Jeff Jones Sentenced Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative executive director Jeff Jones, one of the California medical marijuana movement's most respected figures, was sentenced Thursday to 90 days behind bars for handing out leaflets near a courthouse. U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski of Sacramento apparently ignored a report recommending probation, instead ordering Jones, 28, into federal custody for the misdemeanor. He will start serving his time Monday. "I plan on commencing a hunger strike as soon as I'm taken into custody," Jones said later Thursday. "This is political -- this has nothing to do with the rule of law." [continues 485 words]
Federal judge rejects probation in sentencing Jeff Jones for handing out leaflets Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative executive director Jeff Jones, one of the California medical marijuana movement's most respected figures, was sentenced Thursday to 90 days behind bars for handing out leaflets near a courthouse. U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski of Sacramento apparently ignored a report recommending probation, instead ordering Jones, 28, into federal custody for the misdemeanor. He will start serving his time Monday. "I plan on commencing a hunger strike as soon as I'm taken into custody," Jones said later Thursday. "This is political -- this has nothing to do with the rule of law." [continues 493 words]
A Judge Was Angered Over Criticism Of A Fellow Magistrate's Drug Case Conduct. Angry that a medical marijuana activist blames a fellow judge for disrupting a major pot trial in Sacramento federal court, a magistrate judge sent the activist to prison for three months Thursday. Jeff Jones, a nationally known champion of medical marijuana, was found guilty at a non-jury trial in December of attempting to influence the trial of fellow medical pot advocate Bryan Epis. U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski ordered Jones, 38, to pay restitution of $3,925, the cost of bringing the first prospective jurors to court for the Epis trial. All 42 were disqualified and a second panel convened by U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr., who was convinced that material handed out by Jones and other protesters to members of the first group as they walked toward the courthouse contaminated the entire pool. [continues 418 words]
It is not every day that a jury apologizes to a man it has just convicted. So Ed Rosenthal should feel honored that seven of the 12 jurors that convicted him on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy are apologizing to him, and calling for their own verdict to be overturned on appeal. Five of them appeared and two others had statements read at a news conference last week outside U.S. District Court in San Francisco. They wanted to let the world know that they felt misled by the federal judge and by prosecutors who did not allow the defense to raise issues of state and local medical marijuana laws in Rosenthal's trial. [continues 603 words]
It is not every day that a jury apologizes to a man it has just convicted. So Ed Rosenthal should feel honored that seven of the 12 jurors who convicted him on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy are now apologizing to him and calling for their own verdict to be overturned on appeal. Five of them appeared, and two others had statements read, at a news conference last Tuesday outside U.S. District Court in San Francisco. They wanted to let the world know that they felt misled by the federal judge and prosecutors who did not allow the defense to raise issues of state and local medical marijuana laws in Rosenthal's trial. [continues 719 words]
WASHINGTON -- It is not every day that a jury apologizes to a man it has just convicted. So Ed Rosenthal should feel honored that seven of the 12 jurors who convicted him on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy are now apologizing to him and calling for their own verdict to be overturned on appeal. Five of them appeared and two others had statements read at a news conference Tuesday outside a courthouse in San Francisco. They wanted to let the world know that they felt misled by the federal judge and prosecutors who did not allow the defense to raise issues of state and local medical marijuana laws in Rosenthal's trial. [continues 714 words]
It is not every day that a jury apologizes to a man it has just convicted. So Ed Rosenthal should feel honored that seven of the 12 jurors that convicted him on three federal counts of marijuana cultivation and conspiracy are now apologizing to him and calling for their own verdict to be overturned on appeal. Five of them appeared and two others had statements read at a news conference last Tuesday outside U.S. District Court in San Francisco. They wanted to let the world know that they felt misled by the federal judge and prosecutors that did not allow the defense to raise issues of state and local medical marijuana laws in Rosenthal's trial. [continues 719 words]
