News

Florida Man Thrown In Jail For Telling Police Dog To ‘Sit’

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

Photo: The Patriot-News
“That’s a good boy… We wont let those mean old potheads talk to my good boy anymore, no we won’t…”

A Florida man has been charged with striking a police animal for telling a drug dog to “sit.”

Mario Duane Porter, 21, of Gainesville, was charged last week with “striking a police animal” (which supposedly includes “interfering with a working police animal”), disorderly conduct, possession of drug paraphernalia and refusing to sign a citation for violating the city’s noise and window tint ordinances, reports Karen Voyles of The Gainesville Sun.

Not A Hap-Hap-Happy Place: Ronald McDonald Busted For Marijuana

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

Photo: Foods For The Soul

McDonald’s is my kind of place. Iowa City Police arrested Ronald McDonald for possession of marijuana and allowing others to use pot at his residence on Sunday.

Officers responded to the 44-year-old’s residence after receiving a report of a “suspicious odor,” according to police. Outside McDonald’s residence, officers said they could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from the house, reports Lee Hermiston at the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Further investigation revealed “a quantity of marijuana” and other drug use paraphernalia, police claimed.

EBay Yanks High Times ‘At Request Of Federal Government’

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

Photo: Lisa Provence/The Hook

Merchant Fred Carwile was surprised when eBay, without warning, removed his listings for back issues of High Times magazine

A Virginia man says eBay deleted his sales listings for back issues of High Times — which he’s sold for years at the online auction site — at the request of the federal government.

Fred Carwile of Crozet, Va., said he was “frustrated and angry” that eBay pulled the ads without warning. What’s worse, he said two different eBay customer service representatives told him the marijuana-culture magazines were pulled “at the request of the federal government,” reports Lisa Provence at The Hook.

“The federal government cannot ban books,” Carwile said, noting that High Times is sold at Barnes and Noble and at convenience stores across the United States. “They’re pressuring a business to ban books.”

Denver Pot Grower Awaits Word On Federal Charges

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 15, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

9 News

Bartkowicz in the midst of giving the ill-advised interview which destroyed everything for which he had worked so hard

A Colorado man accused of running an illegal marijuana grow operation in his basement will likely appear later this week in federal court after a raid took place at his Highlands Ranch home.

The case of Chris Bartkowicz has ignited a battle between medical marijuana advocates and the U.S. Justice Department, reports Valerie Castro of CBS 4 Denver.

Jeffrey Sweetin, special agent in charge of the Denver office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, oversaw the Friday raid of Bartkowicz’s home and subsequent arrest of the licensed medical marijuana provider after Bartkowicz bragged on television about his profitable grow op.

New Zealand TV Network Probes Claim Staff Used Cannabis With Activists

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 14, 2010 Culture, Global, News

Photo: Dakta Green

Dakta Green: “I will never stop campaigning to free cannabis users from these harsh and unfair laws”

Television New Zealand is investigating an allegation that its staff smoked cannabis while visiting Waitangi with marijuana law reform advocates.

A report on a trip to the Waitangi Day celebrations by marijuana activist Dakta Green and others in the “Cannabus” bus was featured on the TV show “Close Up” last Tuesday, reports the New Zealand Herald.

“Nobody in New Zealand should be ever punished by their boss simply for smoking cannabis on their own time,” Green said Saturday.

“So long as no one is being hurt and no disturbance caused, what goes on outside of the job is no matter of the company or the employer,” Green said.

Green is a leading member of the New Zealand contingent of the National Organisation for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

The report featured scenes of “drug taking,” according to the Kiwi press, which sounds pretty bad until you remember it’s just some folks smoking cannabis.

Medical Marijuana Advocates Rally In Birmingham, Alabama

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

Photo: Penny Ingram Vaughan

Members of Alabamians for Compassionate Care rally for medical marijuana in Birmingham, Saturday, February 13

About two dozen members of Alabamians for Compassionate Care, a medical marijuana advocacy group, staged a march and rally in Birmingham Saturday afternoon.

The group is urging people to support a bill before the Alabama Legislature which would legalize the medical use of cannabis by seriously ill patients with the recommendation of their doctor, reports Roy L. Williams of The Birmingham News.

“Patients in Alabama should not be locked in prison for trying to ease their pain and suffering,” said Loretta Nall, executive director of Alabamians for Compassionate Care.

Learn From This: DEA Raids Medical Pot Grower After Boastful TV Interview

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Growing, Medical, News

Photo: 9 News

Chris Bartkowicz in his $500,000 basement grow operation, just hours before his loose lips sunk the ship

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents have raided a Highlands Ranch, Colorado home just hours after a television news story teaser aired in which the homeowner boasted of $400,000 profits he hoped to garner this year from his medical marijuana grow operation.

This rapid unfolding of events serves to highlight a couple of should-be-obvious lessons that some in Colorado’s burgeoning medical marijuana scene have evidently yet to learn, among them, perhaps, “Never brag about six-figure pot profits in front of TV cameras, even if you’re sure you are legal.”

Highway Patrol Targets Medical Marijuana Delivery Service — Then Lies About It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Medical, News

KTLA

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is obviously targeting a legal medical marijuana delivery service in Orange County — and then lying about it.

California’s medical marijuana law clearly specifies caregivers may possess up to eight ounces per qualified patient. But these Highway Patrol officers pretend to believe that caregivers may possess only eight ounces total.

DEA Goons Raid Another Pot Potency Testing Laboratory; Seize Stems

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Westword

Michael Lee’s lab, Genovations, was raided Thursday by the DEA — for trying to become legal.

Federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents Thursday raided another medical marijuana potency testing laboratory, Genovations, based in Colorado Springs.

Like the recent DEA raid of Full Spectrum Laboratories in Denver, the lab was hit after applying for an analytical laboratory license, reports Joel Warner at Westword.

Federal rules are that any lab possessing marijuana, even for the purposes of scientific potency testing, is in violation of the law unless they have an analytical license.

Trouble is, when you apply for that license, armed DEA goons are sent over, they of course “smell or see marijuana,” and the raid is on.

New Hampshire Takes Big Step Towards Decriminalizing Pot

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 12, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: The Fresh Scent

New Hampshire just took a big step towards decriminalizing a quarter-ounce or less of marijuana.

A proposal to do just that got a major boost Thursday when a State House committee overwhelmingly voted 16-2 to recommend it, reports Terry Date of The Eagle-Tribune.

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