Painting hides marijuana worth thousands
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
ATLANTA, July 25 (UPI) — Getting ready to resell a painting he bought five years ago at auction, an 80-year-old Georgia man says he discovered more than $4,000 worth of pot.
Gordon Clement of Cherokee County bought the painting at a post office auction and was coming back from a failed attempt to resell the artwork for $25 at another auction when a family member felt something moving inside the frame, WSB-TV, Atlanta, reported.
“Four pounds of marijuana inside the picture frame. I didn’t know what to do,” Clement said.
He decided to take it home and then call his lawyer for advice but said he was a nervous wreck on the drive back knowing he had so much of an illegal substance in tow, WSB-TV, Atlanta, said Saturday.
“I kept telling the driver, ‘Cool it, slow down.’ He said, ‘I’m only going 45′,” said Clement.
Clement called his lawyer then police who estimated the marijuana worth $4,800.
Source : UPI.com
Tags: marijuana
Bret Michaels Cited for Marijuana on Tour Bus
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
NEW YORK (Billboard) – Bret Michaels ran into trouble with the law Wednesday night in DeKalb County, Ind., when police found marijuana and other drugs on the rocker’s two tour buses.According to the Fort-Wayne News-Sentinel, the Poison frontman and his crew
were pulled over for a “lighting violation” by a DeKalb County Sheriff’s deputy on Interstate 69. Police dogs searched the tour buses and turned up marijuana as well as an unidentified controlled substance. Citations were handed out before the buses were allowed to proceed to their destination.
Michaels’ representative said in a statement to Billboard.com, “Officers on the scene claimed there were no trailer tag lights. No arrests were made. Mr. Michaels allowed an open search of the buses and everything was handled in a professional manner.”
The 47-year-old musician won the reality contest “Celebrity Apprentice” earlier this year after facing a number of health challenges, including a brain hemorrhage.
Source : abc News
Tags: marijuana, marijuana bust
Colorado official works to regulate, legitimize medical marijuana industry
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
DENVER — When Matt Cook was coaxed out of early retirement to become Colorado’s chief revenue enforcer three years ago, he assumed his time would be spent overseeing the casinos, liquor stores and car dealerships he had been keeping an eye on for much of his career.
If he had hoped for a quiet few years before heading for the golf course, his timing could not have been worse.
Cook, senior director of enforcement at Colorado’s Department of Revenue, returned just as a new kind of business rolled into town promoting a controversial product. Medical marijuana was legalized a decade ago in the state, but retail-style dispensaries began springing up only in 2007.
The trickle of new outlets has turned into a flood. Officials think more than 1,100 dispensaries are operating statewide. As the numbers grew, dispensaries offered ever more cannabis strains, marijuana-infused products and delivery services.
When alarmed lawmakers decided they wanted to curb the burgeoning industry, all eyes turned to Cook. “It was last Christmas that I saw this was heading our way,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
Tags: Boulder Colorado, legalize marijuana, marijuana, marijuana for medical use, marijuana laws, marijuana legalization, Medical Marijuana
Marijuana dispensaries could help sick Oregonians
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
(AP) — PORTLAND, Ore. – With one hand, Lindsey Bradshaw hoisted his food bag onto his back, arranging the tube that has helped feed him since cancer ravaged his stomach seven years ago. In his other hand, he clutched a small gold bowl of marijuana and a pipe.
He depends on both devices to get through the day.
One of 36,380 patients registered with the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, Bradshaw is a gardener who grows most of his own medical marijuana-one of two options that program participants have. They can also buy from a producer who sells to four or fewer people.
Those options leave people dry if they don’t know a producer and are too sick to grow their own, Bradshaw said.
But that could change, if a ballot measure to create a system of medical marijuana dispensaries passes.
Tags: marijuana, marijuana dispensaries, marijuana for medical use, Marijuana Growers, Medical Marijuana, medicinal marijuana, Obama
Oakland approves marijuana factories
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
The California city of Oakland, just east of San Francisco, has approved the establishment of four massive marijuana cultivation facilities ahead of a statewide vote in November on whether to legalize the popular drug.
The controversial plan, which makes Oakland the first in the nation to license wholesale marijuana cultivation, was passed by the city council late Tuesday night on a 5-2 vote.
Under the terms of the law, which still awaits final approval in a second vote, the four factories would have to pay an annual fee of 211,000 dollars to support a team of city supervisors.
How healthy — or dangerous — is marijuana use?
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
Proponents of legalizing marijuana say it’s a fun-filled wonder weed that relieves all manner of pain and may even cure cancer. Federal researchers and other pot foes say it’s the devil’s drug, ruining people’s lungs and turning stoned drivers into wheeled killers.
So, which side is blowing smoke? Is pot healthy for you, or as damaging as, say, tobacco?
With only sporadic research possible because marijuana is illegal under federal law, the gray area between the two sides is a yawning gulf — leaving foes and proponents of cannabis plenty of ground to make claims.
The question of marijuana’s health effects becomes more urgent as the November election draws nearer and California voters consider whether to pass Proposition 19, which would legalize recreational marijuana use. With a recent Rand Corp. study finding that the number of pot smokers would rise substantially if the measure wins, each side in the health debate has all the more reason to convince people that the drug is either damaging or harmless.
Tags: marijuana, marijuana for medical use, Medical Marijuana, medicinal marijuana
Rutgers University turns down Governor Christie’s proposal for producing Medical Marijuana
Jul 26, 2010 Online Issue
Governor Chris Christie recently sent a request to the states largest university, Rutgers, requesting the facility to become exclusive to the
state’s medical marijuana corp. Christie suggested University grow the substance and be distributed by the state’s teaching hospitals. Even though the state legislature has approved a plan allowing patients with specific chronic illnesses to access the drug, Rutgers has denied his request stating, marijuana is still an illegal drug and would jeopardize millions of dollars in federal funding to the school.
The new law has not yet been implemented and has been delayed until January so state health officials can work out all the details.
Source : examiner.com
