| Olivia Mannix and Jennifer DeFalco in a Facebook photo. |
What initially seemed like a huge publicity score has turned into a challenge for Olivia Mannix and Jennifer DeFalco, founders of the marijuana PR firm Cannabrand. A quote attributed to Mannix that reads in part, “We’re weeding out the stoners” caused a backlash that led to a client very publicly dropping the firm, and Cannabrand’s attempts to manage the mess haven’t been especially tidy.
| Psychonaut |
| DMT. |
If you’re in Appleton, Wisconsin and were looking to blast off into a psychedelic wonderland this weekend for a half-hour at a time, you’re probably going to have to change your plans. Cops last night busted a DMT lab while conducting a raid originally for pot.
Cops say they busted into the home with a warrant last night around 5:30 p.m. expecting to find a lot of herb. Instead, they say they stumbled into a chemistry lab designed for dimethyltryptamine (DMT) production.
Washington D.C. decriminalized cannabis last month in an effort to stop the criminalization of D.C. residents who get stuck with pot charges that follow them for life. That is great news for anyone caught going forward, but it left a huge group of people in the dark: those caught with one ounce or less prior to the law passing.
But councilmember David Grosso is working to change that. Under a proposal originally filed by Grosso last fall, criminal records for D.C. residents previously caught with an ounce or less will have their records sealed so long as the charges weren’t in relation to any violent crimes.
It is not unusual for a court to hear testimony in a particular case where the defendant uses the excuse of being addicted to drugs in hopes that the judge will sentence them to substance abuse classes and not jail. However, a Massachusetts courtroom took a bizarre turn earlier this week when a woman told the judge that her boyfriend beat the living snot out of her because he wasn’t stoned on marijuana.
| Klaus with a K. |
David Harrison, whose mentally ill son Jason Harrison died at the hands of Dallas police in June, filed a lawsuit on Friday claiming two officers used excessive force when they shot his son six times within minutes of arriving at the son’s home on Glencairn Drive.
Linda Turley, David Harrison’s lawyer, writes in the lawsuit that officers John Rogers and Andrew Hutchins shot Jason Harrison “multiple times when Jason Sherard Harrison, an unarmed man, did not pose a risk of injury to himself or others.” The police have said that the younger Harrison had a screwdriver in his hand and made an aggressive act toward the officers, causing them to open fire.
Both officers and the city of Dallas are named as defendants. More on this alleged police abuse over at the Dallas Observer.
| Eric Gruneisen |
| Red Rocks. |
Do you have anything that goes well with Beethoven?”
The clerk at the Denver Wellness Center looks at me strangely before motioning me over to a display case full of various THC-infused candies and baked goods.
“Well,” he says, “we’ve got weed cookies, gummies, lollipops, chocolate…. I think any of them should work fine.”
“Right,” I say, squinting and pointing toward a foil-wrapped chocolate bar. “So you’re sure that one pairs nicely with classical music?”
Check out more of Chris Walker’s experience getting high and going to the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s Classically Cannabis show at the world famous Red Rocks amphitheater at Backbeat.
| Dallasboy/WikiCommons. |
| Dallas, Texas. |
Get caught with a joint in Dallas this afternoon and you’ll find yourself being chauffeured to Lew Sterrett in the back of a squad car. Get caught with a joint in Dallas this January and you may well escape with a ticket and a stern admonition to show up in court. The Dallas Morning News reported over the weekend that Dallas County will pilot a cite-and-release program next year allowing those caught with less than two ounces of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor, to avoid a trip to jail.
Before you hail Dallas County as a paragon of criminal justice reform, however, keep in mind a handful of caveats.
Morocco is synonymous with hash. Not just any hash, either. Arguably the best hash in the world for centuries came from the mountain regions of the country, despite the plant’s illegal status. That might change soon, though. With the global mood on cannabis lightening, Moroccan officials are mulling legalizing the cultivation of the plant for medical and industrial purposes.
But not every grower is trusting that the proposal will do them good. According to the Globe and Mail, which ran a story this week on Moroccan hash production, growers in the Muslim country say the system would likely exclude them anyway.
| INCB.org |
| Wayne Hall. |
Professor Wayne Hall dislikes drugs. So much so, he advises the World Health Organization on drug issues and teaches “addiction policy” at the King’s College in London. According to Hall, he’s gone through 20 years of research and can show that marijuana leads to mental illness, sick babies and car crashes.
His findings are based on government-funded (anti-cannabis) reports from the last 20 years that he hand-selected. Basically, he’s parroting other, old reports and passing it off as something new.
In recent weeks, anti-marijuana advocates have been pushing polls they say show a majority of people in Colorado and beyond are cooling on cannabis legalization. But Mason Tvert, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project and a primary proponent for Amendment 64, which legalized limited pot sales in Colorado, doesn’t see a new groundswell of opposition.