VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Mum is busted for using giant marijuana plant as Christmas tree
Rob Waugh for Metro.co.ukTuesday 9 Dec 2014 11:18 am
5.2k
Is this ‘the best Christmas tree in the world’? The police didn’t agree (Picture: CEN)
A mum who boasted to neighbours that she had the ‘best Christmas tree in the world’ was busted by police – who revealed that it wasn’t a fir tree at all, but a gigantic marijuana plant.
As Angelica Navarro Pereira, 50, was dragged away by police, her neighbour Renato Quinonez Alfaro, 55, said: ‘Thinking about it, she didn’t invite me in to see her tree.
‘When I spoke to her yesterday she said her children were going to really enjoy Christmas this year and that she had the best tree in the world.
‘I don’t remember seeing her taking one in. Now I know why.’
Pereira was arrested with £2,500 in cash, 21 cannabis plants, two homemade shotguns and 29 bags of drugs.
Police raided her home San Bernardo, in the southern Chilean province of Maipo, and found the ‘tree’ surrounded by wrapped-up presents.
MORE: Jack Tweed: ‘My £150 a day cannabis addiction’
A police spokesman said: ‘The place was full of drugs. We had been investigating this woman for over a month.
‘We suspected she was involved in trafficking and when we had enough proof we carried out our raid.
‘We expected to find some drugs, but the last thing we expected to see was one of the plants being used as a Christmas tree.’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two California men busted in Texas for disguising 34 pounds of marijuana as Christmas gifts
Law enforcement officers in Amarillo seized 34 pounds of marijuana disguised as Christmas gifts during a traffic stop Wednesday, the Potter County Sherriff's Department said Thursday.
Officers arrested Jose Delgado, 33, and Emilio Delgado, 26, of Oroville, Ca., after pulling them over for speeding in a 2013 Nissan Altima, the department said in a news release posted to Facebook.
A sheriff's deputy could smell an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the release. After Jose Delgado, the driver, denied consent to search the vehicle, the deputy alerted the department's K-9 unit.
Approximately $119,000 worth of marijuana was found in three boxes disguised as Christmas gifts in the car's trunk, the release said. Officials believe the two men were en route to Austin.
Both suspects were booked into Potter County Detention Center on charges on third-degree felony charges of possession of marijuana, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
--------------—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry marijuana: Colorado pot sellers woo holiday shoppers
That’s not mistletoe.
From new marijuana strains for the holidays to gift sets and pot-and-pumpkin pies, the burgeoning marijuana industry in Colorado is scrambling to get a piece of the holiday shopping dollar. Dispensaries in many states have been offering holiday specials for medical customers for years — but this first season of open-to-all-adults marijuana sales in some states means pot shops are using more of the tricks used by traditional retailers to attract holiday shoppers.
Here’s a look at how the new recreational marijuana industry is trying to attract holiday shoppers:
OLD-FASHIONED DOORBUSTERS: Traditional retailers sell some items below cost to drive traffic and attract sales. Recreational marijuana retailers are doing the same.
The Grass Station in Denver is selling an ounce of marijuana for $50 — about a fifth of the cost of the next-cheapest strain at the Colorado dispensary — to the first 16 customers in line Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That works out to less than $1 a joint for the ambitious early-rising pot shopper. Owner Ryan Fox says his Black Friday pot is decent quality, and says he’s selling below cost to attract attention and pick up some new customers. As Colorado dispensaries approach a year of being able to sell weed to all adults over 21, not just card-carrying medical patients, Fox says retailers have to do more than just sell pot to get public attention.
Pot shops are using old and new media to tout the sales. One dispensary is taking out a full-page “Happy Danksgiving” ad in The Denver Post and is inviting shoppers to text a code for extra savings.
VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS: Sweets and marijuana seem to go together like hot chocolate and marshmallows. Many dispensaries this time of year resemble a Starbucks at the mall, with holiday spices and festive music in the air. One of the state’s largest edible-pot makers, Sweet Grass Kitchen, debuted a new miniature pumpkin pie that delivers about as much punch as a medium-sized joint. The pie joins holiday-spiced teas, minty pot confections and cannabis-infused honey oil for those who want to bake their own pot goodies at home. Even some edibles makers that specialize in savory foods, not sweets, are putting out some sugary items for the holidays. “It just tastes too good, we had to do it,” Better Baked owner Deloise Vaden said of her company’s holiday line of cannabis-infused sweet-potato and pumpkin pies.
