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Kentucky Man Tells Cops His Marijuana Plants Were Burglarized

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2012 Growing, News

Stephen Byerly, 51, told the cops he caught two guys stealing his marijuana plants

Police responding to a Kentucky crime scene call early Friday morning were greeted by a man who claimed his marijuana plants were being burglarized.

According to an arrest report from the Louisville Police Department, 911 dispatchers took a call asking police to come to an address on St. Joseph Avenue, but the call got disconnected, reports WDRB.

When the cops got there, they found Stephen Byerly, 51, who told them he caught two guys in his house “who then burglarized his marijuana plants.”

Byerly gave the officers consent to search his home, upon which they said they found 10 marijuana plants growing in the basement. The cops said they also found a “sophisticated irrigation, lighting and ventilation system.”

According to the police report, Byerly told officers he was forced to grow marijuana so he could raise money after being laid off from his job.

Court: Disabled Rights Not Violated By Pot Dispensary Shutdowns

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Stoel Rives World of Employment

A federal appeals court on Monday decided that when cities shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, doing so does not violate the federally protected rights of disabled people.

A three-judge panel on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit by severely disabled Californians who were authorized by their doctors to use cannabis, reports Maura Dolan at the Los Angeles Times.

The patients had sued the Orange County, California cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest, charging that the cities’ attempts to shutter medicinal cannabis dispensaries violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination based on disability.

The 9th Circuit ruled that federal law does not protect the use of drugs banned by the federal government.

“We recognize that the plaintiffs are gravely ill,” wrote Judge Raymond C. Fisher, a Clinton appointee, for the court.

The patients’ attempt to win legal protection involves “not only their right to live comfortably, but also their basic human dignity,” Judge Fisher wrote, and “California has embraced marijuana as an effective treatment for debilitating pain.”

Oregon U.S. Attorney: ‘I Don’t Care About Medical Marijuana’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

United States Attorney’s Office, District of Oregon

U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall: “I don’t care about medical marijuana”

Oregon’s new federal prosecutor said that while she’s “concerned” about the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, she’s not going to prioritize going after medicinal cannabis providers.

“People say, ‘You’re the U.S. Attorney; are you going to go after medical marijuana?’ No, I’m not,” Amanda Marshall told Nigel Duara of The Associated Press. “I don’t care about medical marijuana.”

Marshall’s office estimates the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon as at least 100, most of which are in the Portland metro area. Her predecessor in 2010 joined his counterparts in other medical marijuana states in sending warning letters which threatened medical marijuana providers and their landlords with civil asset forfeiture if they continued to operate.

Marshall told the AP that Oregon’s medical marijuana law itself isn’t so much the problem as is the “lack of oversight” of medicinal cannabis grows and distribution.

Her backing away from the Obama Administration’s crackdown on medical marijuana may have been at least partially inspired by the political fate of former interim Oregon U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton, who had criticized the state’s medicinal cannabis program as a “train wreck.”

Marijuana Provider’s Defense Sets Tuesday Press Conference

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

San Diego Americans for Safe Access

A press conference on behalf of Navy veteran and medical marijuana patient/provider Dexter Padilla has been set for Tuesday, May 22, at 12:30 p.m., in front of the Hall of Justice at 330 West Broadway, San Diego, California. The press conference was arranged by the San Diego Chapter of Americans for Safe Access.

A jury was selected last week and Padilla’s marijuana trafficking trial began on May 16 in Department 27 of San Diego Superior Court for the Honorable Laura Parsky.

Throughout the last week, the prosecution presented its side in the criminal trial of District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis v. Padilla, a Navy veteran, medical cannabis patient and president of Therapeutic Healing Collective (THC), a San Diego-based nonprofit medical marijuana cooperative.

The prosecution’s entire case consisted of two witnesses from D.A. Dumanis’ Cross Jurisdiction Task Force. The Task Force, which is strongly supported by Dumanis, was formed to commandeer local law enforcement in an effort to help the federal government circumvent California’s medical marijuana laws.

