Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

N.C. Supporters Rally For Legalizing Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 14, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Supporters gathered outside the Guilford County, North Carolina Courthouse Tuesday evening to rally for a bill before the Legislature to legalize medical marijuana.

The purpose was to educate people on House Bill 1380, which would allow doctors to recommend medical marijuana for seriously ill patients, reports MyFox8.com.

Harold Watts said he wants to tell people how cannabis helps those who are suffering with chronic illness or pain.

Sheriff Wants Radio Station To Stop Drug Raid Broadcasts

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: MPP

Every year, CAMP goes all Rambo, terrorizing ordinary citizens for growing marijuana, of all things.

Should a local radio station broadcast information on the real-time movements of police and drug agents? Community station KMUD, based in southern Humboldt County, the unofficial capital of marijuana cultivation in California, says its reports are an essential tool in protecting the community from police abuse.

The broadcasts grew from a citizens’ monitoring project that began after the Reagan Administration in 1983 launched the huge, wasteful and ineffective “marijuana eradication campaign” known as CAMP, or Campaign Against Marijuana Planting.

The waste, arrogance and abuse associated with the program — which has unfortunately become the largest law enforcement task force in the United States, with more than 100 agencies taking part — have become legendary.

Philadelphia Marijuana Arrests Point To Racial Bias

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2010 News

Graphic: Philly NORML

Something more than criminal activity underlies the extraordinarily high numbers of marijuana possession arrests among blacks in Philadelphia, reports Linn Washington Jr. of The Philadelphia Tribune.

Across Pennsylvania, whites accounted for 58 percent of marijuana possession arrests in 2008, according to the Pennsylvania Uniform Crime Report (UCR) covering that year.

But in Philadelphia during the same year, black males accounted for 82.8 percent of the 4,716 adults arrested for smoking (not selling) marijuana, according to statistics harvested from Pennsylvania’s UCR by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML).

Blacks and whites account for roughly equal proportions of Philadelphia’s population, with 43 percent blacks and 45 percent whites, according to the 2000 Census.

Police ‘White Paper’ Misinformation Used To Close Pot Shops

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2010 Dispensaries, News

Graphic: NORML

When supervisors in Placer County, California voted last week to ban medical marijuana dispensaries, they relied heavily on the information contained in a “White Paper on Marijuana Dispensaries” from the California Police Chiefs Association. Trouble is, the cop-sponsored “White Paper” is an inaccurate, nasty bit of propaganda which bears little resemblance to the truth, according to medical marijuana advocates.

The toxic little screed, published last year, argues that dispensaries are linked to “marijuana crimes” and violence, reports Peter Hecht at The Sacramento Bee.

As Hecht reports, here’s a sample of the kinds of, er, “information” contained in the cops’ ‘ “White Paper”:

Legalization Advocate To Testify Before Congress On Drug War

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: Drug Reporter

Ethan Nadelmann, DPA: “The continuing emphasis on interdiction and law enforcement in the federal Drug War budget suggest that ONDCP is far more wedded to the failures of the past than to any new vision for the future.”

It’s no surprise that Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske will testify Wednesday before a Congressional subcommittee on the White House’s Drug War budget. More surprising, and more encouraging, is the fact that Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA), a group which has actively fought against the Drug War, will also be testifying.

The U.S. House Domestic Policy Subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), will hold a hearing Wednesday morning on the Drug War budget and forthcoming 2010 National Drug Control Strategy.

Nadelmann’s testimony will focus on:

• The Drug War’s flawed performance measures

• The lop-sided ratio between supply and demand spending in the national drug budget

Police Return Man’s Medical Marijuana — With No Court Order!

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 13, 2010 Medical, News

Photo: Home Security Guru

Going against its own policy, a police department in California has returned several containers of marijuana to a 21-year-old man who said he was falsely accused of possession, transportation and sales.

The man, who lives in Mountain Ranch, California, asked that his full name not be used, opting to be referred to only as “Frank,” reports Joel Metzger of the Calaveras Enterprise. He was pulled over by Officer Jim McKeon of the Angels Camp Police Department on Nov. 22 in a parking lot for expired registration on his vehicle, according to the police report.

Officer Chris Johnson arrived on the scene, said he smelled the odor of raw marijuana, and claimed he saw some marijuana in plain sight in the car, according to Angels Camp Police Chief Dale Mendenhall.

Connecticut Bill Would Let Cities Tax Marijuana Sales

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: MarijuanaStamps.com

Connecticut State Senator Robert J. Kane (R-Watertown) claims he can’t understand why his idea isn’t getting more support. “Everyone but the drug dealers would benefit,” said Kane, the lead sponsor of legislation to exploit a 1991 law that imposes a tax on illegal marijuana sales and establishes penalties for not paying the tax.

The 1991 tax was enacted to provide another avenue for seizing the assets of drug dealers, reports the Waterbury Republican-American.

This is the second year that Kane has pushed his pot tax. The first bill died in the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. This year’s version is stalled in the state Senate.

But this isn’t the honest, upfront kind of taxation that comes with legalization. This is that sneaky kind of taxation that is imposed on a still-illegal substance — to provide a pretext for asset seizure, for “non-payment of taxes” on a product that would have gotten you busted even if you paid the tax.

Willie Nelson’s Bandmates Charged For Moonshine And Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2010 Culture, News

Photo: Hollywire

Where there’s Willie, there’s weed. Let’s just all come to terms with it.

Willie Nelson’s band members are facing marijuana and alcohol possession charges in North Carolina after their tour bus was raided in January. The prosecutor said Friday he plans to pursue charges “to prove that famous people are not above the law.”

In a Friday news conference, Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said the substances had been sent to Raleigh, N.C., for testing, reports RightJuris.com.

Hudson has come under pressure to drop the charges against Nelson’s band members, but he just won’t let go of the case. Hudson said the case is being handled “as any other case would be,” reports Mike Charbonneau at WRAL.com.

Illinois One Vote Away From Getting Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Chicago Reader

Medical marijuana is one vote away from becoming law in Illinois.

The bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), said Saturday that he is working behind the scenes to line up the needed votes, and is just waiting for the right moment to call it for a vote in the Illinois House, reports Bob Roberts at Chicago’s WBBM.

If the measure passes and is signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois will become the 15th state to allow medicinal use of cannabis, which has been illegal in Illinois since the 1930s.

Police Say Barista Sells Pot At Coffee Stand

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on April 12, 2010 News

Photo: Celebrifi

No, this isn’t her. But I’d like to live in a world where it is.

Police claim a Mill Creek, Washington espresso stand may be the first in Snohomish County to offer lattes with a shot of marijuana on the side.

An undercover detective with the Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force claims he last week twice bought pot from the business, according to a search warrant affidavit filed Friday, reports Jackson Holtz of the Everett Herald.

The primary suspect in the case is an “attractive” Mill Creek woman, 46, Holtz reports. She has not been arrested or charged, Holtz told Toke of the Town, so the Herald is not yet naming her.

“Photos of the woman posted on an Internet site show her posing with her handsome son,” the newspaper tells us.

Police claim they bought weed at the stand, south of the Silver Firs neighborhood, from both the woman and her son’s girlfriend.