| Photo: Pacific San Diego |
Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) on Thursday threatened to file suit against the City of San Diego if it doesn’t amend a recent ordinance that patient advocates are calling a de facto ban on local cannabis distribution facilities.
ASA argued in a letter sent to City Attorney Jan Goldsmith that the ordinance violates due process rights of medical marijuana collectives and cooperatives by forcing them to shut down in 30 days, leaving virtually no options for relocation.
Unless the city can “ease the restrictions on medical marijuana collectives, so that qualified patients can obtain the medicine they need,” the letter, authored by ASA Chief Counsel Joe Elford, said that the organization and its patient base would be “compelled” to seek such remedies in court.
The letter suggested that the San Diego City Council amend its ordinance to allow “medical marijuana collectives to operate in most commercial and all industrial zones” and increase “the period to obtain a conditional use permit to one year.”
| Photo: The Reagan Wing |
Washington Governor Christine Gregoire seems to be wavering between a partial veto and a full veto of a medical marijuana dispensary bill passed by the Legislature last week.
“I’m looking at it only with what I can save,” Gregoire said at a news conference on Wednesday. “Not whether I will sign it.”
SB 5073 would license storefront dispensaries and grow operations, and protect registered patients from arrest, reports Andrew Garber at the Seattle Times.
But the governor indicated the bill would not survive in its present form.
| Photo: LGN |
| Our brothers and sisters in Indonesia are already in the street. Why stand we here idle? |
Indonesia has some tough marijuana laws. In fact, having just a joint can get you up to four years in prison in this Southeast Asian island nation. But one brave and committed group of cannabis activists is leading the way towards legalization and regulation of the herb in Indonesia.
The group, Lingkar Ganja Nusantara (LGN), which means “Circle of Ganja Archipelago” in English, is raising consciousness on the cannabis issue in Indonesia, distributing information on the many uses and benefits of the plant.
| Graphic: Salem-News/NORML Blog |
It only took two years for the U.S. federal government to get from “we won’t interfere in state medical marijuana laws” to threatening raids and even arrests of state employees if dispensaries are legalized.
The administration is using a new tactic in its war against medical marijuana patients and providers. In at least four states in the past two months, U.S. Attorneys have been given the dirty work of threatening states if progressive medical marijuana legislation is passed.
Things got started in February when the U.S. Attorney for Northern California threatened to prosecute operators of a proposed commercial medical marijuana farm in Oakland, even though the farm was licensed by that city and legal under state law.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag “strongly warned” Oakland that big industrial marijuana farms are illegal under federal law, and that the Department of Justice was considering “civil and criminal legal remedies” if the city went ahead with its plans to permit them. The plans were put on hold.
| Graphic: KTVQ |
Montana’s state House and Senate have passed a bill aimed at radically slashing the number of authorized medical marijuana users and eliminating large cannabis businesses in the state.
The measure cleared both chambers of the Legislature on Wednesday, and now heads to Governor Brian Schweitzer for his signature, veto or amendment recommendations. Schweitzer has already vetoed an outright repeal of the state’s medical marijuana law, saying it went against the will of the voters, who approved the law in 2004.
| Photo: News Junkie Post |
| “Patients are sick and tired of being marginalized and living in fear of the federal government.” ~ Steph Sherer, Americans for Safe Access |
“Our community would do well to prepare itself, to brace for impact”
~ Rachel Kurtz
Cannabis Defense Coalition
In the wake of threats this month from two federal prosecutors in Washington state, medical cannabis activists are staging raid preparedness trainings in cities across the state. The move comes as Governor Chris Gregoire contemplates the fate of a bill to license cannabis providers and create a state registry of medical marijuana patients.
“The medical cannabis bill is a ghost of its former self, and could get dramatically worse if the governor exercises her sectional veto power,” said Rachel Kurtz of Seattle-based patient advocacy group the Cannabis Defense Coalition.
| Photo: ThisSongIsSick.com |
| 4/20 at 4:20 on the Norlin Quad at the CU-Boulder campus. Now tight-assed university officials want to take away the best thing about the damn place. |
Thousands of people celebrate 4/20 every year on Colorado University-Boulder’s campus, and this year was no exception. But this year, CU-Boulder officials are complaining about the claimed $50,000 cost of providing security for the “non-sanctioned” event. CU regent Michael Carrigan is even talking about taking “whatever steps are necessary so that the protest doesn’t occur on our property” anymore.
Carrigan pointed out that the university “gets very little state funding,” and tries to put as much of its money as possible toward educating students, reports Michael Roberts at Denver Westword. “And unfortunately, quite a few outsiders have decided to make us the site for their battle on an unrelated social issue.”
But, as Westword notes, it’s kind of disingenuous of Carrigan to call the 4/20 participants “outsiders” when most coverage last week counted thousands of CU students among the revelers. Thousands more, though, come from beyond campus, at least according to Carrigan.
| Photo: YouTube |
| Antoine Dodson in the “Bed Intruder Song” video from YouTube |
Antoine “Bed Intruder” Dodson, whose TV news rant against a would-be rapist became a viral music video and his expressway to stardom, appeared in an Alabama city court on Monday, facing marijuana possession charges along with four other misdemeanors.
Shortly after his court appearance, Dodson posted a series of defiant tweets poking fun at the proceedings, reports CNN.
“Court was bullshit,” said one tweet.
“Damn I didn’t kill anyone did I??? It’s Just weed!!! You know that stuff that grows like grass?? Yeah that! !!” said another tweet to his 37,000-plus followers.
“Damn!! I never been in jail except that time in grade school,” he tweeted. “You remember!!!”
| Graphic: Law Firm Blog |
And Many Of Those Arrests Are Allegedly Due To Illegal Searches
The Big Apple is the marijuana arrest capital of the world. Police arrest 140 people every day in New York City for possessing small amounts of marijuana.
Pot possession has become by far the most common misdemeanor charge in the city. And surprise, surprise — these stop-and-frisk arrests take place predominantly in the city’s minority neighborhoods, with many officers likely violating people’s constitutional rights when they make the arrests.
Current and former cops, defense lawyers and more than a dozen men arrested for the lowest-level marijuana possession told WNYC’s Ailsa Chang that illegal searches took place during stop-and-frisks, which are street encounters carried out overwhelmingly on blacks and Latinos (about 90 percent of the time).
| Photo: Indiependent Music |
| The Dirty Heads’ vocalist, Jared Watson (second from left), was interviewed on Monday by Toke of the Town reader Becky Fogarty. |
Toke of the Town reader and cannabis activist Becky Fogarty got a chance on Monday to interview vocalist Jared Watson of The Dirty Heads after their tour stop in Pensacola, Florida.
Becky also got to speak with the opening act, unsigned band Tribe Zion of Boulder, Colorado.
By Becky Fogarty
Dirty Heads, one of the “Best New Bands of 2010” according to Rolling Stone magazine, is from Orange County California, was formed in 1996 with vocalist Jared Watson (a.k.a Dirty J) and guitarist/vocalist Dustin Bushnell (a.k.a. Duddy B). Later, percussionist Jon Olazabal, drummer Matt Ochoa, and bassist David Foral were incorporated into the band.
Dirty Heads music is influenced by Long Beach dub rockers Sublime; however, they have their own unique style with a blend of music genres including hip hop, reggae and rock.
They are currently signed with Executive Music Group and are on the tail end of the 2011 tour, with a few more stops along the way in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
I was able to catch up with Jared Watson for an interview after the show in Pensacola. I was quite impressed with his ability to think fast.