Odd

Metro bus drivers have been given new instructions for lost marijuana: turn it into the lost and found.

 

In Nov. 2012, a statewide ballot initiative approved adults age 21 and older to have up to one ounce of usable marijuana.

 

Even before that, Metro would occasionally find marijuana left on buses – typically small amounts in backpacks or film containers, sometimes with a pipe. That was turned over to police, and amounts over 1 ounce still will be, Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer said Friday.

 

“People can’t just come to lost and found and say, ‘I lost some pot,’” he said. “They will need to provide a lot more information before we reconnect them with that lost and found item.”

 

Metro has roughly 200 bus routes, and riders trying to reclaim their missing weed will have to say specifically the route and time when they lost it. No one has tried to pick up pot from Metro’s lost and found yet.

 

In an average year, Metro has about 40,000 lost and found items, with the most common being black umbrellas. But they also come across cell phones and laptops often, and sometimes even the more bizarre: dentures, personal items, and prosthetic limbs.

 

Read more: http://blog.seattlepi.com

I’m the last one to say this is a silly topic, because it is not. But you have to admit is sounds a little funny. Bizarrely–and there’s much in our tax law that’s downright bizarre–there’s actually a need for this kind of, er, down and dirty tax planning session. And someone should bring the Cheetos.

 

Perhaps Harvard’s Board of Trustees will get wind of it and get upset. But the ire should be directed at tax rules that need fixing. Now that we have legalized medical marijuana in 18 states and the District of Columbia can these businesses be run like businesses? Not really. Massachusetts was the most recent entrant, and its marijuana businesses, like those in all the other states, face legal and tax problems. 

 

For that matter, Colorado and Washington have even legalized recreational use. Again, tax problems there too. Why? Because even legal dispensaries are drug traffickers to the feds. Section 280E of the tax code denies them tax deductions, even for legitimate business costs. Of all the federal enforcement efforts, taxes hurt most. “The federal tax situation is the biggest threat to businesses and could push the entire industry underground,” the leading trade publication for the marijuana industry reports.

 

One answer is for dispensaries to deduct other expenses distinct from dispensing marijuana. If a dispensary sells marijuana and is in the separate business of care-giving, the care-giving expenses are deductible. If only 10% of the premises are used to dispense marijuana, most of the rent is deductible. Good record-keeping is essential. See Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Persist Despite Tax Obstacles.

 

Another idea was presented April 24 at Harvard by Professor Benjamin Leff of American University’s Law School. Professor Leff’s paper carried an unvarnished title: Tax Planning for Marijuana Dealers. It was part of Harvard’s Tax Policy Seminar hosted by Harvard Prof. Stephen Shay. Mr. Leff correctly pointed out the 280E Catch 22 and came up with another end run. 

 

Marijuana sellers could operate as nonprofit social welfare organizations, he suggested. See Growing the Business: How Legal Marijuana Sellers Can Beat a Draconian Tax. That way Section 280E shouldn’t apply. A social welfare organization must promote the common good and general welfare of people in its neighborhood or community. Operating businesses in distressed neighborhoods to provide jobs and job-training for residents? That could fit a dispensary nicely.

 

Read more: http://www.forbes.com

More possible fallout from this weekend's 4/20 festivities: An employee at the faux-shabby Joe's Crab Shack found three garbage bags filled with marijuana in a dumpster behind the seafood chain's Fisherman's Wharf location.

 

According to SFPD, the bags contained "maybe 50 pounds" of unwanted kind bud. The investigation is still underway, so police don't have any additional information on where the weed might have come from or if it could possibly have any connection to the nationwide seafood chain.

 

A quick search of the location's Yelp page produced 24 reviews claiming the service was "a bit slow," "definitely super slow" and "so slow it almost move backward in time." But all that is probably unrelated to the huge stash found in the dumpster.

 

Read more: http://sfist.com

A drug dealer has been jailed after police caught him with 19 wraps of drugs tied to his penis. Alan Mutch was targeted after police received reports of a man peddling drugs in Canterbury, Kent, on January 14. When they pulled the 45-year-old over to search him they discovered 19 wraps of cannabis in his underpants.

 

The wraps, which weighed more than an ounce, had been tied to his genitals using an elastic band. Jim Harvey, prosecuting, told Canterbury Crown Court this week that Mutch was hauled over at 9.40am by officers. ‘It was then they saw the defendant walking down the hill and decided to conduct a search under the Misuse Of Drugs Act,’ he said.

 

‘Suffice it to say that 19 wraps were then found somewhere on his person.’

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

On last night's "Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert expressed outrage that support of legalizing marijuana now is held by a majority of citizens, according to a new Pew poll.

 

The news comes as a majority of Americans also support same-sex marriage for the first time, a trend that raises Colbert's eyebrows. "Oh, I can't help who I am! I was born being attracted to watching 7 hours of 'Planet Earth' while eating a bag of croutons!" he mockingly quipped.

 

He continued: "Next thing you know, stoners are going to demand the right to marry their Mary Jane."

 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Scratch and sniff marijuana cards are being offered by Crimestoppers in a campaign to raise awareness of marijuana farms. The cards are being mailed to 201,000 UK residents.

 

The cards, which release the odor of marijuana, are part of a campaign to reduce the number farms illegally growing marijuana in the UK. Residents recognizing the scent are asked to report the odor to their local authorities.

 

As reported by BBC, West Yorkshire, in particular, has seen a recent rise in marijuana farms. In a two year period between 2010 and 2012, authorities found nearly 1,800 marijuana farms in the area. Those numbers include residential homes or apartments where residents were growing plants.

 

Crimestoppers hope that the scratch and sniff marijuana cards will help UK residents who would not normally recognize the odor. They point out that larger commercial operations are declining as residents move their operations to residential neighborhoods.

 

Read more: http://www.inquisitr.com