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Superfast Computers Triggering Botched Marijuana Grow Raids

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 23, 2011 Culture, Growing, News

Turns out, looking only at electric usage from a residence, the consumption for bitcoin mining won’t look much different from a marijuana grow-op. Cue clueless cops.

You don’t have to be growing marijuana to get raided for it. At least one Bitcoin miner has been raided by police because unusually high power usage led them to suspect he was growing marijuana, according to unconfirmed reports on Monday.

The tip comes from an IRC chat captured by blogger Mike Esspe, though there are no corroborating details, reports Jerry Brito of Techland.

Bitcoin is the anonymous virtual currency that uses distributed computing power to validate online coins. “It’s like gold mining, except that instead of digging, a miner uses cryptographic math,” reports Techland.

Charges Dismissed Against Marijuana Dispensary Operator

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 23, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: greenkind

All felony charges against Inglewood, California medical marijuana dispensary operator Paul Scott were dismissed in a Los Angeles court on Thursday, just days before Scott was scheduled to face trial, which was supposed to begin on Monday.

Scott, operator of Inglewood Wellness Collective for more than 10 years, was arrested in June of 2010 by the Los Angeles Police Department, according to Brett Stone of the Medical Marijuana News Yahoo newsgroup. Acting on an anonymous tip, detectives used helicopter surveillance of Scott’s home and saw marijuana plants growing in the back yard and also in a storage shed next to the house.

Scott was seen leaving the shed and an LAPD detective used that information and the smell of marijuana emanating from Scott’s back yard to conclude that a cannabis grow operation was located there.

Military Police Attack Marijuana Protesters In Brazil

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2011 Global, News

Photo: AE

Police fire percussion stun bombs and rubber bullets at the Marcha da Maconha protesters, São Paulo, Brazil, May 21, 2011

Prohibited from holding a “March for Marijuana,” cannabis advocates in Brazil’s largest city had agreed with police to protest instead in defense of freedom of expression. But minutes after allowing the march, the Military Police brutally attacked the unarmed demonstrators with stun bombs, tear gas and rubber bullets.

About 1,000 people showed up for the rally Saturday in São Paulo’s financial heart. Television images showed riot troops charging toward the protesters when they tried to march down the busy Paulista Avenue.

Protesters, journalists covering the event, drivers who happened to be traveling in the opposite direction of the march and people who were simply walking down the street at the time became victims of police violence, reports Ricardo Galhardo at Último Segundo.

Henrique Carneiro, a professor of history at the University of São Paulo who was taking part in the march, was injured after being hit in the head with a percussion stun bomb and had to be taken to the hospital.

Colorado Marijuana Legalization Initiative Filed; Squabble Erupts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2011 Growing, Legislation, News

Graphic: Legalize 2012 Campaign

Marijuana advocates on Thursday filed eight initiatives with the state of Colorado aimed at legalizing marijuana. All of the initiatives would ask voters in 2012 to legalize the use and possession of an ounce or less of cannabis for those 21 and older, and all would allow the state to set up a regulatory system for retail pot sales.

That would be a good thing, right? Or at least represent a kind of forward progress? Not so fast, according to members of the Legalize 2012 Campaign, which said “Colorado cannabis patients and advocates are confused and surprised” by the attempt by what it called “a conservative faction of national and local drug policy reform groups.”

So it seems, instead of a united front for legalizing cannabis in Colorado, what we get — once again, Jah help us — is internecine backbiting, second guessing, name calling, and the type of disappointing, unseemly feuding that does the movement no favors, divides the marijuana vote, and all but ensures failure. How about a replay of California’s Prop 19? Yeah, me neither.

Willie Nelson Un-Endorses Gary Johnson For President

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

Photo: Politico

Willie Nelson, left, un-endorsed presidential candidate Gary Johnson, right, after seeming to belatedly realize there may actually be more to a politician than whether he supports marijuana legalization. Johnson was apparently so surprised, it knocked his eyebrows clean off.

