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Lowest Priority Cannabis Enforcement: Signature Gathering Begins In WA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2012 Legislation, News

Recently the cannabis advocacy group Sensible Washington announced it was filing initiatives making marijuana the lowest law enforcement priority in six cities throughout Washington State. Now signature gathering drive has begun in three of those cities: Olympia, Everett and Bremerton.

“It is our goal to get these quickly on the ballot, as to effectively run a successful campaign to pass these initiatives into law,” said Anthony Martinelli of Sensible Washington.

If put on the ballot and passed, these initiatives, all titled the Marijuana Reform Act of 2012, will make cannabis the lowest law-enforcement priority, and also prohibit city and local law enforcement from cooperating with federal authorities over the implementation of federal cannabis policies.

Police Say Dealer Had 89 Bags Of Hard Drugs Tied To His Penis

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2012 News

Philadelphia Inquirer

Ray Woods had 89 bags of heroin and cocaine tied to his penis. He urinated on the police officer who removed them.

Suspect Urinated On Police Officer As The Drugs Were Removed

When police officers noticed an “large bulge” in 23-year-old Ray Woods’ groin area after they stopped him last weekend for a traffic violation, the man had the balls to insist “it was nothing.”

But the officers found some marijuana in the vehicle, and Woods, of Philadelphia, was placed under arrest for possession. He caught an additional charge of possessing drugs with intent to distribute after officers claimed they later found 89 individual bags of suspected heroin and cocaine tied to his penis following a search at the Folcroft, Pennsylvania police station, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It was, in fact, hard drugs the police officers found tied to Woods’ penis, and not marijuana as was erroneously reported by The Raw Story.

“He stopped him for the traffic violation and one thing led to another,” said Police Corporal Christopher Eiserman, a 14-year veteran of the force who allowed he’d never seen anything like it.

Free Marijuana Prisoner Rev. Eddy Lepp: The Lepp-A-Thon

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2012 Culture, News

California 420 Cannabis Network

Rev. Eddy Lepp, left, with hemp legend Jack Herer

By Mickey Martin

Cannabis Warrior

Some great activists are working on fundraising for Reverend Eddy Lepp and have organized a silent auction to help raise funds for his defense efforts. The auction contains a lot of great items to bid on, including vacations, glass pieces, tickets, and a whole lot more.

To see these great items and to place a bid to help out Eddy visit the auction site HERE. Our brothers and sisters sit in jail today because of a safe, enjoyable, and helpful plant. Please do your part to help free the old man from the clutches of tyranny.

S.F. Mayor: Medical Marijuana A ‘Nuisance’ Like Strip Clubs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2012 Dispensaries, News

Garry Sun

Roughly equivalent to a medical marijuana dispensary? The Mayor’s Office in San Francisco seems to think so.

Nobody in the office of San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee seems willing to take responsibility for a city document which refers to medical marijuana dispensaries as “nuisance retail” and likens them to strip clubs and liquor stores.

That’s the terminology used in a document released last year by the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and that document is now being used by the Planning Department as a reason to deny a permit to a medicinal cannabis collective proposed for a vacant building in an alley off Sixth Street, reports Chris Roberts at SF Weekly.

Jury Acquits Man Who Says He Was Selling Marijuana During Robbery

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2012 News

MySpace

Kadeem Wilkerson: “When I pulled out the firearm, their attitude just changed up. I got my weed back…”

Hey man — I didn’t rob these people. They tried to rob me when I sold them marijuana. That’s a line of defense you don’t see very often, especially in Georgia. But it worked.

A Georgia jury on Wednesday found a 20-year-old man not guilty of armed robbery after he testified he went to Liberty Garden Townhomes in Columbus in 2010 to sell marijuana to customers who then tried to rob him, rather than the other way around, report Alan Riquelmy and Tim Chitwood of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Defense attorney Stacey Jackson said he thought jurors were swayed by Kadeem Wilkerson’s “brutally honest” testimony about having sold pot, and his testimony was backed up by a marijuana conviction in Chattahoochee County. Imagine that — a pot conviction that helps you!

