As Indonesia’s most popular vacation destination, the island of Bali expects to welcome as many as 10 million tourists this year. Being surrounded by crystal clear waters, white sand beaches, and cheap Nepalese hash may sound like paradise…oh, ok, it is paradise.
But if you plan to be among those planning a trip to Bali in 2014, you should beware that the National Narcotics Agency Bali (BNN) – sort of Indonesia’s version of the DEA – has vowed to crack down on narcotics tourism in what they say has already been a busy year of drug busts.
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You might think that drunkenly plowing his car into the Capitol building at 3am, then going on to evade prosecution and finish out his term as a U.S. Congressman, only to become a leading voice opposing marijuana legalization would make Patrick Kennedy the biggest delta-bravo in Project SAM.
Ok, he might still be, but boy does he have some competition from his partner, and co-founder of “Smart Approaches to Marijuana”, Kevin Sabet.
The PhD associate professor has a mind-numbing piece up over at Huffington Post right now, instructing the rest of us on how to talk about pot. It’s a 5-step plan … 7 steps short of the one Patrick Kennedy is somehow above, but would have no problem imposing on you.
| William Breathes/Toke of the Town. |
Florida Gov. Rick Scott doesn’t seem to get that drug testing welfare recipients isn’t just demoralizing, wrong and illegal — it’s stupid an ineffective. He won’t listen to his constituents and he won’t listen to the federal court system.Weeks after the Supreme Court refused to hear his argument for why all state employees should have to pee in cups, Scott has filed a new brief in appellate court asking to re-argue his right to drug-test all welfare recipients in Florida.
Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer says he has this weed shop thing under control. But now he wants to hire five new prosecutors to help close down hundreds of dispensaries in the city. Apparently the lawyers Feuer has on-hand aren’t getting the job done to his satisfaction.
Dennis Romero at the L.A. Weekly has more.
| Sen. Noreen Evans. |
A law that would force police to return marijuana, marijuana plants and marijuana paraphernalia to people who have their cases dismissed or acquitted is up for a key committee hearing next week.
| Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and a bud of marijuana that Minnesota medical marijuana patients won’t technically won’t be able to access . |
Though qualifying Minnesota medical marijuana patients will only have the option of vaporizing and eating concentrated forms of marijuana, at least they’ll have access. Less than two months ago medical marijuana seemed dead, at least as far as this legislative session was concerned. But during a press conference this afternoon, Scott Dibble and Carly Melin announced that the Senate and House have come together on a medical marijuana compromise.
| Some assets seized by the U.S. Marshals. |
When Missouri drug task forces seize assets they believed were used in a crime, state law says they have to give it to the state school fund. However, cops don’t trust state lawmakers to use it for that purpose, so they bypass the rule and use a federal program to keep the money for themselves.
The remarks describe a process that has been well-known to property-rights activists for years (Daily RFTreported on it back in 2010), but they’ve nonetheless provided new fuel for those who aim to reform forfeiture laws, especially since the topic has received more attention in the national media lately. The Riverfront Times has more.
It is starting to look like medical marijuana will be legalized in Minnesota, but just how that will look going forward is still up for debate.
A joint House and Senate committee has been charged with coming to an agreement on two different medical marijuana proposals approved by the legislature this year. The Senate plan would create a medical marijuana dispensary program in the state in a much more open program akin to what Colorado has in place.
Like other medicines available only with a doctor’s permission, medical marijuana isn’t taxed in Massachusetts. But one lawmaker sees the green of money in all that green marijuana and wants to add a special sales tax to medical cannabis.
Sen. Brian Joyce on Tuesday amended a substance-abuse prevention bill to include a bill that would subject medical marijuana sales to the 6.25 percent state sales tax. That amendment was eventually removed and found ineligible. But that didn’t stop Joyce, who now says he’ll tack it on with the state budget.
Penny Hulse isn’t a fan of marijuana, and she was never a fan of marijuana decriminalization or legalization in New Zealand. Until now, that is.
New Zealand outlawed synthetic smokable drugs commonly mislabeled as “synthetic cannabis” last week mostly out of a growing public health concern for the often-untested chemicals that have left people sick and hospitalized. People often turn to these drugs because they can’t be detected on drug tests, unlike marijuana. The ban was pushed by a coalition of mayors from the southern part of the country.