Initiative seeks to legalize marijuana in Missouri
Feb 20, 2012 Online Issue
Sixteen states, as well as the District of Columbia, have legalized the use of medical marijuana. A statewide group is looking to take it a step further, however, and legalize all marijuana use in Missouri.
A group of about 65 volunteers have been hitting the streets in St. Joseph, looking for supporters of Show-Me Cannabis, an association that seeks to legalize and regulate marijuana use in the state. Missouri’s Secretary of State requires 150,000 signatures on a statewide petition by May 6 in order for a legalization measure to appear on November’s ballot.
Amber Langston, campaign director for Show-Me Cannabis, said they have about 12,000 signatures from across the state on hand, but expect there are more signatures that volunteers have yet to turn in.
“We have around 1,000 petitioners, and we just launched an online volunteer training, so we anticipate things to continue to ramp up,” she said.
Bart Brower, field director in St. Joseph, said the group of local volunteers meets at the East Hills Library every Saturday to discuss the initiative and to strategize ways to garner support.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: legalization of marijuana, MISSOURI, missouri marijuana
Man who grew marijuana near Roosevelt High in Kent pleads guilty
Feb 20, 2012 Online Issue
A Kent man caught growing more than 200 marijuana plants in April 2011 at a house not far from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent has pleaded guilty to felony marijuana possession.
Bradley M. Stehney, 39, with a last known address of 1123 N. Mantua St., recently pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana, a fifth-degree felony, in Portage County Common Pleas Court.
Stehney and Todd A. Flickinger, 52, of Bolivar in Tuscarawas County, were arrested April 22, 2011, by the Portage County Drug Task Force and Kent police.
Agents found more than 200 marijuana plants growing on the property at 1123 N. Mantua St., which is less than three-tenths of a mile south of Roosevelt.
Also seized as the proceeds of drug sales was more than $21,000 in cash and bank accounts owned by Flickinger and Stehney. Court records indicate the men will forfeit that money, along with a 1994 Toyota 4-Runner, a 1995 Toyota sedan, leaf blowers, a snowblower and other tools to the drug task force.
Flickinger pleaded guilty in December 2011 to one count of trafficking in marijuana, a third-degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of one to three years in prison. Sentencing in his case is set for 9 a.m. Feb. 27 in Judge Laurie Pittman’s courtroom.
A sentencing hearing fo Stehney will be held in courtroom following a pre-sentence investigation.
SOURCE: RECORDPUB
Tags: kENT, marijuana, marijuana arrests, Stehney Flickinger, Todd Flickinger
Out-of-staters get Oregon medical marijuana cards
Feb 20, 2012 Online Issue
PORTLAND, Ore.—Twice in the past two years, Gary Storck has boarded Amtrak’s Empire Builder outside his hometown of Madison, Wis., and headed west to Oregon. The trip takes about 40 hours and costs more than $1,000—all for something that makes the 
illegal legal.
He pays a visit to one of the state’s 15 or so medical marijuana clinics, fills out an application and sees a doctor. Storck walks out an hour later, the proud holder of an Oregon-issued medical marijuana card. It’s a process he’ll have to go through each year to keep the card.
Storck, 56, is one of hundreds of out-of-staters who each year make an unusual pilgrimage to Oregon—the only state in the country to issue medical marijuana cards to non-residents.
“It’s not a bad place to visit,” said Storck, who has used marijuana for four decades to treat glaucoma and other chronic ailments. “It lifts my spirits to be in a place where medical cannabis is legal and life goes on.”
Some users of medical marijuana go through the effort to acquire an Oregon card because it allows them to use the drug legally when they’re in the state. Others hope it provides some legal protection if they’re arrested in a state where medical marijuana is outlawed. Many out-of-staters see an Oregon card as important recognition that their use of the drug is legally recognized somewhere in the United States.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: marijuana dispensaries, marijuana medical card, Oregon marijuana
Study Shows Marijuana-Impaired Drivers Twice as Likely To Crash
Feb 20, 2012 Online Issue
Just the Facts:
Canadian researchers have concluded that people who smoke marijuana within three hours of driving are nearly twice as likely to get in a serious car crash.
The research included nine observational studies, with a sample size of nearly 50,000 accident victims.
It was published in the February 9 issue of the British Medical Journal.
LONDON — Medicinal marijuana users might want to stay away from their car keys after indulging. Canadian researchers have found that people who smoke marijuana within three hours of driving are twice as likely to have a serious car accident.
The study, published in the February 9 issue of the British Medical Journal, was led by associate professor Mark Asbridge from Halifax’s Dalhousie University. Asbridge and his research team analyzed nine observational studies with a sample size of nearly 50,000 accident victims, concluding that the pooled risk of vehicle collision under the influence of cannabis is 1.92 times the risk of crashing while driving unimpaired. The researchers concluded that marijuana impairs performance of the cognitive and motor tasks necessary for safe driving.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: driver marijuana impaired, marijuana influence, marijuana vs alcohol
Struggling Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash
Feb 13, 2012 Online Issue
OAKLAND, Calif. — As the stubborn economic downturn has forced this city to take painful steps to balance its budget in recent years, it has 
increasingly turned to one of its newer industries to raise much-needed revenues: medical marijuana dispensaries.
The city has raised taxes on marijuana dispensaries several times in the past few years, and last year it collected $1.4 million in taxes from them — nearly 3 percent of all the business taxes it collected. Now Oakland plans to double the number of dispensaries it licenses, to eight from the current four, in the hopes that it can collect even more revenue.
“This is general fund revenue — it all goes into the melting pot,” said David McPherson, the city’s tax and revenue administrator. “When you’re making decisions about what to continue keeping or not, it goes into that decision process. If you don’t have that money, then you’re making other decisions about ‘Are we going to close the libraries on Monday?’ ‘Are you going to end up cutting a cop?’ ‘Are you not giving funds to our arts and things that help our kids?’ ”
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: cash crop, dispensaries, marijuana, marijuana sales
One toke over the line? Smoking pot linked to crash risk
Feb 13, 2012 Online Issue
Ever wonder if there should be a breathalyzer for substances other than alcohol? Well, a new study may make the case.
Researchers from Dalhousie University have found that people who smoke marijuana up to three hours before driving are twice as likely to cause a car, bus or motorcycle crash as those with no drugs or alcohol in their system.
Indeed, the researchers suggest marijuana “impairs brain and motor functions needed for safe driving,” the BBC reports.
The study, which appears in the British Medical Journal, is a meta-analysis of nine studies of close to 50,000 people worldwide who had been in serious or fatal crashes in cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, trucks, buses and motorcycles featured in the studies.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alcoholism, marijuana
Marijuana Arrests in Owensboro
Feb 13, 2012 Online Issue
In Owensboro, a search warrant led police to 25-thousand dollars worth of marijuana, and two arrests. 
On Friday, detectives with the Owensboro Police Department arrived at 1601 East 26th street on a search warrant, after a K-9 had detected drugs in a package that was to be delivered to the home.
Detectives say they found about 5 pounds of marijuana in the package, which has a street value of around 25 thousand dollars.
Police arrested Brandon Brown and Trenton Evans on multiple drug charges. The two are being held in the Daviess County Detention Center.
SOURCE: TRISTATEHOMEPAGE
Tags: marijuana, marijuana arrest, owensboro
