Cop David Bratzer pushes for marijuana leniency

While off duty, constable collects signatures for Dana Larsen’s marijuana initiative.

David Bratzer believes that prohibition of drugs is wrong.

DAVID BRATZER  is unlike other canvassers in the ongoing initiative campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C.

Depending on the time and day, he could be asking someone on the street to support the petition or possibly slapping the cuffs on another for pot possession.

Bratzer is a Vancouver Island Capital Regional District police officer who believes that drug prohibition is wrong.

“When I’m on duty, I’ve always been clear that I will enforce the law as it stands,” Bratzer told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I’ve sworn an oath to uphold the law.”

But after the uniform comes off, the constable aims to sign up about 1,000 people during the 90-day signature drive that started Monday (September 9).

Because of his job, there may be occasions when the 36-year-old cop has to arrest people for drug offences. “But when I’m off duty, I advocate to change these failed policies around cannabis prohibition,” said Bratzer, who is also the president of the Canadian chapter of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.

LEAP is an international organization of active and retired professionals in the criminal-justice system that calls for an end to the so-called war on drugs. It supports the initiative spearheaded by pot activist and Sen­sible B.C. spokesperson Dana Larsen.

As far as Bratzer knows, he’s the only cop who is a registered canvasser in the campaign to amend provincial law so people will no longer be busted for simple marijuana possession. It’s a role that he said he’s “comfortable” in because even the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is now seeking changes in the enforcement of cannabis laws.

At its annual meeting last August, the association, led by president and Vancouver Police Department chief Jim Chu, proposed ticketing and fining people with small amounts of marijuana as an alternative to either looking the other way or laying criminal charges that will only burden the courts.

It’s an idea that former police officer Kash Heed brought up in November 2001. When he appeared then before a Senate committee on illegal drugs as an inspector with the Vancouver police service’s vice and drugs section he talked about “limited prohibition with civil penalties”.

In an interview on September 9, Heed expressed some irritation that it has taken police chiefs such a long time to catch up. “This is going back 12 years ago,” Heed told the Straight by phone. He recalled that the failure of prohibition was recognized decades earlier, in the 1970s, by a federal commission of inquiry into drugs that was chaired by law dean Gerald Le Dain.

“What irks me a little bit is you have these chiefs coming out and saying they’ve got this innovative way to deal with the marijuana situation,” Heed said. “Well, come on. All they had to do was go back…and look up what Le Dain said. Le Dain came out and said our policies are failing.”

Following a long career in policing, Heed entered politics in 2009 and served as a controversial one-term Vancouver MLA.

Heed, as someone who preceded Bratzer in his cause, knows the kind of pressure brought to bear on a police officer who speaks on marijuana policy. “You’ve got to have a thick skin because you’re actually going against the culture,” Heed, a sessional SFU criminology instructor, said. “You’re going against, most likely, the chief of the department. You’re going against many people within the department. The people that do support you are silent on the matter because they fear that their careers will be limited.”

Bratzer, a family man with a young child, is in his eighth year wearing a badge. His two brothers are also police officers.

“Being a police officer who advocates for legalizing and regulating drugs, it can bring some challenges at times with my career, and so it’s a balancing act,” he said.

Bratzer works four shifts and gets three days off a week. He figures that if he can gather an average of more than 10 signatures a day, his goal of signing up 1,000 people by December 5 is doable.

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Canada's police chiefs suggest tickets, not charges, for pot possession

Canada's top cops say handing out tickets for illegal possession of small amounts of marijuana could be more efficient than laying criminal charges.

Delegates at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting have passed a resolution that says officers need more enforcement options to deal with people caught with pot.

Association president Jim Chu, who is chief constable of the Vancouver Police Service, said having the option of writing tickets to penalize pot users caught with less than 30 grams of the drug would reduce policing and court costs.

"There's a cost to a lot of the enforcement that we do," Chu said Tuesday at the meeting in Winnipeg.

"So we believe that what's happened is because the cost to process a charge has been so high, that many circumstances where it is appropriate to address the illegal behaviour, we haven't been able to do it."

