HT News Hit - Imaginary Possession Very Real

• We’ve all seen police reports that state the number of plants seized in a raid and then attach some ridiculous monetary value to the seizure that seems completely implausible. In a recent article, the Fresno Bee explores the debate over valuing marijuana plants.

“On average, each plant would yield a pound of usable marijuana over its remaining lifetime, and a pound of marijuana is worth about $4,000 when sold in small quantities on the street.” That’s the formula California’s Department of Justice uses when estimating the value of a seizure.

But why not weigh the actual amount of “usable marijuana” seized? NORML’s Keith Stroup considers these police estimates “self-serving.” After all, larger quantities mean harsher penalties. “I don’t think most plants [would yield a pound] at any one time — unless it’s a massive plant … What would make more sense would be to weigh the buds,” says Stroup.

Huh. That does seem to make more sense. Unfortunately Casey McEnry of the DEA disagrees: “We’re not weighing the plants … When I give an estimate, it’s based on how many pounds [a plant] is capable of producing.”

It’s hard to believe but that means you could be in possession of imaginary (or potential) pot. …fresnobee.com

• Our own Rick Cusick (HT Associate Publisher) asked the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates if they would sign the state medical marijuana bill, which passed the senate and is currently in the assembly.

All three candidates said they’d sign the bill if/when it crossed their desk with Jon Corzine being the most emphatic and Chris Christie the most I-hate-the-idea-of-pot-but-this-is-a-popular-bill-so-I-have-to-say-I’m-in-favor-of-it –ish:

“Given my law enforcement background also I have to say … the devil in this is going to be in the details. We don’t want people who have a headache to be able go and get medical marijuana,” Christie said. “There has to be sufficient legal safeguards to make sure we don’t turn into California and everybody with a headache is going out and getting high,” he added with a shit-eating grin (see video). …nj.com

• The Orange County Register is running a poll to gauge support for the three California state initiatives that propose legalizing marijuana. This probably isn’t super accurate for gauging the support of Californians (i.e. the people who would actually be voting for or against these initiatives should they make the ballot), but, for what it’s worth, 83 percent of those who responded to the poll were in favor of Cali legalizing it. Feel free to drive that number up here: …ocregister.com

• Wisconsin just might become the 14th state to legalize pot for medicinal purposes. The state legislature is currently working on a bill modeled after Michigan’s medical marijuana program. State Senator Jon Erpenbach believes “Michigan’s law gives credibility to their cause.” Not sure why their cause was lacking credibility before Michigan passed its law. Nonetheless, we’re glad Wisconsin is motivated. …fox21online.com