The headline of a post published in this space last year posed the question, “Is Pueblo the Drug Bust Capital of Colorado?” And in recent months, law enforcement in the community has answered this question with a resounding “Yes,” particularly when it comes to marijuana crimes with an international flavor. In a series of raids over the past four months, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office, working in conjunction with other agencies, has seized more than 8,000 cannabis plants at allegedly illegal grows associated with foreign nationals. Among those arrested as part of the operations were eight men from Mexico and four from Cuba.
Search Results: raids (329)
A new study found that people who are more likely to develop schizophrenia are more likely to try cannabis. It also found new evidence that cannabis use can cause schizophrenia.
The number of pregnant women who use cannabis is up more than 60% since 2002. While knowledge of how cannabis affects fetuses is limited, Dr. Nora Volkow, head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called it “cause for concern.”
The Duluth News Tribune looks examines the case for, and against, treating PTSD with MED.
More experts say cannabis should be prescribed before opiates, VICE reports.
Ohio doctors say they’re reluctant to recommend MED.
An article from “The American Tribune” on an overdose from injecting cannabis turned out to be fake news.
Connecticut has approved its first MED study, to compare pain relief with an opiate in patients with fractured ribs. A Connecticut hospice will use cannabis to reduce its dependence on opioids.
President Obama granted clemency to 231 individuals. His total of more than 1,300 sentence commutations totals more than his 11 predecessors combined. Here’s the story of one of them, Paul Free, who was serving a life sentence and is now eligible for parole in 2020.
Obama also granted 78 “pre-Christmas” pardons.
Vox examines how Obama has reshaped the war on drugs, and how that legacy is will be jeopardized under President Trump. For one thing, Obama tended not to use the term “War on Drugs.”
A court ruled that Arizona MED users can’t be convicted of DUI without evidence of impairment.
A Colorado man who drove impaired and killed a motorcyclist was sentenced to 10 months in jail and two years probation.
A day after they opened, six unlicensed Cannabis Culture dispensaries were raided and closed in Montreal. The 10 arrests included owner and “prince of pot” Marc Emery.
Spotted in D.C.: “ This is your brain on Jeff Sessions.”
In Milton, Mass., a dispensary seeks to open in the historic “ Swift Hat Shop” building.
Israel’s Teva Pharmaceuticals will start to distribute a medical cannabis inhaler developed by Syqe, an Israeli start-up that raised money from tobacco giant Philip Morris. The inhaler may also be tested with opiates.
An editorial in The Scientist says its unacceptable that the World Health Organization has not developed positions on legalization.
Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children will begin a clinical trial of cannabis extracts containing CBD and THC for children with severe epilepsy.
A new study from Steep Hill Labs found that 83 percent of California weed wouldn’t pass Oregon’s testing standards. An industry report says Oregon’s strict regulations are crushing the state industry. Willamette Week reports that business conditions are pushing some entrepreneurs back to the underground market.
Rehab provider Spectrum Health Systems said a doctor was not to blame for revealing to a patient’s employer that she uses MED.
A survey of cannabis researchers finds out what they want from the government in order to pursue their work.
A Reason investigation finds that conservative authorities in Idaho “conspired to restrict a promising cannabis-derived seizure treatment.”
The National Fire Protection Association is developing fire safety standards for cannabis businesses.
The FDA will allow a late stage clinical trial for ecstasy as a treatment for PTSD.
Minnessota approved PTSD as a MED qualifying condition. New York approved chronic pain.
Canada’s legalization push is getting complicated. The much-anticipated task force report on legalizationhas been delayed. Meanwhile activists wonder why shops are getting raided if the government plans to legalize. For more see here.
Bill Blair a Canadian government official overseeing the issue appeared at a “ cash-for-access” fundraiser with cannabiz leaders that may have violated Liberal Party ethics guidelines. Blair defended recent raidssaying, “The only system for control is the existing legal regime. And we’re a society of laws,” he says.
The number of arrests is lowering but racial disparities remain.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
Thousands are jailed annually in California for pot, and if REC passes, thousands of inmates could have their sentences shortened.
