A group supporting the legalizing of medicinal marijuana filed suit Friday in Hennepin County District Court asking that the question, which would amend Minneapolis' city charter, be placed on the Nov. 2 ballot. Last month the City Council voted 8 to 4 against it. The group Citizens Organized for Harm Reduction said it had collected 7,990 valid petition signatures, more than the 5 percent required to be placed on the ballot. The suit said that Susanne Griffin, city elections director, lacks legal authority to refuse to place the proposed charter amendment on the ballot and asked that it be placed. "Once a citizens' petition has complied with the statutory requirements, the city has a mandatory duty to submit the proposed charter amendment to the voters," the group said in a brief filed with the petition. [end]
A national organization filed a petition Friday that asks a Hennepin County judge to compel Minneapolis officials to put a medical marijuana initiative on the November ballot. Last month, the Minneapolis City Council decided not to allow a citywide vote on amending the city charter to require the city to set up a marijuana distribution system if medicinal use of the drug becomes legal. The Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project then announced plans for a legal challenge. A locally based group called Citizens Organized for Harm Reduction gathered nearly 12,000 signatures calling for the referendum and later gathered another 690 signatures after a substantial number of earlier signatures were ruled invalid by election officials. [continues 121 words]
Legal There, but Trouble Persists NAALDWIJK, Netherlands - James R. Burton, who once served a year in a U.S. federal prison, still gets a kick out of the signs at his marijuana plantation here reminding employees whom to call in the event of an emergency: the Dutch police. Sixteen years ago, Burton did time in the maximum-security prison in Marion, Ill., and lost his family farm in Bowling Green, Ky., after being caught with an estimated $112,000 worth of marijuana that he said he needed to stave off glaucoma. Last year, the Dutch government gave him a five-year contract to grow more than 10 times that much. [continues 872 words]
Coquitlam Folks Question Their Low Policing Levels While Area Grow-Ops Continue To Flourish Coquitlam, where large numbers of marijuana grow operations keep RCMP busy, has the lowest number of police per capita among big B.C. cities. A 2002 Statistics Canada survey of cities over 100,000 showed Coquitlam, with 94 officers per 100,000, last among eight municipalities. Vancouver leads with 197 officers per 100,000. About 300 Coquitlam residents met earlier this year to see what could be done about the number of grow-ops on the Westwood Plateau. [continues 545 words]
A seven-month project to evaluate drug treatment programs will also bring more services for teens into the Fraser Health Authority. The FHA's evaluation project will closely look at which treatment works for which teen using which drugs, said Sherry Mumford, the health authority's additions leader. The study is overdue, she said. "We haven't had a study of this type since I can't remember and I've been in this field for 15 years," said Mumford, who was a counsellor in Hope for 12 years. [continues 377 words]
Cops Launch Effort To Halt Increase In Number Of Crimes Darting into a dark driveway, Jesus Gonzalez Lopez didn't spot the cops on the San Mateo street until the SWAT-trained team spilled out of unmarked cars to surround him. The burglary suspect, sporting the blue-dot tattoos associated with the Sureņos gang, emptied his pockets of contraband: methamphetamine and ceramic spark plug parts handy for shattering car windows, police said. ``It's guys like this that are causing problems for people around here,'' said San Mateo police officer Bryan Thompson. [continues 979 words]
Man Had Supplied Drug Taken By Belmont Girl, 14 A drug dealer agreed to a plea deal Monday for his role in the death of a 14-year-old Belmont girl who died in April after taking ``ecstasy'' during a slumber party. Antonio Rivera Jr. of Belmont pleaded no contest to three felony drug counts and faces a possible maximum of eight years in prison. Rivera had given ecstasy to a 17-year-old acquaintance who in turn gave it to three middle school girls. His plea means four of the five people arrested in connection with Irma Perez's death have had their cases resolved. [continues 400 words]
OWENSBORO, Ky. - A Western Kentucky drug task force has had its funding cut as the state shifts resources to drug treatment and education. "This comes as a bit of a surprise," said Cheyenne Albro, director of the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force, which covers a 10-county area. The task force lost more than $70,000 in funding from the federal Edward Byrne grant administered by the state each year for law-enforcement purposes, Albro said. Last fiscal year, the task force received $454,000 of the $7.5million awarded through the grant program to the state, said Chris Gilligan, spokesman for the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. [continues 273 words]
Who: Russell Bennett What: Star of the one-man Fringe play, The Reefer Man Roots: Originally from Ontario, Bennett came to Vancouver last November to write The Reefer Man with co-author Gillian Stevens-Guille. Appearing as part of the Vancouver Fringe Festival starting Saturday, Sept. 11. Mary Southin ain't the only smoking judge:"I'm a lawyer by education, and when I was in law school it struck me as highly ironic that many students and friends of mine were smoking pot, including myself, and yet we had to take an oath when we became lawyers that said we never did anything criminal. It was clear that many of us had, including many of the judges and lawyers that are working today." [continues 789 words]