City police looking for a runaway juvenile stumbled onto a marijuana “grow operation,” seized more than 40 pot plants and arrested two apartment house neighbors. Mark W. Horner, 53, of the 100 block of South Street, faces counts of drug manufacturing, possession with intent to deliver, drug possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was jailed in lieu of $40,000 bond. Joseph M. Bravo, 49, of an apartment in the same building, was charged with drug paraphernalia and false identification to law enforcement. He was jailed in lieu of $20,000 bond.

The case began Friday evening when Officer Erin Kabler was asked by Adams Township police if he would check out a South Street apartment. A 17-year-old runaway was believed to be at the residence where Bravo and his son, Joseph J. Bravo, lived.

Kabler said in court papers he was unable to find a clearly marked address or entrance, and made his way up outside steps to the rear of the residence.

A man later identified as Joseph M. Bravo came to the door at Horner’s apartment.

“Who the —- are you? Do you have a ——- warrant?” Bravo allegedly demanded.

Kabler asked the man if he was Joseph Bravo, and the man said no and provided a false name.

Kabler said he saw a marijuana pipe and numerous liquor bottles on the kitchen table and countertop. He said he was placing the man under arrest for possession of the pot pipe in clear view of the doorway.

As the officer was handcuffing Bravo, he heard other people moving about inside the residence and called for backup.

Officers secured the residence and began to talk with Horner, who said he wouldn’t answer any questions.

According to court papers, police “observed several marijuana plants in one room with lighting, a humidifier and other items used in the cultivation of marijuana. The windows to this room had thick foam board covering them.

“These affiants also observed an area which had thick reflective foil along the wall and stretched across a corner of the room. Behind the foil were numerous marijuana plants of various stages of growth. These plants were under large lights,” the complaint stated.

Pot also was found in a glass tank, where it apparently was being dried. Heat lamps, aquariums, dryers and plant food were among items seized after a search warrant was issued at the Kernville apartment.

Police said they had discovered a similar operation at a former address of Mark Horner.

Johnstown police Capt. Andrew Frear didn’t have a street value for the seized marijuana. He said Monday that the investigation is continuing.

Both Horner and Bravo were arraigned by on-call District Judge Michael Musulin. Their preliminary hearings before District Judge Leonard Grecek – scheduled for Thursday – likely will be postponed, court officials said.

A 29-year-old Kalispell man was sentenced to one year and one day in prison with seven years of supervised release Wednesday during U.S. District Court proceedings in Missoula. Tyler Roe had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana after it was discovered that he, Michael Kassner and others had been operating a marijuana grow operation in Olney. The owner of the building in which it was located had transformed the interior into a growing facility.

A search on March 14, 2011, led to the seizure of approximately 718 marijuana plants.
Roe considered himself the “on-site manager” of the Black Pearl dispensary.
Roe lived on the premises along with Kassner, who also has pleaded guilty to federal charges. Roe said his job was to do construction work and take care of the plants
He was also ordered to pay a special assessment of $100.
The investigation that led to the charges was a cooperative effort between U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Northwest Montana Drug Task Force.
Dispensary owner Ryan Blindheim has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana and money laundering.

Synthetic marijuana, packaged under names like “herbal incense” and “potpourri,” gives users a high similar to cannabis, and the side effects can be dangerous. Law enforcement officials, politicians and substance-abuse specialists say this kind of drug is quickly becoming a serious problem in the North Country. According to the Franklin County Prevention Task Force, brands like K2, Spice and Kush are sold legally, on the Internet and in stores, to buyers over the age of 18. When smoked or ingested, they provide a high and can also result in increased heart rate, paranoia, psychosis, vomiting and seizures.

In a recent interview with the Enterprise, Lt. Brent Davison of the state police Troop B Bureau of Criminal Investigation said increased use of synthetic drugs is happening at the same time law-enforcement agencies look to crack down on prescription drug abuse.

“Now you start seeing some of the other synthetic drugs coming out on the market, and that’s going to be a whole new problem,” Davison said. “Stuff like the K2. There’s companies making synthetic or fake marijuana that they sell as incense, when in reality everybody knows that people are taking it and smoking it to get an altered state of mind.”

Davison said businesses across the North Country are selling these products, including “bath salts,” a synthetic stimulant that has an effect similar to amphetamines.

