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Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 10:25 am | By: Radical Russ
SAN DIEGO (10 News) — A judge ruled the identity of a deputy district attorney who has admitted to being a member of a marijuana collective must be released, 10News reported.
On Tuesday, Deputy District Attorney James Pitts confirmed his membership in the now defunct Amsterdam Alternative Care. The collective was one of several shut down after being raided last September.
San Diego resident and Navy veteran Jovan Jackson is being charged with several counts involving possession of medical marijuana and the sale of medical marijuana. If found guilty, Jackson could spend several years in prison.
San Diego defense attorney Gretchen von Helms said it’s easy to see why Jackson’s defense wants to call Pitts as a defense witness.
“If the defense attorney can say, ‘Look, my client’s just doing what your deputy DA’s are doing,’ how in the heck do you prosecute someone like this? That’s a great strategy for the defense attorney,” said von Helms. “What you want to show is that all sorts of normal people utilize medical marijuana. They do so as lawfully as they can.”
Ms. District Attorney Dumanis, even your own deputy DA agrees with Prop 215 and uses medical marijuana in accordance with the law! Will you do the sensible thing and call off your crusade against medical marijuana, or will you do the petty thing and fire your deputy district attorney? Either way it works out well for us. Obviously we’d be thrilled with ending the crusade, but even if she fires Pitts, she opens San Diego up to a lawsuit from a bitter former deputy DA.
Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am | By: Radical Russ
WASHINGTON (Huffington Post) — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.
Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.
The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.
At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.
In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.
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Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 7:15 pm | By: Radical Russ
(Last Blog on Earth – San Diego City Beat) The San Diego Police Department and other county law-enforcement agencies are conducting a sweeping raid on marijuana dispensaries this afternoon. As of this writing, CityBeat has heard that Green Kross Collective, Total Care Collective, San Diego Discount Caregivers, Hillcrest Compassionate Care, Downtown Kush lounge, Top Quality Collective, Medical Cannabis Providers, and Nature’s Rx Collective have been shut down by the San Diego Police Department and their owners arrested if they were present. Sources tell CityBeat that the owners have been given 48 hours to provide proper paperwork for their shops, but everything is very tentative at the moment.
Amy Roderick, a spokesperson for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, says the DEA is involved in the raids currently being conducted by the San Diego Police Department and the San Diego Sheriff’s Department on medical marijuana dispensaries. She said DEA is involved “in a support role,” but she said she didn’t know if DEA agents were actually making arrests.
Randy Wall is a 52-year-old AIDS patient and volunteer at Hillcrest Compassionate Care, one of the medical marijuana dispensaries raided today by the San Diego Police Department. Wall said he has been a member and a greeter for the store for a year, about as long as the place has been in business. Wall said they were preparing to shoot a TV commercial at about 11:30 a.m. when police arrived. Wall had been cleaning a back office.
“When I walked out, we heard the cops were coming, but we said, ‘Be cool, be cool,’” he said. “We thought they were going to check our permits. But there was like 20 cops with guns drawn and battering rams. We told them we would unlock the door if they gave us a second.”
“We said, ‘Hold on! Hold on! We’ll let you in,’ but they busted the door open,” he said. “Then they busted down another door that was locked. There was nothing in there; it’s a bedroom where someone sleeps. We have one person stay there; we have to have a security guard in there 24-hours a day.”
“It seems to me that everybody that worked there got arrested today. They handcuffed everyone—everybody that worked there was in handcuffs that I saw,” Wall said.
We all know the San Diego DA and Sheriff’s Office have made overturning Prop 215 their reason for living, so police and sheriffs raiding dispensaries isn’t surprising. But the DEA was involved “in a support role”? Didn’t the president say that there were much more pressing issues for his Justice Department to deal with?
“What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on [medical marijuana]…” – Barack Obama, May 2008
And didn’t the Attorney General say that Mr. Obama’s campaign promise was now Justice Department policy?
“What the President said during the campaign [about ending raids] … is now American policy.”
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009 at 2:36 pm | By: Radical Russ
We’re proud to announce the formation of a new chapter, Southern California NORML, which will serve the San Diego / Riverside / Imperial county area of the state. Contact Craig Beresh, executive director, at craigberesh@sbcglobal.net to get involved.
I’m excited because San Diego is ground-zero in the backlash against medical marijuana in America. A strong chapter there can help us to fight back against the reefer madness that’s leading to the persecution of Eugene Davidovich and Donna Lambert, among others, in Operation Green RX, where San Diego County officers are lying to doctors to get legit recommendations in order to entrap legit dispensary owners.
Many people think that California is pot paradise and compared to most areas of the world, it is. But it is a huge state where outside of the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas, the acceptance of marijuana is sometimes less than outside the state. We need active NORML Chapters all around California and even in places where we have chapters the population is so large that more chapters could be formed.
In case you’ve not been tracking it, the following new NORML Chapters have been recognized in 2009:
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David in San Diego: “I cannot grow inside however, I can grow on my balcony. My balcony is un covered and has full sun for half of the day. It is never dark…city lights do not allow me to have a night cycle. So…is an auto flowering strain my only option????”
Jens in Montana: “I am really interested in using LED’s over the HPS systems, is this a good idea? I know the cost for a good LED setup is expensive right now, but I figure with the lower energy consumption and less heat, it would be worth it.”
