Obama's Pot War

From HuffPo:

Three years on, not a single Wall Street banker has been prosecuted after a financial crisis rooted in rampant fraud brought the global economy to its knees. President Obama's Department of Justice has more dangerous miscreants to worry about: medical marijuana shop owners.

The DOJ has launched an assault on medical pot dispensaries, vowing to shut down establishments licensed and regulated by state and local governments, in a reversal of an earlier policy, based on an Obama campaign promise to leave the shops alone as long as they followed state law.

And while major corporations have managed to get their federal tax bills down to zero, the IRS has determined that pot clinics can't deduct salaries, rent, the cost of bud or other operating expenses on their tax returns. If a business can't deduct those expenses, its tax bill almost always winds up exceeding even its profits.

Despite a previous DOJ memo that targeting medical marijuana is an inefficient use of time and resources, this past Friday morning, four California-based U.S. Attorneys and their staffs gathered in front of Sacramento's capitol building to announce an aggressive new crackdown on medical marijuana operations throughout the state -- this one aimed at the landlords who manage buildings in which dispensaries operate.

Detailing an industry that has "swelled to include numerous drug-trafficking enterprises," the federal officials warned they would be taking action against dozens of dispensaries they accused of abusing California's medical marijuana laws.

"The California marijuana industry is not about providing medicine to the sick," said U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy. "It's a pervasive for-profit industry that violates federal law."

Meanwhile, medical marijuana in California is experiencing a renaissance. While the U.S. attorneys held their press conference, the West Coast Cannabis Expo had just opened its doors in San Francisco, drawing pot enthusiasts from across the state for the ultimate celebration of all things weed.

The contrast between the ominous warning in Sacramento and the joyous mood at the festival couldn't have been more stark. Glass artists showcased rows of handcrafted pipes. The Oaksterdam Bakery handed out samples of medicinal banana walnut bread. Managers at companies like Weed Maps and California Earth Supply collected resumes from job-seekers. A small line of patients waited to meet with the on-site doctor to see if they qualified for a state-sanctioned medical recommendation.

As news of the government's latest anti-marijuana efforts reached the expo, attendees remained unfazed. "I've been doing this for a long time," Dennis Rogers, the CEO of CannaKing, a roving dispensary he operates out of his van, told The Huffington Post. "We're in a state where it's legal, and you can't have federal agents everywhere. That's the bottom line."

"Everybody in this industry understands the playing field," added Alec Dixon, the director of client relations for SC Laboratories, a company that tests different strains of cannabis for potency and contamination. "All this really does is give us something to rally behind."

Medical marijuana has been legal for approved patients in California since voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996. Since then, it's grown into a flourishing above-ground industry, creating a host of "green" jobs that run the gamut from farmers and dispensary owners to public relations executives and insurance agents who specialize in pot cultivation.

But the plant remains illegal at the federal level. In the early years of the Obama administration, targeting medical marijuana operations did not appear to be high on the list of government priorities. A month after Obama's inauguration, Attorney General Eric Holder said that federal prosecutors would not enforce action against patients or providers that adhered to state law. Six months later, the new policy was officially articulated in the landmark Ogden memo: "[P]rosecution of individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or those caregivers in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state law who provide such individuals with marijuana, is unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources."

The DOJ reversed course earlier this year, issuing a memo in June that redefined "caregiver," and the department threatened to take action against pot dispensaries even in states that had legalized medicinal pot. Since that announcement, federal officials have engaged in a slew of intimidation tactics specifically aimed at California's industry.

Last Tuesday, the IRS sent a $2.4-million tax bill to Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary, citing a portion of the tax code that prohibits drug-trafficking organizations from cost deductions. "We will be taxed out of existence," said Steve De Angelo, the center's executive director.

Two days later, a handful of San Francisco-based landlords who rent space to pot clubs received letters from federal officials warning them that the government could seize their property at any time for operating too close to local schools. Similar notes were sent to other dispensaries throughout the state.

