Archive for December, 2009
Gourmet US Eatery Cooking with Marijuana
December 28th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Gourmet chefs are taking the art of cooking with marijuana to a higher level.
In Denver, US, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna.
Across town in the Mile-High City, a Caribbean restaurant plans to offer classes on how to make multi-course meals with pot in every dish.
New Film Ignites Debate on Ratings Policy
December 27th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures
LOS ANGELES — The romantic comedy “It’s Complicated” arrived at the multiplex on Friday complete with an R rating, ranking it in the same category as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Basic Instinct” in the eyes of the Motion Picture Association of America.
But there is no violence in “It’s Complicated,” and the bedroom scenes are decidedly tame by contemporary standards. Instead, the R rating — which experts say could limit the box-office potential of the Universal Pictures film — comes largely from a sequence in which Steve Martin and Meryl Streep smoke marijuana.
Marijuana Vending Machine in Los Angeles
December 27th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Source http://www.reddit.com/r/Marijuana/comments/aiomj/a_marijuana_vending_machine_in_los_angeles_pic/
Interview with Bob Arctor
December 24th, 2009
Dakta Green
An interview with US radio host and author Bob Arctor* for the 4:20 dakumentary currently in production by Redeye Productions.
* not his real name
Cannabis Use Decriminalised While Police Seize Dealers’ Assets
December 24th, 2009
Dakta Green
New asset recovery legislation coming into action today will see Police able to seize unexplained income and assets from drug dealers far more easily, but at the same time a new Police policy of formal warnings for so called minor offences is tantamount to decriminalising possession and use of cannabis according to former Police detective and MethCon Group director Mike Sabin.
“The asset recovery legislation is long over due” stated Mr. Sabin and “with Police able to seize assets under a civil standard of proof, Police will make great inroads into the ill-gotten gains of organised crime that yield multiple billions of dollars from the methamphetamine and cannabis trade in New Zealand.”
This strategy was one of a number of recommendations made to the new National led government by Mr. Sabin, “the thrust of the strategy being to seize finances and assets of dealers and re-invest these funds, via the crown account, into prevention and treatment aimed at driving down demand for the very drugs the criminals profited from.”
“Unfortunately, while the Police will be making the most of this new legislation, at the same time they are effectively waiving a white flag to the customers whose demand supports drug dealers, with a trial of a new policy of warnings for minor offences being widened across Auckland and likely to go nation-wide” said Mr. Sabin. Following a three month pilot on the North Shore in Auckland, Police have announced that they have extended the trial for six months across wider Auckland and will see Police under new ‘formal guidelines’ issuing warnings at their discretion for offences with maximum penalties of 2 years imprisonment or less, including shoplifting, possession of knives, common assault and possession of cannabis.
“Police hierarchy justify what they say is a ‘common sense approach’, by claiming these offences ‘would not get significant sentences anyway’, which not only flies in the face of their own ‘Broken Windows’, New York style policing policies of the late 90s, but sends a clear message to the community that it is very unlikely that using cannabis and possession of smaller amounts of the drug, will attract anything other than a warning” claimed Mr. Sabin. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING NEWS – Marijuana Legalization On CA’s 2010 Ballot
December 16th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
YES WE CANNABIS and YES WE DID! The folks at the The Tax & Regulate Cannabis 2010 here in Oaksterdam California have gathered the 650,000 signatures necessary to put the legalization of marijuana on the November 2010 ballot! This major victory means Californians will be the first in the nation to decide whether they believe marijuana should be legal…taxed and regulated for all adults over 21.
Richard Lee, the president of Oaksterdam University, owner of the famous Coffeeshop Blue Sky, and major financial supporter of the initiative told Stuff Stoners Like, “California voters believe that our laws criminalizing marijuana have failed! 56% of Californian’s support legalization and the time for reform is now.” Read the rest of this entry »
Cannabis vs The Courts
December 14th, 2009
Dakta Green
CANNABIS RIGHTS TRIAL NEXT MONDAY 21st December 2009. Auckland District Court.
In a legal first for New Zealand, The founder of The Daktory, New Zealand’s first Cannabis club will appear in court next Monday to argue that Cannabis laws are a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The Daktory has been operating openly for the last year and has over two thousand members.
Dakta Green, will appear in court to argue for a stay of criminal proceedings following arrests made during decriminalisation protests held in 2007.
“I want the whole thing thrown out” said Dakta Green. “Alcohol causes more harm than cannabis but alcohol users are protected by law. Cannabis users are persecuted. The laws are discriminatory. They don’t work and they are unjust. Police and the Courts have got better things to do than chase after the likes of me and the 800,000 other people who smoke cannabis each year in New Zealand.”
Dakta Green, an experienced political campaigner, intends to pursue his claims all the way to the Supreme Court if he needs to. “We will never give up fighting for our rights as citizens.”
Arguing that cannabis laws are a breach of civil and human rights have never been tried before in a New Zealand court. If successful with his application, Dakta Green will set a ground breaking legal precedent.
Drug money saved banks in global crisis, claims UN advisor
December 14th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Drugs and crime chief says $352bn in criminal proceeds was effectively laundered by financial institutions
Drugs money worth billions of dollars kept the financial system afloat at the height of the global crisis, the United Nations’ drugs and crime tsar has told the Observer.
Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were “the only liquid investment capital” available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.
This will raise questions about crime’s influence on the economic system at times of crisis. It will also prompt further examination of the banking sector as world leaders, including Barack Obama and Gordon Brown, call for new International Monetary Fund regulations. Speaking from his office in Vienna, Costa said evidence that illegal money was being absorbed into the financial system was first drawn to his attention by intelligence agencies and prosecutors around 18 months ago. “In many instances, the money from drugs was the only liquid investment capital. In the second half of 2008, liquidity was the banking system’s main problem and hence liquid capital became an important factor,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadians Saved by Senate from Heavy-handed Tory Pot Law
December 14th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
December 10, 2009 – Canada’s Senate made a sensible amendment Wednesday to a politically motivated bill that would have seen people who grew as few as five marijuana plants serve a mandatory six-month jail term.
Accepting a proposal from a Liberal-dominated Senate committee, by a 49-43 margin the Senate watered down the proposed legislation by raising the number of marijuana plants grown to more than 201 plants, which would see judges use their own discretion in sentencing those found guilty of growing fewer than 200 pot plants.
Judicial discretion is a keystone to our justice system. Read the rest of this entry »
Marijuana Legalization Zeitgeist In America To Continue Into 2010: Federal Government Lags Behind The States
December 14th, 2009
Dakta Bourbon
Already Four States Have Marijuana Legalization Bills In Play; Californians To Vote On Legalization in 2010
It can readily be said that 2009 was one of the busiest and most productive years in cannabis law reform since NORML’s founding in 1970. However, it appears as if 2010 is going to be an even busier year–notably marked by the increasing number of actual state legalization bills and a voter initiative in America’s most important state.
Currently, there is legalization legislation pending in California, Massachusetts, Vermont, and a legalization bill was just introduced this week in Washington. Frankly, most of these bills do not have a strong prospect in passing this time out, Read the rest of this entry »