Browsing: News

Photo: Steve Sisney/The Oklahoman
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics buffoons, I mean agents, rappel from a helicopter, supposedly to show off “pot-fighting techniques” on Wednesday, August 24, 2011, in Norman, Oklahoma.

​File under “This is just sad.”

Gung-ho but none-too-bright agents from the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs this week showed off to media and politicians the “tactics and techniques” they use to supposedly “eradicate” marijuana crops in their state.
“You mean besides just chop the fuckers down?” you may reasonably be asking. Just shows how damn little you know about this here mary-ju-wanna, there, hippie!
This stuff is serious and dangerous. You can’t just walk up all casual-like and uproot the shit. Oh, no. You’ve gotta sneak up on it, or maybe drop out of the sky.
You need a multi-million dollar helicopter and a military-style team all Rambo’d out in the finest assault gear. You need these heroes rappelling from that helicopter going after those horribly dangerous weeds. Takes a true hero to do this shit, doncha know!
The OK Bureau of Narcotics has been working out of Norman, Oklahoma all week, flying as far north as Guthrie, south to Pauls Valley, east to Shawnee and west to El Reno, according to spokesman Mark Woodward, reports NewsOK.
Agents start searching for the cannabis crops in June and continue sweeps until the first freeze, according to Woodward.
“It’s something we’ve done in the late summer since the late ’80s,” Woodward said.
Consider for a moment the vast stacks of taxpayer dollars these morons have pissed away playing Army.
The Bureau of Narcotics found and “eradicated” about 200,000 plants during their summer sweeps when they started about 20 years ago, Woodward said, but these days it’s more like 20,000 to 30,000 a year. (Likely explanation: When the Bureau started its “eradication” program 20 years ago, they were going after Oklahoma’s vast fields of feral hemp; after they got all the easy pickin’s, the annual plant count went down.)

Graphic: The Pacific Northwest Inlander

​Medical marijuana dispensaries can be shut down as public nuisances, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in a decision announced Wednesday morning.

The three-judge panel, ruling on an Isabella County case, said the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act “does not include the patient-to-patient ‘sales,’ ” report Joe Swickard and John Wisely of the Detroit Free Press.

Unfortunately, the unfavorable decision can be used as precedent and applied to other cases.
A lower court had ruled that the Compassionate Apothecary was within the law when its operators allowed patients or caregivers to buy marijuana that other members had stored in their lockers rented from the facility. The owners, according to court papers, took at 20 percent cut of the price.
But Michigan’s medical marijuana law doesn’t include sales as “medical use,” according to the appellate judges’ 17-page opinion, and therefore it does not trump existing anti-drug laws.
Photo: Val Does Politics
Dumb-ass alert: Florida Gov. Rick Scott said it is “unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction” when he signed this bill in May. So why is it OK for them to subsidize politicians’ stupidity?

Welfare Drug Testing Program Costs $5 For Every $1 It Saves

Florida’s dumb-ass new law which requires the drug testing of all families applying for welfare benefits kicked in on July 1. It forces already financially challenged public assistance applicants to front the cost of the drug test, then reimburses them only if they test negative.

Florida Governor Rick Scott, who spends most of his time with head way up his ass, said it is “unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction” when he signed this bill back in May, reported CNN. So why is it OK for them to subsidize politicians’ stupidity?
“It is the right thing for taxpayers,” the deeply ​clueless governor said at the time. “We don’t want to waste tax dollars.”

Phot: news.com.au

​One out of every three police officers in New South Wales, Australia will be tested for illegal drugs over the coming year.

The NSW Police Force’s Professional Standards Command has more than doubled the number of random drug tests, from about 2,000 to 5,000 for this fiscal year, reports 702 ABC Sydney.
The decision was taken after two senior officers and a constable were recently caught snorting cocaine, according to Assistant Commissioner Paul Carey.
“In July there were five recall targeted tests on people who we had reasonably good intelligence to say that they may have been using drugs,” Assistant Commissioner Carey said.

Photo: Denver Westword
Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Don’t even think about becoming a street sweeper here, if you’re a medical marijuana patient.

​Some employers have weird moral judgments when it comes to employees who use cannabis — even if that use is legal and with a doctor’s authorization. Unlike users of, say, Vicodin or Valium, medical marijuana users are deemed somehow uniquely unemployable, and/or unable to discharge their duties in an effective and responsible manner.

Never mind that they are not breaking the law; never mind that they are able to do their jobs just fine. They are summarily shit-canned the minute they are discovered, for no good reason at all.

Such is the case in a story from Colorado, where a street sweeper — a street sweeper, who literally uses a broom and a dustpan — has been fired from his job for being a medical marijuana patient, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword.

Photo: somormujo.net
The Winehouse family awaits the outcome of an inquest into Amy’s death, due to begin October 26.

​Amy Winehouse didn’t have any illegal substances in her system when she died, and it is still unclear what killed her, her family said on Tuesday.

Toxicology tests showed that “alcohol was present” in the singer’s body but it hasn’t yet been shown whether or not that contributed to her death, the family said in a statement, reports Jill Lawless of The Associated Press.
Winehouse, 27, had exhibited erratic behavior for years, as rumors swirled about her drug and alcohol use. She was found dead in her London home on July 23, and an initial post-mortem failed to determine the cause of her death.
“Toxicology results returned to the Winehouse family by authorities have confirmed that there were no illegal substances in Amy’s system at the time of her death,” read a statement released by family spokesman Chris Goodman.
The family awaits the outcome of an inquest due to begin October 26, according to the statement.
Winehouse had “beaten” her drug addiction three years before her death, claimed her father, Mitch, but he admitted she was still “struggling to control” her drinking after several weeks of abstinence.

Graphic: Ride It Like You Stole It!

​The Repeal Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012 is now filed with the California Attorney General for title and summary, according to The Committee to Repeal Cannabis Prohibition.

The act would allow adults to legally possess up to three pounds of cannabis and grow a 10×10-foot garden. The California Department of Public Health would be in charge of administering the commercial production of marijuana.
The RCPA 2012 would repeal all criminal prohibitions on cannabis-related conduct for adults while mandating strict rules against contributing to the delinquency of minors and driving while impaired.

Photo: Coloradoan.com
Ernie Jermaine Savannah, left, and Jeremiah Wright face charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, vehicular eluding and resisting arrest after robbing a Fort Collins, Colorado medical marijuana dispensary.

​Robbing medical marijuana dispensaries is a really bad idea. Two Colorado men are in police custody after being accused of robbing a dispensary in Fort Collins and tying up three employees at gunpoint. They were arrested by police and deputies after they “sustained injuries” from the two law enforcement dogs used to capture them.

Ernie Jermaine Savannah, 39, and Jeremiah Wright, 40, face charges of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, vehicular eluding and resisting arrest, i.e., it’ll be awhile before these fellows see daylight again. They were arrested at Fort Collins Police Services headquarters on Sunday, reports Trevor Hughes at Coloradoan.com.

Photo: WBAL
Marijuana critic: William Breathes at work

​My friends at Denver Westword are lobbying to have their medical marijuana panel accepted for the 2012 South By Southwest (SXSW) conference, and they have a good shot at making the cut. But they need our help.

The panel, “Big Business: The Future of Marijuana Journalism” couldn’t be more relevant and timely.

Online voting comprises 30 percent of how a panel gets accepted for inclusion. “That’s a big chunk,” said Web Editor Nick Lucchesi at Westword.
To vote for inclusion of the medical marijuana panel, click this link:
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