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Big Pharma Trying To Get In The Medical Marijuana Business

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2011 Medical, News

Big Pharma’s done such a good job being “consumer-friendly” and altruistic with all those other medications — why not let them in on Colorado’s medical marijuana market as well? (Yes, that is sarcasm.)

A new Colorado law signed last week is causing lots of concern in the medical marijuana community — and given the track record of Big Pharma for throwing their weight around and buying politicians, there is plenty of cause for concern.

One clause of HB 1043, the “medical marijuana cleanup bill” signed by Governor John Hickenlooper last week, contains a potential loophole allowing out-of-state firms to get involved in the industry outside of dispensaries and grow operations, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword.

Arizona AG Worked With Anti-Marijuana Leader On Lawsuit

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: James King/Phoenix New Times

Whack-job Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne started working on a nefarious plan to stop medical marijuana almost as soon as voters had approved it last November.

Elected state officials busily working to defeat the will of their state’s own voters — it’s an unseemly spectacle, and it’s unfolding as we speak in Arizona. Making the entire scene even more ugly is the fact that seriously ill patients are needless suffering as a result.

Within weeks of Arizona voters approving medical marijuana in their state, the top law enforcement official in the state was devising ways to stymie the will of the people. Whack-job Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne discussed a plan to launch legal action agains the state’s medical marijuana law during a January meeting with the law’s biggest opponent, it has been revealed.

Carolyn Short, who led last year’s unsuccessful campaign to stop Proposition 203, which legalized medical marijuana in Arizona, refers to the meeting in a February 16 letter [PDF] to state Department of Health Services Director Will Humble, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times:

“It’s Really A Bummer”: Mayor Orders Pot Dispensaries To Close

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Photo: BG Organics

The negative effects continue to mutiply after Washington Governor Christine Gregoire’s gutting of a bill that would have legalized dispensaries in the state.

Kent, Washington Mayor Suzette Cook said she is in favor of medical marijuana. In a statement issued on Tuesday, she said she supported the state’s medical marijuana law when it was approved by voters in 1998, and that she “sympathizes” with cancer patients and others who rely on cannabis for medicinal purposes. But following Gov. Gregoire’s gutting of SB 5073, which would have allowed dispensaries, Cooke and her administration felt they had no choice but to tell the four dispensaries in town to close their doors.

June 17 Marks 40th Anniversary Of Nixon’s War On Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Cannabis Culture

President Nixon sniffs a wrapped brick of marijuana at the outset of his War On Drugs in 1970

June 17 will mark 40 years since President Richard Nixon, citing drug abuse as “Public Enemy No. 1,” officially declared a “War On Drugs.” A trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives later, a political consensus is emerging that the War On Drugs is a counterproductive failure.

The Drug Policy Alliance is leading advocates all across the country in marking this auspicious date with a day of action to raise awareness about the catastrophic failure of drug prohibition and to call for an exit strategy from the failed War On Drugs.

“Some anniversaries provide an occasion for celebration, others a time for reflection, still others a time for action,” said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. “Forty years after President Nixon declared his war on drugs, we’re seizing upon this anniversary to prompt both reflection and action. And we’re asking everyone who harbors reservations about the war on drugs to joint us in this enterprise.

U.S. Can’t Justify Its Drug War Spending: New Reports

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 News

Graphic: Break The Matrix

Name one government program that for 40 years has failed to achieve any of its goals, yet receives bigger and bigger budgets every year. If you said “the War on Drugs,” you’ve been paying attention.

The Obama Administration is unable to show that the billions of dollar spent in the War On Drugs have significantly affected the flow of illicit substances into the United States, according to two government reports and outside experts.

The reports specifically criticize the government’s growing use of U.S. contractors, which were paid more than $3 billion to train local prosecutors and police, help eradicate coca fields, and operate surveillance equipment in the battle against the expanding drug trade in Latin America over the past five years, reports Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times.

“We are wasting tax dollars and throwing money at a problem without even knowing what we are getting in return,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who chairs the Senate subcommittee that wrote one of the reports, which was released on Wednesday.