The DOJ insists the latest crackdown is somehow in accordance with Obama's policy of leaving the issue to the states. "The actions taken today in California by our U.S. Attorneys and their law enforcement partners are consistent with the Department's commitment to enforcing existing federal laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, in all states," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole in a statement...

Ryan Grim is the author of "This is Your Country on Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America," available on Amazon.

Obama's War On Weed: White House Launches Crackdown On Medical Marijuana
10/11/11
Carly Schwartz & Ryan Grim
carly@huffingtonpost.com
ryan@huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/11/war-on-weed-obama-marijuana_n_1005483.html

ATF: No firearms for those who use marijuana legally

Eric W. Dolan
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/09/28/atf-no-firearms-for-those-who-use-marijuana-legally/

Those who use marijuana legally in accordance with their state's laws cannot be sold or possess firearms, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) memo issued on September 21.

The memo to gun dealers in the United States, obtained by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), stated that it was illegal under federal law to sell firearms to anyone reasonably suspected of using a controlled substance.

The use of medical marijuana has been legalized in 16 states and the District of Columbia, but marijuana is currently a Schedule I drug under the federal Control Substances Act. Schedule I is the most restrictive classification, reserved drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medicinal value.

"Therefore, any person who uses or is addicted to marijuana, regardless of whether his or her State has passed legislation authorizing marijuana use of medicinal purposes, is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and is prohibited by Federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition," the memo said.

Battle of the Kannabis Kolas

Canna Cola V Kushtown Sodas

Canna Cola
http://www.drinkcannacola.com/

Canna Cola is the World's Most Recognized Brand in Medical Marijuana. Providing Tasty THC Infused Carbonated Beverages for Medical Marijuana Users. Our Kick-Ass Flavors Include Orange Kush, Sour Diesel, Grape Ape, Doc Weed and Our Classic Canna Cola.

Canna Cola™ Just Say Yes™
Coming to a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Near You Soon!

Canna Cola started out with a simple goal – to create a great tasting, effective, medical marijuana beverage while simultaneously legitimizing an unjustly stigmatized industry. We felt the most effective way to achieve this was to create the first nationally recognized brand of medical marijuana edibles. And so we did, and Canna Cola was born.

Medical marijuana should not be relegated to a treatment of last resort. Dispensaries shouldn’t forced to locate in the most seedy and run down parts of town, and patients shouldn’t have to worry that they’ll get fired from their job for following a doctor’s recommendation. Medical marijuana is a legitimate choice among many options to improve your physical and mental well being. However, as we can see by our federal and state laws, even those states that allow for medical marijuana, that we continue to put marijuana in an entirely different than other medicines.

Drug stores are welcome in any neighborhood, even though most of them also sell alcohol and cigarettes. Someone can take Vicodin, Percocet and any number of highly addictive prescription drugs and they will never get fired from their job for taking their legally obtained medicine. Over-the-counter, we all have easy access to decongestants, pain killers, expectorants, sedatives, anti-inflammatories and an endless selection of pharmaceuticals concoctions. We shop for these in brightly lit neighborhood stores, free from judgment and social stigma, and take these medicines on a self regulated as-need basis.

We believe that one of the reasons for this paradox is that much of the public, and most of our legislators, still think of medical marijuana as a scary, underground activity run by drug lords and pushers. They feel it’s shameful and it should be hidden from the public. Yes, it is legal, but that doesn’t mean they have to like it or make it easy on anyone. And so they do, at every opportunity, with zoning restrictions or even outright bans.

This is of course directly connected to a mindset formulated from decades of irrational prohibition which forced honest, hard working citizens to seek their marijuana though illegal means and prevented any discussion of marijuana use from a scientific, cultural, constitutional, and economic perspective.

Compounding the prejudice is the medical marijuana industry’s own self isolation. In the medical marijuana community, the dominant idea is to run silent and deep – don’t draw attention to yourself. While this is a legitimate short term strategy, it only re-enforces the public’s perception that this is somehow “wrong”. You can’t demand to be treated as a legitimate business, yet also shroud yourself in secrecy. Your silence won’t protect you.

