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Last fall, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder announced that there would be a federal crackdown on the highly profitable medical marijuana industry in California. The sudden shift surprised advocates given the Obama administration took a relatively low-key approach early on. Earlier this month, though, they made their biggest move yet in this new war on weed as federal agents raided Oaksterdam University, a trade school based in Oakland. DEA and IRS agents reportedly took away computers, files, and marijuana plants, although they didn’t disclose a reason for the raid or charge the owner, Richard Lee, with any crime as of yet.

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Speaking with the Huffington Post, the owner of the country’s first cannabis industry trade school expressed his frustrations with the president, alleging:

Before he was elected, [President Barack Obama] promised to support medical marijuana and not waste federal resources on this. About a year and a half ago, the policy seemed to change. They’ve been attacking many states, threatening governors of states to prevent them from signing legislation to allow medical marijuana. They’ve been attacking on many fronts.

In a past interview, a then-Sen. Obama said his stance on medicinal marijuana usage was “practical.”

He explained:

“My attitude is if it’s an issue of doctors prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that should be appropriate because there’s really no difference between that and a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else.”

Despite expressing concerns about people “setting up Mom and Pop shops” to distribute marijuana, he did declare, “What I’m not going to be doing is use Justice Department resources to circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be instigating violent crimes and terrorism. We’ve got a lot of things for our law enforcement to deal with.”

Yet, the person who pledged to end these Bush-era raids on medical marijuana users – many of whom operate in line with state laws – has only enacted more.

It’s an interesting turn given support for marijuana legalization has only grown over the years, with 73 percent in favor of usage for medical purposes if prescribed by a doctor according to a Pew Research Poll.

In the investigative piece, “Obama’s War on Pot,” Rolling Stone political correspondent Tim Dickinson opines that the Administration’s retreat on their previous stance on weed stems on a reelection strategy of essentially out Republican-ing the Republicans. But as he notes in the piece, while that may help with senior voters in southern swing states like Virginia and North Carolina, where attitudes toward drug reform are more in line with tradition, it alienates young voters in places like Colorado.

Team Obama has enough trouble with young voters as is.

According to a new survey of youth voter attitudes released on Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute and Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, less than half of 18-to-24-year-old voters want Obama to win re-election. Moreover, President Obama only leads a generic Republican candidate by just 7 percentage points — quite the shift from the 34-point margin he held over John McCain in 2008.

So while this shift might help him dredge up support among the older and southern, how far do you think an outpouring of stories about the feds wasting resources on defenseless crimes that aid people in illness will go in the way of closing the enthusiasm gap among the young people he still needs to win?

Michael Arceneaux is a Houston-bred, Howard-educated writer currently based in Los Angeles. You can read more of his work on his site, The Cynical Ones. Follow him on Twitter: @youngsinick

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Arrest warrants painted a startling picture of the Horned Frogs, with a handful of players who allegedly arranged marijuana sales after class or around practice and who told police that most of the team had failed a surprise drug test just two weeks ago.

According to police, players sold undercover officers marijuana during the season and as recently as last week.

“There are days people want to be a head football coach, but today is not one of those days,” coach Gary Patterson said in a prepared statement. “As I heard the news this morning, I was first shocked, then hurt and now I’m mad.”

The 17 people arrested were caught making “hand-to-hand” sales of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and prescription drugs to undercover officers, police said. They said the bust followed an investigation prompted by complaints from students, parents and others.

TCU has an enrollment of about 9,500 students, but the athlete arrests drew the most scrutiny. The bust came just one day after a thrilling overtime victory by the men’s basketball team over a ranked opponent and less than 24 hours after TCU released its football schedule for next season, its first in the Big 12 Conference.

Three prominent defensive players on the team were arrested: linebacker Tanner Brock, the leading tackler two seasons ago, defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey and cornerback Devin Johnson. The other player is offensive lineman Ty Horn.

While school Chancellor Victor Boschini said he didn’t think TCU had a “football problem,” the arrest affidavits raise the possibility that other players were involved.

In November, a Fort Worth police officer was informed that Horn was selling marijuana to “college students and football players at Texas Christian.” The officer allegedly bought marijuana that day, Nov. 3, two days before a road game at Wyoming, from both Horn and Yendrey.

Officers during the next several months allegedly set up drug deals with the players outside restaurants, a grocery store and other areas around campus. On Jan. 19, Brock allegedly sold an officer $200 worth of marijuana after Yendrey ran out.

“After a short conversation about the marijuana, Brock and I exchanged phone numbers, telling me to come to him from now on instead of (Yendrey),” according to the affidavits.

