The NORML Stash Blog » Los Angeles

NORML SHOW LIVE #852 – Live in Los Angeles with Tere Joyce

"Radical" Russ Belville — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:32:01 +0000

NOTE: Ustream has instituted a storage limit for videos. We will be moving all our show videos to our new YouTube channel at http://YouTube.com/NORMLnet. Until then, previous embed codes for video will not function. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Standard Podcast Feed (27.5MB 64Kbps) | High-Def Podcast Feed (82.5MB 192Kbps)
Download audio file (NORML_SHOW_LIVE_2011-02-08.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

Roseanne Barr announces candidacy for Green Party presidential nomination
Texas Councilman says he gets his marijuana and meth from prostitutes
Peter Lewis bankrolls Massachusetts medical marijuana bill

Daily Toker Tunes

Irie Wednesday: Brought to you by NorCalPurps in the California Bay Area

Katchafire – “Meant to Be”

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

New study underscores that passing medical marijuana laws does not affect teen use of marijuana

Government at Work

Rep. Patricia Todd working to pass medical marijuana in Alabama legislature

The NORML Network / HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup “4:20 Somewhere” Raffles

"Radical" Russ Belville — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:41:51 +0000

Click for the full lineup of The NORML Network

Next weekend we will be bringing you live coverage of the HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup in Los Angeles. Tune in to http://live.norml.org on Saturday, Feb 11 and Sunday, Feb 12 from Noon to 7pm Pacific Time for free live coverage of the panels, the expo floor, and interviews with cannabis culture celebrities.

If you plan on attending the event, get your tickets online NOW – they sell out fast! Use the promo code CANORML to get a special 40% discount for supporters of The NORML Network!

We will be holding our Special “4:20 Somewhere” Raffle both days at the Cannabis Cup. Tickets are $5 at the event or five for $20 and the proceeds benefit The NORML Network. We’ll have six raffles each day for over $2,000 worth of prizes and your ticket is good for every raffle until you win or the last raffle ends. You need not be present to win, but you must pick up your prizes at the event; we will not ship them or hold them after 7pm Sunday.

We will announce the winning ticket numbers at :20 after on our live coverage (which you can view on our Ustream app for your iPhone or Android), through our @NORMLNet Twitter account (so follow us!), by text message to your cell (if you write your number on your tickets), and on a whiteboard at our merch desk.

Raffle Time (Sat & Sun)	Prize Package	Description
4:20 Eastern (1:20 local)	“Schwag”	The NORML Gold Leaf lapel pin ($5), NORML Sticker ($1), 6 NORML Buttons ($6)
4:20 Central (2:20 local)	“Grass”	The “Schwag” ($12) + Rick Steves Hemp Backpack ($35), NSL T-Shirt ($20)
4:20 Mountain (3:20 local)	“Bud”	The “Schwag” ($12) + Stealth Backpack ($80), NORML T-Shirt ($20)
4:20 Pacific	“Kind”	The “Bud” ($112) + Marijuana is Safer book ($15)
4:20 Alaska (5:20 local)	“Dank”	The “Bud” ($112) + Medical Marijuana in California book ($15), NORML Nug Jar ($15)
4:20 Hawaii (6:20 local)	“Chronic”	The “Dank” ($142) + A NORML Life DVD ($20) + Autographed NORML Banner

These packages may change by event time… most likely, they’ll get better as we get donations from other vendors to add!

Online viewers can also get in on a piece of the action. At every raffle, we will randomly select one of our @NORMLNet Twitter followers to win a “Schwag” prize pack. In the last three raffles of the day, we’ll add an autographed NORML banner signed by the whole NORML SHOW LIVE crew, HIGH TIMES crew, and other cannabis celebrities.

LA City Council Moves to Ban Dispensaries…again

Cannabis Karri — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:27:03 +0000

The federal assault on medical marijuana dispensaries is heating up in Colorado and re-igniting in long embattled Los Angeles, California as well. LA’s City Hall is trying to ban medical marijuana dispensaries outright, and they are getting some help by the US Attorney’s Office.

