Results tagged “warondrugs”

This morning, the president announced that Seattle Chief of Police Gil Kerlikowske is his pick for the nation's new Drug Czar. That means a local will direct national drug policy, though the position will no longer be Cabinet-level. (Curiously enough, Vice President Biden coined the phrase "drug czar" in the first place.) As the Washington Post notes in a blog post about the announcement, Kerlikowske's appointment to the position was delayed because of his stepson's legal problems--Jeffrey Kerlikowske was arrested recently for violating parole from his drug and assault charges in Florida.

• Central District News has a post on "the CD by the numbers," which uses recent census data to shed light on just who calls the Central District home. Some of the information didn't surprise us. The highest average income in the CD is in Madison Valley--you don't say!
• So glad to see the DEA still drives Hummers to rallies at Catholic elementary schools despite the fact that we are in the midst of a global economic crisis and with the ever-rising costs of gasoline. Since the drug war doesn't cost us all enough already, the DEA's grand finale was landing a DEA helicopter on the school's playground. Because you know, Catholic elementary schools are a breeding ground for pre-adolescent crackheads.
• The Belltowner and North Dakota State University wonders if people would utilize a public bike share program if offered one. Hey, it works in Europe--why not here?

After much discussion, a number of arrests and at least one gubernatorial freak out, the State Department of Health has defined what constitutes a 60-day supply of medical marijuana. As of November 1st, a patient prescribed medicinal marijuana in Washington can have up to 24 ounces of dried marijuana and 15 plants. We're glad a legal amount has officially been set by the state, but we wonder what will happen to medical marijuana patients who have been raided and their medicine taken during this drawn-out period of discussion. And whether local law enforcement and the federal government will respect the decision.

Despite the fact that medical marijuana is legal in the State of Washington and the Seattle Police Department are paid to uphold said laws, the SPD handed over 12 ounces of illegally seized medicinal marijuana to the DEA. The SPD turned the medical marijuana to the DEA at the request of U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan, who asked for it to be destroyed.

While Seattle may have made marijuana possession its lowest legal priority, the latest figures from a statewide conference of sheriffs and police chiefs indicate the prosecution of marijuana in Washington State is anything but decreasing. In 2007, the state of Washington more than doubled its seizures of marijuana plants. 296,111 marijuana plants were seized in Washington alone last year.

Timothy Garon is 56 years old and dying of liver failure. Without a liver transplant, he will die in a matter of days, but the University of Washington Medical Center has decided he is not a fit candidate for a possibly life-saving transplant. The reason? Garon used physician-prescribed medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of hepatitis C, the disease that is killing him.