Category: Cannabis News Corner

Monsanto, Bayer and Dow face trial for ‘systematic human rights abuses’

Jeannie Herer

Pesticides

Agrochemical companies are accused of promoting dangerous and unsafe pesticides

Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal accuses biotech giants Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF of promoting dangerous pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids

The world’s major agrochemical companies, Monsanto, Dow, Bayer, Syngenta, DuPont and BASF, will face a public tribunal in early December accused of systematic human rights violations.
They are accused of violating more than 20 instruments of international human rights law through promoting reliance on the sale and use of dangerous and unsafe pesticides including endosulfan, paraquat and neonicotinoids.
The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), an international opinion tribunal created in 1979, will hear expert testimony from scientists, medical doctors and lawyers to prove the charges. Victims who have been injured by these products – from farmers, farmworkers, mothers and consumers from around the world – will also testify to the causes and nature of their injuries.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1122020/monsanto_bayer_and_dow_face_trial_for_systematic_human_rights_abuses.html

Copenhagen votes to legalise marijuana

Jeannie Herer
Copenhagen votes to legalise marijuana

Copenhagen overwhelmingly voted in favour of a scheme that would see marijuana sold through a network of state-run shops and cafes Photo: ALAMY

Richard Orange

By , Malmö
 

The scheme, if approved by the Danish parliament at the start of next year, could make the city the first to fully legalise, rather than simply tolerate, marijuana consumption.
The drug is already sold openly on the streets of Christiania, a self-proclaimed ‘free town’ in the city centre, despite the closure of the neighbourhood’s Amsterdam-style coffee shops in 2004.
But marijuana has never been officially decriminalised and those caught in possession of even small amounts face fines of up to £450.
“We are thinking of perhaps 30 to 40 public sales houses, where the people aren’t interested in selling you more, they’re interested in you,” said Mikkel Warming, the Mayor in charge of Social Affairs at Copenhagen City Council. “Who is it better for youngsters to buy marijuana from? A drug pusher, who wants them to use more, who wants them to buy hard drugs, or a civil servant?”
The City Council voted on Thursday night, by a margin of 39 votes to nine, to empower Mr Warming’s Social Affairs committee to draw up a detailed outline of how the plan would work.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/denmark/8899243/Copenhagen-votes-to-legalise-marijuana.html
 

HEMP Party rolls out to make joint point

Jeannie Herer

By Bruce MacKenzie
The HEMP Party's giant joint at the Nimbin Mardi Grass

The HEMP Party’s giant joint at the Nimbin Mardi Grass (Jo Joyce – ABC North Coast)

Members of the Nimbin-based HEMP Party are hoping to catch the eye of the world’s most powerful man in Canberra this week.
The HEMP Party’s Michael Balderstone says local campaigners will join a range of other protesters attending a visit by US President Barack Obama.

He says permission has been granted for the party’s notorious 10-metre long Big Joint to be inflated on site.
Mr Balderstone says the idea is to catch the President’s attention.
“Just a flash of recognition, a little smile, Julia will say ‘oh what was that Barack?’ and he’ll say ‘well, took me back to the old days’,” he said.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/11/15/3366755.htm

Sea-Tac TSA Agents: You Are Free to Bring Medical Marijuana Aboard

Jeannie Herer

By Curtis Cartier
With all the hate typically directed at airport TSA agents, it’s nice to feature some good news about our local breed over at Sea-Tac Airport.

Seattle Weekly Toke Signals columnist Steve Elliott reports on Toke of the Town that Tacoma medical-marijuana patient and North End Club 420 dispensary owner Mike Schaef recently went through security, pot-in-hand, and had the following experience:

When going through security at Sea-Tac airport just south of Seattle Friday morning at about 10:15, Mike put about two grams of cannabis in the scanner bowl in the TSA line.”They grabbed it,” Mike’s friend Todd Dearinger told Toke of the Town. “After a few minutes with the feds and locals they gave him back his meds and let him go on his way.”

 
Schaef posted this photo of the agent documenting his pot on Facebook.
 

TSA pot01.jpg

​ 
Elliott checked with Sea-Tac spokesperson Charla Scaggs on the airport’s official policy for prescribed pot coming through security. He said “I don’t see a problem, as long as they have a doctor’s authorization.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2011/11/seatac_tsa_agents_you_are_free.php

Commish: Don’t Tax Booze, Decriminalize Pot

Jeannie Herer

By Zach Christman

Commish: Don't Tax Booze, Decriminalize Pot

Getty Images

 Cook County County Commissioner John Fritchey says an across-the-board hike on alcohol taxes can easily be avoided, if the city of Chicago decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana.

Fritchey is one of several local officials pushing a decriminalization ordinance. He wants the city to write tickets for people caught with small amounts of pot, rather than arresting them and sending them to court, only to see the vast majority of those cases dropped.

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Commish–Dont-Tax-Booze-Alcohol-Decriminalize-Pot-marijuana-Cook-County-Illinois-Chicago-133773038.html#ixzz1dpQobbm8

A Medical Marijuana Trial – Day 16

Jeannie Herer

Joe Grumbine of The Human Solution reaches out for help during his Medical Marijuana trial, starting this November 28th.
Judge Charles Sheldon serving in a California State Court has denied Joe Grumbine and Joe Byron an affirmative defense. Meaning that they will not be presented to a jury of their peers that are hearing the full story. The jury will not be allowed to hear one word of medical marijuana.
Please call or E-Mail Joe if you or someone you know would be willing and able to help in some way. If not able to be present for court support but would like to contribute in some other way, it’s greatly appreciated and helps supporters continue to be able to be physically present.
Call Joe Grumbine
@ 951-436-6312
or E-Mail him
@ willowcreeksprings.net
Befriend him on facebook
@ facebook.com/joegrumbine
Find his organization online
@ www.the-human-solution.org
and on facebook
@ facebook.com/thehumansolution
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jNlEGBfJOBU