| Layron Dejarnette was arrested at Sky Harbor airport yesterday after running and hiding from police for several hours. |
A marijuana deal gone bad at a Tempe gas station eventually led to a three-hour lock-down of a terminal and 25 flight cancellations at Sky Harbor airport yesterday. A group of three people showed up to a Shell gas station near Broadway Road and Price Road in Tempe around 2:45 yesterday, and one of them shot the pot dealer, police say. The dealer was able to make his way to a nearby apartment complex and called police, while the group of three drove away from the gas station, and toward the airport.
According to police, patrol officers in Tempe spotted the suspects driving about two minutes after the 9-1-1 call was made, but a high-speed chase developed.
Major Neill Franklin, a retired Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police officer, one of the nation’s biggest pro-marijuana advocates, spoke to the Broward Republican Executive Committee on Monday night. Franklin, who is executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), discussed Amendment 2 and why it should be passed in November.
Franklin — who is a registered Republican — and LEAP represent more than 150,000 former police, prosecutors, judges, and other supporters of drug policy reform. More at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.
The Democratic candidate challenging Vicky Hartzler for her seat in the U.S. Congress is calling on Governor Jay Nixon to grant clemency to Jeff Mizanskey, the man serving a life sentence for non-violent marijuana offenses.
Nate Irvin, 25, kicked off his support with a press conference Monday on the capitol lawn, where Mizanskey’s brother Mike gave an emotional plea. Mizanskey, whose story is detailed in a Riverfront Times cover story, has been in jail for 21 years and has no possibility of parole. After learning about Mizanskey’s plight from Aaron Malin, the director of research for Show-Me Cannabis, Irvin said he wanted to use his race for Congress to shed light on Mizanskey’s sentence, which he calls “excessive to the point of absurdity.”
| SWAT: shooting first and asking questions later since 1964. |
When it comes to the violent, gun-toting soldiers of the drug war, there is nothing sacred as long as the result is a bust, a dead citizen, or at bare minimum, a bullet in a frightened grandmother. Only then can these generic GI Joes walk away from a midnight ambush feeling as though they have made significant progress in Nixon’s vision to inflict terror on the American drug user.
Earlier last month, the Drug Enforcement Administration was on a mission to make the world a better place when the kicked down the door to the residence of 49-year-old grandmother Lilian Alonzo and proceeded to shoot her when she reached for her infant grandchild in an effort to protect her from what she believed to be a home invasion.
Marijuana sales would bring in roughly $45,950,063 in tax revenue annually for the state of Minnesota if pot were legalized, according to a study put together by NerdWallet.
NerdWallet’s methodology is rather impressive. Researcher Divya Raghavan used data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to estimate how many people over the age of 25 smoke pot in each state, then used that number to divvy up the $14 billion nationwide marijuana market and determine how much stoners are likely to spend in each one. The total tax dollar figure for each state assumes a 15 percent excise tax for marijuana purchases, which is the going rate currently in Colorado. More at the Minneapolis City Pages.
| More memes below. |
Ever since Peyton Manning bought a slew of Papa Johns franchises, meme makers have linked the purchase to Colorado’s legalization of marijuana — and now Manning has, too. In an interview with MMQB’s Peter King, he said, “There’s some different laws out here in Colorado. Pizza business is pretty good out here, believe it or not, due to some recent law changes.”
Congratulations, Meme Nation! You were right! Check out some of the most memorable Peyton-pot-pizza memes below.
The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded 719 kilograms of cocaine last Thursday at its station in Miami Beach. That came with an estimated street value of about $23 million.
The coke was intercepted in the Caribbean on September 8 by Coast Guard Cutter Bear.
The cutter spotted a 208-foot cargo boat in the waters northeast of Panama. The crew boarded the boat, and found several hidden parcels on board. The powder inside tested positive as cocaine, and the shipment was seized. Thirteen suspected smugglers were arrested.
| FlickrCommons |
| Is 10% of America’s workforce really toking up before clocking in? |
There is a headline making the rounds from Mashable.com right now whose headline bluntly states, “Nearly 10% of Americans Go to Work High on Weed“.
Now, if you visit Mashable.com for news about anything other than maybe potato recipes, you were likely too blinded by the cutesy illustrated infographic attached to the article to have noticed how shoddy the actual attempt at journalism was.