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Part one of Chris Goldstein in medical marijuana debate against Terrence Farley, a former county prosecutor and the now head of the NJ Narcotics Task Force Commanders Association.
Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:14 am | By: Radical Russ
(Detroit Free Press) Employers are facing tough issues as they try to navigate the state’s fledgling medical marijuana law, such as the difference between “smoke” and “ingest.”
Or whether company policies on drug testing still apply in a state where 63% of voters approved a new law last fall allowing medical use of marijuana.
One section of the law says a registered user can’t be “subject to arrest, prosecution or penalty in any manner or denied any right or privilege including … disciplinary action by a business … for the medical use of marijuana.”
Another portion of the law says “nothing in this act shall be construed to require an employer to accommodate the ingestion of marijuana in any workplace or any employee working while under the influence of marijuana.”
A third section says no one can possess or use medical marijuana on a school bus or on school grounds, but smoking pot is expressly prohibited only on public transportation or in any public place. It’s unclear… whether it’s OK for a certified user to eat, for example, marijuana-laced brownies in a public place.
Why the hell not? Geez, what do you think happens, the super-potent Not Your Father’s Woodstock Weed™ causes the brownie eater to strip off their clothes and run naked through the park? I can understand an objection to smoking marijuana in a public place where others may not appreciate the smell, but this idea that we need to confine people who use a certain medicine to the shadows is unAmerican and repulsive!
My father is disabled and among the handful of pills he must take every day are some Vicodin, a very addictive, very powerful, potentially fatal drug. Yet nobody is telling my dad he can’t pop open his pill bottle at the public park when it’s time for his medicine. Why would they?
If an employer were to require his employees to be free from the influence of Vicodin while on shift, we could certainly understand that. But would he require that they not take Vicodin once they get off work?
How people who’ve never used marijuana perceive marijuana fascinates me. People who can openly tolerate parking lots at taverns and .08 BAC laws freak out over the idea that a pot smoker might drive a car. People who can accept a Marinol bottle with the warning “until you know how you’ll react to Marinol, don’t drive or operate heavy machinery” implode at the thought of a medical marijuana patient driving a forklift or a school bus. People who make jokes at work about their hangovers or go to work sick loaded on anti-histamines and psuedoephedrine will regale you with the notion that a person who fails a marijuana metabolite pee test is an unsafe worker and a drain on company productivity.
The law seems pretty clear to me: no disciplinary action for using medical marijuana. Accommodating it at work would mean building a smoking tent outside for your cardholders and allowing them to take breaks to medicate on the job; nobody is suggesting that. What we’re suggesting – and the law supports – is that a person cannot be fired, not hired, or punished solely for being a medical marijuana patient. If you drug test them and they test positive for marijuana metabolites, that test simply reveals they are a medical marijuana patient, a status you cannot punish them for. How much clearer could it be? If you catch them with weed on the job site (smokeable or in a brownie), you have a cause for action, but if you just catch them with inactive metabolites in their pee, let them work.
Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 3:13 pm | By: Radical Russ
One of the ways we are growing the NORML grassroots network is by taking the example set by our strong state-level chapters, usually based in state capitals and/or large urban centers, and expanding them to more areas of the state. This process, called sub-chaptering, allows a state-level chapter to create remote outposts of their organization so distant members can meet in a closer location.
The sub-chapters aren’t official NORML chapters like a full-fledged affiliate. Rather, they are just a group of members of the state affiliate who happen to meet in a remote location. As such, they are subject to the bylaws of their state affiliate and given only as much autonomy as the state affiliate grants.
Michigan NORML pioneered this process and now boasts 26 sub-chapters all throughout the state. I’m happy to announce that the second state to take this on, Oregon NORML, has now added three new sub-chapters in Salem, Pendleton, and the North Coast of Oregon. These locations will soon begin holding meetings for Oregon NORML to help medical marijuana patients and support cannabis legalization all across the state as Oregon prepares for a legalization initiative in 2010.
Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 4:43 pm | By: Radical Russ
GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (WOOD) – Grand Valley State University student Derek Copp, shot and injured by a deputy in a marijuana raid, was sentenced Monday to probation, fines and community service.