Want Legal Cannabis In Washington? Here’s What To Do

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2011 News

Graphic: Sensible Washington

Washington state again has an opportunity to lead the way on ending marijuana prohibition, with organization Sensible Washington gathering signatures to put I-1149, a ballot initiative which would legalize cannabis, on the November ballot.

Sensible Washington is teaming up with the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Lawsd (NORML), Cannabis Culture, and a few other organizations on a money bomb with the goal of having some paid signature gatherers to augment the organization’s volunteers.

“The pressure to legalize cannabis and change the political landscape across the nation has fallen squarely on us here in Washington state in 2011,” Sensible Washington said in a June 8 statement. “With that pressure, we refuse to accept failure and are inclined to do what is necessary in order to ensure that the devastating effects of prohibition are put to an end.

An Ounce Or A Pound? Marijuana Decrim Stymies Searches

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2011 Culture, News

Photo: Excel K-9 Services, Inc.

Cops can’t tell by smell alone whether you have an ounce or multiple pounds of weed. Neither can police dogs.

(A recent Massachusetts case has brought attention to the growing haze of confusion around the state’s marijuana laws, as one high-profile case was thrown out when a judge said police cannot tell by smell alone whether an ounce or multiple pounds of pot are present. One ounce and under, of course, has been decriminalized in the state.

Repercussions from the case may mean that police are wasting their time using drug-sniffing dogs as the basis for pot arrests, according to an opinion piece from GateHouse News Service.

Jury Convicts 70-Year-Old Woman For Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2011 News

Photo: Oakland County Daily Tribune

Barb Agro, 70, was barred from mentioning during the trial that she is a registered, legal medical marijuana patient.

A 70-year-old woman was convicted on a marijuana charge by a Michigan jury after they were instructed by the assistant prosecutor to “follow the law and not use sympathy” when weighing her fate.

“You must hold the defendant accountable for her actions,” said Assistant Prosecutor Beth Hand during her closing argument.

In the end, the jury heeded the prosecutor’s advice and decided to convict Barbara Agro, a registered medical marijuana patient and caregiver, as charged, reports Ann Zaniewski at the Oakland County Daily Tribune. Agro faces sentencing on July 13 for one count of delivery/manufacture of marijuana, a felony which can get four years in prison.

Connecticut Becomes 14th State To Decriminalize Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2011 Legislation, News

Photo: More Cool Pictures

Connecticut’s lawmakers voted on Tuesday to make Connecticut the 14th state to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, and Governor Dannel P. Malloy has promised to sign the bill.

After about three hours of debate, it passed the House 90 to 57. Over the weekend, the 18-18 tie in the state Senate had been broken by Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, her first and only vote during the session, reports Mary E. O’Leary at the New Haven Register.

Supporters argued that treating the possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana as in infraction with a $150 fine, rather than as a criminal misdemeanor, will free up prosecutors, public defenders, probation officers and other court officials to deal with serious crime.

Connecticut is only the second state to enact decrim legislatively in the past decade, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). (Massachusetts enacted a similar law via ballot initiave in 2009.)

Haight Ashbury Street Fair Happens June 12, Man

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2011 Culture, News, Products

Graphic: Haight Ashbury Street Fair

Be there! June 12, 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m., Upper Haight, Stanyan-Masonic.

The 34th Annual Haight Ashbury Street Fair happens June 12th from 11:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., man.

One of the most original street fairs in a city known for street fairs, the Haight Street Fair brings out the inner hippie in all of us with food, dancing, live bands, and the greatest freak show this side of Woodstock in all its tie-dyed glory.

The Haight Ashbury Street Fair is a day of smiles, hippie chicks twirling, suspicious looking (get) baked goods, and another chance to bring back the Summer of Love, even just for one afternoon until the fog strolls in.

While you’re there, check out California Grow Mugs. Made by Toke of the Town‘s own Jack Rikess, this is the coffee mug for your buds!

Just add hot liquid to this magic mug and wait for the change of your life. Get ready to be amazed as green buds come to life before your eyes.

Stop by and check out Jack’s booth on the North side of Haight between Shrader and Cole streets.

Mention “Toke” and get $2 off of any single mug purchase.

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