Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Pennsylvania Legislators Say Medical Marijuana ‘Not A Priority’

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 24, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Supporters of the movement to legalize medical marijuana in Pennsylvania rallied on the steps of the state Capitol in Harrisburg in July 2009.

The debate over legalizing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania has heated up in recent weeks, but the issue is still not a priority in the Legislature, according to a spokesman for House Majority Leader Todd Eachus.

“He believes it’s an issue that deserves greater discussion, but now is not the time for that,” spokesman Bill Thomas said, reports Bob Kalinowski at Citizens Voice.

“This is an issue that deserves further discussion, but it is not a priority,” Thomas said.

A group supporting legalization of cannabis for medical use held a rally on Public Square in Wilkes-Barre on May 8. Then, on Wednesday of last week, area police and anti-drug activists held a press conference at Luzerne County Courthouse to urge lawmakers to reject any proposals to legalize medical marijuana.

Hundreds Of ‘Pot Plants’ Seized By Texas Cops Aren’t Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 News

Graphic: nocookie.net

Maybe there should be an IQ test for police officers. What was first thought to be one of the largest marijuana seizures in the Corpus Christi Police Department’s history turned into an embarrassing incident for the cops, as the clueless officers spent a busy and exciting evening harvesting hundreds of harmless weeds from a city park.

The revealing incident began when a teenager riding his bike through Waldron Park in Flour Bluff discovered what he thought were pot plants growing there about 8 p.m. Thursday, reports Bart Bedsole of KRIStv.com.

The would-be junior narc wasted no time in excitedly reporting his “find.”

Police then self-importantly hauled away 300 to 400 medium-sized plants that they, too, believed were marijuana.

Exhausted officers only stopped collecting the harmless plants because it got too dark to work; they planned to return bright and early in the morning to look around for more marijuana.

Trouble is, after spending more than an hour laboriously removing and tagging hundreds of plants, and then hauling it all to the police department downtown, testing revealed that none of it was marijuana at all.

CO: Pot Dispensaries May Sue Cities That Extend Moratoriums

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: KRDO

Medical marijuana is legal under the Colorado Constitution, but newly passed regulations allow cities to ban the dispensaries that sell it. Now cannabis advocates are planning lawsuits if cities choose to ban the shops, reports Mireya Garcia of KRDO.

“They are missing the most important part of this — the patients,” said Michael Stetler, a dispensary owner in Pueblo.

The Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council works with local communities in Southern Colorado that have moratoriums in place. CSMCC officials said the longer communities take to figure out how to regulate dispensaries, the worse patients will suffer.

Oregon Petitioners Submit Signatures For Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: Mercy Center

Medical marijuana advocates on Thursday submitted 110,000 signatures, more than the amount required, for a ballot initiative allowing state-licensed cannabis dispensaries in Oregon.

The proposed measure, Initiative 28, would not change the qualifying medical conditions under which medicinal marijuana may be legally used, report Stacey Barchenger and Peter Wong of the Statesman Journal.

Backers of the initiative say it would fix serious flaws in Oregon’s 12-year-old medical marijuana program.

Oregon residents with doctor-approved medical marijuana cards can legally possess and use marijuana, but they cannot legally buy it. They must either grow their own or designate a grower/caregiver, who still cannot be paid for the cannabis, reports Peter Korn at The Portland Tribune.

Prince Of Pot Extradited To U.S. For 5-Year Term

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Global, News

Photo: CTV

Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, is now in custody in the United States.

After a years-long battle to avoid extradition, marijuana activist and entrepreneur Marc Emery of Vancouver, B.C., the self-proclaimed “Prince of Pot,” is going to the United States. It’s not a trip that Emery wanted to take.

Emery, 52, was driven from a Vancouver jail to the Washington State border and was handed over to U.S. authorities, according to his wife, Jodie, reports The Canadian Press.

Jodie said her husband will be held in a detention center south of Seattle until appearing before a judge to plead guilty of selling millions of marijuana seeds to American customers, and begin his plea-bargained sentence of five years in a U.S. federal prison.

Washington Drug Agents Seize Pot Legalization Petitions

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 21, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Citizen Alert

Washington drug agents have illegally seized signed petitions for marijuana legalization, according to organizers of ballot initiative I-1068.

Marijuana advocacy group Sensible Washington says it has learned that a dozen signed copies of the marijuana legalization initiative for Washington State of which it is the sponsor, were seized last week by the federally-funded WestNET drug task force.

Advocates say that the drug agents who seized the petitions are interfering with a constitutionally-protected legislative procedure.

“Our estimate is that 2009 signatures are sitting in WestNET’s offices in Port Orchard, apparently seized as ‘evidence’ during a series of raids against the North End Club 420 in Tacoma,” said Sensible Washington campaign director and initiative co-author Philip Dawdy.

Here’s What Your Grow Room Looks Like After The Cops Raid It

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: Edwyn W. Boyke

This photo was taken by legal medical marijuana patient Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, after police raided his home and destroyed his $7,000 grow setup.

Saginaw County, Michigan sheriff’s department officials claim their “destruction policy” will change after a legal medical marijuana grower released photos of his basement grow room following a police “visit.”

Deputies will discontinue their policy of destroying all grow room equipment when they serve search warrants at the homes of medical marijuana patients or caretakers, Saginaw County Sheriff’s Detective Randy P. Pfau claimed.

Edwyn W. Boyke Jr., 64, of Saginaw Township, released the sobering photos after the raid conducted by deputies and federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents in the basement of his home, reports Gus Burns of The Saginaw News.

New Zealand Man Faces Prison For Selling Gardening Equipment

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Global, Growing

Photo: CannaZine

There’s still no word on when they plan to arrest the entire Earth for providing soil upon which marijuana “could be grown.” A hapless New Zealand garden store manager is facing a likely jail term for selling undercover police “equipment that could be used to cultivate cannabis.”

Peter James Stewart, 50, admitted five charges of supplying equipment or material that could be used to cultivate marijuana when he appeared before Judge Kevin Phillips on Tuesday, reports The Southland Times.

Big Bucks Needed To Open Long Beach Pot Dispensary

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: DispensaryFinder.com

Long Beach dispensaries like The Giving Tree will be “giving” hefty licensing fees to the city under a plan approved Tuesday by the City Council.

Don’t even think about opening a medical marijuana dispensary in Long Beach, California, unless you have a healthy bank account — and you’re willing to bet five figures on it, still with no guarantee of actually getting a shop.

The Long Beach City Council approved fees and charges at Tuesday’s meeting that start at $14,742 and could total more than $26,000 just for the application, then tens of thousands more each year, reports Harry Saltzgraver at Gazettes.com. The process outlined in the Medical Marijuana Collective Implementation Plan will be managed through the Department of Financial Management, but will also include participation by a number of other departments — each of which seems to have their hands out.

Poll: Californians Evenly Divided On Legalizing Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 20, 2010 Culture, Legislation

Graphic: Earth First

This one’s going down to the wire. California voters are evenly divided for and against legalizing marijuana, according to poll results released Wednesday. The survey shows 49 percent oppose legalization while 48 percent support it.

Politics, geography and demographics seem to predict which side of the cannabis divide people are on: 56 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents favor legalization while only 34 percent of Republicans support it, reports Josh Richman at The Oakland Tribune.