HOLIDAY STRAINS: Some shops are angling for high-end holiday shoppers, not an increase in foot traffic. Colorado Harvest and Evergreen Apothecary timed the release of some top-shelf strains of potent pot for the holiday season. Spokeswoman Ann Dickerson says they’re “sort of like the best bourbon or Scotch that will be competing on quality, rather than price.”
GIFT CARDS: For the shopper who wants to give pot but doesn’t know how the recipient likes to get high, Colorado’s 300 or so recreational dispensaries so far have been able to issue only handwritten gift certificates. That’s because banking regulations prohibit major credit cards companies from being able to back marijuana-related gift cards the way they do for other retailers.
Just this month, a Colorado company started offering pot shops a branded gift card they can sell just like other retailers. The cards are in eight Denver dispensaries so far, and coming soon will be loyalty cards similar to grocery-store loyalty cards that track purchases and can be used to suggest sales or new products to frequent shoppers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Christmas wish: Pass medical marijuana bill (letter)
Updated: 12/23/2014 12:03:57 PM EST0 Comments
For the past 12 years, our family has had the same Christmas wish.
Our repeated wish, which has not yet come true, is to find a treatment that stops our youngest son’s seizures and restores his function, capability and quality of life.
Although it may be too late this for this year, there is hope in our hearts for next Christmas.
In the upcoming legislative session, our lawmakers will once again consider the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act, also known as Senate Bill 3.
If passed, this bill would give us, and thousands of other Pennsylvanians, the same opportunity to treat Michael that other families now enjoy in states that permit the limited and controlled medicinal use of this potentially lifesaving medication.
The bill would not mandate the use of medicinal marijuana, but rather provide our physicians with another option to treat patients with an alternative medication that has shown great promise in both research and application.
This is the season of hope, but the upcoming legislative session is the time for action.
Please help us make our wish come true.
Contact your legislators and urge them to quickly pass this vital legislation.
— Christopher and Angela Ferro,
Springettsbury Township
Rob Waugh for Metro.co.ukTuesday 9 Dec 2014 11:18 am
5.2k
Is this ‘the best Christmas tree in the world’? The police didn’t agree (Picture: CEN)
A mum who boasted to neighbours that she had the ‘best Christmas tree in the world’ was busted by police – who revealed that it wasn’t a fir tree at all, but a gigantic marijuana plant.
As Angelica Navarro Pereira, 50, was dragged away by police, her neighbour Renato Quinonez Alfaro, 55, said: ‘Thinking about it, she didn’t invite me in to see her tree.
‘When I spoke to her yesterday she said her children were going to really enjoy Christmas this year and that she had the best tree in the world.
‘I don’t remember seeing her taking one in. Now I know why.’
Pereira was arrested with £2,500 in cash, 21 cannabis plants, two homemade shotguns and 29 bags of drugs.
Police raided her home San Bernardo, in the southern Chilean province of Maipo, and found the ‘tree’ surrounded by wrapped-up presents.
MORE: Jack Tweed: ‘My £150 a day cannabis addiction’
A police spokesman said: ‘The place was full of drugs. We had been investigating this woman for over a month.
‘We suspected she was involved in trafficking and when we had enough proof we carried out our raid.
‘We expected to find some drugs, but the last thing we expected to see was one of the plants being used as a Christmas tree.’
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two California men busted in Texas for disguising 34 pounds of marijuana as Christmas gifts
Law enforcement officers in Amarillo seized 34 pounds of marijuana disguised as Christmas gifts during a traffic stop Wednesday, the Potter County Sherriff's Department said Thursday.
Officers arrested Jose Delgado, 33, and Emilio Delgado, 26, of Oroville, Ca., after pulling them over for speeding in a 2013 Nissan Altima, the department said in a news release posted to Facebook.
A sheriff's deputy could smell an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle, according to the release. After Jose Delgado, the driver, denied consent to search the vehicle, the deputy alerted the department's K-9 unit.
Approximately $119,000 worth of marijuana was found in three boxes disguised as Christmas gifts in the car's trunk, the release said. Officials believe the two men were en route to Austin.
