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DEA, DOJ Won’t Talk About Medical Marijuana Raids

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

Despite campaign promises to the contrary, the Department of Justice under President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder has continued raiding marijuana dispensaries in states where cannabis is legal for medical purposes. But the DOJ has changed one policy now that it’s under Democratic control: It has stopped publicizing medical marijuana raids, refusing to distribute press releases and requesting that more cases be sealed under court order.

After recent Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI raids of medical marijuana dispensaries in Las Vegas, Nevada (last week), Mendocino County and San Diego, California, and in Michigan (all in July), the DEA and U.S. Attorney’s offices issued no press releases and held no press conferences, reports Mike Riggs at The Daily Caller.

Michigan: Medical Marijuana Advocates Plan More Protests

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: AP

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard: “This is Michigan, not some Cheech and Chong movie”

Following a protest Wednesday by more than 150 people at the Oakland County, Michigan courthouse, medical marijuana advocates said they plan to gather Monday in Pontiac and Lapeer for more protests against the arrests of patients and raids on cannabis dispensaries.

“The idea that it’s acceptable for law enforcement to beat down doors, hold weapons at patients’ heads, discuss killing family pets in front of children — all that has to stop,” said Southfield attorney Michael Komorn, who helped organize the protests.

California Pot Dispensary Finds Sweet Market Niche: Ice Cream

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Creme De Canna

I want! I want!

If you hear talk around this place about getting stoned on a bowl, they may not be talking about smoking.

Santa Cruz County’s newest medical marijuana dispensary serves half pints of Banannabis Foster, Straw-Mari Cheesecake and TRIPle Chocolate Brownie ice creams, all infused with cannabis, alongside the regular offerings of smokable pot, reports Kurtis Alexander of the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

No on-site consumption is allowed, but card-carrying marijuana patients have some cool options at the new Creme De Canna Non-Profit Collective. For now it’s just the three flavors of ice cream, according to proprietor Jonathan Kolodinski, but others are planned.

Maine: Hundreds Of Marijuana Plants Stolen From Police

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Growing, News

Photo: FOX6Now

It’s the feel-good story of the day. About 750 marijuana plants were stolen from a Farmington, Maine law enforcement storage building overnight last week. The storage facility is only half a mile from the police station.

Farmington police officers discovered the break-in Wednesday at 9:30 a.m., according to Police Chief Jack Peck, reports David Robinson of the Central Maine Morning Sentinel.

An overhead garage door had been “pried open” and about three-quarters of the 1,000 marijuana plants seized earlier on Tuesday in a northern Franklin County drug raid and stored in facility that night, were gone gone gone, according to Peck.

Green Party Senate Hopeful Calls For Repeal Of Marijuana Laws

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 13, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Duane Roberts

Duane Roberts: “Repealing federal laws criminalizing marijuana will save the U.S. government billions of dollars”

Duane Roberts, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate from California, has called for repealing federal laws prohibiting marijuana from being used for “medicinal, recreational and industrial purposes.” Roberts urged the passage of Prop 19, saying it will send a message to the political establishment.

“As I officially kick off my campaign for the U.S. Senate today, one of the first declarations I make is to call for the repeal of all federal laws on the books which make it a criminal act for people to grow, sell and use marijuana for medicinal, recreational and industrial purposes,” Roberts said on Thursday.

“According to statistics compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 800,000 people are arrested each year in this country for using a plant of which the evidence suggests is far less dangerous to consume than alcohol, tobacco, and some well-known prescription pharmaceuticals,” Roberts said.

This is a big waste of taxpayer money, according to Roberts.

“Not only does this clog the court systems and fill up the jails and prisons with non-violent offenders, but it diverts the limited resources of the police, prosecutors, and judges away from pursuing individuals who engage in violent crimes against others,” said the Senatorial candidate.

Law Enforcement Support For Prop 19 Pot Initiative Growing

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 10, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Cal Pot News

Support for Proposition 19, the voter initiative on November’s ballot which would legalize, control and tax marijuana in California, continues to grow in the law enforcement community.

