Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

D.C. Medical Marijuana Bill Would Allow 2 Ounces

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 30, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: Medical Marijuana Patients of D.C.

Washington, D.C., would allow patients to have up to two ounces of marijuana a month — enough for about two joints a day — for medical use under a bill that moved forward Tuesday.

Patients would not be allowed to grow their own cannabis under the bill, but a committee would study whether to allow home cultivation by patients and caregivers, and make a recommendation by 2012, reports Malin Berghult at WUSA9.

The bill, which was approved by two city government committees on Tuesday, still needs approval of the full City Council. That could come as early as May.

South Dakota Voters May Legalize Medical Marijuana In November

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: South Dakota Coalition for Compassion

Encouraged by their near miss four years ago, medical marijuana supporters say they have a better chance this year to persuade South Dakotans to legalize the plant for treating pain, nausea and other health problems.

A similar measured failed in 2006, getting about 48 percent of the vote. It was the only time in American history that medical marijuana lost a statewide popular election.

But a coalition of patients, doctors, nurses and others will campaign this summer, explaining how marijuana can help people with serious illnesses, said organizer Emmett Reistroffer, reports Chet Brokaw of The Associated Press.

“We feel like once people learn about the therapeutic uses, they will compassionately support the measure,” Reistroffer said. “If we help them understand marijuana is a medicine, we think we’ll gain their votes.”

Hawaii Governor Rails Against Marijuana Dispensaries

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Big Island Video News

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle: “Compassion centers” are an “insult,” because they are really “pot stores”

During a recent speech before the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle took a hardline stance against the recent legislative effort to legalize and establish medical marijuana dispensaries for the state’s patients.

Governor Lingle pointed to the situation in California, where she claimed marijuana dispensaries now “outnumber both McDonalds and Starbucks,” reports Baron Sekiya at Big Island Video News.

The hard-hearted governor said the term “compassion centers” given to these dispensaries is an “insult,” because in reality, she says, they are simply “pot stores.”

Lingle also claims that today’s marijuana, which she says is 26 percent THC, is far more potent than the herb which was around “when we were in college,” which she claimed ran 2 to 3 percent THC.

D.A.’s Political Roast Pokes Fun At Pot Patients While Partiers Get Plastered

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Culture, Dispensaries, News

Photo: RBerteig

Los Angeles County D.A. Steve Cooley’s idea of a good time is to make fun of medical marijuana patients while getting drunk.

Medical marijuana patients were among the punchlines at a rowdy roast last week honoring pot-hating Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley. There were plenty of gags involving Cooley’s crackdown on medical marijuana, with each guest receiving rolling papers in a package reading, “Cooley’s Collective.”

Cooley, who apparently long ago gave up even the appearance of being fair and impartial when it comes to medical pot, evidently finds humor in the plight of Los Angeles patients who are facing an uncertain future due to safe access being put in jeopardy because of his policies.

While Cooley and his cronies are quick to poke fun at marijuana users — even sick and dying medical marijuana patients — drinking must be OK.

After Cooley’s roast the top financial official in Los Angeles, Miguel Santana, was arrested in the San Gabriel Valley at 12:15 a.m., on his way home from the Cooley event, for drunk driving.

Medical Marijuana Comes To ‘South Park’ March 31

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Culture, Medical

Graphic: SF Weekly

Medical marijuana is coming to South Park.

Cartman’s favorite restaurant has been shut down and a store selling medicinal marijuana moves in, on an all-new episode of South Park titled “Medicinal Fried Chicken,” premiering Wednesday, March 31 at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

State law in Colorado says it’s legal to smoke weed if you have a doctor’s recommendation. Randy is the first in line to buy some, but he’s turned away because there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him.

Cannabis Video Of The Day: “Grassfire” ~ John Trudell

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 29, 2010 Culture

This video slideshow is a compilation of photos taken at The Hemp & Cannabis Foundation’s Medicinal Gardens in Oregon.

The slideshow is accompanied by the song “Grassfire” by John Trudell and his band Bad Dog.

Cannabis Quote Of The Day: Paul Stanford

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 28, 2010 Culture

Photo: Leah Nash

Paul Stanford, director, The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), with a few close friends

“Freedom of consciousness and thought should be a fundamental liberty, yet this is what truly frightens those who favor the drug war. Cannabis is a powerful tool in exploring consciousness and reality, one that is healthy and safe for the vast majority. Those who would punish and imprison us for cannabis have been lied to and misled. Our task is to educate them with truth and love.”

~ Paul Stanford

Dutch Court Fines Cannabis Shop Owner 10 Million Euros

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2010 Dispensaries, Global

Photo: Marcel van den Bergh/de Volkskrant

Customers queue up to place their cannabis orders at Coffeeshop Checkpoint

A Dutch court fined the owner of the Netherlands’ largest marijuana-dispensing “coffee shop” 10 million euros Thursday, after police seized more than 200 kilograms of cannabis on the premises.

According to the court, the owner of Coffeeshop Checkpoint would have had to pay a larger penalty if it had not been for the role of the local government.

“Checkpoint could not have expanded as much as it did without collaboration from the municipality of Terneuzen,” near the Belgian border, the court said.

N.J. Lawmakers Urge Governor To Pardon Medical Pot Patient

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Photo: Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger

John Ray Wilson, a multiple sclerosis patient, is led out of Superior Court after being sentenced to five years in prison for marijuana.

Two New Jersey lawmakers called on Gov. Chris Christie Wednesday to pardon a man sentenced to five years in prison for growing marijuana to treat his multiple sclerosis.

Senators Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) and Nicholas Scutari (D-Union) asked the governor to commute John Ray Wilson’s sentence to probation, reports James Queally at The Star-Ledger.

The senators called the prison term facing Wilson as “cruel, unusual and unnecessary” in a letter written to the governor March 24. Wilson, 37, of Franklin Township, N.J., was sentenced to prison after he was found guilty of second-degree “marijuana manufacturing” and third-degree drug possession by a jury in December.

Mexico ‘Feels Offended’ By Medical Marijuana In U.S.

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on March 26, 2010 Global, Medical

Photo: Alejandro Bringas/Reuters

Mexican soldiers stand at attention, desperately trying to maintain a “military bearing” as the intoxicating smoke from bales of marijuana being burned billows over them

Here’s a role reversal for you. Mexico is irritated at the United States for undercutting the Drug War.

As more U.S. states legalize medical marijuana, Mexican Secretary of Interior Fernando Gómez Mont is whining that the American medical marijuana trend is “worrisome” and that it “complicates in a grave way” Mexico’s battle against violent drug cartels.

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week led a high-level U.S. delegation to Mexico to discuss strategies to counter drug trafficking, the issue came to a head, reports Tim Johnson in The Sacramento Bee.