Global Ganja Report

Christopher Bartkowicz of suburban Denver was sentenced to five years in federal prison Jan. 28 after pleading guilty to three cannabis-related charges—despite his claim to protection under Colorado's medical marijuana law. Federal agents raided Bartkowicz's Highlands Ranch home last February and seized hundreds of plants growing in his basement. If he had gone to trial, Bartkowicz could have faced a life term because of a previous drug conviction. His release will be followed by eight years of supervision.

The California Supreme Court on Jan. 3 allowed police to search arrestees' cell phones without a warrant, saying defendants lose their privacy rights for any items they're carrying when taken into custody. Under US Supreme Court precedents, "this loss of privacy allows police not only to seize anything of importance they find on the arrestee's body...but also to open and examine what they find," the state court found in a 5-2 ruling.

On Jan. 21, more than 100 people came out to Montana's capitol building in Helena for hearings on on what the state's new medicinal cannabis policy should look like. Ironically, a bill pending in the state house is opposed by cannabis advocates as well as those who want to repeal the 2004 state ballot initiative that legalized medical use.

Oakland's City Council is considering a new medical cannabis cultivation plan that would scale back the size of the growing operations and tie them more directly to dispensaries, according to a draft obtained by local media. Written up by council member Desley Brooks, the changes are meant to address legal concerns over the original plan, which would have allowed for four large-scale farms to supply several dispensaries.

Patients and medical cannabis advocates protested outside of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court earlier this month to draw attention to the heavy-handed raids and arrests that took place the week of Dec. 27. During a three-day period, as many as 50 Narcotics Task Force officers from local and state enforcement agencies raided seven collectively-run medical cannabis delivery services, arresting 15 people on felony charges and held them on bails of up to $100,000. Several of those arrested were charged with child endangerment, after Child Protective Services removed at least six children from the homes of three different families.

The country's leading medical cannabis advocacy group, Americans for Safe Access (ASA), filed an amicus ("friend of the court") brief Jan. 27 defending the privacy rights of patients across the US. The federal case US v. Michigan Department of Community Health is the response to the Justice Department seeking private patient records from the state's medical marijuana program.

Federal, state and local officials in a Northern California counter-terrorism drill  last week played out a scenario in which local cannabis growers set off bombs and took over the Shasta Dam, the nation’s second largest, to free an imprisoned comrade. A local news report said that in the mock-terror scenario, a cannabis growers' "red cell" set off bus and car bombs as distractions, took over the dam with three hostages, and then "threatened to flood the Sacramento River by rolling open the drum gates atop the dam."

The new Dutch government, which took office last month, has unveiled a policy to limit the sale of cannabis to Netherlands residents. "No tourist attractions. We don't like that," the new security minister, Ivo Opstelten, told public broadcaster NOS. "The heart of the problem is crime and disturbances surrounding the sale. We have to go back to what it was meant for: local use for those who would like it."