Finding good drug-law news and info can be a chore. Its a sad state of affairs, really. So, Reefer Madness is happy to report that our friends over at the Marijuana Policy Project this week unveiled their new marijuana news blog -- for all you Reefer fans who just can't get enough drug-law news.
According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Brian Cantera, there are likely 20,000 residential marijuana grow operations spread throughout the western province of British Columbia, reports the BBC.
And if that's true, reporter Misha Glenny opines, then B.C. "is probably home to the largest concentration of organised criminal syndicates in the world."
Really? Hmmmm....
That sounds a little grand, even for the BBC, don't you think?
Ellis Co. sheriff's investigators have arrested 46-year-old Dwayne Marshall Nielsen on a charge of pot possession (strangely, a rather minor charge) after finding a sophisticated growing operation hidden beneath is Waxahachie home, reports The Dallas Morning News.
Nielsen is out of jail on a $40,000 bond, after police found his so-called "indoor farm" consisting of about 150 active plants capable – or so the narcos have estimated – of producing some 40-pounds of dope every other month. Apparently the cops had been working the Nielsen case with Drug Enforcement Administration investigators since October and were ultimately tipped to the location of the grow basement, accessible only through a secret door located behind a bookcase in Nielsen's house, the daily reports. Ellis Co. Sheriff's Capt. Danny Williams said the raid was tough work: "The odor was hard to describe, but it wasn't good," he said. "We had to get the fire department in there to help air it out so we could work."
The problem with narcotics, says Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, is that we don't police them enough. Yup: Right now, Whitmire is holding court in the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice about how Texas should have a "zero tolerance" policy toward cocaine, and how troopers should be "more aggressive" in policing highways for drugs. Now is the time, says Whitmire, to get the resources we need for a true "War on Drugs in Texas."
"We oughta have a hearing," he says. (Indeed.) Tell us, he implores the Dept. of Public Safety witnesses appearing before the committee, "what you really need to stop drug trafficking."
Fourteen months after they were given psilocybin – the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms – as part of a controlled experiment, 64% of the study participants say that the hallucinogenic experience has increased their sense of well-being, Johns Hopkins University researchers reported July 1 in theJournal of Psychopharmacology. "I feel more centered in who I am and what I'm doing," study participant Dede Osborn told the Associated Press. "I don't seem to have those self-doubts like I used to have. I feel much more grounded (and feel that) we are all connected."
On May 29, Vermont became the second state to legalize industrial hemp farming when Republican Gov. Jim Douglas allowed H.267 to become law without his signature. The bill creates a regulatory scheme similar to that enacted in North Dakota, the first state to reauthorize agricultural production of the non-narcotic cousin of marijuana.
Under the new law, farmers must be licensed by Vermont's Secretary of Agriculture, Food and Markets; hemp must be grown from seeds provided by the ag secretary, on land the secretary has approved for hemp production. And farmers must agree to submit to random inspection by the ag department and/or state police.
Although medical marijuana is legal in Washington State, patients who might be in need of an organ transplant – think hepatitis C patients, for example – apparently need to think twice before availing themselves of medi-pot: If they go that route, the University of Washington Medical Center won't let 'em on the transplant list.
That's how it went down for 56-year-old Seattle musician Timothy Garon, who died earlier this month from hep C, after being denied a place on the liver transplant list at UW. Garon had used medi-mari, in compliance with state law, and that's the main reason the hospital's transplant committee offered for denying him access to an uninfected liver, reports the Associated Press.
Indeed, according to the Seattle weekly The Stranger, area hospitals have used patient use of medi-mari, legal there since 1998, as a viable reason to deny an otherwise-qualified patient from receiving an organ. Their reason (prepare for the lameness): Aspergillus mold. Seriously. According to statements provided to the weekly by two area hospitals, aspergillus mold is occasionally found in both marijuana and tobacco; if a smoker is given a transplant, the mold could cause infection. And since the hospitals consider marijuana an "addictive drug," they believe that transplant recipients may not be able to stop smoking after the transplant, thus allowing aspergillus to take hold, cause infection and then cause organ rejection in the organ recipient.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, hempsters in the Silver State have filed a petition seeking to allow the University of Nevada's Desert Research Institute to research the use of industrial hemp as a source for sustainable biomass energy.
