Patricia Spottedcrow sits on her bunk in a dorm at the Dr. Eddie Warrior Correctional Facility in Taft in December. Spottedcrow is one year into her eight-year prison sentence for selling a small amount of marijuana to a police informant with her children present in Kingfisher. JOHN CLANTON/Tulsa World file
By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer
A Kingfisher woman serving an eight-year prison sentence on a first-time offense for selling $31 in marijuana is getting a chance at parole after the board unanimously agreed to hear her case early.
Patricia Spottedcrow, 26, is scheduled to appear on the Pardon and Parole Board’s docket April 17-20 in Oklahoma City.
Board member Marc Dreyer of Tulsa had asked for a pre-docket investigation report on Spottedcrow. After reviewing the findings, he made a motion at the January board meeting to speed up her parole hearing.
Others agreed.
“I thought her case was worthy of consideration,” Dreyer said.
Spottedcrow was arrested and charged for selling the marijuana to a police informant in December 2009 and January 2010. Her mother, Delita Starr, 51, was also charged.
Because children were in the home, a charge of possession of a dangerous substance in the presence of a minor was added.
In blind pleas before a judge, Spottedcrow received a 12-year sentence and her mother received a 30-year suspended sentence. Neither had prior criminal convictions.
At the time, Kingfisher County did not have a community sentencing program, such as a Drug Court or Women in Recovery.
When Spottedcrow was booked, after her sentence was handed down, marijuana was found in the jacket she was wearing. She pleaded guilty to that additional charge and was sentenced to two years running concurrent with the previous sentence.
After her story was published in the Tulsa World, a groundswell of support grew. Supporters expressed concern with possible racial bias, unequal punishment among crimes, women in prison, effects on children of incarcerated parents and extreme sentences for drug offenses.
In October, a Kingfisher County judge took four years off her sentence.
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http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=487&articleid=20120216_11_A1_CUTLIN935224
Category: Cannabis News Corner
Meat worker gets more than $20k for personal grievance
By Matthew Backhouse
A seasonal meat worker who was not re-hired due to suspected cannabis use, despite passing a drug test, has been reinstated and paid more than $20,000 in compensation.
Melissa Mackie worked for four seasons at the South Pacific Meats plant in Invercargill, starting in 2006, but was not re-hired for a fifth season in 2010, an Employment Relations Authority (ERA) finding released today said.
It is standard practice for seasonal meat workers to be laid off at the end of each season and re-employed the next.
Plant manager Malcolm Hampton wrote to Ms Mackie on July 19 to advise her that offers of employment for the new season would be contingent on employees returning a negative drug test.
Ms Mackie passed the test but Mr Hampton wrote to her on July 30 to inform her she would not be re-hired.
Mr Hampton said the decision not to re-hire her was based on staffing needs at the time and the fact she suffered a workplace shoulder injury at the end of the previous season.
But he also cited her partner Henry Kingi’s recent conviction for growing cannabis, which he said raised concerns she may be a cannabis user herself, despite having returned a negative test result.
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http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10785718
Thermopal Hemp Fiber Boards Offer A Sustainable Choice
LEUTIRCH, GERMANY – In addition to the HPL composite board “Hanffaser Composite”, Thermopal is now also offering the lower-priced “Decor-Hanffaser” decorative hemp fiber board as a direct-coated melamine resin board. “This means that customers will now also find a high quality, user-orientated selection among our sustainable hemp fibre products,” said product manager Christina Müller-Witzemann.
The use of hemp fibre shives that occur during the processing of a hemp plant make the core material much lighter than standard boards. This makes it the perfect addition to the wood material specialist’s program of lightweight boards.
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http://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-trends-press-releases/Thermopal-Hemp-Fibre-Boards-Off-Sustainable-Choice-139309993.html?ref=993
Colorado House bill allowing study of hemp’s soil-cleaning potential has panel’s backing
By John Ingold
The Denver Post
A bill to study the benefits of growing industrial hemp cleared its first hurdle in the state legislature Monday.
The bill, from state Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Cokedale, received unanimous support in the House Local Government Committee despite questions about whether it would create a showdown with the federal government, which considers it illegal to grow hemp. The study, which would be funded with private money, would look at whether industrial hemp is effective at sucking pollutants from the soil, as some research suggests it might be.
“We simply don’t have the data,” said Erik Hunter, a Ph.D. candidate at the Colorado School of Mines who studies using plants to clean soils — a process known as phytoremediation. “We would be creating a new body of data.”
