February 08, 2008
Burnt marijuana smell not proof of drug: Canadian court
OTTAWA (AFP) - A Saskatchewan appeal's court upheld a decision that the smell of burnt marijuana is not evidence of illegal drug possession since by definition the proof has gone up in smoke, it said Wednesday.
"The smell of burnt marijuana does not reasonably support the inference that additional marijuana is present," the three-judge panel said in newly-released court filings.
Thus, police "did not have reasonable grounds to search" the truck of Archibald Janvier after his roadside arrest in 2004 for narcotics possession, the judges said in maintaining his acquittal.
Police had originally stopped Janvier's truck in La Loche, Saskatchewan, in western Canada, to ticket him for a busted tail light.
At trial, the arresting officer testified he had smelled the "pungent odor of burnt marijuana" coming from inside Janvier's truck, charged him with illegal drug possession, and then searched his vehicle.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable found eight grams of marijuana in Janvier's coat pocket, boot and truck console, but that evidence was thrown out.
Archibald's lawyer Ronald Piche successfully argued the warrant less search and seizure were "unreasonable" because the aroma of burnt marijuana -- as opposed to raw marijuana -- infers that the drug has dissipated.
"How can you say you're in possession of something that doesn't exist," Piche told the daily Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
Posted by ronnie at 07:44 AM | Comments (0)
January 20, 2008
WSU student nabbed twice for smoking pot
PULLMAN, Wash. - Pullman police said a WSU student was arrested twice the same night for smoking marijuana. The 20-year-old was arrested Tuesday night with two other men for smoking in a parking lot, police said. They were cited, fingerprinted and released shortly after midnight.
Less than two hours later, an officer saw three men passing around a pipe in a pickup truck and arrested the student again and the two others for possessing marijuana.
Police Commander Chris Tennant said he hopes the student isn't kicked out of WSU because it seems he needs a bit more education.
Posted by ronnie at 07:51 AM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2008
Dude, the cops will never smell it
LAKEHURST, N.J. - Lakehurst police didn't have to go far to make a marijuana arrest. An officer heading home early Saturday smelled pot burning in the police station parking lot.
Authorities said Sergeant Ronald Heinzman asked some other officers to take a whiff. Police said they heard a conversation centered on the irony of smoking pot next to the station from a home separated from the parking lot by a chain-link fence.
Police knocked on the door and arrested Benjamin Gordon, 18, of Farmville, Va.
Posted by ronnie at 09:46 AM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2007
Dude, didn't we have 60 pounds of pot?
TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida Highway Patrol says anyone missing two big bags of pot can call their Tampa area office. A crew picking up litter from along Interstate 4 near Tuesday morning made an unusual find: two big plastic garbage bags stuffed with freshly harvested marijuana.
FHP Trooper Larry Coggins says the 60 pounds of pot might be worth around $54,000 on the street. It probably fell off or was thrown from a car on the interstate.
The plants appeared freshly picked and some had intact roots.
Coggins says it's not the largest amount of pot ever dumped along a roadside, but it's certainly not a common find.
Posted by ronnie at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2007
Mich. cops nab grass haul in Grass Lake
GRASS LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. - This township lived up to its name when authorities reported finding about 1,200 pounds of marijuana in a tractor-trailer.
The driver, a 43-year-old man from Tucson, Ariz., was jailed after Sunday's bust at a weigh station along Interstate 94 in Grass Lake Township, about 75 miles west of Detroit.
The trucker had been stopped for what state police called an equipment violation. An inspection turned up 48 bales of marijuana hidden among a shipment of sports drinks.
Posted by ronnie at 06:58 AM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Police station no place to smoke weed
DANBURY, Conn. - A man is facing drug charges after he allegedly walked into the Danbury police station puffing on a marijuana-filled cigar.
Capt. Robert Myles says Scott Snow walked into the station early Saturday and blew smoke from his cigar into a small opening in the bullet-resistant glass separating desk officers from the public.
Myles says the 24-year-old man was told there's no smoking inside the building and he allegedly stubbed out the cigar on the counter.
Officers came out and smelled the distinctive odor of marijuana and arrested Snow.
Police say they found more alleged marijuana in Snow's pants. He has been released after posting bond.
Posted by ronnie at 01:15 PM | Comments (0)
September 28, 2007
Strong Canadian dollar said hurting pot exports
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - The strong Canadian dollar has hit the illegal marijuana sector just as it has other industries that export to the United States, one of Canada's best known legalization advocates said on Thursday.
But western marijuana growers have also benefited from Canada's strong economy, especially the booming Alberta oil patch, which has increased domestic consumption, according to Marc Emery, a founder of the British Columbia Marijuana Party.
The Canadian dollar touched parity with the U.S. dollar last week, topping a rise of some 60 percent over the past five years. On Thursday, it was still hovering around par, at C$1.0014 to the U.S. dollar or 99.86 U.S. cents.
