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Texas Police Chief Indicted For Marijuana Distribution

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2010 News

The police chief of a small Texas town near the Mexican border is facing federal charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana and possession of marijuana.

Sullivan City Police Chief Hernan Guerra is charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms and four counts of possession with intent to distribute between 100 kilos and 1,000 kilos of marijuana, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Thursday, reports Jeremy Roebuck at The Monitor.

Guerra was caught as part of Project Deliverance, a 22-month probe by the U.S. Department of Justice targeting Mexican drug trafficking cartels.

Florida Panel Touts ‘Dangers’ Of Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 10, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: Teensavers.com

A panel of self-styled “marijuana experts” threw a real scare into addiction counselors Wednesday, as they described the alleged “dangers of medical marijuana” using their time honored tactics of distortion, misinformation, propaganda, thinly veiled hysteria, fear tactics, and outright lies.

The 9th Annual Conference on Addictive Disorders at the Harborside Event Center in Fort Myers, Florida, brought together substance abuse counselors in workshops on mental health treatment, gambling compulsion, domestic violence and the use of prescription drugs, reports McKenzie Cassidy at the Cape Coral Daily Breeze.

And long-time, rabid anti-drug zealot Calvina Fay, executive director of the Drug Free America Foundation (formerly the notoriously abusive Straight Inc.) and the St. Petersburg-based Save Our Society From Drugs lobbying group (along with 100+ other subsidiary groups, thus giving the illusion of “consensus”), was in fine form, sharing her irrational pot phobia with the sympathetic, well-heeled crowd.

No California Pot Money For Washington Legalization Drive

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Poto’s Blog

Grass will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no grass. But Washington’s weed warriors won’t have either, if they are depending on California

Sensible Washington, the Washington state group trying to put a marijuana legalization initiative on November’s ballot, came back home empty-handed after a fundraising trip to California, according to an attorney who co-sponsors I-1068.

Among the marijuana luminaries in California who refused to contribute to Washington’s legalization effort were Richard Lee, arguably the most famous pot entrepreneur in the Golden State, reports Nina Shapiro at Seattle Weekly.

Seattle marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt, who co-sponsors I-1068, Washington’s legalization initiative, said he and co-sponsor Vivian McPeak, director of Seattle Hempfest, met with Lee on their April fundraising trip to California.

Group: Oregon Cops Treat Marijuana Patients Like Criminals

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: KEZI

Christine McGarvin, Protect Your Rights 420: “It’s the specter of reefer madness”

Many Oregon law enforcement officers do not distinguish between medical marijuana patients and illegal pot users, according to the group Protect Your Rights 420. Members said that is why it is important that people who use cannabis medicinally know their rights.

“I’ve heard it all,” said Lorri Duckworth, a Protect Your Rights 420 member, reports Jeff Skryzpek of KEZI 9 News.

“If we do it the right way, the legal way, then maybe law enforcement would open their eyes to the fact that we’re not all the typical couch potato stoners,” Duckworth said.

A lack of understanding among law enforcement and the general public is giving them a bad name, group members said, and it creates all sorts of hassles and unnecessary encounters with law enforcement.

MI Supreme Court: Legal To Drive With THC Metabolites In Body

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: HempNews.tv

Michigan drivers can no longer be convicted for the simple presence of THC byproducts in their bodies after smoking marijuana. The Michigan Supreme Court’s liberal majority ruled Tuesday that it is not illegal to drive while having marijuana byproducts internally.

Until Tuesday’s ruling, if you smoked a joint over the weekend and then got drug tested on Monday morning — or even a month later — you could be convicted of “Driving Under the Influence of Drugs” (DUID), even if you are no longer high, just because inactive chemical traces of THC remain in your bloodstream.

According to the court, 11-carboxy-THC, a metabolite of tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the main active ingredients in marijuana, cannot be considered a controlled substance under Michigan law, according to The Associated Press.

The justices ruled that 11-carboxy-THC is a byproduct created when the body breaks down (metabolizes) THC.

‘Sleazy’ Deputy Bought Marijuana With Stolen Patient I.D.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 9, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Calaveras County Sheriff

Deputy Steve Avila admitted he stole a medical marijuana patient’s I.D. and authorization, then bought pot with it

A California deputy has admitted using a doctor’s recommendation and stolen identity from a legal medical marijuana patient in order to buy pot in a drug sting.