Three dispensary operators in Long Beach were convicted for selling marijuana last week and those Southern California dispensaries that have been targeted are now going to lose all their property in asset forfeiture. According to a statement out today for the US Attorney’s office, they will take everything that belongs to targeted dispensaries in Orange and LA Counties.

Federal and state agents executed search warrants on three different medical marijuana dispensaries yesterday, and that led to a search of two separate marijuana growing operations, each with more than 500 plants. Letters from US Attorneys are still being sent out to some dispensaries, and the property owners where the dispensaries operate warning them they need to take the steps to stop the sale and distribution of cannabis at their stores, or face all the penalties that can incur at the hands of the federal government that doesn’t see marijuana as either a medicine or a legal substance.

Several dispensary owners in Southern California that ignored the warning letters last year now have court dates on the docket for 2012. And things don’t look like they will get any easier for medical marijuana dispensaries in LA. LA Councilman Jose Huizar is working to get all medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits to close their doors, a proposal he made to the council last month, and one that is gaining traction as the proposal got most of the details hashed out by the City Council’s Public Safety Committee in a closed door session last Friday WITH the US Attorneys for Southern California.

The LA City Council has had a long standing fight with dispensaries in the City of Angels. Since 2007 they have been working on regulations or outright bans, so far unsuccessfully. But now with the help of the threatening letters from the Feds, and the pressure on land owners, dozens of dispensaries have closed their doors.

The city tried to cap the number of dispensaries in LA at 100, and moved to do that based on a lottery system. A California Appeals court told them they couldn’t legally have a lottery system to choose business licenses, so many unlicensed shops have sprung up in the meantime, while the city has tried to find a way to regulate the medical marijuana market. As the number of dispensaries in LA have gone up, instead of down, it seems that the Council is more open to an outright ban than ever.

Dispensaries in LA have heard this kind of talk before, and all operate on the idea that there may be legal battles before them, but with this new round of cooperation between the city attorney’s office and the city council, many are understandably nervous. The ban proposal is now headed to the City’s Planning Committee for a hearing on January 26th, and could face a vote soon after that.

Jane Usher, a special assistant City Attorney said that they are working towards what they are calling a “gentle ban” that would still allow primary caregivers to grow medical marijuana, but not sell it in any kind of retail environment.

External Links:

http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/2012/01/marijuana_dispensary_ban_angeles_committee.php

NORML SHOW LIVE #807

"Radical" Russ Belville — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 00:16:33 +0000

Video streaming by Ustream
Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Standard Podcast Feed (27.5MB 64Kbps) | High-Def Podcast Feed (82.5MB 192Kbps)
Download audio file (NORML_SHOW_LIVE_2011-11-04.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

Bonnie Dumanis changes her stripes, claims she supports medical marijuana as she runs for San Diego mayor
Drug Reform Conference in Los Angeles features speech by presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson
San Jose mayor proposing new taxes to cover cost of referendum
Montana poll shows majority support for new medical marijuana restrictions

Daily Toker Tunes

Rockin’ Friday: Brought to you by Urb Thrasher from Urb Age Designs

Kyng – “Trampled Sun”

CelebStoner.com Entertainment Report with Steve Bloom, co-author of Reefer Movie Madness: The Ultimate Stoner Film Guide

New Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas movie review

Radical Rant

Medical marijuana turns 15 years old tomorrow – has it reached its zenith?

The annual scaremongering about marijuana-laced Halloween treats begins now

"Radical" Russ Belville — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:29:18 +0000

Somehow, THC makes people want to drug strangers' kids on Halloween.

This weekend is Halloween, which means it is time for law enforcement to start scaring the hell out of parents about the wicked evil potheads lurking in their neighborhoods, waiting to dose their kids with pot candies!

(KABC-TV) Halloween time is not all fun and games. Authorities are warning parents about marijuana-laced candy that could end up in their trick-or-treaters’ bags.

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and narcotics officials displayed a variety of candy, soda, chocolate and other snack foods Friday containing concentrated amounts of marijuana that were recently seized from local marijuana dispensaries.

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Glen Walsh said parents should definitely inspect the candy their children bring home after trick-or-treating.