A stronger loonie -- so called for the bird engraved on the one dollar coin -- has cut the profit of selling potent "B.C. Bud" marijuana in U.S. markets at a time when producers in Canada struggle with tighter border security and competition in the United States with pot from other sources.
Top quality Canadian pot is selling for $3,500 (1,725 pounds) a pound in the United States, compared with C$2,400 (1,180 pounds) in domestic markets, according to Emery, who is also editor of Cannabis Culture magazine and fighting extradition to the United States.
"When you factor in all the risk and transportation, that (higher export price) is not a big deal any more," said Emery, adding that when the Canadian dollar was weak exporters could double their money selling into the United States.
U.S. authorities seized 26,414 kilograms (58,233 pounds) of marijuana in northern border states in 2005 compared with 11,546 kg (25,455 pounds) in 2001, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's latest National Drug Threat Assessment.
A study in 2004 estimated the street value of British Columbia's annual marijuana crop at more than C$7 billion, which would make it one of the western Canadian province's largest industries.
Simon Fraser University economics professor Stephen Easton, who authored the 2004 report, said there has been no specific study of the impact of currency on drug exports but it should be the same as with legal exports.
"Basically, what happened is the cost of producing the stuff went up in U.S. dollar terms," said Easton, who is planning to further investigate the issue.
Emery said Canadian marijuana is also facing price competition in the United States from Mexican-grown pot, which has benefited from a relatively weak peso, as well as increased domestic production in the Western U.S.
The U.S. anti-drug agency said in its 2007 report that large scale cultivation of marijuana by Mexican criminal groups was expanding beyond California and into the Pacific Northwest, and that the potency of the pot available was rising.
"What's happening is that they're producing tons and tons of marijuana this fall. It will considerably add to the U.S. total (supply) and bring their outdoor pot price down," Emery said.
But a healthy Canadian economy has allowed marijuana producers to sell more at home. "They're making a lot of money on those oil rigs, and everywhere Canadians are making decent money they are doing a lot of drugs," Emery said.
Canadians have the highest rate of marijuana use in the industrialized world, according to a United Nation's study released in July.
Emery was arrested in Vancouver in August 2005 at the request of U.S. authorities, who have accused him of breaking U.S. drug laws by illegally exporting marijuana seeds to the United States.
He is fighting extradition and faces a January court hearing.
Posted by ronnie at 05:56 AM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2007
Pot announcement out window draws bust
BOSTON - A pair of former Northeastern University freshmen are facing charges after prosecutors said one leaned out his dorm window Sunday and loudly told a woman in the dorm opposite his that he and his roommate were selling pot.
Oops. Two police officers happened to be nearby.
"If you're looking for weed, my roommate Ferrante has some for sale," Michael Emery said out the window, according to the Suffolk district attorney's office.
Two plainclothes Boston officers in the building overheard the conversation and went to a second-floor room where they arrested Emery, 18, and Matthew Ferrante, 18, after finding about four ounces of marijuana; drug paraphernalia, including a scale; and several bottles of alcohol, prosecutors said.
The students were arraigned Tuesday on charges including possession of a class D substance with intent to distribute in a school zone, a count that carries a maximum of two years in jail.
They pleaded not guilty, were released on personal recognizance and are due back in court next month. Attorneys for the men did not immediately return calls for comment.
They are no longer students at Northeastern, university spokeswoman Laura Shea said.
Posted by ronnie at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2007
Marijuana sprouts in Japan prison exercise yard
TOKYO (Reuters) - The grass may be greener on the inside for inmates at Japan's Abashiri Prison, where marijuana shoots have been sprouting in the exercise yard.
Prison official Takashi Nomura said about 300 plants were first found in the yard in July 2006, when staff pulled them out before treating the ground to prevent any regrowth.
But inmates reported finding more marijuana plants last month, and again earlier in August, he said.
Prison officials think soil brought in for the exercise yard may have contained marijuana seeds. Nomura added that no prisoners are thought to have been cultivating the narcotic.
Inmates grow various vegetables at the jail on the northeast side of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, but Nomura said Abashiri had no intention of adding marijuana to the list.
"We only grow potatoes and beans here," he said.
Posted by ronnie at 07:46 AM | Comments (0)
July 11, 2007
Ice cream vendor accused of selling pot
BENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. - Southwestern Michigan authorities say they arrested an ice cream truck operator who was selling marijuana along with his frozen desserts.
After authorities got tips about the alleged pot-peddler, a deputy "heard jingling bells" about 2 p.m. Thursday and saw the ice cream truck entering a mobile home park, Berrien County sheriff's Lt. Keith Hafer said in a written statement.
Deputy John Hopkins stopped the truck, spoke with the driver and "detected the odor of marijuana coming from the truck (along with tutti-frutti and a couple other flavors)," Hafer wrote.
Authorities searched the van and found several packages of marijuana under the dashboard, the statement said.
