News

Browsing: News

Prince Of Pot Pleads Guilty; Five Year Sentence Looms

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 25, 2010 Global, News

Vancouver’s flamboyant Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

The plea bargain which Emery accepted means the 52-year-old Canadian must serve five years in a U.S. prison for selling marijuana seeds to American customers through his Vancouver-based businesses, Marc Emery Direct and Cannabis Culture.

Emery will remain in custody at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington until his formal sentencing on August 27, reports Andrea Woo at The Vancouver Sun.

The deal is an attempt to make the best of a bad situation, according to Emery’s wife, Jodie.

“It’s unfortunate that a five-year sentence is what we want for Marc, but the alternative was at least 30 years and up to life if it went to trial,” she told The Vancouver Sun on Monday.

“But while he’s gone, he’ll be there to demonstrate the insanity of this War On Drugs,” Jodie said.

Hundreds Of ‘Pot Plants’ Seized By Texas Cops Aren’t Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 News

Graphic: nocookie.net

Maybe there should be an IQ test for police officers. What was first thought to be one of the largest marijuana seizures in the Corpus Christi Police Department’s history turned into an embarrassing incident for the cops, as the clueless officers spent a busy and exciting evening harvesting hundreds of harmless weeds from a city park.

The revealing incident began when a teenager riding his bike through Waldron Park in Flour Bluff discovered what he thought were pot plants growing there about 8 p.m. Thursday, reports Bart Bedsole of KRIStv.com.

The would-be junior narc wasted no time in excitedly reporting his “find.”

Police then self-importantly hauled away 300 to 400 medium-sized plants that they, too, believed were marijuana.

Exhausted officers only stopped collecting the harmless plants because it got too dark to work; they planned to return bright and early in the morning to look around for more marijuana.

Trouble is, after spending more than an hour laboriously removing and tagging hundreds of plants, and then hauling it all to the police department downtown, testing revealed that none of it was marijuana at all.

Prince Of Pot Extradited To U.S. For 5-Year Term

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Global, News

Photo: CTV

Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, is now in custody in the United States.

After a years-long battle to avoid extradition, marijuana activist and entrepreneur Marc Emery of Vancouver, B.C., the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot,” is going to the United States. It’s not a trip that Emery wanted to take.

Emery, 52, was driven from a Vancouver jail to the Washington State border and was handed over to U.S. authorities, according to his wife, Jodie, reports The Canadian Press.

Jodie said her husband will be held in a detention center south of Seattle until appearing before a judge to plead guilty of selling millions of marijuana seeds to American customers, and begin his plea-bargained sentence of five years in a U.S. federal prison.

Washington Drug Agents Seize Pot Legalization Petitions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Citizen Alert

Washington drug agents have illegally seized signed petitions for marijuana legalization, according to organizers of ballot initiative I-1068.

Marijuana advocacy group Sensible Washington says it has learned that a dozen signed copies of the marijuana legalization initiative for Washington State of which it is the sponsor, were seized last week by the federally-funded WestNET drug task force.

Advocates say that the drug agents who seized the petitions are interfering with a constitutionally-protected legislative procedure.

“Our estimate is that 2009 signatures are sitting in WestNET’s offices in Port Orchard, apparently seized as ‘evidence’ during a series of raids against the North End Club 420 in Tacoma,” said Sensible Washington campaign director and initiative co-author Philip Dawdy.

Big Bucks Needed To Open Long Beach Pot Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: DispensaryFinder.com

Long Beach dispensaries like The Giving Tree will be “giving” hefty licensing fees to the city under a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Don’t even think about opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Long Beach, California, unless you have a healthy bank account — and you’re willing to bet five figures on it, still with no guarantee of actually getting a shop.

The Long Beach City Council approved fees and charges at Tuesday’s meeting that start at $14,742 and could total more than $26,000 just for the application, then tens of thousands more each year, reports Harry Saltzgraver at Gazettes.com. The process outlined in the Medical Marijuana Collective Implementation Plan will be managed through the Department of Financial Management, but will also include participation by a number of other departments — each of which seems to have their hands out.

Oakland City Council First In CA To Endorse Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: KVAL

he Oakland City Council endorsed California’s marijuana legalization measure on the November ballot Tuesday, becoming the first city in the state to back it.

