Toke of the Town — Marijuana and Cannibis News

Bikini Babes Doing Bong Rips, The Video… NOW Do You Love America?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Culture

HowToGrowBud.com

I didn’t catch the question, ladies, but the answer is probably yes.

Ganja Girls Minna and Kristin doing bikini bong rips in a YouTube video…

Folks, it’s hard not to love America at a time like this.

Life may not always be a perfect party, but there are definitely some compensations.

Among those are these two appealingly stoned young ladies, who somehow seem almost sweetly shy.

Los Angeles City Council Adopts Marijuana Dispensary Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Dispensaries, Legislation

Graphic: www.losangelesmedicalmarijuana.org

After more than two years of deliberation, the Los Angeles City Council voted 11-3 Tuesday afternoon to adopt the first reading of an ordinance regulating the sale of medical marijuana in the city.

The ordinance will establish rules for the operation of medical marijuana dispensaries, collectives and cooperatives.

Patients and advocates worked throughout the process to improve several versions of an ordinance they considered to be flawed.

‘Live Like It’s Legal’: Landmark Cannabis Hearing In New Zealand

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Global, Legislation, News

Photo: gonzofreakpower.blogspot.com

Dakta Green: “Live like it’s legal”

Dakta Green, founder of New Zealand’s most visible cannabis club, will argue in court Wednesday that marijuana laws are a fundamental breach of his rights, in what is being called a “landmark” hearing.

Green will argue before Judge Ann Kiernan in Auckland District Court that cannabis laws discriminate against users of the herb, and that the severity of marijuana penalties under the Misuse of Drugs Act violates New Zealand’s Bill of Rights Act.

“Alcohol and tobacco are dangerous drugs but are legally available,” Green said. “Cannabis causes less harm to our community.”

Green, whose motto is “live like it’s legal,” will call two witnesses to bolster his claims of persecution and discrimination.

Attorney To Health Dept.: Where Has All The Medical Marijuana Registration Money Gone?

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Legislation, Medical, News

Photo: westword

Activist/attorney Rob Corry: “Serious questions are raised as to the allocation of the patients’ funds”

Activist/attorney Rob Corry, one of the most visible marijuana advocates on the Colorado scene, has sent an open records request to the Colorado Department of Health. Corry wants to know where the money has gone.

Via email, Corry writes that Colorado has received “conservatively $1.7 million… from suffering patients paying for the privilege of waiting four months for a paper card that doesn’t fit in normal wallets and falls apart in one wash,” reports Michael Roberts at Westword.

In the letter, Corry documents 19,691 patients who received marijuana registry cards between June 2001 and September 2009. With the health department recently receiving a record 1,650 applications in a single day, that number is clearly out of date.

Washington Lawmakers Snuff Out Marijuana Legalization Bill

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Legislation, News

Photo: seattlest.com

A Washington grow room. A bill which would legalize marijuana in Washington is dying through lack of leadership in the Legislature.

If marijuana is going to be legalized in Washington this year, it will have to be the voters who do it — because the Legislature won’t.

The House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee is expected to vote down bills dealing with legalization and decriminalization of marijuana, reports Jerry Cornfield at the Everett Herald Net.

Rep. Chris Hurst, chairman of the public safety panel, told Cornfield there aren’t enough votes to move either bill out of committee.

L.A. City Council Set To Vote Tuesday On Marijuana Dispensary Law

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 19, 2010 Dispensaries, Medical

Photo: Damon D’Amato, WAMC

Medical marijuana supporters march on L.A. City Hall in 2007

After a delay of nearly three years resulting in hundreds of unlicensed medical marijuana dispensaries opening in Los Angeles, the City Council there will try to pass an ordinance Tuesday to regulate the booming industry.

The council already resolved some key issues, reports the Los Angeles Daily News — including whether to cap the number of dispensaries citywide, and the size of buffer zones between dispensaries and homes — during sessions that began last year.

Now the council must decide whether dispensaries should be kept 500 or 1,000 feet away from “sensitive use” sites, including schools, hospitals, religious institutions and rehab centers.

Once that’s settled, the council could pass the ordinance on first reading — but only if at least 12 of its 15 members vote for the measure. Otherwise, there will be a second reading a week later, when only eight votes are required to pass.

Court: Tracking Devices OK On Marijuana Suspects’ Vehicles

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 18, 2010 Legislation, News

Graphic: www.technologygear.net

A federal appeals court in Oregon has ruled that mobile tracking devices can be attached to the vehicles of suspects as part of a marijuana investigation, The Associated Press reports.

Juan Pineda-Moreno argued his constitutional rights were violated when U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents attached the tracking devices to his sport utility vehicle.

DEA agents attached several of the spy gadgets to Pineda-Moreno’s SUV, tracking his movements after they learned the suspect and his associates bought large amounts of fertilizer, groceries, irrigation equipment and deer repellent in the Medford, Oregon area in 2007.

It’s Official: New Jersey Becomes 14th Medical Marijuana State

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 18, 2010 Legislation, Medical

Graphic: salem-news.com

Monday was a day of celebration for patients and advocates as the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act was signed into law by outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine.

The new law provides patients protection from arrest and prosecution for possession and transportation of marijuana, and establishes state-regulated distribution of medicinal cannabis by “Alternative Treatment Centers.”

New Jersey is the 14th state to legalize medical marijuana, and the third largest in population, after California and Michigan.

Israel To Charge Patients For Marijuana As Demand Soars

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 18, 2010 Global, Medical

Photo: russiatoday.com

Patients who use medical marijuana in Israel will soon pay a monthly service charge of about $100 to cover costs, reports Josiah Daniel Ryan of The Jerusalem Post.

The charge is scheduled to begin in a few weeks, according to a source inside Tikkun Olam, the nonprofit organization that produces Israel’s medical marijuana. It will be about NIS 360 monthly, roughly equivalent to $97 American. (At current exchange rates, a shekel is worth about 27 cents American).

In addition, starting Sunday, patients are required to pay a one-time administrative fee of NIS 116 (about $31).

Until Sunday, patients had received free marijuana. But following a wave of publicity caused by media reports, Tikkun Olam has been deluged, with a nearly 500 percent increase in requests for medical cannabis, according to an anonymous source within the organization.

Initiative Tells College Students Marijuana Is SAFER Than Alcohol

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~ on January 18, 2010 Culture, News

SAFER Campuses Initiative

With the spring semester beginning at colleges around the nation, the SAFER Campuses Initiative, letting students know marijuana is safer than alcohol, is off to an early start, according to Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER).

Every objective study on marijuana, according to SAFER, has concluded that marijuana is far safer than alcohol. Yet most of the nation’s universities punish students far more harshly for pot than for booze.

“In doing so, they are sending a dangerous message that fosters and perpetuates a ‘culture of alcohol’ on campuses nationwide, and drives students to drink rather than make the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead,” SAFER says in a press release.