Dutch Group: Cannabis Coffeeshops Deserve Heritage Protection

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 11, 2012 Dispensaries, Global, News

Floris Leeuwenberg

Cannabis coffeeshops are an integral part of Dutch culture, and have been for decades. A Dutch cannabis consumers group, WeSmoke, says the shops are worthy of preservation as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Netherlands, for reasons known only to the conservative government, seems intent on barring foreigners from its world-famous “coffeeshops” where cannabis is sold. That’s wholly nonsensical, since the shops are a major source of tourist dollars for Amsterdam and most of the other cities where they operate.

But curtailment of the shops — or even complete closure, which could be one of the repercussions of the new rules — would be more than an economic loss to the Netherlands, according to one Dutch pro-cannabis group. It would be a tragic loss of cultural heritage, as well.

Because of that, the Dutch cannabis consumer association WeSmoke has asked that the coffeeshops of the Netherlands be included on UNESCO World Heritage Site list, giving them protection as the unique cultural icons they are.

“World Heritage Sites are commonly understood to be culturally and/or natural important heritage that can be considered irreplaceable, unique and property of the entire world,” said Dimitri Breeuwer of WeSmoke. “This is why we can only conclude the unique Dutch coffeeshop, the very center of the cannabis legalization policies belongs on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list.”

FDA Could Expand Access To Opiate Overdose Antidote

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 11, 2012 Legislation, News

Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy

Groundbreaking FDA Hearing Will Consider Expanding Access to Overdose Antidote That Has Saved Tens of Thousands of Lives

Leading Experts Will Testify at FDA Hearing and Capitol Hill Briefing

Drug Policy Alliance Releases Policy Brief Urging Greater Access to Naloxone

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will on Thursday hold a public hearing to consider making naloxone more available outside of conventional medical settings in order to reduce drug overdoses from opioid drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet and heroin. This groundbreaking hearing will bring together many of the leading overdose prevention experts in the United States to strategize ways to improve access to naloxone.

‘Not My Kid’ Bemoans Teen Marijuana ‘Addiction’ and 420 Culture

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 11, 2012 Culture, News

CTI Career Search

“Oh dear God… what if little Jimmy’s on WEEEEEEED?!”

If you thought the laughable Reefer Madness hyperbole and tall tales were a thing of the past — a relic, perhaps, of your 20th Century schooling — think again.

The extremist anti-drug group “notMYkid,” just in time for the 4/20 holiday this year, is indulging in the same, lame rhetoric of the past century, darkly mentioning in a Tuesday press release, “With nearly 40,000 drug-related deaths each year, ‘National Weed Day’ can be the start down a tragic path.”

They somehow seem to have forgotten a couple of things, notably, (1) NONE of those 40,000 deaths is attributable to marijuana, and in fact NO death EVER in human history is directly attributable to cannabis; and (2) most of those 40,000 drug deaths aren’t even due to illegal drugs at all — but instead represent overdoses on legal pharmaceuticals manufactured by, surprise, surprise! — the same Big Pharma giants who fund this nonsensical anti-pot propaganda in the first place.

Local, State Officials Decry Federal Attacks on Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 9, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

The Weed Blog

San Francisco United for Safe Access campaign compels statement from Mayor Lee and others

A coalition of medical marijuana patients, activists, dispensing centers, and concerned citizens has compelled public officials to stand up to recent federal attacks. Last week, the coalition “San Francisco United for Safe Access” held a press conference with several city supervisors and state officials, decrying the Obama Administration’s aggressive tactics before a crowd of more than 500 supporters.

By Friday, San Francisco United had secured a statement from Mayor Lee, expressing his opposition to “recent federal actions targeting duly permitted Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries…that aim to limit our citizens’ ability to have safe access to the medicine they need.”

Medical Marijuana Patient With Cancer Faces Eviction… Again

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 9, 2012 Medical, News

Northern Express

A Michigan cancer patient whose eviction from her federally subsidized apartment — for using medical marijuana — was halted after an outcry in 2009 now faces homelessness again.

Lori Montroy, 52, of Elk Rapids, got another eviction notice last month at the apartment where she has lived since 2008, reports Patrick Sullivan at Northern Express.

“It’s just draining the life out of me, these people,” Montroy said. “Why can’t they just leave me be?”

Montroy thought she was safe in her apartment after the last attempted eviction around Christmas 2009. The company that at that time managed the apartment complex called off the eviction in early 2010 after a storm of bad publicity and a plea from attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union. The attorneys argued that under federal law, landlords are not required to evict tenants for drug use under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act.

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