Utah authorities seize marijuana plants
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
MORGAN — Authorities have rounded up thousands of marijuana plants from a remote area in Morgan County. The drugs are valued at 
over $6.5 million.
It took 40 officers from five different agencies two days to complete the removal operation. In all, they seized 3,270 plants capable of producing roughly 6,540 pounds of marijuana. Many of the plants were over 12 feet tall.
Police say a hunter stumbled upon the massive grow on Wednesday, and saw six people harvesting the drug. Before police could arrive, the suspected growers took off into the forest toward Summit County.
A SWAT team, along with a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter, searched the area, but couldn’t find any of the suspects.
Officers also discovered a campsite with sleeping bags and enough food for several weeks near the site.
Investigators say this grow may be related to one discovered on Sept. 10 on private land less than a mile away. In that grow, officers removed 1,238 plants valued at $1.4 million.
SOURCE: KSL.COM
Tags: Morgan County, Utah Marijuana bust
Green jobs: Medical marijuana shops sprout in Grand Valley
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
Grand Junction is getting a little greener every day as medical marijuana dispensaries continue to pop up like weeds in the 
city’s retail landscape
Local estimates indicate seven medical marijuana dispensaries operate in Grand Junction, and eight more are expected in the coming weeks in all sections of the city, according to reports from established dispensaries. Medical marijuana has been available through lesser-known local venues. The storefronts began appearing this year.
The biggest hindrance to keeping more shops from opening in rapid succession in the Grand Valley might be property owners such as City Councilman Bill Pitts. Pitts and his son-in-law recently declined an offer to lease their North Avenue storefront to a medical marijuana dispensary.
“It may be legal, it may be the safest thing to do, but I’m going to decline the opportunity to rent them the space,” Pitts said. “In today’s economy it’s tough to turn down a paying renter. I don’t like the idea of selling legalized marijuana. Where I’ve got other tenants, they complain.”
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Tags: Grand Junction, green jobs
Sheboygan teen accused of trying to eat marijuana
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
SHEBOYGAN, Wis.
Sheboygan prosecutors have charged a young woman with trying to eat marijuana as police pulled over the car in which she was riding.
Eighteen-year-old Jamie L. Salonen was charged Friday with misdemeanor marijuana possession and felony bail jumping.
The criminal complaint says a trooper stopped her car after seeing the occupants weren’t wearing seatbelts. It says the trooper saw Salonen move around suspiciously.
Prosecutors say the trooper found her with green material around her mouth and lips, and marijuana strewn about her side of the car.
The complaint says she was surprised she was being arrested, saying, “I only ate some weed, officer.”
A number listed for Salonen was disconnected. Online court records didn’t list a defense attorney Saturday.
SOURCE: CHICAGO TRIBUNE.COM
Tags: Jamie L. Salonen, SHEBOYGAN
CO terror suspect’s lawyer faces marijuana charge
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
DENVER — The attorney for a Colorado man suspected of being involved in an alleged terror plot faces a marijuana possession charge in 
northern Colorado, but he says the drugs in question weren’t his.
Court records show 37-year-old Arthur Folsom was cited in June in Larimer County with possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana, a petty offense.
Folsom spokeswoman Wendy Aiello (eye-EHL’-oh) says he was cited because he was the owner of the boat where the marijuana was found during a safety inspection. She says the marijuana did not belong to Folsom.
A pretrial conference in the marijuana case is scheduled for Oct. 13.
Folsom’s client, 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi (nah-jee-BOO’-lah ZAH’-zee), faces charges of lying to the government in a matter involving terrorism. He has denied being involved in a terror plot.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tags: Arthur Folsom, Najibullah Zazi, Wendy Aiello
Seized marijuana worth $1M on the street
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
MINDEN — Marijuana that Webster sheriff’s deputies seized Wednesday in a traffic stop on Interstate 20 is estimated to have a street value
of $1 million, officials said Friday.
Community Action Directive Patrol members who were responsible for the stop also have determined the tightly bundled supply weighed 430 pounds. And further investigation by sheriff’s deputies and state police indicates the drugs inside the U-Haul were destined for Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina, authorities said.
Masks and gloves were used to take samples to send to the crime lab for testing. The precaution was taken because of the still unidentified white powder that was used in the packaging.
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Pot growers moving closer to SLC: Field of 3,000 plants found
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
In a sign large-scale marijuana growers are operating on the Wasatch Front, police and federal agents removed about 3,000 plants from a field 
in Morgan County on Friday.
The field was on private ground near Mormon Flats in the popular East Canyon. Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Tyler Grose said investigators found the field and camp after a citizen’s tip. No arrests have been made.
Mike Root, a supervisory special agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, called the marijuana growers “creatures of opportunity” and they apparently identified a water source in the Wasatch Mountains to hydrate their plants.
“They’re really getting hit hard this year” by law enforcement, Root said, and that might be pushing growers into populated areas.
It was the second such find in Morgan County this month. The first field, also found near Mormon Flats, had about one-third as many plants.
Tags: Morgan County, Mormon Flats, Tooele County
Group still plans to to smoke pot in park during medical marijuana festival in Santa Cruz
Sep 27, 2009 Online Issue
SANTA CRUZ — City police officers could be in the uncomfortable position of ticketing ill medical marijuana patients on Saturday if leaders of 
Wo/Men’s Alliance for Medical Marijuana try to allow patients to inhale at their annual festival.
Valerie Corral, co-founder of WAMM, a nonprofit collective for seriously ill medical marijuana patients, told council members on Tuesday that patients needed a spot to smoke if necessary at Saturday’s celebration of medical marijuana. She said the group would erect tents near the sidewalk for patients with prescriptions to smoke privately during the annual celebration in San Lorenzo Park.
Smoking of all sorts is banned in the park but is allowed on the sidewalk until Santa Cruz’s new no-smoking rules take effect next month. To city leaders, though, “near the sidewalk” is still in the park. As a result, those caught breaking the smoking ban could be cited $70.
“Of course it’s awkward,” said Councilman Mike Rotkin, a longtime WAMM supporter. “Both WAMM and probably most of the council members, if not all of them, would rather that it did not end up this way. This is messy.”
Tags: medical marijuana festival, Santa Cruz California, WAMM
