New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd came to Colorado and wanted to try the state's newly legal pot. Rather than smoking a joint, she decided to try a pot-infused candy bar. She says she nibbled the end of the bar and not feeling the high, nibbled a bit more. She ended up gob-smacked by her piece of candy -- it laid her out for 8 hours and made her delusional and paranoid. She blames her experience on labeling deficiencies on the candy and criticizes Colorado's regulatory system.

Why would an intelligent adult like Dowd, who is obviously not a regular marijuana user, not inquire about potency or dosage before she experimented? When she first felt the effects, why didn't she turn on her computer and do a google search -- she would have quickly learned she should drink a lot of water and "this too, shall pass."

Instead of accepting personal accountability for her actions, she blames the candy, the manufacturer and retailer's lack of warning labels, Colorado's regulatory system -- everyone but herself. Her column reeks of a "reefer-madness" mentality. Her tale includes references to a man jumping off a roof, a man who kills his wife and stoned driving. [More...]

Our last open thread is full so here's another one. All topics welcome.

The Taliban released this video of the transfer of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl to U.S. forces.

The full video is 11 minutes long, with the message "Don[sic] Come Back to Afghanistan." The New York Times has more here.

Legendary cocaine trafficker George Jung (played by Johnny Depp in the movie "Blow") has been released from prison to a halfway house after serving almost 20 years behind bars.

Jung says on his website:

Jung was a part of the Medellin Cartel which was responsible for up to 85 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the United States. He specialized in the smuggling of cocaine from Colombia on a large scale.

Jung was first sent to the federal prison in Danbury on a marijuana case. While there, he made friends with Carlos Lehder, who along with Pablo Escobar, the Ochoa brothers and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha (alias El Mexicano) headed up the Medellin cartel. In the movie, Jung says:

Danbury wasn't a prison, it was a crime school. I went in with a Bachelor of marijuana, came out with a Doctorate of cocaine.

Florida Judge John Murphy got angry when a public defender refused to waive speedy trial. He told the defender if he wanted to fight, to go into the hallway and he'd beat his as*. The public defender didn't think he meant he'd physically beat him, and went into the hallway to continue the verbal dispute. The judge smacked him. The camera doesn't catch the hallway brawl, but you can hear it.

Judge Murphy has been relieved of his duties and will undergo anger management. The public defender's office will file a bar complaint against the judge.

The public defender who got whooped has declined to press charges. [More...]

I'm swamped today. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Five Afghan detainees at Guantanamo have been traded for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier being held in Afghanistan. The detainees were delivered to the Government of Quatar in Cuba, while U.S. commandos picked up the soldier in Afghanistan. Quatar was instrumental in the negotiations.

The White House says the detainees were members of the Taliban, not al Qaeda. All five have been held at Gitmo since 2002.

The released detainees are: Mohammad Fazl, about 47, Mullah Norullah Noori, about 47, Mohammed Nabi, about 48, Khairullah Khairkhwa, about 47, and Abdul Haq Wasiq, about 43. [More...]

For anyone looking for the link to the continuously updated Global Incident Map of drug busts around the world that I mentioned in my talk today, here it is. It is searchable by country, drug and date. Just scroll down past the map. The number of persons extradited from Colombia to face criminal charges here is 1,600 since 1997, according to the State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, Volume I, Drug and Chemical Control, March 2014:

Remember the Colorado cake shop that wouldn't make a wedding cake for a gay couple? The Colorado civil Rights Commission has ordered Masterpiece Bakery to change its discriminatory policy and train its staff accordingly. It also must submit quarterly reports. The owner sounds just as clueless as ever:

On Thursday night, the House of Representatives voted on the myriad of amendments to the proposed DOJ 2015 budget. Amendment No. 25, to prohibit the use of funds to prevent certain States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana. passed, by a vote of 219 to 189. The roll call vote (no. 258) is here.

The Amendment was co-sponsored by Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.) and Reps. Rohrabacher, Don Young (R-Alaska), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.), Jared Polis (D-Colo.), Steve Stockman (R-Texas), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)

Rep. Steve Cohen said:

“Marijuana does not make people commit crime. It makes them overeat.”

Also passing: An amendment to prohibit the use of funds to prevent a State from implementing its own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of industrial hemp. Vote was 237 - 170 (Roll no. 257)

Critical to the amendment's passage:

“This year’s huge vote increase can largely be attributed to the fact that lawmakers only recently began hearing the moving stories of the many children whose severe seizures are only relieved by marijuana,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, in a statement. “Being able to list these CBD states in the amendment text meant that more members of Congress that represent these states voted yes than otherwise would have.

Counting these states, 60 percent of the U.S. population lives in a place where state law disagrees with federal law.” [More...]

I'm off to NORML's annual Aspen legal conference. My talk this year: "Federal Responses to Marijuana Legalization, Both Good and Bad." Here's the entire agenda, it's a privilege to be included with these impressive lawyers.

I'll be back Saturday night, after the annual Owl Farm picnic.

Enjoy the weekend, the weather is beautiful here. This is an open thread, all topics welcome.(I'll put up new open threads if this one fills up.)

(Date corrected from Friday to Thursday)

Bump and Update from 5/25/14: As expected, Anonymou Sabu, aka Hector Monsegur, was sentenced to time served today. The judge called his cooperation "extraordinary." See below for the link to his online postings that resulted in his bail being revoked and serving 7 months.

After three years, Anonymou Sabu, aka Hector Monsegur, will finally face a federal judge for sentencing on May 27. The infamous former member of Lulzsec and Anonymous, who agreed to cooperate the night of his arrest on June 7, 2011, agreed to plead guilty to 12 felonies in August, 2011, including nine counts related to computer hacking; one count of credit card fraud; one count of conspiring to commit bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Charges pending in four other federal districts were dropped as part of his deal. His plea agreement is here.

The maximum possible sentence for the 12 counts is 122 years. His sentencing guidelines call for a 259 to 317 months sentence (2 years of which are a mandatory minimum.) His guidelines are based on a total loss amount of $20 million to $50 million (the loss caused by his direct participation was $1.5 to $2 million).

As a reward for his cooperation, the Government is seeking no jail time -- a sentence of time served -- with the served part being 7 months he spent in pretrial detention in 2012 after he violated his plea agreement by posting online without authorization and had his bond revoked. [More....]

"Senor de los Cielos", Telemundo's series, based on Mexican drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, also known as "Lord of the Skies", starts its second season tonight. In the series, his name is Aurelio Casillas.

Although Carrillo Fuentes supposedly died on the operating table in 1997 while undergoing plastic surgery to change his appearance, he rises from the dead in the second series and returns to reclaim his business, his family and his assets. Also "returning from the dead" this season is his chief mistress and fellow drug trafficker, Monica Robles.

The network will be all Senor de Los Cielos all night. At 7pm ET, there will be a program “En La Sombra del Narco,” "a one-hour special about the reach of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels into US territory." One of those interviewed will be Juan Diego Espinoza Ramirez, alias El Tigre, the Colombian trafficker and boyfriend of Sandra Beltran, who was an early link between the Colombian and the Mexican traffickers.[More...]