+ 27th September 2008 | Soft approach forgotten in cannabis crackdown

Source: The Australian
Author: Verity Edwards

SOUTH Australia's famed relaxed approach to possession of marijuana for personal use took a hit yesterday as police cracked down on commercial suppliers of hydroponic equipment.

Police yesterday charged the owners or managers of five hydroponic stores allegedly involved in a cannabis-growing ring after raids in Adelaide during the week.

Detective Superintendent Linda Fellows said the stores had allegedly helped customers set up hydroponic cannabis-growing systems, organised electricians, provided advice on growing drugs and bought back dried cannabis to sell interstate.

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+ 27th September 2008 | Smoke without ire: Aussie politicians admit using marijuana

Source: AFP Google
Author: Unknown

Australia's acting prime minister admitted Friday she had smoked marijuana as a university student, but said it was no big deal.

Julia Gillard's disclosure in a radio interview followed a similar confession on television overnight by the leader of the opposition, multi-millionaire former merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull.

"At university, tried it, didn't like it," said Gillard, the deputy prime minister, who is standing in for Kevin Rudd while he attends the UN General Assembly in New York.

"I think probably many Australian adults would be able to make the same statement so I don't think it matters one way or the other."

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+ 26th September 2008 | Julia Gillard, Malcolm Turnbull admit smoking marijuana in past

Source: The Australian
Author: Matthew Franklin

JULIA Gillard has followed Malcolm Turnbull in admitting she had smoked cannabis when she was younger.

Ms Gillard, who is Acting Prime Minister while Kevin Rudd attends the UN in New York, told Fairfax radio this morning she had tried marijuana while at university, but "didn't like it".

Opposition Leader Mr Turnbull admitted on ABC television last night to having smoked cannabis as a younger man but described it as "a mistake in my past".

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+ 25th September 2008 | 10-year-olds stoned

Source: Cairns.com.au
Author: Margo Zlotkowski

CHILDREN as young as 10 are getting stoned in Cape York communities, a James Cook University cannabis researcher will tell a mental health conference in Cairns today.

Cape kids are also making bucket bongs from discarded drink bottles, while cannabis-dependent youth are refusing education or job opportunities outside communities because they "don't want to leave the dope".

The concerns - told to JCU researchers during consultation in Cape and Torres Strait communities over the past year - will be presented at the Creating Futures Conference today by Associate Professor Alan Clough, from JCU Cairns' School of Public Health.

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+ 22nd September 2008 | 3 boats seized, 12 arrested in N.S. in massive drug bust (CA)

Source: Canada.com
Author: Bradley Bouzane

Police have seized three boats and hundreds of kilograms of cannabis resin in a drug bust with suspected links to an Ontario organized crime group. RCMP Insp. Brian Brennan said Monday that 12 people were arrested in the bust, the largest of its kind for cannabis resin - or hash oil - for Nova Scotia.

"This is the first time to my knowledge in Nova Scotia that we've had such a large seizure of cannabis resin in that quantity," Brennan said at a news conference Monday. "It was packed in vacuum-sealed plastic bags . . . and piled up and stacked like bales and put into bags to be carried onto the vessels and transported from there."

Brennan said the drugs are believed to have originated in the Caribbean and were likely destined for Central Canada. The raid took place Sunday near Spanish Ship Bay on the east coast of Nova Scotia.

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+ 22nd September 2008 | Teenager cultivated cannabis (UK)

Source: Grantham Journal (UK)
Author: Unknown

A TEENAGER who cultivated cannabis plants at his flat on the Lincolnshire coast was spared jail by a judge today. Anthony Roberts, 19, was caught with cannabis valued at £450 when police raided the property in Trusthorpe, near Mablethorpe.

Roberts, 19, now of St Helens Close, Grantham, pleaded guilty to possessing 183.3 grammes of cannabis with intent to supply on 18 September 2007.

He also admitted producing a controlled drug.