The 36-year-old suspect was jailed while awaiting arraignment on charges of marijuana possession with intent to deliver and maintaining a drug vehicle. He also faces an outstanding warrant for skipping child support, Hafer said.
Authorities released the vehicle to the vending company "in spite of an effort by Narcotics Officers to devise a way to forfeit the vehicle and its icy cold treats," Hafer said. He said police would seek revocation of the company's license to operate in Benton Township.
Posted by ronnie at 12:50 PM | Comments (0)
June 29, 2007
Top Indonesia politician okays marijuana in food
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian Vice President Jusuf, who opposes legalising marijuana, doesn't mind the drug being used in cooking, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"It's alright to use it as a food seasoning, but it should not be fully legalised," Kalla was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post daily.
Kalla was commenting on a recent study by two Indonesian agencies dealing with drug abuse that recommended the government review its policy to outlaw the use of marijuana for recreational purposes, the Post said.
Many of dishes in Aceh province, where hemp plants are grown, such as mutton and beef curry are said to be laced with marijuana seeds to give them a distinctive local flavour.
A drug expert from the National Narcotics Agency reportedly said Indonesia should follow the example of countries like the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal, because it is not as harmful as people thought.
Ratna Dwikora, the owner of an Acehnese food restaurant in Jakarta, told the Kompas newspaper "marijuana is available in any Acehnese kitchen just like coriander".
"Marijuana is a widely-accepted cooking spice there," she told the newspaper.
Indonesia imposes harsh penalties, including death, for narcotic offences as the country faces a growing drug menace.
Five Chinese nationals, a Dutchman and a Frenchman who appealed against the length of their convictions on drug charges were instead sentenced to death last month.
Six young Australians were sentenced to death last year for heroin smuggling on Bali, sparking anger in Australia where capital punishment has been abolished.
Posted by ronnie at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2007
Cannabis buyers face biometric testing
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Buying cannabis in the Dutch city of Maastricht will soon mean having your fingerprints taken, your face scanned and your biometric data recorded.
All 15 coffee shops in the southern city are spending about 100,000 euros (67,000 pounds) installing a security system that makes it harder for an under-age cannabis smoker to enter than a terrorist to set foot in Europe, according to Marc Josemans, head of the local coffee shop union.
"We are ashamed for this attack on your privacy", reads an explanatory leaflet about the system starting in September.
The coffee shops face a continual struggle to prove they are not selling to people under the age of 18 or more than 5 grams of cannabis a day to any one individual.
If they can't, they risk being shut down.
"If a 17-year-old comes here, shows the ID of his very similar-looking older brother and then gets caught by the police with cannabis bought in our shop, we have to prove that he broke the rules, not us," said Josemans.
Cannabis is theoretically illegal in the Netherlands but has been tolerated in small amounts since the 1970s.
Customers in Maastricht will have their fingers and face scanned. The scans will be compared with stored data and, if everything matches, they will be able to enter the coffee shop.
No names and addresses are stored and details on the amount of cannabis bought every day will be saved only until midnight.
The information is completely secure, coffee shop owners say. But Josemans concedes 90 percent of his clients don't like the system and he expects the new measures to hurt sales initially.
"I don't like them registering what you buy, it's too much Big Brother", says Barry, 34. "But a fingerprint is okay."
Posted by ronnie at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2007
Pacific island in spin over planned pro-marijuana conference
SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (AFP) - A proposed pro-marijuana conference to be held in the US-administered Northern Mariana Islands has led to a bizarre row among local legislators.
Opponents of the conference of Californian-based activists advocating that marijuana should be legalised have suggested the territory should be renamed the Northern Marijuana Islands.
But the cash-strapped government says the conference would be a boon for the sagging tourism industry.
"We welcome anybody who wants to hold a conference here, whether it be to discuss marijuana or not," government spokesman Charles Reyes said Thursday.
"We want to attract conferences in the Northern Marianas because conferences are good for tourism."
Reyes said previous attempts to legalise marijuana in the Northern Marianas had all failed and there was no plan to change the policy now.
"There's no move right now to legalise marijuana."
But Senate vice-president Pete Reyes said the conference would give a bad impression of the territory.
"It gives the impression that we're so desperate to generate some money that we would sell our souls," Reyes said.
Government officials did not say when the conference was to be held.
Marijuana is a popular if illegal drug in the Northern Marianas where there are regular seizures of plants.
Posted by ronnie at 09:21 PM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2007
Dutch smoking ban to cover coffee shops
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Dutch smoking ban will come into force in July next year for all restaurants and cafes -- including coffee shops where cannabis is the top attraction, the government decided on Friday.
"Coffee shops will be treated in the same manner as other catering businesses. They will be smoke-free," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende told NOS television.
"It would have been wrong to move towards a smoke-free catering industry and then make an exception for coffee shops. People would not have understood that."
Establishments will not in fact have to be completely smoke-free. Proprietors will be allowed to set up a separate room or glass partition behind which people can smoke, but customers will not be served there to protect staff.
