Chronicle AM: CO Pot Sales Hit Another Record, Bolivia Pres Rejects US Drug Criticism, More (9/15/05)

Another month, another marijuana sales record in Colorado; Toledo votes on ending marijuana possession penalties today; Missouri activists eye a medical marijuana initiative, and more.

They're going to the polls over pot in Toledo today. (Facebook.com/SensibleToledo)

Colorado Sets Another Marijuana Sales Record. More than $96 million worth of marijuana was sold in the state's legal marijuana and medical marijuana shops in July, up from the previous record of $85 million in June. Recreational sales were a record $56.4 million, while medical sales were more than $39.8 million. Both figures are records for the legal marijuana era.

Toledo Votes Today on Ending Marijuana Possession Penalties. Voters there will have the chance to approve Issue 1, the "Sensible Marijuana Ordinance" supported by Sensible Toledo. The ordinance would eliminate jail time and fines for possession of up to 200 grams of marijuana. Current municipal ordinances make possession of up to 100 grams a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and possession of up to 200 grams a misdemeanor punishable by up to 30 days in jail. Under Ohio state law, possession of up to 100 grams is decriminalized.

Medical Marijuana

Missouri Activists Aim at 2016 Medical Marijuana Initiative Instead of Legalization. The activist group Show Me Cannabis has announced it will try to put a medical marijuana initiative -- not a legalization initiative -- on the November 2016 ballot. They will need to come up with 160,000 valid voter signatures by next May to do it.

Las Vegas Dispensary Forced to Close Over Shortages After Test Samples Come Up Dirty. The only dispensary in the city, Euphoria Wellness, was forced to close its doors for almost a week after it ran short on marijuana because too many batches failed state-required contamination tests. The state basically allows no pesticides to be present, and about one-third of samples have failed, mostly over the presence of pesticides, but some for microbial contamination. The dispensary planned to reopen today.

Law Enforcement

Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers File Search Warrant, SWAT Bills. A pair of Republican state lawmakers, Rep. Dean Knudson and Sen. Duey Stroebel, announced today that they have introduced bills that would require police to develop policies for executing no-knock search warrants and require every police department with a SWAT team to report on each call-out and reason for deployment. The bills aren't yet up on the legislative website.

International

Bolivian President Rejects US Criticism, Calls US Drug Policy "Failed." President Evo Morales rejected the US claim that it had failed to live up to its drug control obligations, saying that the major failure of drug control was the US's war on drugs policy. "I think this [the US designation of Bolivia as not in compliance with anti-drug goals] is a political action by the US State Department. But if we are sincere, the policy of the US is a failure in the fight to control the drug traffic," Morales said. "I could talk of many countries of the world where there is this problem and how it has grown with the presence of the United States. This makes us think that, in truth, they use the struggle against the drug trade for political ends."