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California Medical Marijuana User Free After Alabama Plea Deal

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By on Medical, News

Photo: Reality Catcher
Michael Lapihuska (left) being interviewed by Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott, Birmingham, Alabama, October 9, 2010

​A former Alabama resident who was busted for pot while back home for the holidays last December — and who is a legal medical marijuana patient in California — will finally be able to return home after signing a plea deal Monday for 13 months’ unsupervised probation.

“I really don’t even feel like it’s over yet,” said Michael Lapihuska, who was arrested in Anniston, Alabama in December 2009 for the medical marijuana authorized by his doctor. “I don’t — maybe after I get back to California,” he said, reports Laura Camper at The Anniston Star.
Monday’s plea deal lowered the felony marijuana charge to a misdemeanor, and allowed Lapihuska to plead guilty to that count and an original misdemeanor possession charge, reports the Mobile Press Register.
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Teen Marijuana Use Continues To Rise

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By on Culture, News

Photo: THC Finder
For the second year in a row, more American teens use marijuana than use tobacco.

​More American Teens Use Cannabis Than Tobacco For Second Year In A Row

Marijuana use by 8th, 10th and 12th grade students increased in 2010, with more American teenagers now using marijuana than cigarettes for the second year in a row. According to government figures released Tuesday, 21.4 percent of high school seniors used marijuana in the last 30 days, while 19.2 percent had used cigarettes.

“It’s really no surprise that more American teenagers are using marijuana and continue to say it’s easy to get,” said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project. “Our government has spent decades refusing to regulate marijuana in order to keep it out of the hands of drug dealers who aren’t required to check customer ID and have no qualms about selling marijuana to young people.”
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Cops Protest KushCon Pot Convention Ads On Denver Buses

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By on News, Products

Photo: KDVR
Law enforcement groups are complaining about these marijuana convention ads found on Denver city buses, but the transportation district says the ads will stay.

​Colorado law enforcement groups are complaining about ads for a marijuana convention that are on city buses in Denver.

The Colorado Drug Investigators Association — an extremist group already infamous for claiming it was funded by Starbucks, which hastily denied any connection to the group — wrote in a letter last week to the Regional Transportation District (RTD) board of directors that it worries that the ads, promoting the KushCon cannabis convention, “send the wrong message.”
“Advertising a marijuana conference, on the sides of Colorado’s main source of public transportation, will do anything but prevent further drug abuse,” sniffed Jerry Peters, CDIA’s vice president and, surprise-surprise, an investigator with the North Metro Drug Task Force, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.
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Fake Cop Car Almost Pulls Off Seizure Of 319 Pounds Marijuana

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By on News

Photo: Pinal County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies discovered this 319 pounds of marijuana in two abandoned vehicles near Interstate 8 in Arizona. They believe a Crown Victoria equipped to look like a patrol car was attempting to steal the weed from the other vehicle.

​A fake patrol car apparently attempted a traffic stop Saturday night on a second vehicle in order to steal the marijuana it was carrying, according to law enforcement officials.

Pinal County sheriffs’ deputies said they found a car disguised as a police patrol car, along with another car off the side of Interstate 8 in Arizona, reports Stephanie Russo at The Arizona Republic. Both vehicles had bales of marijuana in the trunk, totaling about 319 pounds, reports James King of Phoenix New Times.
The real cops apparently happened upon the scene just after the fake cops stopped the car with the load of weed. Deputies said the engines of both vehicles were still running when they stopped to check out the scene near Vekol Valley, but both occupants had fled the scene.
The fake patrol car was a Ford Crown Victoria — a perennial favorite of law enforcement — outfitted with red and blue lights, a siren, a spotlight and a front push bar similar to a real cop car.
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N.J. Medical Marijuana Rules Called “Kafkaesque” By Advocates

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By on Legislation, Medical, News

Graphic: Baristanet

​New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie claims he’s trying to ensure that medical marijuana will be used only by approved patients, and “won’t become as easily accessible for recreational use in the Garden State as it has in California and Colorado.”

But on Monday, state senators, led by Sen. Nick Scutari, will vote on a resolution which would require the Department of Health and Senior Services to nullify Gov. Christie’s proposed rules and make the regulations more patient-friendly.

