Drugs & Prohibition

Medical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

"A man who owned several medical marijuana dispensaries in California that ostensibly operated legally under state law was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison on charges that he violated federal law restricting production and sales of the drug. Aaron Sandusky did not try to fight the charges, admitting to producing and selling medical marijuana in a manner approved by state law. 'I want to apologize to those with me and their families who have been victimized by the federal government who has not recognized the voters of this state,' Sandusky said in court. 'I want to apologize to the families who are suffering and who have to go through this.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMedical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

Medical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

"A man who owned several medical marijuana dispensaries in California that ostensibly operated legally under state law was sentenced on Monday to 10 years in prison on charges that he violated federal law restricting production and sales of the drug. Aaron Sandusky did not try to fight the charges, admitting to producing and selling medical marijuana in a manner approved by state law. 'I want to apologize to those with me and their families who have been victimized by the federal government who has not recognized the voters of this state,' Sandusky said in court. 'I want to apologize to the families who are suffering and who have to go through this.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMedical marijuana proprietor gets 10-year prison sentence

Leukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

"Finally able to return to normalcy after winning his protracted trial with the help of the public defender's office, and then winning the return of his marijuana, seized as evidence, with the pro-bono help of attorney Clifton Black, Crouse is confronting a final hurdle: repayment. The Independent has learned that on Dec. 27, Black and attorney Charles Houghton filed suit against the city of Colorado Springs for its failure, via the police department, to maintain the marijuana as required in Amendent 20. It has come out previously that the roughly 60 pounds of seized crop — some 55 plants and 6.5 pounds of matter — were worth around $307,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

Leukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

"Finally able to return to normalcy after winning his protracted trial with the help of the public defender's office, and then winning the return of his marijuana, seized as evidence, with the pro-bono help of attorney Clifton Black, Crouse is confronting a final hurdle: repayment. The Independent has learned that on Dec. 27, Black and attorney Charles Houghton filed suit against the city of Colorado Springs for its failure, via the police department, to maintain the marijuana as required in Amendent 20. It has come out previously that the roughly 60 pounds of seized crop — some 55 plants and 6.5 pounds of matter — were worth around $307,000." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLeukemia sufferer Bob Crouse sues city over destroyed marijuana

Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

Michigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

"On Election Day, voters in four cities - totaling over a million people - decided in favor of municipal initiatives to legalize or depenalize the adult use of cannabis. Sixty-five percent of Detroit voters approved Proposal M, removing local criminal penalties pertaining to the possession on private property of up to one ounce of marijuana by adults over age 21. Nonetheless, in the two months following these votes, city lawmakers have largely failed to implement any changes in law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichigan: Municipalities Ignoring Voters’ Will Regarding Marijuana Liberalization Measures

DEA Raids Three LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

"DEA agents raided three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries Wednesday afternoon, according to a preliminary report from Americans for Safe Access California director Don Duncan. More details were not forthcoming by press time. According to Duncan, the DEA struck LA Wonderland on West Pico Boulevard, the Downtown Collective on South Hill St. near downtown, and the Iron Works in Venice. The federal government has unleashed the DEA on dispensaries under both the Bush and the Obama administrations. One Southern California dispensary operator, Aaron Sandusky, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison just this Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDEA Raids Three LA Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Rocky Mountain high: Pot a $200M industry in Colorado

"Vigorous regulation of a thriving medical-marijuana industry in Colorado offers the best glimpse of what is coming to Washington when it launches its voter-approved social-use market. With continuous surveillance, bar-coded plants and strict financial background checks, Colorado's rules allowed capitalism to be unleased, creating an instant $200 million industry." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRocky Mountain high: Pot a $200M industry in Colorado

Washington DC’s first medical marijuana grow sites win approval

"Some 15 years after voters said yes to medical marijuana, regulators in Washington, D.C. have finally approved the first two grow sites in the district’s history. It’s taken so long mainly because Congress placed repeated delays on the program and denied it any funding, but city officials got the ball rolling again in 2010 when they unanimously votes to move forward with implementation. D.C. will eventually allow up to 10 dispensaries, and patients will be able to obtain up to two ounces of the plant per month from specially licensed doctors. Grow sites like the two approved by regulators will be limited to just 95 plants apiece." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWashington DC’s first medical marijuana grow sites win approval

One nation under drugs, with slavery and sickness for all

"More than 15,000 Americans now die annually after overdosing on prescription painkillers called opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—more than from heroin, cocaine and all other illegal drugs combined. Rising opioid abuse means that drug overdoses are now the single largest cause of accidental death in America. They surpassed traffic accidents in 2009, the most recent CDC data available. And all of this is occurring under the 'watchful' eye of the FDA." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOne nation under drugs, with slavery and sickness for all