Cannabis News

This isn't cannabis news strictly speaking but is relevant to the whole prison industrial complex issue, which does affect our favorite vaporizable: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...se-of-private-prisons/?utm_term=.a09ea12f2982

The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government.

Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced the decision on Thursday in a memo that instructs officials to either decline to renew the contracts for private prison operators when they expire or “substantially reduce” the contracts’ scope. The goal, Yates wrote, is “reducing — and ultimately ending — our use of privately operated prisons.”

“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Yates wrote.

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Gunky said:

This isn't cannabis news strictly speaking but is relevant to the whole prison industrial complex issue, which does affect our favorite vaporizable: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...se-of-private-prisons/?utm_term=.a09ea12f2982

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that's worth a virtual parade! one evil corrupt limb cut off... (or so we hope)

Unfortunately there are about 4 times as many prisoners in private State Run correction facilities that are not effected by this change. And there are apparently many for profit facilities holding thousands of INS detainees that are also not effected by this change.

So, while this is definitely a good thing, it is not the full answer to the problem and the fight must go on. Hopefully this decision and the data that led to it will be good support for continuing the fight, but as we all know, money talks.

Still, the fact that the feds concluded on the basis of research that for-profit prisons don't function as safely, efficiently and humanely as government-run prisons won't go entirely unnoticed by the states. The pendulum is finally swinging back against mandatory minimums, absurd sentences for non-violent drug offenders, civil forfeiture, and prisons for fun and profit.

The cannabis law in WA DC sets folks up to break the law. They make cannabis legal but no way to obtain it. WTF the picture didn't come through along with this article. Here is a good picture I found.

DC Post Office allegedly doubled as weed distribution center



Rachel Weiner August 18

The acting manager of two D.C. post offices and two of his employees took bribes in exchange for illegally delivering packages of marijuana, according to an indictment filed Thursday in D.C. federal court.

Deenvaughn Rowe is charged, along with letter carriers Kendra Brantley and Alicia Norman, with bribery and distribution of a controlled substance. All three were arrested Thursday.

According to the indictment, Rowe would monitor the arrival of marijuana packages at the Lamond Riggs and River Terrace post offices. He would then instruct Brantley and Norman to meet individuals, who would offer cash in exchange for the packages, on the street during their routes. They gave the cash to Rowe, according to the indictment. Between September 2015 and August of 2016, Rowe allegedly deposited $31,485 in bribes into his bank accounts.

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It is not clear how the arrangement benefited Brantley and Norman.

To cover up the scheme, authorities, say, the two carriers would either fail to scan or scan with false information the packages containing marijuana.


Authorities appear to have been monitoring the trio since at least March. According to the indictment, that month and during the next two months, Brantley and Norman were repeatedly seen exchanging packages for cash with someone in a white Range Rover with California license plates. Phone calls among the three defendants were recorded before, during and after those deliveries.

The packages were coming from California and Oregon, according to the indictment. California residents will vote this fall on a ballot initiative to fully legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Oregon legalized the sale of marijuanalast year.

Although possession of a small amount marijuana is legal in the District, the sale of the drug is not. According to the indictment, more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, or 220 pounds, were involved in the scheme.


More than 35,100 pounds of illegal narcotics delivered through the mail were seized by postal inspectors in 2015, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

I just love that photo. It makes me drool a little...

http://www.weednews.co/stoners-against-legalization-2016-part-i-california-schemin/

Regarding the AUMA/Prop 64 in CA and why so many CA stoners seem to oppose it even though they shouldn't.

KimDracula said:

http://www.weednews.co/stoners-against-legalization-2016-part-i-california-schemin/

Regarding the AUMA/Prop 64 in CA and why so many CA stoners seem to oppose it even though they shouldn't.

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He misses the big problem with AUMA/Prop 64: it locks in certain limits in a section of the document which can only be amended by referendum. So there is a trap aspect which the author has not considered. 'Stoners against legalization' is a misnomer. We want a legal regime which is actually better than now, not just something, particularly when that something is carefully crafted to lock in Big Pot and lock out small growers. As I have said before in other threads at considerable length, the plant limits prevent small growers from having a real breeding program. You can't do it with six. It's just a shitty proposal, with way too many hard-coded limits, that tries to get way too specific and fails all over the place. Poor drafting and ambiguous clauses. Still countenances all sorts of dire punishments when very restrictive limits (28 grams?) are exceeded.

