THCFinder - Marijuana Blog

Got Joints?

Authorities raid Fontana pot dispensary

Local authorities and federal drug agents shut down a medical marijuana clinic in Fontana this week, seizing a variety of pot and pot-laced products while making no arrests.

The raid Tuesday was conducted by Fontana police, sheriff’s deputies and Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Holistic Meds RX in the 15000 block of Baseline Ave., the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reported.

Authorities found a 30-foot display case filled with more than 50 varieties of marijuana. Drinks, brownies and crackers containing the drug were also on display.

Police said the clinic, which had been open for seven months, was operating without a requisite business license and was the first of eight dispensaries targeted for closure.

“This should serve as notice to the other dispensaries that they're not going to fly under the radar,” Fontana Police Sgt. Billy Green told the newspaper.

Jason Ryan Thompson, an attorney for the clinic and several other dispensaries, criticized local police agencies and federal government for teaming up with the DEA to shut down the businesses.

“What we're seeing here is the federal government flexing its muscle and not respecting the will of California voters," Thompson told the paper. "Californians voted in Proposition 215 in 1996.”

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Water Sports

L.A. Council battles over future of pot shops

A proposal for a "gentle" ban on medical marijuana clinics brought out some hardball politics at the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday.

The proposal would close dispensaries but allow patients to grow their own marijuana or share it through collectives. But a final decision was postponed after the ban was sent back to the council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee for further study.

A clearly angry Councilman Jose Huizar, who has been trying to ban dispensaries, complained the council was "playing games" to avoid a decision on his controversial proposal.

"Two weeks ago, in closed session, we had a very level-headed discussion and a good decision on the direction our city attorney should take," Huizar said.

"Now, they jumped hoops and waved out this new proposal that is an aggressive attempt to undo the direction we were going in."

The new proposal from Councilman Paul Koretz would allow some dispensaries to continue to operate if they agreed to a set of city regulations.

"They might call it a gentle ban, but I call it a vicious, heartless ban," Koretz said of Huizar's proposal.

"A lot of the people who need this drug the most wouldn't know (how) or be able to grow it themselves. For them, it is critical they have a place to go to get the medical marijuana."

Koretz said he believes the city should allow about 100 pot clinics to continue to operate as long as they abide by city regulations on location, hours of operation, security and other factors.

"I have far too many of these in my district and they are a nuisance," Koretz said. "But we need to regulate these, not shut them down."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com

Amazing looking Cannabis

Man picks the wrong guy "an undercover officer" to offer a puff of marijuana; receives $100 ticket

A 27-year-old man was issued a citation this afternoon after he allegedly offered an undercover police officer a puff of marijuana, MBTA Transit Police said.

Around 1:30 p.m., transit police detectives and officers were at the Andrew MBTA station “as a direct result of community complaints of drugs and related issues,” according to a report filed after the incident.

While seated on a bench in the busway closest to Dorchester Avenue, an undercover officer was allegedly approached by Damon Coston, of East Boston. According to transit police, Coston sat down next to the officer, removed what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette from his jacket pocket, and began to smoke it.

Coston then offered the undercover officer a “toke” of the cigarette, which, according to the report, the officer declined. Other officers were notified, and they approached Coston.

Transit police said Coston was cooperative and turned over two bags of marijuana, which he had in his jacket. Officers issued Coston a $100 citation and confiscated the marijuana.

Possession of one ounce or less of marijuana is a civil, not a criminal offense in Massachusetts.

Source: http://www.boston.com

Dank purple nugs

Scooby "dooby" doo

Its me or the Weed

Too HIGH to Math

Just one thing missing

Time for some BJs?

Roll a blunt and smoke some Weed

What are you toking on?

New Study Says Smoking Marijuana Helps Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

A new study out of the University of California, San Diego shows what several other studies have shown, and that is marijuana’s beneficial effect on the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis.

The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and consisted of 30 MS patients – 63% of them women. Some patients were given cannabis while some received placebos.

Those who smoked cannabis scored lower on the spasticity scale and reported a 50% decrease on the pain scale. But researchers also found some short-term cognitive impairment – the “high” of medical grade marijuana in other words, something that can be remedied with low THC, high CBD strains and concentrates.

"Smoked cannabis was superior to placebo in symptom and pain reduction in participants with treatment-resistant spasticity," researchers said. "Future studies should examine whether different doses can result in similar beneficial effects with less cognitive impact."

Most regular medical marijuana users already know that amazing advances have been made in cannabis breeding and have produced potent medicines that lack much of the psychoactive effect of THC. But I guess there’s not a study on that yet, so we have to wait for it to be “official.”

Beyond that, this is yet another study that shows marijuana’s ability to combat pain. And it does so without the side effects and addictiveness of prescription pills. Medical marijuana opponents act as if pain is some sort of cop out, or like patients are faking it to get legal weed.

While I’m sure some do fake it, there are a lot of people who endure physical and mental anguish every day and they shouldn’t be looked down on or treated like criminals just because they prefer an herbal remedy to their symptoms.

Keep doing your cannabis studies; it’s all good news for patients.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Got bud?

Who Would Be Worse For Medical Marijuana: Obama or Romney?

Sadly it looks like the 2012 U.S. Presidential election is going to be between President Obama and Mitt Romney. If you are a medical marijuana patient you probably see this as a depressing outcome, and you’re right.

We already know President Obama’s feelings on the matter. He used to be in favor of not using federal resources to override state law, but he has since altered his feelings on the issue. Mitt Romney is a Republican who has said in the past he opposes medical marijuana and even gets snippy when someone brings it up in his presence (http://www.thcfinder.com/marijuana-blog/politics/2012/05/medical-marijuana-is-an-important-issue-mitt-romney).

While pre-President Obama seemed to have a common sense grasp on the issue, Romney clearly has given it no thought whatsoever and simply parrots what conservatives have told him to say. The odds of a President Romney doing something positive about medical marijuana (especially in a first term when his base will have him by the nugs, so to speak) couldn’t be any worse. You’re more likely to buy a winning Powerball ticket while being struck by lightning than to see President Romney lift a finger for medical cannabis patients.

So this leaves us with President Obama – unless Gary Johnson makes a miracle run to the White House. Things in the first term have been bad, there’s no doubt about that. But some seem to believe that Obama’s second term will bring about the change we keep hearing about on medical marijuana. While there is some precedent for Presidents being bolder in their second terms, there is also precedent for 2^nd terms to be incredible crash and burn events (see George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Harry Truman and Abraham Lincoln – he won the war but got shot in the head and killed). Will he even have time to consider the matter in between bouts of golf and picking NCAA Tournament brackets?

Is there still hope with Obama? Unlikely, but since we can’t trust his word on the matter, it could really go either way. I guess that’s where the “Hope” comes in.

Source: http://www.opposingviews.com