Car of the Future: Made Of Cannabis Hemp, Fueled By Coffee

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2012 News, Products

Zazzle

Researchers at the University of Jordan believe that used coffee grounds — typically containing about 10 percent oil — could be a source of biodiesel automobile fuel in the future. And more researchers, these at Warwick University in the U.K., believe hemp fiber could replace the carbon fiber in auto bodywork.

They University of Jordan team, headed by Zayed Al-Hamamre, argues that we could get around 1,000 metric tonnes (one metric tonne = 1,000 kilograms) of biodiesel from coffee grounds each year. The scientists point out we could do this without using up more of the world’s ever-shrinking areas with arable land, reports Corinne Burns of The Guardian.

Marijuana Entrepreneur Charged With Defrauding Oakland

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2012 Culture, Medical, News

Armando Trull/WAMU

Dhar Mann, 27, has been charged with defrauding the city of Oakland

Dhar Mann, a controversial young businessman who sought fame and fortune as an entrepreneur in the medical marijuana industry, was charged Thursday with 13 felonies for allegedly defrauding an Oakland, California grant program that helps property owners pay for renovations.

Alameda County prosecutors charged Mann, 27, with stealing thousands of dollars from Oakland in 2008 and 2009, report Demian Bulwa and Matthai Kuruvila at SFGate. Mann was not arrested; his arraignment is scheduled for Wednesday.

Mann’s attorney, John Runfola, admitted that his client “took shortcuts” in the grant program, but claimed the charges were trumped up.

DEA Involved In Killings Of Innocent Civilians In Honduras

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 17, 2012 Global, News

Phantom Report

U.S. DEA agents were involved in the shooting deaths of four innocent people, including two pregnant women, and the injury of at least three others in Honduras last week

Killings Scrutinized in Light of Growing Calls from Latin American Leaders for Alternatives to Drug Criminalization and Prohibition

Protesters in Honduras’ Mosquito Coast area have burned down government offices and demanded that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration leave the area, after an incident last Friday when DEA agents were involved in a drug interdiction effort with the Honduran national police that left four innocent people dead – two of whom were pregnant – at least three others seriously injured, and two children missing, according to local Honduran authorities.

DEA Agent Implicated In Marijuana Trial Records Theft

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 17, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

FederalJack.com

By Eugene Davidovich

San Diego Americans for Safe Access

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis presses on with the state trial of a medical marijuana patient in full compliance with California law — even after the feds refuse to prosecute and court records show the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s involvement in theft of attorney-client records.

Twelve jurors and two alternates were selected on Wednesday in Department 27 of San Diego Superior Court, officially starting the criminal trial of Dexter Padilla, a Navy veteran, medical marijuana patient and president of Therapeutic Healing, a San Diego-based non profit medical marijuana coop.

Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana Holding Unity Conference

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 16, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana

Press conference on Monday, May 21 at Capitol in Sacramento, followed by lobby visits to each California State Assembly & Senate office

Californians to Regulate Medical Marijuana, a Political Action Committee formed in the fall of 2011 to push for passage of a statewide production and distribution system, is holding a “Unity Conference” this weekend, followed by a press conference and lobby day on Monday.

Advocates will gather at the Sacramento Central Labor Council on Saturday and Sunday to build their skills and strategize on passing statewide regulations. Hundreds of advocates will then gather on Monday at the Capitol to lobby every State Assembly and Senate office.

Poll Shows 74% of Americans Support Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 16, 2012 Medical, News

Global Ganja Report

National Poll Reveals Unpopularity of Obama Administration Interference In Medical Marijuana States

In a just-released poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, three quarters of American voters — 74 percent — want the Obama administration to respect individual state medical marijuana laws.

Only 15 percent of voters nationwide support using federal resources to arrest and prosecute those who are acting in compliance with their state medical marijuana laws.

The poll informed voters that medical marijuana is legal with a doctor’s recommendation in 16 states as well as the District of Columbia, and in some of those states it is legal for licensed and tightly regulated individuals to grow and sell marijuana to qualifying patients. Respondents were then asked if President Obama should respect the medical marijuana laws in these states, or continue to use federal resources to arrest and prosecute individuals who are acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.

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