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Town Taxes Medical Marijuana — Before There IS Any

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 6, 2010 Dispensaries, News

A small town in western Colorado has become the first in the state to tax medical marijuana. Only thing is, it doesn’t have any marijuana dispensaries.

The voters of Fruita, a town of about 11,000 residents, imposed a 5 percent tax on marijuana sales, reports Jeffrey Wolf of 9 News.

One application is pending for a dispensary in Fruita. City leaders said they wanted to be ready with a tax source in case the dispensary opens and “requires additional police patrols.”

Not exactly an open-arms welcome, but you take what you can get, I suppose. And since the good folks of Fruita are smart enough to see a revenue opportunity when they see one, I’m betting that 5 percent will be adding up real soon when a dispensary opens.

Pot Dispensary Operator Pleads Guilty; Gets 3 Years — But Why?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 6, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: NY Real Estate Lawyers’ Blog

A Lake Forest, California medical marijuana dispenary owner/manager pleaded guilty Tuesday to unlawful sales of marijuana.

Steven John Wick, 26, owner and operator of The Health Collective (THC) in Lake Forest, pleaded guilty to unlawful sale of marijuana and possession of marijuana for sale, and admitted to sentencing enhancements of committing a crime while he was free on bail in a separate case, reports Larry Welborn at The Orange County Register.

Wick was sentenced to three years in state prison, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Sarah Palin Offered $25,000 By Marijuana Advocates

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 5, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Pundit Kitchen

Immediately following her Tuesday speech at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America’s national convention, a marijuana advocacy group says it will offer former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin $25,000 to deliver a similar address to supporters of a regulated cannabis market in the United States.

In exchange for the $25,000, Palin will be asked to speak at one of the upcoming events of Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws (NSML), according to NSML campaign manager Dave Schwartz.

According to Schwartz, Palin will be asked to acknowledge the fact that marijuana is just as legitimate a recreational substance as alcohol, which she is talking about at the WSWA convention (and in fact, marijuana is objectively much safer), and endorse taxing and regulating marijuana in Nevada and throughout the U.S.

Sen. Boxer Claims Legalizing Pot Could Increase Crime, Car Wrecks

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 5, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Theodore’s World

Desperate Sell-Out: Sen. Barbara Boxer “shares the concerns of police chiefs, sheriffs and other law enforcement officials that this mesure could lead to an increase in crime, vehicle accidents and higher costs for local law enforcement agencies”

California Senator Barbara Boxer may be considered a liberal, but when it comes to marijuana, all she knows is the same old song and dance. Sen. Boxer, facing the toughest reelection fight of her career, carries the unbecoming stench of desperation rather than the sweet smell of sinsemilla as she officially opposes a California ballot measure to legalize and tax cannabis.

“Senator Boxer does not support this initiative because she shares the concerns of police chiefs, sheriffs and other law enforcement officials that this measure could lead to an increase in crime, vehicle accidents and higher costs for local law enforcement agencies,” said Boxer’s campaign manager, Rose Kapolczynski, in a statement issued Friday to liberal blog Talking Points Memo.

N.Y. Governor Candidate: Tax Marijuana For Budget Revenue

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 5, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: J-Lingo.com

‘Manhattan Madam’ Kristin Davis: “Marijuana is a $10 billion a year industry in New York state. Its legalization and taxation would help New York’s current financial crises.”

Potential New York gubernatorial candidate Kristin Davis, the self-styled “Manhattan Madam,” has endorsed California’s proposal to legalize and tax marijuana, and says New York state should be next.

“Californians have figured out what New Yorkers need to figure out,” Davis said, reports James Nani at LegislativeGazette.com. “Marijuana is a $10 billion a year industry in New York state. Its legalization and taxation would help New York’s current financial crises.”

David, who says she booked prostitutes for former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, is former vice president of a California-based hedge fund. She established a high-priced call girl service before pleading guilty to promoting prostitution and serving four months in Rikers Island jail.

Davis is considering running for governor as a Libertarian and plans to attend that party’s political convention in Albany on April 24. According to her spokesman, Andrew Miller, her campaign has been in talks with members of the Libertarian Party.