After she and her fellow jurors found Ed Rosenthal guilty of federal marijuana cultivation and conspiracy charges in San Francisco last week, Marney Craig discovered that that she had made a terrible mistake. Instead of the "businessman" she thought she had convicted, Craig learned that Rosenthal, was, in fact, a widely published marijuana advocate who had been asked to grow medical cannabis for critically ill patients. The judge had kept this information from jurors, because Rosenthal was tried under federal drug laws that do not recognize the medicinal use of marijuana. [continues 1644 words]
In July, 1997 --the first summer after the passage of California's medical marijuana initiative-- Robert Galambos, then 32, was busted by Calaveras County sheriff's deputies and charged by the DA with cultivation of 382 marijuana plants and possession for sale. He had more than six pounds of processed mj on hand, too. Galambos claimed to be growing for and supplying the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op (although the only product he'd ever brought to the OCBC, according to Jeff Jones, had been rejected for mold). When Galambos was tried in March '99, Tony Serra argued that his client believed that growing for a club was lawful under Prop 215. Galambos also claimed to be a medical marijuana user who has suffered headaches since fracturing his skull in a car wreck in the late '80s; but he didn't obtain a doctor's recommendation until after he was busted. [continues 1519 words]
Despite Landmark Legislation, A Slew Of Bills Remains Undone ALBANY -- The Legislature crossed two items off its to-do list this month by passing gay-rights and drunken-driving bills, but it left a slew of other issues undone when lawmakers went home for the year. The state's program to clean up toxic-waste sites remains bankrupt. Strict drug laws that have been the subject of hot debate for the past three years are still in place. The law governing how new power plants are approved expires at the end of the year, and there will be nothing to replace it. All of which was evidence that the Legislature remains mired by gridlock, say critics, including some of its own members. [continues 819 words]
In Jeff Jones, the 28-year-old director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Co-op, we have a rarity: a movement leader capable of expressing self-criticism. This week Jones was convicted by a federal magistrate in Sacramento of attempting to 'influence juror[s] by writing,' a class-B misdemeanor that exposes him to a six-month sentence and a $1,000 fine. Jones had been arrested on the morning of Monday, June 24 while leafleting outside the courthouse where the trial of Bryan Epis was getting underway. [continues 2002 words]
The Oakland Cannabis Co-Op Director Handed Out A Flier At A Marijuana Grower's Trial. A leader in California's medical marijuana movement was convicted in Sacramento federal court Monday of attempting to influence the outcome of a fellow pot advocate's trial. Jeff Jones, who has gained national notoriety as executive director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative, was found guilty by a magistrate judge of passing out a flier in front of Sacramento's federal courthouse designed to sway prospective jurors for the trial of Bryan Epis. [continues 745 words]
SAN JOSE, Calif. - By raiding a nationally known medicinal marijuana farm in Santa Cruz last week, federal law-enforcement officials served notice that they are escalating their legal assault on California's medical-pot movement. While the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has launched similar raids throughout the state over the past year, the Santa Cruz operation marked the most aggressive crackdown on a major medical- marijuana outfit in or near the Bay Area. And it appeared to cement a policy change for area federal law-enforcement officials, who for the most part have relied on civil-court orders to stop medical-pot distributors since California enacted Proposition 215 six years ago. [continues 298 words]
Federal Officials Step Up Assault On Medicinal Marijuana By raiding a nationally known medicinal marijuana farm in Santa Cruz this week, federal law enforcement officials served notice that they are escalating their legal assault in the Bay Area, the cradle of California's medical pot movement. While the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has launched similar raids throughout the state during the past year, including one in San Francisco in February, the Santa Cruz operation marked the most aggressive crackdown on a major Bay Area medical marijuana outfit to date. The raid appeared to cement a policy change for the region's federal law enforcement officials, who for the most part have relied on civil court orders to weed out medical pot distributors since California enacted Proposition 215 six years ago. [continues 653 words]
Medical Marijuana Supporters Plan Protests In Bay Area, Nation Today Federal agents raided a medical marijuana collective near Santa Cruz and arrested two well-known activists Thursday, the first such action in Northern California since February's raids in Oakland and San Francisco. But by day's end, Valerie and Michael Corral -- who helped write the state's medical marijuana law -- were home. An official source said the federal prosecutors had declined to charge them, forcing the Drug Enforcement Administration to let them go. [continues 971 words]
