Search Results: bryan (45)

The Silver Tour
Robert Platshorn spreads the truth about cannabis through The Silver Tour. Now the federal government has moved to silence him

Here’s What You Can Do To Fight Back Against The Feds Who Would Trample On Robert Platshorn’s Rights For Spreading The Truth About Marijuana
It’s time to push back and expose the bureaucrats that are now moving behind the scenes to silence cannabis activists like The Silver Tour‘s Robert Platshorn all over the country. They are acting as a secret army, in anticipation of the upcoming spate of pro cannabis ballot initiatives. There are serious First Amendment rights at stake, not to mention their intent to kill the tremendous public momentum for ending cannabis prohibition. 
“We must shine a light on these bureaucrats and expose their actions,” Platshorn told Toke of the Town Friday morning from his home in Florida. “There is nothing that frightens them more than jerking them out of the shadows that hides them from public scrutiny while they do their dirty work.”

Americans for Safe Access
This photo was taken in 2003, at the time the first “Truth in Trials” Act was introduced. Rep. Sam Farr is depicted with Ashley Epis, the daughter of Bryan Epis, who is a patient convicted without a defense and currently serving out a 10-year sentence in federal prison.

Congressional Medical Marijuana Bill, the ‘Truth In Trials’ Act, Would Correct Unfair Federal Trials 


Late on Tuesday, U.S. Representative Sam Farr (D-CA) and 18 co-sponsors (15 Democrats and three Republicans) introduced HR 6134, the “Truth in Trials” Act, bipartisan legislation to allow defendants in federal criminal prosecutions the ability to use medical marijuana evidence at trial, a right not currently afforded them.
Because of a June 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Gonzales v. Raich, the government has the discretion to enforce federal marijuana laws even in medical marijuana states. The Raich ruling also allows federal prosecutors to exclude all evidence of medical use or state law compliance in federal trials, virtually guaranteeing the convictions of medical marijuana patients and providers.

Bangor Daily News

By Bryan Punyon
Special to Toke of the Town

It’s turned into a joke, you know.  
I listen to standup comedians all the time, cracking jokes about how easy it is to get a cannabis medical authorization, how “anyone” can just waltz into a clinic and pay for a Green Card.
Sure, they usually go on to talk about how harmless pot is, and it makes for effective humor because it’s widely accepted at this point that cannabis isn’t as bad as some people and organizations have made it out to be.  Even in rural towns in Tennessee that I’ve visited, when people hear about me being an MMJ patient, their reactions are more of curiosity and interest than treating me like a drug addict.
For the most part, one of the biggest victories for the legalization movement has been the public shift in mindset from cannabis being a horribly addictive substance used by pushers to hook kids into a life of crime and debauchery (thank you, Reefer Madness: The Musical), into a more constructive mindset where the majority of the public have realized that it has medicinal benefits and isn’t as bad as other drugs in recreational use.
One of the major causes for this shift has been the rise of more publicly available MMJ resources. As public awareness of dispensaries and authorization clinics has risen, so has public knowledge about qualifying conditions and acceptance of the medicinal use of cannabis.
This reduction of social stigma for all cannabis users, recreational and medicinal alike, has been a major boon for the cause, as some who were previously cautious now have an avenue to show support for the cause without automatically being labeled “counterculture” or “hippie,” and others, seeing the effects of medical marijuana on those they know and care about, begin to change their minds about the plant. If political progress on a cause means causing a cultural and perception shift in the minds of the public, then congratulations: the Pro-Cannabis team has largely won that battle.

The Weed Blog

By Bryan Punyon
Special to Toke of the Town
To all of my friends and associates who support I-502,
Hi there. You may know me as a cannabis activist, you may simply know me as a guy on Facebook who keeps asking critical questions about I-502. You may not know me at all.
Whatever the case, I am still genuinely undecided on Initiative 502. Some of you seem to take that to mean that I’m secretly against it, on account of all those pesky questions I keep asking.  That saddens me; it pains me that I would be arbitrarily assigned to the Opposition simply because I choose to ask questions and request clarification, especially when so much of the cannabis legalization movement and Drug War has centered around the control and interpretation of information and knowledge.

Gwinnett County Jail
Bryan Brown is facing drug charges after a traffic stop on I-85 just north of Hamilton Mill Road. He says the officer who searched him “grabbed his dick.”

…​Gets Busted Anyway

A Georgia man is facing marijuana charges after a traffic stop on Interstate 85 just north of Lawrenceville.