Walsh said a pungent smell or an odd taste can serve as indicators on whether the food contains marijuana. As for the potency of the marijuana-laced prodcuts, Walsh said the level of THC, the chemical found in marijuana, can vary from zero to over 90 percent.

OK, so watch closely, parents. You don’t want your kid getting a candy with 0% THC in it. But if you find any of that 90% THC stuff, you can send it my way for proper disposal.

For some reason, pot-leaf shaped gummis are wrong for kids, but beer bottle cap candies are not.

How stupid is this? First off, if there is a person out there who would intentionally hand THC-laden treats to children, they are a criminal. They’d be just as likely to poison Halloween treats or put pins or razor blades in them.. which is an urban legend with no truth to it whatsoever.

Second, if you are a person who uses THC-laden treats for medical or recreational purposes, why are you handing out a $20 “Buddafinger” when you could pass out a 20-cent “Butterfinger”? You want to be so sure some kid you don’t know and won’t see gets high that you’ll spend 10 times more on Halloween candy?

Sure, there's no psilocybin in these gummi mushrooms. There's something far more dangerous to your kids' health: high-fructose corn syrup.

Third, the stuff the cops displayed was seized from dispensaries where you have to show ID and recommendation and kids can’t get in. They didn’t display stuff that was seized from the Halloween bags of trick-or-treaters last year, did they?

This weekend kids will be gorging on massive amounts of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. Some of it is even shaped in the form of “Bottle Caps” and “Puckerooms” that resemble alcohol packaging and psilocybin mushrooms, respectively. (Interestingly, both made by Wonka… pure imagination, indeed!) Parents need to worry about that much more than imaginary potheads who live for the thrill of overspending on Halloween so they can get kids high.

Marijuana Prohibition Costs: The George Skelton Diversion

"Radical" Russ Belville — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:19:20 +0000

I really think criminals deserve these beds more than cannabis consumers

Following up on “The David Evans Inequality”, I wanted to puncture another talking point of the prohibitionist. This is the claim that we really don’t lock up anybody for marijuana in prison – it’s as rare as finding a unicorn, as Drug Czar Walters once said.

This one I’ve christened “The George Skelton Diversion” in honor of the Los Angeles Times writer who recently penned this:

Our prisons aren’t exactly bulging with people who were sent there for growing or selling grass, let alone ingesting it. Fewer than 1% of the inmates have been sentenced for marijuana or hashish crimes of any sort, according to state prison data.

They total 1,325 out of 164,156. If you do the math — each prisoner costing nearly $50,000 a year — it isn’t chump change: around $66 million. But it’s hardly noticeable in a $10-billion prison budget.

So the reader is left to believe that we only spend $66 million enforcing marijuana prohibition. Why, that’s a 0.6% drop in the prison spending bucket!

As usual, the prohibitionist ignores the true cost to society and the marijuana consumer – the arrest itself.

Every one of California’s pot arrests require police time. Police labs have to test baggies of weed while rape kits sit on shelves. California pays unemployment and other benefits to workers fired only for failing a pee test. Cops have to follow up on grow tips and rip up gardens. People have to replace doors and belongings after cops destroy them in a raid. Court stenographers have to be paid to transcribe trials whether defendants are convicted or acquitted. People lose upward mobility when a marijuana conviction impedes their job ladder or education plan.

Then there are the people in prison for weed who don’t show up in the “there for weed” statistics. If you robbed a gas station two decades ago, served your time, and are on probation when you’re caught for a joint, you can go back to prison for your robbery and it doesn’t show up as a “busted for weed” imprisonment. If you’ve had two convictions in California your joint can be your “third strike” that puts you away. If you kept your different strains in different bags, you can go to prison for distribution, not possession. There are conspiracy charges where you can be imprisoned even if no weed was found and you had no major role in the trafficking of cannabis.

Besides, no matter how few people are in prison and how little it may cost, is it right? I say one man in a cage and a dollar to house him for the “crime” of growing and using a plant is still too much.