Horn and Johnson scoffed at the Feb. 1 team drug test ordered by Patterson, police said. Brock allegedly told an undercover officer that he failed the surprise test “for sure,” but that it wouldn’t be a problem because there “would be about 60 people screwed.”

Horn had looked through the football roster and “said there were only 20 people that would pass the test on the team,” Brock said, according to the warrant.

And six days after the test, Johnson allegedly sold an officer $300 worth of marijuana. Asked about the test, he said: “What can they do, 82 people failed it.”

Patterson did not say why he had ordered the drug test, declining to answer questions beyond his prepared statement.

Phone messages left at the homes of Horn, Johnson and Yendrey were not immediately returned. Brock did not have a listed home number. All of the players are 21 except for Yendrey, who is 20.

Brock was being held on $10,000 bond at the Mansfield city jail. Johnson and Horn were being transferred to the jail on Wednesday afternoon and Yendrey had not been arraigned yet.

Police said they had yet to determine if other football players were involved or would be charged.

Officials said the students had been “separated from TCU” and criminally barred from campus, but it wasn’t clear if the players had been kicked off the team.

“I expect our student-athletes to serve as ambassadors for the university and will not tolerate behavior that reflects poorly on TCU, the athletics department, our teams or other student-athletes within the department,” athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “Our student-athletes are a microcosm of society and unfortunately that means some of our players reflect a culture that glorifies drugs and drug use. That mindset is not reflected by TCU nor will it be allowed within athletics.”

Brock was the leading tackler for TCU as a sophomore during the 2010 season, when the Horned Frogs went 13-0, won the Rose Bowl and finished the year ranked No. 2. Brock started the season opener at Baylor last September, but aggravated a foot injury that required season-ending surgery.

Yendrey started 12 of 13 games this past season, when he had 39 tackles and three sacks. Johnson played in all 13 games, starting the last eight, and had 47 tackles with 2 1/2 sacks.

Brock likely would have been a starter again in 2012. Yendrey, who also started five guys as a junior, and Johnson both were juniors last season and had another season of eligibility. Horn appeared in 10 games this past season, making one start. He played in eight games as a freshman.

“Under my watch, drugs and drug use by TCU’s student-athletes will not be tolerated by me or any member of my coaching staff,” Patterson said. “I believe strongly that young people’s lives are more important than wins or losses.

He added: “At the end of the day, though, sometimes young people make poor choices. The Horned Frogs are bigger and stronger than those involved.”

Boschini, the chancellor, called the charges against all the students “simply unacceptable.” Fraternity members were among those arrested, though Boschini said he didn’t think any whole fraternity houses were at fault.

“Today’s events have changed the life of everybody at TCU,” Boschini said.

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The child’s teacher at Hanover Elementary School told investigators that she witnessed the child pulling out nine individually wrapped bags of marijuana out of his jacket pocket, then announce that he had snacks.  The bags reportedly had been prepared ready for sale.

The school’s superintendent, Mark Benigni, said that the children in the classroom did not get to see the drugs, because a teacher, who was in close proximity, was able to quickly take the bags away from the child.  Benigni told the Record-Journal:

Our concern is for the 4-year-old student who had no knowledge of what he was bringing to school, Benigni told reporters. The student is safe, and we will continue to ensure a safe learning environment to all of our students.

Law enforcement and DCF are investigating the case and there have been no arrests made thus far.  According to Benigni (pictured left), and the school’s principal Miguel Cardona (pictured right), it is crystal clear that the child is certainly not at fault.  Investigators have identified the child’s mother but no information has been released to the press.

News One spoke to renowned pediatrician Jennifer Shu, M.D., co-author of the book “Heading Home with Your Newborn” regarding the ingestion of the drug and its effects on children.  “If the children would have ingested any of the marijuana the effects can be similar to smoking it which include relaxation, sleepiness, sluggishness, red eyes and a dry mouth, even though with ingestion, the onset of effects is usually slower than with smoking. There may also be a fast heart rate, increase in blood pressure, and an increase in a child’s rate of breathing. If the marijuana is mixed with other drugs, there may be a chance of seizures, stroke and sudden death. Children are likely to be more sensitive than adults to the effects of marijuana and other drugs since they are smaller.”

While the incident is being investigated, the superintendent plans on sending out an alert about the incident to all parents so that they can dialogue with their children about safeguards while in school.   

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There has been no approval from the hip-hop power couple, but none of the dispensaries have received legal notice as of yet.