Deputy Steve Avila of the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department said during questioning that he had used the patient’s recommendation, with a falsified birthdate, to persuade a dispensary owner to sell marijuana to an officer.

Avila claimed he obtained the medical marijuana recommendation “from an investigation we conducted,” but also claimed he “did not recall” which officer obtained it, or how it was obtained.

Jay Smith of K Care Collective, the dispensary owner who was tricked into selling marijuana to an officer, said Calaveras County is waging a war against medical marijuana, and is doing so using unethical means, reports Dana M. Nichols of the San Joaquin County Record.

Robert Shaffer, the medical marijuana patient whose identity was stolen, tells the same story.

According to Shaffer, Deputy Avila violated his privacy by using his identity and documents in the sting operation.

Philadelphia Chills Out (A Little) About Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Ron Tarver

Hundreds marched in Philadelphia on the afternoon of May 1, 2010 to support the legalization of marijuana.

Philadelphia is finally starting to chill out about pot. Starting Tuesday, June 8, folks caught in the City of Brotherly Love with 30 grams or less of marijuana will probably see their charges downgraded to a summary offense.

What that means is that after you take a class and pay a $200 fine, any record of the arrest would be expunged.

That’s quite an improvement in a city that until now has been chiefly known for arresting blacks at a far higher rate than whites for marijuana offenses.

The new procedure will likely be followed in several thousand marijuana cases a year, according to Deputy District Attorney Ed McCann, reports Peter Mucha at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Washington: Pot Legalization Has Poll Numbers, But No Money

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 8, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Emerald Sun

The people of Washington state want to legalize marijuana — and they would vote to do exactly that — if it were only on the ballot, according to the latest polls. But they may not get that chance.

Even though poll numbers show a majority of residents support it, an attempt to legalize marijuana in Washington state for adults may not make the ballot in November, as the signature gathering phase enters its final three weeks.

Initiative 1068 would remove all state penalties for the possession, cultivation, use and sale of marijuana. Statewide polls have suggested it would pass, reports Gene Johnson of The Associated Press.

According to campaign chairman Douglas Hiatt on Monday, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition to get the initiative on the ballot. The group’s goal is to gather 320,000 signatures. It needs 241,153 valid signatures by July 2 to qualify for the ballot.

The cash-strapped I-1068 campaign can’t afford to pay signature gatherers, so it has depended entirely on the efforts of volunteers.

Pot & CA Governor Race: ‘Neither Party Offers Significant Choice’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 7, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Orange Juice

CA gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman: “I am absolutely, 100 percent not in favor of legalizing marijuana for any reason”

When it comes to gubernatorial candidates in California, marijuana advocates are seemingly forced to choose between dumb and dumber in the June 8 primary election.

“Neither party offers a significant choice,” according to the Drug Policy Forum of California, a pro-legalization group.

“I am absolutely, 100 percent not in favor of legalizing marijuana for any reason,” said GOP front-runner Meg Whitman.

Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, donated big bucks to help defeat Proposition 5, the Non-Violent Offenders Rehabilitation Act of 2008. EBay subsidiary PayPal has a policy of blackballing even legal medical marijuana businesses, according to DPF.

Gossip Girl Star Chace Crawford Arrested For Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 6, 2010 Culture, News

Plano Police Department

Police released this booking photo of Christopher Chace Crawford after his bust early Friday morning

Chace Crawford, star of television’s Gossip Girl, has been arrested outside a Texas bar for possession of marijuana.

The 24-year-old actor was in a friend’s car in the parking lot of Ringo’s Pub in Plano, Texas, when police officers arrested them just after midnight on Friday morning, June 4, reports Carina MacKenzie at Zap2it.

Crawford was jailed and charged with possession of marijuana, under two ounces, before being released, reports News.com.au.

The actor, who plays Manhattan rich boy Nate Archibald in the hit TV show, had been sitting inside his friend’s 2003 Nissan, according to the arrest record provided by the Plano Police Department.

Police found one unlit joint in the vehicle, according to TMZ.com.

The actor had just returned from a family trip to Mexico.

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