A group of police officers, judges, and prosecutors who support Prop 19 will hold simultaneous press conferences Monday, September 13 in front of Oakland City Hall and in West Hollywood Park near Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PDT to release a letter of endorsement by dozens of law enforcers across the state.

“At each step of my law enforcement career — from beat officer up to chief of police in two major American cities — I saw the futility of our marijuana prohibition laws,” said Joseph McNamara, former police chief in San Jose and in Kansas City, Mo.

“But our marijuana laws are much worse than ineffective; they waste valuable police resources and also create a lucrative black market that funds cartels and criminal gangs with billions of tax-free dollars,” said McNamara, who is now a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Mexico Nervous As California Votes On Legalizing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 10, 2010 Global, News

Photo: AP

Mexican soldier caqrries marijuana plants seized near Aguililla,

To embattled government officials in Mexico, where armed soldiers patrol the streets and more than 500 people have died in cartel-related violence just this year, marijuana seems inextricably linked to the enrichment of death-dealing drug bosses who earn huge profits smuggling the illicit weed north.

“Marijuana arrives in the United States soaked with the blood of Tijuana residents,” said Mayor Jorge Ramos, whose police department lost 45 officers to “drug violence” in recent years, report Nick Miroff and William Booth of the Washington Post.

But across the border in California, cannabis has a very different reputation — that of a healing herb. After the Obama Administration said it would not prioritize the prosecution of patients and providers who were abiding by state medical marijuana laws, about 100 dispensaries opened in San Diego alone in the past year.

Marijuana Activists Call On Obama To Pardon Canadian Prisoner

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Global, News

Photo: Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press

Marc Emery, with wife Jody backing him up, speaks to reporters outside the B.C. Supreme Court in May 2010. He is scheduled to be sentenced to 5 years in U.S. federal prison on Friday, September 10.

Marijuana activists from Washington state and around North America will gather outside the Federal Courthouse at 700 Stewart Street in Seattle on Friday, September 10, to protest the sentencing of Marc Emery, the “Prince of Pot,” who faces five years in prison for selling mail-order cannabis seeds to Americans.

Cannabis advocates are calling on President Barack Obama to pardon Emery, who faced federal charges after Drug Enforcement Administration agents entered Canada and arrested him in 2005. He is expected to be sentenced to five years in federal prison under a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors.

U. of Miami Baseball Player Busted For Selling Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Richard C. Lewis

Miami’s Frankie Ratcliff, left, wipes out Fordham University infielder Brian Kownacki as he slides on March 16 in Coral Gables.

While the University of Miami’s football team has cleaned up its media image, from time to time another of the school’s athletes keeps that good old “Thug U” outlaw image alive. A freshman on the university’s baseball team was arrested Wednesday night for trying to sell marijuana to undercover cops on campus.

Freshman Frankie Ratcliff, 19, was busted around 9 p.m. after offering to sell 21 grams to narcs for $220. He then foolishly signed a consent form allowing police to search his apartment, where they found more pot, totaling 101 grams, and 19 vials of “athletic enhancer” steroids.

Barbara Boxer’s Aide Busted For Pot At Senate Building

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on September 9, 2010 News

Photo: Theodore’s World

Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office: “He submitted his resignation, and Sen. Boxer accepted it because his actions yesterday were wrong and unacceptable”

A senior aide for Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) was arrested Tuesday for trying to bring marijuana into the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., according to U.S. Capitol Police reports.

Marcus Stanley, who served as senior economic adviser and at one time worked on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by Boxer, was stopped by a police officer when he allegedly tried to “remove and conceal” a “leafy green substance” from his pocket during a security screening at the Constitution Avenue door of the Hart Building around noon on Tuesday, according to Capitol Police.

Officers confiscated the substance, which later tested positive for marijuana, and Stanley quickly resigned, reports Erika Lovley at Politico.

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