Nevada voters twice have sought to legalize and tax-and-regulate marijuana – ballot initiatives that gained broad support yet ultimately lost at the polls (in 2006, the measure earned the nod of 44% of voters). Although hemp is the non-narcotic cousin of pot, Nevada law defines marijuana as "all parts of any plant of the genus Cannabis," which (unfortunately, and, really, incorrectly) includes agricultural hemp.
Apparently folks at the DRI aren't opposed to the suggestion – a spokesman told the daily that they already are studying wood chips, pinyon pine and peanut shells as possible energy sources. Hemp could be "another biomass," spokesman Greg Bortolin told the paper.
Initiative petition backers need to gather 58,628 signatures of registered voters before Nov. 11, in order to have a chance to change the law next year. If they succeed, the daily reports, the petition would be presented to lawmakers in 2009, who would have 40 days to approve or reject the proposal. If they reject it, the language would appear on a 2010 ballot.
We had a bumper crop of stupid criminals last week – each doing their part to give pot smokers a really, really bad name.
First, from Humble, Texas, comes the sick and sad story of three teens arrested and charged with misdemeanor abuse of a corpse for allegedly digging up a grave and stealing a skull in order to make a bong. I wish I were kidding. (You think normal bong water tastes and smells bad – can you even imagine? Ick. Ick. Ick.) Seems 17-year-old Kevin Jones was being interviewed by police about the use of a stolen debit card when the teen (who faces charges as an adult) spilled the beans about digging up a grave with two buddies, including 17-year-old Matthew Gonzalez (also charged as an adult). (The third teen is still legally a juvenile, so police have not released his identity.) Gonzalez apparently confirmed the tale, though police are still investigating, reports the Associated Press. The grave was in a 19th-century veterans cemetery, the AP reports, and the skull appears to have come from an 11-year-old that died in 1921.
Why would Jones confess to such a thing? "We can only speculate and guess to what goes on in the criminal mind," Humble Police Sgt. John Chomiack said.
According to the White House Office of the National Drug Control Policy, home to the nation's drug czar' John Walters, depressed teens are more likely to use pot. Moreover, says Walters, the converse is also true: pot-smoking teens are more likely to become depressed.
Bases covered.
Yes, it's spring, which means it is time again for the ONDCP's annual 'lets-talk-shit-about-pot' report. In the past we've hunkered down with our milk and graham crackers for nappy-time stories about pot smoking causing schizophrenia and pot smoking being the gateway to other illicit drug use. Such great tales! This year, we've got depression – man, depressed teens make me tired. And depressed.
Just got the word from the Austin Police Dept. that they have decided they will not be embracing the legal changes enacted by the Lege last year when it comes to making minor pot possession a cite-and-release offense.
To refresh: Legislators last year passed H.B. 2391 (by Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, and carried by Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo), as a means to ease jail overcrowding, making a host of minor criminal violations eligible for citation-and-release as opposed to a direct ticket to the county jail for adults in their "home county" at the time of the violation -- including possession of up four ounces of pot. The Travis Co. Sheriff's Office immediately embraced the new law. In 2006, some 7,000 people were booked into jail for offenses listed under the new law and making those defendants eligible for cite-and-release would save the county about $1.2 million. Last fall, APD said they were still "reviewing" the new law to decide whether it would be jiggy with APD policy.
That review is apparently complete and the verdict is in: its a no-go for pot cite-and-release within city limits. According to APD Cmdr. Sean Mannix, the department decided against following the provisions of the law because APD actually operates in three counties -- Travis, Williamson and Hays, where portions of the city now lie -- and in two out of the three counties officials have decided not to honor the new law. Thus, only Travis has "embraced the practice," Mannix said. In order to "maintain a consistent" policy citywide the APD has decided to side with WilCo and Hays (which together cover only a small portion of the city) and to diss Travis Co.