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+ 17th September 2008 | Supreme Court allows MS patient to grow cannabis (Netherlands)

Source: Radio Netherlands
Author: Sebastiaan Gottlieb

The Dutch Supreme Court has ruled that a man who suffers from multiple sclerosis (MS) may grow his own cannabis for medical purposes. He wants to grow his own because the type of medical cannabis sold in pharmacies does not help his symptoms. Four years ago the police came to Wim Moorlag's home and seized 43 home-grown plants. His lawyer Wim Anker says "It is really a disgrace how the law has treated this man. It is beyond comprehension that he has spent four years in the legal pipeline."

Necessity
The same as many other MS patients, Wim Moorlag uses cannabis to alleviate his pain. Although it is illegal to grow cannabis in the Netherlands, the authorities usually turn a blind eye when people cultivate five plants or less. However an exception has been made for medical cannabis, which must be sold under license - for the past five years medical cannabis has been available at pharmacies.

Two years ago a court in Leeuwarden dismissed all charges against Moorlag because it found he acted out of necessity in circumstances beyond his control. The Supreme Court used the same reasoning: MS patients are faced with a paradox. On the one hand the need to alleviate pain and on the other the ban on cultivating cannabis.

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+ 16th September 2008 | Mum arrested over 300 cannabis plants

Source: The Australian
Author: Unknown

A NEW Zealand woman has been arrested and her young child taken into care after 300 cannabis plants were seized in a series of police raids in Melbourne's outer west.

Police swooped on houses in Brampton Close, Delahey, about 10am (AEST) today following a two-month investigation, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.

They allegedly found 102 cannabis plants at one address, arrested a 41-year-old New Zealand woman and placed her two-year-old daughter in the care of the Department of Human Services.

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+ 16th September 2008 | Police seize 200 cannabis plants

Source: News.com.au
Author: Unknown

POLICE have seized more than 200 cannabis plants valued at more than $500,000 in a raid at a home in Sydney's southwest. Police were called to the house in Sindel Close, Bonnyrigg, about 4pm (AEST) yesterday after a report of a person on the premises.

When they arrived they found a large and sophisticated hydroponic set-up.

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+ 16th September 2008 | Indigenous Medicine Ministry faces problems over cannabis need (Sri Lanka)

Source: The Island Online (Sri Lanka)
Author: Dilanthi Jayamanne

The Ministry of Indigenous Medicine will require around twenty acres of land to cultivate cannabis sativa L- (ganja), a main ingredient in a number of Ayurvedic drug preparations. There are around 22 types of drugs which require cannabis in their pharmacopeias.

The Ministry and the Department of Ayurvedha have their hands tied as cannabis is among the types of dangerous drugs and has been declared illegal in Sri Lanka, Secretary Ministry of Indigenous Medicine, Asoka Malimage told The Island yesterday. "We have to consider the security side of cultivating cannabis even if it is for medicinal purposes. People are sure to misuse the permission granted to cultivate the psychoactive drug.

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+ 16th September 2008 | 11kg of cannabis found in passenger's suitcase

Source: The Courier Mail
Author: Jodie Munro O'Brien & Robyn Ironside

A MAN allegedly flew into Brisbane Airport with 11kg of cannabis in his suitcase but the drugs were not detected until he was picked up by police for a roadside breath test a short distance away.

Police said the man's hire car was pulled over in Airport Drive at Eagle Farm for a random breath test on Monday night when officers noticed a "faint smell of cannabis".

A marijuana cigarette was found in the car and a further search found the alleged cannabis stash in his suitcase and $1800 cash. The cannabis, with an estimated street value of more than $150,000, was almost three times that found in Schapelle Corby's boogie board bag in Bali.

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+ 15th September 2008 | Swiss Cannabis legalisation referendum

Source: Marijuana & Cannabis Blog
Author: Unknown

On November 30th a referendum will be held among the people of Switzerland about whether to completely legalize possession, sale, and cultivation of cannabis. The initiative is titled: “For a sensible cannabis policy with effective protection of the youth”. (in German: Für eine vernünftige Hanfpolitik mit wirksamem Jugendschutz.)