Chu pointed out that a conviction results in a criminal record that places barriers on future travel, employment and citizenship. A ticket under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act would avoid that record.

The association said its ticketing proposal would require changing federal law, but that does not mean the chiefs support the legalization of marijuana.

Chu said some officers, when confronted with simple possession, find laying charges isn't worth the effort.

"Quite often they're turning a blind eye to it because there's the problem of going off the road to process the paperwork," he said.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay said in an email to The Canadian Press that the federal government has no intention of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.

"These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effects they have on users -- and on society for that matter. As a government, we have a responsibility to protect the interests of families across this country."

The association cited statistics from 2007 that show out of more than 100,000 drug offences reported by police that year in Canada, 47,101 of them were for marijuana possession.

The committee's report said there are circumstances where a formal charge for simple possession is appropriate, for example, if a driver who has been pulled over is found to be smoking a joint.

But the report said the large majority of simple possession cases could be more efficiently dealt with through tickets.

"By adding this additional policing tool, we are proposing a responsible public safety initiative that will be of overall benefit to all Canadians," said Chief Mark Mander, head of the association's drug abuse committee.

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Wash. set to release draft rules for pot industry

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  FILE - This file photo taken April 4, 2013 shows marijuana plant starts at a growing facility in Seattle. After months of intensive research, public meetings and public reaction, state …more 

SEATTLE (AP) -- They've spent nearly eight months visiting marijuana grow houses, studying the science of getting high and earning nicknames like "the queen of weed." Now, officials in Washington are taking their first stab at setting rules for the state's new legal weed industry.

The state is releasing preliminary draft rules Thursday afternoon, possibly covering an array of topics ranging from how pot should be grown, labeled and tested for quality assurance to what types of security should be required at state-licensed pot businesses.

But some of the most interesting questions — such as how much marijuana will be grown and how many retail stores will be licensed — aren't likely to be answered yet. The state's official pot consultant is still working to estimate how much marijuana people here use, and those estimates will help determine how much pot gets produced.

"It's been a lot of long hours," said Brian Smith, the spokesman for the Liquor Control Board. "We are doing the groundwork. We're trying to be as thorough as we can as we go through this initial several months since the election."

Last fall voters made Washington and Colorado the first states to legalize the sale of taxed marijuana to adults over 21 at state-licensed stores.

In Colorado, devising rules for the pot industry fell to the Legislature, which has passed a series of bills laying out how marijuana should be grown, packaged and taxed. Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to sign the bills May 28.

Washington's measure directed the Liquor Control Board, led by three voting members, to set parameters for the industry. Dozens of board employees divided into 11 teams, each researching different areas — licensing, contracting, legal and policy, enforcement — to inform the board's decisions. The teams meet weekly to keep apprised of each other's progress.

The board's comptroller, Mike Steenhout, has worked with testing labs and experts from around the world to determine how the pot should be tested to ensure that it's safe and consistent when it reaches store shelves.

The board held eight public forums around the state to hear what pot growers, prospective retailers and others had to say. More than 3,000 people attended; few were shy about airing their views.

Now, the board is taking what it has learned and setting out what amounts to a draft of its draft rules for the industry. After allowing people to comment on the rules it releases Thursday, it will propose its official draft rules in about month, and take public comment on those. The final rules aren't expected to be adopted until this summer, with applications for pot growing, processing and retailing licenses accepted in September.

Marijuana sales at state-licensed stores should begin in early 2014 — unless the Justice Department has something to say about it. Pot remains illegal federally, and the DOJ could sue to try to block the licensing schemes in Washington and Colorado from taking effect.

So far, the Liquor Control Board has given few hints about what the rules will entail. Board Chairwoman Sharon Foster — who began a speech at a recent conference by saying, "My friends now call me the queen of weed" — has said that the board probably won't allow open-field marijuana grows, because they're too hard to control. There won't be any pot delivery companies to take weed from a dispensary and deliver it to customers, because the law does not provide for licensing of pot delivery companies. People who have old pot-related convictions probably won't be barred from obtaining licenses.