Prohibition-addicted police can’t believe closing medical marijuana dispensaries INCREASES crime

"Radical" Russ Belville — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:29:26 +0000

Actual slide from "Summit on the Impact of California’s Medical Marijuana Laws" presentation for law enforcement in 2009. (click for entire presentation in PDF format)

A new study by the RAND Corporation takes a look at the effect of the recent closure of numerous Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensaries. Opponents of dispensaries, most notably law enforcement, have long argued that marijuana dispensaries increase crime in their neighborhoods. However, the data revealed by RAND today shows the opposite:

(Los Angeles Times) In a study of crime near Los Angeles dispensaries — which the investigators call the most rigorous independent examination of its kind — the Santa Monica-based think tank found that crime actually increased near hundreds of pot shops after they were required to close last summer.

Police have been desperate to show the public that acceptance of marijuana commerce leads to greater crime and danger. In Los Angeles, the “pot shops cause crime” mantra was a subject of a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Summit on the Impact of California’s Medical Marijuana Laws - Dispensary Related Crime” delivered by Cmdr. Michael Regan to over 400 law enforcement officers attending in July 2009. Regan’s slides (download here) included such terrifying claims as:

“Worse than combining a liquor store and a casino – lots of cash, lots of guns”
“…a CHP officer was paralyzed by a marijuana impaired driver.”
“…a group of suspects entered the dispensary, tied everyone up and robbed the place of about $50,000.”
“…a masked gunman fired four shots into a dispensary worker’s car as he pulled into the parking lot.”
“…one of the club’s customers was ambushed, robbed for his marijuana and killed at a nearby gas station.”
“Crimes related to dispensaries may not be associated or recorded as such.”

Yet even as these individual anecdotes were sensationalized in this 2009 presentation, just two months earlier the LA crime statistics reported by the LA Times told a different story:

[Crime is d]ramatically down. And here in Los Angeles, the drop is particularly stunning. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, compared with the same period in 2008, homicide is down by 32%; rape 12%; robbery 3%; burglary 6%, and grand theft auto a shocking 18%.

Similar “crime magnet” arguments have been floated by police in Northern California as well. Back in 2010, Capt. Denise Schmidt wrote a letter to the San Francisco planning department, arguing:

[Dispensaries] have proven an attractive target for violent criminals due to the large amount of marijuana and cash maintained on site. Dispensaries have experienced take-over robberies, burglaries, shootings, stabbings, fights and homicides. Additionally, criminals target the pedestrian traffic in and around [dispensaries] for strong-arm and armed robberies, knowing that the potential for these victims to be carrying either cash and or marijuana is highly likely.

But when Police Commissioner Petra DeJesus asked the SFPD to back up those claims with data from the state’s COMPSTAT system that tracks crime by neighborhood, suddenly SF Police Chief George Gascon wasn’t so eager to mine the data.

LA Police Chief Charlie Beck wasn’t as reluctant as Chief Gascon to admit that dispensaries weren’t “crime magnets”. Back in January of 2010, Beck told the Los Angeles Daily News:

“Banks are more likely to get robbed than medical marijuana dispensaries,” Beck said at a recent meeting with editors and reporters of the Los Angeles Daily News.

Opponents of the pot clinics complain that they attract a host of criminal activity to the neighborhoods, including robberies. But a report that Beck recently had the department generate looking at citywide robberies in 2009 found that simply wasn’t the case.

“I have tried to verify that because that, of course, is the mantra,” said Beck. “It doesn’t really bear out.”

In 2009, the LAPD received reports of 71 robberies at the more than 350 banks in the city, compared to 47 robberies at medical marijuana facilities which number at least 800, the chief said in a follow up interview, in which he provided statistics from the report.

The fact is that dispensaries revitalize neighborhoods, install security cameras, increase foot traffic, provide jobs, and inject revenue into the local economy – all actions that any undergraduate social scientist can tell you will help reduce crime. Similar studies of dispensary operations in Denver and Colorado Springs have also shown no correlation between dispensary operations and crime.

But to the police, the sales and use of the marijuana itself is something they consider criminal. In defending the “pot shops are crime magnets” bogeyman, the cops (with a straight face, even,) blame the increase in crime upon closing a dispensary on “infighting among collective members, increased traffic for pot fire sales and customers disgruntled to find their dispensary closed.” Or, in other words, as the RAND report points out, the police action of shutting down dispensaries increases crime!

Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, strenuously disagreed with the report’s conclusions.

“Every time we shut down a dispensary, the crime and the disorder decrease,” he said.

The report looks at such crimes as thefts and assaults, but not “disorder,” nuisances such as loitering, double parking, loud noises and graffiti that sparked anger among neighborhood activists. Whitmore said those complaints are often what causes the department to act.

So you shut down a dispensary and there is allegedly less graffiti and double parking, but there is actually a 59% increase in thefts and assaults in a three block radius? Not a very good trade, if you ask me. In fact, these “nuisances” are often exaggerated reports by neighbors who, like the cops, cling to the prohibition of marijuana and the demonization of those who consume it and jump on any excuse to send the cops in:

“Our main concern is the crime of illegal dispensaries illegally selling marijuana,” [Michael Larsen, president of the neighborhood council] said. “That’s the crime that we’re concerned about.”

The simple truth is that in California and Colorado and all the other medical marijuana states, we have 1.5 million consumers protected from prosecution for the possession of cannabis. Absent a visit from “the weed fairy”, however, these consumers have to find a supplier for their state-sanctioned medicine. That can be a well-regulated, well-lit, adults-only, secure, taxpaying facility that creates jobs, revitalizes neighborhoods, and reduces crime… or it can be a drug dealer in the corner of a city park, a public parking lot, or a run-down apartment who doesn’t check IDs, doesn’t care about doctor’s recommendations, and has no quality or safety standards for cannabis medicine. Which do you think leads to more crime?

P.S. Law enforcement seemed to think RAND Corp’s studies were reliable when they were saying Prop 19 legalization wouldn’t dramatically impact the profitability of Mexican drug trafficking organizations.

Stash for Wed, Jun 8, 2011

"Radical" Russ Belville — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 22:22:43 +0000

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2011-06-08.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

Global commission calls war on drugs a failure, calls for marijuana legalization
3,000 plants found in Los Angeles’ largest grow house marijuana bust
Latest scare on the depletion of cannabinoid receptors in the brain among chronic cannabis smokers
John W. Huffman, who created the JWH class of synthetic cannabinoids, calls for marijuana legalization to combat the K2/Spice epidemic

Daily Toker Tunes

Irie Wednesday: Rebelution

Cannabis Science with Dr. Mitch Earleywine

Radical Rant

Who says my brain has to be perfect anyway?

Stash for Mon, Apr 4, 2011

"Radical" Russ Belville — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 23:27:26 +0000

Download Link: Secret Stash - Register to access
Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2011-04-04.mp3)

Hemp Headlines

Brought to you by Cannabis Fantastic

Washington’s HB 1550 legalization bill dies in committee
Maine measures to double decrim amounts and decrim six plants dies in committee
First East Coast dispensary opens up in Maine, critics complain it is within one mile of an elementary school
Festival season opens with Hash Bash in Ann Arbor, Michigan; HempCon in Los Angeles; and the HIGH TIMES Medical Cannabis Cup in Denver

Daily Toker Tunes

Brought to you by CannaBob and The Viper Hour on The NORML Network

Roots Monday: Dan Samples – “The Medical Marijuana Song”

This Month in NORML with Executive Director Allen St. Pierre

BREAKING NEWS: Montel Williams to host Denver Mayoral debate Thursday, April 21 at NORML Conference. Most mayoral candidates support medical marijuana and a couple support legalization.
Reactions to his appearance on the Dr. Oz Show on Medical Marijuana

Radical Rant

If I can handle snakes…

Los Angeles Orders More Dispensaries to Close their Doors

Cannabis Karri — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:11:24 +0000

Almost 150 dispensaries in Los Angeles were sent letters ordering their closure a few weeks ago. In an ever-widening campaign against medical marijuana dispensaries that are being declared “illegal” by Los Angeles city officials, 60 additional dispensaries received letters on Friday warning them they must immediately close their doors. The new batch of letters from the city attorney’s office notified operators and their landlords that if they did not close, the office will be working with the police department to gather evidence used in court proceedings to shut them down.

See the original post here:

Los Angeles Orders More Dispensaries to Close their Doors