Hunter noted that hemp was planted at the Chernobyl nuclear-disaster site in the hopes of cleaning radiation from the ground. On that premise — and on the potential for other uses of hemp for food, textiles and fuel — lawmakers were intrigued.
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http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19958149
Attorneys General light up pot debate
MATT KIELTYKA
METRO CANADA
Four former B.C. Attorneys General have joined the crusade to legalize marijuana.
Colin Gabelmann, Ujjal Dosanjh, Graeme Bowbrick and Geoff Plant all signed onto the Stop the Violence B.C. coalition Tuesday and sent a letter to both Premier Christy Clark and NDP opposition leader Adrian Dix to endorse legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana.
Doing so will curb gang violence and crime, raise tax revenue and ease the load of the court system, they say.
“We should be prosecuting murderers and gangsters, not young people for small amounts of possession,” Dosanjh said.
“It’s not a smart way to deal with crime and there’s a significant consensus that is evolving in this country and in the U.S.”
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http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/canada/article/1098116–attorneys-general-light-up-pot-debate
West Virginia lawmaker wants to legalize medical marijuana
By CRISSY CLUTTER, WOWK-TV
It’s been a called a gateway drug by some. Others claim it’s the only treatment that works.
The debate over legalizing medical marijuana has come to West Virginia. Monday, Del. Mike Manypenny, D-Taylor, presented House Bill 4498.
The bill would allow patients with a wide variety of serious, debilitating conditions, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease and severe pain, to use medical marijuana with prescription from a doctor.
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http://www.statejournal.com/story/16934793/wva-lawmaker-wants-to-legalize-medical-marijuana
Medical Cannabis and Its Impact on Human Health – a Cannabis Documentary – Please share with everyone you know – this is an excellent video!!!
Juicing with cannabis to cure diseases
Marijuana Decriminalization Question Must Appear On Detroit Ballot, State Appeals Court Rules
Detroiters could be allowed to vote to decriminalize marijuana in the city as soon as August.
The Huffington Post David Sands
The Michigan Court of Appeals on Friday morning ruled that a Detroit city clerk had no right to block a proposal to decriminalize marijuana from appearing on a 2010 ballot. Detroit officials must now place the question on the August 2012 ballot.
The 2 to 1 decision reversed an earlier ruling by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Sapalathat allowed the clerk to suspend a vote on the issue because it conflicted with state law, Michigan Lawyers Weekly reports.
If approved by voters, the proposal would amend city law to allow “the use or possession of less than 1 ounce of marihuana, on private property, by a person who has attained the age of 21 years.”
Attorney Matt Abel argued before Judge Sapala on behalf of the ballot measure in circuit court last year. He told The Huffington Post he felt vindicated by the decision.
“I think they made the right decision,” he said. “We look forward to moving the drug war down another notch.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/12/marijuana-decriminalization-detroit-ballot_n_1269044.html
The 2 to 1 decision reversed an earlier ruling by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Michael Sapalathat allowed the clerk to suspend a vote on the issue because it conflicted with state law, Michigan Lawyers Weekly reports.
If approved by voters, the proposal would amend city law to allow “the use or possession of less than 1 ounce of marihuana, on private property, by a person who has attained the age of 21 years.”
Attorney Matt Abel argued before Judge Sapala on behalf of the ballot measure in circuit court last year. He told The Huffington Post he felt vindicated by the decision.
“I think they made the right decision,” he said. “We look forward to moving the drug war down another notch.”
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/12/marijuana-decriminalization-detroit-ballot_n_1269044.html
Mary Jane, You’ve Come a Long Way Baby
Jorge Cervantes
World famous cannabis cultivation expert and author
When I published my first book — Indoor Marijuana Horticulture — back in 1983, there was no way to know how much things would change in the next three decades.
Back then Ronald Reagan was President of the United States, M*A*S*H went off the air and no one had ever heard of Vice President Bush’s eldest son.
In the realm of cannabis things were quite primitive in comparison to today. Poll numbers for legalization had dipped below 25% in the midst of Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign. And general knowledge about cannabis growing was barely existent at best and confined to a relatively small group of people.
What information there was on growing was mainly misinformation. I realized a lot of people were just out to make money instead of giving people solid information on cannabis horticulture. That’s when I decided to start writing about it.
My goal was to apply good, simple information; information that was easy for people to understand. But I didn’t just write from my own experience. I talked to other growers about their experiences and found out what they knew. And in listening, I learned so much.
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jorge-cervantes/mary-jane-youve-come-a-lo_b_1268995.html