Need to score some drugs but can't leave the house because of the kids? No problem - the Albuquerque Police Department delivers. Undercover city narcotics detectives earlier this week arrested a man after he allegedly made a deal to buy 12 pounds of marijuana from a detective posing as a dealer. The detective, Lucas Townsend, said Friday he tried to arrange a meeting place with 25-year-old Benjamin Naranjo, but Naranjo said it would have to be at his home on Sharp Spur SW because he was watching his children. [continues 197 words]
Supervisors Put Measure On November Ballot Frustrated by the federal government's determination to shut down medicinal marijuana clubs, San Francisco is thinking about growing its own. The board of supervisors voted late Monday to put a measure on the November ballot that would have city officials explore growing marijuana on publicly owned lots and distributing it to ill patients. Job Training Supporters said such a program could double as job training for the unemployed. "I don't think it would be all that dramatic a venture," said Supervisor Mark Leno, who proposed the idea with three colleagues. [continues 473 words]
Ken Estes Just Wants To Share The Miracle Of Medical Marijuana. Everyone Else Just Wants Him To Go Away. Neighborhood lore has it that before Ken Estes set up his medical-marijuana club, the property used to be a whorehouse. The neighbors wish it still was. Back then, the customers walked in, took care of business, and got out. Bad shit never went down at central Berkeley's local brothel -- certainly nothing like what happened on the afternoon of June 5. [continues 5902 words]
Ballot Measure Will Ask City To Cultivate Pot For Medicinal Use San Francisco -- San Francisco could become the first city in the nation to get into the pot-growing business to supply patients with medicinal marijuana, under a measure headed for the November ballot. The measure would urge city officials to explore growing cannabis and distributing it to seriously ill patients who have an OK from their doctors - -- in apparent defiance of federal law. Supervisor Mark Leno drafted the measure out of frustration with the Drug Enforcement Administration's determination to close down clubs that distribute medical marijuana in California. He said state voters made it clear when they approved Proposition 215 in 1996 that they support medicinal marijuana. [continues 757 words]
San Francisco -- San Francisco could become the first city in the nation to get into the pot-growing business to supply patients with medicinal marijuana, under a measure headed for the November ballot. The measure would urge city officials to explore growing cannabis and distributing it to seriously ill patients who have an OK from their doctors - -- in apparent defiance of federal law. Supervisor Mark Leno drafted the measure out of frustration with the Drug Enforcement Administration's determination to close down clubs that distribute medical marijuana in California. He said state voters made it clear when they approved Proposition 215 in 1996 that they support medicinal marijuana. [continues 760 words]
Justices Agree That Seriously Ill Patients and the Doctors Are Protected SAN FRANCISCO - State Supreme Court justices unanimously agreed Thursday that California law provides protection for seriously ill patients who use marijuana and the doctors who provide it. In a decision that cleared out some legal fog created with the passage of Proposition 215 in 1996 -- which said those who use the drug on a doctor's recommendation are not subject to criminal prosecution -- the justices agreed that some can fight marijuana charges with a necessity defense. [continues 539 words]
San Francisco is the most pot friendly large city in the country, so it is no surprise that the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) held its national convention there on April 18-20. Over 570 people from all walks of life streamed to the Crowne Plaza Union Square Hotel to hear speakers from State Senator John Vasconcellos to the host of ABC-TV's Politically Incorrect Bill Maher. Demanding that the government lay off pot smokers, mothers decried the arrest of their children, medicinal marijuana users heralded its beneficial properties, civil libertarians denounced the violations of the constitution and pot smokers praised the plant for its enjoyable effects and the lack of harm of any significant extent. [continues 2451 words]
To Francisco Garcia marijuana is a medicine that helps ease the pain in the Vietnam veteran's aching leg. But to federal drug enforcement officials, smoking marijuana is a federal crime because pot is an illegal drug. Garcia was among demonstrators in front of the Oakland Federal Building yesterday who rallied for the freedom to use marijuana medicinally, like state law allows. "I'm here because I truly believe in my medicine," Garcia said. "I don't see any harm in it. The marijuana helps the throbbing in my leg go away so I can get some rest and some sleep." [continues 733 words]
For the better part of three years, the Daviess County Sheriff's Department has been out in the lead in the fight against methamphetamine. The department works multiple cases on a daily basis, and Sheriff Keith Cain, Lt. Jeff Jones, Detective Sgt. Jim Acquisto and others give their time to speaking about the drug's devastation to just about any group who will listen. Invariably, one of the first things they'll say is that their work is far from a solo act. While law enforcement is often known for its turf battles, the cooperation among agencies in the fight against meth is both unparalleled and inspiring. [continues 386 words]
