Denver Police have issued 668 tickets since marijuana sales were made legal for adults 21 and up, an increase of 551 tickets from the same timeframe last year or 471 percent.
According to data pulled by Colorado Public Radio, the most tickets were written during the second quarter of 2014, with 330 issued. The last three months were the second busiest for pot cops in Denver, with 224 tickets written.
According to state courts, Michigan medical marijuana laws technically don’t allow for edibles made from concentrated cannabis, which includes infused butter. It’s a stupid loophole that any medical marijuana advocate should be closed, but in the meantime cops and courts are still using it to hang patients and caregivers out to dry.
By allowing Colorado, Washington, Alaska, Oregon and Washington D.C. voters to legalize limited amounts of cannabis for personal use, the United States has violated United Nations conventions. That’s the gripe from the head of the U.N. director of the Office on Drugs and Crime, Yury Fedotov, who says he plans to take official actions.
“I don’t see how (the new laws) can be compatible with existing conventions,” Fedotov told reporters this week.
Voters in Santa Fe and Bernalillo County yesterday approved measures that call for the decriminalization an ounce of weed or less at the state level yesterday. The move didn’t actually change any laws, though. It’s more of a proclamation from voters to elected officials.
Oh, and it doesn’t actually hold the lawmakers to any promises either. Thankfully, there’s enough momentum that New Mexicans can expect several decriminalization and legalization measures to come their way in 2015.
| Moms for YES on Measure 91 |
Colorado and Washington might get some company next week. Marijuana legalization initiatives are on the ballots in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C., and the proposals all strongly resemble what Colorado voters approved in 2012.
| 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.
Americans are no longer safe to cultivate common garden vegetables without risking the violent wrath of the drug war. No other citizen understands this lunacy quite like Georgia resident Dwayne Perry, who told reporters at WSB-TV that he was raided by drug agents earlier last week after an aerial surveillance unit mistook his okra crop for marijuana.
That’s right — it appears as though Georgia law enforcement has not had enough experience taking down marijuana grow operations to distinguish the difference between okra and the cannabis plant.
“Marijuana may be bad for your heart” – so says the headline on the website who broke the story, LiveScience.com.
In less than four hours, NewsMaxHealth.com picked up the feed and copy/pasted the LiveScience.com story, but gave the headline a bit of a twist so that theirs reads “Marijuana Causes Heart Problems”.
Well now, that sure escalated quickly.
| Bobby Earle |
| Deborah & Dennis Little had their home raided in 2012, now they’re fighting back |
Two years ago, in September of 2012, a law enforcement helicopter buzzed over the top of Dennis Little’s land in the quiet country town of Ramona, California. One month later, a joint task force comprised of local law enforcement officers and DEA agents kicked down Mr. Little’s door and arrested him and his wife on suspicion of cultivating illegal amounts of marijuana.
In March of 2013, San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis took them to court on the charges, and one full year later, in March of this year, they beat her at her own game and were fully acquitted of all charges by a jury of their peers.
With two years of their lives turned upside down, thousands of dollars lost to lawyers and courts, and a hard reputation to shake in a small town, one might think that the Little’s would be happy to put it all behind them. But they have some justice of their own to attend to first.
| You’ll soon be able to have a little weed here and not be a criminal. |
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says he will finally sign a measure decriminalizing up to 30 grams of pot in the City of Brotherly Love that City Council approved back in June. His only demand: he still wants to waste the time of the courts with pot tickets.
The original draft approved by council made possession 30 grams or less akin to a parking ticket in that you could simply mail in your $25 fine. Nutter is okay with keeping the $25 fine and keeping it off of people’s records, but wants to make the offense a “non-summary” charge that requires an appearance before a city judge.