Ottawa County Circuit Judge Edward Post handed down the sentence five months after the shooting that led to campus protests: 18 months probation, 40 hours of community service and $300 in fines. He also gave Copp permission to leave the state.
Ottawa County Deputy Ryan Huizenga was sentenced to six months probation, $400 in fine and 80 hours of community service after pleading guilty to reckless discharge of a weapon, a misdemeanor.
Huizenga has returned to duty after a stint on paid administrative leave.
Copp, 20, was shot in the chest and seriously injured March 11 when the West Michigan Enforcement Team raided the off-campus apartment he shared with another student.
Copp sold an undercover officer 3.3 grams of marijuana — about one-eighth of an ounce — for $60 shortly before drug officers raided his apartment at 10255 42nd Avenue in Allendale Township.
Huizenga was entering the rear sliding glass door of Copp’s lower-level apartment when he fired the shot. Prosecutors say he mistakenly had his finger on the trigger, instead of the trigger lock, which led to the shooting. Copp was at the door, pulling open the curtain, when the shot was fired.
The lede in this story mentions that this was a “pot bust gone awry”. I disagree. When you are sending armed officers, guns drawn, to arrest people in their homes at night by approaching their back door, there is nothing “awry” about someone getting shot. Why didn’t the original undercover officer arrest Derek for the initial marijuana sale?
Because the cops want to get the bigger bust. Going after that bust gets them bigger headlines, cash and property to seize for profit, and the adrenaline rush of “taking down the bad guys”. They’ve been trained to believe that behind every pot smoker’s door lies a well-armed drug baron ready to go out in a hail of gunfire.
So a cop with an itchy trigger finger shoots an unarmed man in his home and for his efforts he gets a paid vacation and a slap on the wrist. For surviving the gunshot, Derek gets to pay money for legal fees and gets the same slap on the wrist. That’s drug war justice for you.
Thursday, August 6th, 2009 at 8:25 am | By: Radical Russ
Detroit, Michigan, July 13, 2009 – On Aug 8th & 9th Southwest Detroit/Corktown will host Michigan’s first major event dedicated solely to medical marijuana. Anchored at the Burst Complex, 2520 22nd Street and spilling over onto several adjacent properties, the Expo will run from 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM on Saturday, August 8th and 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM on Sunday, August 9th. Over 5,000 visitors are expected to attend the MMM Expo 2009. No medical marijuana will be bought, sold or exchanged at this event and there will be no open possession or public use of medical marijuana on the premises. Event details, speakers and online class registration may be found online at: www.mmmexpo2009.com.
MMM Expo 2009 is dedicated to increasing public awareness of Michigan’s medical marijuana law. It is expected to draw a wide range of people including patients, caregivers and various other members of the medical marijuana community. Also, anyone interested in learning more about medical marijuana are welcome to attend.
“Michigan’s Medical Marijuana Act of 2008 passed by an overwhelming majority,” said event organizer Brian Johnson. “The citizens of Michigan supported protecting medical marijuana patients as a general concept. At this event they can learn the specifics of exactly how the whole system works. We want to get information into the hands of people who need it.”
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 5:20 pm | By: Radical Russ
(The Detroit News) Former Michigan State and Lions Charles Rogers talks of getting hooked on prescription pills and admits to a past daily marijuana habit, according to excerpts from an interview for an upcoming segment on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
“Regularly, regularly, yeah I blew every day,” Rogers tells ESPN and former Detroit Free Press reporter Jemele Hill, answering the question how often he smoked marijuana while in the NFL. “But you know, I was doing something wrong. You can’t smoke in the league, so I was wrong.”
Rogers was a two-time All-Big Ten receiver and an All-American in 2002 for the Spartans before the Lions selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft.
A much-hyped selection given his local roots and his hefty contract — he signed a six-year, $55 million deal — Rogers, a Saginaw native, caught two touchdown passes in his NFL debut, a 43-24 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 7, 2003.
That was the high point of a career that fell hard and fell quickly.
Rogers missed much of his rookie season with a broken collarbone, then suffered a similar injury early in the 2004 season. But the big blow came in 2005, when he was suspended four games for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy. He returned from the punishment but was mostly ineffective, with nine catches and one touchdown in the season’s final seven games.