But many other questions remain. How does the state plan to collect taxes, when federally insured banks won't let marijuana businesses open accounts? How much pot-related advertising will be allowed, if any? Will there be caps on the numbers of growers and processors licensed to provide pot and pot products to the stores? What should be done with all the plants — stalks, roots and leaves — after harvest?

Cale Burkhart, who makes marijuana-infused topical creams under the Vita Verde brand, said he hopes the board doesn't limit the number of growers and processors.

"It's an emerging industry, and it's one that most anybody, as long as they can have their ducks in a row, can break into," he said. "It should be open to people, so that grandma, or a high school dropout, can have the opportunity to start a business and be successful. I'm excited to see if that's how they're going to do it."

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Colorado legislature gives final approval to historic marijuana bills

Reps. Diane Mitsch Bush, D-Steamboat Springs, and Assistant Majority Leader Daniel Pabon, D-Denver, celebrate the end of the 2013 legislative session inside the state Capitol on Wednesday. (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)

The Colorado legislature made history Wednesday, becoming the first in the country to pass laws regulating recreational marijuana sales and use.

But lawmakers arrived at the historic moment more with trepidation than with enthusiasm about the future in a state where anyone over 21 will soon be able to buy marijuana in special retail stores.

"This is a true game-changer for our state," Sen. Mark Scheffel, R-Parker, said in raising concerns about the impact of marijuana legalization on kids. "And so I think it is important that we do our best to implement the right regulatory environment and fund it."

If Gov. John Hickenlooper signs the four major bills on marijuana that the legislature passed this year — and he has indicated he will — this is what the future will hold:

• Marijuana will be sold in specially licensed stores that can also sell pot-related items such as pipes. Only Colorado residents can own or invest in the stores, and only current medical-marijuana dispensary owners can apply to open recreational pot shops for the first nine months. The first stores will open around Jan. 1.

• Colorado residents will be able to buy up to an ounce of marijuana — the maximum it is legal for non-medical-marijuana patients to possess — at the stores. Out-of-staters can buy only a quarter-ounce at a time. Pot must be sold in child-resistant packages with labels that specify potency. Edible marijuana products will have serving-size limits.

• Voters will have the option of imposing heavy taxes on pot sales. A ballot measure set for November will ask voters to approve a 15 percent excise tax and an initial 10 percent sales tax on marijuana. The excise tax will fund school construction. The sales tax will pay for regulation of marijuana stores.

• Incorporated marijuana collectives will be banned. So, too, will marijuana coffee shops, marijuana smoking in bars and government-run marijuana stores. And, though Colorado will have the most liberal laws for marijuana use and sales in the country, it will have the most restrictive laws in the country for marijuana-themed magazines, which, like pornography, will have to be kept behind the counter. Publications such as High Times and The Daily Doobie have vowed to sue.

• Finally, Colorado drivers for the first time will be subject to a stoned-driving limit. Juries will be allowed to presume that anyone testing above the limit was too high to drive.

The bills are the result of an arduous six-month, law-writing process that began in November, when Colorado voters passed a marijuana-legalization measure. With the bills' passage, a new rulemaking process for marijuana shops by the state Department of Revenue can begin. Prospective pot-shop owners can start applying for licenses in October.

"We are in uncharted territory," said Rep. Dan Pabon, a Denver Democrat involved in many of the marijuana bills.

Pabon said the bills will keep marijuana within Colorado's borders and provide a barrier between kids and pot — two important factors in keeping the federal government, which considers all marijuana possession and sales illegal, at bay.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver declined to say what kind of impact the bills will have on the office's position toward marijuana legalization in Colorado. Instead, Jeff Dorschner wrote in an e-mail that the office is looking at "all aspects of this issue" in its deliberations on how to respond.

A spokesman for Hickenlooper, a legalization opponent, praised the work of lawmakers on the marijuana bills, saying in a statement they "put in place a robust regulatory and enforcement framework, consumer safety measures and a dedicated funding source for state oversight of the industry."

