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Ex-Mayor Convicted Of Selling Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2011 News

Ex-Mayor Floyd “Butch” DeRosia was arrested in April 2010 on charges of selling marijuana to an informant. He was convicted by a jury on Wednesday.

A Snohomish County, Washington jury on Wednesday convicted a former Granite Falls mayor of dealing marijuana.

Floyd “Butch” DeRosia faces up to six months in jail after the verdict, according to Deputy Prosecutor Halley Hupp. DeRosia is scheduled to be sentenced later this week, reports the Everett Herald Net.

DeRosia was one of more than a dozen people arrested last year as a result of a two-year “investigation” into “drug trafficking” in Granite Falls. City police officers worked undercover with detectives from the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force and informant snitches.

World Leaders Urge An End To Marijuana Prohibition

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2011 Global, News

Graphic: Virgin

Feel that? It’s the political ground shifting underneath our feet.

On Thursday, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, an international organization consisting of high level current and former heads of state, along with policy experts, released a report suggesting world governments give up the War On Drugs and consider more rational harm-reduction policies, including removing all criminal penalties for the possession and use of marijuana.

The Commission, which includes former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, among many others, urged leaders to consider alternatives to incarceration for drug use to shift their focus toward treatment of drug abusers, rather than punishment and interdiction for recreational users.

Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Legalized In Vermont

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 2, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Photo: Prohibition’s End

Vermont Governor Pete Shumlin on Thursday signed S. 17, a bill authorizing up to four dispensaries where registered patients can buy medicinal cannabis, augmenting the state’s already-existing medical marijuana law.

Vermont joins Colorado, Maine, New Mexico, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Arizona and Delaware on the list of states that explicitly allow cannabis dispensaries. Washington, D.C., is also in the process of implementing a program that will allow five marijuana dispensaries in the nation’s capital.

“This is a great day for a lot of patients throughout the state that, until now, have been unsure how to go about obtaining medicine their doctor has recommended,” said Dan Riffle, legislative analyst with the Marijuana Policy Project.

Californians, Contact Your State Legislators About Marijuana Now

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2011 Legislation, News

Graphic: CA NORML

This Friday, June 3, is the last day for bills to be voted on in the California Legislature for passage to the other legislative house.

Two major marijuana bills are before the Legislature and need action — one each in the Senate and the Assembly. It’s time to contact your state legislators now and tell them you support SB 129 and AB 1017. Below, you can find easy links to do just that.

Legislation that would make it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against persons who are authorized under state law to use medical marijuana is pending in the California Senate.

Senate Bill 129 declares it unlawful under state law “for an employer to discriminate against a person in hiring, termination, or any term or condition of employment or otherwise penalize a person, if the discrimination is based upon the person’s status as a qualified patient or a positive drug test for marijuana,” if the drug test result is indicative of previous, off-the-job marijuana use (e.g., a positive test for marijuana metabolites on a urine screen).

World Leaders Encourage Drug Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2011 Global, News

Photo: Ramble On

Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and other world leaders, including the former Presidents of Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Switzerland, are endorsing a new report that calls for a paradigm shift in global drug policy.

On Thursday, the former presidents of several countries, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, former U.S. Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and other luminaries will release a new report calling the global “War On Drugs” a failure, and encouraging nations to pursue legalizing and regulating drugs as a way to stop the violence inherent in the illegal drug market.

The 24-page paper, by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, argues that the decades-old “global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.”

“Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won,” the report said.

Public Forum Will Support North Carolina Medical Marijuana Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 1, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: The North Carolina Cannabis Patients Network

If you or someone you care about has cancer or another debilitating medical condition that modern medicine is not helping — or the medicine is causing more side effects than it is worth — and you’ve considered using medical cannabis, you know how important legal access can be.

North Carolina House Bill 577, the “North Carolina Cannabis Act” would help seriously ill patients by providing them with safe and legal access to medical marijuana, and a public forum has been scheduled for Tuesday, June 7, to help educate legislators and the public about the bill.

The day will kick off with a press conference at 9:30 a.m., in room LB 1328. The North Carolina Cannabis Act House Bill 577 of 2011’s Public Forum is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Legislative Auditorium between the House and Senate Chambers. A lunch break at 1 p.m. out on the Halifax Mall, between the legislative buildings, will be sponsored by the North Carolina Cannabis Patients Network (NCCPN).

Israeli Marijuana Raid Barges Into Swingers’ Sex Party

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Global, News

Photo: Casual Encounters

Officers from the Israel Border Police thought they were hot on the trail of some illegal cannabis on Thursday night, but they stumbled instead upon a different kind of party, finding themselves barging iin on a swingers’ sex party.

The volunteer police officers raided Moshav Beit Hanan in central Israel, finding a hydroponic marijuana growing operation and two suspects, reports Yaniv Kubovich at Haaretz.

The suspects took off on foot and the police gave chase, all the way to a closed area where they stumbled upon dozens of scantily clad party-goers.

Poland Cannabis Rally Ends In Arrests

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Global, News

Photo: Jacek Turczyk/PAP

Demonstrators at the Free Hemp March in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday

A pro-marijuana rally held in downtown Warsaw, Poland on Saturday ended with police arresting 40 activists on pot charges as well as “other public offenses.”

The rally, organized by the Free Hemp Initiative, was attended by up to 6,000 demonstrators — and that’s a police estimate, so the crowd could have been even larger.

“Forty people were detained during the march, including six minors,” said Deputy Inspector Maciej Karczynski of the Warsaw Police, reports TheNews.pl. Karczynski added that 28 of those detained were arrested for possession of cannabis, while one person was detained for shoplifting.

American Express Classifies Medical Marijuana With Online Porn

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Medical, News

Photo: Shadow Tech

Did you know your credit card company gets input on your medical decisions?

American Express, the most conservative of the major credit card companies, recently banned its customers from using the cards to buy medical marijuana — which is legal in 16 states. Medical marijuana joins online pornography on a short list of AmEx-banned purchases, which shows you roughly where the company’s coming from, moral judgment-wise.

So why should a financial institution get input on your medical decisions? Why should they care if you pursue one method of treatment — a natural, non-toxic herb — over harsh pharmaceuticals? Why are they acting as if a medical need for many of their customers — that is to say, doctor-recommended cannabis — is some sort of shameful vice?

Why are they treating seriously ill medical marijuana patients the same as a horned-up Bigg Juggs fan?

Medical Marijuana Patients Number 750,000 In California

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 31, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: MJ Dispensaries of Southern California

Retail Market Is $1.5 Billion To $4.5 Billion Per Year

There are now more than 750,000 medical marijuana patients in California, representing two percent of the population according to the most recent data, estimates California NORML. At the high end, an estimate of more than 1,125,000 patients, or three percent of the population, is consistent with the data.

This represents a substantial increase from Cal NORML‘s earlier estimates of 300,000 in 2007, 150,000 in 2005, and 75,000 in 2004, but is in line with registration rates in other comparable states that enjoy similar wide access to medical cannabis clinics and dispensaries.

The exact number of patients in California is uncertain, because patients aren’t required to register in the Golden State. Under Prop 215, California’s medical marijuana law, patients need only a physician’s recommendation to be legal.

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