"Employees should not have to work in an environment were they are constantly exposed to the harmful effects of smoking," Balkenende said after the cabinet's decision on Friday.
Amsterdam's renowned coffee shops, where marijuana can be smoked openly in a relaxed atmosphere, are one of the city's big draws for tourists.
Coffee shop owners argue that the ban only applies to tobacco and was unlikely to hit them hard.
Whilst commonly mixed with tobacco, marijuana can also be smoked on its own, especially in pipes, vaporisers and other contraptions.
Soft drugs are officially banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of tolerance, buyers are allowed to have less than 5 grams of cannabis in their possession.
Posted by ronnie at 10:03 AM | Comments (0)
May 28, 2007
Cops: Ice cream truck sold 'pot-sicles'
MISSION, Texas - Police say the jingle of this ice cream truck meant pot-sickles. Police say elementary school students tipped them off to an ice cream truck driver who was apparently selling $5 and $10 bags of marijuana from the truck. Most customers were in the third, fourth, and fifth grades.
"It's a scary thought, but that's the info we received," Mission police Chief Leo Longoria said.
Raymundo Flores, a 40-year-old illegal immigrant from Mexico, was arrested Thursday on charges of possession of marijuana. He was transported to Hidalgo County jail after a judge set bond at $30,000. His case will likely be turned over to federal immigration officials, Assistant Police Chief Robert Dominguez said.
While police didn't witness any sales, a drug sniffing dog did help them find packets of marijuana alongside the more traditional frozen treats.
News video showed the driver may have been doing some subtle advertising. While the outside of the truck was festooned with pictures of ice cream, pendants in the shape of marijuana leaves dangled inside the truck.
Posted by ronnie at 06:32 PM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2007
School gets mysterious marijuana package
KENT, N.Y. - A school principal received a surprise delivery of 12 pounds of marijuana from a mysterious sender whose address was traced to a vacant lot in California, police said.
The package was addressed to Joan "Pinserton," a misspelling of the principal's name, Pinkerton. It was delivered Thursday to the Kent Primary School by Federal Express. Pinkerton was immediately suspicious because of a strong odor from the box.
The principal had the box moved to the rear of the school property and an X-ray taken by the bomb squad determined the package wasn't a threat, police Lt. Alex DiVernieri said. Police opened it and found the marijuana, he said.
The return label contained a woman's name and a Gardena, Calif., address but police there said the address turned out to be a vacant lot, and the woman did not exist.
Posted by ronnie at 07:48 AM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2007
Man with potent pot odor seeks permit
LENOIR, N.C. - A man applying for a gun permit at the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office was instead charged with marijuana possession after authorities smelled it on his body.
"The odor was so overpowering that it soon filled hallways," according to a news release from Sheriff Alan Jones' office.
The canine team was called last week after officials in the office smelled marijuana on Dennis Lee Vines Jr., 25. Kilo, a German shepherd canine officer, found two small bags of marijuana, two marijuana cigarettes and two packs of rolling papers in Vines' pickup truck that was in the sheriff's office parking lot, authorities said.
Vines was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was released on an $850 bond.
"We see it all in this business," Jones said of the incident.
Posted by ronnie at 09:19 AM | Comments (0)
April 23, 2007
Dutch coffee shops say cannabis smoke here to stay
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Could a smoking ban spell the end of Amsterdam's world famous coffee shops, where smoking cannabis is one of the main attractions?
No chance, says local conservative politician and coffee shop owner Michael Veling.
The Dutch may well follow other European countries in banning tobacco smoking in restaurants, cafes and bars, but Veling says it should still be possible to smoke dope.
"It is ridiculous to think that a smoking ban would be the end of coffee shops," the 50-year-old Veling says.
He says the clientele who have been coming to coffee shops to buy and inhale cannabis are flexible enough to find a way around any ban on smoking the tobacco products they routinely mix with marijuana resin or leaf in rolled paper "joints."
"You can bring parsley or old socks if you want, cut them here and smoke them, nobody will say anything," Veling said.
"Plus there are plants that have a every similar structure to tobacco and can maybe substitute for it."
A tobacco smoking ban, which could come into force at the start of 2008, may also boost the use of some of the weirder contraptions used for inhaling the active part of marijuana, THC, which gives users a high.
"Nearly all of our American customers do that anyway, using pipes or the "volcano,"" Veling says in his dark, cozy coffee shop, pointing to a shiny, cone-shaped silver contraption.
The volcano or vaporizer heats cannabis to release vapors of THC and channels these into a long transparent balloon.
At the counter, a dark-haired man waits to get the air from the balloon into his lungs. Using the volcano makes cannabis consumption cheaper, Veling explains, because the drug can be used several times and is not burned like in a pipe.
"On good days, when the shop is full of Americans, we sell 100 or 200 of these balloons," Veling says.