State Attorney General John Suthers, who also opposed legalization, said the legislature did a "credible job" of creating marijuana regulations, despite "an aggressive and well-financed lobbying effort" by cannabis advocates that Suthers saw as trying to weaken the rules.

Those advocates, though, hardly had their run of the legislature. A citizens group worried about the consequences of marijuana legalization hired equally high-priced lobbyists. And, in the most dramatic showdown over marijuana at the Capitol this year, legalization proponents fought back an effort on the session's third-to-last day that could have stalled marijuana sales if the taxes on pot didn't pass.

On Wednesday, marijuana advocates hailed the legislature's final votes as momentous.

"The passage of these bills marks a major milestone toward the creation of the world's first legal, regulated and taxed marijuana market for adults," said Christian Sederberg, one of Amendment 64's authors.

Sederberg said the bills show that lawmakers can tackle big issues when they work together. The bills were written by a bipartisan committee and received support from both parties in the state Senate.

But the final votes on the bills in the House on Wednesday split along party lines — Democrats voting for the measures and Republicans voting against. That division occurred even as Republicans grudgingly accepted that the last two bills needed to be passed. One of those bills, House Bill 1317, contained the most significant regulations for marijuana stores. The other, House Bill 1318, held the marijuana tax provisions.

"We do need to do something," Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, said. "And that something is House Bill 1317."

But he joined his colleagues in voting against the bill's repassage.

The bill moved forward to the governor's desk anyway, while Colorado moved toward an unprecedented future.

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Michigan State Representative Calls for Marijuana Decriminalization

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Michigan State Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) called for action on House Bill 4623 to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The bill would make possession of an ounce or less a civil infraction, punishable by a fine that would be based on whether the violation is a first, second, or third offense. Current law currently classifies possession as a misdemeanor with jail time or heavy fines as the penalty.

State Representative Mike Shirkey (R-Clark Lake) is a co-sponsor of the bill who says he wanted to participate to show bi-partisan support for having the debate on decriminalizing marijuana.

"Much as we did with the failed prohibition of alcohol, I feel we have reached a crossroads where we need to readdress how the state will enforce some aspects of marijuana law, especially for adult use," said Shirkey. "I would need to see some of the language in this bill changed before I could vote for it, especially in regards to minors. But it is abundantly clear that the status quo regarding our laws and recreational adult use needs to be robustly analyzed, debated, and changed where prudent."

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My Dad Was Sentenced to 93 Years in Prison for Marijuana

THE WAR ISN’T OVER: My Dad Was Sentenced to 93 Years in Prison for Marijuana

ladybud-I first met Anna Foster in 2008, shortly before Barack Obama was elected President and Attorney General Eric Holder issued the Ogden Memo, which would spark a massive boom in the marijuana industry. I had just started working for “Guru of Ganja”, Ed Rosenthal at Quick Trading Company where Anna managed administrative tasks for Rosenthal’s book and pesticide lines. Anna’s entire life has been defined by the War on Drugs, both for good and for bad. When Anna was just 11-years-old, her father, Will Foster, was arrested and sentenced to 93 years in prison for growing a sealed 5 x 5 foot garden in the basement of his Tulsa, Oklahoma home to alleviate the symptoms of degenerative arthritis. 

ANGELA BACCA: What do you remember from the day your dad was arrested?

ANNA FOSTER:  It was right after Christmas, 1995. I lived with my mom at the time, so I wasn’t there when he was arrested.

Anna Foster, before her dad was arrested.

When I came for my weekend visit, we had a family meeting. He said, “Well, I have been busted for marijuana, I am in a lot of trouble and I don’t know what is going to happen. I am going to fight my case.” I remember being shocked. I knew he smoked, he never did it in front of me but I was aware.

I didn’t know he was growing marijuana until after he was busted and I had gotten a little older. He was having a lot of health problems. I was 11-years-old and back then there wasn’t much awareness about medical cannabis. It was new; Prop. 215 hadn’t passed in California yet. I knew he was taking prescription medications and they were making him moody and lethargic.