They ran out of beer early at the jammed, raucous, spit-and-baling-wire emergency party that closed this April's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws annual conference in San Francisco. Thirsty guests found thirstful ways to compensate for the suds, and if you ignored the computers and filing cabinets, it was easy to forget you were violating fire codes at an ad hoc shindig at a hotshot law office. The wife and I decamped around midnight, not content with the five cases of water trucked in to replenish the sweat the crowd had been shaking on each other jitterbugging to a 40-piece (stationary) marching band. We landed in a little North Beach boite. At one point, my New Yorker was aghast to see a purse all by its lonesome on the floor by the jukebox. Voicing her alarm, she was told don't be silly, woman - this is San Francisco. [continues 8168 words]
A federal judge in San Francisco spent little time Friday on a bid by the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative to raise new arguments about why it should be allowed to dispense medical marijuana. Instead U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer devoted most of a hearing to discussing how to respond to the Justice Department's request to close out the case in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the club last year. Breyer opened the session by saying he wanted to figure out whether a permanent injunction against the club would be needed in addition to a summary judgment requested by the government. [continues 432 words]
California Joins Case On Oakland Cannabis Club Future. An assistant state attorney general urged a judge Friday not to gut California's medical marijuana law by allowing the federal government to shut down the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative. Taylor Carey, a special assistant from state Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office, told U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer that a court injunction against the club would "undercut" Proposition 215, the state initiative passed in 1996 that allows people to use marijuana as medicine. [continues 318 words]
POOR RICHARD: WHAT WAS IT WITH RICHARD NIXON AND JEWS? First we get the tapes of Nixon and the Rev. Billy Graham ranting about how the Jews control the media. Now we get tapes of Nixon blaming them for backing the legalization of marijuana. All this comes from yet another excerpt from those famous Nixon White House tapes -- this one on the former president's expectations for the Shafer Commission, a group Nixon appointed to consider what to do about marijuana. [continues 197 words]
Supervisor Hopes He'll Rethink Policy After Seeing Benefits A San Francisco supervisor wants to invite America's top drug cop to check out local medical marijuana programs before his agents completely destroy them. "I would like (DEA Administrator) Asa Hutchinson to come and see for himself what we are doing here," said Supervisor Mark Leno, who will present a formal resolution to the full Board of Supervisors this week. "Before his agency attacks our public health system, I would like him first to see how we are helping the lives of many unfortunate people." [continues 754 words]
The Event Was Loaded -- With Politics. The Drug Enforcement Agency raided at least two Bay Area medical marijuana clubs Tuesday morning -- one of them operating a mere three blocks from where DEA chief Asa Hutchinson spoke Tueday night. All told, agents seized about 8,300 plants, including seedling plants known as clones, DEA spokesman Richard Myer said. A .22 handgun and a shotgun belonging to one of those arrested also were confiscated. DEA agents arrested three men in two cases. A fourth man, Kenneth Hayes, a former executive director of the San Francisco pot club CHAMP, is in custody in Vancouver, B.C. His attorney, Bill Panzer, said Hayes has petitioned the Canadian government for political refugee status. [continues 1212 words]
In a continuing crackdown, federal authorities raided a San Francisco medical marijuana club yesterday, confiscating hundreds of plants and arresting three Bay Area men who allegedly provided the drug to patients. The men included Edward Rosenthal of Oakland, the author of more than a dozen books on marijuana cultivation and a longtime columnist at High Times magazine. He turned a former Carnation dairy in West Oakland into a sophisticated pot farm, according to court documents. The Drug Enforcement Agency also raided homes in San Francisco, Oakland and Petaluma where hundreds of plants were allegedly grown. [continues 246 words]
In S.F. Advocates Say Ruling Good For States' Rights Bay Area pot advocates hailed a San Francisco appellate court ruling that allows Idaho residents to legally drive under the influence of marijuana as long as they are not driving erratically and can pass a field sobriety test. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled yesterday that an Idaho man's impaired driving conviction could not stand because while Idaho law makes it illegal to drive under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, it doesn't classify marijuana as a narcotic. [continues 515 words]