Last year, 80 percent of Oakland voters approved becoming the first city in the United States to tax medical marijuana dispensaries, gaining $500,000 for city coffers, reports Joe Garofoli at SF Gate. And in 2004, city voters approved Measure Z, making marijuana possession arrests the lowest law enforcement priority for the Oakland Police Department.

“Our experience shows that controlling and taxing cannabis dispensaries can benefit everyone in the community,” said Oakland City Council member at-large Rebecca Kaplan.

NBA: Cops Say Knicks’ Wilson Chandler Caught With Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Double Dribble

Wilson Chandler of the New York Knicks wishes the NYPD didn’t waste so much time busting people for pot.

New York Knicks forward Wilson Chandler was busted on a marijuana possession charge after police pulled his vehicle over Tuesday night in Queens, police said.

Chandler, who turned 23 last week, was carrying what was described as a “small amount” of marijuana when cops pulled over the 2010 Mercedes-Benz in which was was riding at 11:30 p.m., according to police, reports Larry Celona at the New York Post.

The fuzz said decided to search Chandler after they claimed to smell pot coming from the vehicle.

Chandler was issued a desk appearance ticket for the misdemeanor offense, meaning he must appear in county court for arraignment at a later date.

Chandler, who missed the final month of the season because of a strained groin, was drafted by the Knicks in 2007. He is scheduled to undergo a sports hernia surgery and will need six to eight weeks to recover.

Mickey Mouse Drug Raid: Cops Take Cash From Little Girl’s Wallet

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 19, 2010 News

Don’t Look At Me Like That. You Were Thinking It Too

Kitsap County, Washington is presumably safe from 9-year-old girls with Mickey Mouse wallets, thanks to those brave drug cops at WestNET

A Washington State mother says that drug cops mistreated her son, took $80 from her daughter’s Mickey Mouse wallet, and trashed her house.

Christine Casey, affiliated with North End Club 420, a patient collective considered legal under Washington state law, told the Seattle Weekly that detectives from the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team (WestNET) handcuffed her 14-year-old son for two hours and put a gun to his head, reports Nina Shapiro.

They also told the frightened kid to say goodbye to his dad, Guy Casey, because they said the pot dispensary operator was going to prison.

As the Rambo-esque detectives trashed the home looking for cash, trying to prove the dispensary was illegally profiting from medical marijuana, Casey said they confiscated $80 that her nine-year-old daughter had received for a straight-A report card.

The gung-ho drug warriors found the money in the little girl’s Mickey Mouse wallet.

Pot Dispensary Owner Tries Citizens Arrest; Gets Busted Again

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Doc Herbalist

In a bizarre twist Monday, the owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Fresno, California — along with his son — tried to put a deputy city attorney under citizen’s arrest outside a courtroom.

Three days after being released from jail, Rick Morse, owner of Medmar Clinic, a dispensary in Fresno, and his son Brandon tried to arrest Deputy City Attorney Michael Flores as Flores approached the civil courthouse, reports Dennis Hart at KMJnow.

Sheriff’s deputies intervened and prevented the attempted arrest.

Morse and son were cited on suspicion of battery after trying to arrest Flores, after bailiffs quickly broke up the confrontation, reports Pablo Lopez at The Fresno Bee.

Busted Mayoral Candidate Says Burglar Planted Rolling Papers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 18, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Ann Spann, The Destin Log

Crestview, Fla., mayoral candidate Alan Sampson was arrested back in March after police discovered a bong in his bedroom. Now he says a pack of rolling papers was planted in his house.

Crestview, Florida mayor hopeful Alan Sampson, who was charged with marijuana possession and possession of “narcotics equipment” after police reported seizing a bong from his bedroom in March, said someone broke into his home last week and left rolling papers in his bathroom drawer.

“I don’t know if someone was trying to leave me a message or if it was some of the kids in the neighborhood,” Sampson said, reports Michael Stewart at Florida Freedom Newspapers.

Sampson, who has vowed to fire Crestview Police Chgief Brian Mitchell if he’s elected mayor, said he doesn’t use rolling papers.

Previous 1 … 449 450 451 452 453 … 490 Next