News

Group Urges Nevada Governor To Regulate And Tax Marijuana

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

With Nevada’s state budget $900 million in the red and a fiscal crisis facing the state, a pro-marijuana group is urging Gov. Jim Gibbons to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana to help close the budget gap.

Gov. Gibbons will deliver his State of the State address Monday night, in which he will discuss Nevada’s financial crisis. According to some reports, the governor is seeking new ways to close the budget gap and is willing to put all options on the table.

“In order to get the state back on sound financial footing, the governor must consider not only cuts in spending, but also new sources of tax revenue,” said Dave Schwartz, campaign manager for Nevadans for Sensible Marijuana Laws.

‘Father Of Medical Marijuana’ Speaks Tuesday Night In Oregon

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 8, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: The Wow Report

Dennis Peron is co-author of Prop 215, which legalized medical marijuana in California.

The man who opened the very first “pot club” in the United States for medical marijuana users is coming to Ashland, Oregon Tuesday night to speak in favor of legalizing cannabis.

Dennis Peron, known as the “father of medical marijuana,” is lending his support to full legalization in Oregon, reports John Darling of the Southern Oregon Mail Tribune.

Peron, 64, of San Francisco, was co-author and a major backer of California’s successful 1996 medical marijuana ballot measure, the first in the United States.

Peron is famed for his statement, “All use of marijuana is medical use.”

The passage of medical marijuana laws changed the image of cannabis from something used by “long-hair, hippie crazy” people to a drug of middle class people, Peron said.

“It helped make [marijuana use]more benevolent,” he said. “We turned the tide.”

Peron said the thrust of his work now is ballot measures to normalize marijuana distribution, so “you can get it at Walgreen’s” at affordable prices.

Denver Accepting Applications For Marijuana Dispensary Licenses

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 8, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, News

Graphic: Out Front Colorado

Dozens of medical marijuana dispensary owners lined up before daylight in Denver Monday to apply for their licenses. It was the first day the owners could apply for the required licenses under the city’s new regulatory scheme.

The new process includes several steps, including $5,000 in application and licensing fees, a background check with excludes felons, a required security plan, and fire and zoning inspections, reports KUSA-TV.

“At $5,000 a pop for the application/licensing, all we need is another 100,000 pot shops to open up in Denver and our budget crisis is solved,” wisecracked “PugMartin1,” one commenter on KUSA’s site.

Florida M.S. Patient Wants To Be Allowed Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 8, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: PUFMM

A Florida man is asking a judge to allow him to use marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis after a traffic stop resulted in his arrest for pot possession.

Angel Luis Hernandez, 32, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was arrested last year on the Florida Turnpike after a traffic stop. A search of Hernandez’s car turned up six grams of marijuana in his possession., reports David Gould of WPTV.com.

He was given a notice to appear in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court on the marijuana charges.

According to Hernandez, he’s had MS for the past 10 years, and medical marijuana is the only medication that has helped him.

Hernandez is asking to have his marijuana use declared a medical necessity.

Pot Smoker Accused Of Trying To Bribe Urine Tester

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 8, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: toonpool.com

A pot-smoking parolee in Colorado is facing criminal charges after allegedly offering a cash bribe to try to pass a drug test.

Chad M. Thomas, 34, of Palisade, Colorado, tried January 2 to bribe a state worker to allow him to use a device called a “Whizzinator” to pass a drug test he had to take as a condition of his parole, police said, reports Paul Shockley at The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.

Thomas said he had a medical marijuana card and did not want to go back to prison, but officials claimed they couldn’t confirm whether he was a legal patient.

Convicted felons are allowed to get medical marijuana cards under Colorado law, but those on parole must still pass tests for “illegal drugs.”

Seattle Hempfest Launching Membership Program At Member’s Social Feb. 20

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

Photo: NORML

Seattle Hempfest crowd at 2009’s event enjoys the beautiful setting and good vibes at Myrtle Edwards Park

With unprecedented Pacific Northwest activity on the cannabis law reform front, and at the request of Hempfest supporters, the world’s largest marijuana event, Seattle Hempfest, is launching a new membership campaign to promote cannabis education and social networking throughout the year.

Prospective members are invited to the February 20 kickoff at Columbia City Theater in Seattle, the first of many events to socialize and discuss the latest in pot reform with local activists, attorneys and cannabusiness entrepreneurs.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

7:30 pm – 11 pm

Columbia City Theater

4916 Rainier Avenue, South

Seattle, WA 98118

$25 and up membership purchase gains entry to this and all year-round Hempfest events

(21 and over)

California Man Demands Damages; Cops Beat Him And Took His Joint

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

Graphic: Jim Wheeler

A California man who is a medical marijuana patient is demanding punitive damages against Berkeley police officers, saying they ran him over with a bicycle, knocked him down, and stomped him because he was smoking a joint during a Mardi Gras parade.

J. Hadley Louden said he was marching down Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley during the 2009 Mardi Gras parade, with a large set of drums and cymbals harnessed to him, smoking a joint, reports Robert Kahn of Courthouse News Service.

According to Louden, he was the leader of the band.

Louden said a Berkeley cop, “Kelley,” approached him and demanded the joint. Louden explained his possession was legal and turned away, according to the complaint in Alameda County Court.

Marijuana Legalization Growing Strong In The Pacific Northwest

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

Graphic: KATU-TV

Legalization is gaining momentum in the Pacific Northwest — and the promise of big tax money is proving hard to resist for some legislators.

Thanks to Toke of the Town‘s good friend Michael Bachara of Hemp News for alerting us to a KATU-TV news report on the legalization movement in Oregon and Washington (see video below).

Although reporter Anna Song somehow completely misses covering the Sensible Washington voter initiative signature drive, she does interview the very cool Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson (D-Seattle) of the Washington Legislature.

“We are treating marijuana like we treated alcohol during Prohibition,” Dickerson says, “and it doesn’t make sense.”

Baby Boomer Bong Rips: Pot Use Soars Among Older Americans

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 4, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: www.doitnow.org

It was inevitable: When the Baby Boomers hit middle age, they brought along their buds and bongs. Americans over age 50 are using marijuana in record numbers, according to new survey data.

And those numbers are going to go even, well, “higher,” the government admits.

“High rates of lifetime drug use among the baby boom generation (persons born between 1946 and 1964), combined with the large size of the cohort, suggest that the number of older adults using drugs will increase in the next two decades,” the study says.

Marijuana use was more common than the “non-medical” use of prescription-type drugs both for adults 50-54 (6.1 vs. 3.4 percent) and those aged 55-59 (4.1 vs. 3.2 percent). This shouldn’t come as a great surprise; after all, it stands to reason that folks this age, with a wealth of life experiences on which to base decisions, would make safer choices.

Yeah, Let’s Throw Away More Tax Money! Obama Boosts War On Drugs

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 4, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: phishcoventry.blogspot.com

Nice speeches… But same old Drug War.

Contrary to campaign promises and past policy statements, the Obama Administration is expanding the War on (Some) Drugs and focusing funds toward law enforcement over treatment.

Opinion? No, fact. According to 2011 funding “highlights” released this week by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the administration budgets $15.5 billion for Drug War spending in 2011, an increase of 3.5 percent over 2010.

Even more ominously, the 2011 budget represents an increase of 5.2 percent in overall enforcement funding ($9.9 billion in 2011 vs. $9.7 billion in 2010).

For the non-policy-wonks among you who aren’t into numbers, this is roughly the equivalent of throwing 15 and a half billion dollars up a wild hog’s ass and hollering “soooEEEEEE!”

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