Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Colorado Man Facing 10 Years To Life In Pot Case

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 6, 2010 Growing, News

Chris Bartkowicz’s TV appearance led to the loss of his freedom and all his plants

Chris Bartkowicz is facing 10 years to life in federal prison — and up to a $4 million fine — for growing more than 100 medical marijuana plants in his Highlands Ranch, Colorado basement.

Bartkowicz was indicted Tuesday by a U.S. District Court grand jury on three felony counts, and he appeared in court Wednesday, waiving a reading of the charges against him, reports Felisa Cardona at The Denver Post.

According to the federal indictment, Bartkowicz grew more than 100 plants with the intent to distribute marijuana, maintained a “drug-involved premise” and conducted that business near a school — all, mind you, for growing medical cannabis legal under Colorado law.

Canada: Conservatives Push For Stiffer Pot Penalties For Renters

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 6, 2010 Global, Growing

Graphic: The Non Conformer

Tenants caught growing as few as six marijuana plants in their homes could face automatic jail terms of at least nine months under a federal drug-sentencing bill revived Wednesday in Canada. The bill imposes harsher penalties on home renters than on homeowners for growing identical amounts of pot.

Introduced for the third time after dying twice before, the bill, S-10, removes discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit, proposing instead mandatory minimum jail terms for a variety of drug related crimes, reports Janice Tibbetts at The Vancouver Sun.

Detroit Could Legalize Marijuana In November

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 6, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Marcin Szczepanski/Detroit Free Press

Tim Beck, from left, and Matt Abel present petitions for a ballot proposal to legalize marijuana to Detroit Director of Elections Daniel Baxter and City Clerk Janice Winfrey on Wednesday

A push to legalize marijuana in Detroit, Michigan, is being led by a city resident who also helped lead the drive to allow medical marijuana in the state.

“You’ve done a great job” meeting the filing requirements, City Clerk Janice Winfrey said Wednesday to Tim Beck as he handed over more than 6,100 petition signatures, reports Bill Laitner of the Detroit Free Press.

Beck, 58, spent the last five weeks supervising the collection of signatures to get on Detroit’s November ballot. The proposal, which needed only 3,700 signatures to qualify for the ballot, would legalize possession of up to an ounce of cannabis on private property by adults 21 and older.

A registered medical marijuana patient, Beck said enforcing marijuana laws is a waste of the city’s money.

Was It High Definition? 112 Pounds Of Pot Found In Big Screen TV

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 6, 2010 Global, News

What is it

Photo: Bruce Chambers/The Orange County Register

with pot and big screen TVs this week? Toke of the Town already reported on a Georgia man growing pot in his hollowed out big screen TV. Now, a 22-year-old man was arrested Tuesday evening after customs officers found 112 pounds of marijuana stashed inside a big screen TV he was driving into the United States from Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested the man, a United States citizen from Chula Vista, California, at the San Ysidro border station, reports KTLA News.

Here’s What The War On Pot Looks Like: This Must Stop.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 6, 2010 News

Graphic: The Conceptualist

This footage is disturbing — even sickening. But it’s time to stop hiding our heads in the sand.

This is what the war on marijuana looks like.

Militarized, gung-ho SWAT team cops playing Rambo, kicking in a door, slaughtering the family dogs as they howl in pain, terrifying and scarring for life an innocent, seven-year-old child… for what?

To confiscate a small, misdemeanor amount of marijuana from Jonathan Whitworth.

Mission accomplished, eh?

California Collects $100 Million In Marijuana Sales Taxes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: The Baltimore Spectator

California is collecting between $50 million and $100 million a year in sales taxes from medical marijuana, according to the California Board of Equalization, confirming an estimate previously published in an economic analysis by California NORML.

The numbers were also independently confirmed by patient advocacy group Americans for Safe Access.

The state’s retail market for medical marijuana has surpassed $1 billion per year, according to California NORML estimates, with a total adult use market of $6 billion.

Doob Tube? Man Arrested For Growing Marijuana In TV

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2010 Growing, News

Graphic: Reality Catcher

The Nielsen ratings were really high, man. A Georgia man is cooling his heels in jail after marijuana was found growing in his TV.

Gwinnett County Sheriff’s deputies found the pot and the television while evicting Warren English from his home Wednesday, reports Mashaun D. Simon at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Six marijuana plants were discovered growing from the back of a hollowed out big screen TV, police claimed.

English and his family, including two children under 6 years old, were evicted from their home in Snellville, Ga.

Colorado Pot Dispensary Bill Likely To Become Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: Denver Westword

The name of Denver dispensary Patients Choice serves as an ironic reminder that patients had little input on the bill approved on a voice vote Wednesday by the Colorado Senate.

The Colorado Senate Wednesday passed HB 1284, a medical marijuana dispensary regulation bill almost universally opposed in the patient community.

According to the bill’s main sponsor, Senator Chris Romer (D-Denver), the legislation will eliminate from 50 percent to 80 percent of the 1,100 dispensaries now in Colorado.

Dispensaries and producers of cannabis edibles will have to apply for state licenses if the bill becomes law, as appears likely. After July 2011, these providers must follow new state regulations in order to continue operating.

Local governments will be allowed to ban dispensaries. This damaging provision will make safe access to medicine difficult for innumerable patients across the state, according to Sensible Colorado. However, Sensible said its legal team is already planning local campaigns and lawsuits to overturn bans.

That provision caused heated debate Wednesday, with opponents calling it both unwise and unconstitutional. Sen. Morgan Carroll (D-Aurora) said the provision could be overturned in court, throwing all the regulations into jeopardy.

“We have no statutory authority to carve out new exceptions to what is a constitutionally granted right,” Carroll said, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.

Web Weed War Breaks Out On Seattle Collective Scene

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

At first glance Seattle would seem a pot patient’s paradise, with abundant, potent marijuana, a thriving dispensary scene, and $10 a gram prices for medicine. But this week, some ugly internecine strife has become very public, with three pot-related websites being commandeered and rumors swirling as to who’s responsible and why.

Persons affiliated with all three of the sites affected — Compassion In Action, Seattle Green Cross, and the personal site of Seattle marijuana attorney/activist Douglas Hiatt, who heads the statewide I-1068 marijuana legalization initiative — allege that the person responsible is the head of Green Buddha Patient Network, Muraco Kyashna-tocha.

On Sunday, patients attempting to visit the Compassion In Action site were first treated to a profanity-laced telephone message from an understandably upset Dale Rogers (who leads Compassion In Action) to Steve Sarich (who runs local patient collective CannaCare). Visitors are then redirected to competing organization CannaCare’s website.

The Daily Show Looks At Denver’s Pot Dispensary Scene

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 5, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

Gone to Pot

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Photo: The Daily Show

Now that’s a real reporter — getting the story.

The Daily Show‘s Jason Jones takes an up-close but light-hearted look at the increasingly tough competition going on in Denver’s medical marijuana dispensary scene.
Interviews with two dispensary owners — from a “mom and pop” type store and a bigger, glitzier shop — serve to highlight, in a humorous way, some of the differences and debates now shaping the future of medical marijuana.
By the way, I know The Daily Show played it for laughs… But I have to agree with the dispensary operator who has an issue with the strain name “Green Crack.”