A 50-acre pot farm with nearly 3,450 plants and a street value of $1.75 million was raided by municipal, county and state authorities in Brenham, Texas Monday.
No suspects were located in the seizure, which is the sixth “marijuana growing operation shut down in Washington County since January 2013,” according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter. More over at the Houston Press.
Back at it again, with another clever and classy mainstream print advertisement in favor of medical marijuana use, cannabis super-site Leafly.com has teamed up with Americans for Safe Access (ASA) for an encore of Leafly’s last leap into the media spotlight.
You may remember, just over a week ago, when Leafly successfully placed and ran the first “consumer cannabis” advertisement ever to be published in the New York Times. We described the NYT spot as “tasteful and informative top to bottom”, and the gurus at Leafly seem to have followed the same formula this time around too.
News reports this week indicate that one of the Cowboys’ few defensive bright spots from last season, cornerback Orlando Scandrick, has been suspended for the first four games of the 2014 regular season for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substance abuse policy. Scandrick has already lost his appeal in the matter, so it looks like the Cowboys will be stuck with whatever the mercurial Mo Claiborne can give the on the outside for the first quarter of the season.
The details of Scandrick’s indiscretion — if his agent and ESPN’s Ed Werder are to be believed — are pretty mundane. While on vacation in Mexico with an ex-girlfriend, Scandrick, or someone in his party, mixed a drug — reported by Werder to be MDMA — purchased from a street vendor into a cocktail he was drinking. More at the Dallas Observer.
Yesterday, we told you about a campaign to scare kids off of pot that uses a giant rat cage and the statement: “Don’t be a Lab Rat”. Never mind the fact that criminalizing cannabis and keeping it illegal will likely get those same kids put in a similar cage down at the county jail.
Mike Sukle, the advertising agency pro who worked with Colorado officials to develop a new anti-pot campaign, had a significant challenge on his hands. He wanted to warn teens away from marijuana use without engaging in the sort of hyperbole they’d likely reject. Hence, “Don’t Be a Lab Rat,” which presents controversial facts and then asks viewers the equivalent of “Wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?”
Minnesota state officials don’t know squat about pot. But in time, they will.
The rules governing Minnesota’s medical cannabis program, which went out last week, are only a first draft based on conversations with other states and a review of relevant literature. They are an impressive one at that, but a best guess of what it takes to get off the ground in a crazy quick period of time.
Delaware is known for having some of the most obscene and outdated pot laws in the United States, with possession of even small amounts of the ganja punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine up to $1,150. Not only is this powdered wig injustice smearing the permanent records of many citizens who would not otherwise have a criminal history, but in most cases, these people cannot even afford the proper legal council to give them a fighting chance in court.
Fortunately, attorney Thomas Donovan maintains the belief that petty pot offenders should not have to shell out big bucks for a solid legal defense, which is why he now offers free legal services to stoners.
Supporters of Oklahomans for Health say they are about 26,000 signatures away from hitting their goal to get a medical marijuana proposal on the November ballot.
But the going has been slow and time is running out.
Crashes involving alleged stoned driving continue to get a great deal of attention following this year’s start of legal recreational marijuana sales. Note the story of Emily Strock, who reportedly admitted to consuming one bowl of pot and drinking one beer prior to a grisly Denver-area crash but has only been charged with driving under the influence of drugs. The accusation came down before blood test results were final.
But have legal pot sales led to more Colorado highway deaths thus far in 2014? One report says “no” — and that cheers a Colorado marijuana business representative. Denver Westword has more.
The Florida anti-medical marijuana group called “No on 2” has made a lot of noise about the supposed dangers of legalizing medical weed in Florida. Some of its claims include that weed leads to gay sex and AIDS, weed has more cancer-causing compounds than cigarettes, weed causes more accidents and ER visits, and weed dispensaries will be the new pill mills.
But the latest argument is a bizarre mix of ignorance and bewilderment, soaked in offense. It’s weird enough to be from the The Onion. No on 2’s latest claim: that Amendment 2 will lead to people being able to sell pot cookies, which would be the new date-rape drug. Setting aside the colossal obtuseness of the claim for a minute, it’s important to remember what is behind No on 2. Money. Big, big money.
Medical-marijuana patients from Arizona and other states could shop legally at as-yet-unopened Nevada dispensaries under a plan being developed by Nevada authorities. Chad Westom, bureau chief of the Nevada Division of Public & Behavioral Health, said on Monday that his state’s new medical-marijuana program will honor out-of-state registration cards.
According to Nevada law, dispensaries could honor out-of-state cards as long as the state that issued the card has an official database of patients and “allows the Division and medical marijuana dispensaries in (Nevada) to access the database.” Nevada officials hope to have an interstate-access agreement in place by 2016. More over at the Phoenix New Times.