Tag: the war on (some) drugs

Texas DA known for naked stunts faces five years in prison after posting video of herself smoking weed in her garden

Best known for a viral video in which she straddled an oil pumping jack while topless and bottomless, a Texas elected official now faces jail time after smoking a joint on TikTok.

District Attorney Sarah Stogner, 41, could be incarceration after she posted a social media video of herself smoking weed in protest of a state ban on THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. 

The Republican made headlines in 2022 when she posted the viral clip of her riding the oil pump jack at the time she was running to be the state’s railroad commissioner.

Stogner, now the DA of Texas’s 143rd judicial district near Pecos, hopes her latest stunt might shame Texas into legalizing weed – especially if she is arrested and made a martyr for the cause. 

‘I did this to raise attention,’ she told Newsweek. 

‘Its silly that our elected officials want to completely ban THC when that’s not what our constituents want.’

Medical marijuana is legal in Texas, but recreational use of the drug is not. 

And in recent weeks, Lone Star State lawmakers passed a bill banning any products containing any ‘detectable amount of any cannabinoid.’

If signed into law, the bill would outlaw the majority of hemp products, including those that are legal under the federal definition in Texas. 

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Trump DOJ Asks Supreme Court To Uphold Ban On Marijuana Users Owning Guns

Amid a series of legal challenges, the Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case on the federal government’s ban on users of marijuana and other illegal drugs from owning firearms and uphold the prohibition, saying it is consistent with the 2nd Amendment.

To that end, the DOJ solicitor general is urging SCOTUS to hear one of five relevant cases to resolve conflicting lower court decisions on gun rights for cannabis consumers.

With the multiple competing legal cases resulting in differing rulings in federal appeals courts across the country, DOJ last week requested that SCOTUS review one in particular that it described as “archetypal” of the issue related to federal code 922(g)(3), which precludes users of unlawful drugs from having guns or ammo.

The case “presents an important Second Amendment issue that affects hundreds of prosecutions every year: whether the government may disarm individuals who habitually use unlawful drugs but are not necessarily under the influence while possessing a firearm,” U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer, an appointee of President Donald Trump, said.

The solicitor general reiterated his position that, despite recent appeals court decisions calling into question the constitutionality of the firearms ban for people who use cannabis—even in compliance with state law—the restriction is nevertheless lawful.

Some lower courts have said the government’s blanket ban on gun and ammunition possession infringes on the Second Amendment—at least as applied to certain individual cases—because there’s no historical justification for such a broad restriction on an entire category of people.

But over recent years, various federal district and appeals courts have take differing approaches to the issue. As DOJ argued in its latest filing in the case, “the question presented is the subject of a multi-sided and growing circuit conflict.”

“The petition for a writ of certiorari [filed by Sauer in June] identified three sides of that conflict: The Seventh Circuit has upheld Section 922(g)(3); the Eighth Circuit has held it violates the Second Amendment unless the government can make a case-by-case showing justifying the drug user’s disarmament; and the Fifth Circuit has held that it generally violates the Second Amendment unless the drug user was intoxicated while possessing the firearm.”

“Since then, the conflict has deepened,” it said, referring to several other cases on the issue that are pending before the high court. And DOJ wants SCOTUS to focus on one case in particular to resolve what it called a “four-way circuit conflict”: U.S. v. Hemani.

One reason DOJ could be focused on the justices taking up Hemani in particular is that the defendant in that case is not only a cannabis user but also a user of cocaine who’s sold drugs in the past, according to court findings, which could make him less sympathetic in the eyes of the court. Defendants in the other cases were merely found in possession of both a firearm and marijuana.

Lawyers for the defendant in Hemani argued in a brief last month that the high court should decline the case.

But in its reply brief submitted to SCOTUS this week, the Justice Department said that “this case is the best vehicle available.”

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New Mexico Environment Department bans production of synthetic hemp in the state

The New Mexico Environment Department is doing what it can to regulate deceptive hemp products sold in stores by issuing an emergency ruling to ban the manufacturing of synthetic cannabinoids in New Mexico. “They’re putting something in their body without knowing what it is and without understanding what the effects may be. We believe that puts people at a significant health risk,” said John Rhoderick, Deputy Cabinet Secretary of Administration, New Mexico Environment Department.

Synthetic cannabinoids are products chemically altered to give similar effects to THC and are often sold at convenience stores with little regulation. This issue was at the center of a Larry Barker investigation, exposing the problem of cannabis products being identified as hemp, allowing them to be sold anywhere. A bill from last legislative session aimed to make it illegal for synthetic cannabinoids to be made or sold in New Mexico, but that bill failed.

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Is Cannabis Really Legal If You Can’t Grow Your Own Weed?

For many, the cannabis policy reform movement is rooted in the quest for personal liberty. Legalization isn’t just about getting high; it’s about being able to live your life the way you want to live it.