A day after the Jay-Z and Beyonce’s baby was born, Jay-Z released a song, titled “Glory,” for free download. The Brooklyn rapper touches on his love for his wife and newborn, and the baby girl’s cries can be heard in the background.

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The results, from one of the largest and longest studies on the health effects of marijuana, are hazier for heavy users — those who smoke two or more joints daily for several years. The data suggest that using marijuana that often might cause a decline in lung function, but there weren’t enough heavy users among the 5,000 young adults in the study to draw firm conclusions.

Still, the authors recommended “caution and moderation when marijuana use is considered.”

Marijuana is an illegal drug under federal law although some states allow its use for medical purposes.

The study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was released Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings echo results in some smaller studies that showed while marijuana contains some of the same toxic chemicals as tobacco, it does not carry the same risks for lung disease.

It’s not clear why that is so, but it’s possible that the main active ingredient in marijuana, a chemical known as THC, makes the difference. THC causes the “high” that users feel. It also helps fight inflammation and may counteract the effects of more irritating chemicals in the drug, said Dr. Donald Tashkin, a marijuana researcher and an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Tashkin was not involved in the new study.

Study co-author Dr. Stefan Kertesz said there are other aspects of marijuana that may help explain the results.

Unlike cigarette smokers, marijuana users tend to breathe in deeply when they inhale a joint, which some researchers think might strengthen lung tissue. But the common lung function tests used in the study require the same kind of deep breathing that marijuana smokers are used to, so their good test results might partly reflect lots of practice, said Kertesz, a drug abuse researcher and preventive medicine specialist at the Alabama university.

The study authors analyzed data from participants in a 20-year federally funded health study in young adults that began in 1985. Their analysis was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The study randomly enrolled 5,115 men and women aged 18 through 30 in four cities: Birmingham, Chicago, Oakland, Calif., and Minneapolis. Roughly equal numbers of blacks and whites took part, but no other minorities. Participants were periodically asked about recent marijuana or cigarette use and had several lung function tests during the study.

Overall, about 37 percent reported at least occasional marijuana use, and most users also reported having smoked cigarettes; 17 percent of participants said they’d smoked cigarettes but not marijuana. Those results are similar to national estimates.

On average, cigarette users smoked about 9 cigarettes daily, while average marijuana use was only a joint or two a few times a month — typical for U.S. marijuana users, Kertesz said.

The authors calculated the effects of tobacco and marijuana separately, both in people who used only one or the other, and in people who used both. They also considered other factors that could influence lung function, including air pollution in cities studied.

The analyses showed pot didn’t appear to harm lung function, but cigarettes did. Cigarette smokers’ test scores worsened steadily during the study. Smoking marijuana as often as one joint daily for seven years, or one joint weekly for 20 years was not linked with worse scores. Very few study participants smoked more often than that.

Like cigarette smokers, marijuana users can develop throat irritation and coughs, but the study didn’t focus on those. It also didn’t examine lung cancer, but other studies haven’t found any definitive link between marijuana use and cancer.

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The TSA found my weed and let me keep it. They just left me a note. “C’mon Son”. Lol

The TSA has been under scrutiny recently over overly aggressive and intrusive searches but in this case it seems they showed some tolerance and leniency.

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Police say they found $100,000 in his car and an additional 100 pounds of marijuana at his apartment.

TMZ reports:

Police say Hopkins told them he got involved in the drug deal to provide a nice Christmas for his family.

Hopkins is being held on $35,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison.

Read More At TMZ

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The findings were based on a survey of 47,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

One of every 15 high school seniors reported smoking pot on a daily or near daily basis, the highest rate since 1981.

One of every nine high school seniors reported using synthetic marijuana, sometimes called Spice or K2, within the previous 12 months.

Marijuana use rose among 10th- and 12th-graders, the study said. None of the changes was large enough to be statistically significant, “but they all continue the pattern of a gradual rise,” the study said. There was a “non-significant decrease” in the percentage of eighth-graders who reported using pot within the past year.

The percentage of teens saying they see “great risk” in using marijuana generally has dropped in recent years.

“One thing we’ve learned over the years is that when young people come to see a drug as dangerous, they’re less likely to use it,” Lloyd Johnston, the study’s principal investigator, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “That helps to explain why marijuana right now is rising, because the proportion of kids who see it as dangerous has been declining.”

The study said marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year after considerable decline in the preceding decade.

The survey found 36.4 percent of 12th-graders reported using marijuana in the past year, compared to 31.7 percent in the 2007 survey. Usage was at 28.8 percent for 10th-graders and 12.5 percent for eighth-graders within the previous 12 months, according to the 2011 survey.

