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Feds Prepping To End Colorado’s Marijuana Party?

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Photo Credit: Washington Post

The pot industry in Colorado is undergoing a massive makeover as it prepares to begin selling marijuana for recreational use legally under state law. Businesses are ramping up production, and trade associations are cleaning up their image, anticipating what could be a billion-dollar industry.

But the entrepreneurs who are hoping to cash in on the “green rush” starting next year are struggling with the unique challenges of conducting a business that the federal government considers a crime.

The state’s pot producers and retailers are having trouble securing business financing because banks won’t give them loans — and most of the time, not even an account.

State lawmakers are about to shake up the marketplace in unpredictable ways with regulations covering everything from the shape of containers to the labeling required for pot-laced brownies and other “infused products.”

And business owners say they’re anxious about the intentions of the federal government, which could seize millions of dollars they have invested or even send them to prison. At a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that he would soon announce a response to the initiatives in Colorado and Washington last year legalizing pot for recreational use. The federal government, which deems marijuana a controlled substance, could upend the plans of Colorado entrepreneurs at any moment.

Read more from this story HERE.

Rand Paul: Obama Could Have Been Jailed Under Today’s Drug Laws (+video)

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller

On this weekend’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday,” Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said punishments for marijuana-related crimes should be reduced, citing President Barack Obama’s reported drug use as a reason to look past certain minor indiscretions…

“The main thing I’ve said is not to legalize them, but not to incarcerate people for extended periods of times,” Paul said. “I’m working with Sen. [Patrick] Leahy — we have a bill on mandatory minimums. There are people in jail for 37, 50, 45 years for nonviolent crimes. That is a huge mistake. Our prisons are full of nonviolent criminals.”

Paul admitted legalization would encourage marijuana use, which he said has negative effects.

Watch video here:

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Video: Steven Crowder Talks Weed

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In this video, Steve Crowder doesn’t take a position on the federal government’s unconstitutional enforcement of drug laws within the states. However, he hammers the suggestion – oft heard in some libertarian circles – that there’s nothing harmful about marijuana.

Crowder interviews a number of you children – many of whom smoked marijuana in their preteen years – and tries to get to the bottom of youth attitudes on marijuana.

He also interviews a psychiatrist, college professor, and others who have opinions on the topic.

If you have any questions about the risks of – or modern attitudes toward – drugs, you should take your time to watch this informative, humorous, trademark Crowder video:

Seven Year Old Girl on Medical Marijuana to Offset Chemo Effects; Dad Says She’s “Stoned”

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A seven-year-old girl suffering from leukemia is one of Oregon’s youngest medical marijuana patients. Her mother says she gives her daughter marijuana pills to combat the effects of chemotherapy, but her father, who lives in North Dakota, worries about the effects of the drug on her brain development.

Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with leukemia last spring. Her mother treats her with a gram of cannabis oil daily, The Oregonian reported.

Mykayla’s mother credits the drug for the leukemia’s remission. “As a mother, I am going to try anything before she can potentially fall on the other side,” said Erin Purchase, 25, who with her boyfriend administers Mykayla’s cannabis.

The girl says the drug helps her eat and sleep but also makes her feel “funny.” “It helps me eat and sleep,” Mykayla said. “The chemotherapy makes you feel like you want to stay up all night long.”

Mykayla’s father, who is divorced from the girl’s mother, was so disturbed by his daughter’s marijuana use that he contacted child welfare officials, police and her oncologist. The father, Jesse Comstock, said his concerns were prompted by a visit with Mykayla in August.

Read more from this story HERE.

Self-Service Marijuana Machine Stock Soars 3000% After Washington, Colorado Legalization

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Medical marijuana company Medbox saw its stock soar an astonishing 3,000 per cent as investors seek to get in on the ground floor of what they think could be America’s next boom industry.

In the wake of this year’s elections in which both Colorado and Washington residents voted to legalize marijuana, investors began buying up MedBox shares as quickly as they could. On Monday, MedBox shares sold for $4. By Thursday they were at $215.

Medbox is an automated medication dispenser for medical marijuana accessible with fingerprint recognition or or a medical marijuana card. Using a touch screen, patients can select up to 50 different varieties of pre-weighed medical marijuana sealed in standard medication vials.

The machines do not use cash, but rather a pre-paid card that alerts the customer when the balance is low so that each purchase can be documented.The company operates 130 dispensers and is scheduled to install 40 more before 2013.

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Marijuana Legalized in Several States, Colorado Governor Says “Hold On”

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Colorado voted to legalize smoking marijuana Tuesday, but the governor warned tokers not to “break out the Cheetos or Goldfish” just yet, since the federal government still takes a dim view of pot.

