Seattle Police Officer Charged in Large Coast-to-Coast Pot-Smuggling Operation
Posted: May 9, 2017 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, U.S. News | Tags: Associated Press, Cannabis, Clinic, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Jeff Sessions, Michigan, pot, Preliminary hearing, Seattle, Smuggling, United States Attorney, United States Department of Justice, United States magistrate judge Leave a commentMike Carter reports: Veteran Seattle police Officer Alex Chapackdee is accused of helping his brother-in-law and others smuggle at least 100 kilograms of marijuana to the East Coast. In return, Chapackdee was paid $10,000 a month, charges allege.
Federal prosecutors will ask that a suspended Seattle police officer charged with being part of a large-scale East Coast marijuana smuggling ring be held in jail pending trial.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Brian Tsuchida set a detention hearing Friday for Alex Chapackdee, who faces a mandatory-minimum five-year federal prison sentence — and perhaps up to 40 years — for his role in allegedly transporting hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Washington to Baltimore then driving back with boxes of cash. The court also could impose a fine of up to $5 million if he’s found guilty.
Chapackdee, a veteran Seattle police officer, appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Seattle Monday afternoon along with three co-defendants named in a 15-page complaint unsealed Monday. He was arrested last Friday and suspended from duty without pay.
[Read the feds’ complaint against Le, Chapackdee, others (PDF)]
More than two dozens shocked friends and family members crowded Tsuchida’s courtroom during the brief hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Lombardi said the serious allegations and significant penalty prompted him to seek detention for all four defendants. Read the rest of this entry »
National Review Cover: Kevin D. Williamson on ‘The Colorado Pot Experiment’
Posted: June 6, 2015 Filed under: Art & Culture, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, Politics, Think Tank | Tags: Cannabis, Colorado, design, Ian Tuttle, Illustration, Kevin D. Williamson, Legalized Marijuana, Magazines, Mark Helprin, National Review, NRO, pot, Twitter Leave a comment[Read it here at National Review Online]
New York Post: ‘Joint Chiefs’ Nov 11, 2014
Posted: November 11, 2014 Filed under: Breaking News, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: De Blasio, Law Enforcement, Marijuana, media, New York City, New York Post, pot, Tabloid Leave a commentWeed in Seattle: Legal But Not Cheap
Posted: July 8, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Law & Justice, Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Cannabis, pot, Reefer, Seattle, Twitter, Washington, Weed 1 CommentWeed is now legal in Seattle, but it’s not cheap http://t.co/LEAZDOGZBF pic.twitter.com/RfFCC5flS7
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 8, 2014
Bummer: Colorado Pot Sales Less Than Expected
Posted: March 11, 2014 Filed under: Economics, Mediasphere | Tags: Cannabis, Colorado, Colorado General Assembly, Hemp, John Hickenlooper, pot, Reefer 3 CommentsAmid all the articles pimping the successful $2 million tax heist in Colorado, what’s often not mentioned is that this is less than the newly-minted state pot dealers claimed they’d pull in. Breitbart.com‘s William Bigelow offers this unwelcome measure of sobriety:
The bullish predictions about the revenue Colorado would accumulate from sales of recreational marijuana may have been quite premature. In February, Governor John Hickenlooper’s budget office estimated that recreational pot shop sales added to medicinal marijuana sales would approach $1 billion in the fiscal year beginning in July; the budget office suggested $134 million in tax and fee revenues entering state coffers.
But in January of 2014, Colorado only brought in $2 million from recreational pot shop sales, far short of what would lead to a successful prognosis from Hickenlooper’s budget office.
Finally: A Seahawks Logo Marijuana Pipe
Posted: January 26, 2014 Filed under: Art & Culture, Entertainment, Humor, Mediasphere, The Butcher's Notebook | Tags: Broncos, Denver, Denver Broncos, Marijuana, National Football League, National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, NFL, NORML, pot, Seahawks, Seattle, Seattle Seahawks, Smoking, Super Oobie Doobie Bowl, Superbowl, Weed Leave a comment
Exclusive: Seen in tobacco store in Seattle, January 25, 2014
Sign of the times. High times.
[See Denver-Seattle ‘Super Oobie Doobie Bowl’]
And what to go better with this item than a Zippo NFL Seattle Seahawks Chrome Pocket Lighter ?
The weekend’s playoff football victories by the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks have created a teachable moment about the two leading marijuana law reform states in America, as well as a windfall for those who love dumb puns.
“Weed Bowl”, “Salad Bowl”, “420 Bowl”, “Chronic Bowl”, weed heads can’t get enough of the delicious matchup.
[VIDEO] Curiously, CNN Reporter Appears High on Weed During Segment on What? Where Were We? Oh yeah. Marijuana
Posted: January 15, 2014 Filed under: Mediasphere, U.S. News | Tags: Anderson Cooper, Cannabis, CNN, Colorado, Contact high, Gawker, Health, Kaye, Marijuana, pot, Randi Kaye 2 CommentsFrom Hot Air: Allahpundit again…
Via Gawker, if you can’t watch the whole thing, skip to 4:00 to see why last night Anderson Cooper called this the greatest live hit the show’s ever done. My favorite moment is that big, bright, glassy-eyed smile at 5:15. (Second-favorite: The thoughtful explanation of the difference between sativa and indica.) The question here isn’t whether she’s high — the symptoms she describes are familiar even to non-users (losing her train of thought, finding things unusually funny, etc) — but whether she could have gotten this giggly from a contact high, i.e. from second-hand smoke without taking a hit herself. Answer: Yes, if she was around lots and lots of it. A single joint won’t do much to a bystander; 16 joints might. According to Kaye, she was riding around in the close confines of a limo all day with veteran potheads smoking blunts as big as cannons. Contact-high verdict: Plausible.