“And they’ll put a warning on it: ‘Not for human consumption,’” he said. “But in reality, everyone selling them knows what they’re going to be used for. We’ve had several people going to emergency rooms for severe problems. We fortunately haven’t had any deaths up here, but there have been deaths in other parts of the state and country.”

Last year, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency imposed a crackdown on Spice and other fake pot brands. The one-year crackdown aimed to avoid what the DEA called an “imminent threat to public health and safety.” The action labeled five chemicals found in the products as temporarily controlled substances under federal law, meaning they became illegal to possess or sell. Those five chemicals, the DEA said, “claim to mimic THC,” the active ingredient in marijuana.

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart said in a 2011 statement that since 2009, the agency has received an “increasing number of reports from poison control centers, hospitals and law enforcement” related to the use of synthetic marijuana. What’s worse, she said, is that young people believe the products to be safe.

Davison said efforts to ban the substances haven’t been successful.

“And unfortunately, what happens is that they get chemists and stuff that just alter whatever that scheduled drug is by a couple things so it’s no longer illegal to sell it,” he said.

Lisa Parker, of Saranac Lake Middle School and the Franklin County Prevention Task Force, wrote in a letter published in today’s Enterprise that even middle school children are using these synthetic drugs and that in the last year, more than 10 percent of high school seniors claimed to have used them.

“This illegal drug use is second only to marijuana and is clearly on the rise,” Parker wrote.

Prevention specialists said parents should look for a variety of warning signs that could signal whether children are using the products. They include mood changes, depression, decreased motivation, bizarre behavior, change in appearance and delusional thoughts.

Local politicians are beginning to take note of the growing epidemic. Last week, Essex County supervisors called upon state lawmakers to address the problem.

“The items are legally sold as incense or bath salts,” said Lewis town Supervisor David Blades. “In reality, if these legal products, sold in New York, are ingested, users can experience unexpected anxiety attacks, extreme paranoia, hallucinations, thought of suicide and are most definitely at risk of hurting themselves or other people.”

Blades said that in addition to the federal government, 38 states have taken action “to control one or more of the chemicals used to provide the state of euphoria associated with synthetic marijuana.” He said policymakers in Albany need to follow suit.

Idahoans can already get away with using marijuana for medical purposes – they just have to go to Oregon to do it. “Doctors in Idaho are sending patients from Idaho to Oregon to get medical marijuana,” said Bill Esbensen, the director of 45th Parallel, a non-profit marijuana co-op near the Oregon-Idaho border. While using marijuana for any reason is a federal crime, 16 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws allowing medical marijuana. However, Oregon is the only state that allows non-residents to acquire and use medical marijuana there.

Esbensen says some Idahoans risk being arrested by taking medical marijuana with them back across the state border, while others simply don’t go back to Idaho at all.

“I personally know 60-year-olds – several couples – that sold their homes in Idaho and moved to Oregon, so they wouldn’t have to deal with the paranoia of taking it home.”

District 6 Republican Rep. Tom Trail of Moscow says he’s made similar observations.

“Over 500 Idaho families have been forced to move to eastern Oregon because they have a member of their family who is need of a physician’s prescription for medical marijuana,” said Trail.

Even though a similar bill failed last year, Trail is sponsoring a another bill this year that would allow people like that to access and use marijuana without having to go to Oregon.

“You keep your foot on the pedal because it may take time, but good ideas and especially those that would relieve human suffering need to be out in front of the public and our elected officials.”

His controversial bill is called the “Idaho Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act.” It’s still in the early phases of the legislature, but there’s already opposition. The Spokesman-Review and the Associated Press say Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter opposes the idea of legalizing medical marijuana in the Gem State.

Idaho isn’t the only state currently considering the adoption of some type of medical marijuana law. Fifteen other states have similar bills at various stages in their legislatures.

Marion police say they confiscated 50 packs of synthetic marijuana, along with numerous items used for preparation and consumption of illegal drugs and some currency, in a bust on Main Street. Police say it is the second raid for the synthetic drug in one week. The raid occurred Friday afternoon at Shirts & Stuff in the 400 block of Main Street in Marion. Police say they were tipped off by several residents. The synthetic marijuana, also known as K2, is illegal in Ohio. It goes by many names.

