Afghan Drug Production Hits Record Levels

The production of poppies in Afghanistan has hit record levels despite the presence of thousands of British troops in the country. Sky's Asia correspondent has this exclusive report on the traffickers supplying heroin that is on Britain's streets.

 

NORML Remembers Outspoken Conservative Marijuana Law Reform Advocate William F. Buckley

Washington, DC: Conservative author and political pundit William F. Buckley died on Wednesday, February 27, from complications from diabetes and emphysema. He was 82 years old.

Though most well known for his politically conservative writings as founder of the magazine National Review, Buckley also spoke out routinely against the criminal prohibition of cannabis. Buckley is believed to have penned more than 40 syndicated columns criticizing America’s ‘war on drugs,’ and enjoyed a nearly five-decade long friendship with former NORML Executive Director (and current MarijuanaNews.com editor) Richard Cowan.

NORML expresses its sincere condolences to the friends and family of William Buckley.

New Hampshire: House To Vote Next Week On Pot Decriminalization Proposal

This from NORML

Concord, NH: Members of New Hampshire’s House of Representatives are scheduled to vote Wednesday next week on a measure seeking to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis.

If approved by the House, HB 1623 would replace criminal sanctions outlawing the possession of up to one-quarter ounce of marijuana with civil penalties, punishable by a fine only. Under current state law, the possession or of any amount of cannabis is a misdemeanor offense punishable by up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine.

In January, Vermont Senators approved similar legislation, calling for fine-only sanctions for adults who possess up to one ounce of cannabis. That measure is now pending before the House Judiciary Committee.

Currently, twelve states have enacted versions of marijuana decriminalization – replacing criminal sanctions with the imposition of fine-only penalties for minor pot violators.

 

Blowing Smoke

When Victoria’s Tim Wilkins realized his Health Canada licence to possess medical cannabis was set to expire last year, he diligently filled out the eight-page renewal form, paid $65 to obtain his physician’s signature and submitted the package to Health Canada’s Marihuana Medical Access Division in Ottawa on August 22—13 weeks before it was due.

“I’d dealt with [MMAD] for a few years, so I knew how long it could take,” says Wilkins, who declined to let Monday publish his real last name, fearing the stigma still attached to medical cannabis use.

On November 27 Wilkins’ new license arrived—five weeks after the promised eight-week processing period had passed—and three days after the old one had already expired.

“The system is set up to be as frustrating and confusing as possible and is really just a joke,” says Wilkins. “I had never believed it possible that an arm of government could be so ass backwards, so inept, so slow and so frustrating.”

The 35-year-old suffers from degenerative hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy, a muscle-wasting disease that leaves Wilkins, a former seismic exploration worker in the oil and gas industry, with “constant and chronic pain.” Before a colleague suggested he try marijuana to relieve his discomfort in 1999, Wilkins says he had never experimented with any of the illicit products on Canada’s list of controlled substances.

“I am, and have always been, a law-abiding citizen,” says Wilkins. “But it was immediately obvious what [medical cannabis] was doing for me.”

Smoking marijuana, he says, provides a degree of relief from his daily pain without the harsh side effects associated with many laboratory-produced prescription pharmaceuticals.

Today Wilkins’ is one of a growing chorus of voices—many emanating from the progressively, critically and terminally ill—outraged by the bureaucratic tap dance required to win crucial government support to use the herb that can serve as muscle relaxant, pain reliever, anti-depressant and appetite stimulant for a variety of medical conditions.

More on this and why people are so pissed at the Govt and the 1500% mark up on Medical Marijuana that is leaving sick people with mounting debts from bcnewsgroup.com  HERE

Dubai Has Re-Think

DUBAI (Reuters) - Dubai has freed a Briton jailed after a speck of cannabis was found on his shoe, a newspaper reported on its Web site on Tuesday.

Authorities released father-of-three Andrew Brown, 43, from Birmingham, who had been serving a four-year jail sentence after police at Dubai airport found 0.003 grams (0.0001 ounce) of cannabis stuck to the sole of a shoe in his luggage last September, the daily 7 Days said.

Brown said he had been returning from a holiday in Ethiopia to mark the Rastafarian millennium

for the full story scroll down to Feb 10 'Dubai Customs Act Like Penis's'

Contra Costa Expected To Permanently Ban Marijuana Dispensaries. (always good to force sick people to travel for their medicine!!!!!!)