Speaking of that third season, then-Lions president Matt Millen tells ESPN’s Hill: “He was average. Something clearly was wrong. He looked like a different guy.”
Gee, Matt, on your 4-12 2005 team, “average” would have been spectacular, wouldn’t it? (And no, I’m not just bitter because one of those four wins was on opening day against reen Bay.)
I hate the headline and tone of this article, which would have you believing that Charles Rogers is a sad case of a talented athlete whose career was ruined by weed. But think about it for a second. Do we think he just started smoking marijuana when he was drafted by Detroit? I doubt it. Instinct tells me he “blew every day” while he was becoming a two-time All-Big-Ten receiver, All-American, and #2 overall NFL draft pick. Then he suffers a broken collarbone – a very painful injury – twice in his first two years in the league. He uses cannabis, I assume, as part of the pain relief and prescription pills for the rest. Then he’s suspended for “substance abuse”, which has to be the weed, because they won’t suspend you for legit prescriptions. So, again I assume, he has to quit the cannabis, but the pain still remains, so he has to keep using the pills, perhaps more of them since cannabis tends to moderate the need for opioids.
I’m betting the mind fog from prescription pills plus the fear of leaping over the middle for the tough catch and getting pegged in that collarbone by Brian Urlacher twice a year would turn anyone into “a different guy”.
Monday, July 27th, 2009 at 3:16 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Detroit News) Warren — Authorities have charged four teens in connection with the beating death of a man Sunday over a $5 bag of marijuana, officials said.
The suspects have been identified as Kevin David Antone, 18, of Warren; Thomas Henry Post, 17, of Roseville; Jacob Steven Androsuk, 17, and Brandon Lee Ebel, 16, both of Warren, officials said.
All four face second-degree murder charges as well as a count of armed robbery and a count of conspiracy to commit robbery in the death of Michael Daniel McCarthy, 46, according to authorities. Second-degree murder is punishable by life in prison.
Police say the group of young men hit McCarthy over the head with a piece of cement, then stomped on him for several minutes, after he refused to hand over a bag of drugs provided by Ebel.
The argument began after Ebel showed up at his father’s home in the 8600 block of Stephens Street to sell his father a baggie of the drug, Dwyer said. McCarthy, a friend of the father, also took a bag.
The teen left, but then returned, angry, with three friends. The teens argued with McCarthy over the $5 bag before beating him and taking off.
The police chief in a statement said, “The loss of any life is tragic, but more often than not acts of extreme violence are the result of this type of criminal behavior involving drugs.” Really? I’ve purchased more than a few “baggies of the drug” and never once experienced any type of criminal behavior.
However, I was never forced to buy a baggie of weed from my friend’s teenage son, either. Did the police chief ever stop to think that a 46-year-old man wouldn’t be buying marijuana from violent criminal teenagers if he could purchase it in a well-lit, secure marijuana store from another adult who checks ID? When’s the last time you heard tell of four teenagers selling a six pack of beer to their old man and a six pack to his friend, then beating the friend to death over a dispute on the transaction?
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Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 8:20 am | By: Radical Russ
The former head of a drug unit accused of possessing marijuana, drunken driving, resisting arrest and endangering children in February will resume working for the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday, but he’ll lose his rank as a lieutenant.
Lt. Joseph Guzdziol, 44, was sentenced on June 1 to two days in jail and nine months of probation on reduced charges as part of a plea agreement in 75th District Court in Bay City.
Since police pulled him over in Monitor Township, Guzdziol has been on leave without pay as head of the drug unit at the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff Mark Hackel said Guzdziol will return to work on Saturday as a corrections officer, an entry level position that pays about $30,000 a year, compared to his former $80,000-plus salary.
“It’s a very substantial demotion in this department, one that has never been seen before,” Hackel said today. “He no longer has rank.”
So instead of busting pot smokers as a pot smoker himself, he now gets to guard pot smokers in jail? Are you completely guano loco?
Court records show that Guzdziol was pulled over by state troopers for suspicions of drunken driving while his three children — ages 3, 6 and 8 — were with him. When troopers tried to arrest him, he repeated he was a cop before refusing to be apprehended, according to court records. During the scuffle, troopers said Guzdziol broke a mirror off a police car.
