Browsing: Opinion

In his weekly ESPN The Magazine column this week, NFL commentator Howard Bryant argues that the NFL is in the position to “actually lead, to open a discussion about medicinal marijuana and about the culture of pain maintenance among its players.”
Instead, he says, they’re blowing it like a bad fourth-down, goal-line play with little time left on the clock.

The relatively calm and temperate coastal waters stretching between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California have long served as an alternate route for drug smugglers hoping to avoid the heavily congested and scrutinized overland border crossing checkpoints separating the two countries.
From paddling pounds of pot over on surfboards, to cramming kilos of chronic into claustrophobic garage-built submarines, authorities on both sides of the border have pretty much seen it all when it comes to maritime marijuana smuggling on the west coast. Startling though, is what seems to be a recent uptick in interdiction involving gunfire, and whether or not that is a result of new, more aggressive tactics by the Coast Guard.

As one of the original counties formed when California was granted statehood back in 1850, Mendocino County is known for its picturesque northern Californian coastline, its majestic redwood forests, and of course, its weed production.
Home to a short-lived, county-regulated, cannabis cultivation program for nearly two years, Mendocino now finds itself stuck between the citizens who willingly signed up for the program, and the federal government who is seeking to acquire all of their personal information for reasons unknown.

Jovan Jackson, from YouTube.

Just over one year ago, on October 24th, 2012, historical legal precedent was set in the state of California in regard to its ambiguous medical marijuana laws. San Diego based medical marijuana storefront owner, Jovan Jackson, had been tried in court twice, based first on entrapment style undercover buys in 2008 (acquitted of all charges), and then trumped up charges of possession and sale of marijuana after a raid on his shop in 2009, of which he was eventually found guilty.

Kevin Glaser.

Kevin Glaser, the retired Missouri Drug Task Force cop we told you about last week who ranted on Facebook about marijuana legalization advocates, calling them stupid welfare leeches, isn’t backing down.
“To me, Facebook’s there to put your opinion on, and I wouldn’t retract a word about it,” he tells the Southeast Missourian.

Jack Daniel.
ZHO flyer from CHAMPS.

Last week, CHAMPS Trade Show and B2B Expo landed for the first time ever in Denver, Colorado, bringing with it hundreds of vendors and thousands of buyers from all over North America for a 3-day meet and greet at the Convention Center downtown. Those fortunate enough to gain entrance to the event were treated to amazing wholesale deals on everything from old school handcrafted artwork, to the hottest cutting edge technology, and cannabis ambassadors Tommy Chong and Bob Snodgrass could be seen perusing the various booths, undoubtedly amazed at how far the scene has come.
But amid the rows of apparel, functional glass, e-cigarette and/or herbal supplement booths stood two gentlemen behind a long, nondescript table littered with eye-catching but similarly nondescript flyers, repeatedly doing a demo where it appeared that they were “blasting” butane through a tube – indoors at the Denver Convention Center.

Portland, Maine voters this November are being asked to legalize the possession (not the purchase or sale, mind you) of up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis for adults over the age of 21 in the city. Currently, that amount is decriminalized with no jail time and a maximum $600 fine.
While the law change really won’t changemuch, news reports this week tout Portland as a test-case for future East Coast cities and states thinking about similar progressive marijuana laws. But is it?

TokeoftheTown.com

In an unprecedented move that began late last week, and continued over the holiday Labor Day weekend, the Obama Administration, and more specifically, the U.S. Department of Justice ended their silence on the issue of medical marijuana on the state level, announcing that they would not use the courts to challenge state laws recently passed in Colorado and Washington, as long as those states continue to adhere to a strict set of guidelines.
Though many critics, professional or genuine, are carelessly comparing this latest announcement to the 2009 Ogden Memo, those on the front lines of the effort to legalize cannabis know that last Thursday’s announcement, and some follow-up and clarifying releases over the weekend, mark a positive and necessary step towards that goal.

Several news sources have posted over the last few days about how the recent federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington were especially surprising since Washington voters approved the possession and sales of limited amounts of cannabis back in November.
Several media outlets have conflated the two, when they aren’t the same thing. In fact, Washington has yet to open any recreational dispensaries. Any dispensary that is open now is following the exact same rules they had to follow before I-502 and recreational sales haven’t even begun yet.

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