Canna Cola is founded on the idea that taking your medication should be a life afirming experience free from shame and stigma. The idea that taking your medicine shouldn’t be an enjoyable experience is not only cruel but counterproductive to healing and the relieving of suffering. Patients seeks out medical marijuana for various reason. Some are fighting cancer and chemotherapy leaves them too nauseous to eat. Some are wracked by muscle spasms that prevent them from working. Some are plagued by such chronic body aches that they can barely sleep. But some say these people haven’t suffered enough. They should also be required to take medicine that tastes bitter, unpleasant, and comes in a drab gray bottle.

Canna Cola believes that having a debilitating illness is more than enough burden. There is no need to add to it. Our packaging is designed to bring happiness to those who are suffering. We use bright colors and humorous, yet sophisticated graphics and names intentionally. When a patient holds our bottle we want them to smile, and when they drink it we want them to have pleasurable experience. It’s well known that the mere act of smiling boosts your immune system, lowers your blood pressure and releases endorphins into your system. So while laughter is not necessarily the best medicine, feeling happy is a critical part to fighting disease and recovering from illness. When a cancer patient picks up a bottle of Canna Cola to counteract the ravages of chemotherapy, it’s supposed to bring a smile to their face. Bringing joy to those who are suffering is nothing to be ashamed of and the reason we exist.

Clay Butler
President and Co-Founder

The idea that taking your medicine shouldn’t be an enjoyable experience is not only cruel but counterproductive to healing and the relieving of suffering. Patients seeks out medical marijuana for various reason. Some are fighting cancer and chemotherapy leaves them too nauseous to eat. Some are wracked by muscle spasms that prevent them from working. Some are plagued by such chronic body aches that they can barely sleep. But some say these people haven’t suffered enough. They should also be required to take medicine that tastes bitter, unpleasant, and comes in a drab gray bottle.

We believe that having a debilitating illness is more than enough burden. There is no need to add to it. Our packaging is designed to bring happiness to those who are suffering. We use bright colors and humorous, yet sophisticated graphics and names intentionally. When a patient holds our bottle we want them to smile and when they drink it we want them to have pleasurable experience. It’s well known that the mere act of smiling boosts your immune system, lowers your blood pressure and releases endorphins into your system. So while laughter is not necessarily the best medicine, feeling happy is a critical part to fighting disease and recovering from illness. When a cancer patient picks up a bottle of Canna Cola to counteract the ravages of chemotherapy, it’s supposed to bring a smile to their face. Bringing joy to those who are suffering is nothing to be ashamed of and the reason we exist.

Bottlers

We are seeking the most committed, experienced, and ambitious medical marijuana providers for exclusive bottling partnerships in all fourteen medical marijuana states. Previous bottling experience is not necessary but you must be experienced in extracts and edibles, run a clean operation, and have the working capital to launch the world’s most recognized brand of medical marijuana in your state.

Email us at bottlers@drinkcannacola.com

Dispensaries

Would you like to carry Canna Cola in your dispensary?

Email us at dispensary@drinkcannacola.com

Investors

Would you like to have a part in conquering the world?

Email us at investors@drinkcannacola.com

Licensing

We are seeking creative opportunities with well capitalized and experienced licensees and manufactures who would like to build the world’s most recognized brand of medical marijuana.

Email us at licensing@drinkcannacola.com

Media inquires.

Email us at media@drinkcannacola.com

General Email: info@drinkcannacola.com

6120 West Tropicana, Suite A16-248
Las Vegas NV. 89103

*

Kushtown Sodas
http://www.kushtownusa.com/

KUSHTOWN SODAS, SHOTS, BUBBLE GUM, DONT FORGET OUR BBQ AND HOT SAUCE!!!

