According to data compiled by the National Review, welfare recipients have used electronic benefit (EBT) cards to withdraw cash at dispensaries at least 259 times since the sale of limited amounts of cannabis to adults 21 and up began in Colorado on January 1.
In total, more than $23,600 of money meant to go toward food and housing from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was withdrawn, according to the conservative publication. And while there’s no way to prove the money was spent in dispensaries, that doesn’t matter to the lawmakers who immediately demanded something be done.
Local beat cops just love busting stoners. Really, it’s probably a pretty easy racket. They rarely fight back, and in many cases the arresting officer can score a 2-for-1 by nabbing a minority carrying some weed. That may sound harsh, but statistics have shown for quite some time that pot busts – particularly those involving minorities – are the low hanging fruit in the world of law enforcement.
A review of the first six months of the new marijuana laws in Seattle, Washington has revealed equally disturbing numbers and trends. And shocking nobody, law enforcement spokespersons in America’s fastest growing city are showing little sympathy for the terribly skewed results.
| North Shore cookies from Colorado. |
Last month, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd shared a bad experience with a marijuana edible during a visit to Colorado, joking (maybe) that such items be stamped with a “stoned skull and bones.”
The Dowd piece, coupled with other negative news stories linked to edibles use, is among the inspiration for First Time 5, an edibles-education campaign being launched at an event tomorrow. Steve Fox, executive director of the Council for Responsible Cannabis Regulation, offers the Denver Westword a preview.
They won’t say who, but the American Cannabis Company is counseling a group of “Minnesota-based entrepreneurs” who want to become manufacturers of the new state-sanctioned medicine.
ACC got off the ground last year in Colorado, working with local applicants, but has since expanded to include clients across the U.S. and as far as the eastern seaboard of Canada. Trent Woloveck, the company COO, says his team will be tasked with meeting Minnesota regulatory standards while “bringing what our best practices are from these more mature markets.”
Read more about ACC’s vague announcement over at the Minneapolis City Pages.
New statistics by the Arizona Department of Health Services show that Arizona now has more than 50,000 qualifying, adult patients.
As of June 30, the state had 52,638 “active cardholders,” which is a 9.1 percent increase from the last official number published by the agency on March 28 of 48,231 patients. The recently released quarterly report also shows 93 minor patients and another 94 minors being treated by caregivers, which is a 34 percent increase over those same categories in the March 28 report. That increase could be due to a judge’s ruling in late March that allows the use of concentrated marijuana, which can be used in pills or food items for youngsters with epilepsy or other serious ailments.
More over at the Phoenix New Times.
| LA Weekly. |
Snoop Dogg makes no apologies for when and where he smokes weed. Case and point? His latest claim that he lit up a blunt while taking a deuce in the White House bathroom.
On his Double-G News Network YouTube show this week, Snoop sat down with comedian Jimmy Kimmel who the Doggfather about wildest place he’s ever toked.
| Benton Mackenzie in court. |
Benton Mackenzie doesn’t have much time left. The angiosarcoma eating away at his blood vessels and leaving fist-sized tumors on his skin is in the final stages. He’s in pain. It’s why he chose to grow cannabis at his parent’s Iowa home where he lives with his wife. It was worth the risk, a risk that ultimately led to his conviction for cannabis cultivation earlier this month along with his wife.
Without much strength or time left, though, Mackenzie wants to be comfortable. So he’s travelled from Iowa to Oregon where he can legally purchase cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation. It’s likely a last trip for Mackenzie, his wife and their son. And one he is already enjoying.
| Flickr/joi Ito. |
Spanish Harlem is apparently still such a rough neighborhood that even the stoners have a violent side when being harassed by nosey cops.
Just ask the 26-year-old rookie with the New York Police Department who had her teeth knocked out over the weekend after a street side shakedown over a little pot smoke turned into a full-blown Harlem scuffle.
| The beaver thinks you should legalize pot. |
Should the possession, cultivation and sales of limited amounts of marijuana be legal in Oregon?
We say yes, of course, but that decision will ultimately be up to Oregon voters this November as a legalization ballot measure has officially qualified for the ballot. Read more below.
It has long been known that the various compounds (cannabinoids) found within the cannabis plant have amazing healing capabilities, particularly when it comes to fighting cancer.
The American mainstream media finally began to catch on after Dr. Sanjay Gupta went primetime on CNN with his groundbreaking documentary, simply titled WEED. Almost overnight, the acronym “CBD” had entered households and vocabularies who would otherwise never consider any form of cannabis.