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September 23, 2008 KTLA News Copyright © 2008 Tribune Interactive SEAL BEACH, California -- A local man is suing the Seal Beach Police Department after he says they confiscated up to 50 of his marijuana plants and forced him to become an informant, court records show. Bruce Benedict, 43, filed the $1 million lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court last month. Benedict states in his lawsuit that he is a patient and caregiver of medical marijuana, which allows him to grow and distribute pot to to patients with prescriptions under California law. Benedict says he called police in February because of illegal construction in his apartment building and officers sm…

21/9/08 the press assocition Copyright © 2008 The Press Association. All rights reserved George Michael has been arrested in public toilets, suspected of possessing drugs. Reports say the multi-millionaire singer was arrested after a tip-off from a suspicious toilet attendant after he was seen loitering in an underground toilet block in London's Hampstead Heath on Friday. When police officers arrived Michael was still in the toilet block. Police reportedly found him in possession of cannabis and crack cocaine. In a candid interview for BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs last year, Michael talked openly about his drug use. He said: "I'm a happy man and I can affor…

Saturday 20th September 2008 ealing times © Copyright 2001-2008 Newsquest Media Group A NORTHOLT man who was caught growing cannabis in his rented flat has been jailed for six month. Charles O’Leary flooded the shop below his flat when his water system malfunctioned while cultivating dozens of cannabis plants. When council workers came out to investigate the problem, at the flat in Haydock Green, Northolt, they found a cannabis factory stocked full of plants and watering equipment. Cops raided the flat after sealed it off and forensic teams moved in, only to be interrupted by O’Leary himself when he returned the next day. The 23-year-old father-of-one admi…

Swiss Cannabis legalisation referendum PR Cannazine 17 September 2008 http://pr.cannazine.co.uk/content/view/689/27/ On November 30th a referendum will be held among the people of Switzerland about whether to completely legalize possession, sale, and cultivation of cannabis. The initiative is titled: “For a sensible cannabis policy with effective protection of the youth”. (in German: Für eine vernünftige Hanfpolitik mit wirksamem Jugendschutz.) P.L.R. (liberal-radical party), swiss-socialist party ,Green party and many politicians of popular-democratic party are (voting) for “yes” in the referendum of 30 November, 2008 about decriminalisation of use of cannabis. …

Texting more dangerous than dope By Jayant Mishra Thursday, September 18, 2008 11:56 AM itexaminer.com http://www.itexaminer.com/texting-more-dan...-than-dope.aspx Don’t be surprised if the traffic cop asks you to leave the driver’s seat, while you were on your way back home from Hard Rock pub but instead of checking alcohol, he insists you show him your mobile log, to see if you've messaged someone while driving. According to the latest research by the RAC, sending an SMS whilst driving is more dangerous than driving after drinking. This is so because when you are texting your hands are off the steering and your mind and eyes are glued on the cellphone, rather than …

Swedish police seize thousands of baffling cannabis plants Published: 17 Sep 08 09:00 CET The Local Sweden Online: http://www.thelocal.se/14382/20080917/ Police in Skåne in southern Sweden confiscated a field full of cannabis on Tuesday, but have yet to determine whether the plants were actually meant to be dried and smoked. “Around 15,000 cannabis plants have been confiscated. Some have been sent for analysis to determine if they are narcotics or not,” said Calle Persson of the Skåne police to the TT news agency. According to the Skånska Dagbladet newspaper, the police were so overwhelmed with the work of harvesting the plants that they were forced to call a landsc…

Bothwell cannabis producer has sentence admonished Sep 18 2008 Hamilton Advetiser http://www.hamiltonadvertiser.co.uk/news/l...51525-21842850/ A MAN who admitted producing cannabis at a house in Bothwell was last week admonished. Xing Cai Liu had pleaded guilty to producing the drug at a house in Lady Jane Gate on February 21 this year. However, his not guilty plea to a charge of being concerned in the supply of the drug at the address was accepted by the Crown. The 33-year-old’s not guilty plea to a charge of failing to appear for sheriff court proceedings, while on bail on another matter, was also accepted by the fiscal depute. At Hamilton Sheriff Court la…

