| Photo: The Daily News Online |
| Black Mamba, a brand of synthetic marijuana, burns in a glass pipe. The vial the “incense” came in is in the foreground. |
Washington’s state Board of Pharmacy announced on Thursday that it plans to place an “emergency ban” on synthetic marijuana products.
What is popularly known as “synthetic marijuana” is sold as “incense” under product names such as K2, Spice and Black Mamba. The chemicals sprayed on herbal blends are synthetic analogues of marijuana’s main active ingredient, THC.
Users typically smoke the “incense” in ways similar to using cannabis, the board said.
The blends offer, at best, a weak simulation of the marijuana high. Users report that no “munchies” accompany the trifling high, which only lasts about 30 minutes. Combining alcohol with “synthetic marijuana,” unlike real pot, can result in a splitting headache.
| Graphic: KSBY |
Grandmother and Children Handcuffed, Forced Facedown To The Ground; Children Taken From Parents
Aggressive raids against five collectively run medical marijuana delivery services were staged by a Narcotics Task Force of local and state law enforcement agencies on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this week in San Luis Obispo County, California.
The raids resulted in at least 13 people being arrested on felony charges, with bails of up to $100,000. Several of those arrested were charged with child endangerment, after Child Protective Services (CPS) removed at least six children from the homes of three different families.
In one report of this week’s raids, the police kept people, including a grandmother and two children, handcuffed facedown on the ground. The children were later hauled off to CPS after their parents were thrown in jail.
| Graphic: Massachusetts Marijuana Movement Journal |
Starting this Saturday, January 1, 2011, possession of up to an ounce of marijuana in California will be a less serious offense, similar to a parking ticket. The fine cannot be more than $100, considerably less than most speeding tickets or running a red light.
Despite the failure of legalization initiative Proposition 19, Californians just aren’t that into punishing people for pot. Their relaxed attitudes about weed are reflected in the new state law, which downgrades possession of up to an ounce from a misdemeanor crime punishable with a $100 fine to an infraction, with the fine staying the same, reports Heidi Ross at Internetbits.
The bill, SB 1449, was introduced this year by state Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). Sen. Leno said the state could no longer afford to go after people who had committed a crime that carries the same punishment as a parking ticket.
| Photo: AFP |
| Erika Gandara, the last police officer in Guadalupe, Mexico, has been kidnapped and her house set afire. |
Gunmen have kidnapped a 28-year-old woman who was the last police officer in the town of Guadalupe, Mexico, close to the violent northern border city Ciudad Juarez, according to Mexican officials.
About 10 unidentified gunmen last Thursday set fire to the home of Erika Gandara and torched both cars parked outside for good measure before abducting her, witnesses told the state of Chihuahua prosecutor’s office, reports The Sydney Morning Herald.
All of Gandara’s colleagues on the Guadalupe police force had already either resigned and fled, or were killed by drug cartels.
Guadalupe, population 9,000, is located about 60 kilometers southeast of Ciudad Juarez, in an area frequently used by smugglers to transport drugs into the United States.
| Photo: Molly’s Daily Kiss |
A woman was beaten by a group of people on Christmas Day after stealing, then returning a bag of marijuana to a drug dealer, according to a Flint, Michigan police report.
The victim went to a location in Genesee Township with a friend to buy marijuana, according to police, reports Kahlil AlHajal of The Flint Journal. She bought some weed, but also stole a bag at about 10 p.m., police said.
When she had a change of heart — or perhaps realized what a dumb thing she’d done — she tried to return the stolen bag to the dealer about 20 minutes later. But when she showed back up, several men and women began punching and kicking the at first sticky-fingered but now repentant woman, even beating her with belts, according to police.
| Cannabis Defense Coalition |
Records Released In Cannabis Tax Flap
What inspired Washington state’s recent efforts to collect sales tax on medical marijuana sales at dispensaries — despite the fact that such sales are illegal, according to the state and federal governments? A marijuana activist group has received documents which may provide the answer.
The Washington State Department of Revenue mailed letters to 90 dispensaries two weeks ago, insisting that medical marijuana is not exempt from state sales tax — as are other medicines — and telling dispensaries they must collect that money and turn it over to the state.
But as noted by the Department of Revenue itself, “Current Washington State statutes (and Federal law) do not allow a prescription for marijuana because it is a Schedule I controlled substance. Even though Washington has a specific ‘medical’ marijuana chapter in statute, the prescription statutes and case law do not acknowledge that any valid medical purpose exists for marijuana.”
“Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance which cannot be prescribed under either federal or state law in Washington,” the document notes. “Since marijuana cannot be prescribed, retail sales tax applies to purchases of marijuana and must be collected/remitted by the seller.”
| Photo: 9News.com |
| Patient privacy is compromised as a Denver resident finds medical marijuana patient information in an alley |
Medical marijuana patient records allegedly from the Apothecary of Colorado, a dispensary, were found in an alley in Denver on Tuesday.
The records were found in a binder and include medical marijuana patient applications, medical condition information, Social Security numbers, and copies of drivers licenses and birth certificates.
The records were discovered by Denver resident Harold Morton in a box next to his dumpster, reports Dave DeLozier at 9News.com.
| Photo: The Vancouver Sun |
| Dana Larsen holds marijuana at The Medical Cannabis Dispensary, which he operates in Vancouver, in this 2008 photo. |
Longtime Canadian marijuana activist Dana Larsen has become the first candidate to enter the British Columbia NDP leadership race, announcing that he plans to make cannabis legalization an election issue.
Larsen, 39, officially kicked off his campaign Wednesday morning, reports CBC News.
“I support B.C. NDP policies which call for cannabis to be legally taxed and regulated,” Larsen said. “Cannabis is British Columbia’s biggest industry and it should be brought above ground.”
| Photo: Granny Purps |
| Granny Purps medical marijuana dispensary in Soquel, California, found a very effective way to motivate customers to donate to a food drive — give away free joints. |
A medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Cruz County, California has found a very effective way to inspire canned food donations for the holidays — giving away joints.
The Granny Purps dispensary in Soquel, about 60 miles southeast of San Francisco, handed out one free cannabis cigarette for every four cans of food donated by its patients, reports Tovin Lapan at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Each patient was limited to three free joints a day.
The dispensary took in donations of more than 11,000 pounds of food and handed out 2,000 free joints between November and Christmas Eve, when the promotion ended. (Aw, man!)
The food was donated to Second Harvest Food Bank.
| Graphic: KMVT |
A Florida woman whose husband allowed officers to search their home was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia after they found cannabis in a grinder on the kitchen table.
“I’m part Cherokee Indian and we don’t consider marijuana a drug,” the 30-year-old Crestview woman told officers, reports Wendy Victora at Northwest Florida Daily News.
The woman “smelled of alcohol,” according to the arrest report from Crestview Police Department, which does consider marijuana a drug.
Three young children were in the house at the time, according to police.