Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Cannabis Quote Of The Day: Louis Armstrong

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

If we all get as old as Methuselah, our memories will always be of lots of beauty and warmth from gage. Well, that was my life and I don’t feel ashamed at all. Mary Warner, honey, you sure was good and I enjoyed you ‘heap much.’

~ Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)

Louis Armstrong first smoked marijuana in the mid-1920s, and stuck up for the herb all his life.

The original manuscript for Armstrong’s autobiography, Satchmo: My Life In New Orleans, published in 1954, contained information about his cannabis use, but those parts of the book were suppressed and censored by his manager, Joe Glaser (an Al Capone acolyte).

Texas Cops Need Help Getting Rid Of 200,000 Pounds Of Weed

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 News

Photo: McAllenTimes.com

Here’s about a ton of weed. Multiply that by 100 and that’s how much pot these Texans are sitting on.

The Brooks County Sheriff’s Department has a marijuana problem. They’ve got 200,000 pounds of pot, and they’re complaining that it would be too expensive to destroy it.

“This is a problem that doesn’t seem to be going away and anything we can get to help us to dispose of these cases once they’re done and to get ready for the next one that are coming in would be a great help,” said Deputy Daniel Davila.

Something tells me Toke of the Town readers could be of great assistance to the deputy. After all, at a trying time like this, we all have to pitch in, people!

All of the confiscated cannabis comes from drug cases over the past decade, reports Manuel De La Rosa at KIII-TV. And for now, all that unwanted weed sits in some storage trailers, awaiting an uncertain fate.

Berkeley May Look To Pot Shops To Solve Budget Woes

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Photo: The Berkeley Clinic

Berkeley is the latest California city facing a budget deficit to cast an acquisitive eye at the healthy revenue stream flowing through medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Berkeley City Council will Tuesday night consider putting a measure on the November ballot to increase the business license tax on its three officially sanctioned marijuana dispensaries. The pot shops currently pay $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts, which nets the city about $22,000 a year, reports Frances Dinkelspiel at Berkeleyside.

California Judge Rejects Effort To Keep Pot Shops Open

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Paul Rodriguez, The Orange County Register

A federal judge has rejected a request by four Orange County, California medical marijuana patients for a temporary injunction preventing the cities of Lake Forest and Costa Mesa from shutting down marijuana dispensaries.

The four patients — Marla James, Wayne Washington, James Armantrout and Charles Daniel — argued through their lawyer, Matthew Pappas, that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives disabled people a federally protected right to use medical marijuana if such use is legal under state law, report Erika I. Ritchie and Ellyn Pak at The Orange County Register.

The patients were asking the judge to temporarily stop the cities from taking further action against dispensaries; bar the cities from violating the rights of qualified patients under the ADA; avoid damages for past actions in violation of the ADA; and award attorneys’ fees.

420 University Kick Starts Cannabis Education In Michigan

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Growing, Medical

Photo: 420 University

Ed Rosenthal will present “Let’s Get Growing,” a cultivation workshop, as part of 420 University’s seminar on compassionate care in July.

Michigan’s growing medical marijuana industry will have available an instructional series of classes on compassionate care and the cultivation of cannabis at a July seminar.

On July 10 and 11, Kalamazoo, Mich., will host 420 University’s first-ever weekend seminar, with instruction from prominent industry educators including cannabinoid scholar Dr. Robert Melamede, who is CEO and president of Cannabis Science, Inc., and the celebrated Guru of Ganja, Ed Rosenthal of Quick Trading.

As students, professionals, and educators gather at 420 University for the inaugural weekend of training in compassionate care, experts like Rosenthal and Melamede will provide instruction on cannabinoid science, certification, cultivation, cooking, legal issues, and public policy. All full listing of course topics can be found at 420University.com.

Pot Legalization Advocates Have Cash; Opponents Don’t

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: Tax Cannabis 2010

The pro-pot forces have money for California’s upcoming legalization battle, while the anti-weed contingent has little good news to report.

The November ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana for adult personal use in the Golden State got more than $200,000 in campaign contributions between January 1 and March 31, according to newly published electronic finance records.

Meanwhile, all the groups opposing legalization — like the Committee Against the Legalization of Marijuana — didn’t electronically file their contributions by the April 15 deadline, meaning they raised less than $50,000, the minimum amount that requires mandatory e-filing.

This could be good news for reformers, reports David Downs at East Bay Express.

Washington D.C. Legalizes Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 4, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Dave’s blog of random shit

Federal medical marijuana patient Irv Rosenfeld smokes a joint in front of the Capitol Building

The D.C. Council on Tuesday approved amendments to a medical marijuana law first passed in 1998 by 69 percent of District voters. Congress had blocked implementation of Initiative 59 for more than a decade, until it lifted its ban last year.

With Tuesday’s vote, the District of Columbia joins the 14 states across the country which already allow qualified patients to use medical marijuana without fear of arrest.

“Today marks a long overdue victory for D.C. voters and potentially thousands of chronically ill residents who will benefit from legal access to medical marijuana,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project.

What’s Up With Tightening Medical Marijuana Laws?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition

There’s a disquieting trend lately in the medical marijuana arena. To this close observer of the rhetoric and results surrounding state (and District of Columbia) restrictions on medicinal use of cannabis, every law seems a little tighter than the one before.

It seems it’s become de rigueur for politicians to announce “this would be the strictest medical marijuana law in the nation” every time legislation is introduced, as if the states are in some sort of twisted competition to see who can be the meanest to sick people.

Since when is making safe access to marijuana difficult or impossible for patients something to brag about?

For instance, the new medical marijuana law in New Jersey, and, apparently the one to be voted on this week in D.C., prohibit cannabis cultivation by qualified patients. For many low income patients, this represents the only realistic chance of obtaining quality medicine.

L.A. Begins Closing Hundreds Of Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Photo: Los Angeles Times

It’s the beginning of the end for hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries.

Hundreds of Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries are being told they must shut down to comply with a recently passed city law.

More than 500 letters are expected to be mailed Tuesday to pot shops across the city, where hundreds of dispensaries opened in recent years as city officials struggled to approve a local regulatory ordinance, reports the Associated Press.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa signed the ordinance on Friday that sets fees for dispensaries to remain open if they meet the new, stricter guidelines. About 187 dispensaries — all shops that opened before the council imposed a moratorium — have six months to comply.

Oakland Faces Weed Shortage; City Council Declares Emergency

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on May 3, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: Spark Report

I can remember weed droughts in the 1970s, and it was only the hippies complaining. Now the City of Oakland, California is prepared to renew its declaration of a “local public health emergency” stemming from a shortage of medical marijuana.

The routine declaration from the City Council was originally issued in 1998, according to city official Barbara Parker, and is meant to reinforce Oakland’s policy of allowing medical marijuana dispensaries and ordering police to effectively ignore pot offenses, reports David Downs at East Bay Express.