Medical pot: Will Colorado’s “green rush” last?

“Twenty states have now legalized the medical use of marijuana for the treatment of things like glaucoma, the effects of chemotherapy, and chronic pain; defying federal laws that still consider marijuana more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine. In Denver, if you want to find a medical marijuana dispensary, just look for the green cross. You won’t have to go far. There are 204 of them in the Mile High City — that’s roughly three times the number of Starbucks and McDonald’s combined. They come in all sizes and shapes. There is the health food store motif and ’70s style head shops. There are storefronts pitching low cost weed, and boutiques offering gourmet ganja.” Continue reading

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Kansas rejects marijuana advocacy group’s bid to adopt a highway

“State officials say that it’s not their beliefs that the state finds problematic, but the fact that what they advocate directly contravenes state law. The possession, distribution and consumption of marijuana is illegal in Kansas. ‘We don’t want to advertise for that because their name is gonna be on our signs and I don’t think that’s acceptable,’ said Benny Tarverdi of the Kansas Department of Transportation. The Department also told Eyewitness News 12 that this is only the second application it’s denied in the past decade. The first was from the KKK.” Continue reading

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Jeffrey Tucker: 3 Important Lessons from a Canadian Border Crossing

“I was at the Canadian border, headed toward the freedom that exists a few feet beyond the last security check. I was gently waved down a side corridor. Ninety minutes later, I was let go, but not before something truly alarming happened. I’m pretty sure that the Canadian government captured a mirrored version of my smartphone — which pretty much holds the whole of my life. I’ll explain precisely how this happened in just a bit — in the hopes that perhaps you can take precautions that I did not. But let’s first establish that this practice is not unusual. According to documents obtained by the ACLU, this has become the standard backdoor method of search used today by governments around the world.” Continue reading

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Police Officer Fired for Repeated Use of Taser on Senior With Alzheimer’s

“Doug Martin, an officer in Peru, Ind., had been summoned to Miller’s Merry Manor on June 17, 2012, after a nurse called 911 for help in transporting a patient who had hit his roommate, a nurse and a nursing assistant. Martin and his partner, Officer Jeremy Brindle, entered the Alzheimer’s ward to find 64-year-old James Howard sitting in a chair, wearing socks and nothing else. Howard refused the officers’ command to lie on a gurney and advanced toward Brindle, who tried to handcuff Howard. When Brindle lost control of one of Howard’s wrists, Martin yelled ‘Taser’ and deployed it on Howard’s torso. Martin zapped Howard five times for a total of 31 seconds.” Continue reading

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Lawsuit against police over Radio Shack strip search settled

“The settlement, signed by Mitchell in August and approved by the City Council last week, releases the city and the officers from any further claims by Mitchell. The city also maintains the settlement is not an admission of any wrongdoing. It also includes a confidentiality clause. In May 2009, Mitchell alleged he was pulled over in the shopping center parking lot, ordered out of the car at gunpoint and handcuffed. He said he was taken into Radio Shack where the police pulled off his shorts and underwear, searching for drugs. No drugs were found.” Continue reading

Continue Reading Lawsuit against police over Radio Shack strip search settled

Officer takes seized vehicles home, bills city for repairs

“A Eugene police officer has been reprimanded for improperly taking seized vehicles home with him, neglecting to tell his bosses about it and then charging the city for the time he claims to have spent repairing them. The officer told investigators that he had taken the vehicles home to fix them up so that they could be sold at a higher value as part of a city program that transfers the proceeds of auctioned items into a fund that aids crime victims, officials said. But questions were raised when a property control specialist couldn’t find the motor­cycle, and an internal investigation was launched.” Continue reading

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Teen arrested for iPhone ‘terrorism’ at school faces 20 years in prison

“The boy, who has not been named, was a student at H.L. Bourgeois High school. He had downloaded a phone application called ‘The Real Strike’ which utilizes the camera on a smart phone and superimposes a picture of a gun over the live-feed video. Whatever the camera phone points towards shows up on the screen with a graphic of a gun pointed towards it. The user can then use the app to simulate a mock shootout, and can record and share the results. The student used his phone at school to record some of his classmates, allegedly making a video of a mock shootout at school.” Continue reading

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Licensed to Kill: Growing Phenomenon of Police Shooting Unarmed Citizens

“This mindset that any challenge to police authority is a threat that needs to be ‘neutralized’ is a dangerous one that is part of a greater nationwide trend that sets law enforcement officers beyond the reach of the Fourth Amendment. Equally problematic is the trend in the courts that acquits officers involved in such shootings, letting them off with barely a slap to the wrists. What exactly are we teaching these young officers in the police academy when the slightest thing, whether it be a hand in a pocket, a man running towards them, a flashlight on a keychain, or a dehumanizing stare can ignite a strong enough ‘fear for their safety’ to justify firing on an unarmed person?” Continue reading

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