Changing things by referendum is a privilege that not all states enjoy. I don't see that as locking anything in. We can make it even better in the future? Sounds okay to me. I'm voting for it.

I appreciate the specificity of your objection, though, Gunky. I've grown weary of all the baseless paranoia. At least this is a real concern. It's just a matter of what you think is the best pathway to resolving it. I think we're better served by legalizing and then perfecting it than by waiting for something perfect that never seems to materialize.

KimDracula said:

Changing things by referendum is a privilege that not all states enjoy. I don't see that as locking anything in. We can make it even better in the future? Sounds okay to me. I'm voting for it.

I appreciate the specificity of your objection, though, Gunky. I've grown weary of all the baseless paranoia. At least this is a real concern. It's just a matter of what you think is the best pathway to resolving it. I think we're better served by legalizing and then perfecting it than by waiting for something perfect that never seems to materialize.

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The fact that it never seems to materialize would seem to strongly suggest that the fix will even more never materialize! We can get all the weed we want now in CA. A new regime has to be better and should not build in difficult-to-change road blocks. I prefer the current medical marijuana setup to AUMA. When we get something on the ballot that is actually better, I will vote for it. AUMA helps Big Pot, not consumers.

Quite the opposite IMO. You can't get to step two without starting with step one. I know we're philosophically opposed when it comes to this, but I think when it comes to politics, especially, fixing something that already exists is much easier than starting from scratch. We could have been enjoying a legal market in CA for years already, after all. We could start this year. Or we could continue waiting for the holy grail of legalization initiatives that we never seem to see. Political change is incremental especially when it comes to changing cultural stigma.

KimDracula said:

Quite the opposite IMO. You can't get to step two without starting with step one. I know we're philosophically opposed when it comes to this, but I think when it comes to politics, especially, fixing something that already exists is much easier than starting from scratch. We could have been enjoying a legal market in CA for years already, after all. We could start this year. Or we could continue waiting for the holy grail of legalization initiatives that we never seem to see. Political change is incremental especially when it comes to changing cultural stigma.

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I don't know what you are talking about. We have a legal market, it's called mmj, and it is huge. It's the biggest crop in the state. It pays a lot of taxes into state coffers. If you want some, you fork over maybe 45 bucks to a specialty canna-doctor, and away you go. I am reasonably certain that you have visited establishments clearly marked from the street as purveyors of cannabis, showed your card and bought, um, you know what. Am I wrong?

AUMA does not really give us anything we don't have now but it locks in all sorts of hard to change stuff which already needs to change - 28 grams? (dumb incredulity) plus it taxes the living crud out of what it purports to legalize. It is a grand exercise in thinking too small and facilitating monopoly or cartel control and winnowing out all the smaller players.

You guys have an awesome medical cannabis state in CA. I do feel badly though for those that have been arrested and put in jail because of cannabis.

Make sure there isn't huge fines and jail time for those caught with larger amounts. In WA if we are caught with an ounce and a half its jail time, for those that don't have a medical card. Folks with a medical card can have three ounces of flowers. They can grow up to 15 plants if a doctor states that on the medical certification, if not patients can grow 6. Folks can't grow recreationally, only medical.

Just make sure recreational cannabis doesn't interfere with the medical. We were told we didn't need to worry about medical cannabis in WA state. We did need to worry. The folks in power - lawmakers changed medical cannabis. Our taxes are really high here. It's 47% for recreational customers. The medical patient just saves on the sales tax which is 8 or 9%. We lost many of our less expensive edibles and cannabis oil capsules. Edibles are too expensive for most.

You guys are spending a lot for flowers already $15-18 a gram. That's what we are paying with the added taxes. I didn't realize how expensive your flowers are already without the added tax.

Edit
Just voicing my opinion is all.

