The Pot Republic: One Sheriff's Quietly Radical Experiment 215

The Pot Republic: One Sheriff's Quietly Radical Experiment
215

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SUPPORT PROVIDED BY MENDO COUNTY CANNABIS PATIENTS

Last week, federal, state and local law enforcement officials kicked off the largest ever series of raids on illegal marijuana grows in northern California. Code-named "Operation Full Court Press," the raids are spearheaded by Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman.

But as shown in the above clip from The Pot Republic, which airs tomorrow night, Sheriff Allman also has gained attention for an innovative -- and radical -- program his county launched to work with Mendocino County's medical marijuana growers.

Mendocino County is one of the few places nationwide where local officials are experimenting with regulating marijuana production. Under county law, patients with a valid medical marijuana identification card can apply for a license to grow a maximum of 25 plants; in return a patient can purchase up to 25 zip ties for $25 each that will mark their plants as legal. Alternatively, a cooperative of four patients can grow up to 99 plants. The zip ties expire at the end of each calendar year, and any plants grown outdoors must be enclosed by a 6-foot lockable fence. (More information on obtaining the permits and additional requirements can be found on the Mendocino County Sheriff's website.)

"Some people are watching this right now shaking their head saying, 'I can't believe there's a cop in uniform that's working with marijuana people,'" Sheriff Allman told FRONTLINE. "And to those people I just say, listen. The voters have passed the law. ... The longer we build up hurdles and we build up laws, then the more money we're going to be spending in court to ultimately be told to get over it. So the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, we're over it, and we're trying to make it work."

To date, more than 80 growers have signed up under the sheriff's plan. But as tomorrow night's program shows, the Mendocino County program and other California experiments in regulating medical marijuana have gotten federal attention. Now, in light of the Obama administration's recent pushback on medical marijuana, officials involved in Mendocino's tagging program may be forced to decide whether to shut it down -- or risk jail themselves.

For more on California's medical marijuana business, watch Republic of Cannabis, a series of reports from our partners at the Center for Investigative Reporting and KQED.



Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/2011/07/the-pot-republic-one-sheriffs-quietly-radical-experiment.html#ixzz1TwASqgdv

Obama Advertises on NORML's Youtube channel 215 - NORML

President Obama advertises on NORML’s YouTube Channel
August 2nd, 2011 By: Russ Belville, NORML Outreach Coordinator
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Why does music from British rock legends "The Who" keep playing in my head when I see this ad?

Remember when we were told that “legalization isn’t in the president’s vocabulary?”

Remember when Mr. Obama laughed off a suggestion that marijuana legalization could help the economy?

Remember when he emphatically stated he would not pursue a strategy of decriminalization of marijuana?

Yeah, we do, too.

So imagine our surprise at NORML to find an ad for President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign nestled in the prime ad spot on our YouTube channel: NORMLtv (http://youtube.com/natlnorml).

What’s the campaign strategy for the marijuana smoker vote, Mr. Obama? Keeping at the head of the DEA one of Mr. Bush’s administrators? Maintaining the Bush-era policy of raiding medical marijuana providers? Escalating numbers of marijuana arrests on your watch?

Or will it just be, “Look, you think I’m bad, imagine what happens if (fill in GOP nominee) wins! I just want to force pot smokers into costly rehab they don’t need on the threat of prison. (Fill in GOP nominee) wants to (fill in terrible threat we’re already experiencing now)!”

You want the absolute guaranteed votes of 90% of the 25 million American adults who use cannabis annually in America?

Convince Congress to pass and then you sign Barney Frank and Ron Paul’s Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act.

It doesn’t cost you anything. Marijuana is still illegal in all fifty states and 99% of all marijuana arrests take place at the state and local level. It just means marijuana is no longer a federal issue; states are free to set up any marijuana regulations they choose. The people in marijuana friendly states will support you more and the ones who hate pot still think you’re a secret Muslim agent from Kenya anyway.

Well, I take that back. Your contributors from Big Pharma might not like you endorsing the competition.

UPDATE: Apparently, based on comments below, I should’ve explained how BlogAds work. NORML didn’t “accept” advertising from the Obama campaign. We offer up a piece of screen real estate to the BlogAds company. They sell advertising packages to third parties, like the Obama campaign, which promise to place their ads on websites matching certain demographics and content keywords. So we don’t even know who or what is going to appear up there as an ad (within limits; obviously there isn’t going to be a phone sex ad or Klan rally promotion going up there… we can limit certain types of ad content.)

It’s possible that the ad algorithm just saw “within 50,000 on Alexa”, “large youth demo of readers”, and “Congress / House / Senate / Obama” on our website and automatically placed Obama’s ad there because he wants to reach young politically active people on popular websites. In fact, I seem to recall some “Marijuana: The Anti-Drug” ads showing up on our BlogTalkRadio page in the early days of NORML SHOW LIVE. I’ve seen ONDCP ads show up on other pro-marijuana sites.

We’re not a 20th century newspaper; it’s not as if Obama’s campaign team called and said, “Hey, NORML, how about we support you by advertising and you support us by accepting the ad. The day the ad appeared on NORMLtv was the first time we saw it there and probably just as shocking to the president.