The synthetic drug survey question was asked for the first time this year. Fake marijuana, sometimes sold in drug paraphernalia shops and on the Internet as incense, contains organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked.

A Drug Enforcement Administration emergency order banning the sale of five chemicals used in herbal blends to make synthetic marijuana took effect March 1. The synthetics are among the many that would be banned under a bill passed in the U.S. House earlier this month. Many states also have their own laws banning the sale of synthetic marijuana.

Researchers say next year’s survey will reveal more about the effectiveness of the control measures, since much of this year’s survey covered a response period before the federal action took effect.

White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske called on parents to get involved to help stop the use of synthetic marijuana.

“It’s not in the vocabulary of parents, and they need to be aware of it so that when they have that conversation about substance abuse that they are knowledgeable and they talk about this,” he told the AP.

Alcohol use continued a trend of decline dating to the 1980s and hit a historic low for the survey, which began in the 1970s for 12th-graders. Forty percent of 12th-graders reported drinking in the previous 30 days during the 2011 survey, compared to 54 percent in 1991. Drinking also declined significantly at lower grade levels.

Other drugs showing some evidence of decline in use this year include cocaine, crack cocaine and inhalants.

The Monitoring the Future survey also shows that a decline in teen cigarette smoking resumed this year. The number of those who reported smoking in the previous 30 days for the three grades combined was 11.7 percent, compared to 12.8 percent in 2010.

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The secret passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana – equipped with a hydraulic lift, electric rail carts and a wooden staircase – highlights an emerging seasonal trend. For three years, authorities have found sophisticated tunnels on the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before the winter holidays in what officials speculate is an attempt by drug smugglers to take advantage of Mexico’s fall marijuana harvest.

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Two weeks ago, authorities seized 17 tons of marijuana in connection with a tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana. Authorities began investigating that passage in June, according to court filings.

Tuesday’s find netted more than 32 tons of marijuana – nearly 17 tons at a warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, about 11 tons inside a truck in the Los Angeles area and 4 tons in Mexico. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, it ranks as the second-largest pot bust in U.S. history if the drugs found on the Mexican side of the tunnel are counted and the third-largest without the Mexican stash.

As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have become an increasingly common way to smuggle enormous loads of marijuana. More than 70 passages have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years

Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border. In early December 2009, authorities found an incomplete tunnel that stretched nearly 900 feet into San Diego from Tijuana, equipped with an elevator at the Mexican entrance.

Authorities say central Mexico’s marijuana harvest in early October presents drug cartels with a familiar challenge for any farmer: how to quickly get products to consumers.

“It’s a significant amount of inventory that the cartels need to move and they need to move it in the most expeditious and efficient way,” said Derek Benner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. “It’s like any other business. You’ve got a pile of inventory that you need to get moving and generate profits.”

William Sherman, the DEA’s acting special agent in charge in San Diego, said drug traffickers also may go on a pre-Christmas smuggling push to give themselves a “little bit of hiatus” over the holidays to visit family in Mexico. DEA wiretaps tend to go quiet during the holidays, he said.

It’s unclear whether cartels are building the tunnels in time for the winter holidays or if that’s when authorities just happen to find them.

Some U.S. authorities are inclined to think the cartels are timing construction for the fall harvest, based on their belief that this year’s two major finds in San Diego and one last year in San Diego were discovered shortly after they were completed. Heightened activity around building and operating the tunnels drew suspicion and exposed smugglers to getting caught.

It takes roughly six months to a year to build a tunnel, authorities say. Workers use shovels and pickaxes to slowly dig through the soil, sleeping in the warehouse until the job is done. Sometimes they use pneumatic tools.

The tunnel discovered Tuesday was about 40 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. It featured a wooden staircase at the U.S. entrance, located inside a large, white building with a long line of trucking docks.

The Mexican warehouse was on the same block as a federal police office and sits next to a runway at Tijuana’s main airport. It featured a hydraulic lift at the tunnel entrance that dropped about 30 feet. Its carpeted floors were found littered with garbage and dirty linen. The kitchen was stocked with tortillas and oranges, with a window painted black.

Six men were charged in federal courts in Southern California with conspiracy to distribute marijuana. No arrests were made in Mexico.

U.S. authorities linked last November’s find to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, that country’s most-wanted drug lord. U.S. and Mexican authorities declined to link Tuesday’s discovery to a specific cartel.

