Pot is burning issue on Mendocino ballot
Marijuana is so ubiquitous here that everyone, from schoolteachers to kids, can tell you when a sinsemilla bud is ripe. From late summer to fall, the county reeks with the skunk-like stench of ready-to-harvest weed. The annual $1.5 billion pot crop constitutes two-thirds of Mendocino County’s entire economy.
“You tell people from other parts of the country that folks grow pot all over town, and they think this is just a freak show here,” said Ross Liberty, who owns a welding shop in Ukiah. “They’re not far off.”
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Marijuana ‘grow houses’ are creating problems in Arcata, Calif.
About $55,000 in damage was caused in this rental house in Arcata, Calif., where marijuana was being grown and a piece of equipment started a fire. The owner didn’t know how the house was being used.
Officials estimate as many as 1,000 of the 7,500 homes in town are used for pot, reducing housing stock and creating building-safety problems.
Collenberg found her charred and sooty rental filled with grow lights and 3-foot-high marijuana plants. Seeds were germinating in the spa. Water from the growing operation had soaked through the carpeting and sub-flooring. Air vents had been cut into the new roof. A fan had fallen over, causing the fire.
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Legitimizing Marijuana
JANE WELLS of CNBC keeps a blog called Funny Business, but her recent reports on California’s medical marijuana industry are about a business that is increasingly being taken seriously. They amount to a short primer on how the business works and how the operators of the state’s estimated 500 dispensaries deal with the high risks and high costs of working in a legal gray area (cnbc.com).
Medical marijuana is legal in California, but federal law still bans sales. Amid the uncertainty that this creates — including the occasional raid by federal agents — a full-fledged industry has blossomed, taking in about $2 billion a year and generating $100 million in state sales taxes, CNBC reported.
Setting up a clinic “can cost as much as a hundred grand,” Ms. Wells reports. The equipment, the cuttings from which plants are grown and office space all tend to be expensive. And from there, the costs only grow, mostly in the form of legal fees. Many clinics keep lawyers on retainer.
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Rx for marijuana
Scott Ward uses marijuana, but he is a far cry from the stereotypical image of a “pothead.”
Instead, the clean-cut Rob binsville resident who suffers from multiple sclerosis represents those who have turned to marijuana to ease the pain and symptoms associated with such conditions as MS, cancer, AIDS, chronic pain, migraines, glaucoma and epilepsy.
Ward testified earlier this month in support of a bill that would make New Jersey the 13th state to allow the medical use of marijuana. The bill, A804, sponsored by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, D-Princeton Borough, appears to be stalled in committee, with no vote scheduled on the measure. A state Senate panel heard testimony on a similar bill two years ago but never took action on it.
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NDLEA Discovers Cannabis Warehouses
Lagos
Oyo State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has impounded three vehicles, including a bullion van, a truck painted with a popular brewery colour and a 504 saloon car, all loaded with cannabis.
Also uncovered are two illicit warehouses used by the drug syndicate, located at Adegboyega Elufudiya Avenue, Airport Road, Alakia and Gbagi, Old Ife Road, in Ibadan.
Total weight of the cannabis is 80.53 metric tons, with an estimated street value of about N160million. Acting Commander of the agency, Mrs Ekaete Sylvia Egwunwoke, said her officers conducted a meticulous surveillance on both locations based on intelligence report received from National Security and Civil Defence Corps.
Eight suspects, including one Victor Chukwuka, who manages the warehouses have been arrested in connection with the seizure.
The operation lasted from 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, to 1 p.m. on Friday May 30, 2008.The suspected drug baron Okpor Raphael, currently at large, is the kingpin of the syndicate that specialises in inter-state cannabis distribution.
Three vehicles, including a bullion van with Lagos State plate number BQ 257 GGE, a popular brewery truck with Lagos State plate number XL 734 EPE and a 504 saloon car were found at the Gbagi warehouse.
Victor, who hails from Ndokwa West Local Government Area of Delta State, and seven other workers at the warehouses, are helping operatives of the agency in their investigation.
