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MI Marijuana Activists Will Gather Sunday To Plan Testimony

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 2, 2012 Legislation, Medical, News

Medical marijuana patients, caregivers, and organizations will all gather under one roof Sunday as Ann Arbor’s Clarion Hotel serves as Independence Hall while activists and interested parties will coordinate testimony to ensure all the implications of medicinal cannabis are properly explained to the Legislature.

The Michigan House of Representatives has a package of four bills under consideration that would alter the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act (MMA) or associated laws. Those bills are currently being reviewed in the House Judiciary Committee, under the authority of Chairman John Walsh (R-Livonia).

Chairman Walsh has determined that the package will be considered in a series of hearings, which will include testimony from selected groups and organizations to be followed by statements from the public.

Marijuana Dispensaries Coming To R.I.: Gov., Legislature Agree

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 1, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Releaf

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has reached a compromise with the Legislature under which medical marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to open in the state

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and the Legislature on Thursday agreed to allow medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the state after negotiating a compromise. Chafee had blocked the dispensaries from opening, fearing they would violate federal law and result in DEA raids in the state.

Three dispensaries already picked by the state to distribute medicinal cannabis could open soon after the General Assembly endorses the compromise, reports the Associated Press.

According to lawmakers, state health officials will be directed to limit the amount of marijuana dispensaries may possess to answer concerns that larger shops would run afoul of the federal Controlled Substances Act, which outlaws any amount of marijuana for any purpose.

Chafee, even while slamming the Obama Administration’s crackdown on medical marijuana, put on hold the licensing of the three dispensaries last year after the state’s U.S. Attorney warned that operators of the shops could face federal charges. Chafee had joined Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire in asking the federal government to reclassify marijuana from its current status as a Schedule I substance, meaning the feds regard pot as having no medical value and a high potential for abuse.

N.J. Governor: No Clemency For MS Patient Who Grew Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 1, 2012 Growing, Medical, News

Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger

John Ray Wilson was sentenced to five years in prison for growing marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday night said Wilson belongs in prison and even called his MS diagnosis — which is backed by medical records — into question

Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey on Wednesday night showed where his heart really is. Christie said he will not grant clemency for John Ray Wilson, a Somerset County man serving a barbaric five-year prison sentence for growing marijuana in his back yard to treat his multiple sclerosis. The governor even went so far as to call Wilson’s MS diagnosis — backed up by medical records — into question.

The Republican governor was unmoved by the fact the Wilson suffers from multiple sclerosis and said he was growing the herb to control the debilitating symptoms of his disease, reports Susan K. Livio at NJ.com. Ironically, since Wilson’s arrest, the New Jersey Legislature legalized medical marijuana in the Garden State with a law which was signed by Gov. Christie’s predecessor on his last day in office.

Former Marijuana Business Partners Settle Feud, End Lawsuits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 1, 2012 News, Products

Chris Buck/Mother Jones

Derek Peterson and Dhar Mann were business partners, then enemies, and now a truce has been struck

Multiple lawsuits between estranged medical marijuana business partners, Dhar Mann and Derek Peterson, have reportedly ended as the two entrepreneurs broke out the peace pipe and agreed on an undisclosed settlement this week.

Mann founded weGrow, the nation’s first medical marijuana superstore and partnered up with Peterson shortly after starting the company in 2010. Within a year, the partnership ended on a bitter note and a variety of increasingly hostile claims and counterclaims were filed by both parties against each other.

After nearly a year of unpleasantness, both Mann and Peterson have come to an agreement to settle all claims and put aside their differences.

“Medical cannabis is under fire around the country, and it’s more important than ever to have a consolidated front,” Mann said. “There are bigger issues facing medical cannabis that personal and business differences should not exacerbate.”

Meth-Head Woman Burns Down One Of Earth’s Oldest Trees

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 29, 2012 News

The Raw Story

Sara Barnes admitted she burned down one of the oldest trees in the world while smoking meth

That’s definitely not what we mean when we say “burnin’ trees.” A 26-year-old Florida woman on Tuesday afternoon admitted to burning down one of the oldest trees in the world while smoking methamphetamine.

