Asset Forfieture

Operation Green Merchant

karlis — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

The DEA believed that High Times magazine, pot seed merchants, indoor pot growers, pot journalists and hydroponics equipment manufacturers were a criminal conspiracy worthy of a nationwide takedown.

Hydropanic

karlis — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0700

In 1989, the US Drug Enforcement Agency tried to destroy the indoor gardening industry, asserting it was nothing more than a "sleazy front" for marijuana growers.

Sex, Drugs, and Activism

karlis — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 00:00:00 -0700

William Perry at his storefrontTalking to people who just got arrested happens too frequently when you're a pot journalist, and it's usually disheartening. They're angry, depressed, and afraid.
But talking to William Perry last week after police in Maple Ridge, British Columbia raided his Guilty Pleasures sex gear and pot paraphernalia shop was inspiring.

Tommy Chong released from prison

karlis — Wed, 03 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Pot comedian and stoner icon Tommy Chong of the classic Cheech and Chong movies was released from the Taft Correctional Facility in California on July 7, 2004.
As we reported back in September 2003, Tommy Chong was sent to prison for nine months, had to pay a fine of $20,000, and was forced to forfeit $120,000 in assets after being busted for selling mail order bongs (CC#47, Tommy Chong goes to jail).

In all the wrong places

karlis — Mon, 04 Oct 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Growing pot is like an advanced game of hide and seek with real life consequences. Last May, police in Kingston, Ontario, found 200 plants growing in an abandoned Alcan factory in Ontario, reminiscent of the much larger bust of a similar operation in an abandoned Molson Brewery earlier in the year.

Celebrating a decade of cannabis activism

karlis — Fri, 24 Sep 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Police at Hemp BC during 1996 raidIn 1994, it wasn't easy to buy a bong in Canada.
A federal law passed in 1988 had banned all "instruments or literature for illicit drug use." This law was heavily enforced across Canada ? police claimed to have shut down 200 stores in Toronto alone!

Pot luck

karlis — Fri, 27 Aug 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Among some crowds, the term "cabbage head" means someone who will smoke anything to get high, but in January one Belgian tourist may have taken the notion too far. En route from Amsterdam to Brussels by train, he was arrested for possessing 250 grams of cabbage leaves mixed with pot and given a 200 Euro fine. Police seemed unsure whether the grass was meant as a special garnish for a cabbage salad, or if he was merely trying to conceal his stash.

Marie Krieger busted

karlis — Thu, 08 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0700

Grant Krieger and wife MarieMedical marijuana advocate and multiple sclerosis patient Grant Krieger, who has repeatedly been arrested for medical marijuana, suffered another blow when his wife and son were busted after RCMP officers stopped their car on the Trans-Canada highway east of Swift Current, Saskatchewan on Wednesday.

Tommy Chong goes to jail

karlis — Tue, 06 Apr 2004 00:00:00 -0700

On September 11, 2003, comedian Tommy Chong was sentenced to nine months in prison, a fine of $20,000, and the forfeiture of about $120,000 in assets. He also had to give up his internet domain name of tommychong.com.
Chong, best known as half of the famed pot-comedy duo Cheech and Chong, was the founder of a business called Nice Dreams, which manufactured and sold bongs under the name Chong Glass. The business was operated by Chong's son, Paris.

Marc Emery released

karlis — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Marc walks out of jail short 00Marijuana seed guru Marc Emery was released from a Saskatchewan prison Thursday afternoon after three days in jail.

Marc Emery's Summer of Legalization Tour

karlis — Tue, 10 Feb 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Marc Emery in Winnipeg:...While most cannabis Canadians were enjoying the exceptionally hot summer, or possibly trying to save their outdoor crops from raging forest fires, Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery was touring Canada, smoking marijuana in front of major police stations, and often getting arrested.

Medpot user busted despite constitutional exemption

karlis — Sat, 10 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Grant Krieger: uses pot to treat MS symptomsGrant Krieger, who lives with MS, has been fighting for years for the courts to recognize his medical use of the plant. On January 6, 2004 he was busted again, this time in Manitoba.

Dropping pot on the court

karlis — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Keeping your pot under wraps can save a lot of court hassle. In April, a teenager in Carlsbad, California, who was defending himself on a minor traffic offense, was charged with contempt and sentenced to two days in jail when he dropped a joint in the courtroom.

