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Uruguay: No Marijuana Tourism Under Legalization Plan

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By on Global, Legislation, News

Hispanically Speaking News
Uruguay President Jose Mujica: “We feel that putting it aboveboard, regulating it, can be a lesser evil than what is happening today”

Aw, man! If Uruguay’s parliament approves a historic plan to legalize marijuana, drug tourism will not be allowed in the South American nation, President Jose Mujica said on Wednesday.

The plan, under which Uruguay would sell marijuana to its citizens, will require people to prove they are Uruguayan before scoring any weed, Mujica told Agence France Presse (AFP). The legalization bill — the first complete legalization in the world, as opposed to decriminalization of “tolerance” as practiced in places like the Netherlands and Portugal — “is to resolve a problem that we ourselves have,” President Mujica said.
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Montana Medical Marijuana Activist Receives 5 Years Probation

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By on Dispensaries, News

Helena Independent Record
Medical marijuana provider Tom Daubert was facing a 20-year federal prison sentence — and he was following Montana state law. On Thursday, he got five years’ probation.

Tom Daubert, a drug policy reform activist with a long history of work for humane medical marijuana laws, received five years’ probation in a decision reached Thursday by federal U.S. District Court.
“I’m grateful for the judge’s leniency but I will never stop believing that patients deserve to live under a law that recognizes true science,” Daubert said upon being sentenced.
Daubert’s former business, Montana Cannabis, was raided by federal agents in March 2011.  Despite having worked closely with state and local law enforcement leaders throughout his involvement in marijuana production for state-legal patients, Tom was prevented from submitting a defense under federal law that his company complied with Montana’s medical marijuana law.
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MPP’s Kampia Publishes Misleading Chart About I-502

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By on Legislation, News

Mary Jane’s House of Glass
Rob Kampia, shown here partying at the Playboy Mansion, doesn’t seem too concerned about getting a marijuana DUI. Oh yeah, those are only for Washington state, right?

Rob Kampia, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project, published a Huffington Post column this week which included a chart supposedly illustrating “the Facts on I-502” which included an unintentionally humorous section.

Under “Arrests,” the chart tells us “If I-502 passes in WA on November 6th,” “NO ARRESTS,” and then in smaller print, “as long as you’re complying with the new law.” Gee, Rob, how many law degrees do you have, again?
It’s much the same with the rest of the chart. Under “Penalty for Wholesale Cultivation,” it’s “NO PENALTY if you have a marijuana producer’s license.” What the chart doesn’t tell you is that after an initial $250 setup fee, “marijuana producer’s licenses” will cost $1,000 per year (expect this number to go up quickly.)
Even the chart has to admit that the penalty for growing your own “Doesn’t change from current law. Manufacture becomes legal for licensed producers, not for home growers.”
Kampia, much of whose staff at MPP resigned a couple years ago after a sex scandal, spends most of the article lecturing Washington state activists on how the 502 debate is “off-track,” presumably because patients are insisting upon actually reading and questioning the legislation upon which they’re being asked to vote.
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German Authorities Shut Down Planned Cannabis Rally

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By on Culture, Global, News

Dampfparade 2012

Rally Would Likely Have Been Largest Cannabis Demonstration In German History

A cannabis demonstration and parade planned for Saturday in Cologne, Germany — which was shaping up to be the largest marijuana protest ever held in Germany — is being shut down at the last minute by the Versammlungsbehörde, a local government office that oversees public gatherings.

“This is the first time a pro-cannabis march has been planned for Cologne, which is located in the most populous area of Germany,” Daniel S. of Duisburg, Germany, told Toke of the Town on Wednesday morning. (Dan in no way speaks for the parade or any associated organizations; he just happens to live nearby and knows some people involved in the parade’s planning.)
The march was shaping up to possibly be the largest demonstration of its kind ever in Germany, thanks in large part to a positive response on Facebook and word-of-mouth advertising.
Planned speakers included Lars Scheimann, the first German citizen to be granted a medical marijuana card to treat his Tourette’s and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Scheimann has since helped more than 60 other people get similar approval for medicinal cannabis to treat various conditions through his organization, “Cannabis Als Medizin” (Cannabis As Medicine).
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What If Obama Had Called A Real Marijuana User?

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By on Culture, News



On September 3, in what President Obama’s press secretary described as an attempt to appeal to “the youth vote,” the Obama campaign released an ad featuring fictional potheads Harold and Kumar.
The President asks them for their support and they agree, mindlessly gobbling junk food and chuckling at cartoons. But the Obama Administration has waged a war on marijuana users at a faster pace than President Bush, even attacking state-legal medical marijuana at nearly every turn.
Your vote is worth more than a stoner “wink-and-nod” commercial.
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Caravan For Peace To Visit NYC To Call For End To Drug War

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By on Culture, News

Caravan For Peace
Poet-turned-activist Javier Sicilia galvanized the Caravan For Peace, Justice and Dignity movement to end the Drug War in Mexico after his son was killed last year