MARTINEZ, Calif.—Contra Costa County officials are expected move to permanently ban marijuana dispensaries in the county.

New marijuana dispensaries have have not been allowed to open since the county approved a temporary moratorium in 2006.

But with that moratorium lapsing in April, supervisors are expected Tuesday to pass an ordinance that would ban medical marijuana dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county.

There would be on exception to the ban though. A marijuana dispensary in El Sobrante would be allowed to remain open because it applied for a land-use permit before the 2006 moratorium.

Marijuana 101

“My basic idea is to try to professionalize the industry and have it taken seriously as a real industry, just like beer and distilling hard alcohol,” Richard Lee, a pot-dispensary owner and the school’s founder,” told the AP.Learning how to get started in the medical marijuana business costs a lot less than an Ivy League education and takes as little as one weekend.

So far, 60 students have completed two-day weekend sessions in the art and science of the medicinal herb at Oaksterdam University in Oakland, Calif'.

The school prepares students for jobs in California’s medical marijuana industry, teaching them how to cultivate cannabis, cook with it, dispense it and “protect your rights in a police encounter,” among other things. The faculty also teach “which strains are best for various medical conditions.” Individual classes cost $75. Two-day weekend sessions are $200. Textbooks aren’t included.

So how are job prospects in the field? Entry-level workers make a little more than minimum wage; “bud tenders” can make over $50,000 a year; owners and top managers make six figures, Lee told the AP.

An official with the Drug Enforcement Agency in San Francisco said authorities were aware of Oaksterdam U. but didn’t see a reason to shut it down. After all, talking about marijuana is not illegal, and while a small amount of pot is kept on the premises, the DEA tries “to concentrate our case work on the most significant violators,” * that atitued will last till they bust a few growers who say they got their education at Oaksterdam U

Public Marijuana Use in Canada Has Guidelines but No Rules

Nearly three years ago, a customer stepped outside his Gator Teds Tap and Grill in Burlington to light up a legal medicinal marijuana joint.

Ted Kindos owner, not sure what the rules were and having asked the regular customer repeatedly to stop confronted him because he didn't want to force customers -- including families and kids -- to walk through a plume of pot smoke to get inside.

He certainly didn't want to jeopardize his liquor licence, which he said could be revoked if drugs are used on the premises.

It might have been better if he'd kept his mouth shut.

There are guidelines but no rules in Canadian law that regulate where medical marijuana users can smoke their legal pot -- a loophole critics say needs to be closed.

The confrontation between Kindos and his customer three years ago may be the catalyst to change national laws, or it could ruin him.

Kindos has already spent nearly $20,000 of his own cash, and estimates he could spend upwards of $150,000 more fighting an Ontario Human Rights Commission complaint launched by Steve Gibson, who is licensed to smoke marijuana by the feds to manage the chronic pain of a neck injury that has kept him out of work since 1989.

"If this thing goes to the tribunal, that's it, we're done. Our restaurant is done," he said. "We've already been told we can't win.

"I had a heart attack at 38. I've already had a quadruple bypass. The business pretty well killed my dad (who died of a heart attack at 48 in 1991) and now, with all this stuff going on, it's killing me ... I'm under so much stress right now."

For the rest of this from the TorontoSun.co go HERE

Snoop Dogg Ticketed For Marijuana Possession

Rapper and reality television star Snoop Dogg was ticketed by police outside of a New York nightclub on Wednesday (February 20) for possession of marijuana.

The star of E! channel's 'Father Hood' was caught by NYPD officers smoking marijuana and was handed a desk appearance ticket - an order to appear in criminal court to respond to an offense - according to his lawyer Donald Etra.

"He did not get arrested.  He received a ticket for possession of marijuana.   We are contesting the ticket," Etra told the New York Post.

New York And The 'Crack-Pot Tax

Struggling to close a $4.4 billion state government budget gap caused by excessive spending -- as is usually the case, revenues continue to rise -- Democratic Gov, Eliot L Spitzer  has proposed making New York's illicit drug dealers pay a tax on their stashes. The new tax would apply to cocaine, heroin and marijuana, and could be paid by buying and affixing "tax stamps" to bags of dope.

The proposal has brought a predictable wave of ridicule.

