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Drug Czar Dodges Pot Legalization Question

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 1, 2010 Legislation, News

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske: “You can envision a lot of different things.” Oh yeah, Gil? Like you being out of a job?

The Obama Administration’s top drug enforcement official dodged a question Thursday on how the federal government would react if Californians vote to legalize pot in November.

Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske said he “wouldn’t speculate” on what Obama would do if the marijuana legalization ballot initiative is approved.

“Since it hasn’t passed — right now it would be improper to speculate on what the federal government’s role is,” Kerlikowske said during an appearance on ABC’s Top Line webast, reports Michael O’Brien at The Hill.

When pressed, Kerlikowske admitted Thursday that a number of possible responses, including lawsuits to litigate the differences in state and federal drug laws, could spring up if California voters legalize pot.

“You can envision a lot of different things,” Kerlikowske said.

An April 2009 Field Poll showed 56 percent of Californians favor making pot legal for recreational use, while taxing the proceeds.

Most CA Atty. Gen. Candidates Oppose Pot Legalization

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 1, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Proud Smoke

Most major candidates for California attorney general are lining up against the state’s marijuana legalization initiative, reports Seth Hemmelgarn at Bay Area Reporter.

Even supposedly liberal, but quite spineless, Democratic candidates disagree with those who say it’s time law enforcement got out of the marijuana business.

“As a career prosecutor, I believe that drug selling harms communities; it is not a ‘victimless crime,’ as some contend,” said San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who is running in the Democratic Primary for California attorney general.

Activist: Marijuana Patients Still Unprotected By Law In Washington

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 31, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Seattle Hempfest

Vivian McPeak: “Patients and providers have already shown we are evenhanded and responsible. Now all we want is to be protected by law.”

Marijuana activist Vivian McPeak, founder of Seattle Hempfest, has said that patients in the state of Washington are still unprotected by the state’s medical cannabis law, approved by voters in 1998.

“The law does not protect legal patients from home invasion and arrest by police,” McPeak wrote in a letter to the editor published in the March 30 edition of The Seattle Times.

“Flaws in the law make medical marijuana producers criminals,” McPeak said. “If the grower reports theft to police, that grower often gets treated as a criminal.”

Cannabis & Hemp Expo Coming To The Cow Palace

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 30, 2010 Culture, News, Products

Graphic: International Cannabis & Hemp Expo

The International Cannabis & Hemp Expo is coming to Daly City, California’s Cow Palace next month. Organizers say no marijuana will be sold during the expo, planned for April 17 and 18.

“It’s mainly to bring awareness and education to the public” on the medical, recreational and industrial uses of cannabis, according to Bob Katzman, the expo’s chief operations officer.

“We want to enlighten people on the fact that we are looking at an estimated $8 billion-a-year industry in California alone,” Katzman said, reports Neil Gonzales of the San Mateo County Times.

Patients are allowed to bring their own medical marijuana to the Cow Palace, according to organizers, but they will need to show valid documentation before they can enter a “safe, secure” designated outdoor smoking area.

”It will be an area outside the building and only accessible to people who prove to have a valid prescription [he means a doctor’s recommendation]for medical marijuana use,” Cow Palace CEO Joe Barkett told The Oakland Tribune.

CA Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown Playing Shut-Mouth On Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 30, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Just Another Blog (From L.A.)

Then-Gov. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown (center) with Linda Ronstadt (the babe), Jackson Browne (right), David Lindley (left) and the Eagles in the late 1970s

Back in the 1970s when he was dating Linda Ronstadt, hanging with the Eagles and was the dashing young governor of California, a few roaches were allegedly — and famously — spotted by a reporter in the aftermath of a wild party at Jerry Brown’s place. For a brief, shining moment, “Governor Moonbeam” was the darling of the counterculture crowd.

Especially after his 1975 signing of California’s marijuana decrim law, Brown seemed just about as hip as a politician could be, considering. He even admitted trying pot.

But it’s funny what 30 years can do.

Activists: San Diego Pot Dispensary Ordinance Is ‘A Ban’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 30, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: San Diego News Network

Tough new proposed medical marijuana dispensary rules would make it almost impossible to open and operate dispensaries anywhere in unincorporated San Diego County, according to cannabis activists.