In this ever changing industry; Kushtown USA is inspired to make a difference. Our purpose is to provide a healthcare alternative to a growing patient population. Based out of Santa Clarita, California; Kushtown USA has spent the last seven years dedicated to providing quality, natural products to our consumers. Our objective is simple – to make delicious products that are effective in the treatment of chronic pain.

Working in compliance with Proposition 215 and in accordance with current health and safety codes-we have infused all of our products with quality grade THC. Using low glycemic, cold pressed, food grade kosher glycerin based medication that cause our products to not only be delicious, but to also offer a stronger, longer and more physical effect.

The goal of Kushtown USA has always been to work smart and efficient. To lead in the development of edible products, to educate and to make positive long term impacts on both the industry and our communities.

Soda Flavors
Beach Fuel
Bubba’s Old Fashioned Root Beer
Bulldog Fuel
Chem Dawg’s Cherry Soda
Cherry Kushtown Kola
Cherry Lemonade Headband Soda
Gingerjuana
Grandaddy Purple Grape Soda
Granny’s Apple Soda
Empire Fuel
Humboldt County Green Tea
Humboldt’s Finest Lemon Ice Tea
Kushtown Kola
Kushtown Soda Sugarless
LA Confidential Fuel
LA Fuel
Lion Fuel
Master Kush Energy Drink
Maui Waui Punch
Orange Wreck Soda
Pineapple Express
Professor Kush
Pure Kush Energy Drink
Sactown Fuel
San Diego Fuel
San Fernando Valley Fuel
Skywalker Creme Soda
Sour DZL Fuel
Strawberry Cough Soda

KushShots
Kush Shot Fruit Punch
Kush Shot Ice Tea
Kush Shot Orange

Other Products
Kushtown Gum
Kushtown BBQ Sauce
Kushtown Hot Sauce

Call for Pricing!

Northern California Representative
Harold J. Moret – (424) 200-1144

Southern California Representative
Desmond – (323) 803-0852

Kushtown products are available in your local CA collectives. If your favorite collective does not carry Kushtown products, please ask them to!

In compliance with H&S Code 11362.5
ONLY collectives or dispensaries may order from Kushtown per Prop 215 to be in compliance

Tiny town is Oregon's No. 1 hub for pot growers

August 3, 2011
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/03/national/main20087493.shtml

(AP) WILLIAMS, Ore. - Medical marijuana has taken root in this idyllic town like nowhere else in Oregon.

Nearly 20 percent of the population is registered to grow pot legally, and an untold number deals it illegally, creating stark contrasts in a bucolic burg where children still ring the bell to start the school day and pancake breakfasts draw a crowd at the local community center.

The Associated Press analyzed the locations of registered pot growers in Oregon based on their ZIP codes and found that Williams by far has the heaviest concentration. More than 400 of the town's 2000 residents are authorized by the state to grow up to six plants each.

The proliferation of pot became the talk of the town last summer when new Google Earth satellite images showed little green circles in neat rows all over the valley.

"My daughter showed me on her iPhone," said Neil Sinnott, owner of a local cafe. "She said, `Dad, look what your neighbors are doing.'"

Six-foot-tall fences that screen marijuana gardens from public view have become so common that a local pastor uses them as landmarks for giving directions. One resident is trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of medical marijuana by starting a testing lab. A variety of marijuana grown here, called Williams Wonder, is cherished among pot connoisseurs.

Though big-city Portland has cafes where medical marijuana users smoke pot while singing karaoke, it is the rural communities of southwestern Oregon like Williams that have the highest percentages of folks smoking it, growing it and caring for others who use the drug.

Neighboring towns in Josephine County have high rates of pot growers similar to the 19.5 percent in Williams: O'Brien was at 15.2 percent; Selma at 10.5 percent; and Cave Junction at 9.9 percent, according to the AP analysis.

One ZIP code covering mostly rural residences shows 60 out of 80 residents with permits. The Oregon Health Authority will not provide any identifying information of pot growers and patients beyond their ZIP codes for patient confidentiality reasons. It will not provide information on ZIP codes with fewer than 50 cardholders, also for confidentiality reasons.

