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Photo: Reuters
Attorney General Eric Holder: “We are in the process of working [on]these issues”

​U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday that the Justice Department will work with governors and other state officials to reach a “satisfactory resolution” to the establishment of medical marijuana dispensaries in states with medicinal cannabis programs.

“We are in the process of working [on]these issues with the U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island and other U.S. Attorneys across the country,” Holder said, reports W. Zachary Malinowski at The Providence Journal. “My hope is that sometime in the not too distant future … it will be addressed.”

Photo: Josh Farley/Kitsap Sun
Drug cop Roy Alloway terrorized Washington medical marijuana patients for years. Now he’s been federally indicted for illegal gun sales.

​Narc Is So Despised, A Local Strain Of Marijuana Was Named In His ‘Honor’

A former Washington drug cop so notorious for his misdeeds and aggressive tactics that a strain of medical marijuana was named after him in retaliation has been federally indicted for unlawfully selling guns.

Roy Alloway spent 32 years in law enforcement, the last 10 of which he was involved in the WestNET regional drug task force. Alloway took something of an unhealthy personal interest in giving additional pain to medical marijuana patients, according to many activists in the area, who “see him as a cop determined to lock up even legal users of pot,” wrote Nina Shapiro at the Seattle Weekly.
Alloway made a career of trashing houses and intimidating their occupants, apparently not giving a damn if the people he harassed were legitimately sick or not.
And that’s exactly why a potent marijuana strain was named “Alloway” in his “honor.” Created by a well-known Everett breeder associated with advocate Steve Sarich of CannaCare, the Alloway strain includes the genetics of popular Seattle strain PermaFrost, with a little White Widow reputedly in the mix as well. 
“Where do you begin?” said Sarich, who was raided by Alloway and WestNET in 2007.
“This guy is a real piece of shit, and has been for years,” Sarich told Toke of the Town Monday afternoon. “I can’t wait to see how many of the cases Alloway was involved with are overturned, if he gets locked away on these charges.”

Photo: Cannabis Defense Coalition
Activist Phil Mocek of the Cannabis Defense Coalition was assaulted and detained by private security guards and turned over to federal Homeland Security agents, who charged him with obstructing justice.

​Rent-A-Cops Tackle Two Activists And Turn Them Over To The Feds
The United States federal government on Monday arrested two Seattle activists who were attempting to serve a cease and desist order on the Department of Justice in the wake of federal raids on medical cannabis dispensaries last week.
Medical cannabis activists had staged a protest at the federal building in downtown Seattle Monday afternoon. Private security guards indicated that it was a crime to take photographs near the federal building. Phil Mocek, a board member with the Cannabis Defense Coalition, asked for clarification of the policy, and was arrested by federal building security guards, who contacted Homeland Security agents for backup.

Graphic: Salem-News/NORML Blog

​It only took two years for the U.S. federal government to get from “we won’t interfere in state medical marijuana laws” to threatening raids and even arrests of state employees if dispensaries are legalized.

The administration is using a new tactic in its war against medical marijuana patients and providers. In at least four states in the past two months, U.S. Attorneys have been given the dirty work of threatening states if progressive medical marijuana legislation is passed.

Things got started in February when the U.S. Attorney for Northern California threatened to prosecute operators of a proposed commercial medical marijuana farm in Oakland, even though the farm was licensed by that city and legal under state law.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag “strongly warned” Oakland that big industrial marijuana farms are illegal under federal law, and that the Department of Justice was considering “civil and criminal legal remedies” if the city went ahead with its plans to permit them. The plans were put on hold.

Photo: Clark County Conservative
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is chicken to sign legislation legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries without asking for the federal government’s permission first.

​The Washington state Senate gave final passage Thursday morning to a bill attempting to regulate medical marijuana cultivation and sales, setting up a likely showdown with Governor Christine Gregoire, who opposes provisions for state employees regulating a system of medicinal cannabis dispensaries.

The Senate, on a 27-21 vote, approved amendments to the system adopted by the House earlier this month. That agreement, known as concurrence, sends Senate Bill 5073 to Gregoire’s desk, reports Jim Camden at the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
Washington’s current medical marijuana law, passed in 1998 by voters, allows medical marijuana but sets up no system for legal distribution. According to Sen. Lisa Brown (D-Spokane), that’s unfair to patients, neighborhoods and legitimate businesses that could provide the product.
Meanwhile, you have some clueless blowhard like Sen. Jeff Baxter (R-Spokane Valley), who’s still trying to fight a battle that was decided by the voters 13 years ago. “It’s a gateway drug,” the IQ-challenged Baxter claimed, seemingly unaware of scientific studies which make him look like an uninformed moron.

Graphic: 420list.org

​About two dozen people rallied on the Washington state capitol steps on Tuesday, calling on Governor Christine Gregoire to approve a law licensing medical marijuana dispensaries and providing arrest protection for patients.

Controversy has erupted over the bill, already approved by both houses of the Legislature, since Gov. Gregoire threatened last week to veto it, claiming it could expose state workers to federal prosecution. State workers have never been prosecuted for licensing medical marijuana operations in any of the 15 states where medicinal cannabis is legal.
Protesters on Tuesday said if the governor vetoes SB 5073, it would show she is disrespecting the 1998 voter initiative that legalized medical marijuana in Washington, and that she is abandoning patients who rely on it, reports Katie Schmidt at The Tacoma News Tribune.

Graphic: Cannabis Defense Coalition
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire is chicken to sign legislation legalizing medical marijuana dispensaries without asking for the federal government’s permission first.

​Gov. Gregoire Practically Invited The Feds To Stick Their Noses In

The feds are throwing their weight around again when it comes to Washington state’s medical marijuana law. A proposal to rewrite the state’s medicinal cannabis rules attracted federal attention after Governor Christine Gregoire asked for “clear guidance” about the U.S. Department of Justice’s position on state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, which would be legalized under the new rules.

Gov. Gregoire, who sent the letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday, claims she “became concerned” about a “potential federal crackdown” after speaking with the U.S. attorneys for Eastern and Western Washington, Michael Ormsby and Jenny Durkan, reports Jonathan Martin at the Seattle Times.

Photo: The Tyee

​Vancouver’s flamboyant Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Monday to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

The plea bargain which Emery accepted means the 52-year-old Canadian must serve five years in a U.S. prison for selling marijuana seeds to American customers through his Vancouver-based businesses, Marc Emery Direct and Cannabis Culture.
Emery will remain in custody at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, Washington until his formal sentencing on August 27, reports Andrea Woo at The Vancouver Sun.
The deal is an attempt to make the best of a bad situation, according to Emery’s wife, Jodie.
“It’s unfortunate that a five-year sentence is what we want for Marc, but the alternative was at least 30 years and up to life if it went to trial,” she told The Vancouver Sun on Monday.
“But while he’s gone, he’ll be there to demonstrate the insanity of this War On Drugs,” Jodie said.