Tag-Archive for » Marijuana «
Squeezed between a Ben & Jerry’s cart and a booth selling rolling papers, two naturopathic doctors worked briskly through a line of patients.
The patients — old and young, stooped and tattooed — had been funneled to the doctors’ white tent by a blizzard of fliers handed out at the entrance of Seattle’s Hempfest, the three-day festival of all things marijuana.
The ads, by a clinic called 4Evergreen Group, offered authorization to use medical marijuana for one year for $150 if the patient had medical records; $200 with no medical records.
I was one of the first in line Friday, no medical records in hand but curious about how the process worked. After watching a short instructional video and meeting with a naturopath for 11 minutes, I joined the uncounted but growing number of Washingtonians able to legally posses 1-½ pounds of cannabis and 15 plants.
Throughout the 13-year history of the state medical-marijuana law, the issue of how patients get authorized has been overshadowed by battles between advocates and law enforcement over rules for possession.
But the Legislature’s 2010 expansion in the type of medical professionals able to authorize marijuana, and the emergence of specialty authorization clinics, helped stoke a boom in the medical-cannabis industry. That pushes the issue of authorizations to more prominence, none more visible than 4Evergreen’s Hempfest tent.
The authorization process appears to largely comply with state law, even if I might not be the type of patient voters had in mind when they passed the law in 1998.
“The intent of the law is to treat people with terrible, serious, even life-threatening conditions that may be helped with medical marijuana,” said Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the Department of Health. “Ask yourself, is that what’s happening out there?”
(Thank you Jonathan Martin)
Your local weed dealers may be experiencing a drought. Law enforcement at the California/Mexico border uncovered nearly 30 tons of marijuana being run through a tunnel. The tunnel that looked like a mining company had set up shop. The tunnel was complete with “a rail system, lighting and ventilation”, according to CNN. There’s only one entity behind such an advanced drug trafficking apparatus that has gone UNSEEN right at the border between Mexico and America…we’re not going to say it. But a hint was given to CNN by Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton: “Obviously this is a cartel and organized drug smuggling of the highest order.”
Definitely, Mr. Morton! A “cartel” of the “highest order” is in full effect when you can run a tunnel like this into the U.S….sight unseen. But, this tunnel is not any old tunnel. The tunnel spans 600 yards and stretches from one warehouse in Tijuana to one in San Diego. How is it possible that this immense operation was running right under our noses? And this is nothing in comparison to what Mexican authorities seized in Tijuana last month. La Policia nabbed 105 tons in Tijuana
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Check this out. If California’s Proposition 19, the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana passes it would cause the price of primo pot to plunge to $38 an ounce, the Rand Corp. estimates.
Users might also enjoy the irony that they could end up paying the government more for their weed than they pay to growers; taxes as high as $50 an ounce have been discussed as one of the drivers for legalization. That would put the grand total in the neighborhood of $88 an ounce, an 80% drop from a current high of about $450, notes the Los Angeles Times.
The Rand report couldn’t estimate the tax benefits however, but it noted legalization in California would cause the price of pot to drop across the nation, stimulate “marijuana tourism” in Cali, and disrupt smuggling from Mexico.
AP-CNBC Poll: Most Don’t Want to Legalize Marijuana. Most Americans still oppose legalizing marijuana but larger majorities believe pot has medical benefits and the government should allow its use for that purpose, according to an Associated Press-CNBC poll released Tuesday. Respondents were skeptical that crime would spike if marijuana is decriminalized or that it would lead more people to harder drugs like heroin or cocaine. There also was a nearly even split on whether government spends too much or the right amount enforcing marijuana laws. Almost no one thinks too little is spent. Marijuana use – medically and recreationally – is getting more attention in the political arena. California voters will decide in November whether to legalize the drug, and South Dakota will vote this fall on whether to allow medical uses. California and 13 other states already permit such use. The balloting comes against the backdrop of the Obama administration saying it won’t target marijuana dispensaries if they comply with state laws, a departure from the policy of the Bush administration, which sought to more stringently enforce the federal ban on marijuana use for any purpose.
Medical Marijuana Distributors Being Shot and Robbed for Drug. The medical marijuana industry is attracting the same violence and confusion that any “pusher” on the street might experience. The recent break-ins and shootings over marijuana in Washington state have started a cycle that appears to be unrelenting and commonplace. The latest robbery, according to the New York Times, occurred between Steve Sarich and someone trying to break into his home and steal his stash. Sarich is an activist and marijuana grower. Recently, he was shot and wounded by an intruder that he critically injured in a robbery attempt. But ironically enough, just days before the incident in his home, he had written a letter to his State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, about the dangers the growers and/or distributors face and the treatment they receive from the police. While the distribution of the drug is legal if you’re a medical recipient of it, it is still treated as an underground industry because the rest of the country is not able to take a toke without being hustled to the ground. In Sarich’s case, he complains about police treatment and a lack of protection for them as legal distributors. Marijuana is only being sold legally in some places because it is being distributed everywhere. I mean, even presidents have not inhaled or have at least been in the same room and tempted by it. If you’re going to legalize alcohol, which is equally responsible for deaths due to irresponsible use, you may as well let everyone pick up a bag of weed at the corner store. If anyone would be dying at an alarming rate, it would be from an excess of junk food and laughter.
The marijuana found south of Los Angeles was packed in around 160 bales and had an estimated street value of $3.6 million, border patrol agents told CBS Los Angeles.
“Shortly before noon on Sunday, May 20, maritime law enforcement authorities received a tip about suspicious bales floating in the water off the coast of Orange County, near Dana Point,” border patrol agent supervisor Michael Jimenez said in a statement.
The haul reportedly totaled 7,263 pounds.
Three Harbor Patrol ships and a Coast Guard cutter were sent to recover the marijuana from the water.
“At other events, they’ve dumped the bales to get rid of weight if they’re being chased,” he said. “Generally in these cases we’re aware they’re being dumped. What’s more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight.”
No suspects or vessel have been identified in connection to an ongoing investigation, the Register reported.
The incident was out of the ordinary, Jimenez told the Register.