"I guess if it moves, he'll tax it," charged Republican state Sen.Martin J Golden who dubbed the proposal "the crack tax." Other opponents told The Washington Post that because cocaine and weed would be subject to the new levies, it should more aptly be called "the crack-pot tax."

"How do I explain to my 16-year-old son that we're giving a certain legitimacy to marijuana, cocaine and heroin?" asked Sen. Golden, a former New York city police officer who represents a Brooklyn district. "Is prostitution next?"

DONT TAKE WEED TO DUBAI...........

You remember the poor bas**ard who was arrested at Dubai customs, he had had trodden in some weed and stuck to his shoe was 0.003gms of weed, so when he went through, the ultra sensitive drug sniffing robots detect it and he got 4 years prison, and 4 actually means 4 out there!.

Well today a musician, a drum and base pioneer who works as a DJ on the BBC's radio 1 suffered the same fate,  Raymond Bingham, was found guilty of possession and illegally bringing marijuana into the United Arab Emirates. this time it was a huge haul the customs seized (2.16gm) almost a 10th of an ounce woo hooo, he did try and save himself  by explaining he had not meant to bring it through he just 'forgot' it was in his pants!! He now has 14 days to appeal or his 4 year jail sentence will stand.

But if you think that is bad!, what about the Swiss guy, he has a bread roll in Heathrow airport, gets to Dubai where the 'sniffer' detects '3' count them '3' poppy seeds that had fallen from his bread roll and lodged in his jersey! charged with 'drug smuggling' he was also given the now customary 4 years prison, it is effing ridiculous!.

Jan 2008 High Times Ad' (Jorge Cevantes getting a little mixed up, must be some weed, he doesn't know Willy Nelson from Tommy Chong)

More Victims Of a Victimless Crime

TWO people are being questioned after police raided a cannabis farm in Wallasey early on Wednesday morning. A large quantity of sophisticated cannabis growing equipment, with an estimated value of £15,000, and what is believed to be more than 450 cannabis plants were seized by police at an address in Grove Road, acting on information received from the public.

A 29-year old man and a 28-year-old woman were arrested and are currently being questioned by police.

Neighbourhood Inspector Brian Griffiths said: "This is a significant seizure and local people should be reassured that we will continue to take positive action on any information relating to drugs activity in the area.

"Information from the public is vital in our continuing war on drugs.

"I want to thank the community for their support so far and also urge them to keep supplying us with information."

I on the other hand would like to ask the Grass, Snitch, Stooly or any other name this brave soul has "what do you get out of that???" "where are the victims of this heinous crime???"  lets hope if you are unlucky and contract one of the ills that Medical Marijuana can ease that someone has finished a grow so you can get your Medicine eh!, there but for the grace of God go YOU! Rat!, and i can bet the same jerk gets his tobacco from a 'runner'**, and buys 'knocked off'*** CD's and DVD's without a second thought about the organised crime and people smuggling that these crimes fund!!! or even worse only gave this info to police in order to get his own ass out of the fire for some petty offence!, what a wonderful member of the public

** Runner = someone who delivers tobacco smuggled over from Europe thus avoiding any tax otherwise levied on tobacco (and beers and spirits) in Great Britain

*** Knocked off = stolen.

Medical Marijuana Group Blasts Dillon Drug Bust!

DILLON, Mont. (AP) - A pro-medical-marijuana group says a large-scale marijuana bust this month, that law officers in Dillon touted as a major success, was instead the persecution of a terminally ill man, who needed the drug to help ease his suffering.

Patients and Families United, based in Helena says the police action won't stand up in court, thanks to Montana's 3-year-old Medical Marijuana Law.

The group criticized law officers for making a terminally ill man's last days miserable, because of the worry that he would end up in prison.

Tom Daubert (doh-BAIR') is founder and director of the medical marijuana group. He says they will help with the legal defense for the man, whose name has not been released by officials.

Blair Martinson is regional director for the Southwest Montana Drug Task Force. He says officials are pushing ahead with prosecution; and says authorities will make their response in court.

Marijuana-based Drug Reduces Fibromyalgia Pain, Study Suggests

MORE GOOD NEWS!!!!!

Patients with fibromyalgia treated with a synthetic form of marijuana, nabilone, showed significant reductions in pain and anxiety in a first-of-its-kind study, published in The Journal of Pain.

