Cannabis Hemp News

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal The man who tried to make Nevada the first state with legal marijuana said there was one overriding reason that Nevada voters rejected Question 9. Her name was Sandy Thompson. Billy Rogers, leader of Nevadans for Responsible Law Enforcement, said his organization could not explain away the tragic Aug. 9 death of Las Vegas Sun columnist and executive Sandy Thompson. She was killed when a car driven by 21-year-old John Simbrat slammed into her vehicle, which was stopped at a Las Vegas stoplight. Simbrat had been smoking marijuana and has pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of a controlled substance. He will be sentenced in…

Source: Austin Chronicle In a 36-page opinion delivered Oct. 29, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a permanent injunction preventing the U.S. government from threatening doctors with a loss of prescription-writing privileges if they discuss the use of medical marijuana with their patients. The feds' appeal had sought to remove a 1997 injunction prohibiting the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from investigating or revoking doctor licenses based solely on a doctor's discussion or recommendation of marijuana use. But, a three-member panel of the 9th Circuit ruled the DEA policy was unconstitutional and left the ban in place. "The government's policy…

Source: Tahlequah Daily Press The hopes of activists trying to soften anti-marijuana laws across the country went up in smoke Tuesday night, as drug reform measures were turned down in Nevada, Arizona and Ohio. Wealthy backers who had succeeded in easing access to marijuana for medical uses sought to go a step further and lessen the penalties for its use in general. Many voters apparently drew a distinction between the two ideas. Early polls had made advocates optimistic. The measures were heavily financed by three billionaire philanthropists - George Soros, John Sperling and Peter Lewis - as part of a broader effort to roll back the federal war on drugs. Durin…

US Mulls Pot Law Ballot Posted by CN Staff on November 04, 2002 at 16:01:41 PT By Marc Lavine in Los Angeles Source: Australian More than three decades after the start of the pot-powered hippie revolution, voters in six US states will vote Tuesday on the still-smouldering issue of whether to ease laws on marijuana use. Years after European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Portugal decriminalised the drug, many Americans are fuming over fresh local proposals to legalise marijuana sales of under certain circumstances. "The United States looks increasingly isolated on the issue of marijuana," said Peter Reuter, a professor of law and crimino…

Source: Register-Guard Drug enforcement officers raided the home and garden of a medical marijuana grower this week and seized two guns and 20 pounds of harvested marijuana, a police spokeswoman said Thursday. The grower, Sharon Place, wasn't home at the time of the raid and has not been charged with any crime. The Oregon Medical Marijuana Act allows a medical marijuana cardholder to grow three mature, or budding plants, and four immature plants at a time. Three ounces of dried marijuana is the legal limit. Place grows medical marijuana for herself, her two teen-age sons and another cardholder. The Interagency Narcotics Enforcement Team searched Place's McKenzie…

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1932/a10.html Newshawk: M & M Family Pubdate: Sun, 13 Oct 2002 Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) Copyright: 2002 New Zealand Herald Contact: letters@herald.co.nz Website: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300 Author: Jan Corbett GETTING SOFT ON DOPE, OR JUST TAKING THE SOFT OPTION? Talking to Tom Claunch on the telephone makes you think immediately of Bill Clinton. First there is the seductive southern drawl. Then the rapturous descriptions of Queenstown, where he is holidaying. And lastly the topic: cannabis - although we're not here to find out if he has in fact inhaled. Yet i…

Court rules the sweet smell of dope smoke isn't probable cause for arrest in Texas........ An friend emailed this media story..... Oct. 24, 2002, 12:19PM Judges throw out odor-based drug bust... By JANET ELLIOTT Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN -- Where there's smoke, there may not be fire, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded Wednesday in ruling that the odor of marijuana didn't give Abilene police officers probable cause to enter a home. "The odor of marijuana, standing alone, does not authorize a warrantless search and seizure in a home," wrote Judge Charles Holcomb in a 6-3 opinion. "This case is about the right of citizens to b…

"KENTUCKY HIGH COURT LETS FIRED TEACHER SUE DISTRICT" Cockrel Invited Harrelson To Talk On Hemp Legalization FRANKFORT - A teacher who was fired after inviting actor Woody Harrelson to speak to her fifth-grade class about legalizing hemp will be able to sue the Shelby County schools after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling yesterday. The high court refused to consider the school district's plea that Donna Cockrel's case should have been thrown out before it got started. The justices' decision upholds a directive from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that teachers do not lose their free-speech rights in a school or a classroom. Harrelson -- an outspoken advocate …

Nimbin HEMP Bar's defence following raid by 35 police, dogs etc. I plead guilty for political reasons, because I have willingly and knowingly been breaking the laws specifically regarding cannabis, but, not with malicious criminal intent, but in order to find a way forward. I have been a full time cannabis activist for several years participating in the 1999 NSW drug summit, a two and a half month tour we called the "Freedom Ride" around the jails of NSW, I have run the worlds first live webcam in cannabis cafe demonstration model, and various other cannabis related demonstrations, I am totally committed to the cause of cannabis law reform. I am not pleading for lenienc…

Colin Davis found guilty - Dutch Experience raided Colin Davis, the founder of the UK's first cannabis coffeeshop in Stockport was sentenced today (Thursday 3rd October), nearly a year after the shop was raided by Greater Manchester police Colin was given various sentences up to a max of 2 years for the offences the jury found him guilty of yesterday (to run 'concurrently). the heaviest sentences for November 20th offences because he'd carried on after the September busts Also 12 months each (also to run 'concurrently') for the PERJURY and POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO SUPPLY charges from July of this year, which he pleaded guilty to this morning, But the two groups…

Stockport, October 3, 2002. Colin Davies' brother Mark arrested during raid on cannabiscafe in Stockport ! The GMP are out for the Davies clan, if that was not already clear after Colin Davies Sr. had been arrested for perjury, some time ago, he gave a false statement to protect his son. Davies Sr. was arrested and held at the Stockport Police Station for 8 hours, charged with perjury, and released on bail. Earlier today, Colin Davies Jr., who bluntly opened the first ever cannabiscafe in the UK, on September 15, 2001, was sentenced to a total of 3 years imprisonment, for 6 charges he had been found guilty of yesterday, and for charges of possession with intent to s…

TORONTO, Canada (AP) -- American officials caution they may be forced to drastically slow trade across the northern U.S. border if the Canadian government relaxes its marijuana laws. The changes being considered by Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government would make the penalty for getting caught with a joint similar to a traffic ticket. By contrast, the zero tolerance policy of the United States makes possession of even small amounts illegal. U.S. drug policy experts say decriminalizing marijuana in Canada will increase drug use in America and trafficking by organized crime elements on both sides of the border. Washington would respond with tighter border check…