| FARK.com |
An eighth-grade student in North Carolina was suspended from school after pulling a prank on a classmate with a bag of oregano following a lecture on the dangers of marijuana. A civil liberties group has lined up in his corner, but officials at the school aren’t backing down.
The boy was thrown out of school for 55 days for the incident at Cuthbertson Middle School in Waxhaw, N.C., reports My Fox Orlando. Hidebound school officials point at the district’s policy manual, which says students can get a 10-day suspension for “possessing illegal or counterfeit drugs” and “misuse of chemical/material (organic or otherwise) that causes or is purported to cause a hallucinogenic/mind altering effect.”
| Goliath’s GAW News Bureau |
| Kentucky’s new medical marijuana bill bears the name of the great Gatewood Galbraith |
By Michael Bachara
Legislation that would make cannabis a Schedule II drug — and thus legal for doctors to prescribe — was introduced on January 31 in the Kentucky State Senate. Senate Bill 129, sponsored by Senator Perry B. Clark (D-Louisville), is being titled the “Gatewood Galbraith Memorial Medical Marijuana Act.”
Galbraith was a prominent lawyer from Kentucky and an avid supporter of cannabis legalization. He dedicated more than 40 years to the restoration of the cannabis plant. He died last month from complications of pneumonia.
“Marijuana has positive medical benefits for patients dealing with illnesses like cancer, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS, to name a few,” Sen. Clark said. “I want to allow this as another treatment option for those individuals.”
| CannCast.com |
CannCast.com, which provides medical marijuana provider-to-dispensary connections, has now added cannabis concentrates and infused products to their website. By expanding their service, CannCast said it “aims to streamline getting these important medicines to the patients that need them.”
The service allows medical marijuana providers to list what they have available, dispensaries to list what their patients are requesting, and both parties to search by strain. By easily connecting providers with dispensaries which actually need their medicine, CannCast says it greatly decreases wasted time and effort on both sides.
Previously, the site had focused only on cannabis flowers. Now, it can be used by providers of concentrates and infused products, too.
| Tuhin Subhra Day/Fotopedia |
| Towards infinity: A Nepali sadhu smokes hashish from his chillum as part of the religious festival Shivaratri. |
Police in Nepal say they have cracked down on public marijuana use at a major Hindu religious festival where the herb is smoked legally by thousands of holy men to honor the Hindu god Shiva.
The wandering mystics, known as sadhus, use an ancient legal loophole to smoke cannabis during a night of celebrations in honor of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, reports Agence France Presse. But unfortunately, ordinary, every-day Nepalis aren’t allowed to join them.
“We have arrested 70 people including dozens of youths who took excessive marijuana,” said Nepal police spokesman Dhiraj Pratap Shah, who apparently thinks he gets to decide what’s “excessive.”
“We have not arrested any sadhus,” Pratap claimed.
| Joe Koshollek/Oregon Live |
| Gary Storck of Madison, Wisconsin, has twice come to Oregon to get a medical marijuana card. He’s one of about 600 out-of-states who have gotten the Oregon card. |
You don’t have to be a resident of Oregon to get an Oregon medical marijuana card.
Hundreds of out-of-staters make an annual trip to the Beaver State to fill out an application, see a doctor and get a state-issued medicinal cannabis ID. Oregon is the only remaining state in the U.S. to issue medical marijuana cards to non-residents, according to Noelle Crombie of The Oregonian.
“It’s not a bad place to visit,” said Gary Storck, 56, who takes a 40-hour, $1,000 Amtrak ride out west from Wisconsin every year to renew his medical marijuana card. “It lifts my spirits to be in a place where medical cannabis is legal and life goes on.”
| Oklevueha Native American Church |
| Michael Rex “Raging Bear” Mooney, right, and the Oklevueha Native American Church want their marijuana back. |
The 9th Circuit last week heard arguments to let a Native American church get some marijuana replaced that federal drug agents confiscated and local police destroyed years ago.
Michael Rex “Raging Bear” Mooney and the Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in 2009 after the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) seized a FedEx package with about five pounds of cannabis in Tupperware containers inside, reports Purna Nemani at Courthouse News.
Mooney said he planned to use the marijuana in certain religious ceremonies, specifically “lunar use” and “sweat lodge use.” He contends that the DEA interfering with those activities constitutes a violation of his religious freedom.
| All photos by Jack Rikess for Toke of the Town |
By Jack Rikess
Toke of the Town
Northern California Correspondent
By the time our drug-addled President landed in San Francisco around 3 p.m., he’d already scored one bust for the day when some wrong-way Cessna had the bad misfortune to be within 10 miles of Air Force One’s air space that the Feds already had dibs on. Two F-16’s intercepted the myopic business person, forcing the ganja express to land. Officials claim that large amounts of marijuana were found.
Welcome to California, Mr. President. Now try to pretend that there isn’t an economy here that is based on the cultivation of cannabis.
I’m sure after sneaking a few smokes he entered his $35,000 a plate fundraiser at a downtown five-star hotel for the purpose of filling up his campaign war chest and reassure us that the country is getting back on track.
| Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press |
| A demonstrator smokes marijuana in front of Poland’s Parliament as part of a protest to legalize cannabis |
A prominent politician and several other activists have smoked marijuana in front of the Polish Parliament as part of their campaign to legalize cannabis in the Eastern European country.
With police looking on, Janusz Palikot, the head of the left-wing Palikot’s Movement, took a few tokes from a joint under falling snow on Friday to make his point, reports the Associated Press.
Dozens more gathered around a platform where they smoked cannabis and chanted “Grow It, Smoke It, Legalize It.”
At the center of the rally was a banner showing a green marijuana leaf and the word “Legalize.” The smell of burning cannabis was heavy in the chilly air during the demonstration, which took place across the street from the Sejm, the lower house of Parliament.
Palikot had last month promised to smoke marijuana inside the Parliament building, but backed down after threats of arrest and merely lit some cannabis-scented incense.
Palikot was later threatened with a year in jail for even talking about smoking a joint inside Parliament.
| The Jason Show |
A 15-year-old Florida boy climbed into Angela Cartwright’s kitchen window, planning to steal a marijuana plant, but instead the clueless young would-be thief stole a potted tomato plant, according to a sheriff’s arrest report.
As the not-too-bright teenager ran from Cartwright’s house near Holly Hill, Fla., on February 10 just after 7 a.m., he even yelled back at the homeowner, “See, I have one of your pot plants,” the arrest report states, reports Lyda Longa at The Daytona Beach News-Journal.
| StoptheDrugWar.org |
Cannabis 1, Cops 0
The strong odor of marijuana from the evidence room at a local police station in Florida seems to be a real problem for some whiny cops.
“The biggest complaint is how strong the odor is,” said Atlantic Beach Police Commander Victor Gualillo, reports ActionNewsJax.com.
All seized dope collected during busts is stored in a 200-square-foot evidence room at the station.
“Anytime you store that much marijuana it’s rather pungent,” Commander Gualillo complained.
But it seems you count on this bunch of overwrought weenies to dramatize the situation way beyond just the smell. They’re talking about “doing something” before “somebody gets hurt.”