News

Browsing: News

Former U.S. Attorney Sponsors Marijuana Legalization Drive

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Legislation, News

Former U.S. Attorney John McKay is sponsoring a drive to legalize marijuana for adults in Washington state.

Marc Emery’s Prosecutor Switches Sides; Joins ACLU, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, and TV Host Rick Steves in Backing Inititiave

The former U.S. Attorney for Seattle who prosecuted “Prince of Pot” Marc Emery said Tuesday that he is sponsoring an initiative to legalize and tax marijuana in Washington state. John McKay, who spent five years enforcing federal drug laws, said he hoped the measure would help “shame Congress” into ending cannabis prohibition nationwide.

McKay, who was fired by the Bush Administration in early 2007, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the laws criminalizing marijuana are destructive because they create a black market fueling international drug cartels and crime rings, reports Gene Johnson.

“That’s what drives my concern: The black market fuels the cartels, and that’s what allows them to buy the guns they use to kill people,” McKay told the AP. “A lot of Americans smoke pot and they’re willing to pay for it. I think prohibition is a dumb policy, and there are a lot of line federal prosecutors who share the view that the policy is suspect.”

Study Claims Marijuana Users Don’t Care If They Lose Money

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Culture, News

Graphic: NowPublic

Yikes! We can’t have people caring less about MONEY! This is a capitalistic society, after all!

Smoking marijuana makes you care less about money, at least if you believe the conclusions of a recent “scientific” study from an obviously anti-pot bunch of capitalistic Bible-thumpers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

“Smoking marijuana affects peoples’ impulsivity, attention, memory, cognition and decision-making abilities,” the authors of the study claim in a June 21 news release. “That’s been scientifically proven.” Well, yeah, man, at least if the stuff’s any good.

Nova Scotia Ordered To Fund Woman’s Marijuana Grow

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 21, 2011 Global, Growing, News

Photo: Ian Lindsey/Postmedia News

Grow lights and supplies courtesy of the Canadian government.

The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has been ordered to pay for the medical marijuana growing equipment of a woman who said she can’t afford it herself.

The Income Assistance Appeals Board ordered the Department of Community Services to pay a one-time setup cost of $2,500 and a fee of $100 every three months for additional supplies to an Amherst woman identified only as Tanya and her husband, Sam. The couple’s last name wasn’t used due to fears that thieves would target their marijuana grow operation, reported the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Former Staffers: Drugs Rampant At Police Telemarketing Center

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 News

Photo: Listverse

Fraternal Order of Police telemarketers are on drugs.

Two former employees say that illegal drug use was rife at the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police call center when they worked there recently.

“People would go smoke weed on their 10-minute break and come back smelling rank,” claimed Cameron Duncan, a psychology major at Ball State University who quit his job at the call center in April, reports Seth Slabaugh at the Muncie Star Press.

Another former employee, Gareth Bowlin, said when he worked at the Fraternal Order of Police call center last year, “everybody did drugs in the parking lot, smoking weed and dealing pills; it was nothing but a big drug area. One girl they fired, she was so messed up on pills she fell asleep during a phone call.”

Alabama Building A Path Toward Allowing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 20, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: AMMJC

Some folks just won’t take me seriously when I tell them that Alabama stands a good chance to become the first state in the Deep South to legalize medical marijuana. I can only conclude they are so skeptical because they don’t realize how determined — and, OK, I’ll say it — how stubborn Alabama people can be. (Yes, I grew up there.)

On Saturday I got to meet meet with the Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition at their very first gathering, held at beautiful Smith Lake Park near Cullman. I came out of that meeting more convinced than ever that the Heart of Dixie is going to surprise a lot of political observers by recognizing the rights of medical cannabis patients, and that this will happen a lot sooner than many people expect.

The reason for this seemingly unlikely scenario is what could be described as an alliance on this issue between liberal-leaning Democrats and libertarian Republicans, two groups which can agree that the government should allow seriously ill medicinal cannabis patients to use the doctor-recommended medicine which works best for them.