TOLERANCE
But most European customers of his "De Kuil" in central Amsterdam prefer to roll their marijuana with tobacco into joints, Veling admits.
One of them is Czech-born, Swiss resident Pavel Kotrba, sitting near the entrance with a broad smile and dilated pupils.
If a ban came into force, he says: "I would smoke my joint on the street in front of the coffee shop, no problem."
Soft drugs are legally banned in the Netherlands but under a policy of "tolerance," buyers are allowed to have less than 5 g of cannabis in their possession.
Government-regulated coffee shops sell cannabis and can keep stocks of up to 500 g.
Coffee shops first sprung up in the Netherlands in the 70s and have been drawing tourists ever since.
So far the majority of Dutch parliamentarians have urged that the coffee shops be exempt from any smoking ban, but a more sweeping Europe-wide ban might be introduced.
Unlike many of his colleagues in the soft drug retail business, Veling, who is also speaker of the Dutch Cannabis Retailers organization, does not consider the ban a danger to the industry which he estimates rolls in more than 1 billion euros ($1.36 billion) a year.
Most of the more than 700 coffee shops in the Netherlands would not even be affected by it anyway, he says, as they resemble cannabis drive-ins, where people queue in front of counters, buy and leave.
"Some of these shops are huge and generate sales of approximately five million euros a year," he says.
Plus recent legislation banning the sale of both alcohol and cannabis together in coffee shops doesn't seem to have irked his customers too much.
"They smoke more, that's my impression."
Posted by ronnie at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2007
Israel group nixes pot on Passover
JERUSALEM - In bad news for its religious Jewish supporters, an Israeli pro-marijuana party announced Tuesday that pot is forbidden on Passover.
Cannabis is among the substances Jews are forbidden to consume during the week-long festival, which begins Monday, said Michelle Levine, a spokeswoman for the Green Leaf party.
Biblical laws prohibit eating leavened foods during Passover, replacing bread with flat crackers called matza. Later injunctions by European rabbis extended those rules to forbid other foods like beans and corn, and more recent rulings have further expanded the ban to include hemp seeds, which today are found in some health oils — and in marijuana.
Green Leaf is a small political party that supports the legalization of marijuana. Although it is by no means a Jewish religious authority, the group decided to warn its observant supporters away from the drug on Passover.
"You shouldn't smoke marijuana on the holiday, and if you have it in your house you should get rid of it," Levine said. The edict was first reported in The Jerusalem Post.
But not everyone needs to give up their habit for the duration of the festival. The rabbinic injunctions banning hemp were never adopted by Sephardic Jews, who come from countries in the Middle East and North Africa. That means there is no reason they can't keep smoking marijuana, Levine said, except that it remains illegal, despite her party's best efforts.
Green Leaf contested the last three national elections but never won a seat, despite gaining popularity as a protest vote. According to Levine, the party has a large number of religious supporters.
Posted by ronnie at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2007
LA minister sues over marijuana bust
LOS ANGELES - A minister who was arrested on charges of marijuana possession has sued police for $30 million, contending his civil and religious rights were violated because he heads a church that uses pot during worship.
The Rev. Craig X Rubin, 41, is the founder of Temple 420, which holds that pot is a religious herb.
"Our congregation mandates members study the Bible, have faith in God and regularly burn the herb cannabis (The Tree of Life mentioned in the Bible) as sacrament," says the lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court.
Rubin, his son and another man were charged last fall with two felony counts each of selling or transporting marijuana and possessing marijuana for sale.
Rubin's lawsuit contends that last November, an undercover officer joined the Hollywood temple and bought 3 1/2 grams of marijuana "to be used for religious purposes." Five days later, the strip-mall sanctuary was raided by officers, who seized money and marijuana.
Rubin has made several appearances on the Showtime series "Weeds" as the owner of a medical marijuana club. He was ordained in 1990 by the Universal Life Church, which ordains everyone who asks.
The temple has an estimated 400 members who pay a $100 initiation fee and $100 annual dues, enabling them to purchase marijuana for requested donations. Marijuana also is burned during some services. In drug culture, "420" is slang for marijuana.
Calls to Rubin and his attorney were not immediately returned Thursday. A police department spokeswoman declined comment.
Posted by ronnie at 04:15 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2007
Philly boutique gets two buckets of pot
PHILADELPHIA - Workers at a downtown boutique called police after unexpectedly receiving two buckets of marijuana worth $90,000. Police were called to Fusion on Saturday after employees received the two packages of marijuana totaling about 20 pounds.
"Officers received a call that the manager of the store had received a package from FedEx and when he opened it there was a five-gallon bucket inside," said Capt. Chris Werner. Inside that bucket was 10 pounds of marijuana. The second package arrived about an hour later, this one from a different delivery service but with similar contents.
Both packages were from California and addressed to the store, but there were no names on the address labels.
"It was obviously intended for someone in the Philadelphia area," Werner said. "We are trying to find out who."
