At least two of three marijuana legalization measures vying for the November, 2014 ballot would be good for California, according to the state Attorney General’s office. The Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue Act would decrease drug enforcement costs and increase tax revenue, Attorney General Kamala Harris said this week.
LA Weekly looks closer at this potential California cannabis cash-cow.
| flickr.com/mrthomas |
Something is going terribly wrong with regards to the War on Weed currently being waged in San Diego, California. Being accused of marijuana possession, or any type of possession, certainly does not carry the penalty of torture, or worse, death.
Unless, that is, you are unlucky enough to be detained by a federal agency in America’s Finest City.
Since the 2009 “green rush” boom of medical dispensaries, Denver pot smokers have enjoyed a steady decline in the price of their cannabis in both the medical and black-market economies, dropping from $50 or $60 an eighth to as low as $25. With the heavily regulated industry of legal recreational marijuana, though, it’s looking like prices are climbing back up. This may be temporary, or it may be the new standard. We caught up with a few soon-to-be-open recreational shops to get the details on what shoppers can expect after the first of the year.
Denver Westword has the full story.
Sorry Nevada patients (and patient visitors), you’ll have to wait a little longer until you can purchase legal medical cannabis thanks to your state government dragging their heels.
Officials say that they will completely blow the April 1 deadline to begin accepting medical marijuana dispensary and grower licenses because regulations haven’t even been approved yet.
| Jenny Kush. |
It was one of the most sadly ironic events of the year: On Labor Day weekend — when the heat was on to catch drunk drivers — cannabis activist Jenny Kush was killed by one of those drink drivers, as related in a Westword September cover story, “The life and tragic death of Jenny Kush.”
Now her death has been added to Arrest Angel, a site that chronicles DUI deaths across the country, and asks drivers to “think twice” before driving drunk. Click over to the Westword for more.
| New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. |
Congratulations, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: you’ve driven at least one family out of your state due to your complete lack of compassion when it comes to medical cannabis.
Meghan and Brian Wilson say that despite laws passed to help ease access to medical cannabis for children in New Jersey, their two-year-old daughter Vivian still lives a miserable existence fighting seizures caused by Dravet’s syndrome that could be helped with cannabis oil that isn’t available.
| via Timothy M. Moore, Wikimedia Commons |
Jermaine Dupri was cruising South Beach with his boys when cops noticed the black Lincoln Navigator’s tint was so dark that they couldn’t identify the race, sex, or number of passengers inside the SUV. Police pulled over the party to see who was headed north on Washington Avenue at 3:24 a.m. and what they had to hide.
Two officers noticed a “strong odor of marijuana emanating from within the vehicle.” There was no weed present, however. Still, they called in backup. Dupri tweeted: “Somebody pls call TMZ. Five police cars just pulled us over cause [names]got the car smelling like snoop dogg. oh shit!… lol this is a movie.” Miami New Times has the rest.
Starting Wednesday, adults 21 and up will be able to legally (at least, at the state level) purchase cannabis legally in storefronts in Colorado.
We’ll stop and let that sink in for a second.
Okay, now that your mind has finished exploding we’ll get down to a few details.
Colorado has become ground-zero for pot coverage in recent weeks, culminating January 1 when recreational cannabis sales begin for adults 21 and up around the state. In case you didn’t know already, our sister blog over at the Denver Westword is the source for coverage. As Westword editor Patricia Calhoun writes:
The calls and e-mails keep coming, sometimes several an hour. And they all want to know the same thing: On January 1, where will they be able to buy pot? Good question. The state just released its first list of 136 completed applications for recreational marijuana stores on Monday, but all of those applicants still need to jump through the hoops in their various municipalities before they can sell marijuana. By mid-December, Denver — which has over 200 medical marijuana dispensaries, the only businesses that can apply to sell recreational marijuana — had received more than 100 applications to open retail stores.
Austin, Texas resident Corey Lynn Plumlee is allegedly pretty open about his pot use. That’s nothing out of the ordinary in Austin, which has a pretty cool attitude towards pot most of the time. But when you go bragging about it on Craigslist and start offering to hook strangers up with “Cali-style” nuggets, it’s going to draw some attention.
See, Austin is a cool town, but it’s not that cool – as Plumlee found that out the hard way earlier this week.