Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

‘Blunt’ Joke At Burger King Drive-Thru Leads To Marijuana Bust

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Culture, News

Shawn Porter’s marijuana joke landed him in jail with felony pot charges

Hey, stoner, don’t make pot jokes in the drive-through line. A Florida man tried to add some high humor to his drive-through order at Burger King, but when he asked for “a blunt and some herbs,” the store called the cops and the man ended up in jail on felony marijuana charges.

Shawn Porter, 32, of Deltona, is being held in the Volusia County Branch Jail near Daytona Beach with bail set at $1,000, reports Gary Taylor at the Orlando Sentinel.

It all started innocently enough, with a late-night munchie run to the Burger King in Deltona, according to Volusia County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Gary Davidson.

Porter and another man pulled into to the drive-through lane in a white Saturn just before 10:30 p.m. on Thursday. When it came time to order, one of them yelled out that he wanted “a blunt and some herbs,” Davidson said.

Toke of the Town’s Canna-toon of the Moment

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 2, 2011 Culture

Jerry King for Toke of the Town

Marijuana Gold Rush: Documentary Examines Weed Business

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Culture, Dispensaries, Products

Rialto Cinemas

By Jack Rikess

Toke of the Town

Northern California Correspondent

The Weed Wars are on, and at stake are television ratings. In the next couple of weeks we’ll start to see the bounty of this year’s harvest of cannabis-centric TV hitting the airwaves.

The ever-present Steve DeAngelo has his reality series starting on the Discovery Channel a la Kiss’s Gene Simmons: depicting a world class guy with the weight of the world on his shoulders yet he has time to take his kid to Little League. Just a regular guy and family man who happens to like to bang the gong at the end of the day. America won’t believe their eyes.

This Friday the National Geographic Channel is joining the Cannafest with the premiere of Marijuana Gold Rush. Depicting the many highs and a few lows of this past year’s emerging dream of bringing cannabis into the mainstream, going from the boardrooms of New York to our own Mendocino County’s Emerald Cup, with the participants not knowing what really is to come.

Toke Tries Eco-Friendly Pipe Cleaning Kit: Does It Work?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Products

All photos by Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

There are a number of pipe-cleaning kits on the market which are aimed at marijuana smokers. To varying degrees, most are useful when it comes to getting the grunge off your bongs, bubblers, and pipes, but one of the kits distinguishes itself by being probably the most eco-friendly of the bunch: Ms. Jane’s Brown Box Special.

We at Toke of the Town recently had the opportunity to try out the efficacy of the Brown Box Special.

What’s so special about the Brown Box Special? Well, it’s the outlook of the Ms. Jane organization, to vein with. The company says it strives to make all of its products as eco-friendly as possible. “We strive to make our products Low Impact Recyclable, Biodegradable, Reusable, All Natural and Made in the USA,” Ms. Jane tells us.

The other thing that’s special is that right now is an especially good time to buy a Brown Box Special, because Ms. Jane is offering whopping 42.0 percent savings on all their products through the New Year. To get the 42 percent discount, enter the coupon code MsJTeam420 when you order.

Montel Pleads Case For 2 Medical Marijuana Facilities In D.C.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Dispensaries, Growing, Medical

NBC Washington

Montel Williams pleads his case Wednesday night at a neighborhood meeting in the basement of Israel Baptist Church in Northeast D.C.

Former TV talk show host Montel Williams wants to open two medical marijuana facilities — a cultivation center and a dispensary — in the District of Columbia. On Wednesday, he pleaded his case before a crowd of 150 residents in the basement of Israel Baptist Church in Northeast D.C.

Williams has applied for two cultivation center licenses on nearby Queen’s Chapel Road in D.C., reports NBC Washington.

N.J. Poll Shows Majority Support For Marijuana Decrim

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Legislation, News

Releaf

Six of every 10 New Jerseyans support the penalties for marijuana should be relaxed — with more than half thinking there should be no penalties at all — and one-third would completely legalize its sale and use, according to a poll released on Wednesday. The poll also showed overwhelming levels of support for the medicinal use of cannabis.

The Rutgers-Eagleton Poll has, for almost 40 years, asked New Jersey residents about penalties for marijuana use, and they’ve become more relaxed about the issue, reports New Jersey Newsroom. Back in May 1972, four in 10 New Jerseyans said penalties for cannabis use should be lowered.

Vermont Governor Supports Doctors Prescribing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on December 1, 2011 Legislation, Medical, News

The Walrus Speaks

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin supports Wednesday’s call by Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee to reschedule marijuana, allowing it to be prescribed by doctors and sold by pharmacies

A spokeswoman for Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said he supports and will sign on to an effort to allow doctors to prescribe medical marijuana, and pharmacists to fill the prescriptions.

Shumlin is joining a petition by Washington Governor Christine Gregoire and Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to change marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I drug, reports the Associated Press. Schedule I classification makes cannabis illegal to prescribe or dispense for medicinal use.

Vermont’s current medicinal cannabis law allows a small number of very sick people in the state to register with the state Department of Public Safety and sets up procedures for them to obtain marijuana.

Marijuana Found Growing Outside Australian Court House

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2011 Global, News

emerald triangle news

A cannabis-loving prankster has thumbed his metaphorical nose at Australia’s drug laws by planting a bunch of marijuana outside a court on the mid-north coast of New South Wales.

People started calling in reports of the cannabis seedlings growing in a front garden of Bellingen Court House on Wednesday afternoon, reports AAP.

When the police showed up, they discovered around 60 seedlings, which they said they “believe” is cannabis.

Judge Won’t Stop Federal Crackdown On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2011 Dispensaries, Medical, News

Village Voice Media

A federal judge has rejected the request of medical marijuana providers to stop U.S. Attorneys from filing charges against them or seizing their property.

U.S. District Judge Sandra Brown Armstrong ruled in her Oakland courtroom that the medical marijuana collectives hadn’t shown they would suffer “immediate, irreparable harm” without the court order, reports Henry K. Lee of the San Francisco Chronicle.

“The court is sensitive to the desires of individuals to use medical marijuana with a doctor’s recommendation, as permitted by California law,” Armstrong wrote in her 27-page ruling, filed this week. “Nevertheless, marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and in Congress’ view, it has no medicinal value.”

The judge also said she doubted that the collectives would win lawsuits trying to stop the Obama Administration’s crackdown on dispensaries.

Marijuana distributors, patients and dispensary landlords filed lawsuits in all four of California’s federal districts in October, accusing the Department of Justice of violating an agreement to not go after them if they complied with state law.

Hey, Arkansas: Are You Ready To Legalize Medical Marijuana?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on November 30, 2011 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

THC Finder

There’s an initiative afoot in Arkansas to put medical marijuana legalization on the ballot in November 2012.

Arkansans for Compassionate Care is circulating a petition to allow the sick and dying to legally use cannabis medicinally with a doctor’s authorization for 16 different serious or chronic diseases and disorders such as cancer, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS.

The program would allow for 30 nonprofit dispensaries across the state. Those who live more than five miles from the nearest dispensary would be allowed to get a marijuana-growing permit.

“If we collect 62,500 signatures, the initiative will appear on the 2012 Presidential ballot in Arkansas,” Shannon Steece of Arkansans for Compassionate Care told Toke of the Town. “Currently we have less than 20,000 unvalidated signatures.”