Fibromyalgia syndrome has no cure, is difficult to diagnose, and effective pain management strategies are a must to help patients cope with the disease. An estimated 12 million Americans have fibromyalgia, which is characterized by widespread muscle and joint pain and myriad other symptoms. The condition is far more prevalent in women and the incidence increases with age, reaching 7 percent among women 65 years and older.

Forty subjects were selected for the nabilone trial, conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital. They were divided into nabilone and placebo groups and were treated for four weeks. The authors noted this was the first randomized, controlled-access trial to evaluate nabilone for pain reduction and quality-of-life improvement in fibromyalgia patients. Nabilone is one of two oral marijuana-based compounds, known as cannabinoids, available in Canada and is approved for treatment of nausea and vomiting during chemotherapy.

Results of the Manitoba study showed the nabilone group had significant reductions in pain and anxiety, measured by comparisons with baseline scores on the visual analogue scale for pain. The drug was well tolerated by treated patients, which the authors characterized as reassuring since fibromyalgia patients are sensitive to most medications and have difficulty tolerating side effects

Public Pot Protests Set For National Road Tour

Cannabis activists, who protest prohibition by publicy smoking marijuana at Auckland's Albert Park, will tour 42 towns in 42 days for daily law reform rallies.

The aroma of marijuana lingers at the Victoria St East entrance to Albert Park as cannabis is openly smoked in 4:20pm protests on Wednesdays and Fridays. Placards with slogans such as "End the Drug War" are displayed, as is a New Zealand flag and Maryjane the cannabus - an old Bedford customised into a mobile smoking lounge and information centre - is emblazoned with drug law reform messages.

The public pot consumption has attracted scant police attention. The 4:20 sessions have been going for just over two years but protesters have been searched and questioned only on rare occasions and only a few arrests have been made. However police officers swiftly appeared to confiscate a mature flowering marijuana plant the activists transplanted in a public ceremony.

For the most part, police tolerate the regular protests. Officers in patrol cars waiting at adjacent traffic lights watch activists openly toking, then drive off. The liberal law enforcement approach extends to cannabus sessions in Queen St on Friday and Saturday nights. Activists say visitors over the age of 18 are invited to consume cannabis in the mobile smoking lounge and passing police patrols don't seem too fussed.

For dates etc and more on this please go HERE

Physicians Group Urges Easing Of Ban On Medical Marijuana

SACRAMENTO -- -- A large and respected association of physicians is calling on the federal government to ease its strict ban on marijuana as medicine and hasten research into the drug's therapeutic uses.
The American College of Physicians, the nation's largest organization of doctors of internal medicine, with 124,000 members, contends that the long and rancorous debate over marijuana legalization has obscured good science that has demonstrated the benefits and medicinal promise of Cannabis

In a 13-page position paper approved by the college's governing board of regents and posted Thursday on the group's website, the group calls on the government to drop marijuana from Schedule I, a classification it shares with illegal drugs such as heroin and LSD that are considered to have no medicinal value and a high likelihood of abuse.
The declaration could put new pressure on Washington lawmakers and government regulators who for decades have rejected attempts to reclassify marijuana.

More on this from the LA Times HERE

Key Grant In Drug Fight Shrinks

Already beset with the loss of millions in federal timber money, southern Oregon counties say they now face a steep reduction in a critical grant that helps them combat Mexican drug gangs and other public safety problems.

Police seized a record 262,013 marijuana plants last year in Oregon, rounding up scores of growers who toiled, often with firearms, in the southwest corner of the state. Most were linked to Mexican drug cartels, identified as the state's leading organized crime threat.

A 67 percent drop in the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant comes as cannabis planting season looms and Mexican drug gangs are taking bigger roles in shipping methamphetamine through southwest Oregon.

continued HERE

Latest Anti-Pot Quack Science: 'Marijuana Makes Your Teeth Fall Out'

A rash of new studies of marijuana has hit the mass media, generating absurd headlines like "Smoking Pot Rots Your Gums."

Recent weeks have seen a rash of new studies of marijuana hitting the mass media, generating scary headlines like "Smoking Pot Rots Your Gums," "Cannabis Bigger Cancer Risk Than Cigarettes" and "Pot Withdrawal Similar to Quitting Cigarettes. Most of this coverage can be boiled down to a fairly simple equation:

Flawed science + uncritical reporting = misinformation.