Tags: normltv, President Obama, Youtube

Modesto New 215 Doctor for Modesto Cannabis Patients...

Now Modesto is showing some compassion with almost 5 Medical Marijuana doctors consulting with patients regarding there cannabis use and effects.

Listing coming soon with prices.

Contact Doctors@compassionatecaregivers.com for specials in your town.

New hurdle in Dutch plan to stop marijuana tourism - World News - Modbee.com

New hurdle in Dutch plan to stop marijuana tourism - World News - Modbee.com

Businesses raided, 2 arrested in NorCal pot probes - State News - Modbee.com

Businesses raided, 2 arrested in NorCal pot probes - State News - Modbee.comNEWARK, Calif. -- State investigators have raided a California medical marijuana dispensary and the offices of two psychics.
Two men were arrested and a Salinas storefront was also raided during Tuesday's state Department of Justice operation.
The Oakland Tribune says the NBD Collective in Newark was the focus of the investigation into drug-related crimes. Officers from the Southern Alameda County Major Crimes Task Force and the Newark Police Department served the search warrants.
http://www.oaklandtribune.com

Authorities also raided the offices of psychics in Fremont and Salinas. Investigators say they were targeted because marijuana was being sold at those establishments.
More than $30,000 was seized.


Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/29/1753961/businesses-raided-2-arrested-in.html#ixzz1R7SwWxcF

Pot farm with 36K plants raided in Tulare County - State News - Modbee.com

Pot farm with 36K plants raided in Tulare County - State News - Modbee.comSPRINGVILLE, Calif. -- Authorities say they have destroyed nearly 36,000 marijuana plants found growing on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land near Sequoia National Park.
The Tulare County Sheriff's Department said several suspects fled when detectives raided the pot farm Wednesday morning and at least one exchanged gunfire with deputies. One man, Gregorio Montero of Livingston, was arrested on suspicion of marijuana cultivation.
The Visalia Times-Delta reports that officials found guns and about 400 pounds of partially processed marijuana on the land. The sheriff's department estimates all the seized drugs would have been worth more than $143 million on the street.

A Tulare County grand jury this week issued a report saying the county has over 100 illegal known marijuana gardens at any given time, but lacks law enforcement resources to deal with them all.


Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/30/1756301/pot-farm-with-36k-plants-raided.html#ixzz1R7RqtAIz

Pot activists to sue over Colorado rules - Nation - Modbee.com

Pot activists to sue over Colorado rules - Nation - Modbee.comDENVER -- Marijuana groups representing thousands of patients and caregivers are suing to block Colorado's sweeping limits on how pot can be sold starting Friday.
Four groups, including the Rocky Mountain Caregivers Collective and the Cannabis Patient Alliance, prepared to file suit Thursday in Boulder County. The lawsuit seeks to void large parts of a law passed last year setting up the nation's most regulated pot marketplace.
The plaintiffs say lawmakers went too far in requiring caregivers to do more than grow pot for their patients, and that caregivers shouldn't be limited to five patients or banned from making a profit.
http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

The lawsuit also challenges whether patient information should be available to tax regulators or law enforcement, not just the health department. Advocates say that because the constitutional amendment passed by Colorado voters in 2000 described a "confidential state registry" maintained by the health department, others in government shouldn't be able to see who is using pot.
"It's a fundamental violation of the constitution," said Kathleen Chippi, a plaintiff in the suit and president of the Patient & Caregiver Rights Litigation Project.
The lawsuit comes hours before regulations set up to comply with the 2010 law take effect July 1. The regulations also give dispensaries hundreds of pages of regulations, including mandatory video surveillance of all transactions and rules governing how marijuana can be grown and turned into edible products such as pot brownies. A second Colorado marijuana law, mostly refining the one passed last year, also takes effect Friday. That law isn't being challenged by the marijuana advocates, but they say they may challenge that one next.
Another plaintiff, Timothy Tipton of the Rocky Mountain Caregivers' Cooperative, said he's most interested in challenging the caregiver restrictions. Tipton says it's unfair to say that dispensaries can make a profit, but home growers serving small numbers can't.
There's considerable time and expense associated with this," Tipton said of growing small amounts of marijuana.
The lawsuit filed Thursday did not address new rules on dispensaries. Some advocates have vowed to challenge some of those regulations, especially a requirement that dispensaries grow 70 percent of the pot they sell.
A marijuana advocate in Colorado Springs who isn't part of the lawsuit said most commercial pot shops are going ahead with compliance and not suing. But Tanya Garduno, president of the Colorado Springs Medical Cannabis Council, added that many are hoping the lawsuit prevails - or that lawmakers loosen rules as the industry matures.
"We're hoping that as people see this isn't a criminal-riddled business the regulations will open up a little bit," Garduno said.
Follow Kristen Wyatt at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt


Read more: http://www.modbee.com/2011/06/30/1756372/pot-activists-to-sue-over-colorado.html#ixzz1R7ROXgto