Search Results: agents (399)

Assembly of the Church of the Universe

​In a constitutional challenge to Canada’s marijuana prohibition, two men are arguing in court that the cannabis plant is sacred to their religion. The men are members of the Assembly of the Church of the Universe (COU), which claims about 35 active ministers and 4,000 members across Canada.

 
Rev. Brother Peter Styrsky, 52, and Rev. Brother Shahrooz Kharaghani, 31, are charged with trafficking in marijuana and hashish after police raided their church, Beaches Mission of God, back in October 2006, reports Peter Small of the Toronto Star.
Styrsky, in court Wednesday, explained his transformation from an angry, frustrated delivery driver to a more spiritually content person as a minister within the Church of the Universe, reports Shannon Kari at the National Post.
“[Cannabis is] the most spiritual thing that has ever happened to me,” Styrsky testified Wednesday.


Photo: Hogwild.net
The Miami Dolphins’ Ricky Williams was one of the many NFL players who like getting high — and was on the road to the Hall of Fame. But he entered an early “retirement” in 2004 after failing drug tests for marijuana.

Does the National Football League’s 2010 draft class have a marijuana problem?

Multiple NFL personnel officials have reportedly told SI.com they are “concerned” about the “increased number” of the 2010 draft prospects who “have a history of marijuana use.” Many of the players have already acknowledged a failed drug test for cannabis in college, in their interviews with team representatives.
One personnel manager told SI.com’s Don Banks that “10 or 11” possible first-round draft picks have been “red-flagged for marijuana use” in college, an estimate also made by two teams’ head coaches.
Another NFL head coach guessed that “one-third” of the players on his team’s draft board had “some sort of history with marijuana use” and would thus require an “extra level of evaluation” as part of the pre-draft scouting procedure.
“Marijuana use is almost epidemic, with more guys having tested positive for marijuana at some point in their college background than I can ever remember,” said a team personnel specialist. “It’s almost as if we are having to figure out a new way to evaluate it as part of the character and background report, because it’s so prevalent.”

Graphic: Radical Rags

​Hey Golden State, are you ready to legalize weed?

Here’s your chance! California will be voting this November on whether to legalize and tax marijuana.

On Wednesday, Los Angeles County election officials must turn in their count of valid signatures collected in the county for the Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act, reports John Hoeffel at the Los Angeles Times.
And that number is virtually sure to be enough to put the initiative over the top, qualifying it for the November ballot, according to a tally kept by state election officials.

Photo: The Commercial Appeal
Dr. Bruce Levy

​OK, so you’re at the top of your game. You lead the field in your state. And after a long day’s work of conducting autopsies, who’s to blame you if you need to toke up and unwind with a little of the kind? The Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, that’s who.

Bruce Levy, chief medical examiner for Tennessee, was arrested in Mississippi and charged with felony marijuana possession, police said Wednesday.

Dr. Levy, 49, was arrested after police found a package of marijuana with his name on it — not a smart idea, in case you were considering it! — and more pot at his hotel room in central Mississippi, where he has a lucrative side gig as a coroner.
The package with Levy’s name on it at a distribution center contained less than an ounce of marijuana, according to Jon Kalahar of the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics. Agents on Tuesday also found several containers at his Ridgeland, Miss., hotel room, each with less than an ounce of pot, reports The Associated Press.

Photo: mixed meters
The door to the THC Ministry’s upstairs space at 94 Kamehameha Avenue in Hilo was locked.

Federal drug agents raided the downtown Hilo sanctuary of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry Wednesday morning, assisted by local police.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Muehleck said that no one had yet been arrested or charged in connection with the raid, reports John Burnett at Stephens Media.
Shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Muehleck declined to provide other details and would not say whether THC Ministry director and founder Roger Christie had been detained.
“There’s gonna be no comment from our office talking about anything that’s occurred in Hilo or on the Island of Hawaii at this point,” Muehleck said.

Photo: DEA

​Colorado’s legislators, currently in the midst of trying to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries, are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to stop raids of medicinal cannabis operations.

A group emailed the request to Holder on Monday, following up on a letter sent last week, according to the Associated Press.
According to the lawmakers, the raids are discouraging dispensary operators and medical marijuana patients and growers from working with the Colorado Legislature on proposed regulations.
The letter was sent by Sens. Chris Romer and Nancy Spence, and Reps. Tom Massey and Beth McCann.
A suburban Denver man has been charged with marijuana possession in federal court after DEA agents raided his home and found 224 pot plants.
The raid took place only hours after segments aired of a television interview with Chris Bartkowicz, in which he boasts of his $500,000 basement grow operation, his $637,000 home and his expected $400,000 profits this year.

Photo: Seattle P.I.
A federal agent carries plants away during the bust of a 16,742-plant grow operation at Ross Lake National Recreation Area, Washington state.

​Due to the enormous profits made possible by marijuana prohibition, Mexican drug gangs are taking over U.S. public land to grow cannabis, using smuggled immigrants to cultivate the plants.

Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, report Alicia A. Caldwell and Manuel Valdes of the Associated Press, but Mexican cartels have taken clandestine cannabis cultivation to a whole new level, using armed guards and trip wires to secure grow operations containing tens of thousands of plants.

Photo: 9News
Chris Bartkowicz’s garden is going up in smoke… but not the fun way

​If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what’s happening to the 224 beautiful marijuana plants seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration from that guy who was really good at pot farming but not so much when it came to discretion

Well, there’s no easy way to say this. They’re gonna burn ’em.

Highlands Ranch, Colorado medical pot farmer Chris Bartkowicz didn’t mind bragging as he told TV reporters he spent $500,000 constructing his basement grow operation, and expected to rake in $400,000 this year for his crop.

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition
Activists in the Olympia, WA area are encouraged to print these posters and distribute them around town.

​A Seattle-based marijuana advocacy group is trying to learn the identity of the “confidential informant” responsible for the recent arrest of Olympia City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tem Joe Hyer on pot charges.

Hyer was arrested February 18 by agents from the forfeiture-funded and citizen-feared Thurston County Narcotics Task Force for allegedly selling marijuana.
An acquaintance of Hyer had contacted the task force and reported that he was able to get cannabis from the councilman, and that he was ready and willing to wear a wire and go “undercover” in an expensive, month-long, taxpayer-funded marijuana investigation cum political vendetta.
Democrat Hyer’s high-profile arrest has already resulted in a chorus of calls for his resignation from ambitious local Republicans who see an opportunity to make political capital from the councilman’s misfortune.


Photo: KTVQ

​Law enforcement agencies say they have faced a bit of a struggle since medical marijuana was approved in Montana in 2004, reports Nikki Laurenzo at KTVQ.

“We are in a quandary because we have conflict between state law and federal law,” said Billings Police Chief Rich St. John.
No quandary at all, Chief. Your duty is to enforce state laws. Leave the federal laws to federal agents. Problem solved!

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