Matt in Oklahoma: “I just bought a homebox portable growhouse online. My question is on lighting. Various websites have different philosophies when it comes to proper lighting procedures during the plant development phases. From what I can tell, they seem to agree on that you use a CFL during the veg stage, then you switch to a HPS lighting system right before it flowers. However, I am only growing two plants, only one at a time (use dried flowers while the other plant is growing cycle). What will be the proper wattage setup for a small grow during the various phases?”
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Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 9:42 am | By: Radical Russ
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico now has one of the world’s most liberal laws for drug users after eliminating jail time for small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin, LSD and methamphetamine.
But stunned police on the U.S. side of the border say the law contradicts President Felipe Calderon’s drug war, and some fear it could make Mexico a destination for drug-fueled spring breaks and tourism.
Tens of thousands of American college students flock to Cancun and Acapulco each year to party at beachside discos offering wet T-shirt contests and all-you-can-drink deals.
“Now they will go because they can get drugs,” said San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne. “For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use.”
That’s strange. I don’t recall the police chiefs calling on Mexico to raise their drinking age from 18 to 21. One major reason American college kids flock to Cancun is because under age 21, they can’t go to clubs and can’t easily acquire alcohol in America. Prohibition of alcohol for adults who can vote, smoke, and join the military is what makes those adults fly to Mexico.
Decriminalization does not encourage drug use. In the thirteen US states that have decriminalized marijuana use, the perceptions of risk and the rates of use remained virtually unchanged. Countries that have decriminalized have lower drug use rates than the US and lower rates than before they decriminalized.
Laws don’t encourage or discourage drug use. Drugs encourage drug use. Drugs have their own built-in public relations and advertising campaign – when you take them, you get high. The only things that discourages drug use are education prior to drug use and health care after drug use.
Supporters of the change point to Portugal, which removed jail terms for drug possession for personal use in 2001 and still has one of the lowest rates of cocaine use in Europe.
Foreigners caught with drugs still face arrest in Portugal, a measure to prevent drug tourism.
The same is not true for Mexico, where there is no jail time for anyone caught with roughly four marijuana cigarettes, four lines of cocaine, 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.
That’s what concerns U.S. law enforcement at the border.
“It provides an officially sanctioned market for the consumption of the world’s most dangerous drugs,” San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said. “For the people of San Diego the risk is direct and lethal. There are those who will drive to Mexico to use drugs and return to the U.S. under their influence.”
So you’re telling us that someone who could easily score pot, coke, heroin, meth, or LSD right in downtown San Diego is instead going to get a passport, drive to Tijuana, try to find a dealer, avoid cartel violence, score some drugs, get really high, and drive back across the heavily-fortified cop-laden inspection-ridden US border? Wow, Reefer Madness is so much more mind-altering than anything Mexico decriminalized.
RevRayGreen: MASS TWEET THIS -@ChuckGrassley Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer sadness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
RevRayGreen: @ChuckGrassley http://bit.ly/55Ejsi Truth is Chuck you follow Nixon's CSA full of reefer madness. btw Chuck, Marijuana is not a drug.
SneakerPimp: one last thing Puff puff pass to any one who wants it
SneakerPimp: i wanna here about the imminent MiniSpof sounds like time for some
SneakerPimp: im estatic and excited for NSL today.
SneakerPimp: mountain time wake n bake
SneakerPimp: oh yea also wake n bake
SneakerPimp: its central im high as a kite everybody
SneakerPimp: ill grab that WUD
WakeUpDead: @Russ, I dont think that wireless is going to work out for the show, it was choppy and studdered just like last week. Hardline may be the only way. Puff [...]
WakeUpDead: A MINI Spof, Lock up your Weed, in 18 years that is. Really Man congrats! Greatest days of my life when my kids were born, hell yeh, great news [...]
BenJaMin: Late night Stash!!!
SneakerPimp: heres a bong rip for spof
RevRayGreen: errr test over....
RevRayGreen: on hold..
RevRayGreen: @RR I'll try and lob a call to you.....
SneakerPimp: where is the first field of cannabis gonna be?
SneakerPimp: !
Radical Russ: Breaking News: MrSpof's wife's water just broke! A MiniSpof is imminent!
SneakerPimp: oh russ its not my fault that i dont understand choppy word:stoned:
SneakerPimp: @Mrspof congratulations tell us all about it tommrow
Radical Russ: OK, test over. Sorry. Only needed a half hour. Be back tomorrow afternoon.
slash5city: don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west
thaistik: Local Crime Stoppers notice.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Pot shop burglars sought
Crime Stoppers is looking for information on the suspects who police say burglarized a medical marijuana dispensary and stole cash, drugs [...]
Marijuana-Related Health Costs Minimal Compared To Those Of Alcohol, Tobacco; California Medical Association Says Pot Prohibition Is A "Failed Public Health Policy"; Oregon: State NORML Affiliate Opens First 'Cannabis Café'. […]
American Medical Association Calls For Scientific Review Of Marijuana's Prohibitive Status; Dutch Marijuana Use Lower Than European Average, Study Says […]
"Truth In Trials Act" Reintroduced In Congress; Maine: Voters Approve Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Measure; Colorado: Breckenridge Voters Overwhelmingly Decide To End Pot Penalties. […]
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 Wed, Nov 18, 2009
sounds like time for some 
mountain time wake n bake 
don't forget to watch CCS live on u-stream 8 pm west 
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