San Diego Issues Medical Marijuana ID Cards
July 8th, 2009 by Rick
After dragging ass for years, by way of the U.S. Supreme Court, secret stings and raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, San Diego has finally complied to California’s medical marijuana law and began issuing medical marijuana ID cards to the medical marijuana patients.
Jordan Jarvis, a medical marijuana patient and operator of Top Quality Collective, said:
This kind of medicine has given me the ability to get up and do things and be part of a society again. [...] We can now get ID cards that are and should be respected among law enforcement without harassment. [...] It’s groundbreaking.
San Diego breaking down and issuing medical marijuana ID cards is a big step in California’s medical marijuana movement, yet after so many attempts to circumvent prop 215, something tells me it’s not the end of their fight politically.
The Prince of Pot Says Goodbye to Canada
July 7th, 2009 by Rick
The Prince of Pot, Marc Emery, is saying goodbye to Canada by way of a “fairwell tour”, scheduled to make its mark in 32 cities, before he is extradited to the U.S. for selling cannabis seeds to U.S. customers.
On Sunday, Emery began the tour in Calgary saying:
I’m being taken to a U.S. prison for something I did in Canada as innocuous as selling seeds, which don’t even have any drug quality, and yet I have to face a five year term for that. [...] It’s difficult to say what will happen in a U.S. federal penitentiary. It’s never very pleasant. American jails aren’t run nearly as well as Canadian jails. [...] I’m going away for a long time so I expect everybody to do their best and pick up the slack for me.
Emery is referring to the fight coming up in form of bill C-15, a federal bill that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana in Canada. The bill has already passed the House of Commons and it is now in the hands of the Senate. Emery advises activists to back the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party — all pro-cannabis political parties.
Emery’s fairwell tour continues in Saskatoon on Wednesday and Edmonton on Thursday.
DEA Splits, Bolivia Hits
July 7th, 2009 by RickA factory converted into a cocaine laboratory in Bolivia, that could produce up to 100kg (220 lbs) of cocaine per day, was raided by Drug Enforcement officers of the Bolivian government. According to senior Bolivian anti-narcotics officer, Oscar Nina, five Colombians were arrested.
The factory was the 4th largest raided since early 2009. Bolivian Interior Minister Alfredo Rada blames U.S. anti-narcotics officials for not locating the factory, that they estimate has been running for a year.
Previously in 2008, Bolivia booted the DEA from it’s borders and accused Washington with conspiring against the left wing government of President Evo Morales.
As a reward for doing and finding what the DEA could not, the U.S. announced last week that they were cutting trade benefits for Bolivia and reimposing duties on some imported Bolivian goods.
LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Being Phased Out
July 2nd, 2009 by Rick
On Monday, a City Council committee of Los Angeles advised to deny the moratorium exemptions to 28 medical marijuana dispensaries within the city. Lawyers for the dispensaries complained:
- Notices for the committee meeting came over the weekend or some didn’t even receive a notice.
- Speakers had merely minutes to plead their case.
- Council members seemed to have their minds already made up, in agreement with shutting the dispensaries down.
Graham Berry, a lawyer representing ten dispensaries, said:
I thought the hearings were a farce and a sham.
Planning Committee chairman, Ed Reyes commented:
What you see here today is the conclusion of a long process. [...] The assertion that this is a sham is false.
Councilmen Ed Reyes and Jose Huizar explained the process, pointing out that:
- It was a hearing, not a debate.
- Under state law 72 hours’ notice is needed to place topics on a schedule.
- Hardship exemptions were “carefully reviewed”.
According to Reyes he had to constantly ask speakers to keep within their given time.
Oregon Closing in on Legalizing Hemp
July 1st, 2009 by Rick
Oregon is close to becoming the 6th U.S. state to legalize hemp. Last week the Oregon Senate voted 27-2 on Senate Bill 676, in favor of legalizing the plant cousin to cannabis. On Monday, the Oregon House of Representatives voted 46-11 on the bill.
