| V1ctorCasale/Flickr |
There is only one thing worse than a judge cracking jokes, and that’s a southern judge cracking jokes in a Georgia courtroom. Unless, of course, he is busting the balls of some crooked local cops.
That was the case in Athens, Georgia last week when U.S. District Judge Clay Land ruled that sheriff’s deputies might’ve violated the civil rights of two young suspects during a warrantless witch hunt for weed.
The North Carolina House last night approved a CBD-only bill in what seems to be a fast track to overall passage.
It’s a step in the right direction, sure, but it’s still very limited and relatively hard to get access in the program. If approved by the Senate and given the okay by the governor, North Carolina citizens suffering from chronic seizure disorders would be able to access the treatment only after proving that at least three other drugs don’t work. The bill is mostly aimed at children in the state.
Last month, pot activists cheered as the U.S. House approved an amendment to a spending bill that will end funding for U.S. Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical marijuana operations and patients otherwise following their state law.
Now a companion amendment in the U.S. Senate has found traction with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democrat Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey. A second senate amendment sponsored by Sen. John Walsh, a Democrat from Montana, would protect patients in medical cannabis states from prosecution for firearms possession and use.
On a vote of 13 to 3, the Philadelphia City Council yesterday approved decriminalizing up to 30 grams of herb within city limits, making the penalty a $25 fine.
Mayor Michael Nutter has been vocally opposed to loosening marijuana laws in the city, but a coalition of council members are now calling on him to approve the bill due to the overwhelming support. As it stands, the mayor can either veto or sign the bill, or he can do nothing and let the law go into effect without his endorsement. He could also apparently wait until September when council returns for the fall session to do anything.
Here’s a tip to all of you doctors out there: If you’re going to be indiscriminately writing scrips for medical marijuana, at least put some leg work into it, or you’re going to end up like Long Beach doctor Dennis Larry Clark. Clark was put on one year probation earlier this month, as well as being barred from making any medical marijuana recommendations.
Why? Well, he got caught indiscriminately giving recommendations, and he didn’t even try to make it look not shady. The OC Weekly has more.
| A Nebraska highway checkpoint. |
There’s not much going on in the tiny northeast Colorado town of Sedgwick, which has a full-time population of about 150 people, a game preserve nearby and the South Platte River to play in from time to time — when the water’s up. Most people see the town in their rear-view mirror on their way to or from Nebraska if they ever see it at all. But that could change soon, as Sedgwick now has a major draw: It’s the only town within a several-hours’ drive to offer legal, recreational marijuana for sale.
But while the shop is fully legal under Colorado state law, Nebraska officials say it is a blatant attempt to profit from residents of their state looking to smuggle herb back home — and yet another example of how Colorado’s pot experiment is failing.
| Flickr/VMiramontes-TokeoftheTown.com |
If you’re a longtime toker, you’ve probably been there: bag of weed is empty, resin in the pipes is charred out and you’ve got to find something to puff on. Maybe you didn’t always maintain your personal integrity while scouring the city streets looking to score a bag of grass, we get it.
But while some of us are guilty of our fair share of shady and sometimes morally-skewed indiscretions as a result of the search for more ganja, it’s still weed and pot users aren’t normally doing crackhead-like things to get their fix like shaking down an elderly funeral home director. Or, at least that’s what we thought.
Following in the footsteps of Portland, Maine last year, activists in York, Maine say they have collected enough signatures to get a pot legalization measure on the November city ballot.
If approved by voters, the measure would make the possession in the city of up to one ounce of pot legal for adults 21 and up. The penalty is currently a $600 fine.
| Forget the pot brownie. |
With poll numbers showing that Floridians will likely pass a medical marijuana amendment in November, its time to start thinking long and hard about what it will look like in Florida.
For many people with illnesses, smoking medical marijuana may not be the best route.
Marijuana edibles are already a booming business in states that have legalized the treatment, but often those products may not be best suited for the delicate Florida palate. Riptide cares deeply about people getting the best medical care possible, and wants to ensure that every Floridian gets the best treatment possible. As such, we’ve researched some ways to inject some medicinal herb into Florida’s favorite foods.
| AndrewTaylor/Flickr |
Due to some of the more archaic marijuana laws in the country, the state of Missouri is not necessarily known for producing huge yields of high grade cannabis. As a result, those who want bulk amounts of the good stuff around those parts often tend to get it shipped in from other states, but the consequences can be pretty extreme.