News

Browsing: News

Washington Dispensary Asks Cops To Check Pot; Gets Raided

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 17, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Paul Ellis sold medical marijuana from this Spokane Valley strip mall until he was raided by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office — days after giving them a tour of the place and of his home marijuana grow operation. In the window is reflected a Washington State Patrol office.

Paul Ellis thought he wasn’t doing anything wrong when he opened a medical marijuana dispensary in Spokane, Washington last December. He located the operation, called Med Mar Dis, across the street from a Washington State Patrol office, and asked the sergeant who worked there if Ellis could use law enforcement labs to test his cannabis for contaminants.

But Spokane County Sheriff’s detectives didn’t see things that way, reports Nina Shapiro at our sister Village Voice Media blog, Seattle Weekly. The Spokane County Prosecutor’s office is considering filing drug charges against Ellis after detectives raided his dispensary and home on September 2, reports Meghann M. Cuniff at the Spokane Spokesman-Review.

21st Annual Boston Freedom Rally Is Saturday, September 18

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 17, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Boston Freedom Rally

The Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (Mass Cann) will host its 21st annual Freedom Rally Saturday, September 18, beginning at High Noon on the Boston Common.

This year’s theme, “Cannabis Is Medicine,” highlights Mass Cann’s ongoing efforts to obtain passage by a reluctant Legislature of a law that would allow patients or registered caregivers, with their doctor’s written recommendation, to possess and grow marijuana for the patient’s personal medical use.

Drug Czar Confronted, Urged To End War On Pot (With Video)

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 News

Photo: Lotsa ‘Splainin’ 2 Do

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske falsely claimed that marijuana profits are a “small part” of the cartels’ operations — when the government’s own figures estimate the figure at 60 percent.

Just Say Now Infiltrates Press Conference, Hand Delivers 52,536 Petition Signatures

The Just Say Now campaign to legalize marijuana slipped into a press conference Thursday with US Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske to deliver a petition signed by 52,536 people, asking President Obama to end the federal government’s war on marijuana.

Daniel Pacheco, a Colombian student studying at Georgetown University and member of Students for Sensible Drug Policy, confronted Kerlikowske and offered the petition on behalf of 52,536 Just Say Now activists, and the 28,000 people killed in Mexico in the bloody battle with drug cartels.

“Today I represented the voices of 52,536 people who asked President Barack Obama to end the war on marijuana, to deliver our petition directly to Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske, the man most responsible for the country’s continued prohibition of marijuana,” Pacheco said. “We ask that President Barack Obama and his administration hear Mexican President Calderon’s and Colombian President Santos’ call for a debate on legalizing marijuana in the United States – the only way to have any impact on the brutal war with cartels.”

Kerlikowske accepted the petition from Pacheco and Just Say Now. But when asked to respond to Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s call for an open conversation about legalizing marijuana as a way to defund the drug cartels, Kerlikowske falsely claimed that marijuana profits are a “small part” of the cartels’ operations.

Beer Companies Join Law Enforcement’s Fight Against Legal Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 News, Products

Daniel Rhoades/A Life Of Absolute Gangsterism

Man, I really hate to tell you this. But if you’re a cannabis user in California, you should stop drinking beer, unless you are into donating money to continue being busted for pot.

The second biggest contributor to the main group opposing Prop 19 marijuana legalization in California — behind only law enforcement organizations — is the trade association for the state’s beer distributors, according to Steve Fox of the Marijuana Policy Project, co-author of Marijuana Is Safer.

On September 7, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors made a whopping $10,000 contribution to a committee opposing Proposition 19.

“Unless the beer distributors in California have suddenly developed a philosophical opposition to the use of intoxicating substances, the motivation behind this contribution is clear,” Fox said.

“Plain and simple, the alcohol industry is trying to kill the competition,” Fox said. “They know that marijuana is less addictive, less toxic and less likely to be associated with violent behavior than alcohol. So they don’t want adults to have the option of using marijuana legally instead of alcohol.”

“Their mission is to drive people to drink,” Fox said.

Nebraska Pharmacy Board Won’t Reclassify Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 16, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: NORML Blog

The Nebraska Board of Pharmacy rejected a request to reclassify marijuana so that it could be used for medicinal purposes. The board decided Monday that it lacks the authority to reclassify marijuana as a drug that could be legally prescribed by physicians.

Any decision to reclassify marijuana so it can be prescribed for certain medical conditions is up to the federal Food and Drug Administration, State Pharmacy Board Chairman Richard Zarek said Wednesday. So the board declined to act on the matter, reports Paul Hammel of the Omaha World-Herald.