In too many places, however, the legalization of cannabis does not include the freedom to grow the plant. Instead, cannabis patients and consumers are forced to participate in an overregulated and overtaxed market that not everyone can afford.

The Freedom To Grow Depends on Where You Live

A total of 25 states with legal weed have also legalized home cultivation, either for medical cannabis patients or all adults aged 21 and older, according to information from cannabis reform advocacy group the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). But 15 states that have legalized pot (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and West Virginia) still forbid home cultivation. Most of these states have only legalized cannabis for medical use. Delaware and New Jersey, however, have legalized recreational use but don’t allow home cultivation.

Additionally, some states that have legalized home cannabis cultivation for some still deny many adults the right to grow. In Illinois and Washington, home cultivation has only been legalized for medical cannabis patients, while in Nevada, only those who live more than 25 miles from a licensed dispensary can grow their own weed.

The fact that so many states that have legalized marijuana still deny the people the right to grow plants at home raises a fundamental question. Is cannabis really legal if you can’t grow your own weed? 

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Chaotic NYC ‘Safe’ Injection-Sites Put On Notice By Trump

Democrats fully own the crime and chaos plaguing major cities, after decades of failed progressive experiments that have only backfired spectacularly, transforming some parts of America’s largest metropolitan areas into lawless, crime-ridden no-go zones. 

There’s an urgent need for course correction and to restore law and order in major cities run by rogue Democratic leaders whose failed social justice policies (influenced by leftist billionaires and their NGOs), like defunding the police and “safe” injection sites, have only fueled more crime, chaos, and disorder on the streets. 

President Trump’s “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” executive order, issued late last month, has put these taxpayer-funded safe injection sites on notice.

Safe injection sites, such as those run by nonprofit OnPoint NYC in East Harlem and Washington Heights, supervise illegal drug use under the guise of harm reduction.

A clear legal precedent was set in 2019 under President Trump’s first term via the Department of Justice that successfully blocked a proposed safe injection site in Philadelphia under the Controlled Substances Act. The Third Circuit upheld the decision, and the Supreme Court let it stand. That ruling could now be used against NYC’s injection sites if the Manhattan U.S. Attorney chooses to follow Philadelphia’s lead. 

Trump’s new order calls on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to ensure that none of its “discretionary grants” indirectly fund such sites, which have been causing significant problems at the local level.

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13 Minnesota Cities Are Looking To Launch Government-Owned Marijuana Stores

As some Minnesota cities fret over regulating newly legalized and normalized marijuana sales, others see an opportunity.

Elk River is among 13 Minnesota cities considering opening municipally owned cannabis stores. They would be blazing new trails in this regard, as government-run pot shops aren’t currently in use anywhere else in the country. City Administrator Cal Portner talks about Elk River’s approach as making the most of a situation.

“I don’t sense that our council is enthusiastic about the law to legalize, but they’re accepting of reality,” he said.

Revenue potential from cannabis sales, and how it can be put to use in the community, is part of the appeal. Assuring compliance is also part of it.

“Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor,” Portner said. “We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry.”

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Another powerful Democrat nabbed by U.S. Attorney Leah Foley

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley has become the Massachusetts Democratic Party’s worst nightmare.

Foley nabbed yet another powerful Democratic elected official on Friday, indicting longtime Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins for extorting a Boston cannabis company executive.

Tompkins, who has loomed large on the Boston political scene, allegedly demanded a $50,000 “pre-equity interest” in the cannabis company right before it went public with an IPO, according to Foley’s office.

“His alleged actions are an affront to taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department,” Foley said in a statement.

Tompkins is the most prominent Democrat in a string of indictments that Foley has secured this year, including Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson on a bribery charge and state Rep. Chris Flanagan on wire fraud.

Anderson eventually resigned in disgrace and is awaiting sentencing. Flanagan is still holding on to his seat in the Legislature.

Foley has single-handedly done more damage to the state Democratic Party than the feeble Massachusetts Republican Party.

She has been a breath of fresh air in this politically corrupt state, doing the job because few have the guts to take on the powerful Democratic establishment.

“Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain,” Foley said.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell has been a no-show when it comes to prosecuting political corruption, choosing instead to issue frivolous lawsuits against President Donald Trump.

The Tompkins case exposes the continued culture of corruption in Massachusetts politics. It also exposes the corrupt cannabis industry, where a number of politicians have tried to cash in on the lucrative business.

Tompkins’ predecessor in the Sheriff’s office, Andrea Cabral, left to become a top executive for a Boston area cannabis company, Ascend Cannabis, which looms as a likely player in the Tompkins case.

The indictment charges that Tompkins tried to bully a cannabis executive to give him the early $50,000 equity stake in exchange for cooperating in a program the Suffolk Sheriff’s office was participating in with the company. The company was hiring ex-cons from jail to work for the cannabis firm.