Both suspects were booked into Potter County Detention Center on charges on third-degree felony charges of possession of marijuana, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
--------------—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Merry marijuana: Colorado pot sellers woo holiday shoppers
That’s not mistletoe.
From new marijuana strains for the holidays to gift sets and pot-and-pumpkin pies, the burgeoning marijuana industry in Colorado is scrambling to get a piece of the holiday shopping dollar. Dispensaries in many states have been offering holiday specials for medical customers for years — but this first season of open-to-all-adults marijuana sales in some states means pot shops are using more of the tricks used by traditional retailers to attract holiday shoppers.
Here’s a look at how the new recreational marijuana industry is trying to attract holiday shoppers:
OLD-FASHIONED DOORBUSTERS: Traditional retailers sell some items below cost to drive traffic and attract sales. Recreational marijuana retailers are doing the same.
The Grass Station in Denver is selling an ounce of marijuana for $50 — about a fifth of the cost of the next-cheapest strain at the Colorado dispensary — to the first 16 customers in line Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That works out to less than $1 a joint for the ambitious early-rising pot shopper. Owner Ryan Fox says his Black Friday pot is decent quality, and says he’s selling below cost to attract attention and pick up some new customers. As Colorado dispensaries approach a year of being able to sell weed to all adults over 21, not just card-carrying medical patients, Fox says retailers have to do more than just sell pot to get public attention.
Pot shops are using old and new media to tout the sales. One dispensary is taking out a full-page “Happy Danksgiving” ad in The Denver Post and is inviting shoppers to text a code for extra savings.
VISIONS OF SUGAR PLUMS: Sweets and marijuana seem to go together like hot chocolate and marshmallows. Many dispensaries this time of year resemble a Starbucks at the mall, with holiday spices and festive music in the air. One of the state’s largest edible-pot makers, Sweet Grass Kitchen, debuted a new miniature pumpkin pie that delivers about as much punch as a medium-sized joint. The pie joins holiday-spiced teas, minty pot confections and cannabis-infused honey oil for those who want to bake their own pot goodies at home. Even some edibles makers that specialize in savory foods, not sweets, are putting out some sugary items for the holidays. “It just tastes too good, we had to do it,” Better Baked owner Deloise Vaden said of her company’s holiday line of cannabis-infused sweet-potato and pumpkin pies.
HOLIDAY STRAINS: Some shops are angling for high-end holiday shoppers, not an increase in foot traffic. Colorado Harvest and Evergreen Apothecary timed the release of some top-shelf strains of potent pot for the holiday season. Spokeswoman Ann Dickerson says they’re “sort of like the best bourbon or Scotch that will be competing on quality, rather than price.”
GIFT CARDS: For the shopper who wants to give pot but doesn’t know how the recipient likes to get high, Colorado’s 300 or so recreational dispensaries so far have been able to issue only handwritten gift certificates. That’s because banking regulations prohibit major credit cards companies from being able to back marijuana-related gift cards the way they do for other retailers.
Just this month, a Colorado company started offering pot shops a branded gift card they can sell just like other retailers. The cards are in eight Denver dispensaries so far, and coming soon will be loyalty cards similar to grocery-store loyalty cards that track purchases and can be used to suggest sales or new products to frequent shoppers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our Christmas wish: Pass medical marijuana bill (letter)
Updated: 12/23/2014 12:03:57 PM EST0 Comments
For the past 12 years, our family has had the same Christmas wish.
Our repeated wish, which has not yet come true, is to find a treatment that stops our youngest son’s seizures and restores his function, capability and quality of life.
Although it may be too late this for this year, there is hope in our hearts for next Christmas.
In the upcoming legislative session, our lawmakers will once again consider the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act, also known as Senate Bill 3.
If passed, this bill would give us, and thousands of other Pennsylvanians, the same opportunity to treat Michael that other families now enjoy in states that permit the limited and controlled medicinal use of this potentially lifesaving medication.
The bill would not mandate the use of medicinal marijuana, but rather provide our physicians with another option to treat patients with an alternative medication that has shown great promise in both research and application.
This is the season of hope, but the upcoming legislative session is the time for action.
Please help us make our wish come true.
Contact your legislators and urge them to quickly pass this vital legislation.
— Christopher and Angela Ferro,
Springettsbury Township