Prosecutors are likely to face a juggling act in the upcoming year as they prepare for an unprecedented fight against methamphetamine abuse while facing budget cuts within their own departments. Meanwhile, police are appealing to state legislators for tougher penalties and new laws regarding meth production and possession of the ingredients. Law enforcement agencies will be using growing federal funds to help foot the bill during costly meth lab cleanups. Since 1998, when the first meth lab was discovered in Daviess County, law enforcement has recorded more than 200 labs that have been dismantled, resulting in an increasing number of arrests and prosecutions. [continues 936 words]
Brain Power, Cutting-Edge Science And Political Conflict At The 10th Annual Cannabinoid Research Convention. I walked into a cavernous meeting room at a hotel in Baltimore and encountered the biggest collection of brainy brain researchers that I had ever witnessed. Cerebral cortexes were literally throbbing with talk of endocannabinoid systems, custom-built experimental mice, receptor sequestration, hippocampuses, amygdalas, and whether there would be enough potent coffee to keep everybody awake during three days of formal and informal presentations, symposiums and panel discussions. [continues 2075 words]
Dean - Jeff, what do you deduce from the international happenings? Is prohibition on the run? Jeff - Yes, I feel that it may just be around the corner here in the USA to be debated? But it up to us to control the debate. Dean - What would you recommend to control the debate? Jeff - That's were the online Reform movement comes in to assist in being clear about what our message is. With respect to medical cannabis it may be easier then we think. [continues 2607 words]
Jeff Jones - - Hello This is Jeff Jones Executive Director of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. I'm online to answer questions and discuss the medical cannabis issue. Jeff Jones -- Is there any questions about medical cannabis? Dean Becker - Hi Jeff! Glad to see you made it okay. zooneedles. - Welcome Jeff. Richard Lake - Welcome, Jeff! You are among friends here. You can make rather long statements if you wish. You have probably noticed that so many - - incorrectly -in the media said that the court said that medical cannabis is a no-no rather than that the congresscritters said that in a law years ago. Any comments? Richard [continues 3388 words]
Patient Centers Fearful of Being Shut Down WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Deep within an indoor plantation on Santa Monica Boulevard, the medicine grows tall and smells sweet -- about 400 marijuana plants in different cycles of life, all sprouting steadily under high-powered lights. Upstairs, patients smoke strains such as "Maude's Mighty Moss" in the comfortable lounge of the Los Angeles Cannabis Resource Center. Over the past five years, the building has become a refuge for people who suffer from cancer, AIDS and other diseases and who say that only marijuana relieves their pain and nausea. [continues 1205 words]
Picking on AIDS and cancer patients just ain't gonna win any public relations battles, say Bay Area pot club proprietors, responding to plans by the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency to get tough on medical marijuana. Asa Hutchinson, a former Republican congressman from Arkansas, said he "wants to send the right signal" on medical marijuana, during his swearing in ceremony Monday at DEA headquarters in Arlington, Va. "Currently, it's a violation of federal law," said Hutchinson. "The question is how you address that from an enforcement standpoint." [continues 391 words]
Ann McCormick - Seattle was incredible. So HUGE!!!!! It's great to be here with you tonight. What do you want to talk about? Oh! This is Ann... Richard Lake - Hi, Ann I posted the links to your pictures and the fest site pictures a few messages back. Your Seattle pictures are looking fine now. You could start by telling us a little about the fests? Glad to see you home safely, you road warrior, you! Richard dean_becker - Hi Ann! There's so much to talk about. First off, tell us how Todd is doing, please. [continues 3557 words]
Deputies Find Guns, Cash At Property On Kentucky 144 Daviess County Sheriff's deputies responding to a complaint about a dog attack Thursday turned up an active methamphetamine lab and more than two dozen firearms. Joseph Allen Hamilton, 38, of the 11200 block of Kentucky 144 was charged with manufacturing methamphetamine while armed after Sheriff's Deputy Russ Day smelled ether while investigating the reported dog attack on Hamilton's property three miles east of Knottsville. Deputies searched a trailer on Hamilton's property and found ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine in a stage of the cooking process, as well as what appeared to be ground pseudophedrine tablets, said DCSD narcotics Detective Jim Acquisto. They also found $6,600 and firearms, including 17 rifles, eight handguns and a stun gun. They also found a sword, night vision goggles, assorted ammunition, a bulletproof vest and antique coins. [continues 244 words]
