A Madison couple investigated for possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia in Baraboo will not be charged with a crime for possessing the controlled substance. The Baraboo Police Department and City Attorney Mark Reitz declined to prosecute the offenses and found the couple provided authorities with valid Wisconsin medical marijuana prescriptions. While investigating a complaint about a dog left in the vehicle of Greg and Karen Kinsley on Sept. 13 at the Sauk County Fairgrounds, Baraboo Police Sgt. Mark Lee and Det. Jeremy Drexler spotted a marijuana pipe through the car window. The officers confiscated it along with a small amount of marijuana after resolving the pet issue. [continues 457 words]
A married couple so far has avoided marijuana charges after providing Baraboo police with doctors' notes and other documentation during an incident in which they were found with a small amount of pot and a smoking pipe during a local political event Saturday. Baraboo Police Department Sgt. Mark Lee and Det. Jeremy Drexler investigated a report of a dog left in a car during Fighting Bob Fest at the Sauk County Fairgrounds in Baraboo. While speaking with Madison residents Greg and Karen Kinsey about the complaint, the officers reported seeing a marijuana pipe through the car window. Police confiscated it along with a small amount of marijuana found in the car, though the issue involving the pet was resolved. [continues 802 words]
Despite more support for the legislation than ever before among Wisconsin lawmakers, an ongoing effort to legalize marijuana for medical use in the state appears to be headed nowhere. Even with unprecedented public support and backing from more members of the Legislature than at any time in history, sponsors admit the bill is likely to fail again. So far, 21 states have legalized and established a system to regulate marijuana for medical purposes. In Wisconsin, a version of the bill failed in 2009 after a dramatic public showdown between state Sens. Leah Vukmir and Jon Erpenbach, and another version died in committee in 2012. [continues 1851 words]
Fred Clark is a great representative, but I disagree with his saying that Rep. Keith Ripp (R-Lodi) entered the legislature with a more nonpartisan attitude than may have existed before, "Dells mayor to challenge Clark in Assembly." If so, why would Ripp refuse to support current state medical marijuana legislation that would allow Wisconsinites with debilitating medical conditions to use cannabis? One of the bill's qualifying conditions is post-traumatic stress disorder. Due to heavy deployments and two wars, millions of veterans are suffering from PTSD. Rep. Ripp has many constituents who are veterans with PTSD and find relief with cannabis instead of toxic medications not suitable or safe for long-term use. [continues 119 words]
It is time for our lawmakers to adopt the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act. Too many have passed already who could have found relief with legal medical cannabis, too many have been arrested and incarcerated for trying to manage their own pain. Costs for interdiction and incarceration rise: now is the time to move forward with compassion. Supporters of the Medical Marijuana Bill introduced by Rep. Mark Pocan and Sen. Jon Erpenbach will gather Wednesday in the Capitol Rotunda in Madison for a memorial remembering Mary Powers and other patients who simply ran out of time. The price they paid, the pain they endured is enough. It is time to stand up with the now 14 states that have recognized the legitimacy of medical pot. [continues 112 words]
I'm thinking of pitching a show to the networks called Desperate Politicians. In the opening scene, two state-level politicians, Bob and Frank, are meeting at their favorite club - the Jean Baptiste Colbert Club, named for the seventeenth-century French finance minister who said, "The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to get the most feathers with the least hissing." The politicians are frowning as they swirl their brandies. They've got all these government programs they want to expand, but no money to finance them. Tax revenue is shrinking because citizens are spending less - a behavior that aggravates our politicians. How are they supposed to do their jobs without a lot of other people's money to spend? If only they could operate like the federal government: Just take out monstrous loans every year, and hope voters don't notice the $12 trillion debt hulking over their kids. [continues 605 words]
I usually ignore the crude, juvenile and asinine musings of the "Argus" column that regularly appears in your publication. But trying to make a stupid joke at the expense of California medical marijuana dispensary owner Charles Lynch, on trial and facing federal mandatory minimums, was the last straw. Argus doesn't bother to note that Mr. Lynch was in full compliance with California law. Or that county sheriff's deputies sworn to uphold California law instead obtained fake ID and lied to acquire real doctor's notes to infiltrate the dispensary and set up the federal bust. [continues 139 words]
Medical marijuana dealer Charlie Lynch went on trial in Los Angeles Friday. It's taking awhile to impanel a jury. As soon as potential jurors hear that the guy is on trial for selling medical marijuana, they take out their wallets and get in line. [end]
MADISON -Marijuana legalization advocate Ben Masel expressed guarded optimism Thursday after the 4th District Wisconsin Court of Appeals heard arguments in his case challenging Sauk County's large assemblies ordinance. Masel appeared with his attorney, Jeff Scott Olson of Madison, before a three-judge appeals court panel in the marble and gilded State Capitol hearing room also used by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The ordinance and its use to shut down the Weedstock pro-legalization rally in May of 2000 were defended by attorney Barbara J. Janaszek of Milwaukee and Assistant Sauk County Corporation Counsel Chad A. Hendee. [continues 787 words]
BARABOO -- A judge has ordered Weedstock marijuana festival organizer Ben Masel to obey the Sauk County ordinance governing large assemblies, but Masel's attorney said he would recommend appealing the decision. In an order filed Tuesday, Columbia County Circuit Court Judge Daniel S. George ruled the Open Air Assembly Ordinance is a constitutional regulation of time, place and manner of speech. The judge was assigned to rule on a county injunction against Weedstock 2000 after Sauk County judges decided they could not rule on a case brought by members of the Sauk County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Randy Stammen against Masel and co-defendant Marcus Gumz. [continues 492 words]
If a weed encroaches on a garden's flowers and vegetables, I say pluck it. But when it grows in isolation and doesn't threaten other plant life, a weed should be left alone. Any time or energy spent on removing it would be wasted. If only Sauk County officials shared this live-and-let-live philosophy, the costly boondoggle this Weedstock shutdown is about to become might have been avoided. In previous years, the county cracked down on the marijuana legalization festival by sending squads of sheriff's deputies to patrol Highway 33 in Fairfield Township. Lurking near the entrance to the festival grounds, they pulled over anyone with so much as a poorly attached license plate in hopes of making dope possession busts. [continues 472 words]