Police say in this case, the drugs they confiscated were labeled as “Defiant Blue,” “Defiant Summit,” and “King Kush.”

The owners of Shirts & Stuff declined to speak to NBC4, but a friend said the owners have been there for 10 years. He emphasized that the owners were told by the distributors that the form of synthetic marijuana they were selling was legal.

Jarod Christian says he’s shopped at the store and was shocked to find out about the K2 bust.

“You would never think it was them,” Christian said.

Marion police say drug-trafficking charges on one person are pending in connection with this case.

Last October, the city of Sacramento temporarily suspended its medical-cannabis-dispensary permitting process. The reason: An unexpected court ruling from down south that put the legality of all California pot ordinances into question. Even San Francisco, a hotbed of marijuana-law reform, froze its medical-cannabis-dispensary permitting this winter, just as dozens of others cities across the state, and now everyone nervously awaits a decision by the California Supreme Court on the very legality of such permits.

A couple dozen local groups that are seeking permits for Sacramento dispensaries—many in the central city—have been caught in limbo. Sacramento has zero permitted dispensaries, but it has an ordinance and a process intended to legalize up to three dozen clubs, which in the interim are allowed to remain open.

An October decision by California’s Second District Court of Appeals, in the case of Pack v. Long Beach, ruled that local regulations—such as permits and fees and ordinances—are preempted by federal law. City attorneys interpreted this as: 1. California cities and counties could either help the federal government prosecute what they view as illegal marijuana, or 2. just stand by idly and not issue permits. Local jurisdictions could not, according to the appeals-court ruling, actively contravene federal law with medical-marijuana-distribution permits, fees, mandates for lab testing or other ordinance regulations.

As a result, progressive California cities such as Sacramento have paused their programs. Meanwhile, other cities and counties opposed to medical marijuana are using Pack to ban dispensaries outright.

At the same time, unregulated clubs possibly have legal cover to open without playing by any rules.

If Pack stands, “we have an out-of-control industry we could not effectively regulate,” said Bob Shannon, Long Beach’s city attorney. “It’s a totally unacceptable set of circumstances, at least for us.”

Shannon’s office was going to go to the Long Beach City Council on January 17, and request a ban on all dispensaries, but then the state Supreme Court announced last week that it would in fact hear a Pack appeal.

There are about 60 dispensaries in Long Beach—and not one has a permit under the city’s spring 2010 ordinance, which called for a lottery system and steep fees to determine which operators could stay open. Long Beach has also mandated safety testing.

Long Beach dispensary operator Ryan Pack, represented by attorney Matt Pappas, sued Long Beach over its permit program in September 2010, arguing that federal law preempts localities from picking lottery winners for pot permits. Astonishingly, the appellate court upheld the interpretation in October.

The state supreme court’s timeline to make a decision is approximately nine to 12 months. Its verdict will be pivotal, of course.

The American Civil Liberties Union, several cities and national marijuana-patient lobby Americans for Safe Access have denounced the appellate court’s decision and asked the Supreme Court to de-publish it. Pack stymies regulation and leads to bans that prevent safe access, they say. Three other California appellate courts have ruled to the contrary on issues of federal pre-emption, critics note.

Shannon agrees. “The law on this issue is chaotic, and has not been consistently applied,” he said.

Supervising deputy city attorney in Sacramento Gustavo Limon Martinez told SN&R that the Supreme Court’s review of the appellate Pack opinion makes for an even more uncertain environment here in Sacramento. “It would be pure speculation to provide any comment on how the Supreme Court will rule on Pack or how that final decision may or may not impact the city’s ordinance,” he said.

Los Angeles City Attorney Asha Greenberg seemed exasperated. “With Pack, we can’t regulate, we can’t control what kind of quality products people are getting when it comes to things people eat, pesticides, potency, any of that.” Los Angeles is also mulling a ban again.

Northern California dispensary developer Debby Goldsberry said cities and counties quickly used Pack as an excuse to ban dispensaries. “Right now is the worst time to pursue a city permit almost anywhere,” she said. “Pack has had a big effect. A lot of cities are just waiting it out at this point. Some big change is coming if Pack stands.”

However, some cities are still advancing: Oakland intends to permit four groups to open new dispensaries by the month’s end, and in December, the city of Richmond permitted its first three dispensaries, said city attorney Mary Renfro.

