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Two-Thirds Of Seattle’s 105 Marijuana Dispensaries Are Licensed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 20, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Of Seattle’s 105 medical marijuana dispensaries, almost two-thirds — 68 — have business licenses, according to a report in alternative weekly The Stranger.

“We only have 68 dispensaries currently licensed in our system,” said Denise Movius, a spokeswoman for Seattle’s business licensing division, reports Q13 Fox News Online. “We’ve gotten the names of the rest by reading The Stranger and other advertisements.”

The business licensing division has been contacting the out-of-compliance shops to remind them they need the $90 business licenses.

Legislators To Feds: Stop Attacking Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 19, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

San Francisco Sentinel

California state Senator Mark Leno: “I urge the federal government to stand down in its massive attack on medical marijuana dispensaries”

Two California lawmakers on Wednesday joined medical marijuana patients, dispensary operators and advocates to call for an immediate end to the federal government’s broad crackdown on dispensaries.

Earlier this month, federal prosecutors announced plans for sweeping criminal prosecutions against medical marijuana dispensaries across California, threatening landlords with eviction, property seizures and even imprisonment.

“I urge the federal government to stand down in its massive attack on medical marijuana dispensaries, which will have devastating impacts for the state of California,” said Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). “At a time when resources are precious and few, federal officials have chosen to waste time and money in an ambush that will harm countless patients who will no longer be able to safely access doctor-recommended treatments.”

Resolution Introduced To Legalize Medical Marijuana In Florida

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 19, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

THC Finder

Voters in the Sunshine State could get a chance to decide for themselves about medical marijuana — if the Republican-controlled Legislature will let them

A state lawmaker in Florida filed a joint resolution this week that would allow Floridians to decide for themselves in the 2012 election whether they want to legalize medical marijuana with a constitutional amendment. At this point, the Republican-controlled Legislature is all that stands in the way.

The resolution, HJR 353, “Medical Use of Cannabis,” filed by state Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth), would create an article in the state constitution that would “allow medical use of cannabis by citizens and allow Legislature to implement these provisions by general law,” reports Ashley Lopez at The Florida Independent.

“That’s a compassion issue,” Clemens said, reports Whitney Ray at Capitol News Service. “It’s an issue of people in this state that are going through tough times and a lot of physical pain and if they want to use this particular drug as opposed to a more heavy prescription narcotic I don’t think there’s any reason why we shouldn’t let them.”

“With 81 percent of Americans supporting allowing medical marijuana, it’s time Florida stops jailing its most vulnerable citizens for possessing and using a relatively harmless substance recommended to them by their physicians,” the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) said in an August statement about the proposed constitutional amendment.

Drug Policy Reform Conference: Nov. 2-5 In Los Angeles

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 19, 2011 News, Products

Reform Conference

Will California, Washington State or Colorado vote to legalize marijuana in 2012?

Why do blacks go to jail for drugs at 13 times the rate of whites even though they use and sell drugs at similar rates?

What are the results of Portugal decriminalizing all drugs 10 years ago?

What can be done about the 50,000 prohibition-related deaths in Mexico since President Calderon ramped up the Mexican Drug War five years ago?

People will gather to answer these questions and many more at the International Drug Policy Reform Conference in Los Angeles, November 2-5.

How Hemp Got High: Scientists Map The Cannabis Genome

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 19, 2011 Growing, News

The Hemp Report

This hemp farm is located in Suffolk, U.K.

A team of Canadian researchers has sequenced the genome of cannabis sativa, the plant that produces both industrial hemp and marijuana, and in the process they’ve revealed the genetic changes that led to the plant’s drug-producing properties.

A simple genetic switch is likely responsible for the production of THCA, or tetrahyedrocannabinolic acid, the precursor of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to Jon Page, a plant biochemist and adjunct professor of biology at the University of Saskatchewan.

“The transcriptome analysis showed that the THCA synthase gene, an essential enzyme in THCA production, is turned on in marijuana, but switched off in hemp,” Page said.

The team compared the potent Purple Kush marijuana variety with “Finola” hemp, which is grown for seed production, according to Tim Hughes, co-leader of the project and a professor at the Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research and the Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto.