Mercifully, the U.S. mass media were so distracted by Super Tuesday, Heath Ledger's autopsy and the latest Britney Spears trauma that reports of these studies didn't get as much play as they might have. That's good, because the research had significant gaps, and the reporting ranged from slapdash to flat wretched.

More on this HERE

Key Grant In Drug Fight Shrinks

Already beset with the loss of millions in federal timber money, southern Oregon counties say they now face a steep reduction in a critical grant that helps them combat Mexican drug gangs and other public safety problems.

Police seized a record 262,013 marijuana plants last year in Oregon, rounding up scores of growers who toiled, often with firearms, in the southwest corner of the state. Most were linked to Mexican drug cartels, identified as the state's leading organized crime threat.

A 67 percent drop in the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant comes as cannabis planting season looms and Mexican drug gangs are taking bigger roles in shipping methamphetamine through southwest Oregon.

Story continues HERE

Dubai Customs Act Like Penis's

A father-of-three who was found with a microscopic speck of cannabis stuck to the bottom of one of his shoes has been sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.

Keith Brown, a council youth development officer, was travelling through the United Arab Emirates on his way back to England when he was stopped as he walked through Dubai's main airport.

A search by customs officials uncovered a speck of cannabis weighing just 0.003g - so small it would be invisible to the naked eye and weighing less than a grain of sugar - on the tread of one of his shoes.

Dubai International Airport is a major hub for the Middle East and thousands of Britons pass through it every year to holiday in the glamorous beach and shopping haven.

But many of those tourists and business travellers are likely to be unaware of the strict zero-tolerance drugs policy in the UAE.

One man has even been jailed for possession of three poppy seeds left over from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow Airport.

Vancouver Conference Sends a Message to the UN

Vancouver, British Columbia, was the scene this week of an international conference on drug policy, affiliated with the United Nations, that didn't turn out the way the UN imagined it. Organized as part of the UN's Beyond 2008 global forum to review the accomplishments and failures of the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs, the Vancouver conference sent the UN a strong message: end drug prohibition.

Attended by harm reductionists, treatment providers, prevention specialists, anti-prohibitionists and others from the US and Canada, the Vancouver forum differed greatly in tone and content from the other regional forums held so far as part of a process overseen by the Vienna NGO Committee on Narcotic Drugs, which works with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs to incorporate the views of non-governmental organizations and civil society into the crafting of the next UNGASS drug strategy. In other regional forums, drug treatment and prevention forces dominated the conversation, as in the North American forum held last month in St. Petersburg, Florida, where groups like the Drug Free America Foundation held sway.

But in Vancouver, pioneer of the four-pillars policy (prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and law enforcement), home of the continent's only safe injection site, and ground zero for Canada's cannabis culture, it was a different story. Organizers there made sure it wasn't just another prohibitionist gathering.

Read why in the rest of this report from StoptheDrugWar.org HERE

Here We Go!!!!!! Now The UN Is Against L.A Vending Machines, zzzzzZZZZZZZZ

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Marijuana vending machines in Los Angeles violate international treaties and should be shut down, the U.N.-affiliated drug control board said Friday.
«The International Narcotics Control Board is deeply concerned about reports that computerized vending machines to dispense cannabis (marijuana) have been put into operation in Los Angeles,» Philip O. Emafo, president

of the board, said in a statement.
«We know that the use of cannabis is illegal under federal law of the United States and we trust the authorities will stop such activities, which contravene the international drug control treaties,» he added.
At least three Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries have installed vending machines to distribute the drug to people who carry cards authorizing marijuana use. The substance is said to alleviate chronic pain, loss of appetite and other ailments.*It does alleviate symptoms of many illnesses*                                                        Marijuana use is illegal under U.S. federal law, which does not recognize the medical marijuana laws in California and 11 other states.
In the statement, the Vienna-based board also said scientific research about the therapeutic usefulness of cannabis or cannabis extracts was still in progress and had not produced much evidence.
«So far, the results of research regarding the potential therapeutic usefulness have been limited,» the board said.
The Drug Enforcement Agency and other U.S. federal agencies have been actively shutting down major medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state over the last two years and charging their operators with felony distribution charges.
The International Narcotics Control Board is an independent monitoring body for the implementation of the United Nations international drug control conventions. It was established in 1968.