The industry would rather see it younger.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
In Ottawa, a city public health board said the legal purchase age for REC should be 25, citing brain development. Bruce Linton, CEO of major grower Tweed, said the age should be 19, same as the drinking age in most of Canada.
It’s not the first time this has happened.
Here’s your daily round-up of pot-news, excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Download WeedWeek’s free 2016 election guide here.
Charlotte police said the appearance that Keith Lamont Scott was holding a marijuana “blunt” led them to escalate the encounter, before an officer fatally shot Scott.
It’s a controversial theory.
The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
In Esquire, author Don Winslow argues that legal weed is responsible for the opiate epidemic. As demand for Mexican marijuana has fallen, The Mexican Sinaloa Cartel “increased the production of Mexican heroin by almost 70 percent, and also raised the purity level, bringing in Colombian cooks to create ‘cinnamon’ heroin as strong as the East Asian product. They had been selling a product that was about 46 percent pure, now they improved it to 90 percent.
Is smoking pot a guaranteed religious freedom?
Excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.
The activist known as New Jersey Weedman will be able to argue in court that raids on his Trenton, N.J. “cannabis temple” violate his religious freedom.
Kayvan Khalatbari, a prominent activist and businessman in Denver, discussed the industry’s lack of diversity with Vice.
Sports Illustrated travels to Humboldt to ask about the industry’s impact on high school and college sports there. “There are probably no other public schools in the world that have ever offered clipping trays — trays for clipping marijuana on — as part of their auction for the PTA fair,” local journalist Kym Kemp says.
NFL running back turned cannabis investor Ricky Williams is the subject of a new Sports Illustrated documentary. He estimates that 70 percent of NFL players smoke marijuana.
Harper’s Bazaar visits the annual Spirit Weavers Gathering, a getaway for New Age-inclined women, that the article calls “the world’s chicest cult.” There, author Marisa Meltzer hears of a California pot farm that has fertilized the plant with menstrual blood for two generations.
A Canadian known as Marijuana Man makes $78,000 a year getting high on Youtube. He told an interviewer that he’s had internet “since 1984.”
There’s a crowdfunding campaign to bring “industrial hemp building and farming ambassador” Klara Marosszeky to California for a visit. She’s based in Australia.
Wired visits high-end edibles maker Défoncé Chocolatier. (Défoncé means ‘wasted’.)
“The Summer Fair,” a festival in Portland this month, will have free pot giveaways.
Netflix will make “Disjointed,” a weed sitcom starring Kathy Bates.
The Reductress recommends “ Healthy Snacks To Balance Out All The Junk You’ll Devour When You’re High Tonight.”
| San Diego Police Department |
| Evidence photo from an October 15th raid on Market Greens marijuana dispensary in San Diego, CA |
Another week means another horrible round of cannabis-related headlines coming out of sunny San Diego, California. In an attempt to turn America’s Finest City into the nation’s Ground Zero in the War on Weed, San Diego city officials, backed by a militant branch of the DEA and weed-hating local law enforcement, have almost totally shut down any idea of safe access to medical marijuana.
San Diego’s scene has been slashed from over 300 storefront medical marijuana dispensaries in 2011, to less than 40 in operation today – and not one of those 40 is operating with the consent of the city.
| Voice Media/Adria Fruitos. |
Michael Mayo was on his way to get some new braids. He didn’t know he would end up spending the next two decades in prison. Police were watching as Mayo, then in his early twenties, made his way through his north St. Louis neighborhood back in July 2001. And Mayo, a street-level drug dealer, decided to do a little business before getting his hair done. That’s when police say they saw Mayo make a hand-to-hand transaction with somebody in the middle of the road. Without hesitation, the cops jumped out of an unmarked vehicle and placed Mayo in handcuffs.
On his person, police found roughly two grams of crack, a joint’s worth of marijuana and $176 in cash. Mayo said the money was for the braids he was on his way to get, not profits from drug sales. Besides, what kind of legit drug dealer has only a couple grams of crack? Riverfront Times has more in their cover story this week.