Cannabis Cup Goes On In Detroit Despite Police Visits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 18, 2011 News, Products

We Smoke Weed

Despite no fewer than three visits by Detroit Police and warnings from the officers that nobody should smoke any pot, organizers of the Detroit Cannabis Cup said on Monday that they went ahead with their contest to pick the best marijuana in Michigan.

“We absolutely had the competition” and awarded trophies, said Dan Skye, executive editor of High Times, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press. The New York-based monthly magazine for marijuana fans has sponsored Cannabis Cups in California, Colorado and now Michigan.

Tokin’ Okies: 42 Years Later, Muskogee Paper Says Med Pot OK

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 18, 2011 Culture, News, Products

Amazon

Album, Song, and Male Artist of the Year, 1969

Back in 1969, the battle lines between straight society and the potheads were bright and clear, and Merle Haggard drew one of the clearest lines of all when he wrote his iconic country hit “Okie From Muskogee” and an album of the same name.

Loved by the Right and hated by the Left, the aggressively patriotic album won the Academy of Country Music award for Album of the Year, the song won Single of the Year, and Hag himself was named Top Male Vocalist.

We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee;

We don’t take our trips on LSD

We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street;

We like livin’ right, and bein’ free.

I’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,

A place where even squares can have a ball

We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,

And white lightnin’s still the biggest thrill of all.

We don’t make a party out of lovin’;

We like holdin’ hands and pitchin’ woo;

We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy,

Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

As a kid of nine, I devoutly hated the song when it came out. I even felt compelled to write a rebuttal song (which was itself pretty awful). Like most of Haggard’s listeners, I initially missed the subtle hint of satire in the song’s ultra-right-wing lyrics and chest-thumping conservatism — despite the fact that Merle himself pointed out as much.

Sheriff’s Department Stole 354 Pounds Of Marijuana From Home

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 18, 2011 News

The Monitor

Sheriff’s investigators Heriberto Diaz, left, and Omar Salazar screwed up big time when they decided to steal 354 pounds of marijuana from a house in Mission, Texas.

A former sheriff’s investigator testified against his former partner Monday afternoon, recounting how they agreed to steal 354 pounds of marijuana from a home in Mission, Texas.

Former investigator Omar Salazar of the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office described meeting with his partner and fellow investigator Heriberto Diaz on October 15, 2009, outside a convenience store in Palmview, reports Dave Hendricks at the McAllen Monitor. There, Diaz told Salazar about a tip he’d received about marijuana stashed at a Mission home.

“He asked me if we could steal it, or if we should report it,” Salazar said. “And if I had somebody who could pick it up.”

New Gallup Poll: Record 50% of Americans Favor Legal Cannabis

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 17, 2011 Legislation, News

A record-high 50 percent of Americans now say the use of marijuana should be legal, up from 46 percent last year, according to a new Gallup Poll. Forty-six percent say marijuana use should remain illegal.

The rapidly increasing historical trend in favor of legalizing marijuana continues, up from just 36 percent in 2006.

“If this current trend on legalizing marijuana continues, pressure may build to bring the nation’s laws into compliance with the people’s wishes,” Gallup said in a press release.

“The Obama administration’s escalation of the ‘war on drugs’ and its attacks on state medical marijuana laws are only giving more and more Americans the opportunity to realize just how ridiculous and harmful our prohibition-based drug laws are,” said Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) and a retired Baltimore narcotics cop.

Marijuana Legalization Tops White House Petition List

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on October 17, 2011 Legislation, News

Very Sherry

Marijuana legalization is by far the top issue on the White House’s “We the People” site, leaving other online petition requests in the dust, a new review shows.

The top cannabis petition — one of many — has more than 55,000 signatures, 20,000 more than any other issue on the site, Roll Call reported on Monday.

Legalization has been the top issue on the petition site since it launched last month as a way for citizens to lobby for issues that matter the most to them, reports Ambreen Ali.

The White House hasn’t yet responded to the marijuana petition. Judging on his track record, President Obama will either belittle and giggle the issue away, or look serious and mouth meaningless platitudes about “more treatment” and “more research” while continuing to pursue his Administration’s war against both recreational and medical marijuana the people who use it.

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