The indictment never names the cannabis company or executive, but according to a 2018 story in the Boston Globe, Cabral’s company “plans to work directly with the Suffolk County Sheriff to hire people recently released from jail as workers at its facilities.”

Cabral and Tompkins were also college classmates and close friends, according to the story.

Tompkins “is downright enthusiastic about the partnership,” the fawning Globe story went on to say.

“We’re a nation of second chances, or at least that’s what they used to tell us,” Tompkins was quoted as saying. “If someone who hasn’t had good opportunities in life can catch on and make a decent living? It’s awesome. There’s no squeamishness on my part at all.”

Now we know just why Tompkins wasn’t so “squeamish.” He was allegedly planning to make a pile of cash on the deal as well.

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FBI Arrests Sanctuary County Sheriff in Massachusetts After Cannabis Retailer Extortion Investigation

The FBI announced the arrest of a sheriff from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on charges of extortion. The arrest of the immigration sanctuary county sheriff follows an investigation into allegations that he extorted $50,000 from a Boston-based cannabis company.

FBI agents arrested Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins on Friday in the Southern District of Florida, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. He will be transported to Boston after an appearance in the Florida federal court.

Tompkins is charged by indictment for two counts of Extortion under Color of Official Right. He allegedly extorted $50,000 from the owner of a national cannabis retailer based in Boston.

“Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks said in a written statement. “Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself.”

Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding – not self-serving,” Docks said. “His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better.”

Court records reveal that the cannabis company sought to open a retail cannabis dispensary in Boston. Following the application with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission, Sheriff Tompkins allegedly pressured one of the owners to obtain stock in the venture. After increasing pressure from the sheriff, he wired a $50,000 payment for shares in the company.

The stock eventually decreased in value to the point that the sheriff allegedly lost money in his investment and demanded a refund of the $50,000. The individual refunded the money in smaller payments, labeling them as “loan repayments” to disguise the nature of the payments, prosecutors stated.

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Before The Supposed Climate Change Crisis Could Ruin John Kerry’s Posh Neighborhood – Drug Addicts Did It Instead

Former Secretary of State and climate change alarmist John Kerry’s high-class neighborhood has reportedly been overrun with drug users, who ironically did more damage to the area than his supposed extreme weather events.

Kerry’s been preaching about climate-change consequences for decades. Yet before any of the hypothetical chaos had a chance to affect him, liberal governance brought another plague to his doorstep: Addiction.

Back in 2007, Kerry spoke with the Council on Foreign Relations about how climate change is “a national security issue.”

The former senator was introduced as having spoken out “on the topic of climate change for some 20 years now and has promoted hi-tech green solutions to stabilizing climate change and called attention to the economic risks of failing to address climate change. He’s also [an] advocate for the adoption of innovative and strategic national energy policy.”

Kerry’s 2009 claim in a Huffington Post op-ed that the Arctic would be “ice free by the summer of 2013” was examined by PolitiFact and judged to be “mostly false” at the time.

“Scientists project that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer of 2013. Not in 2050, but four years from now,” Kerry wrote. “Make no mistake: catastrophic climate change represents a threat to human security, global stability, and — yes — even to American national security.”

In 2017, when Kerry paid $11.75 million for property on the water in Martha’s Vineyard, he didn’t seem too concerned about rising sea levels or climate catastrophes.

Fast forward to today, and an actual crisis is playing out in Beacon Hill, where Kerry also owns property, according to Fox News.

Local residents are complaining that city leaders aren’t doing enough to contain open drug use in the streets, creating a chaotic situation.

“Prior to this year, I’ve never seen the Boston Common, Cambridge Street or the Esplanade get this overrun with drug paraphernalia or folks in crisis,” resident Katherine Kennedy said. “As a mother of two small children, this is very scary.”

Boston’s Democratic mayor hasn’t helped the situation, either.

Back in 2022, Mayor Michelle Wu launched a needle exchange program, which also included distributing free pipes for smoking crack or meth.

Wu defended the program, claiming it prevents addicts from contracting diseases that could spread into the general populace, WHDH in Boston reported.

So, using liberal logic, we should spend billions — even trillions — of dollars on climate-change funding with no questions asked, despite its ever-changing benchmark. But when it comes to a drug epidemic, we should feed the fire by giving out free paraphernalia?

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Dealer’s Talking Parrot Helps Police Nail Entire Drug Ring

A British drug ring was busted and its members jailed after police found the next best thing to a stool pigeon.

Mango, a pet parrot, became vital evidence through his vocabulary lessons after police arrested multiple members of a drug gang in Blackpool, according to ITV.

Fifteen people in all, including a man who ran a drug dealing operation from prison, were convicted in an investigation that got its big break when cell phones were discovered in the prison cell of Adam Garnett, the ringleader, according to a post from Lancashire police on their website.

From those phones, police were able to identify his contacts, which included Shannon Hilton, Garnett’s girlfriend. Videos found on her phone became important evidence that led to multiple convictions.

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