In October 2012, the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s investigative panel filed formal charges against Palm Beach County Judge Barry M. Cohen for using his bench as, in their words, a “bully pulpit” and “a neutral and detached magistrate.”
The findings came after the outspoken judge made some comments about racial profiling and mandatory sentences.
Specifically, Cohen criticized the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office for the way it handles criminal cases. He also criticized the law making marijuana illegal and has been outspoken on the county’s police department’s alleged racial profiling and racial bias. Some would say Cohen is just speaking the truth (including us here at Toke of the Town). The panel, however, found it inappropriate behavior for a judge and recommended a reprimand by the Florida Supreme Court. On Tuesday morning, Cohen received that reprimand.

Governor Jay Nixon came to St. Louis on Friday for a ceremony celebrating the building of a dental school. And after the event, he finally addressed the topic of granting clemency to Jeff Mizanskey, the man who has been in prison for more than twenty years, serving a life without parole sentence for marijuana charges.
Well, maybe “addressed” is being a bit generous.

Here’s the deal, Colorado, you’ve got a pretty good thing going so far what with limited amounts of pot possession and cultivation now legal. But the catch there is that you can’t be stupid with it like the grandparents of two Greeley, Colorado fourth-graders accused of selling their grandparent’s edibles and pot at school.

Virginia seems to be the latest state to jump on the “blame marijuana for everything” bandwagon, after law enforcement in Lynchburg say marijuana led to a teen dying in the woods alone from hypothermia.
Seriously.

A tragic accident involving a four-year-old shooting his three-year-old brother occurred Sunday. Fortunately, the younger brother is OK, but because the father was in another room allegedly smoking marijuana, the St. Louis County police and local media decided to make that the focus of the story.
The shooting happened around noon on Sunday. A loaded gun was hidden inside a closet, and the child was able to reach it. He and his brother played with the gun and it went off, a bullet striking the younger brother in the left shoulder. The child was treated at a local hospital for soft-tissue injury and released.

Believe it or not, some Colorado locals were less than thrilled about the annual 4/20 event in Denver this year. But few observers were as negative as Smart Colorado, an organization devoted to “protecting youth from marijuana.” In the wake of the rally, the group put out a statement under the heading “Smart Colorado Speaks About Shocking 4/20 Activities” that decried the gathering in terms that a pot advocate heavily involved in the Civic Center spectacle describes as “hysterical.”