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California Votes Down Marijuana Legalization Measure Prop 19

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The Huffington Post reports:

“As a former police chief, I recognize we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem,” wrote Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, in a statement released late on Friday. “We also recognize that legalizing marijuana would not provide the answer to any of the health, social, youth education, criminal justice, and community quality of life challenges associated with drug use.” “It’s maddening that the administration wants to continue failed prohibition polices that do nothing to reduce drug use and succeed only in funneling billions of dollars into the pockets of the cartels and gangs that control the illegal market,” said Franklin, who serves as executive director of advocacy group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, in a statement released Saturday.

Read More At The Huffington Post

“We’re already dealing with a high amount of drug abuse and drug activity and trying to raise children so they don’t think using illegal substances is acceptable,” said City Councilmember Darius Pridgen. “So to have a licensed store sell candy to kids that depicts an illegal substance is just ignorant and irresponsible.”

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The “Pothead Ring Pots,” ”Pothead Lollipops” and bagged candy are distributed to retail stores by the novelty supply company Kalan LP of the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. It also wholesales online for $1 for a lollipop and $1.50 for a package of three rings.

Company president Andrew Kalan said the candy, on the market six to nine months and in 1,000 stores around the country, promotes the legalization of marijuana.

“It does pretty well,” he said.

“This is the first complaint I’ve heard,” Kalan said, “and people are usually not shy. I’m actually surprised this is the first.”

An irate parent brought the candy to Pridgen’s attention, hoping the city could apply pressure and get it out of stores.

Pridgen and Councilmember Demone Smith displayed the candy, along with fake marijuana known as “K2″ that’s also sold in some stores at Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, where Pridgen said he’d refuse to grant licenses to stores in his district that planned to sell the merchandise and would seek to embarrass stores that carry it. The synthetic marijuana is sold as incense but is smoked.

Synthetic marijuana typically involves dried plant material sprayed with one of several chemical compounds. The products contain organic leaves coated with chemicals that provide a marijuana-like high when smoked. The Drug Enforcement Administration recently used its emergency powers to outlaw five chemicals found in synthetic marijuana.

It appeared Pridgen’s message had gotten out by Thursday. A check of about a half-dozen stores in Buffalo, often in impoverished neighborhoods where real drugs are a festering problem, turned up none of the controversial candy.

The bags of “Pothead Sour Gummy Candy,” and lollipops shaped like marijuana leaves appear to be a recent addition to the inventory of some corner stores. The sour apple-flavored candy contains nothing illegal, but with its marijuana leaf, the word “Legalize” and a joint-smoking, peace sign-waving user on the packaging, critics say it’s not only in poor taste but an invitation to try the real thing.

“It’s the whole idea that it promotes drugs and the idea that, here, you’ll look cool if you use this — which is what gets these kids in trouble in the very first place,” said Jodie Altman, program supervisor at Renaissance House, a treatment center for drug- and alcohol-addicted youth.

Charmaine Rosendary, 36, of Buffalo shook her head when she saw a picture of the package.

“That’s not right. It’s just promoting marijuana,” she said while buying produce Friday at a Buffalo market. She said she wouldn’t allow her five teenagers, ages 15-19, to have it.

“I would not buy it or give them money to buy it,” she said. “It looks like weed.”

It’s not the first legal product to come under fire.

In 2008, the Hershey Co. stopped making Ice Breakers Pacs in response to criticism that the mints looked too much like illegal street drugs. Police in Philadelphia complained that the packets, nickel-sized dissolvable pouches with a powdered sweetener inside, closely resembled tiny heat-sealed bags used to sell powdered street drugs.

Candy cigarettes and fruity or energy drink-infused alcoholic beverages have been criticized for targeting young people. And in 1997, the Federal Trade Commission said the iconic Joe Camel cigarette ads and packaging violated federal law because they appealed to kids under 18. The tobacco company, R.J. Reynolds, eventually shelved the caricature.

A spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy said advocates for legalization who claim marijuana is benign are not supported by science.

“Trivializing drug use is a threat to public health because it erodes perceptions of harm among young people,” said Rafael Lemaitre.

Kalan said his company carries several products with the marijuana leaf and “legalize” message to accommodate growing demand in the movement to legalize marijuana.

“We don’t advocate for a political position. We just look at what the marketplace wants and respond to it,” the wholesaler said. “It’s just candy… It’s sour apple flavor, it doesn’t claim to be pot in disguise or anything like that.”

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BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. — Mississippi Department of Transportation law enforcement officers say a tractor-trailer they stopped this week was hauling about $7 million worth of marijuana.