He fought his case and he felt like he had a good chance and a good defense. I think he had a lot of faith in the system, he never thought it would be 93 years. Who would conceive of that? Ed Rosenthal came and was an expert witness and he testified on his behalf about the cultivation aspect of the technicalities, the street value and other technical things the police tried to elaborate against him. I knew the defense was related to medical but I think that was more so after he received his sentence, and I think Ed had a lot to do with that, about creating awareness. There was still newness of medical cannabis; California was ready to do it. A lot of people had a lot of compassion for it, no one wants to see anyone go to jail for medicine.

AB: Growing up, what was your view of marijuana? Did you see it as a hard drug?

AF: I never thought it was a hard drug because my parents did it and they were loving people. I knew because of D.A.R.E. and living in Tulsa that you couldn’t talk about it and if anyone else knew, you could get in trouble for it. I had friends whose parents smoked pot, and we all knew to keep quiet. When he got in trouble, I always thought it was something to hide and to be ashamed of.

AB: Being 11-years-old, did your dad’s situation affect you at school and other social interactions?

AF: I remember the day he went to jail. It was the last day of his trial. I remember this popular girl being in front of us and I didn’t want to kiss my dad while I was being dropped off. Like… “Come on dad!” I was in middle school. Because of stupidity and not knowing better I just hopped out of the car. I didn’t know it would be the last time I would see him for a long time…

AB: How did you react when you heard about the sentence?

AF: When I got home his wife was there, her family was there, but my dad wasn’t there. I think that is probably something… everyone was just crying. He called and we talked on the phone and I just remember crying and not really understanding. I kept asking, “When am I going to see you again?” He was heartbroken. I know it was hard for him.

He just answered it truthfully and said, “I don’t know what’s going to happen, I don’t know what’s happening.” That was pretty much it. At the time I lived with him but then I had to go live with my mom. My family split up when he went to prison. My dad had been doing really well for himself. He had a computer business; he was self-employed and making pretty good money. He was able to provide a nice place to live, stability. It was nice to not have to worry about poverty. My mom lives paycheck to paycheck. When he went to jail, I went from living in a really nice house to a one-bedroom apartment.

AB: You were in middle school, that’s when looks are everything.

AF: It was challenging. I went to prep school; there were a lot of people who had lots of money, nice houses, everything they wanted. They didn’t have to worry about anything.

AB: Did other kids at school know your dad was in jail?

Anna and her dad Will Foster in California, early 2000s.

AF: My closest friends knew, it wasn’t something I just came out and told anybody. They had to be my friends.  It wasn’t until I got a little older that he started appearing on TV.

[Will Foster spent 4.5 years in prison, his story slowly gained steam and garnered media coverage- including Frontline and Dateline special reports- which led to his resentencing and eventual release.]

At that point, he had just been wasting away in jail for four years. [The media coverage] was empowering for him. When I saw him in High Times I was more relaxed about it and not so much ashamed. I wasn’t as worried about being judged anymore.

I probably should tell you… I only saw my dad twice in that time. My mom never had extra money to take me to see him or put money on the phone to talk to him. They [the prison system] would ship him around so sometimes he would be in Texas or sometimes down in Southern Oklahoma. I remember writing him letters and then not writing them for a while and feeling guilty for not writing him. I tried not to think about not having him in my life but things would build up and I would just wish he was there.

But, one day I got home from school and there was a note on the door saying, “I am grabbing something to eat, be right back, love Dad.”

AB: Did you know he was getting out?

AF: No! I ran over to my friend’s house and was like “Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh!” and then I ran home to wait for him. I sat on his lap and hugged him and wouldn’t let him go. I was sixteen years old but I didn’t care, I was so happy to see him. He told me he had to leave the state within 24 hours [as a condition of his parole] and he would be moving to California the next day.