This isn't WA, CarolKing. You had a different situation and there's no reason to warn us unless you have a specific objection to Prop 64.

http://www.weednews.co/stoners-against-legalization-2016-part-ii-the-washington-debacle/

Prop 64 already starts the over-reach by including regulations about medical in a recreational initiative. Why should we believe it ends there? They are already getting mixed up and one would have to be naive to think one won't influence the other.

IMO, the bottom line for voters is: whom does this measure help?

I recognize your concern about grow limits but the rest is just paranoia that could always prevent us from progressing. Change is always scarier than the status quo for some, especially when the status quo is pretty good relatively speaking. Let's not continue bickering further. We know where we stand and I respect your reasons.

KimDracula said:

I recognize your concern about grow limits but the rest is just paranoia that could always prevent us from progressing. Change is always scarier than the status quo for some, especially when the status quo is pretty good relatively speaking. Let's not continue bickering further. We know where we stand and I respect your reasons.

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Where's the progress? What do we get out of AUMA? Aside from bolstering the big producers, making legal weed more expensive than now, promoting black market activity?

The article's arguments about price are bullshit. AUMA puts a huge tax on flowers. More than now. There is no way that depresses price, which is already pretty dang low.

Remember the added tax money will be available for the state to use to help many people. Don't let them get too greedy with the tax money because that what happened here in WA. And no @KimDracula sometimes a word from others can help to guard against unforeseen bumps in the road. Many folks that aren't FC members read our ramblings. It might help, who knows.

We had lawmakers (WA state) that felt the medical cannabis was taking money away from the state. Some lawmakers even felt that many that used medical cannabis weren't really patients at all. So you may have more caring lawmakers than what we had here. When I say had, I'm hoping some will get voted out of office from their selfish decisions regarding cannabis and other issues.

I'm also hoping our recreational and medical cannabis will be evolving. That's what is so great about having an initiative process.

KimDracula said:

... there's no reason to warn us ...

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I kinda like being warned about potential pitfalls by someone who's seen what happened in their state.

And an off-topic bump. Just vaped some excellent Blue Widow.

Edit:
As it stands here now, the canna-doctors don't get your money if they don't give a recommendation letter. They want your money. I've been getting annual recommendations since after my cancer surgery in 2010. If I'd known how easy it was, would've gotten the annual letters years earlier. Many conditions will qualify you and there's no need to prove anything. They want the name, address & phone number of a doctor who has treated you but never contact them. They just need to prove there's no way you could've thought that THEY are your main doctor. The form asks if you've brought documentation: I just say "no." Apparently none is needed. They ask a few cursory questions...how long you've used marijuana, etc. Recreational users who don't mind lying to authority figures can get what they want. Hell, most applications have a list of qualifying conditions, seemingly to help patients choose which to write in.

If you're scared about lawmakers messing up the status quo then you can always be afraid. That's a separate issue. If you couldn't trust them after legalization in WA then you couldn't trust them before.

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/nate-diazs-ufc-202-post-fight-vaping-triggers-061545481--mma.html

I looked up that stuff because I am interested in vaping pure CBD oil.

"Why True CBD Hemp Oil?
True CBD Hemp Oil was created with purity and potency in mind. In a 1oz bottle, True CBD Hemp Oil provides 250mg of Cannabidiol, as well as a full spectrum of other cannabinoids including CBC, CBD, CBG, and THC."

"Our lab results consistently show naturally occurring trace amounts of CBC, CBD, CBG, THC, and many other cannabinoids, making True CBD Hemp Oil a Full Spectrum Cannabinoid Extract."

Gunky said:

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I have had the marijuana vice for near half a decade. I am still waiting for the sin, debauchery, degradation and insanity to kick in.
Must be a real slow creeper cannabis.

Winner announced in DC State Fair cannabis contest
"This year, the winner was Sam McBee of Northwest D.C. He submitted three entries and his strain called “Golden Strawberries” — created by Crockett Family Farms — won this year’s blue ribbon. McBee says Golden Strawberries is a cross between Kosher Kush and Strawberry Banana strains."