SWAT Team Storms Home; 2 Oz. Seized From Legal Pot Patient

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 17, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: FARK

Twenty police officers, some in masks and riot gear, stormed an Arizona home last week after receiving a tip that the owner was in possession of an ounce of marijuana.

The homeowner, Ross Taylor, is a legal, card-carrying patient under the state’s new medical marijuana law, and is therefore allowed to possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times. Taylor is also the owner of Cannabis Patient Screening Centers, a new company that matches up patients with doctors for medical marijuana recommendations.

Former President Carter Urges Marijuana Legalization

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

Photo: Jimmy Carter Library & Museum

Former President Jimmy Carter: “Maybe the increased tax burden on wealthy citizens necessary to pay for the war on drugs will help bring about a reform of America’s drug policies”

In a new op-ed published in The New York Times to coincide with Friday’s 40th anniversary of President Nixon declaring “War On Drugs,” former President Jimmy Carter supports recent recommendations for countries around the world to try “models of legal regulation of drugs … that are designed to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.”

In the New York Times op-ed, President Carter called the recommendations of the Global Commission on Drug Policy “courageous and profoundly important.”

40 Years After Nixon: No More Drug War!

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

Graphic: Connecticut Citizens for Marijuana Reform

Friday, June 17, 2011, marks 40 years since President Richard Nixon, citing drug abuse as “public enemy number one,” officially declared a “War On Drugs.” A trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives later, the War On Drugs remains a complete failure.

Drug policy reform advocates across the U.S. will mark this date with a coordinated day of action to raise awareness about the failure of drug prohibition and call for an exit strategy to the failed War On Drugs. Events will be held in 15 states, and in major cities like Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and New Orleans.

Day of Action events include:

• Chicago: Hundreds of Chicagoans will gather at the State of Illinois James R. Thompson Center to rally against drug policies that have led to injustices such as extreme racial disparity in Illinois’s prisons and jails.

• Los Angeles: Grassroots organizations and students, including Students for Sensible Drug Policy, Pico Youth and Family Center, Mothers United to End the War on Drugs, All Of Us Or None, Homies Unidos and other criminal justice organizations, will stage a Day of Action to call for community solutions to end the 40-year War On Drugs and mass incarceration. Also, the William C. Velasquez Institute will host a forum in Los Angeles with top Latino leaders to discuss the impact of the Drug War on communities of color.

Cops Raid Marijuana Lounge In Oregon

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

Photo: Rigoberto Hernandez/The Oregonian

Investigators fro the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team served search warrants on Wednesday in connection with the Wake ‘n’ Bake Cannabis Lounge in Aloha, Oregon. Detectives claim the business was selling marijuana to customers.

Narcotics detectives on Wednesday raided a marijuana lounge in Aloha, Oregon, spending a good part of the morning removing computers and interviewing customers who showed up at the door.

No arrests were made at the Wake ‘n’ Bake Cannabis Lounge by the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team, but search warrants were also served at residences associated with the store and its owners, reports Dana Tims at The Oregonian.

“Today just happened to be the day when the investigation culminated to the point we were ready to serve our search warrants,” said Dave Thompson, a spokesman for the Washington County Sheriff’s office.

Black Tuna Pot Smuggler Gets 5 Years After 30 Years On The Run

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 16, 2011 News

Photos: U.S. Marshals Service

Mark Steven Phillips was arrested in his senior community apartment 31 years after his original arrest in 1979, left.

More than three decades after he went on the run, Mark Steven Phillips, a former associate of the Black Tuna Gang of marijuana smugglers, will serve five years in federal prison for his part in bringing cannabis into the United States, a federal judge has ruled.

Phillips, 62, was re-arrested in January while living at a retirement community in West Palm Beach. He was sentenced on Wednesday by the same judge who was over his case in 1979 in Miami: U.S. District Court Judge James Lawrence King, reports David Ovalle at the Miami Herald.

Previous 1 … 360 361 362 363 364 … 490 Next