Photo: Clarissa Stark

​In the U.S. capitol, the District of Columbia’s medical marijuana program’s rules governing who can grow, dispense and buy marijuana go into effect next week, once they’re published in the D.C. Register.

The rules, originally drafted and opened to public comment last August, had some changes requested by medical marijuana advocates in a second version released in November, reports Martin Austermuhle at the DCist. However, the system envisioned by city officials is extremely restrictive and not particularly patient-friendly (or dispensary-friendly, either, for that matter).

Graphic: Ronzio Pizza
It’s the perfect business plan, really. Create surefire repeat customers by delivering pot with the pizza!

​One pepperoni pizza for pick-up; extra pot, please.

The owner of Ronzio Pizza, a few doors down from the police station in Newport, Rhode Island, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of marijuana with — you got it — intent to deliver.
After receiving reports from neighbors who live near the pizza parlor that marijuana was being sold there for the past several months, the Newport Police Department started a brave investigation spearheaded by Detective Seth Godek and Detective Mark Matoes, reports Bryan Rourke at The Providence Journal.

Graphic: The Grateful Dead World

​Something tells me quite a few Toke of the Town readers are also fans of the Grateful Dead, nudge nudge, wink wink, so you’re gonna be interested in a new video game based on the band and its music.

As reported by Jeremy M. Zoss at Joystick Divisionour Village Voice Media sister blog, the new Dead game will launch this August for online and mobile devices, in a new partnership with Asheville, North Carolina-based “Digital Experience” builders Curious Sense.
The game will reportedly be nothing like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but will instead be more of an interactive playground than a single experience — sounds ideal for stoners, doesn’t it?
The game will be accessible via the band’s official website (www.dead.net), Facebook and online game portals, reports Scott Steinberg at Rolling Stone.

Photo: City Pulse

​Law enforcement claimed the Wednesday raid by Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies of the Oak Park offices and warehouse of a well-known medical marijuana dispensary was spurred by tips to police that the site was “supplying drug dealers.”
The Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team, wearing bullet-proof vests and masks, executed a search warrant and seized about $2,874 in cash, nine pounds of harvested marijuana stored in a freezer, five pounds of packaged marijuana, about two dozen cannabis plants, and 10 pounds of baked goods from facilities belonging to Big Daddy’s Management Group, Oakland County Undersheriff Mike McCabe said, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Photo: WLNS
A couple of dozen hardy protestors faced the cold to protest the DEA’s invasive demand for confidential patient records protected by state law.

​A couple of dozen hardy protestors faced the cold in Lansing, Michigan, this week to protest the DEA’s invasive demand for confidential medical marijuana patient records protected by state law.

Medical marijuana advocates made some noise, raising their voices against what they call increasing federal involvement in states where medical marijuana is legal.

“I’ve been raided twice,” said protestor John Roberts, reports WLNS. “First time they raided me they didn’t even take the plants; they took all the medicine we made for the patients.”
Roberts, a medical marijuana user, caregiver and advocate, said the feds need to stay out of the confidential records of medical marijuana users.

Photo: David Learning/Morning Sentinel
Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey inspects the inside of a self-contained nursery unit, with lights, fans and a watering system, that was confiscated Tuesday night from two men who were pushing it down the street. Police claimed they found marijuana residue inside.

​Police in Waterville, Maine, said they’ve never seen anything like the “portable marijuana nursery” they confiscated from two men pushing it down the street late at night — but it’s actually a quite ordinary “grow closet” of the type easily found, and purchased, on the Internet.

Officers investigated after getting a report from an “alert citizen” — OK, a bored neighborhood housewife — on Tuesday of two men pushing what appeared to be a huge toolbox down the street, making a lot of noise, reports WMTW.
Sgt. Daniel Ames and another officer followed the tracks in the snow from the wheels of the metal unit and found the men near a shed on Green Street (yes, really) with a box that fit the description.

Photo: britannica.com/Salem News

​Can Police Can Kick Down Your Door If They Smell Pot? Some Justices Think So

Police smelling marijuana coming from behind an apartment door can enter the home without a warrant if they believe the evidence is being destroyed, some U.S. Supreme Court Justices said on Wednesday.
More than 60 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police couldn’t enter a residence without a warrant just because they smelled burning opium, reports Adam Liptak at The New York Times.
On Wednesday, during the argument of a case about what police were entitled to do upon smelling marijuana outside the door of a Kentucky apartment, two justices were concerned that the Court may be ready to eviscerate the 1948 ruling which stemmed from a Seattle case.

Photo: Mad Hot Hip Hop
Not fo’ shizzle?

​Los Angeles marijuana dispensaries are abuzz about an email pitch from a company that says — sort of — that a pro-cannabis celebrity endorsement from someone “like Snoop Dogg” could increase business.

Many are wondering if the business proposal is real, reports Dennis Romero at our sister Village Voice Media site LA Weekly — as in, would such a big star really do this for cash?
“I be illing if Snoop is shilling,” commented Brett, the administrator of the “mmjnews” Yahoo! email group.
The vaguely worded email, from someone named Nathan Hill who identifies himself as CEO of a something called Celebrity Green Room, reads (see body the email after the fold):

Photo: Kenichi Nalita
Kenichi Nalita came to the United States in a fight for his life as a medical cannabis patient battling Crohn’s disease. Now Kenichi’s facing another fight — to be able to stay here. (Yes, Ken tells me the correct spelling of his last name is Nalita.)

​A Japanese medical marijuana patient battling Crohn’s disease, in what he describes as a fight for his life, is desperately trying to gain political/medical asylum in the United States, because his homeland’s government says cannabis is not a medicine.

Kenichi Nalita, the very first medical marijuana user to fight for his rights in Japanese courts, told Toke of the Town that he hopes the U.S. will accept him as a political prisoner seeking asylum, since he can obtain medicinal cannabis in California but not in Japan.
“I’m a patient of Crohn’s disease,” Nalita told us. “And I guess you might know that my disease is able to be taken care of by a couple grams of cannabis per day. It controls my immune system and inflammation, and also helps rebuilding mucous membranes in my bowel.

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