Global Ganja Report

For years, police forces in the Emerald Triangle and elsewhere around backcountry California have been hyping an increasing presence in the region's forests of Mexican and Russian cannabis grow ops linked to criminal mafias and cartels based abroad. Now, refreshingly, a Los Angeles Times story of Jan. 2, "Roots of pot cultivation hard to trace," takes a dispassionate look at the question. The piece opens with a slightly lurid lead about camo-clad federal agents ready to "lock-and-load" in a stake-out on National Forest land in Kern County, fearing attack by Mexican cartel gunmen. But at the end, the piece basically tells us not to believe the hype:

The Obama administration's aggressive federal enforcement in medical marijuana states has reached a crescendo this month, with three people being sentenced, two others due to surrender to federal authorities to serve out sentences of up to five years in prison, and one federal trial in Montana currently scheduled for Jan. 14. Two of the three people being sentenced in the coming month—Montana cultivator Chris Williams and Los Angeles-area dispensary operator Aaron Sandusky—face five and ten years to life, respectively.

Police can't pull you over and arrest you just because you gave them the finger, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled Jan. 3. In a 14-page opinion, the court found that the "ancient gesture of insult is not the basis for a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity." John Swartz and his wife Judy Mayton-Swartz had sued two police officers who arrested Swartz in May 2006 after he flipped off an officer who was using a radar device at an intersection in St. Johnsville, NY. Swartz was charged with a violation of New York's disorderly conduct statute, although the charges were dropped on speedy trial grounds.

Employees of Waste Management, refuse collection provider for California's Nevada County, will help local law enforcment agencies keep an eye on the neighborhoods they serve, under a partnership announced last week. The crime watch program—dubbed WasteWatch—will have Waste Management drivers looking for evidence of illegal activity. "We welcome the extra eyes and ears in our neighborhoods," said Jeff Powell, an operations captain with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office, in a statement. "Waste Management drivers provide services in our community on a daily basis." (The Union, Grass Valley, Dec. 3)

Richard Flor, a Montana medical marijuana patient and caregiver who was sentenced in April to five years in federal prison on charges of maintaining a drug-related premises, died in federal custody Aug. 29. Flor, who suffered from a lengthy list of serious medical conditions, died in a hospital in Las Vegas, Nev., a day after suffering two heart attacks while in transit to an unknown Bureau of Prisons medical facility, according to his attorney, Brad Arndorfer of Billings. At Flor’s sentencing, US District Judge Charles Lovell recommended that he "be designated for incarceration at a federal medical center” where Flor’s “numerous physical and mental diseases and conditions can be evaluated and treated."

Vermont farmer Roger Pion, 34, jumped into his giant eight-wheel Case MX255 diesel tractor, headed to the police station in Newport town, and crushed more than seven squad cars Aug. 2, exacting vengeance for his arrest for cannabis possession last month. Pion then led cops on a low-speed chase through town before being apprehended a mile away. His act of retribution took out more than half of the district's squad car fleet. "We're going to have to get the jaws of life up here to pry the trunks open and see about the rifles and shotguns," Sheriff Kirk Martin told the Associated Press."The radios are ruined."

The fourth bi-annual Kush Expo opened July 21 at the Anaheim Convention Center—an exposition of the latest in medical marijuana trends and technology, as well as an unabashed celebration of cannabis culture. This Expo was by far the largest, with more than 150 vendors, and over 14,000 attendees. Exhibitions ran the spectrum from a Los Angeles laboratory that tests homegrown cannabis strains for THC levels and for pesticides, to a Hot Kush Girl contest (OC Register, July 22) But as entrepreneurs and revelers schmoozed and toked in the convention center, police repression and angry protests were sweeping the streets of Anaheim... 

A June 19 raid on a Long Beach cannabis dispensary is under investigation after a video was released showing officers smashing surveillance cameras and stepping on an employee. More than a dozen police raided THC Downtown Collective on Atlantic Boulevard. The two-minute video posted to YouTube shows a man who has been identified as employee Dorian Brooks surrendering to police and being ordered to the floor. One of the officers is seen stepping on his back before placing him in handcuffs. The video, recorded at an off-site location, then cuts to an officer pointing at the camera before another looks up and smashes the lens. "They noticed there was a camera that was on the wall right above my head, so they proceeded to smash it with a metal rod," said Brooks, adding that the camera shattered on him. "I wasn't able to protect myeslf because my hands were cuffed."