Posted by ronnie at 07:20 PM | Comments (0)
January 28, 2007
Pot-running Arizona granny gets 3 years
SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. - A 62-year-old grandmother who prosecutors said ran drugs to support her bingo habit has been sentenced to three years in prison and a $150,000 fine.
Acting on a tip, state police stopped Leticia Villareal Garcia near Bisbee in southeast Arizona in February 2005 and found 214 pounds of marijuana stuffed into the trunk of her car.
Garcia has maintained her innocence, telling the judge at her sentencing Friday that she was unaware of the grass as she headed for a bingo game.
"I never, never had any knowledge of that car being loaded when I went to Tucson," the Bisbee resident told Cochise County Superior Court Judge Wallace Hoggatt.
Garcia testified at her trial in November that her son's godfather had borrowed her car the day before. Her lawyer, Robert Zohlmann, said she had been used as a "blind mule" to unknowingly haul drugs.
Garcia said she often played bingo, occasionally winning several thousand dollars at a sitting, although her only regular income was a $275 monthly welfare check she received for caring for a granddaughter.
"The underlying issue is that she's got a bingo problem, which explains why an otherwise nice person might get sucked into something like this," prosecutor Doyle Johnstun told the jury.
Garcia faced as much as 12 1/2 years in prison, but Johnstun asked for just four years, agreeing with her lawyer that her age and lack of a record called for the lesser sentence.
Posted by ronnie at 06:22 PM | Comments (0)
January 16, 2007
Man aims to become licensed hemp farmer
BISMARCK, N.D. - David Monson began pushing the idea of growing industrial hemp in the United States a decade ago. Now his goal may be within reach — but first he needs to be fingerprinted. Monson plans this week to apply to become the nation's first licensed industrial hemp farmer. He will have to provide two sets of fingerprints and proof that he's not a criminal.
The farmer, school superintendent and state legislator would like to start by growing 10 acres of the crop, and he spent part of his weekend staking out the field he wants to use.
"I'm starting to see that we maybe have a chance," Monson said. "For a while, it was getting really depressing."
Last month, the state Agriculture Department finished its work on rules farmers may use to grow industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana that does not have the drug's hallucinogenic properties. The sturdy, fibrous plant is used to make an assortment of products, ranging from paper, rope and lotions to car panels, carpet backing and animal bedding.
Applicants must provide latitude and longitude coordinates for their proposed hemp fields, furnish fingerprints and pay at least $202 in fees, including $37 to cover the cost of criminal record checks.
Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still must give its permission before Monson, or anyone else, may grow industrial hemp.
"That is going to be a major hurdle," Johnson said.
Another impediment is the DEA's annual registration fee of $2,293, which is nonrefundable even if the agency does not grant permission to grow industrial hemp. Processing the paperwork for Monson's license should take about a month, Johnson said.
A DEA spokesman has said North Dakota applications to grow industrial hemp will be reviewed, and Johnson said North Dakota's rules were developed with the agency's concerns in mind. Law enforcement officials fear industrial hemp can shield illicit marijuana, although hemp supporters say the concern is unfounded.
North Dakota is one of seven states that have authorized industrial hemp farming. The others are Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana and West Virginia, according to Vote Hemp, an industrial hemp advocacy organization based in Bedford, Mass.
California lawmakers approved legislation last year that set out rules for industrial hemp production, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed it. The law asserted that the federal government lacked authority to regulate industrial hemp as a drug.
In 2005, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, introduced legislation to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana in federal drug laws. It never came to a vote.
Monson farms near Osnabrock, a Cavalier County community in North Dakota's northeastern corner. He is the assistant Republican majority leader in the North Dakota House and is the school superintendent in Edinburg, which has about 140 students in grades kindergarten through 12.
In 1997, during his second session in the Legislature, Monson successfully pushed a bill to require North Dakota State University to study industrial hemp as an alternative crop for the state's farmers.
Canada made it legal for farmers to grow the crop in March 1998. Last year, Canadian farmers planted 48,060 acres of hemp, government statistics say. Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the provinces along North Dakota's northern border, were Canada's biggest hemp producers.
"I do know that industrial hemp grows really well 20 miles north of me," Monson said. "I don't see any reason why that wouldn't be a major crop for me, if this could go through."
Posted by ronnie at 09:18 AM | Comments (0)
December 23, 2006
Need advice on growing cannabis? Greek police can help
ATHENS (AFP) - Wannabe cannabis growers in Greece have received an early Christmas gift from a Greek police report on narcotics that gives a wealth of information on the drug, from price tips to processing.
Readers of the report learn that cannabis is sown between February and March and is harvested three months later, and are given details on how to dry, sift and press the leaves.
"Good quality processed cannabis (hashish slabs) should be malleable when pressed...whereas that which contains impurities shatters," the report notes, adding that greenhouse-grown cannabis usually commands a price three to 12 times higher than outdoor cultivations.