San Francisco Responds to Safe Access Crisis; Calls on Newsom to Lead the Way

Members of the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Community and supporters gathered in solidarity to call for Mayor Gavin Newsom to end his silence about recent D.E.A. scare tactics against medical cannabis facility landlords. These threats are in the form of letters threatening asset forfeiture and imprisonment if they continue to rent to Medical Cannabis dispensaries, even though they are doing so pursuant to City regulations. This tactic has already worked in Southern California.

Speakers including California State Senator Carole Migden, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, two commissioners - Robert Haaland, Board of Appeals and David Campos, Police Commissioner, San Francisco Democratic Party Chairman Scott Wiener and Rev. Randi Webster all challenged Newsom to join Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums in denouncing the federal government's treachery.

The SF Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear a resolution on February 12 at 2 PM at SF City Hall in their chambers on the second floor to ask their support for the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of Congress, John Conyers Jr., who called for hearings to investigate the DEA attempt to undermine California state laws.

Please attend and give support to this resolution if you are able.

Fullerton Blows Down Marijuana Dispensary Ban

FULLERTON — A proposed ban on medical-marijuana dispensaries in the city was defeated by the City Council on Tuesday night, with the panel indicating it will instead establish regulations for the outlets.

If the City Council does indeed vote to regulate the dispensaries, Fullerton would apparently become the only Orange County municipality with such regulations.

On Feb. 19, the council is scheduled to consider how to regulate the retail outlets; staffers were told to analyze the current requirements and update zoning maps for possible dispensary locations.

"There is no need to have these businesses in Fullerton, but this is a zoning issue," said Councilman Shawn Nelson, who with Mayor Sharon Quirk and Councilwoman Pam Keller agreed California voters supported the dispensaries by a large margin when they adopted Proposition 215 in 1996.

 

More on this HERE at the OCregister

Pot Dispensaries Closing Under Threat Of Feds

Medical marijuana in San Francisco may be going up in smoke.

In late December, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent letters to landlords of buildings that housed medical cannabis dispensaries in the city, telling them they face the loss of their property and possibly prison if the businesses stay open.

Now, less than two months later, seven of the city's 28 dispensaries have closed or are on the verge of closing, according to medical marijuana supporters and activists. They fear more will follow.

"It's like a dagger in the heart," said Wayne Justmann, a medical marijuana advocate. "We're barely holding on right now."

Dispensary owners are being guarded about the closures, as they are fearful that speaking publicly will draw attention to their individual businesses and put them at greater risk.

More on this from San Fransico Chronicle HERE

Continuing The German 'Grow Shop' Busts from Tues 29th Jan,

German police carrying on the raids using a 'grow shop' customer list!!!! (don't use your own address, and if you're in the states- no! really DON'T!!!)

A police raid of a popular “grow shop” that had been supplying cannabis-growing materials over the Internet, led the law enforcers to the house of their unsuspecting legal colleagues in Minden, in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia this week.

Officers discovered 12 marmalade jars filled with weed, harvested from a lush cannabis plantation at the house shared by a judge and a lawyer in the town. In addition, they seized growing equipment such as heat lamps and an air pump for the plants.

German states treat marijuana abuse with varying degrees of tolerance; it is illegal everywhere in the country, but police often react to the smell of the drug only if, for instance, a driver is suspected of consuming it. For the most part, German police are too stretched to control suspected plantations.

"We have to see what the investigations reveal," Ulrich Kaminski, press spokesman of the Justice Ministry in North-Rhine Westphalia told daily Mindener Tageblatt.

Police however have already opened a probe against the lawyer and the judge, who were traced from the grow shop's customer lists. Experts examined a laptop to find out the extent of the drug racket. They have already indicated that the legal duo wasn't just producing cannabis for their own consumption but seemed to be supplementing their legal incomes with the lucrative plantation.

It remains unclear whether the two legal eagles will defend themselves or hire lawyers in a case that is bound to grip the town's local media

Elderly Man Charged In $3M Marijuana Seizure

A 72-year-old Calgary man faces drug charges after police seized an estimated $3 million worth of marijuana from a home in the city's northeast.

Zhi Qiang Lin was charged after 2,418 marijuana plants were discovered Wednesday at a residence in the 3400 block of 48 Street NE, police said in a news release Monday.

