News

This Weekend: Hempfest Marks 20 Years With Biggest One Yet

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 18, 2011 Culture, News

There has to be a Number One in every category. When it comes to pot rallies, Seattle Hempfest is the biggest and arguably the best on the planet.

The monster marijuana rally — or “protestival,” as organizer Vivian McPeak puts it — is marking 20 years of existence with this year’s event, held at Myrtle Edwards Park on the beautiful Seattle waterfront — and for the first time ever, Hempfest is slated for three days.

The party begins at high noon on Friday, August 19 and continues until 8 p.m., then things start up again at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday, lasting until 8 each night.

President Freezes Up, Stumbles When Asked About Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 17, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Blogging Vermont Style

Since it is becoming increasingly obvious that President Obama is going to be asked about marijuana every single time there’s a forum where the public is free to submit questions, it would make sense for the Commander in Chief to bone up on the subject, and at least go to the trouble to prepare some intelligent responses.

Apparently the Administration doesn’t feel that it’s worth their time to do that, though. Obama seems to actually be getting worse at talking about cannabis, as pointed out by Scott Morgan of StoptheDrugWar.com.

“This latest exchange is just embarrassing,” Morgan writes of the President’s latest sidestepping of a cannabis question.

Prison Inmate Arrested With 48 Bags of Marijuana and Scales

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 17, 2011 News

Photo: Virgin Islands Daily News

Golden Grove Prison on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, where it’s not very hard to find weed.

A prison inmate in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been arrested (interesting concept, getting arrested when you’re already in prison) after police claimed they found 48 small bags of marijuana on him, along with two scales to weigh the stuff.

Police said in a Tuesday statement that they arrested Emmett Bramble, 26, after a “routine search” at Golden Grove Prison in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, reports the Associated Press. It was not clear if Bramble had an attorney, but it was damn clear he needed one.

‘Toke Signals’ Forum To Discuss Future of Marijuana in WA

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 17, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: Seattle Weekly

Tomorrow night at 7, I’ll be onstage in Seattle with seven other panelists to discuss what’s next for marijuana in Washington State.

The event, sponsored by Seattle Weekly and KCTS 9, is called “Toke Signals: The Future of Marijuana in Washington State.”

And there’s still time to submit questions for the panel, reports Curtis Cartier at Seattle Weekly.

The forum will be at KCTS 9’s studio near Seattle Center and will feature:

• John McKay: Former U.S. Attorney and Seattle University Law Professor who prosecuted Marc Emery

• Rick Steves: Author, PBS travel correspondent and marijuana law reform advocate

• Steve Elliott: Seattle Weekly’s “Toke Signals” medical marijuana dispensary review columnist and Toke of the Town blog editor

Montel Wants To Own A Marijuana Dispensary In D.C.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 17, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, News

Photo: Chris Pizzello

Montel arrives at the 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards in Las Vegas, June 27, 2010. Williams is part of a group which seeks to operate a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities in Washington, D.C.

Celebrity Montel Williams is part of one nonprofit group trying for a license to operate a medical marijuana dispensary and cultivation facilities in the District of Columbia.

The Abatin Wellness Center has expressed “preliminary interest” in opening medical marijuana businesses in the city, according to D.C. records, reports Mike DeBonis at The Washington Post. Montel is already the public face of a dispensary by the same name which opened this year in Sacramento, California.

N.Y. City Council Members: End Marijuana Arrest Crusade

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 16, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: New York Magazine

The Big Apple is King of the World for marijuana arrests

City Council Resolution Highlights Illegal Searches, Targeting of Youth of Color, and $75 Million Wasted

On Wednesday, August 17, at 10 a.m., a group of New York City Council members will introduce a resolution calling for an end to the racially biased, costly marijuana arrest crusade in New York City.

The resolution calls on the state Legislature to pass S.5187/A.7620, a bipartisan proposal to fix the law.

More than 50,000 marijuana possession arrests were made in New York City in 2010, according to the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), despite marijuana possession being decriminalized in the state of New York back in 1977.

MS Patient Appeals Marijuana Conviction To N.J. Supreme Court

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 16, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: CMMNJ

Wilson was supported throughout his trial by local cannabis advocates, who demonstrated in front of the Somerset County Courthouse.

An attorney representing multiple sclerosis patient John Ray Wilson, the man recently sentenced to five years in prison for growing marijuana to alleviate his medical condition, has filed an appeal to the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Wilson, 38, was convicted on the second-degree felony of “manufacturing” marijuana for growing 17 cannabis plants, reports Freedom Is Green. Last month an appellate court upheld Wilson’s barbaric five-year prison sentence, ruling that he could not claim the plants were for personal, medical use.

Wilson has no healthcare insurance to aid him in his battle against MS. His conviction came just as New Jersey’s compassionate use medical marijuana law was passed. Unfortunately, the Garden State’s law was the first medicinal cannabis legislation in the United States that prohibited home cultivation by patients.

Local cannabis advocates supported Wilson, demonstrating in front of the Somerset County Courthouse throughout his 2009 trial.

Judge Rules Medical Marijuana Not An Agricultural Crop

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 15, 2011 Growing, Legislation, News

Photo: Cigarettes Flavours

Sure looks “agricultural” to me.

Yes, marijuana is a plant you grow from the ground. No, it’s not an agricultural crop. Confused yet?

In what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind in the state, a judge in California has ruled that a marijuana collective can’t operate on land zoned for agriculture, reports Lewis Griswold of the Fresno Bee.

In his ruling last week, Tulare County Superior Court Judge Paul Vortmann dismissed a property owner’s argument that a medical marijuana collective’s cultivation of marijuana is legal because it is in an agricultural zone.

“In this state, marijuana has never been classified as a crop or horticultural product,” Judge Vortmann wrote in his ruling. Marijuana is a controlled substance, the judge said.

Poll: 51% of Coloradans Favor Marijuana Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 12, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: Cannabis Fantastic

A narrow majority of Colorado’s registered voters believe marijuana should be legalized, according to a new PPP poll. Voters of the state may have a chance to make that a reality next year.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol is gathering signatures to put a cannabis legalization measure on the ballot in 2012.

When asked, “Do you think marijuana usage should be legal or illegal?” 51 percent of voters said “legal,” 38 percent said “illegal,” and 11 percent were not sure, reports Jon Walker at Just Say Now.

The breakdown of support in Colorado is almost identical to national patterns of support.

Troopers Seize 188 Pounds Of Marijuana In Moving Boxes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on August 12, 2011 News

Photo: Wyoming Highway Patrol

State troopers said this is one of the boxes of marijuana found in a moving truck after it was stopped in Wyoming on Sunday.

Wyoming state troopers arrested a suspected marijuana smuggler after they said he ran into another car in an Interstate 80 construction zone on Sunday.

Troopers were alerted that a rental truck had hit another vehicle without stopping on the interstate west of Cheyenne, reports Wayne Harrison of The Denver Channel.

A rental truck matching the description was pulled over about 15 miles west of Cheyenne and a Wyoming Highway Patrol drug detection dog was called in after the driver “appeared very nervous.”

Driver James Richburg, 56, was so nervous, in fact, that he forgot to put his truck in park and started rolling as he was being questioned, reports Rylee DeGood at CBS 5.

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