Under a proposed ordinance released for public review this month, medical marijuana dispensaries would be banned within 1,000 feet of residences, schools, playgrounds, parks, churches, and recreational centers, as well as other dispensaries.

That rule would eliminate all but a handful of the unincorporated areas of the county, according to county documents, reports Edward Sifuentes at North County Times.

Hawaii Governor Rails Against Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Big Island Video News

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle: “Compassion centers” are an “insult,” because they are really “pot stores”

During a recent speech before the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle took a hardline stance against the recent legislative effort to legalize and establish medical marijuana dispensaries for the state’s patients.

Governor Lingle pointed to the situation in California, where she claimed marijuana dispensaries now “outnumber both McDonalds and Starbucks,” reports Baron Sekiya at Big Island Video News.

The hard-hearted governor said the term “compassion centers” given to these dispensaries is an “insult,” because in reality, she says, they are simply “pot stores.”

Lingle also claims that today’s marijuana, which she says is 26 percent THC, is far more potent than the herb which was around “when we were in college,” which she claimed ran 2 to 3 percent THC.

D.A.’s Political Roast Pokes Fun At Pot Patients While Partiers Get Plastered

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries, News

Photo: RBerteig

Los Angeles County D.A. Steve Cooley’s idea of a good time is to make fun of medical marijuana patients while getting drunk.

Medical marijuana patients were among the punchlines at a rowdy roast last week honoring pot-hating Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley. There were plenty of gags involving Cooley’s crackdown on medical marijuana, with each guest receiving rolling papers in a package reading, “Cooley’s Collective.”

Cooley, who apparently long ago gave up even the appearance of being fair and impartial when it comes to medical pot, evidently finds humor in the plight of Los Angeles patients who are facing an uncertain future due to safe access being put in jeopardy because of his policies.

While Cooley and his cronies are quick to poke fun at marijuana users — even sick and dying medical marijuana patients — drinking must be OK.

After Cooley’s roast the top financial official in Los Angeles, Miguel Santana, was arrested in the San Gabriel Valley at 12:15 a.m., on his way home from the Cooley event, for drunk driving.

Mexico ‘Feels Offended’ By Medical Marijuana In U.S.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2010 Global, Medical

Photo: Alejandro Bringas/Reuters

Mexican soldiers stand at attention, desperately trying to maintain a “military bearing” as the intoxicating smoke from bales of marijuana being burned billows over them

Here’s a role reversal for you. Mexico is irritated at the United States for undercutting the Drug War.

As more U.S. states legalize medical marijuana, Mexican Secretary of Interior Fernando Gómez Mont is whining that the American medical marijuana trend is “worrisome” and that it “complicates in a grave way” Mexico’s battle against violent drug cartels.

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week led a high-level U.S. delegation to Mexico to discuss strategies to counter drug trafficking, the issue came to a head, reports Tim Johnson in The Sacramento Bee.

Victory In San Diego: Medical Marijuana Patient NOT GUILTY, All Counts!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 25, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Eugene Davidovich

Medical marijuana patient, provider and activist Eugene Davidovich was victorious in court today.

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’s war on medical marijuana patients and providers suffered another crushing defeat Thursday afternoon, as activist Eugene Davidovich was acquitted by a jury of all charges stemming from his arrest last year as part of Operation Endless Summer.

Davidovich was facing four felony charges and the very real possibility of a long prison sentence.

A Navy veteran with an honorable discharge, Davidovich started a legal medical marijuana collective in San Diego, carefully abiding by state law.

Eugene was arrested in February 2009 by San Diego narcotics officers for providing another legal patient with medical marijuana.

He told Toke of the Town that the chief investigative officer in his case testified on the stand that the officer based his expert testimony on “medical marijuana training” on a handout from something called the Narcotic Educational Foundation of America, “Drug Abuse Education Provider of the California Narcotic Officers’ Association.”

In these “training” materials, titled Use of Marijuana As A “Medicine” (PDF) (the quotes are theirs), we learn immediately — in the first sentence! — how these guys roll.

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