San Diego D.A. Has Losing Streak With Medical Pot Cases

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 5, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Bonnie D.A.’Mantis

San Diego County D.A. Bonnie Dumanis: Despite a pledge to respect California’s medical marijuana laws, she has waged an urelenting war against cannabis patients and providers

San Diego County medical marijuana activist, patient and provider Eugene Davidovich was recently acquitted of all charges of illegally selling and possessing cannabis. His March 26 acquittal follows an earlier courtroom loss for District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis in the Jovan Jackson case.

Yet Dumanis continues her fanatical and expensive campaign against medical marijuana patients and providers.

Another high profile medical pot case looms for Donna Lambert, a 49-year-old cancer patient who also ran a medical marijuana network that provided home deliveries to patients, reports Peter Hecht at the The Sacramento Bee.

”I don’t take from this that we’re not going to be able to prosecute a dispensary,” Deputy District Attorney Steve Walter said after the Jackson case. But Walter and his boss Dumanis clearly still haven’t shown they can win such a case, even after wasting a lot of tax money and police manpower trying to do so.

N.H. Pot Decrim Gets Senate Committee Hearing Tuesday

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 5, 2010 Legislation, News

N.H. Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy

New Hampshire’s Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on HB 1653, a bill that would remove criminal penalties for possession of up to one-quarter ounce of marijuana and replace them with a fine of up to $200, on Tuesday, April 6.

Under current New Hampshire law, possession of any amount of cannabis is a misdemeanor offense, carrying a potential penalty of up to one year in jail, a $2,000 fine, and a criminal conviction.

New York City Pot Arrests Soar To Near-Record In 2009

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 2, 2010 News

Photo: City Rag

New York City leads the world in pot arrests — and wastes up to $90 million a year keeping it that way

New York Police Department officers made more than 46,000 arrests in 2009 for marijuana possession in public, second highest in the Big Apple’s history, according to statistics from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The annual arrest total is up more than 4,600 percent from 1990, when the NYPD reported fewer than a thousand pot arrests, reports the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Popular Outdoor Writer Arrested For Weed… In Weed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 2, 2010 Culture, Growing, News

Photo: Northern California Hiking Trails Blog

Deputies claim popular writer Tom Stienstra, 55, had a “sophisticated cultivation operation” in his barn in Weed, California

Well-known outdoor author Tom Stienstra has been arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana for sale, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office.

Stienstra, 55, was busted March 25 after deputies served a search warrant at his home in Weed, California, and found what they claimed was a “sophisticated cultivation operation” in his barn, sheriff’s department spokesperson Susan Gravenkamp said in an email to the Redding Record Searchlight.

Deputies claimed they found 31 immature marijuana plants, 29 mature plants and 11 pounds of dried marijuana, Gravenkamp said.

Much of the processed marijuana was packaged, according to Gravenkamp. Deputies also claimed they found scales, packaging material and other “paraphernalia” at Stienstra’s barn and inside his home, she said.

Stienstra, an outdoor writer for the San Francisco Chronicle and syndicated newspaper columnist, is also an author of books on hiking, camping and the outdoors. He has a weekly TV show in KBCW/KMAX in Sacramento, and a weekly radio program on San Francisco’s KCBS.

94-Year-Old Woman Caught With 11 Lbs. Pot At Mexican Border

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 1, 2010 Global, News

Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection

CBP officers claimed the six bundles of Mexican pot have an estimated street value of more than $5,000

Officers say a 94-year-old Mexican woman has been arrested for trying to smuggle almost 11 pounds of marijuana across the border into Arizona.

U.S. Customers and Border Protection (CBP) officers claimed the woman, from Nogales, Sonora, said she was trying to cross the border Tuesday for a day of shopping. But an officer “became suspicious” and referred the woman for further searching, reports KPHO.com.

Authorities then found 10.5 pounds of cannabis strapped to the woman’s body, covering an area from her torso to her legs.

CBP officers claimed the six bundles of confiscated marijuana had an estimated “street value” of $5,250.

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