Court acquits sick man with homegrown cannabis Wed Sep 17, 2008 AMSTERDAM (Reuters) http://in.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughN...LG1398720080916 The Dutch high court on Tuesday acquitted a man charged with illegally growing marijuana who said the drug helped ease pain from his multiple sclerosis. Growing marijuana is illegal in the Netherlands but sales of it and other cannabis-related soft drugs in coffee shops have been tolerated for decades, making them a major tourist attraction. Pharmacies are allowed to sell limited quantities of cannabis only if the buyer can provide a doctor's prescription. The man suffered some negative side-effects after taking pharmacy…

CHRISTINE CUNNINGHAM 19 September 2008 edp24.com Copyright © 2008 Archant Regional A man had to help rescue his wife and two young children from a burning house after equipment he set up to secretly grow cannabis caught fire, a court heard today. Driving instructor James Cutting, 39, had been growing 24 plants in the loft of the family home in Sunderland Close in Norwich to feed his own habit. He even got a friend to tamper with the electricity meter to power the growing equipment, Norwich Crown Court heard. But his scheme all went wrong when a fire started at his home when the equipment caught fire. Cutting raised the alarm after hearing a crackling noise and got …

Saturday, 20 September 2008 the southland times An Invercargill woman who tried to smuggle cannabis into the Invercargill Prison by stuffing it in her bra will be sentenced in November after she appeared in the Invercargill District Court yesterday. Tania Francis Irene Clark, 20, appeared on the cannabis charges, as well as a charge of driving while forbidden. Police prosecutor Senior Sergeant Steven Armitage said a phone call between a prisoner and someone called "Stacey" was intercepted on June 19. During that phone call, arrangements were made for someone called "Tanz" to take cannabis into the prison. The next day Clark was detained by prison authorities a…

Sarah Harvey Sat, 20 Sep 2008 otago daily times © Allied Press Limited 2007 A 48-year-old Dunedin man was arrested yesterday and charged with cultivating almost 60 cannabis plants at a house in Calton Hill. Sergeant Chris McLellan, of the Dunedin police tactical section, said a search warrant was executed under the Misuse of Drugs Act at a house in Panmure Ave at 10am yesterday. Police found 18 plants, each up to 50cm in height, plus 40 seedlings and germinated plants growing in the basement, sleepout and garden of the house, he said. The man was charged with cultivating cannabis, a class C drug. He was refused bail when he appeared in the Dunedin District C…

Positive cannabis test not enough, says judge 6 September 2008 http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/irelan...0629535734.html CLANCYTHE ROAD Safety Medical Bureau was criticised yesterday by a judge for failing to test for the level of drug intoxication in a driver arrested by gardaí. Ballyshannon District Court, Co Donegal, was told that a breath-test for alcohol on a young driver, Peter Gillen, proved negative. But Garda Seán Flynn still had suspicions about the reason for Mr Gillen’s unusual driving at 4.10am when he turned at speed into a housing estate without using his indicator. Mr Gillen, who was “very shocked, unsteady and very agitated”, was arrested on sus…

http://kalimna.blogspot.com/2008/05/drug-t...porters-of.html Drug treatment industry supporters of illicit drug decriminalisation I've posted before on the preposterious claims of Dr Alex Wodak that decriminalising cannabis use would decrease use. To the extent it provides an additional source of supply not subject to the user costs of relying on illegal markets I find it impossible to believe such claims*. The difficulty with these effoneous claims is that current policies to reduce cannabis use are working effectively. This is a beneficially especially because cannabis use itself is, in fact, increasingly seen as a dangerous illicit drug rather than something benig…

Stressed husband turned to drugs Thursday, September 18, 2008, 15:00 Evening Post http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/news/Str...il/article.html A MAN whose wife fought cancer began growing cannabis to help him cope with the stress of her illness. But police discovered Mathew Stead’s 19 cannabis plants growing in the garage of his Fforestfach home, after acting on a tip-off. The 32-year-old was not at the property in Heol Iscoed when officers followed-up the anonymous lead on September 9. Stead said he had started to grow cannabis after his wife had battled her serious illness. But he pleaded guilty to the charge of cultivating cannabis when he appeared in court. Baker,…