…I remember the first time I visited him out here [California]. I was amazed to be with my dad, I was amazed with Oakland. I just had to move here so I moved in with my dad. He had gotten an apartment in affluent Piedmont, so that I could go to a good school. While I was at school my dad was arrested again for violating parole—he was 45 miles outside of his allowed radius. He had been working as an expert witness and had to leave the county to take pictures for a trial he was hired to work. He spent six months in jail while he fought extradition back to Oklahoma. I was 16-years-old and had a whole apartment to myself with no parents.

AB: Nobody stepped in? 

AF: Ed [Rosenthal] stepped in.  Jose Gutierrez [a friend and activist] stepped in; Jose paid my rent for a month and bought me groceries. He would also come over to check in with me. Ed and his wife, Jane Klein, asked me to live with them while I figured out what to do. I graduated high school and neither of my parents were there. My grandparents came and Ed and Jane came. That’s it.

AB: What brought you to Drug War activism?

AF: I had started working at Cleartest.com, it was a company that made products to help people pass drug tests. The owner, Mary Anne Graynor, who was friends with Anita Hoffman [Abby Hoffman’s wife], had mentored her into the drug testing business. When Hoffman passed away from cancer, Mary Anne took over.

Mary Anne had to do a lot of advocating, speaking in Congress about her business because they were trying to shut her down and make her products illegal. She had to advocate on behalf [of her customers] on the basis that [drug testing] was discriminatory, a civil rights issue, there was a lot of advocacy in that job. We weren’t just selling our products to people who needed to pass a pee test; we were giving people information and advice. I got calls from people who had been working at a company for 20 years and had never been tested. I was talking to people who were going through this stuff every day: losing their kids, their families, their jobs, their benefits and their opportunities.

AB: Had you already considered yourself an activist?

AF: I went through this really bad experience and [the Drug War] caused a lot of suffering for a lot of people but at the same time it was something I couldn’t get away from no matter what I did. I was propelled into this movement.

When I came to California, my dad was very active. He was speaking at events like Seattle Hempfest. I was fortunate enough to know Ed [Rosenthal] and be someone who was close to him when a lot of people wanted to be close to him and it wasn’t just me wanting to be, it just naturally happened. It’s just the way the universe…. the way the cookie crumbles, you know. It was an important time to grow for me. I went from a child to a young adult and realized things about life and reality and the systems and structures we live in. It was a really humbling experience.

AB: You found a family in activism. 

AF: Yes, and I had lots of opportunities and the availability to meet people. That was when I really started becoming an advocate. He was active in his own right and I guess it wore off on me a little bit.

AB: Your entire life has been defined by marijuana culture and definitely Drug War culture. How do you think your life would be different if the Drug War didn’t exist? I know that is a loaded question but…

AF: No I get the question, I struggle with it a lot. It’s such an awful thing, Children don’t ask to go through these things but-

AB: They get punished although they did nothing.

Yeah… and I understand that logic and that feeling. I understand feeling like a victim and having no control over things and feeling like I have to go through it. I get that. But at the same time, if I hadn’t had all these experiences then I wouldn’t be the person who I am and I like who I am. I like the opportunities I have from cannabis. It’s a double-edged sword. [The Drug War] is the thing that hurt me the most but [marijuana activism] has been the best for me. I grapple with it a lot; is it really worth your life and your freedom? Should I just stop doing it? I face that dichotomy a lot. What is really the best thing? Advocating? Not? Is it really worth fighting for?

AB: What do you think? Is it?

AF: (Sighs) I would say yes. There is a lot of compassion that comes with [the marijuana activism community]. Marijuana makes people connect, it makes them talk, it really helps sick people. There are a lot of reasons to fight for it, the whole politics of it, you know? The prison system. Racism.

There are two sides the everything though. There is our view, and then there is the other view, you know what I mean? Which side are you on?

AB: When you say our view and the other view, if someone from the other side of the fence would hear your story they would probably say your dad shouldn’t have smoked pot, you shouldn’t have smoked pot, he shouldn’t have been growing pot. What would you say to that?