None of the governor’s concerns about other states’ leniency regarding medical marijuana have anything to do with New Jersey’s law, according to registered nurse Ken Wolski, executive director of the Coalition for Medical Marijuana New Jersey (CMMNJ).
“We think he’s absolutely wrong in comparing the programs,” Wolski told Erika Bleiberg of Baristanet. “The law itself has safeguards to protect New Jersey from the excesses that occur in California and Colorado.”
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Four Men Arrested For Laughing At Cop’s Failed Pot Bust

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By on News

Photo: Citizen Arcane

​Four men from Queens, New York are suing the NYPD because they say an angry cop arrested them after another group of men laughed at the cop when he was unable to catch a fleeing marijuana suspect on foot.

The arrests were made after cops approached a group gathered at Rufus King Park in Jamaica, Queens, on the afternoon of August 19, reports John Del Signore at The Gothamist. Police saw someone throw a bag in a garbage can, so they began frisking everyone to check for drugs, and one suspect allegedly told them he’d “smoked all the marijuana.”
Then the guy ran off, with one cop chasing him on foot.
When the cop returned after the guy outran him, he was out of breath, and some spectators at a nearby handball game laughed at the winded officer.
One of the cops allegedly then said, “If you think that’s funny, watch what I do to them,” and arrested the four men.
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Men Charged After Trying To Steal 9,000 Pot Plants From Police

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By on Global, Growing, News

Photo: Edmonton State Police/Edmonton Journal

​Three Australian men caught as they allegedly attempted to steal 9,000 marijuana plants from the police have been charged with theft.

Police wouldn’t confirm what was stored at the police logistics facility for security reasons, but the Herald Sun reports that the building contained marijuana plants confiscated in Victoria’s biggest drug bust.
The men were arrested after police claim they were caught breaking into the building about 10:15 p.m. on December 3.
The trio was apprehended during the break-in, and nothing was taken from the premises.
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Miley Cyrus Joins The Bong Brigade And Trips Out

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By on Culture, News


Miley Cyrus — Partying with a Bong
Uploaded by zembandi1. – News videos hot off the press.

Photo: TMZ
In which Miley takes a salvia hit and has “a little bit of a bad trip”

​OK, so maybe it wasn’t really marijuana in that bong rip pop princess Miley Cyrus takes in the viral video that’s sweeping the web, but it’s still attracting plenty of attention and making the young Hannah Montana star a host of potential new friends.

According to reports, the substance in the bowl was salvia, which is a potent psychedelic and, while legal, is ironically also a rougher ride than cannabis (yes, I’ve smoked my share of both).
Miley was shown in a friend’s cell phone video a few days after her 18th birthday taking a hit from a bong and then told her friend she was having “a little bit of a bad trip.”
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One-Joint Prosecution Dropped — Because Cops Lost The Joint

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By on News

Photo: DenverWestword
Lacy Lee moments after being grabbed May 1 by a Denver cop for holding a joint — during a pro-pot march. The offense carries a $100 fine, but cops were unable to come up with the joint in question. Case dismissed!

​Denver cops gave Lacy Lee a shakedown at a pro-pot rally on May 1, cited her, and spent thousands of dollars to prosecute her as the case moved through the court system. Cops had to take paid days off to appear in court — for an offense carrying a maximum fine of $100.

That was absurd enough, as pointed out by Michael Roberts at Westword. But things got even sillier Thursday, when the city dropped the case because it had no joint on hand to support the charge.
“We are very happy the City of Denver has dismissed the case,” said attorney Rob Corry, who felt the case was so outrageous, especially given a video of the incident (see below), that he agreed to represent her pro bono.
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THC Reduces Aggressive Behavior In Schizophrenics: Study

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By on Medical, News

Photo: TalkTalk

​The administration of oral synthetic THC is associated with improved symptoms of psychosis in patients with refractory schizophrenia, according to the findings of four case reports published in the November issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Investigators at the Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York, the Columbia University Medical Center, and the New York University School of Medicine assessed the efficacy of oral THC (Dronabinol) on eight patients with refractory psychosis, reports the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). The subjects in the trial had a history of symptomatic improvement when using cannabis and had been unresponsive to conventional medical treatments.
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