It didn’t take country legend Willie Nelson long to change his mind after endorsing Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson last week. The country singer took it all back on Thursday.

“Yesterday, both the Teapot Party and Gary Johnson 2012 sent out press releases announcing the endorsement,” wrote Teapot Party member Steve Bloom, reports David Edwards at The Raw Story. “The media immediately jumped on it, with Politico, Fox and Raw Story leading the coverage. We were on a roll.”

But Nelson withdrew his endorsement after seeing press coverage of it.

Man Named ‘Stoner’ Arrested For Growing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2011 Growing, News

Photo: Miami New Times

Stoner

A Florida man named Glenn H. Stoner lived up to his name when Clearwater Police searched his home and found 19 marijuana plants.

Stoner, 56, has a roommate, but he told the cops he himself smoked all the pot he grew, reports Kyle Munzenreider at Miami New Times. Clearly, Mr. Stoner is a good roommate to have.

Stoner was arrested Tuesday after law enforcement officers found the plants, growing equipment, an irrigation system, and fertilizer in his bedroom, reports Rita Farlow at the St. Petersburg Times.

This is reportedly Stoner’s second cannabis arrest; he was busted in December 2006 for possession and manufacture. He was ordered into a pre-trial intervention program in 2007.

Judge Orders Cops To Return 2 Pounds Of Marijuana

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

Photo: ndboy

A judge on Thursday ordered the California Highway Patrol to return two pounds of marijuana seized during an arrest in August 2010.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge John Spaunor ordered the police to return the personal property of Kevin Smith (not the famous movie director) of Sacramento after the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office dismissed DUI and marijuana possession charges against him, reports Tom DuHain of KCRA.

DEA, Police Raid More Marijuana Dispensaries In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2011 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Jessica Nuna

This photo was taken by an employee inside Medical Herb Providers dispensary in Spokane, Washington during the raid

One Drug Enforcement Administration agent, accompanied by about a dozen Spokane Police officers, on Wednesday raided at least three medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington state.

Medical Herb Providers (MHP), Essence of Mother Earth and Alternative MMD were all raided separately, reports Curtis Cartier at the Seattle Weekly.

According to Jessica Nuna of MHP, by the time law enforcement left that shop, they had taken about 32 cannabis plants, $1,400 in cash, several ounces of dried marijuana flowers and several laptop computers, cellphones and other electronic devices.

King County, Seattle Officials Ask State To Fix Medical Pot Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

The top prosecutors and officials in both King County, Washington and the city of Seattle are asking the Legislature to quickly untangle the mess left by Governor Christine Gregoire’s gutting of a medical marijuana bill. The bill was supposed to have legalized dispensaries and provided arrest protection for patients, but after Gregoire got through with it, patients were worse off than they started.

In a letter to the four top leaders in the Washington Legislature, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, county executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes said the medical marijuana law in its current state leaves them with “few good options” to control and regulate dispensaries, reports Jonathan Martin at the Seattle Times.

“In the absence of new legislation, we at the local level will have to choose between closing down dispensaries and prosecuting the owners and workers, or allowing them to continue to multiply in an unclear regulatory environment,” they wrote in a letter [PDF] dated Wednesday, May 18.

Patient Gets Two Years In Prison For Sharing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2011 Medical, News

Graphic: The Pencil Method

A Montana man will spend two years in prison for the offense of sharing three grams of his medical marijuana with friends last November.

District Judge Dusty Deschamps called it a “Mickey Mouse” offense, but in sentencing Matthew Otto, 27, on Tuesday, the judge said he took into account Otto’s “extensive criminal history” as supposed justification for the harsh sentence, reports Jenna Cederberg of The Missoulian.

Deschamps sentenced Otto to 20 years in prison after a jury convicted him in March on one count of “criminal distribution of dangerous drugs” (they’ve got to be kidding). Two years will be served at the Montana State Prison and will run concurrently with a previous sentence. The judge suspended the other 18 years of the sentence, which will be served on parole under Department of Corrections supervision.

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