(KETV) SAUNDERS COUNTY, Neb. — Police officers in Ashland, Neb., seized 150 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop Wednesday night on Highway 6.

The seizure was the largest in Saunders County history, said Ashland police.

He said the incident started when police stopped [a] conversion van driving erratically. When the officer approached the van and saw several bags of marijuana in plain view, he called for assistance, police said.

[Ashland Police Chief Mark] Powell said multiple agencies responded to that call. The drugs were in duffel bags found throughout the vehicle, police said.

Three men in the van were Christopher Ryan, Irvin Dana Beal and James Statzer.

All three are being held in Saunders County Jail and are suspected of drug possession with intent to deliver, officers said. They all face charges of possession with intent to deliver.

Beal is a political activist who has advocated for marijuana legalization in the U.S.

Authorities said Ryan and Statzer are being held on $100,000 bond each. Beal is being held on $500,000 bond.

Yes, it is the word of a police officer, but if indeed there were bags of marijuana “in plain view”, then add this story to our pile of Stupid Stoner Stories.

Few stories I’ve written have generated as much firestorm as this one.  Check out the coverage on CelebStoner, where I’m being called “an asshole” (three times), “Smellville”, “a fool”, and being threatened with an assault-by-pie.

I even received a phone call from a New York activist who I met at the NORML CON last week.  He was at least civil and explained to me that Beal has been providing very low-cost marijuana (”$3-$7 per gram”… that’s still $85 to $200 per ounce) for medical patients on the East Coast.  So I apologize for any insinuation that Beal was making a luxury living as a weed dealer charging prohibition profits to average pot consumers.

What I’m upset about isn’t necessarily Beal in particular, but the general issue of a “record bust” of a prominent activist returning from NORML CON.  Every day I beat back prohibitionists who say that medical marijuana, especially in California, is being abused by criminals that are hiding behind the lax statutes to cover their interstate trafficking.  The average reader doesn’t know Beal has a history of altruism and support of desperately sick people; they just see “150lbs of marijuana” being trafficked by one of our own coming back from an activist conference in California.  They see a “legalizer” and assume he’s getting rich by drug dealing and it taints the message we’re all trying to deliver.

Whatever you think about the bust and my opinion of it, let’s talk about it this Saturday on NORML SHOW LIVE.

Related posts

• Cures Not Wars founder Dana Beal busted with 150 lbs of marijuana (23)
• Super Bowl XLIII (17)
• Stash for Fri, Mar 6, 2009 (0)

ASHLAND – Two Webster men who went to the Police Station to bail out a friend on Monday were arrested after police saw them with a marijuana-filled cigar while parked in front of the station.

Jason Barry, 22, and his cousin, Brian Cherry, 18, were arrested at 6:17 p.m.

According to a police report filed by Sgt. Gregg Wildman, the pair had come to the station to bail out Akeem Atkins, 23, also of Webster, who was arrested at 12:57 p.m. and charged with breaking into a car on Central Street.

Barry and Cherry were waiting in their car, when Wildman, who was in street clothes, walked by the car and saw what appeared to be a blunt — a cigar emptied of tobacco and filled with marijuana — in the car, Wildman wrote.

Upon questioning, Cherry said there was a black shoebox in the trunk.

Wildman said he found a digital scale and a plastic bag “containing a significant amount of green herbal substance” believed to be marijuana in the box.

When it comes to bailing out friends, I recommend the bus or a taxi.  I never like to drive to a police station or courthouse in my own car.  I’m not stupid enough to bring along a shoebox full of weed, blunts, bags, and scales, but who knows when your taillight is going to go out or a plainclothes policeman walking by thinks he sees or smells something?  In Massachusetts you have a bit of leeway because even if they found a little weed in your car it is just a civil fine, but if you’re in a place like Oklahoma or Idaho or Florida, that little seed that rolled out of your hand when you bought a bag and rolled underneath your car seat three years ago could be enough to put you in jail.

Related posts

• Worcester, Massachusetts, wants bigger pot penalties than Question 2 allows (5)
• Worcester City Council rejects pot penalties greater than Question 2 (0)
• What is law enforcement smoking to oppose Massachusetts Question 2? (1)

Ashland Daily Tidings :: Group works to legalize dispensaries :: September 27, 2008

Voter Power, a medical marijuana activist group with an office in Medford, plans to put a measure on a 2010 ballot to create dispensaries in Oregon, similar to those in California.

Under the plan, licensed growers would sell marijuana to the dispensaries, where it will be distributed either at a minimal cost or for free. Customers would need a valid Oregon Medical Marijuana Program card to receive marijuana from dispensaries.

The dispensaries would be taxed and the money would go to other health department programs and help to fund research into medical marijuana, said Alex Rogers, outreach coordinator for Voter Power. A health department regulated program would also be implemented to help patients get access to marijuana.

Voter Power is collecting signatures for its initiative, which was finalized in August, before it can be placed on an upcoming ballot.

If the dispensary system is approved, patients will still be able to grow their own marijuana or select a grower, Rogers said.

“We have a two part strategy — make the best of the current law and at the same time work for a better law,” said John Sajo, Voter Power’s executive director. “The OMMA (Oregon Medical Marijuana Program) has done pretty well at stopping most patients from being arrested, but it has not really addressed how the patients are supposed to get their medicine.”

Rogers said only half of the 20,000 cardholders in Oregon have safe access to medical marijuana.

Dispensaries are prohibited under current law. The Medical Marijuana Program explains, “There is no place in the State of Oregon to legally purchase medical marijuana.”

There are two initiatives trying to get on the ballot in Oregon for 2010, the Voter Power I-28 initiative and the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act or OTCA (full disclosure: I am the Political Director for OCTA).  Both initiatives set up a framework for the sales of marijuana to be regulated by the state and both create a system for growers to sell marijuana to the state.  

The primary differences are that the I-28 model restricts sales to medical marijuana patients only and allows the sales to be controlled by non-profits, like California’s system; the OCTA allows sales to all adults over 21 and keeps the sales in control of the state through the Oregon Liquor Control Commission.

Will it be confusing to voters to hear from two different marijuana initiative petitioners?  Will the patient community be divided over whether to support both or only one initiative?  Would the efforts of the community be better focused on passing only one initiative?  Will supporters of one group campaign against the initiative of another group?  If both get on the ballot and both pass, what then; does the one with more votes win?  Do I ask rhetorical questions in order to voice my deep concerns without taking the Stash down the rabbit hole of personal grudges, rumored animosities, tactical disagreements, and assorted detailed idiocies involved in four decades worth of Beaver State marijuana politics?

Related posts

• Stash for Tue, Jul 28, 2009 (0)
• Stash for Thu, Jul 2, 2009 (2)
• Oregon NORML and medical marijuana activists kill restrictive Oregon Senate Bill 388 (3)