Cannabis oil "which has a long duration and is made by boiling processed cannabis with an equivalent amount of fat and water" has been used instead of cooking butter to make sweets, the report adds.
All this helpful information comes from the Greek police department's latest annual report on narcotics, which includes statistics on arrests and drug seizures and was posted on the public order ministry website (www.ydt.gr) this week.
"It's well-written, lively, and useful in case cannabis prices go up - hurry up and read it before it's taken off the site," Greek daily To Vima jibed on Friday.
Police in 2005 impounded over 10 tonnes of processed cannabis, mainly from Pakistan, an increase of over 40,000 percent over the previous year.
Eight tonnes of non-processed cannabis were also seized, mainly from Albania.
Both possession and trade in narcotics are illegal in Greece, though the latter carries much heavier penalties.
Users face sentences of up to one year in prison, while dealers can be imprisoned for life, depending on the type of drug and the volume involved.
Cannabis cultivation was legal in Greece in the late 19th century, with growers even exporting to Egypt and Germany before plantations were banned in 1920.
Posted by ronnie at 06:34 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2006
Woman accused in Christmas card pot plot
JAY, Okla. - Police arrested a woman after finding marijuana in a Christmas card she tried to give her jailed boyfriend. Dawn E. Smith, 44, of Grove, was arrested in connection with the incident at the Delaware County Jail.
She is accused of trying to distribute a controlled substance and bringing a controlled substance into a jail.
Her boyfriend, Steven McRae Jones, 26, pleaded guilty on Nov. 1 to charges that he repeatedly rammed Smiths car and took a swing at the arresting officer.
He is awaiting transport to the Department of Corrections, where he will serve four years.
Posted by ronnie at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2006
Bingo-playing grandma guilty in pot case
SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. - A grandmother found with a trunkful of marijuana was convicted of drug running in what prosecutors said was an attempt to earn cash for a bingo habit.
State troopers found 10 bundles of pot totaling 214 pounds hidden in Leticia Villareal Garcia's car trunk last year when they stopped her outside Bisbee, in far southeastern Arizona.
Villareal, 61, told jurors before they convicted her Thursday that her only regular income was a $275 monthly welfare check, but she frequently played bingo and occasionally won thousands of dollars.
Prosecutor Doyle Johnstun said the game was Villareal's undoing.
"People who play bingo almost every night of the week end up losing in the long run," Johnstun told jurors. "The underlying issue is that she's got a bingo problem, which explains why an otherwise nice person might get sucked into something like this."
Jurors rejected Villareal's argument that she'd been tricked into carrying the drugs.
Villareal faces three to 12 years in state prison when she is sentenced Dec. 18.
Posted by ronnie at 12:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2006
Lebanon war puts damper on Israeli pot smokers
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -
Israel's recent war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas has sent cannabis prices sky high in the Jewish state. Boosted security on the Lebanon frontier brought a drastic reduction in drug smuggling, with the cost of cannabis in Israel up eight-fold, the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Smoking and selling cannabis are illegal in Israel. Trafficking from Egypt has also been curbed by Israeli patrols aimed at preventing Palestinians from smuggling in arms.
Posted by ronnie at 07:14 AM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2006
Students allegedly share pot brownie
MANLIUS, N.Y. - Two Syracuse-area high school students face drug charges after one of them shared a marijuana-laced brownie with a teacher's aide.
A student brought the brownie to Fayetteville-Manlius High School Friday and shared some with the aide, who went to a hospital for treatment after she learned the brownie contained pot, Principal James Chupaila said.
Corrine Prigle, 17, was charged with felony assault as well as misdemeanor drug charges, said Manlius Police Captain Jason Cassalia. Zebediah Gallagher, 16, also faces a felony count of criminal sale of marijuana for selling Prigl the brownies. Both are high school juniors.
Prigl and Gallagher were arraigned on the charges and released to their parents.
School officials would not identify the teacher's aide.
Manlius is a suburb of Syracuse.
Posted by ronnie at 04:26 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2006
Troops battle 10-foot marijuana plants
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in fghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet-high marijuana plants.
General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defense staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana.
"The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa.
"We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said.
Even successful incineration had its drawbacks.
"A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly.
One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."
Posted by ronnie at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2006
Police find burgers sprinkled with pot
LOS LUNAS, N.M. - Three workers at a Burger King restaurant were arrested after two Isleta tribal police officers discovered that the hamburgers they ordered were sprinkled with marijuana.
The Isleta Police Department officers ate about half of their burgers Sunday before discovering marijuana on the meat. The officers used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for a medical evaluation.
The three Burger King employees — Justin Armijo, 19; Robert Nuckols, 21; and manager Joseph Ledesma, 33 — were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and aggravated battery on an officer, a felony.
Posted by ronnie at 07:05 AM | Comments (0)
October 09, 2006
Ariz. pair resigns pot church leadership
TUCSON, Ariz. - A Pima, Ariz. couple has stepped down as leaders of a church that considers marijuana a sacrament and deity.
