On August 25, Deondrae Atkins was hanging out, rolling dice for money on a sidewalk near the Dorthy Day Center in downtown St. Paul, when a St. Paul police officer monitoring closed circuit television noticed another man in the area rolling a “marijuana cigar.”
The officer approached the group, and recognized one of the men gambling as Atkins, 25, who he knew from “past encounters,” as a criminal complaint puts it. More at the Minneapolis City Pages.
| Evan Amos/Commons. |
A joint effort by the U.S. Attorney Office of South Florida, the Miami Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives resulted this week in the arrest of 21 members of a gang known as the Big Money Team.
The gang operated in the Little Havana and Allapatah neighborhoods and had their hands in everything from guns, crack cocaine, Molly, marijuana, and prostitution to armed robberies, assaults, car jackings, and intimidating locals. And yes, they had some sweet nicknames.
The Center for addiction and Mental Health, Canada’s largest drug treatment center, says marijuana laws in Canada are doing nothing to keep Canadians safe or drug free. Instead, they say legalizing, taxing and heavily regulating who can access the plant is the best course of actions.
“Canada’s current system of cannabis control is failing to prevent or reduce the harms associated with cannabis use,” Dr. Jürgen Rehm, Director of the Social and Epidemiological Research Department at CAMH said in a radio interview this week. “Based on a thorough review of the evidence, we believe that legalization combined with strict regulation of cannabis is the most effective means of reducing the harms associated with its use.”
Want to make money off of Canada’s medical marijuana program? You might want to move to Canada.
According to Reuters, which broke the story, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has been keeping an eye on American investors looking to put their money into Canadian medical marijuana – no doubt waiting for the right time to file charges of violating the U.S. Controlled Substances Act.
| 420Nurses. |
| 420 Nurses 420 Nurses vice president Summer Rain, left, and president ChaCha VaVoom, right. |
Even in L.A., it’s still something of a taboo for a woman to brand herself as a pot-smoker. So in 2009, native Angeleno ChaCha VaVoom (née Vanessa Sahagun) launched 420nurses.com, a social network for models who toke to connect, video chat and cash in on their looks, à la Instagram superstar Madzilla. Now, VaVoom is expanding, opening a 2,000-square-foot photo studio on a busy stretch of Sherman Way in Canoga Park, a dedicated space where 420 Nurses members can network and smoke weed for the camera.
“Smoking pot can be something useful, an opportunity,” VaVoom says. “We give young women the inspiration on an everyday basis to feel better about themselves.” LA Weekly has more.
If you’re going to put yourself in a position of authority over people wrongly arrested for cannabis and become a prison guard, it’s best not to grow and sell cannabis yourself. One might get labeled a hypocrite.
Eddie Lay, a state corrections officer with the California Department of Corrections, was arrested along with four others last night in Sacramento when police raided six grow locations around town.
According to a Fusion.net poll this week, young Democrats smoke more marijuana than young republicans. Yes, they needed a study to tell them that. The results also show that the highest rate of cannabis use is among “independent” voters who don’t indentify with either party.
Colorado edibles manufacturer TinctureBelle made news this past summer — not for the potency of its products, but because of the remarkable resemblance of the small-time pot company’s packaging to that of mega-international giant Hershey’s. It was so similar, in fact, that Hershey’s filed suit in federal court. The questionable candies included “Hashees” peanut butter cups, which were packaged like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups; Ganja Joy bars, which were similar to Almond Joys; and HashHeath Bars, which looked nearly identical to Heath Bars.
| The DEA assumed a suspect’s Facebook profile in an attempt to lure her friends into admissions of guilt |
Ever since Notre Dame University star football player Manti Te’o was caught up in a lie about a relationship with a girl who never existed, the word “catfished” has become more and more of a household term.
There was a movie in 2010 by the name of Catfish, which spawned the MTV show of the same name, which has somehow made it through three seasons on the culturally bankrupt cable television station. Even the Urban Dictionary has the phrase listed, defining it as: “Being deceived over Facebook as the deceiver professed their romantic feelings to his/her victim, but isn’t who they say they are.”
Well, it turns out that the DEA may be the hipsters of catfishing online, since they’ve been doing it since way before the mainstream caught on. But a new lawsuit by an admitted drug dealer may cause your Facebook “Friends” list to get pared down a bit.
Two men were killed during an apparent drug-related shooting yesterday in broad daylight near the Arch grounds.
Police say two male occupants of a red Oldsmobile Alero fired shots into a burgundy Dodge Caliber SUV near Gravois Avenue and Russell Boulevard as a result of a drug sale. The confrontation continued as both vehicles drove into downtown, before finally stopping at Fourth and Market streets just blocks away from Busch Stadium where some fans were already gathering for last night’s playoff game. More at the Riverfront Times.