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Maine’s Marijuana Dispensaries: Profiteering ‘Nonprofits’?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on July 19, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Maine’s new voter-approved medical marijuana dispensaries are expected to make cannabis more accessible to disabled and ill patients — but making it reasonably priced may be another matter.

Concerns about affordability are arising as the state’s state-licensed dispensary operators have set their prices high, in what they claim is an effort to prevent resale on the streets.

The newly licensed dispensaries in Maine have revealed they plan to sell their cannabis for $300 to $400 an ounce, comparable to California dispensary prices, reports John Richardson at The Portland Press Herald.

Now THAT’s A Drug Czar: Crackdown Likely In Russia

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on June 30, 2010 Global, News

Photo: The Moscow Times

These deeply bizarre, badly done “cautionary” wax figures of “prominent drug users” are supposed to carry some message (presumably besides “I Suck At Sculpting Wax”). I think that petulant-looking blonde guy is supposed to be Kurt Cobain.

Governments the world over try the same tired old tricks whenever they want to reduce or eliminate those ever-so-troublesome individual liberties. Yelling “Drugs!” unfortunately remains one of the most popular. Russia’s Drug Czar is doing some tough talk these days, possibly preparing the populace for some brutal, Soviet-style repression in the name of “cracking down on drugs.”

Russia should criminalize drug use, confiscate land used for cannabis cultivation and seal off the Central Asian border to “fight drug trafficking,” according to Viktor Ivanov, head of the Federal Drug Control Service, reports Alexandra Odynova at The Moscow Times.

Got that? Well you’re not gonna believe this. Ivanov, speaking to the State Duma (Russia’s legislative body), also welcomed wide-eyed deputies to a deeply bizarre “cautionary exhibit” of wax figures of “prominent drug users” like Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain and John Lennon’s murderer, Mark David Chapman.

L.A. Begins Closing Hundreds Of Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Los Angeles Times

It’s the beginning of the end for hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries.

Hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are being told they must shut down to comply with a recently passed city law.

More than 500 letters are expected to be mailed Tuesday to pot shops across the city, where hundreds of dispensaries opened in recent years as city officials struggled to approve a local regulatory ordinance, reports the Associated Press.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the ordinance on Friday that sets fees for dispensaries to remain open if they meet the new, stricter guidelines. About 187 dispensaries — all shops that opened before the council imposed a moratorium — have six months to comply.

Did NYC Mayor Lean On Billboard Co. To Reject Pot Arrest Ad?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Culture, News

Graphic: Drug Policy Alliance

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an admitted pot smoker, isn’t acting too cool these days. According to the Drug Policy Alliance, a billboard company refused to run an ad regarding the cost of arresting marijuana smokers after pressure from the mayor’s office.

The DPA received notice from Titan 360, North America’s largest transit advertising company, that a billboard set to run on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for his out-of-control marijuana arrest policy will not be allowed to run.

The landlord refused the ad because of “political circumstances from the Mayor’s office,” according to an email from a Titan 360 account executive.

Los Angeles D.A. Really Hates Pot Legalization Initiative

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 28, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: L.A. District Attorney’s Office

Los Angeles County D.A. and California Attorney General candidate Steve Cooley hates pot and opposes legalization. He probably thinks you suck hard, too.

Pot-hating, publicity-loving Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who has claimed medical marijuana dispensaries are illegal operations, is now targeting the legitimacy of a November ballot initiative to legalize recreational cannabis and allow local governments to tax and regulate it.

In an April 13 letter (PDF) to Attorney General Jerry Brown, Cooley claims the title and summary for the measure is “wrong and highly misleading” and should be disallowed, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.

Cooley, an ambitious hot-dogger of a Republican who’s hoping to replace Brown as attorney general, claims the initiative falsely offers “major tax and other benefits” for state and local governments by regulating marijuana similarly to alcohol.

Corrections Head Covers Up For Misbehaving Anti-Pot Officers

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on February 9, 2010 Medical, News

Graphic: thefreshscent.com

OK, quick: You’re head of the Department of Corrections. Officers under you misbehave and improperly arrest a medical marijuana patient. What do you do? Lie and cover up for them, if you’re Eldon Vail of the Washington DOC.

The head of the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC), Eldon Vail, seems to put a lot more effort into covering up the lousy job his subordinates are doing, than in actually doing his own job.

The Washington DOC, following the example of the not-cool Attorney General Rob McKenna, is already notorious for its extremely hard line against the use of medical marijuana for individuals on probation.

Now, newly revealed documents show that Vail and the DOC have been involved in misconduct, cover-ups, and possibly outright law-breaking, reports Lee Rosenberg at the highly recommended Seattle political blog, Horses Ass.

California Supreme Court Strikes Down Medical Marijuana Limits

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 21, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: puffpuffere, forum.grasscity.com

Imagine the concept: You and your doctor, rather than the Legislature, deciding how much medicine you need.

The California Supreme Court has struck down limits on how much medical marijuana patients can possess and cultivate.

Patients and caregivers with a doctor’s recommendation to use marijuana can now possess as much as is “reasonably related to the patient’s current medical needs,” a standard that the court established in a 1997 decision.

The court concluded that the restrictions imposed by the Legislature are an unconstitutional amendment of a 1996 voter-approved initiative.

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