Dan and Mary Quaintance say pending federal charges against them have made it impossible to properly lead the church. In February, the two were arrested in a car that contained 172 pounds of marijuana in the New Mexican town of Lordsburg near the Arizona state line.
The Quaintances are facing 40 years in prison if convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and intent to distribute marijuana.
Dan Quaintance, 53, said the church is now fractured, explaining that the 45-member congregation he and his wife founded in 1991 no longer has its spiritual leaders.
The Quaintances are scheduled to go on trial Oct. 30 in Las Cruces, N.M., though they hope the case will be dismissed before the end of the month. They're awaiting a decision from U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera on whether she'll dismiss the case on the grounds that religious freedom should allow them to use the illegal drug.
The government contends the church is a front for drug trafficking.
The couple's lawyers cite a February decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the government has no right to seize hallucinogenic tea containing a federally banned substance from members of a New Mexico church.
The tea, called hoasca, contains the substance dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, known for its hallucinogenic properties.
Members of the O Centro Espirita Beneficiente Uniao Do Vegetal, or UDV, said using the hallucinogenic tea during worship helps them gain union with God.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Mexico, which also prosecuted the UDV case, do not comment on pending matters.
But in court documents, they say the Quaintances are "obsessed and focused on marijuana," and Dan Quaintance's writings about his worship are "disjointed, poorly supported, illogical ramblings." They conclude that the couple's "lack of sincerity is patent."
The Quaintances are out on bond and remain under court supervision. They must submit to weekly urine tests. They have been living without marijuana since their arrest.
"We're being deprived the benefits of connection — health-wise and spiritual-wise," Dan Quaintance said. "I think the judge is going to have a hard time ruling against us on the sincerity of our religious practice. If there isn't a favorable ruling on our religious freedom, then I don't believe there is a justice system in America."
Since the church was founded, at least 20 members have been prosecuted on possession and conspiracy charges, and some have served time in prison, said Mike Senger, a church member who lives in Florence and provides legal assistance to group members.
"Usually, we never win," Senger said. "But we may perhaps win in Mary and Dan's case because it is federal court, and there is quite a bit at stake. They are getting some reasonable due process in that court.
"It is a hellish, torturous experience for people who are peaceful and not criminals, who possess marijuana," he added. "We don't look at ourselves as criminals."
Posted by ronnie at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2006
Marijuana may stave off Alzheimer's - U.S. study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Good news for ageing hippies: smoking pot may stave off Alzheimer's disease.
New research shows that the active ingredient in marijuana may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter that allows the brain to function.
Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that marijuana's active ingredient, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, can prevent the neurotransmitter acetylcholine from breaking down more effectively than commercially marketed drugs.
THC is also more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer's patients, the researchers reported in the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer's, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.
Those afflicted with Alzheimer's suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.
Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment.
Possessing marijuana for recreational use is illegal in many parts of the world, including the United States, though some states allow possession for medical purposes.
Posted by ronnie at 11:05 AM | Comments (0)
September 23, 2006
Polish woman caught growing marijuana for cow
This must be the week for everyone to get busted with pot, here's yet another one..
WARSAW (Reuters) - A Polish woman who grew marijuana to calm the nerves of her cow has been charged with cultivating a narcotic by police in the western town of Lobez.The cow had been "skittish and unruly" -- once breaking a person's arm -- until someone suggested mixing cannabis in with its feed, the woman told police.
"The cow became as calm as a lamb," the 55-year-old woman said, according to the PAP news agency.
The woman's plants, grown from seeds she bought at a market, reached nearly three metres (yards) tall and were extremely potent, police said.
Marijuana possession is a crime throughout Poland. The woman faces up to three years in jail if convicted.
Posted by ronnie at 01:56 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2006
Man strolling with pot plants busted
DES MOINES, Iowa - Aaron Janssen made it way too easy. Janssen, 36, was arrested on marijuana charges Thursday, after he was spotted taking a leisurely stroll through downtown, carrying his recently harvested pot plants.
Polk County Chief Deputy Mark Burdock said he did a double-take when he looked out his office window at the county jail and saw Janssen walking down the sidewalk, carrying his freshly harvested crop.
"I look out the window ... , and I see him walking north carrying a green leafy substance, all pulled up by its roots," Burdock said. "He was carrying it like you'd carry a bundle of presents. It was tall enough where he was looking over the top of them, and he's just walking like nothing's going on."
Burdock said he went outside and yelled at Janssen, who walked right over to him, still carrying the plants.
Janssen said the plants were part of his marijuana grown near the Des Moines River, but wouldn't say exactly where, Burdock said.
Deputies also found two two-pound bags of processed marijuana strapped to each of Janssen's legs, and a third wrapped in a sweater.
Burdock said the marijuana had an estimated street value of about $2,000.
Posted by ronnie at 01:54 AM | Comments (0)