The City Council voted to cut in half the number of plants a medical marijuana grower can cultivate, but it left the limit at a still sizable garden. The 6-0 vote cut the legal limit from its current 144 plants, set in 1998, to 72 plants. Medical marijuana advocates said the stricter limits mean about 20 percent of local medical marijuana users will not be able to grow enough pot to meet their needs. "The reason we agreed is because we were forced to," Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, told the Oakland Tribune in Wednesday's editions. [continues 77 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) The City Council voted Tuesday night cut in half the number of plants a medical marijuana grower can cultivate but left the limit at a still sizable garden of up to 72 plants. The vote cuts the legal limit from its current 144 plants. Council President Ignacio De La Fuente wanted to chop the crop to 10 plants, but hashed out a compromise with local medical marijuana advocates. The new rules passed on a 6-0 vote, with two members abstaining. [continues 149 words]
City Officials Agree To Compromises On Growing, Possession Oakland -- The Oakland City Council last night approved a 50 percent cut in the amount of marijuana allowed under its medicinal marijuana ordinance, one of the most liberal in California. Saying that drug dealers are using the 1998 ordinance as a cover for illegal activity, Council President Ignacio De La Fuente had proposed reducing the number of outdoor marijuana plants permissible from 144 to 10. But De La Fuente reached a compromise earlier this week with some medical marijuana advocates that allows as many as 72 pot plants to be grown indoors, in an area no bigger than 32 square feet. Twenty plants can be grown outside, down from the current 60. Outdoor plants typically yield more of the drug than indoor plants. [continues 315 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The City Council voted to cut in half the number of plants a medical marijuana grower can cultivate, but it left the limit at a still sizable garden. The 6-0 vote cut the legal limit from its current 144 plants, set in 1998, to 72 plants. Medical marijuana advocates said the stricter limits mean about 20 percent of local medical marijuana users will not be able to grow enough pot to meet their needs. "The reason we agreed is because we were forced to," Jeff Jones, executive director of the Oakland of the Oakland Cannabis Buyers Cooperative, told the Oakland Tribune in Wednesday's editions. [continues 94 words]
OAKLAND, July 24: The Oakland City Council approved a compromise measure tightening the city's medical marijuana cultivation guidelines from a maximum of 144 to 72 total indoor plants in a 32 square foot growing area. The outdoor guides were tightened from 30 to 20 plants, while the total amount of marijuana allowed per patient was changed from 6 to 3 pounds. The compromise was negotiated by Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative director Jeff Jones, Stacie Traylor, and attorney Robert Raich in response to a proposal by City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente, which would have allowed a limit of only 10 plants. [continues 511 words]
Cannabis vs. The Courts Mired in what is, by the year 2001, painfully redundant reefer madness, the Supreme Court on May 14 handed down its decision in the case of United States vs. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative. The be-robed ones denied a medical-necessity defense for manufacturing and distributing marijuana, and consequently denied the Oakland cannabis club the right to reopen. The court's reason: the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which prohibits marijuana use for any reason other than government-approved research projects, which one can count using the fingers on one hand - including the middle one. [continues 1278 words]
Country singer Carlene Carter and the bass player for rock music legend Tom Petty were arrested in Albuquerque on Tuesday night after the pair was caught in a stolen Jeep Cherokee, according to State Police. A search of the gold Cherokee turned up nearly 3 grams of black tar heroin and a "large amount of drug paraphernalia," according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court against Carter, the 45-year-old stepdaughter of country icon Johnny Cash. Carter allegedly admitted the drugs and paraphernalia were hers, and she was booked into the Bernalillo County Detention Center on felony charges, including receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle and heroin possession. [continues 536 words]
Council Member Says Users Are Allowed Too Many Plants OAKLAND -- City Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente has made no secret he doesn't support Oakland's medical marijuana ordinance. Now he wants to drum up support to drastically reduce the number of plants patients are allowed to cultivate. Oakland's medical marijuana policy, adopted in June 1998, allows qualified patients and care givers to keep 11/2 pounds of pot -- considered a three-month supply. The policy is one of the most liberal in the state, and De La Fuente wants to bring it in line with other cities' laws, which allow patients to keep much lower supplies of marijuana. For example, Berkeley allows 10 plants and Mendocino allows 18. [continues 820 words]