The Sun Herald reports  the MDOT announced Thursday they stopped the 2005 Peterbuilt tractor and van trailer Tuesday morning at the Interstate 10 inspection station in southern Mississippi for a routine weight, safety and paperwork check. Officers found 126 plastic wrapped, 55-pound bundles of marijuana that together weighed about 7,000 pounds.

MDOT officials say they, along with officers of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, are investigating where the marijuana came from and where it was going.

Charges against the driver were pending.

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Despite the fact that these parents face little or no criminal charges, New York’s child welfare agency is pursuing these incidents and in some cases taking children from their homes.

In one particular case a father lost custody of his 1-year-old daughter over a $5 bag of marijuana.

“Drug use itself is not child abuse or neglect, but it can put children in danger of neglect or abuse,” Michael Fagan, a spokesman for the Administration for Children’s Services said. “We think the argument that use of cocaine, heroin or marijuana by a parent of young children should not be looked into or should simply be ignored is just plain wrong.”

Read more at the New York Times.

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Williams instituted the Small Amount of Marijuana (SAM) program in June 2010, which allows offenders with less than 30 grams of marijuana topay $200 for a 3-hour class on drug abuse.

Prior to the SAM program, offenders faced 30 days’ probation or jail time and a $500 fine.

“We were spending thousands of dollars for when someone possessed $10 or $15 worth of weed,” Williams said of the way marijuana cases were prosecuted when he was elected. “It just didn’t make any sense.”

Read more at the Philly.com

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Cops said customers who wanted their subs with a side of green would say the password while ordering and then drop $10 into Hunt’s tip jar.

“The ‘extra meat’ was a baggie of marijuana that Hunt slipped into the sandwich bag,” Sheriff Ken Mascara told Central Florida’s News 13.

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Voting 8-1, the justices reversed a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that threw out the evidence gathered when officers entered Hollis King’s apartment.

The court said there was no violation of King’s constitutional rights because the police acted reasonably. Only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented.

She said:

May police, who could pause to gain the approval of a neutral magistrate, dispense with the need to get a warrant by themselves creating exigent circumstances? I would answer no, as did the Kentucky Supreme Court. The urgency must exist, I would rule, when the police come on the scene, not subsequent to their arrival, prompted by their own conduct.

How “secure” do our homes remain if police, armed with no warrant, can pound on doors at will and, on hearing sounds indicative of things moving, forcibly enter and search for evidence of unlawful activity?

Officers knocked on King’s door in Lexington and thought they heard noises that indicated whoever was inside was trying to get rid of incriminating evidence.

Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court that people have no obligation to respond to the knock or, if they do open the door, allow the police to come in. In those cases, officers who wanted to gain entry would have to persuade a judge to issue a search warrant.

But Alito said, “Occupants who choose not to stand on their constitutional rights but instead elect to attempt to destroy evidence have only themselves to blame.”

In her dissent, Ginsburg said her colleagues were giving police an easy way to routinely avoid getting warrants in drug cases.

“Police officers may now knock, listen, then break the door down, never mind that they had ample time to obtain a warrant,” she said.

The case concerned exceptions to the Fourth Amendment requirement that police need a warrant to enter a home.

The issue was whether warrantless entry was justified after the officers’ knock on the door triggered a reaction inside that sounded like the destruction of evidence.

An odd set of facts led to Monday’s ruling.

Police were only at King’s apartment building because they were chasing a man who sold cocaine to a police informant. The man entered King’s building and ducked into an apartment. The officers heard a door slam in a hallway, but by the time they were able to look down it, they saw only two closed doors.

They didn’t know which one the suspect had gone through, but, smelling burnt pot, chose the apartment on the left.

In fact, the suspect had gone into the apartment on the right. Police eventually arrested him, too, but prosecutors later dropped charges against him for reasons that were not explained in court papers.

In other action Monday, the court refused to revive a lawsuit challenging a controversial post-Sept. 11 CIA program that flew terrorism suspects to secret prisons. The appeal asked the court to examine two much-disputed aspects of the U.S. response to the 9/11 attacks, “the extraordinary rendition” program that sent the suspects to secret prisons and the “state secrets privilege.”

The high court has refused several other appeals based on the government’s invocation of state secrets to derail lawsuits.

The case involved five terrorism suspects who were arrested shortly after 9/11 and said they were flown by a Boeing Co. subsidiary to prisons around the world where they were tortured. A divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco cited national security risks in dismissing the men’s case last year.

The justices also turned aside a challenge from atheist Michael Newdow to the use of the words “so help me God” in the presidential oath of office.