A search of his truck revealed a pipe with marijuana residue, troopers said.
Show of hands – how many people here get to go back to their jobs after their boss learns they were drunk driving with their three young children and fighting cops during his arrest? Anyone ? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? How many think you only get two days in jail? He should be driven from the shire by angry peasants with pitchforks and torches simply for the sheer hypocrisy of being the head of the drug unit busted drunk driving and the idiocy of having a used pipe in the car while doing it! Man, that’s one hell of a police union there in Macomb County, ain’t it?
Track Snack: Mornin Stashers! Tokin on the Mean Green Martian for breakfast.
MrSpof: Maybe Dr Mitch could comment on the efficacy of reasonable amount of weed like that consumed (smoked) quickly mitigating migraine effects. I know the lowering of blood pressure would be [...]
MrSpof: Had the onset of a migraine yesterday. Immediately took 8 , moist cool washcloth on eyes, heating pad on neck and upper back, turned off lights. Migraine gone in [...]
MrSpof: As you personal non-accredited doctor, I advise the rest of you to smoke/vape/eat heavily
slash5city: frickazee'd.... Mr. Spof, thank you very much
MrSpof: Risen and roasted How the hell are you?
RevRayGreen: always Fidget......always.
Adam: Maybe in WA, judges are starting to think about the true cost of a Drug charge...
Adam: Tim Lincecum, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants will pea to a paraphernalia charge/ Possession charges DROPPED
Adam: Add some cottage cheese to your pancake batter, replace the maple with a fruit syrup! f-ing killer, YES I was stoned...
Fidget Truittelli: Good morning from beautiful Arizona! I hope you all have a happy, fun day. Remember to 'pay-it' forward. Do something nice for someone.
BenJaMin: Go NORML!!!
BenJaMin: Russ Is Tha BEst! :smokin:
SneakerPimp: oh there it is thanx russ
SneakerPimp: so whats up with today stash?
RevRayGreen: Barney Frank Present When Partner Arrested for pot-- http://bit.ly/1XpM2R
RevRayGreen: KMK 11/17/09 VAL AIR ballroom DSM
bullbog: that's crazy. I had a NORML black t-shirt on. It was hell of a show
RevRayGreen: dude I was probably 4-5 seats from you then
bullbog: 4th row center. I wish I was closer.
RevRayGreen: were in in the orchestra pit 4th row? or 4th row center, that's where I was bu slightly to the right
RevRayGreen: our show ______v'''''''
RevRayGreen: catch our chow tomorrow online Carl'sCannabis Corner
www.macswordlive.com 12-2 PM you can go there now and find archived shows
bullbog: revraygreen after looking at your pic from last nite. I'm pretty sure I seen you. I regonize you from the march in May
Just Legalize It: nothing really cool dealing with marijuana happens in massachusetts.... it sucks.... other than the boston freedom rally... but one thing a year isnt enough! i want to move to [...]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
Maine: Voters To Decide Next Week On Medical Marijuana Expansion Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters To Decide Next Week On Eliminating Pot Penalties; California: Lawmakers Hold Historic Hearing On Marijuana Legalization; New Hampshire: Senate Fails To Override Medical Marijuana Veto. […]
Gallup: Majority Of West Coast Voters Back Marijuana Legalization; Pot Arrests Responsible For Majority Of Marijuana Treatment Referrals; DOJ To Federal Prosecutors: Do Not Focus Resources On Medical Marijuana. […]
Some of the nation’s top athletes discuss why today's pros are turning to cannabis — and away from alcohol and painkillers — off the field, and question why pro sports leagues are continuing to sanction those who do. Moderator: Steve Bloom, Author, Pot Culture; editor, celebstoner.com * Toby Grear, MMA fighter * Sean Neumann, Documentary Filmm […]
Cannabis Law Reform's Missing Link: Law Enforcement Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper; LEAP and NORML Advisory Board; Author of Breaking Rank Putting the Mexican Cartels Out of Business Mexican drug cartels now employ over 100,000 soldiers and are responsible for nearly ten thousand deaths per year. Their largest source of income is marijuana. […]
Stash for Mon, Nov 2, 2009
reen Bay.)
frickazee'd.... Mr. Spof, thank you very much
and roasted 
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