The Centennial State joined Washington in becoming the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana Tuesday night, setting up a battle between the states and the federal government, which prohibits use of the drug. The historic votes were among a host of decisions on ballot initiatives that will shape state-level policy on everything from recreational drug use to same-sex marriage. But Gov. John Hickenlooper, who opposed the marijuana measure, said the federal government still considers marijuana taboo, so breaking out the bong could be premature.

“The voters have spoken and we have to respect their will,” Hickenlooper said. “This will be a complicated process, but we intend to follow through. That said, federal law still says marijuana is an illegal drug, so don’t break out the Cheetos or Goldfish too quickly.”

The Colorado measure has sparked a national debate about marijuana policy, with supporters pushing for the federal government to end marijuana prohibition nationwide. The Colorado measure states adults over 21 can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, or six marijuana plants, for personal use. Opponents have said it will make the state a haven for drug tourists.

The measure in Washington State, Initiative 502, will legalize and regulate the production, possession and distribution of marijuana for residents age 21 and older.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Gary Johnson Smoked Dope for Three Straight Years, 2005-2008

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In this wide-ranging video with Brietbart TV, presidential candidate Gary Johnson discusses a number of issues about his candidacy. In one of his more surprising comments, Johnson admits that he smoked marijuana for three years, ending as recently as 2008. See the video here.



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Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan Says Hands-off Medical Marijuana

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Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan says the federal government shouldn’t interfere with states that have legalized medical marijuana.

The Wisconsin congressman tells KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs that he personally doesn’t approve of medical marijuana laws. But he says that states should have the right to choose whether to legalize the drug for medical purposes.

In response to a reporter’s question, Ryan said: “It’s up to Coloradans to decide.”

The interview was taped while Ryan campaigned this week in Colorado Springs and aired Friday.

Colorado is one of 17 states, plus the District of Columbia, that allow medical marijuana.

The Obama administration at first signaled that it wouldn’t interfere with state-sanctioned marijuana distribution.

Read more from this story HERE.

Border conspiracy: local law manipulates crime stats for feds (+hidden video)

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Photo credit: Marion Doss

Every year, the federal government doles out roughly a billion taxpayer dollars to local law enforcement agencies in the form of grants. These agencies — city police and constables, state agencies, county sheriffs — apply for the grants through the Department of Justice’s COPS (for Community Oriented Policing Services) program and use them to hire more personnel, purchase vehicles and equipment, and enhance their crime-fighting capabilities.  But do the federal grants actually help fight crime?

Local law enforcement agencies insist that the grant money is vital to fighting crime and even to their departments’ survival. But is there a dark side to federalizing local law enforcement funding? PJ Media has obtained exclusive hidden camera video that shows federal grant money creates an incentive for local law enforcement to falsify their crime statistics. The fake stats tell a story that ends up benefiting the local agencies that clamor for the grants, while helping Washington sell its story that the border is safer than it really is:

 

Case in point: Hidalgo County, Texas. This border county is home to McAllen, one of the fastest-growing cities in the entire United States. Hidalgo County boasts the most border crossings of any county along the Texas-Mexico border. Property values are rising here despite the stagnant U.S. economy. The county is home both to gang-infested barrios and to a posh neighborhood that boasts fountains, manicured lawns, beautiful new custom homes, and many cars bearing Mexican license plates.

Hidalgo County sits across the border from Reynosa, Mexico, one of the most violent and troubled cities in the Mexican drug wars. But according to some local officials, Mexico’s drug war has not spilled over into their bustling Texas community. They say this even though U.S. forces engaged drug cartel members in a firefight at Chimney Park in Hidalgo County in 2011.

Hidalgo County elected Democrat Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño sheriff in 2004 and then re-elected him in 2008, and this spring he reportedly spent more than a half a million dollars to clinch the Democratic nomination for a third term as the county’s sheriff. In this heavily Democratic county, Treviño is a cinch to win that third term. The former Austin police officer claims that Hidalgo County has seen a dramatic reduction of violent crime during his tenure. Sheriff Treviño dismisses the presence and influence of drug cartels in his border county. To hear Sheriff Treviño talk, domestic violence may be a bigger issue in Hidalgo County. But as a local news story that was published August 10, 2012, shows, many residents of Hidalgo County do not feel safe and do not believe that crime is down at all. They also do not believe that Sheriff Treviño’s office is concerned about them.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Fast & Furious report-US gov’t supported cartel, allowed drugs into US

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In an absolutely shocking report, Fox 19’s Reality Check suggests that Fast and Furious was really about the federal government supporting a Mexican drug cartel as well as permitting massive quantities of drugs to enter the US.

 

Photo credit: SurfaceWarriors