AF: I would say just because it’s a law doesn’t mean its right. I encourage people to get educated about it and find out what kind of people are going to jail, what kind of people use marijuana.

Me, Anna, Ed Rosenthal and the Kush Boys at the Los Angeles THC Expo, 2009.

AB: What do you think the perception is of people who go to jail for marijuana?

AF: If you are educated you can look at the statistics and see it is a war on people who are usually of color or living in poverty. Those are the people who are in jail but not necessarily all the people who use. I think the perception of marijuana has changed now but before it was someone who was a druggie or addict.

AB: I wanted people to hear your story because your dad wasn’t a druggie, you were the normal American, Oklahoma-white bread family before all this happened.

AF: Yeah, it affects a lot of people. It’s unfair and unjust. That is the whole point. The political motivation behind it is prison systems and money and its people’s lives and family that are being torn apart. It’s just not right.

AB: If your dad had not been re-sentenced and released early, he would still have 75 years left on his sentence. How do you think your life would have been different?

AF: There would be no relationship [between my dad and I]. He has been in jail for about ten years altogether fighting parole violations, always on technicalities and bad paperwork. That’s the story of his life.

Parole is fucked up, it’s designed to keep you in the system. You never have a chance at a normal life and you will never be successful. You can’t get a job, people are always suspicious of you and you are always the first person to go to jail. I mean, you can’t really ever have a normal life. All throughout my whole 20′s, he has been in and out of jail. There have been times I really needed him. There have been a lot of situations where it would be nice to have him.

AB: What are you doing now? 

AF: Now I work at Dark Heart Nursery, I do admin and nursery propagation on a commercial scale. I’ve done a lot of pest and plant research and work hands on with the cannabis plant. Its nice to be able to be in the marijuana industry. My work is very official, completely legal and professional; it is really great to be involved with something like that and enjoy it. Aside from my day job, there is 3 Ladies, a women’s owned garden co-op founded by myself and two other girlfriends. I’m also honored to say I’ve just been signed onto Apothecary Genetics as their social media coordinator working directly with Bret Bogue. So I am very grateful to be an industry that is growing, innovative, and is about more than just money.

So kind of like Happy Buds, I live a cannabis lifestyle. I smoke every day and am high functioning. I get to live free in Oakland, I love it. Last weekend I got to vaporize in box suites at an A’s game and smoke in a nightclub the evening before. You can’t do that everywhere, I fell very appreciative that I can live how I am and be proud of who I am. It’s me, its my story, it has meaning for me. I love that I can live my lifestyle and not go to jail for it. Sometimes I want to go back home, it’s a great place to raise a family, but I cant until the laws change. Oklahoma is home to me. I want to fight for the freedom for other people to do what they want to. How many people get to do all the great things I do? And really live how they want to live? That’s what this movement is about. Freedom, Love. And Cannabis.

Mayor Asks City Attorney to Research Marijuana Decriminalization

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero is asking the city attorney to look into the impact and legalities of decriminalizing marijuana. He told wilx.com it's just a matter of time until there's a referendum on the issue, so he wants to know how cities like Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo have implemented it and how they're complying with state law.

 "It's there, it's available in our community. I think we're better off dealing with it as a civil infraction and dealing with the reality of it."

The Mayor doesn't think decriminalization would be a huge change in Lansing because police don't treat simple possession as a priority right now. "We don't have the manpower to go after individual cases, so turning it into a civil infraction in many ways is just recognizing what already is, but would also stop the criminalization of a lot of our young people."

Decriminalization means people caught with marijuana, assuming they aren't complying with the state's medical marijuana law, would be given a ticket instead of being arrested. The Mayor calls it a rational approach to a drug that's readily available in the community. In fact, he says it's been pushed into neighborhoods since the state asked the courts to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Mayor thinks a referendum would be the best way to decide if Lansing should decriminalize marijuana, but he won't be leading the charge for it and he isn't supporting legalization.

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Grow Cannabis Indoors

Indisputable Evidence That Cannabis May Be The Most Nutritional Vegetable In The World

Grow Cannabis Indoors