Sara Barnes was arrested after admitting she set The Senator, a 118-foot, 3,500-year-old bald cypress tree, afire the night of January 16 in Longwood, Florida, reports Mary Nguyen at WFTV.

Barnes, who admitted she was smoking meth with a friend at the time, said she lit the ancient tree on fire so that she could see in the dark, but couldn’t stop it from spreading, reports Andrew Jones at The Raw Story.

What do you bet this miserable meth-headed moron had dropped a rock (or pipe) on the ground and was looking for it?

Phantom Marijuana Bandits With ESP Stalk Postal Workers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 29, 2012 Culture, News

Danks List

By Bob Starrett

And you thought you were reading the Weekly World News. They can’t cover this because they are hot on the trail of the biggest story of the year, “FACEBOOK WILL END ON MARCH 15th, 2012!” You can read that gem for yourself..

Personally, I wouldn’t miss Facebook, but the story I really wanted to read was “How to Sell Your Soul to the Devil.” I have always wondered how one goes about that. Onionesque as it is, when Weekly World News reports it, at least the rest of the story matches the headline. As far as the facts to back it up, sure, they might be more than a little questionable, but at least they make an effort.

43% Of Marijuana Patients Say Organic Cannabis Is Essential

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 29, 2012 Dispensaries, Medical, News

No Longer Sad

This fine cola of Panama Red was grown organically in a greenhouse in Washington state.

Don’t be afraid to ask for organic marijuana — you have plenty of company. According to a new research study, twice as many medicinal cannabis patients said organic marijuana — not discount pricing — is their most critical consideration when selecting a dispensary.

Medical marijuana patients in Colorado, California and Washington state were surveyed by the editors of MMJ Business Daily, and 43 percent said they considered the availability of organic cannabis to be “critical” when they decide where to shop for meds. Only 21 percent of marijuana patients said discount weed was critical.

Homeland Security Searches Your Facebook For Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 29, 2012 Culture, News

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

I don’t feel like a terrorist just because I smoke weed. Do you?

You knew it would come to this, right? Lest you think those hard-working goons at the Department of Homeland Security are slacking in their jobs — you know, spying on your everyday activities — it has been revealed that the domestic surveillance agency has been scouring your online postings for, among other things, the word “marijuana.”

Homeland Security personnel regularly monitor updates on social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, to uncover “Items Of Interest” (IOI), according to an internal DHS memo released by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), reports Animal New York.

That baseline list of terms for which the DHS searches — or at least a DHS subcontractor hired to monitor social networks — reveals which specific words generate realtime IOI reports.

Napolitano Says Mexican Drug War Not A Failure

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2012 Global, News

Miguel Tovar/AP

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: The Drug War is “a continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs”

Never mind what your ears, your eyes and your brain tell you. The Mexican Drug War, despite the fact that it has produced a river of blood and no results, is “not a failure,” claimed U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

The bloodshed began in earnest in December 2006, and has, to date, claimed more than 40,000 lives in Mexico, according to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which published an online Google map of the killings, reports Daniel Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.

Secretary Napolitano on Monday called the drug policies of both the U.S. and Mexico “a continuing effort to keep our peoples from becoming addicted to dangerous drugs” at a press conference in Mexico City, reports Rafael Romo at CNN. She made the remarks after meeting with Mexican Interior Minister Alejandro Poire.

Colorado Senate Committee OKs Marijuana DUI Limit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 28, 2012 Legislation, News

NY Daily News

The recurring debate and driving while high is back in the spotlight in the Colorado Legislature, where a Senate committee voted Monday to endorse a proposal setting what they are inaccurately calling “a scientific standard” for deciding whether drivers are impaired by marijuana.

The bill says drivers would be considered per se guilty of driving under the influence of cannabis if they test positive for five nanograms or more of THC per milliliter of blood, reports Deb Stanley at The Denver Channel. There’s nothing “scientific” about that arbitrary cutoff point, of course, and any sane standard for DUI marijuana would include actual impairment in the equation.

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