Lin was charged with possession of marijuana, production of marijuana and theft of electricity, police said.

The marijuana seizure is one of the largest in the city's history, they said.

In an unrelated search Thursday, police said they found another 848 marijuana plants worth about $1 million at a house in the 0-100 block of Evansmeade Common NW.

Charges related to this discovery are pending, police said.

CBC News Canada

Marc Emery on CBC News: Parts 1 and 2

Here is a CBC interview with Marc Emery the day before his scheduled extradition hearing. The hearing was postponed pending a possible deal between Marc, the US and Canada

SCOTLAND: Doctors Treat MS Sufferers With Cannabis

SCOTTISH doctors have started prescribing cannabis on the NHS before it is officially licensed in a bid to relieve the pain of multiple sclerosis sufferers.

Medics, apparently frustrated by years of trials of medicinal cannabis, have decided to wait no longer and are legally obtaining the drug Sativex direct from the manufacturer.
Doctors are allowed to prescribe unlicensed drugs in the UK if they think it is in the best interest of their patient, but they are liable for any unforeseen consequences.
Sativex, which costs the NHS around £1,825 a year per patient, contains two purified forms of cannabis and is considered highly effective at controlling the pain and spasms associated with MS. It contains an extra ingredient which prevents the patient getting a 'high'.

More on this HERE at the News.scotsman.com

Gary Silva Medical Marijuana Grower Gets Busted

Gary Silva Talks about his arrest for growing medical marijuana as a care giver for medicine and how the DEA and the local Sheriffs abused him and acted like thugs and thieves when they busted his legal grow

Bridgeport Man Nabbed After 'Marijuana Sale' Ad On The Internet or How Dumb Is This

STAMFORD, Conn. - Stamford police say they've arrested a Bridgeport man who was hawking his 'high grade marijuana' on the web 

Steven Zahorsky posted his ad on Craigslist.org bragging about the 'A'+ grade Marijuana he had, Stamford police e-mailed him saying they were a painting crew who wanted to score during their break, meeting Zahorsky on Interstate 95's exit 13 (unlucky for some!) undercover officers paid $320 for 3/4 of an ounce and then arrested him.

At Zahorsky's apartment police found 3 more bags of Marijuana and a bag of 'magic' mushrooms!, D'oh!

Pot club advocates assail silence on DEA tactics

Medical cannabis advocates are stepping up pressure on San Francisco officials to denounce the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's latest tactic of targeting landlords who rent to pot clubs in their long-running dispute with California over the use of marijuana to treat health ailments.

"We are calling for people to stand up for safe access," said Shona Gochenaur, executive director of the local patient advocacy group Axis of Love and chair of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club's Cannabis Caucus. "This is a safe access emergency."

Frustrated by the lack of response, medicinal marijuana supporters convinced local Democratic Party leaders to pass a resolution last week calling on Mayor Gavin Newsom and the Board of Supervisors to speak out against the DEA's decision to threaten property owners with asset forfeiture and imprisonment for leasing space to medical cannabis dispensaries.

More on this HERE from Matthew S. Bajko from Bay Area Reporter

Nebraska: Legislature Considers ‘Recriminalizing’ Pot Possession Offenses

This from NORML

Lincoln, NE: Nebraska lawmakers are considering legislation that would overturn the state’s long-standing marijuana decriminalization law and replace it with strict criminal punishments.

As introduced, Legislative Bill 844 would raise penalties for minor marijuana possession from a civil citation (punishable by a $100 fine) to a class III misdemeanor – punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine, and attendance in a drug rehabilitation/educational program.

The bill is currently before the Judiciary Committee.

NORML Executive Director Allen St. Pierre criticized the measure, stating: "Passage of LB 844 could potentially expose thousands of minor marijuana offenders to a variety of serious penalties – including probation and mandatory drug testing, loss of employment, loss of child custody, removal from subsidized housing, asset forfeiture, loss of federal student aid, and the loss of certain federal welfare benefits such as food stamps."

A similar ‘recriminalization’ measure was rejected by the legislature in 2003.

Nebraska is one of twelve states that have enacted marijuana decriminalization – replacing criminal sanctions with the imposition of fine-only penalties for minor pot violators. Four additional states – Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont – are considering enacting marijuana decriminalization measures this year.