“There’s nothing the Board of Pharmacy can do as long as it’s listed as a Schedule I drug and ineligible for dispensing,” Zarek said.

Government: Marijuana To Blame For Increased Drug Use In 2009

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 15, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Associated Press

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske: Marijuana is “an entry drug”

A new U.S. government report blames increased marijuana use for a rise in the overall use of illicit drugs among Americans. That’s good news, for anyone who’s familiar with just how non-toxic is marijuana, compared with other illegal drugs.

The annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows the rate of “illicit drug use” (including marijuana) rose from eight percent in 2008 to 8.7 percent in 2009, reports Peter Maer at CBS News. The survey also found more use of ecstasy and methamphetamine.

Officials claim they are especially concerned about use of illegal drugs by young people. The survey, by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), found 21.2 percent of young adults experimented with illegal drugs in 2009.

The trend “was also driven in large part by the use of marijuana,” according to the report.

Raid: Pot Grow Turns Out To Be Legal; ‘Meth’ Is Deodorizer

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 15, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: Jennifer M. Howell/Lodi News-Sentinel

Lodi Police Detective Carlos Fuentes gets to try out his cool HazMat mask and brandish his weapon as he investigates an alleged “meth lab.” It turned out to the the deodorizer used to mask the scene of a legal medical marijuana grow.

Police in Lodi, California thought they had a major drug bust on their hands after what looked like a couple of pounds of methamphetamine and dozens of marijuana plants were found at a commercial building.

Police even evacuated all of the businesses in the building between Pixley Parkway and Guild Avenue.

But the big bust shrunk away to nothing when the “meth” turned out to be crystallized deodorizer and the pot plants turned out to be legal, reports Jordan Guinn at the Lodi News-Sentinel.

The operation turned out to be the medical marijuana growing site for a Stockton family, police said.

“After the search, we found they are in compliance with their legal marijuana cards, said Detective Hettie Schaeffer of the Lodi Police Department.

About 2 p.m. Tuesday, excited police arrived at the scene, ready with their fancy HazMat team to search the premises.

At first, the cops thought they’d stumbled upon two pounds of meth. But after closer inspection, the Lodi Police Department determined it to be a crystallized deodorizer used to mask the smell of the cannabis plants.

Pot Shop Raided Hours After Broadcast Criticizing City Attorney

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 14, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: KTLA

Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich: Is this hothead serving up quick revenge to dispensaries that dare criticize him?

A Los Angeles police raid of a Venice medical marijuana dispensary last week — which occurred at a time when L.A. has said it will hold off on pot shop enforcement — happened just hours after an activist criticized the City Attorney on a radio broadcast from the store.

Host Zuma Dogg played audio of his Thursday web radio show for the LA Weekly, reports Dennis Romero. He said, in part, “I’d like to send this one out to Carmen Trutanich” and called the City Attorney “incompetent” and a “moron” for his handling of the city’s medical marijuana ordinance.

Zuma Dogg described his “broadcasting live” location as a Venice collective with “Green” in its title.

Police Say Marijuana Shops Not Magnets For Crime

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 14, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Kevin Kreck/Colorado Springs Gazette

The Green House, a medical marijuana dispensary in Colorado Springs. Marijuana dispensaries don’t attract crime, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.

Colorado Springs police have yet to find a correlation between the city’s growing medical marijuana industry and increased crime, according to department spokesman Sgt. Darrin Abbinki. There’s no evidence that the industry, which has about 175 businesses in Colorado Springs, attracts robberies and break-ins, according to the cops.

In the 18-month period ending August 31, Colorado Springs police recorded 41 criminal incidents at medical marijuana dispensaries and grow operations, according to Abbink, reports Jakob Rodgers of the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Oakland City Attorney Backs Prop 19 To Allow Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 14, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Living In The O

Oakland City Attorney John Russo: “What we’ve being trying to do is fight a raging fire with a watering can. The better way is to cut off the oxygen”

Breaking from the staunch opposition of most law enforcement groups, Oakland City Attorney John Russo on Monday joined about two dozen officials from across California to publicly support Proposition 19, the measure allowing recreational marijuana that will appear on November’s ballot. Another group gathered in West Hollywood with the same message.

Their support of Prop 19 goes against the majority of law enforcement agencies in California, which oppose the measure, reports Angela Woodall of The Oakland Tribune. “It’s very difficult for them to change, Russo said Monday in front of Oakland City Hall.

Meanwhile, a coalition headed by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca — “No On Prop 19” — blasted the measure in a statement signed by scores of police chiefs, sheriffs, law enforcement associations and district attorneys, of all whom want to keep those fat federal anti-pot funds flowing.

Previous 1 … 422 423 424 425 426 … 490 Next