On Saturday (May 3) Austin reformers will join with like-minded tokers in 230 cities around the world for the ninth Global Marijuana March to protest pot prohibition.
Texas NORML has joined forces with Outgrow Big Bro to coordinate Austin's festivities, which will begin at 10am at Pecan Grove in Zilker Park. Pot pals will march to the Capitol at noon for a rally on the south steps from 1-4pm, which will include speakers and music. The music and fun will continue back at Pecan Grove until 10pm.
So get out, enjoy the day, fight the power, and learn how to be a strong voice for pot-law reform.
Now, a couple reminders. First: Don't be smoking yer dope while you march or while at the Capitol -- at the Capitol you're on state property and that means state cops and they won't take kindly to that. (And as far as APD goes, who the hell knows where they stand these days, or whether they've decided to accept as policy state law that makes minor possession eligible for citation only -- I've asked and they haven't responded, so keep that in mind.) So, you've been warned. Just remember, you can be your own worst enemy, and hinder the cause more than help it: Don't tangle with the cops, don't get belligerent (not that any Reefer readers would do that, right?) -- catch flies with honey, not vinegar.
U.S. Reps Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Texas' own Liberpublican Ron Paul, R-Surfside, joined forces last week to file legislation aimed at taming the federal law enforcement war on pot.
On April 18, Frank introduced H.R. 5843, the first pot decriminalization measure introduced in Congress in 24 years, which would remove from federal law the possibility of arrest, prosecution and jail for "responsible" adult tokers, and would eliminate penalties for possession of up to 3 1/2 ounces. The bill would also make legal between adults the "not-for-profit" transfer of up to one ounce of pot, and would create a $100 fine for smoking in public.
Reefer Madness: From the Department of You've Gotta Be Kidding Me
Pot mafia taking over Colorado, one joint at a time...
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
According to Colorado Drug Enforcement Agent Jeffrey Sweetin, state laws that have lessened penalties associated with marijuana possession for adults have increased organized crime activities in the state.
Really. No joke. He swears it's true: "We're sending a message to organized crime that, you know what, Colorado is a great place to be distributors of marijuana," Sweetin told Denver's CBS station. "People here think they're so far from the border, they're insulated from it" -- we assume he's talking about the Mexican border, and that "it" means Mexican pot. (Forget that Mex pot isn't exactly the most popular in the Rocky Mountains, where they hardly need to do much importing, if you get my drift.)
The Colorado Conundrum, it seems -- at least according to Sweetin and the DEA -- stems from two initiatives passed by Denver voters: In 2005, city voters approved a measure that legalizes adult possession of up to one ounce of pot; in 2007, voters passed an ordinance to make pot-law enforcement the lowest priority for city cops. A statewide ballot measure, similar to the 2005 Denver initiative, failed to pass in 2006. But it is the success of the Denver measures that appear to be sticking in Sweetin's craw: "I think they" -- that is, the organized crime types -- "believe it's a good market [for pot] and I think the case could be made that it is a good market."
Another Drug War Casualty: Young Mother Shot While Holding Infant Son
Go Get 'Em Cowboy! SWAT team on the move, busting heads and maiming children
Courtesy of Wikipedia
On March 17 prosecutors in Lima, Ohio, charged police Sgt. Joseph Chavalia with two misdemeanor crimes related to the January shooting death of 26-year-old Tarika Wilson, who Chavalia killed during a drug raid at the house Wilson shared with her boyfriend, Anthony Terry, the subject of the raid.
Wilson was in an upstairs bedroom at the time of the raid, and was holding her infant son when she was shot -- the child was maimed, but lived. Police also shot two dogs; one died. Five other children, ranging in age from three to eight, were also inside the home, but none were physically harmed.
As questions about possible political improprieties dog White House Office of the National Drug Control Policy, agency head John Walters hits Austin in search of good PR