Unprecedented Coalition of NY Organizations to Welcome Caravan September 6-7 with Vigil-March, Press Conference at City Hall, Action at HSBC Bank, and More
Poet Javier Sicilia and Other Drug War Survivors Will Honor 60,000+ Lives Lost in Mexico and Demand Accountability for Wall Street’s Money Laundering for Drug Traffickers
The “Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity” will arrive in New York City Thursday, September 6, on its voyage across the United States calling for an end to the failed Drug War that has left more than 60,000 dead in Mexico in the last five years. 
Poet and movement leader Javier Sicilia and other people from Mexico who have lost loved ones in the Drug War have joined with Americans impacted by the War On Drugs to travel more than 6,000 miles together through more than 25 cities — including Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago — before arriving in Washington, D.C., on September 10th.
Several New York-based organizations, including the Drug Policy Alliance, YoSoy132NY, New Sanctuary Movement-NY, CUNY Institute of Mexican Studies, Make the Road New York, Occupy Wall Street, Women on the Rise Telling HerStory, VOCAL-NY and others will welcome the Caravan when it arrives on Thursday by holding a candlelight vigil to commemorate drug war victims in both countries.
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Officials Say Marijuana Smell From Home Violates Zoning

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By on Growing, Medical, News

Tom Perkins/AnnArbor.com
Neighbors have complained that the smell of marijuana coming from 1397 Crestwood Street in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan

A flag bearing a marijuana leaf flew for months above the Michigan home of Michael Engle. And for almost that entire time, Engle’s neighbors have been complaining about the “intense” odor of cannabis emanating from his home in Ypsilanti Township.

City officials said they aren’t sure how much marijuana Engle is growing in his home, or whether he’s processing it, but neighbors said they are fed up with the strong cannabis odor, which they claim has made them physically sick and prevents them from opening their windows, reports Tom Perkins at AnnArbor.com.
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San Diego County Medical Marijuana Facility Forced To Close

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By on Dispensaries, News

Katie Euphrat/KPBS
Mother Earth Healing Co-operative co-founder Bob Riedel: “The loss of this facility today is a real tragedy for those patients who turned to us to help relieve the pain and suffering associated with treatments for life threatening cancers and other conditions”

Thousands of medical marijuana patients lose access to medical marijuana as U.S. Attorney forces eviction of San Diego County’s only licensed dispensary, Mother Earth Alternative Healing Coop, Inc. 
The only licensed medical marijuana dispensary in San Diego County, California — Mother Earth Alternative Healing Coop, Inc. — was forced to close its doors and cease operations Tuesday a a result of the U.S. Attorney’s office pressure to force its eviction.
The El Cajon facility said it had served thousands of medical marijuana patients since it opened in July 2011, and had complied with all state and local laws, even the very restrictive policies adopted by San Diego County. It was cited as a model operation and was lauded by many as completely fulfilling the intent of California voters who approved Proposition 215, the Compassionate Use Act of 1996. 
“The loss of this facility today is a real tragedy for those patients who turned to us to help relieve the pain and suffering associated with treatments for life threatening cancers and other conditions,” said Bob Riedel of Mother Earth, Inc. “This is a sad day for them and a sad day for those who believe that the federal government has overstepped its bounds in pursuing a dubious course of action to close facilities that are legal under current state law.
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Opposition To Washington’s I-502: Is Greed A Factor?

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By on News

No On I-502

By Ezra Eickmeyer
The sponsor of I-502, New Approach Washington, in collusion with Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger, have been accusing the medical cannabis community of opposing Initiative 502 because of greed.
So, let’s say for the sake of argument that everyone who provides cannabis to patients was just a greedy capitalist trying to get a million bucks. We all know that is NOT the truth at all, but just humor me for a moment. 
Their current “market” consists of medical patients ONLY, no more than 160,000 people, but very likely less. Considering that these patients are mostly in the Puget Sound region, we estimate that about 2 to 4 percent of the population either has become or will become a patient. 
I-502, assuming the feds don’t trample it, would open up the market to everyone over 21, or close to 5 million people, of which 10 to 30 percent are likely customers. That seems like a huge increase from 2-4% of the population. I can be bad at math and almost flunked trig in school, but I think 502 would potentially provide a 250 percent to 700+ percent increase in the size of the state’s legal cannabis “market.”
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Team Vendetta Takes Down Drug Task Force Site

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By on News

Information Liberation
Trail of blood on Phyllis Loquasto’s stairs after her beloved dog “Duke” was shot by WayneNET Task Force officers

Hacktivist Collective Responds To Drug Raid In Which 75-Year-Old Forced To Lie On Floor At Gunpoint As Her Dog Was Executed

Earlier this month, when police held a 75-year-old woman at gunpoint and killed her dog, lots of us in the marijuana community were horrified, appalled and outraged. The disgusting, terroristic tactics of would-be Rambos on over-funded, over-armed, over-enthusiastic redneck local drug task forces is enough to make anybody want to throw up.

Some, however, have more means at their disposal to express their disapproval of such jack-booted thug tactics.
Members of the online activist collective Team Vendetta on Monday afternoon took down he website of the Wayne County Narcotics Enforcement Team, “doxing” the entire task force team (gleaning their personal information from the site) and posting online the information of the top three men in charge of the team.
The widespread disgust was due to a botched drug raid during which Wayne County Sheriff’s deputies, along with Macedon Police officers, broke into 75-year-old Phyllis Loquasto’s home in Walworth, New York, forced her at gunpoint to lie on her bathroom floor, screamed at her to close her eyes and stay down, then executed her dog, “Duke,” by shooting him.
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