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Drug Cops Exposed As Violent, Ineffective Thugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 7, 2011 News

Now retired, Bremerton cop Roy Alloway was one of WestNET’s top officers. Next month he’s up for sentencing on federal tax fraud and gun dealing charges.

Among defense attorneys, “narcotics officers” have a certain reputation: thuggishly violent goons who enjoy trashing suspects’ homes and bullying children. There’s no better example of why such perceptions exist than the WestNET task force in Washington state.

Reporter Sean Robinson of the Tacoma News Tribune nailed the federally funded task force to the wall in an exposé this week. The well-done piece revealed that the unit, based in Kitsap County and pulling officers from various departments, uses hyper-aggressive tactics and exaggerated claims of effectiveness, reports Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly.

Toke of the Town readers may remember that WestNET (West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team) is the same bunch of wanna-be Rambos who busted into the house of medical marijuana dispensary operator Christine Casey, pulled a gun on her 15-year-old son and took the money from her nine-year-old daughter’s Mickey Mouse Wallet.

Congress Set To Escalate Drug War After Decades Of Failure

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 7, 2011 Legislation, News

Break The Matrix

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on two bills that would escalate the War On Drugs.

One bill scheduled to be voted on Wednesday (HR 1254) would criminalize possession and sales of chemical compounds found in products such as “K2,” “Spice,” and “bath salts.” A second bill which is expected to be voted on next week (HR 313) would make it a federal crime to engage in an activity in another country that would violate U.S. drug laws if committed in the United States — even if the activity is actually legal in the other country.

Both bills are expected to pass and would subject more Americans to lengthy federal prison terms — while increasing already-skyrocketing prison expenses that taxpayers have to pay. This comes at a time when members of Congress are cutting drug education, treatment and prevention, citing the need to “reduce federal expenses.”

Study Finds Marijuana Could Increase Pain Relief With Opiates

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 6, 2011 Medical, News

UCSF

Hector Vizoso, RN, left, and Donald Abrams, MD, prepare a cannabis vaporizer for inpatient use at San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center’s Clinical Research Center.

A medical study suggests patients with chronic pain could experience more relief if their doctors added cannabinoids — the main ingredients in cannabis or medical marijuana — to an opiates-only treatment. The findings, from a small-scale study at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), also suggest that a combined therapy could result in reduced opiate dosages.

More than 76 million Americans suffer from chronic pain. That’s more people than have diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined, according to the National Centers for Health Statistics.

Drug War Ho: Mexico’s Prez Says Cartels Threaten Democracy

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 5, 2011 Global, News

World Economic Forum

President Felipe Calderon scolded “political forces” that don’t have the “vision” to support his Drug War

President Felipe Calderon of Mexico admitted on Sunday that despite five years of all-out war against the drug cartels in his country, the organizations continue to pose “an open threat” to democracy in Mexico. He must have lost the part of his speech that would have detailed how his own Drug War has done exactly the same thing.

In a frankly worded speech marking the start of his sixth and last year in office, Calderon said interference in elections by drug gangs “is a new fact, a worrisome fact,” reports Tracy Wilkinson at the Los Angeles Times. “It is a threat to everyone,” Calderon said.

President Calderon was probably thinking about last month’s local elections in Michoacan, his home state, where drug traffickers intimidated voters and told people how to vote.

Orange County Sheriff’s Dept. Says All Sales Of Marijuana Illegal

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

THC Finder

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has announced it considers all sales of marijuana to be illegal — whether they are for profit or not, and whether they are for medical use or not, despite the fact that medicinal cannabis has been legal in California for 15 years.

In response to questions regarding a search warrant served on half-a-dozen collectives and more than a dozen other locations and persons on November 8, Sheriff’s Lt. David Doyle told Greggory Moore at the Long Beach Post that “the CUA and MMPA do not authorize sales of marijuana,” and therefore all cash-for-cannabis transactions are illegal.

‘Blunt’ Joke At Burger King Drive-Thru Leads To Marijuana Bust

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Culture, News

Volusia County Sheriff’s Office

Shawn Porter’s marijuana joke landed him in jail with felony pot charges

Hey, stoner, don’t make pot jokes in the drive-through line. A Florida man tried to add some high humor to his drive-through order at Burger King, but when he asked for “a blunt and some herbs,” the store called the cops and the man ended up in jail on felony marijuana charges.

Shawn Porter, 32, of Deltona, is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach with bail set at $1,000, reports Gary Taylor at the Orlando Sentinel.

It all started innocently enough, with a late-night munchie run to the Burger King in Deltona, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gary Davidson.

Porter and another man pulled into to the drive-through lane in a white Saturn just before 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. When it came time to order, one of them yelled out that he wanted “a blunt and some herbs,” Davidson said.

N.J. Poll Shows Majority Support For Marijuana Decrim

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Legislation, News

Releaf

Six of every 10 New Jerseyans support the penalties for marijuana should be relaxed — with more than half thinking there should be no penalties at all — and one-third would completely legalize its sale and use, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The poll also showed overwhelming levels of support for the medicinal use of cannabis.

The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll has, for almost 40 years, asked New Jersey residents about penalties for marijuana use, and they’ve become more relaxed about the issue, reports New Jersey Newsroom. Back in May 1972, four in 10 New Jerseyans said penalties for cannabis use should be lowered.

Vermont Governor Supports Doctors Prescribing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

The Walrus Speaks

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin supports Wednesday’s call by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee to reschedule marijuana, allowing it to be prescribed by doctors and sold by pharmacies

A spokeswoman for Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said he supports and will sign on to an effort to allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana, and pharmacists to fill the prescriptions.

Shumlin is joining a petition by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to change marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I drug, reports the Associated Press. Schedule I classification makes cannabis illegal to prescribe or dispense for medicinal use.

Vermont’s current medicinal cannabis law allows a small number of very sick people in the state to register with the state Department of Public Safety and sets up procedures for them to obtain marijuana.

Marijuana Found Growing Outside Australian Court House

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2011 Global, News

emerald triangle news

A cannabis-loving prankster has thumbed his metaphorical nose at Australia’s drug laws by planting a bunch of marijuana outside a court on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.

People started calling in reports of the cannabis seedlings growing in a front garden of Bellingen Court House on Wednesday afternoon, reports AAP.

When the police showed up, they discovered around 60 seedlings, which they said they “believe” is cannabis.

Judge Won’t Stop Federal Crackdown On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Village Voice Media

A federal judge has rejected the request of medical marijuana providers to stop U.S. Attorneys from filing charges against them or seizing their property.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Brown Armstrong ruled in her Oakland courtroom that the medical marijuana collectives hadn’t shown they would suffer “immediate, irreparable harm” without the court order, reports Henry K. Lee of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The court is sensitive to the desires of individuals to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, as permitted by California law,” Armstrong wrote in her 27-page ruling, filed this week. “Nevertheless, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and in Congress’ view, it has no medicinal value.”

The judge also said she doubted that the collectives would win lawsuits trying to stop the Obama Administration’s crackdown on dispensaries.

Marijuana distributors, patients and dispensary landlords filed lawsuits in all four of California’s federal districts in October, accusing the Department of Justice of violating an agreement to not go after them if they complied with state law.

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