Browsing: Say what?
| Miami. |
Miami has a serious pot problem.
According to a study released yesterday by the ACLU, Miami-Dade is one of the most aggressive and racially biased counties in the country when it comes to marijuana arrests. Not only did Miami have the ninth most marijuana arrests of any American city in 2010, but 57 percent of those arrests targeted African-Americans. That means Miami’s black residents are 5.4 times as likely to be arrested for weed possession than whites.
Miami New Times has the details on the city with the fifth-worst racial disparity in marijuana arrests in the nation.
| Usain Bolt. |
The race is on to see which celebrity or famous athlete can make the biggest pot-related headline, and Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet, has sprinted to the head of the pack.
Anti-cannabis groups are up in arms about a new ad campaign by American clothing manufacturer, The Pothead Diaries. Bolt, the reigning Olympic champion in the 100m, 200m, and 4x100m relay kicked up dust with pot critics when he posted pictures to his Instrgram account showing him flaunting the controversial duds.
| flickr.com |
Think two years in jail and four years on probation is too much for someone to spend in jail for growing medical cannabis? Of course you do, you have a heart and a brain.
But federal prosecutors in Montana feel differently, and are pushing to increase the sentences handed down by a District court judge earlier this spring on four medical cannabis growers, including a former University of Montana quarterback.
| Vertical gardening. |
This Mile High Gardening Conference, which took place in Denver over the weekend, had sessions aplenty about 21st Century growing techniques, with a big focus on aquaponics and a vertical garden installed by the Spanish firm Urbanarbolismo.
What wasn’t on the program? Marijuana — although it was originally supposed to be. The change in plans frustrated representatives of one dispensary, but the organizer says he had to cut it because of resistance from other sponsors.
From heroin-stuff navels to cans of jalapenos stuff with ganja, it’s been a weird month at the Arizona-Mexico border for would-be smugglers. Our friends at the Phoenix New Timeshave put together the top five strange interactions with border patrol in May along with a poll to figure out which was the most oddball attempt.
Head over to the Valley Fever blog to cast your vote.
Update – 5/31/2013 9:20 a.m.:The Phoenix woman accused of attempting to smuggle 12 pounds of pot into America on a bus from Mexico has been set free after a judge ruled she had nothing to do with the cannabis.
Video footage showing Yanira Maldonado getting on a bus in Mexico with a small purse and two bottles of water was all it took to end the week-long ordeal that had the Mormon mother of seven facing jail time in Mexico for allegedly smuggling drugs.
| Don’t pass your joints to Lil’ Scrappy. |
Lil Scrappy can’t handle his weed. At least, that’s what he wants everyone to believe. The Atlanta-based rapper and reality TV personality announced this week that he’s entering rehab for marijuana use and that it’s not a publicity stunt.
But from the outside one could easily see it as gaming the media, especially with the threat of jail time for marijuana and firearm possession charges hanging over his head.
Lil’ Scrappy was arrested in 2008 in Atlanta for felony gun and marijuana charges, and given three years probation since it was a first-time offense. But the rapper apparently didn’t think probation was serious enough to try and pass his piss tests, failing one test then refusing to take another back in March. (Editor’s note: Come on, Scrappy. You’re a well-paid rapper, dude. Pay someone for their clean piss!)
A new study out this week claims that marijuana edible ingestion cases among kids has skyrocketed in recent years in Colorado, implying that such problems are just the tip of what is to come with legalization.
Does it reek of pot paranoia? Yes.
| Wikipedia commons. |
| Amanda Bynes. |
Actress Amanda Bynes was arrested last night for marijuana possession and reckless endangerment at her apartment in New York City.
According to police, the (very uncool) doorman in Bynes’s building called the cops complaining that the actress was puffing a joint as she walked through the lobby of the building.