Medical marijuana has been growing in popularity statewide since becoming legal in 1999. The number of residents registered as patients, caregivers and growers this year hit 120,945, nearly four times the number five years ago. Few who ask to register are turned down. Only 950 applications — less than 1 percent — were terminated, denied or suspended.

The number of people authorized to grow for others has also mushroomed, from 12,274 in 2006 to 26,734 in 2010. In Williams, the number jumped from 122 to 301 in the same period.

Why has pot become so big in Williams? The reasons seem to be a combination of an ideal climate, remote and rural location and a willingness to live and let live.

Southwestern Oregon sits at the northern tip of the Emerald Triangle, one of the nation's best marijuana growing regions, which stretches into Northern California. Pot has been grown here since California hippies started moving in during the 1970s. When Oregon's medical marijuana law took effect in 1999, "a lot of those guys got their cards and came out of the woods and started doing it legally," said Keith Mansur, editor of the Oregon Cannabis Connection, a newspaper devoted to marijuana issues based in nearby Medford.

Laird Funk is a longtime activist who lost his job running the sewage treatment plant in nearby Grants Pass several years ago after testing positive for marijuana. Funk, now the chairman of the state medical marijuana advisory committee, says the weather is conducive to growing pot, but securing the crop can become complicated.

"It's not hard to do out here in the sunshine," he said. "Everybody does some variation of security. Some people use chain link. Some solid wood. Some people dress up like Vietnam and walk around with guns. But you could kill people like that, so I don't."

Williams took its name from an Indian fighter during the Gold Rush of the 1850s. After the gold played out, logging and dairy farms also waned. Now the valley is a mix of organic farmers, people cobbling together a living from odd jobs, mushroom picking, and California retirees and commuters.

Williams Community Church Pastor Rob Culton said he can feel community tensions rise at harvest time in the fall, when the threat increases of someone stealing a crop. But he does not condemn anyone. His wife took doctor-prescribed pills with a cannabis extract while having chemotherapy for cancer in the 1980s.

"I wouldn't want that to be something where a person would say, `I can't go to that church because I have a medical marijuana permit,"' he said.

A few long-time residents like Ben Watts remember when as many as four sawmills were running in Williams before they all shut down in the 1980s. A logger all his life, at 83 he still cuts firewood from the gold claim his grandfather worked. He is no fan of police, he says, but he would like for them to crack down on growers, particularly those selling pot illegally.

In 2009, a Williams couple growing for 11 patients was busted for having 220 pounds, far in excess of the 16.5 pounds allowed by law. Police said they learned of the site from a man stopped on Interstate 5, who said he was taking $9,100 there to buy marijuana. Because it was a first offense, the couple served just a month in jail after pleading no contest to delivery of drugs.

Just how much marijuana is being sold illegally by medical marijuana growers in Willliams, or anywhere in Oregon, is impossible to say. Police keep no statistics.

Mansur said marijuana growing is adding "big time" to the local economy through sales of potting soil, fertilizer, special pots that won't constrict the roots — even vacuum sealing machines to package the dried buds.

The prevalence of medical marijuana led Richard Reams, who teaches the art of growing trees into living sculptures, to open OregonGreen Lab. For $120 he will test a gram of marijuana and tell you the potency and active ingredients. One large grower has already signed up.

"I believe that in a short amount of time we will have legalized marijuana," Reams said. "The economic opportunities in that field could be large."

John Rickert worked for a health insurance company in San Diego before retiring to Williams. He regularly writes grants to fund programs for the elementary school.

Rickert said many people are just getting by economically, with most kids qualifying for free school lunches, but he sees a lot of people paying cash for dinners out and vacations when a credit card would be more convenient.

Still, Rickert said he's not bothered about the shift in the local economy from timber to pot.

"Everybody wants to cut the trees" to increase revenues for the county and schools, he said. "Forget cutting the trees. Let's legalize marijuana."