By CULTURE STAFF
THE STATE
Billionaire George Soros plunks down $1 million for legalization
A wealthy supporter of legalizing marijuana recently provided the now-failed Proposition 19 with a heavy last-minute financial boost, donating $1 million.
George Soros, a billionaire investor and active Democratic fundraiser, made the contribution late last month, according to California Secretary of State records. The money was expected to be used for a final advertising push for the controversial proposition to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
Despite this, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 failed to pass on Election Day—not surprising since likely voters opposed the measure 49 to 44 percent, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Federal agents pose as dispensary operators
Federal narcotics agents in San Diego took over a marijuana clinic for part of an afternoon last month, serving patients in order to gain information on local growers.
The Drug Enforcement Agency officials raided the Helping Hands Wellness Collective in suburban Hillcrest on Oct. 14, reports San Diego CityBeat. One patient told the newspaper that the agents were dressed like staff members and provided him with free cannabis before showing their badges and grilling him on his cultivation habits.
The San Diego Americans for Safe Access said the raid and undercover operation violated patient rights under state medical marijuana laws.
Berkeley collective provides rabbi-friendly medicine
Kosher medicine? You bet, in an interview with a Jewish-life online magazine, The Tablet, Eliezer “Sticky” Green revealed he was a founding member of Doc Green’s, a Berkeley medical marijuana collective established by Orthodox Jews. The collective, for example, combines pot extracts with fair-trade shea butter to product a medicinal lotion for sore muscles and eczema. Green believes that cannabis was one of the ingredients of the holy anointing oil mentioned in the Torah.
“As a Jew, it’s about the power to be able to heal people,” Green tells The Tablet.
Sources say Doc Green’s receives its cannabis supplies from the only Sabbath-observant pot farm in the Emerald Triangle.
THE NATION
South Dakota law enforcement accused of playing politics
Highway patrolmen in South Dakota are being accused of timing the disclosure of months-old marijuana busts to strengthen opposition to the state’s now-failed ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana.
The South Dakota Department of Public Safety waited until late October to issue a news release about the August confiscation of 100 pounds of marijuana in Pennington County, reported supporters of the initiative at
JustSayNow.com. Polls predicted a tight vote on the proposition, and a previous attempt to allow medical marijuana in the state failed by only 15,000 votes.
While state agencies can’t engage in politics, the news release by the law enforcement agency violated no laws, as it did not mention the upcoming ballot initiative.
New growing regulations in place for Denver patients
Medical marijuana growers in Denver will have to limit the amount of plants they can keep in their home as result of a new city restriction.
The City Council voted 12-1 late last month to pass the regulation capping the amount of plants per patient at 6, and plants per residence at 12. Politicians said they were urged to act after a constituent complained of a neighbor who kept more than 60 marijuana plants in his home.
Despite the homeowner’s authorization to only grow the plants for his own medical use, he later admitted to selling some of them to commercial dispensaries, the Denver Post reported.
Violators face a $150 fine on first offense, $500 for a second, and $999 for a third. The restrictions will expire in two years, at which time the council will review them for effectiveness.
New THC-laden soft drink headed for dispensaries
A Colorado company has introduced a prescription-only medical marijuana soda that it calls “convenient, discreet and potent.”
Dixie Elixirs said the sodas will be available at dispensaries in the 14 states where medical marijuana is legal. It comes in seven flavors including lemonade, sweet tea and root beer.
The Village Voice reported that the carbonation in the soda quickened the delivery of THC to patients, potentially speeding up patient relief.
THE WORLD
Advocate and former Marc Emery partner passes away
Noted Canadian medical marijuana advocate Michelle Rainey died last month of cancer at the age of 39.
Rainey, who with her ex-business partner, Marc Emery, crusaded for widespread medical marijuana use in her native British Columbia, suffered from melanoma and lymphoma. Trade publications reported that she received “last-ditch, high-dosage experimental cannabis treatment” before her death.
Rainey once was the operational force behind Emery’s Vancouver pot shop masked as a book store, and his efforts to start a marijuana-based political party. Emery was later convicted of federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges in the United States.
Mexico claims its biggest pot bust—ever
Tijuana officials began burning 134 tons of marijuana seized late last month in what the country claimed was its largest-ever pot bust.
Piles of the marijuana blocks were lined on a wooden platform, doused with diesel fuel and detonated with gunpowder as music played, the Los Angeles Times reported. The drugs had an estimated street value of more than $300 million.
They were discovered in a convoy of tractor trailers leaving an industrial warehouse in Baja California. The cartel-controlled shipment was said to be headed to the United States.