Cities might be able to reword their permitting schemes to survive preemption, Pack notes. Arturo Sanchez, assistant to the city administrator in Oakland, indicated it could take three weeks to four months for the city to rewrite its ordinances around Pack, if it’s upheld.

But Long Beach city attorney Shannon said rewording ordinances to comply with Pack is too hard. It would mean switching from a system of “permits” to something like a “certificate of non-disallowal.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Shannon said.

Oakland lawyer and dispensary-permit applicant Robert Raich expects the U.S. Supreme Court to de-publish Pack. The high court has a history of upholding state law in the face of federal preemption challenges, he said.

“It was wrongly decided, and it will be de-published or review will be granted,” Raich said. “Eventually, the state Supreme Court will reverse it.”

Still, the Pack decision exposes the fault line running through the national terrain of marijuana law.

“We’ve known for some time that [regulation] isn’t consistent with federal law,” Shannon said. “Unfortunately, Long Beach just got put at the front of the class.”

Armie Hammer apparently has had a run in with the law back in 2011. It was recently uncovered that the actor, who starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in “J. Edgar”, had to spend one night in jail after getting arrested for marijuana possession in the west Texas town of Sierra Blanca. TMZ detailed that the 25-year-old was detained on November 30 after a drug-sniffing dog at a border patrol checkpoint discovered that he had three medicinal pot cookies and one brownie in his possession. He was released on a $1,000 bond, and faced no further punishment because he was carrying less than the 4 ounces required to prosecute for a felony.

Sierra Blanca is the same town where both Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg were arrested for similar offense. Nelson got into trouble there back in November 2010 for having six ounces of pot in his tour bus, and Dogg was busted with prescription bottles containing rolled marijuana cigarettes in January 2012.

Hammer is known for his portrayal of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss in “The Social Network”. He will next be seen starring opposite Julia Roberts and Lily Collins in Tarsem Singh-directed comedy film “Mirror, Mirror”.

Even with a federal warning that cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana is a violation of the Controlled Substances Act, the growing and sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes is moving forward in the District. WeGrow — the hydroponics superstore referred to nationally as the “Wal-Mart of Weed”— is set to open in the nation’s capital in March. The growing franchise sells all of the products and services one would need to grow marijuana or other indoor plants, but does not sell the plant itself.

In a press release, weGrow D.C. franchisee Alex Wong said he has secured a lease for the store at 1522 Rhode Island Ave. NE. The 2,500-square-foot store will feature a similar layout to weGrow’s West Coast retail stores and will provide a full array of products and services to medical marijuana cultivators and indoor gardening enthusiasts. The store is near the only Home Depot in D.C. and is blocks from the Rhode Island Avenue Metro stop.
Under the new D.C. law, D.C. doctors can write medical marijuana prescriptions for patients who suffer from conditions such as multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma and other serious conditions. The law calls for 10 sites that will be authorized to grow the plant, five distribution centers where people can obtain medical marijuana with a D.C. doctor’s prescription. The lists for cultivation centers and dispensaries are due to be released in March with the full program under way by late spring.

It’s hard to deny medical marijuana — prescribed in the proper amounts to patients who truly need it and can be trusted to use it responsibly — is completely acceptable. Legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes, however, is a completely different matter. As the numbers of recreational users drastically increase, so will irresponsible use. Some legalization proponents might be tempted to compare marijuana to alcohol. This is an insufficient comparison at best.

The fact is that these substances are different as are their effects on people. Additionally, marijuana is considered a “gateway” drug, with the potential to lead users to other drugs such as cocaine.

Moreover, the secondhand smoke marijuana produces can have an intoxicating effect on others nearby, especially children. I don’t imagine most people would send their children to friends’ homes where the parents’ actions might inadvertently get the children high, regardless whether there are additional sober adults around to supervise them.

Also consider the increased number of impaired drivers that will be on the road. This is where a largely overlooked issue comes into play: Society is not politically, legally or socially prepared for legal recreational marijuana.

We will have to develop field tests to detect impaired drivers as well as additional laws pertaining to the use of marijuana in public places and around others (such as children or drivers). What about in the workplace? The list goes on.

Here is the bottom line: Would you want your neighbors high and making foolish choices, especially around your family?

Please make wise decisions. Legalized recreational marijuana is not a good idea.