On the afternoon of February 3, Bryan Brown, 21, was stopped by a Gwinnett County Police officer for tailgating another vehicle, reports Kristi Reed at the Dacula Patch. The officer approached the passenger side window of Brown’s car and claimed he detected the strong odor of marijuana. According to the police report, Brown “showed signs of nervousness,” including shaky hands and an unsteady voice.

Rose Law Group
Border Patrol Agent Bryan Gonzalez was fired merely for verbally expressing frustration with the war on marijuana and voicing support for LEAP

Maybe Frank Zappa was right to ask, “Who are the Brain Police?” Remarks from a Border Patrol agent expressing dissatisfaction with the Drug War — made on the job to a fellow agent, a few feet from the Mexican border — later resulted in the agent’s firing after his remarks were passed along to headquarters.

Bryan Gonzalez, a young agent stationed in Deming, New Mexico, was in his Border Patrol vehicle next to the border when he pulled up to a fellow agent to chat about the frustrations of the job, reports Marc Lacey at The New York Times.
If marijuana were legalized, Gonzalez told the other agent, the drug-related violence across the border in Mexico would cease. He then mentioned an organization called Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), consisting of former cops, judges and prosecutors who favor ending the War On Drugs.
“Now that The New York Times has featured LEAP and the emerging debate in the law enforcement community about ending the ‘war on drugs,’ hopefully this will lead to more sympathetic cops getting in touch with us and joining the movement,” LEAP’s media relations director, Tom Angell, told Toke of the Town on Monday morning.
“I’m already hearing from a lot of news outlets that don’t normally cover LEAP that the Times story caught their attention,” Angell said.

Steve Elliott ~alapoet~

​Of Seattle’s 105 medical marijuana dispensaries, almost two-thirds — 68 — have business licenses, according to a report in alternative weekly The Stranger.


“We only have 68 dispensaries currently licensed in our system,” said Denise Movius, a spokeswoman for Seattle’s business licensing division, reports Q13 Fox News Online. “We’ve gotten the names of the rest by reading The Stranger and other advertisements.”
The business licensing division has been contacting the out-of-compliance shops to remind them they need the $90 business licenses.

Photo: Orlando Sentinel
Birdwatcher Robin Brown was handcuffed, thrown in jail, stripped, and body cavity searched — for possessing sage.

​Robin Brown Was Stripped, Subjected To A Body Cavity Search, And Spent The Night In Jail

A birdwatcher landed in a Florida jail on felony charges of marijuana possession after a clueless sheriff’s deputy mistook the sage she had in her backpack for pot.

Robin Brown, 49, of Hollywood, Florida, was arrested after Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Dominic Raimondi, 51, decided her sage was marijuana. Deputy Dumbass, I mean Raimondi, then searched her car and found more “pot,” which was also sage.
Tellingly, the dimwitted deputy’s notoriously unreliable field kit said the sage — bought at an airport gift shop in Albuquerque, New Mexico — tested positive for marijuana, reports Susannah Bryan at the Orlando Sentinel.

Graphic: Ronzio Pizza
It’s the perfect business plan, really. Create surefire repeat customers by delivering pot with the pizza!

​One pepperoni pizza for pick-up; extra pot, please.

The owner of Ronzio Pizza, a few doors down from the police station in Newport, Rhode Island, was arrested Thursday and charged with possession of marijuana with — you got it — intent to deliver.
After receiving reports from neighbors who live near the pizza parlor that marijuana was being sold there for the past several months, the Newport Police Department started a brave investigation spearheaded by Detective Seth Godek and Detective Mark Matoes, reports Bryan Rourke at The Providence Journal.

Photo: Howard County Police
Police said these marijuana plants were discovered in an Ellicott City, Maryland home after a fatal accident in which a car crashed into the home.

​Police in Maryland found an indoor marijuana farm while investigating a car crash in which a young driver plowed is vehicle into a man’s home.

Richard Marriott, 44, of Ellicott City, Maryland, was arrested Wednesday morning after cops found a cannabis growing operation in his home, report Yeganeh June Torbati and Larry Carson at The Baltimore Sun. Nearly 20 large pot plants, a hydroponic system, grow lights and other smaller plants were found, police claimed.
Cops and firefighters were investigating the scene after a 20-year-old driver, Bryan Bolster, crashed his BMW into Marriott’s home about 11 p.m. on December 10, causing part of the house to burst into flames. Witnesses told police that the car was being driven at a high rate of speed.