P.L.R. (liberal-radical party), swiss-socialist party ,Green party and many politicians of popular-democratic party are for “yes” in the referendum of 30 November, 2008 about decriminalisation of use of cannabis.

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+ 15th September 2008 | Sniffer dog blitz nabs 19 in Melbourne's CBD

Source: The Herald Sun
Author: Mark Buttler

DRUGS and weapons were seized when police used sniffer dogs to intercept troublemakers as they arrived in the city at the weekend. Nineteen people were charged after a major operation aimed at stopping violence and anti-social behaviour in the CBD.

Those arrested were identified by the sniffer dogs after stepping off trains at Flinders St station to find officers from the dog squad and transit safety division. Charges of using cannabis, possessing cannabis and possessing weapons were laid as the night out ended prematurely for some.

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+ 12th September 2008 | Milkman, 72, 'delivered cannabis as well as pints to customers' doorsteps'

Source: The Daily Mail (UK)
Author: Unknown

An elderly milkman has been accused of supplying pot with his pints. Robert Holding, 72, allegedly supplied cannabis resin to up to 17 customers.

A court heard claims that they would leave a note with their empties asking him for the drug with their next delivery. Holding was arrested at his home after a police investigation which lasted several weeks, magistrates heard.

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+ 10th September 2008 | Promoter caught with cannabis still to be charged (Antigua)

Source: Antigua Sun
Author: Unknown

No charges have yet been brought against a Jamaican man caught at the VC Bird International Airport with drugs on Sunday. Up to time of going to press last night, Head of the Strategic Communications Department (Stratcom) Inspector Cornelius Charles confirmed that the man remains in police custody.

Charles said he is likely to be charged today. The man was caught with 17 pounds of cannabis in his hand luggage. Customs officials stumbled upon the drugs after the man was denied access through the VIP lounge.

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+ 10th September 2008 | Cannabis plants found in £1m home

Source: BBC News
Author: Unknown

Police have discovered a cannabis factory in a £1m north London house which could have produced up to £600,000 worth of drugs a year. Officers searched the five-bedroom house in Oakleigh Avenue, Barnet, after local residents alerted them.

All five rooms were used and officers found 650 mature plants with a street value of £160,000 and seedlings which would be worth £200,000 when mature.

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+ 10th September 2008 | Marist's cannabis bill howled down

Source: The Advocate (TAS)
Author: Chris Pippos

THERE was plenty of colour and calls of "shame" in Youth Parliament yesterday, as a move to legalise cannabis - presented by Marist Regional College - failed to win support.

Four Marist Year 12 students were among a group of young Tasmanians who assembled in Parliament's Legislative Council to debate the hot topic bill. Marist's Jamie-Lea Bradley, a member of the opposition, said alcohol and cigarettes were killing more people than cannabis. Legalising cannabis, coupled with education campaigns, would decrease crime rates and allow police more time to tackle serious crime, Ms Bradley said.

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+ 6th September 2008 | Positive cannabis test not enough, says judge (Ireland)

Source: IrishTimes.com
Author: Paddy Clancy

THE ROAD Safety Medical Bureau was criticised yesterday by a judge for failing to test for the level of drug intoxication in a driver arrested by gardaí. Ballyshannon District Court, Co Donegal, was told that a breath-test for alcohol on a young driver, Peter Gillen, proved negative.

But Garda Seán Flynn still had suspicions about the reason for Mr Gillen’s unusual driving at 4.10am when he turned at speed into a housing estate without using his indicator. Mr Gillen, who was “very shocked, unsteady and very agitated”, was arrested on suspicion of drug-driving and later gave a urine sample.

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+ 5th September 2008 | Cannabis and cannabinoids, by Dr Robert Melamede Ph.D.

Source: CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Dr Robert Melamede Ph.D

A doctor from the University of Colorado in America has an opinion on cannabis which will doubtless have the hardline anti-cannabis British government choking on their cornflakes.

Until recently only a handful of yoghurt knitting, tree-hugging hippies would have dared utter anything positive about the much maligned and not very well understood cannabis plant. But over the last decade more and more scientists; people who are trained to understand the complex chemistry behind the human cannabinoid system, are putting the pieces of a huge jigsaw together.