In a case involving the federal whistleblower law, the justices voted 5-3 in ruling that information acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request cannot be used to trigger a False Claims Act lawsuit.

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Reporters at Bin Laden’s million-dollar hideout discovered small plots of marijuana growing in the deserted lots on the compound’s perimeter.

The dope plants were planted on three sides of the compound, alongside some less sexy crops such as cabbage and potatoes, CNN reported Tuesday.

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WNYC has a report on how the NYPD gets away with illegally arresting people for marijuana and gets away with it.

Rucker (Photo left) said her office throws out 10 to 15 misdemeanor marijuana cases everyday because the police paperwork states the marijuana was actually not in public view. These cases she chalks up to honest mistakes. But if a cop lies in his report – and fails to mention that the marijuana was actually found in someone’s clothing – Rucker said there’s no way for her office to know that without a further investigation.

That creates a substantial problem for defendants who were wrongfully arrested. Rucker said in most cases, prosecutors don’t even interview arresting officers until after a defendant is arraigned – but she said too many defendants plead guilty right at their first court appearances. Therefore, Rucker said defendants who think they’ve been illegally searched or otherwise improperly arrested have to stand up for themselves right at the beginning of a case.

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Robert Watson, a Republican from East Greenwich, was stopped at a police checkpoint Friday and charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence, East Haven police said.

Watson drew fire in February when he gave a speech to the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce in which he said facetiously that lawmakers had their priorities right “if you are a Guatemalan gay man who likes to gamble and smokes marijuana.”

He later said he was using humor to express concern that some issues were dominating the legislative agenda at the expense of economic issues.

A police report on Friday’s traffic stop said Watson smelled of alcohol and marijuana and performed poorly on sobriety tests. An officer found a bag of suspected marijuana and a wooden pipe in Watson’s pocket. An alcohol breath test performed at the police station determined that Watson’s blood-alcohol level was 0.05 percent, below the state’s 0.08 limit.

Watson was released on $500 bond. He faces a May 11 court date.

Watson issued a statement in which he denied he was driving under the influence. He said he was in Connecticut to help a friend move and was driving home from dinner when he was stopped.

“Trace evidence of marijuana was discovered and I was charged with operating under the influence, a charge I vehemently deny,” Watson said in the statement.

After his February speech, Guatemalan community leaders called on Watson to apologize, but Watson said an apology wasn’t warranted.

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WOBURN, MA – Chanequa N. Campbell, the Harvard student who was implicated in the 2009 murder of Justin Cosby on Harvard campus has testified against Jabrai Copney, the boyfriend of her friend, Brittany Smith, who is accused of killing Cosby in a drug deal gone bad, has admitted to selling cocaine and marijuana while at Harvard.

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The Harvard Crimson reports:

On cross-examination, Campbell acknowledged that she sold marijuana and cocaine during her time at Harvard……..

“Did he indicate what his intention was with regard to this marijuana?” Bennett asked.

“Yes, he was gonna rob him,” Campbell replied.

On the day of the shooting, Campbell said, “[Copney] told me that his boys were coming up from New York and that stuff was going down…. Bliz [Jiggetts] was coming up with a hammer.”

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Atlanta — Rapper Gucci Mane, real name Radrick Davis, was arrested at the home of rapper, Waka Flocka, real name, Juaquin James. TMZ is reporting that weapons and marijuana have been found on the premises and that prostitution may be involved. Waka Flocka’s mom, Debra Antney told TMZ that the police were looking for evidence of gangs and drugs. Wacka Flocka has not been arrested but sources say he is being sought by police.

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The spirited campaign over Proposition 19 pitted the state’s political and law enforcement establishment against determined activists seeking to end the prohibition of pot.

It was by far the highest-profile of the 160 ballot measures being decided in 37 states. Other topics included abortion, tax cuts and health care reform.

On a night of conservative advances in much of the country, Massachusetts voters spurned a chance to cut their taxes — rejecting a proposal to lower the state sales tax from 6.25 percent to 3 percent. Critics said the cut would have forced the state to slash $2.5 billion in services, including local aid to cities and towns.

In Colorado, voters decisively defeated an anti-abortion “personhood” amendment — similar to one rejected in 2008 — that would have given unborn fetuses human rights in the state constitution.

California’s marijuana proposal would have allowed adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of pot, consume it in nonpublic places as long as no children were present, and grow it in small private plots. It would have authorized local governments to permit commercial pot cultivation, as well as the sale and use of marijuana at licensed establishments.

