| Graphic: ABC News |
| If you voted for marijuana as a CitizenTube question, then your vote didn’t count. |
Yes, questions about marijuana were the most popular in the CitizenTube voting Monday afternoon.
But YouTube, in a gutless move, decided at the last minute not to present the highest ranked questions to the President.
Initial reports that the President had ignored the marijuana questions were inaccurate; YouTube took pot, the top vote getter, out of the running.
President Obama never even got an opportunity to answer the most popular question of all.
Wait, what?
| Photo: www.liberty-lawyer.com |
| Indoor marijuana grow in Minnesota. Thanks to Governor Tim Pawlenty’s veto, patients still have to break the law to use medical cannabis. |
With Minnesota’s legislative session set to begin this week, the author of last year’s medical marijuana bill said he doubts he will introduce another bill this year.
“For right now, it looks a little discouraging,” said State Senator Steve Murphy, who authored and introduced medical marijuana bills in both 2007 and 2009, reports Kyle Potter at mndaily.com.
A medical marijuana bill actually passed the Minnesota Legislature last session, but was then vetoed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty.
| Graphic: Reality Catcher |
| If you’re a marijuana dispensary operator, Wells Fargo now says your money’s not green enough. Or maybe too green. Anyway, they don’t want your business. |
Wells Fargo — which, according to medical marijuana dispensary owners, was the only bank in Colorado which wanted their business — has stopped opening new accounts for dispensaries.
Cristie Drumm, spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, said the bank is looking at state and federal laws to determine what risk the bank runs in working with dispensaries, reports John Ingold at The Denver Post.
“We’re not actively opening accounts with these businesses at this time,” Drumm said.
The bank hasn’t said if it would close its existing dispensary accounts, but the news has many dispensary owners wondering if they might lose a key part of their business plans.
“We wouldn’t have a bank to put our money in,” said Ryan Vincent of The Health Center in Denver. “I don’t know what we would do. We’d probably have to start rallying to put together a credit union.”
| Photo: brooklynmachineworks |
| Do you enjoy filling out paperwork? Then you’d love operating a dispensary in Denver. |
Medical marijuana dispensaries in Denver will soon be needing papers — lots of them — and we aren’t talking about Zig-Zags.
The Mile-High City starts accepting dispensary license applications on February 8. All dispensaries operating in Denver must file such an application by March 1, reports Patricia Calhoun at Westword.
This application is in addition to the regular city sales tax license dispensaries already had to apply for by December 15 in order to be exempted from zoning provisions and other restrictions, including a 1,000-foot buffer zone between dispensaries and schools, day-care centers, and even other dispensaries.
More than 400 dispensaries applied for the sales tax license, according to Westword.
Now, to stay in business, they’ll need to apply for a dispensary license, as well.
| Graphic: www.agreenercountry.com |
The Colorado State Senate has passed a bill designed to prevent recreational pot users from exploiting the law to obtain medical marijuana.
The Senate voted 34-1 on Monday to back Senate Bill 109, which will now go to the State House, reports The Associated Press.
The bill bars doctors from writing recommendations inside medical marijuana dispensaries.
It also requires that doctors review a person’s medical history and give them a full exam before recommending that they legally use medical marijuana.
Patients between 18 and 21 would be required to get the approval of two doctors, which is already required for patients under 18.
| Photo: Jeanie Mackinder |
| Bastard’s stoned out of his gourd! Look at him! |
Michael Bublé, he of the wholesome image and music, may just be a regular guy after all.
The clean-cut singer’s embittered ex-girlfriend is doing a lot of talking to the U.K. media. Tiffany Bromley told the press that Bublé regularly smoked marijuana, then would stuff himself with biscuits and cakes to assuage the raging pot munchies.
Yeah, I know; seems like pretty tame stuff to the rest of us, but remember: This is Michael freakin’ Bublé, dudes.
“Michael smoked up to three joints a day when I was with him,” ex-girlfriend Bromley told News of the World.
“He always had a couple in his wash bag ready to go,” the ex-model turned hairpiece maker told the press. “He insisted it was his way of winding down at the end of the day. But sometimes he started the day with one.”
Oh, horrors. Michael Bublé wakes and bakes!
Thing is, Bublé himself beat his pissed-off ex-girlfriend to the punch, a couple of months ago.
Late last year, the singer confessed his marijuana use and partying ways in an interview published in Britain’s The Sun tabloid.
| Photo: Lori Horwedel/AnnArbor.com |
| A plethora of pot pipes: potential profits for an exhibitor at the Michigan Caregivers Cup |
Despite the forced cancellation of their medical marijuana competition and a brief mix-up over lecture admission prices, the Michigan Caregivers Cup is drawing plenty of visitors and continuing through the weekend, according to event organizers.
The contest, which would have been held Saturday, was canceled after law enforcement threatened that participants could be criminally prosecuted, reports Lee Higgins at AnnArbor.com.
| Graphic: Aural Wes |
| Wesleyan students chose Giant Joint over two human competitors for the student assembly. |
Wesleyan University students have elected “Giant Joint” to the student assembly, beating out two human competitors for the seat.
In the election last month, Giant Joint, a consistent vote-getter in representative elections since 2006, finally achieved victory with 416 votes, reports Aviva Markowitz of The Wesleyan Argus.
The genesis of Giant Joint took place in 2006 when Bev Allen, who graduated from the Middletown, Connecticut university in 2008, walked around the campus dressed as a giant joint.
The first year Allen ran for the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) as Giant Joint, she got 50 votes.
What began as a protest against a Student Health Advisory marijuana safety campaign resulted in a new Wesleyan write-in tradition: Giant Joint for WSA.
“I am proud and excited,” Allen said in an email to The Argus. “I definitely wanted Mr. Joint to live on after my graduation.”
| Graphic: Rock101 |
| South Central has gangsta rap. Mexico has narcocorridos. |
Dudes, if you don’t like the song, maybe you should just change the station. A new proposal by Mexico’s ruling party could result in prison sentences for musicians who perform songs that “glorify drug trafficking.”
The proposed law would mean up to three years behind bars for those performing or producing songs or films that the government deems “glamorize criminals,” reports The Associated Press.
“Society sees drug ballads as nice, pleasant, inconsequential and harmless — but they are the opposite,” claimed Oscar Martin Arce, a National Action party Member of Parliament.
There are so many of the drug ballads, there’s even a name for the genre — narcocorridos. The songs often describe drug smuggling and related violence, and are increasingly popular among some norteño bands.
| 11 News |
| Olathe: Cut us in on the cash, and you can stay |
Just like that, the Town of Olathe, Colorado says it will now charge medical marijuana dispensaries an annual fee of $3,000 to operate.
The Olathe Town Board voted unanimously for the new ordinance on Monday night, according to Town Administrator Scott Harold, reports KKCO. Two board members weren’t present for the vote.
Harold said the board “feels the ordinance is necessary” to “regulate” dispensaries. He claimed the board had been “talking and finalizing the wording of it” (translation: figure out how much we can shake them down for) since June.
Oh well, Toke of the Town supposes it could be worse. The Board could have tried to ban dispensaries outright.