Dupri tweeted: “Somebody pls call TMZ. Five police cars just pulled us over cause [names]got the car smelling like snoop dogg. oh shit!… lol this is a movie.” Miami New Times has the rest.
Starting Wednesday, adults 21 and up will be able to legally (at least, at the state level) purchase cannabis legally in storefronts in Colorado.
We’ll stop and let that sink in for a second.
Okay, now that your mind has finished exploding we’ll get down to a few details.
Colorado has become ground-zero for pot coverage in recent weeks, culminating January 1 when recreational cannabis sales begin for adults 21 and up around the state. In case you didn’t know already, our sister blog over at the Denver Westword is the source for coverage. As Westword editor Patricia Calhoun writes:
The calls and e-mails keep coming, sometimes several an hour. And they all want to know the same thing: On January 1, where will they be able to buy pot? Good question. The state just released its first list of 136 completed applications for recreational marijuana stores on Monday, but all of those applicants still need to jump through the hoops in their various municipalities before they can sell marijuana. By mid-December, Denver — which has over 200 medical marijuana dispensaries, the only businesses that can apply to sell recreational marijuana — had received more than 100 applications to open retail stores.
Austin, Texas resident Corey Lynn Plumlee is allegedly pretty open about his pot use. That’s nothing out of the ordinary in Austin, which has a pretty cool attitude towards pot most of the time. But when you go bragging about it on Craigslist and start offering to hook strangers up with “Cali-style” nuggets, it’s going to draw some attention.
See, Austin is a cool town, but it’s not that cool – as Plumlee found that out the hard way earlier this week.
Despite the Florida Supreme Court holding up the actual petition over charges that it deceptively would open the floodgates of outright legalization in the Sunshine State from the state attorney general, the People United for Care proposal to legalize medical cannabis is gaining support.
Recent polls have shown it with support as high as 68 percent and the campaign has collected nearly 700,000 signatures so far. That’s about 17,000 more than the required 683,000 to make the ballot, but supporters say they need some cushioning in there for invalid signatures.
Supporters of a third marijuana legalization proposal in California have been green-lit to begin collecting signatures on a bill that would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year on enforcement as well as generate hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the cash-strapped state.
California Attorney General Kamala Harris gave the Marijuana Control, Revenue and Legalization Act approval (as well as a name and ballot summary) Dec. 24.
Uruguayan President Jose Mujica signed a bill legalizing limited amounts of cannabis in that country Monday night, finally making the law official in the country after weeks of international attention.
The signing went into effect with little or no fanfare or ceremony. In fact, it was the president’s secretary, Diego Canepa who quietly made the announcement on Tuesday morning to international press.
| Jonathunder. |
| RT Rybak. |
When you think of words to describe R.T. Rybak, “depressed” certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near the top of the list. But in a wide-ranging interview with Mpls St. Paul Magazine’s Steve Marsh, the soon-to-be former mayor says that’s how smoking a bunch of pot made him feel during his days at Breck High School. What got him out of his ganja-induced funk? Fittingly, the ebullient R.T. says it was his first political campaign.
Minneapolis City Pages has more.