Proponents pitched it as a sensible, though unprecedented, experiment that would provide much-needed revenue for the cash-strapped state, dent the drug-related violence in Mexico by causing pot prices to plummet, and reduce marijuana arrests that they say disproportionately target minority youth.

However, every major newspaper, both political parties, the two candidates for governor and all but a handful of leading politicians came out against it.

“Today, Californians recognized that legalizing marijuana will not make our citizens healthier, solve California’s budget crisis, or reduce drug-related violence in Mexico,” said the White House drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske.

Instead, he said, legalization would lead to more addiction, driving accidents and emergency room admissions.

Federal officials also said they would have continued enforcing laws against marijuana possession and sales had the measure passed.

Prop 19 supporters blamed the outcome on the older, more conservative leanings of voters who participate in midterm elections and pledged to try again in two years.

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A Chester County judge offered 29-year-old Makeda Jahnesta Marley a choice: a shorter prison term or a long stint on probation. She opted for the latter and risks being jailed if she violates her probation terms.

Marley was arrested in 2008 after police say they found her removing plants from her basement when officers arrived on a domestic-dispute call. She pleaded guilty in September.

Marley’s probation calls for her to undergo random drug tests and stay away from drug users.

Her attorney, Thomas Schindler, tells the West Chester Daily Local News that won’t be a problem. He called growing marijuana an “aberration.”

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The 11-year-old student is in 5th grade at a an elementary school in Matthews. Police say he brought his parents’ marijuana cigarettes to school when he reported them.

Matthews Police say he reported his parents after a lesson about marijuana was delivered by a police officer who is part of the D.A.R.E. program, which teaches kids about the dangers of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

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A rap mogul who helped launch Jay-Z’s career was busted Friday with 42 other people when the feds rolled up a drug ring that controlled the marijuana market in New York City.

Dubbed operation “Green Venom,” the feds rousted Kareem “Biggs” Burke, who co-founded of Roc-A-Fella Records with Shawn (Jay-Z) Carter and Damon Dash, from his home in North Bergen, N.J.

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Yesterday outgoing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Senate Bill 1449 — which reduces adult marijuana possession charges from a criminal misdemeanor to a civil infraction.

Senate Bill 1449 amends the California Health and Safety Code so that the adult possession of up to 28.5 grams of marijuana is classified as an infraction, punishable by no more than a $100 fine — no court appearance, no court costs, and no criminal record.

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CNET is reporting that cell phone provider, T-Mobile is being sued for censoring marijuana texts via a service called EZ Texting.

In a case with free speech and Net neutrality implications, T-Mobile has been sued by a text message marketing company for allegedly blocking access to the T-Mobile network because of a client that provided information on medical marijuana.

In its suit, Ez Texting says that last week, T-Mobile cut off access to its network after learning of an Ez client of which T-Mobile “did not approve”: legalmarijuanadispensary.com, aka WeedMaps, which describes itself as “a community where medical marijuana patients connect with other patients in their geographic region to freely discuss and review local cannabis co-operatives, dispensaries, medical doctors, and delivery services.”

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Jessica Gamble was indicted for corruption with drugs in Cincinatti, Ohio after footage of her 2-year-old daughter smoking marijuana surfaced on the internet. She was reported to the Ohio Department Of Job And Family Services after somebody saw the clip of her watching her daughter smoke marijuana, while giving her advice.

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Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative, picked up the support Thursday of a national organization that represents African American police officers, as the campaign for legalization continues to try to build support in the black community and among law enforcement officials.

The National Black Police Assn., which has about 15,000 members, is the second African American organization to back the measure. The California NAACP has also endorsed it, citing the disproportionate arrest and incarceration of African Americans caught with marijuana.

Read more at LATimes

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Pics Of The Week: 08.02.10

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Udonis Haslem Arrested For Marijuana Possession

Marijuana Prices Would Drop By 76 Percent If Legalized

WASHINGTON – There should be no such thing as too poor to buy pot if you live in D.C., at least if the marijuana is for a medical condition.

That’s part of the conclusion of a new law enacted in the nation’s capital earlier this year. The medical marijuana law allows people to legally obtain the drug for medical reasons. But the law also includes a provision different from the 14 other states with medical marijuana laws, requiring the drug to be provided at a discount to poor residents. Who will get the reduced-price marijuana and how much it will cost, however, is still being worked out.

City officials say they plan to publish their first draft of regulations implementing the law on Friday. Patients aren’t expected to be able to purchase medical marijuana in the city until 2011.

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