Slowly but surely the big picture gains clarity and whilst there are still a lot of pieces to put into the jigsaw before its finished, what we understand today is that cannabis is, and remains, outlawed for all the wrong reasons.

Dr Robert Melamede Ph.D. is chairman of the Biology Department at UC, (University of Colorado) and he has dedicated his life to learning more on how the human cannabinoid system works.

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+ 5th September 2008 | Girl, 3, grows 'cannabis' from Asda health food

Source: Liverpool Echo
Author: Ben Rossington

A GREEN-FINGERED three-year-old grew a cannabis plant in her back garden with seeds bought from a Merseyside supermarket. Lois Williams wanted to be just like her father, 31-year-old Danny Williams, who grows his own potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, beans and fruits.

She planted some seeds from the packet of organic health food seed mix bought from Asda, in Huyton, in the garden of her family’s home in Aldwark Road, Dovecot.

Two months later, Mr Williams noticed a pungent smell coming from his vegetable patch and was shocked to discover the seeds had blossomed into a full-grown cannabis plant.

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+ 4th September 2008 | Huge cannabis haul (UK)

Source: ThisIsPlymouth.co.uk
Author: Unknown

CUSTOMS officer have seized a staggering 420 kilos of cannabis resin hidden in a lorry which arrived in the city on the Santander ferry.

The drugs, worth more than three-quarters of a million pounds, were found by officers from the UK Border Agency (UKBA) after they stopped a lorry on Tuesday morning at the ferryport in Millbay. The vehicle had arrived on the ferry from Northern Spain and officers discovered the hessian-wrapped drugs hidden amongst 20 pallets of foodstuffs.

The cannabis, with an estimated street value of £886,000, has since been sent for forensic examination to determine its purity.

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+ 3rd September 2008 | High Amount of Cannabis Confiscated in East Iceland

Source: Iceland Review Online
Author: Unknown

Almost 20 kilograms of illegal substances were found inside a vehicle which arrived in Seydisfjördur in east Iceland on the Norraena ferry yesterday, most of which appears to be cannabis.

It is the highest amount of cannabis confiscated in a single drug-bust in Iceland. A white powdery substance was also confiscated, which is believed to be either cocaine or amphetamine, 24 Stundir reports.

An elderly man of German origin who was responsible for the car was arrested following the drug-bust and currently he is the only suspect. It is not clear whether he has come to Iceland before.

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+ 3rd September 2008 | Medical Marijuana: A Surprising Solution to Severe Morning Sickness

Source: CannaZine.co.uk
Author: Erin Hildebrandt

(SALEM, Ore.) - As is the case for many young women, my indulgence in recreational drugs, including alcohol and caffeine, came to an abrupt halt when my husband and I discovered we were pregnant with our first child. To say we were ecstatic is an understatement.

Doctors had told me we might never conceive, yet here we were, expecting our first miracle. I closely followed my doctor’s recommendations. When I began to experience severe morning sickness, I went to him for help. He ran all of the standard tests, then sent me home with the first of many prescription medicines.

Weeks passed, and, as the nausea and vomiting increased, I began to lose weight. I was diagnosed as having hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe and constant form of morning sickness. I started researching the condition, desperately searching for a solution. I tried wristbands, herbs, yoga, pharmaceuticals, meditation—everything I could think of.

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+ 2nd September 2008 | Owner arrested after 778kg cannabis found in back of stolen van (Spain)

Source: thinkSpain.com
Author: Unknown

A Morroccan man travelling to Belgium with his wife and children was arrested after police recovered his stolen van that was found to contain 778kg of hashish.

The van owner called the Guardia Civil after a gang of four men posing as police officers forced him and his family out of the vehicle at a service station in Adra (Almería).

It was recovered near Castell de Ferro (Granada) within half an hour, being driven by a 71-year-old man with a history of drug-related convictions, who claimed that he was being paid to drive it to Málaga and that he knew nothing about the drugs in the back.

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