Vote Hemp President Eric Steenstra said:
Hemp is a versatile, environmentally-friendly crop that has not been grown in the U.S. for over fifty years because of a misguided and politicized interpretation of the nation’s drug laws by the Drug Enforcement Administration. [...] While a new bill in Congress, HR 1866, is a welcome step, the hemp industry is hopeful that President Obama’s administration will recognize hemp’s myriad benefits to farmers, businesses and the environment.
Hemp has had a variety of uses, dating back 10,000 years ago. Such as:
- Building material
- Food
- Nutrition
- Dietary supplement
- Medicine
- Fiber
- Water and soil purification
- Weed control
- Fuel
The states Maine, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota and Vermont all passed legislation this year for the farming of hemp. The United States currently continues to import hemp, while other countries cultivate the plant and export it. Obviously with so many uses for this plant, it threatens more industries now than what were around back in the days when Hearst and DuPont began their campaign to try to put the hemp plant on the endangered species list.
Hacker Halts Access to Prescription Pills
June 30th, 2009 by Rick
Blowback from the activities of a hacker that infiltrated the computers connected to VA state prescription database is now being felt as pain-stricken people do not have access to their medication. Over 35 million prescription records were compromised.
Pharmacists only have limited access to the database and apparently will not prescribe medication without history and information. A House panel in the Virginia Legislature learned Monday, that patients were not receiving the following drugs:
- Oxycontin
- Valium
- Vicodin
- Ritalin
Two Virginia legislative panels looked into the Northrop Grumman Corporation, a technology company that ran the program that has a $2b, 10-year contract with Virginia. Oddly enough, Northrop Grumman Corporation is also the 4th largest defense contractor in the world. What this has to do with pill prescriptions leaves one’s mind to wonder.
The Meth Raid That Wasn’t
June 30th, 2009 by Russ
A few weeks ago we reported a story that had reached the national papers about a meth “superlab” discovered on a rental property owned by Bell, California mayor, Oscar Hernandez. Los Angeles Fire Department and Hazardous Materials spokespeople are now amending that story.
So, let’s revisit some of the salient details of the original story and see what’s left:
Investigators found a methamphetamine “super lab” during a raid Saturday on a property owned by the mayor of a Los Angeles suburb.
Well, as it turns out, no lab was found. No traces of chemicals that would be produced by such a lab were found. No one nearby smelled or had otherwise heard of any such lab.
The original story also claimed:
Police also found two children on the premises who were put in the custody of welfare officials.
According to LA Child Protective Services, no children were taken from the home. And finally, according to the LA sheriff’s department:
Investigators said the lab would be able to produce as much as 20 pounds of methamphetamine at once.
The Sheriff’s Department now confirms that they seized not 20 pounds, not one pound, but one ounce of meth from the site. And the two superlab masterminds initially arrested? They have now been released without charge.
Wow. Seemingly, someone has laid an incredible whopper on the national press. This entire story has a very ‘Roswell’ feel to it. It makes one wonder what that drug task-force actually did find in that apartment: Jimmy Hoffa? The safehouse where Michael Jackson faked his own death? Dr. Venture’s super-secret child cloning facility?
Only one thing is certain. The LA Sheriff’s Department is at the center of this. The truth is out there.
U.S. Reverses Afghanistan Opium Policy
June 29th, 2009 by Rick
The U.S. has changed it’s policy when it comes to eradicating poppy fields in Afghanistan, that’s done nothing but put Afghani farmers out of work.
Richard Holbrooke, U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan said at the G8 conference in Trieste, Italy on Saturday:
The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work. [...] We are not going to support crop eradication. We’re going to phase it out.
The new plan, being all about bringing the fight to the drug lords and drug suppliers, seems more like an old plan, seeing how the drug lords in these regions are also the Taliban. The U.S. has been in that region fighting the Taliban since the invasion in 2001, yet according to the U.N., Afghanistan’s opium production has risen 40-fold.
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime said the effort has been a “sad” joke and:
Sad because many, many Afghan policemen and soldiers … have been killed and only about 5,000 hectares were eradicated, about 3 percent of the volume.
The U.S. plans on reducing the budget it allocates for crop eradication in Afghanistan and spending several hundred million dollars on supporting legal crops.
