Here’s a head-scratcher: Vahak Mardoun Mardikian got demoted in 2012 by the Glendale Police Department for harassing and belittling other cops, but later the city’s Civil Service Commission sided with Mardikian. He was ultimately give a huge settlement, basically by claiming that the department, half of which is made up of Armenian, black and Latino cops, is anti-Armenian.
But on Aug. 8, Markidian got tossed in Clark County jail for allegedly giving Las Vegas vice detective Justine Gatus $275 for anal sex — and, well, to fill her gas tank. That’s what Nevada court records show, obtained by the scrappy Glendale News Press. But now he’s going to start collecting $10,000 a month off taxpayers– and he gets to retire at age 50 on the taxpayer dime. Is this OK?

Steve Castillo, owner of The Variety Co-op medical marijuana dispensary, is being fined by the County on a near-daily basis. It’s quickly adding up – when he spoke with the Weekly, Castillo estimated the County fines he and his landladies have incurred at approximately $56,000.
The Variety Co-op is a marijuana dispensary situated in Midway City, one of a handful of unincorporated areas in Orange County. Unincorporated land tends to attract dispensaries, as they eliminate pesky city councils and enforcement. County officials have the final say on most things in unincorporated areas. More at the OC Weekly.

The first member of the U.S. House of Representatives who publicly admits to “dabbing” could be Arizona Democrat Mikel Weisser.
The odds may be slim of this occurring since Weisser’s facing off against incumbent Republican Paul Gosar in expansive and conservative Congressional District 4, which includes Kingman, Prescott and part of Maricopa County. He’s a former plumber and middle-school teacher, an ultra-leftie, and the current leader of Safer Arizona, a group that tried unsuccessfully to get a cannabis-legalization measure on the ballot this year.
Weisser brings a plethora of personal experience to the national debate over loosened marijuana laws — in fact, when we last met him, he brought it in an Altoid tin. More at the Phoenix New Times.

With the vote on Amendment 2 a mere six weeks away, polls seem to be indicating that medical marijuana will be made legal in Florida. Some people fear that will lead to weed dispensaries popping up everywhere throughout Florida. But, Boca Raton wants to keep dispensaries out of town, at least for a while, even if Amendment 2 does pass. On Tuesday, the city introduced an ordinance that would put a moratorium on dispensaries for at least a year.
This, just a few weeks after Boca hosted business seminars for those interested in getting into the weed dispensary business.

Medical marijuana patient numbers dipped to their second lowest total since recreational cannabis sales began in January. As of the end of July, there were 111,804 medical marijuana patients on the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry according to Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment statistics — just 825 patients more than were on the list January 1 — even though more than 20,000 new-patient applications were submitted over that span.

Good news for ganja supporters across the country: Texas, land of big businesses and economic prosperity, could stand to gain a ton of money from legalizing marijuana — over $166 million per year, by some estimates. That’s a Texas Miracle if we’ve ever heard one.
Of course, it would also take a miracle…

The problem with surveys in research is that, inevitably, you’ll have a percentage of people will be dishonest in them. But poo and pee? They always tells the truth.
That’s the premise behind American Civil Liberties lawyer Alison Holcomb’s proposal at a Spokane City Council subcommittee meeting this past week.
“Nobody can lie about what’s showing up in the sewage,” Holcomb said to council.