God, dogs and rats

karlis — Mon, 15 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0800

`Let me eat at the table or I`m calling the cops`Michael Stanley and Jenna Lee Fetters of Missoula, Montana didn't expect to be turned in by their best friend ? their dog.

Quebec Cannabis Cup founder gets a year in prison

karlis — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 00:00:00 -0800

Alain Berthiaume, founder of the Quebec Cannabis and Hashish Cup, was sentenced in September to one year in jail for three counts of trafficking at the 2001 Cup, and also sentenced to one year in jail for cultivation of 1,000 clones found at his house six months later.
Berthiaume, founder of Montreal's Hemp Quebec store and seed bank, started the Quebec Cannabis and Hashish Cup in November 1999, and each year it grew bigger and more complex.

Alabama cops steal cash and vehicles

karlis — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 00:00:00 -0800

An investigation into the Lauderdale County Drug Task Force has revealed allegations that officers dropped charges against suspects in return for cash and vehicles. Also, over a dozen vehicles and many drugs seized by the task force cannot be found.

International Medical Marijuana Day gets official recognition in Victoria

karlis — Mon, 27 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0800

This summer trafficking charges against a Cannabis Buyers' Club employee were thrown out. The charges stemmed from a police raid last June, the fifth such police action against the club in the last few years. Police raided the club in June after following a member into the establishment and discovering the operation. Pot charges against a club member allegedly found in possession outside of the club were also recently dropped.

The new American police state

karlis — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0700

America's war on Iraq, and now possibly Syria, has drawn public and media attention away from the burgeoning state security apparatus focused on US domestic matters. Those who think they know better than the rest of us have set their sights on dissidents of all stripes, including afficionados of a certain plant.

Biggest threat to pot-lovers' freedoms since prohibition

karlis — Tue, 14 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0700

After repeated pressure from the US White House, Canada's House of Commons asked the Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs to make recommendations that would toughen Canada's proposed "decriminalization" law, Bill C-38, adding mandatory minimum sentences for growers, jail terms for repeat offenders possessing small amounts, and a drop in the maximum amount one can possess on a first offense before facing court and jail, from 15 to 10 grams.

Bizarre busts

karlis — Mon, 06 Oct 2003 00:00:00 -0700

NY cops kill city worker
Sometimes it's hard to tell your friends from your enemies. Alberta Spruill, 57, died on May 16, after New York City Police mistakenly raided her home. Officers kicked in her door, threw in a stun grenade, handcuffed her to a chair and searched her apartment for drugs while she coughed, choked and then had a heart attack.

For 29 years, Spruill had worked at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, where she kept lists of candidates hoping to become police officers.

Marc Emery jailed in Moncton

karlis — Mon, 21 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Marc explains the legal situation in CanadaOn July 21, Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery was arrested for the third time during his Summer of Legalization cross-country tour. Emery was detained by police shortly after lighting up a bong in front of the Moncton police headquarters at 4:20pm.

Spore sales shut-down

karlis — Tue, 15 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Psilocybe Semilanceata.About one week before the major bong shop crack-down swept across the US in late February (CC#43, Bong shops under attack!), a smaller raid hit Psylocybe Fanaticus, one of America's oldest and best-known sellers of mail-ord

Marc Emery arrested in Winnipeg

karlis — Fri, 11 Jul 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Emery and his Canucks bong are taken away.Cannabis Culture publisher Marc Emery was arrested on July 9, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at about 4:20pm, during the first stop of what was planned to be a 16 city cross-country freedom tour.

Alabama: pot prison state

karlis — Mon, 23 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0700

A half-century ago in a region of America known as the "Deep South," the state of Alabama was an official sponsor of racism, segregation, and violence directed against black Americans.
Decades of struggle erased the worst vestiges of Alabama's racial discrimination policies, but the state now sponsors official persecution of another minority culture ? the cannabis culture.

Marc Emery stands up to pot-snatching cops

karlis — Mon, 16 Jun 2003 00:00:00 -0700

Marc Emery: ready to stand up to Toronto policeMarc Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, invites Ontario residents to join him in protest on the sidewalk in front of the Toronto Police Department at 40 College Street West, where he will defiantly smoke joints next Thursday, June 19 at 4:20 pm.