Psychoactive Drugs

Bipartisan medical marijuana bill to be introduced today at Capitol

Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle will introduce companion bills to legalize medical marijuana today at the Capitol.SEE ALSO: MNGOP spent $10,500 on study that supports legalizing medical marijuana According to a press release distributed by the pro-marijuana law reform group Minnesotans for Co ... More >>

Moorhead police decry recent influx of Cali medical marijuana

We can certainly think of worse problems to have, but Moorhead police say the latest one they're facing is an influx of California medical marijuana.SEE ALSO: Kimani Young, new U of M assistant basketball coach, was once busted with 96 pounds of potLast Friday, police executing a search warrant arre ... More >>

Apple Valley police stumble upon largest heroin bust in Dakota County history

Last spring, law enforcement officials in Hennepin, Anoka, and Ramsey counties went public with concerns about a dramatic uptick in heroin use in the Twin Cities. It turns out a good portion of the metro area's supply may have been riding around in the car Apple Valley police found Warren Comeaux in ... More >>

Alleged north Minneapolis clique leader gets seven years on drug charge

The alleged former leader of a north Minneapolis criminal clique known as "YNT" (Young 'n Thuggin') was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison Monday for aiding and abetting the distribution of crack cocaine. SEE ALSO: Cover: The View From Down Here Minneapolis guns incidents, violen ... More >>

Medical marijuana supported by vast majority of Minnesotans, but won't be legalized this year

A survey conducted by Public Policy Polling earlier this month found that nearly two-thirds of Minnesotans support medical marijuana. But don't expect to see pot prescriptions written in the state anytime soon.SEE ALSO: Minnesota law enforcement's last word on pot: "We do not support legalization fo ... More >>

Duluth's "Operation Crackdown": 30 arrested in connection with cocaine-for-EBT card scheme

Looking to score a rock in the Twin Ports? Until the cops got involved, it sounds like getting your hands on an EBT card would've helped the cause. SEE ALSO: Jeff Dubay says he started using crack after his brother slept with his wifeDuluth police announced today they've arrested 30 people and are h ... More >>

Reefer Madness

The House I Live In explains failed war on drugs

Powerful voices argue for policy changes in Sundance prize-winning documentary

Mark Dayton says he's against easing marijuana laws

As we told you about a couple weeks ago, a bill easing Minnesota's marijuana laws will likely come before the legislature this session. And thanks to new DFL majorities, it stands a good chance of bring approved.SEE ALSO:-- MNGOP spent $10,500 on study that supports legalizing medical marijuana-- Th ... More >>

Pedro Ayala-Leyva gets record 30-year sentence for smuggling meth from California

On Tuesday, Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu doled out a record sentence for a Minnesota drug crime and sentenced Pedro "Peli" Ayala-Leyva to 30 years in prison for his role in a large methamphetamine operation.Peli, 37, was found guilty in October of conspiracy to traffic drugs. State sentencing gu ... More >>

Nicollet Tobacco was illegally selling synthetic pot; $232,000 cash, 80 pounds of drugs seized

In July, President Obama signed legislation banning synthetic pot. The new federal law came on the heels of repeated state-level efforts to crack down on synthetic drugs here in Minnesota.SEE ALSO:-- Duluth's Last Place on Earth raided as new synthetic drug crackdown goes into effect-- Adam Budge, 1 ... More >>

Dan Feidt on the DRE report: 'It's unacceptable for something this unethical to happen' [Q & A]

When the DRE scandal first made headlines last spring, City Pages talked with Dan Feidt to get his perspective on how the story fit into the broader narrative of America's war on drugs.CITY PAGES' DRE SCANDAL SERIES:-- DRE officer: "I don't know what the big deal is I just gave them marijuana" [PART ... More >>

Nicole Denzer of Circle Pines, 23, used her vagina to smuggle meth into jail

A drug-sniffing dog found a considerable amount of methamphetamine -- and a pipe -- in Nicole Denzer's vagina. Apparently she forgot to pack a lighter. METH IS A HELL OF A DRUG:-- Stillwater couple's pock-faced, cross-eyed mugshots double as anti-meth advertising [PHOTOS]-- Man allegedly threatened ... More >>

Michael Biskey, south Mpls resident, could get 10 years for having a bunch of pot in his garage

At about 11 p.m. on June 14, police were patrolling an alley in between Harriet and Grand avenues in south Minneapolis. There had been a robbery in the area earlier that day.While driving down the alley, they came across a man keying into a locked garage door. He was wearing a large camping backpack ... More >>

Adam Budge, 18, charged with murder following friend's synthetic drug overdose

Adam Budge gave his buddy, 17-year-old Elijah Stai of Park Rapids, a fatal dose of a synthetic hallucinogen. Budge, 18, could spend 25 years in prison as a result.Just before 10 p.m. on June 12, Budge and Stai were hanging out at Budge's East Grand Forks home when they mixed a white power -- 2C-I -- ... More >>

Stillwater couple's pock-faced, cross-eyed mugshots double as anti-meth advertising [PHOTOS]

Don't want your kid to do meth? Plaster the mugshots of Stillwater's Ashley Brooker and Nicholas Doyle to little Johnny's wall. While you might have to worry about him having nightmares, he'll probably never be tempted to touch crank. This week, Brooker, 23, and Doyle, 25, pleaded guilty to felony d ... More >>

Racist planned to attack St. Paul's Mexican consulate, spur immigration debate, FBI says

Joseph Thomas, a 42-year-old Mendota Heights resident, had a sick notion of how he could get America talking about immigration issues.According to a federal affidavit obtained yesterday by the Associated Press, Thomas told an undercover agent he wanted to steal a pickup truck, fill it with oil and g ... More >>

Dan Feidt, producer of DRE drug scandal video, talks about Occupy, police, and the war on drugs

Dan Feidt is the journalist and producer primarily responsible for MK Occupy Minnesota, the video making the explosive allegation that Minnesota officers have offered Peavey Plaza protesters drugs as an enticement for participation in the State Patrol's now-suspended Drug Recognition Expert program. ... More >>

Twin Cities police worried about dramatic uptick in heroin-related deaths

Yesterday, the Hennepin, Anoka, and Ramsey County Sheriffs held a joint news conference to highlight a trend of increasing concern to Twin Cities law enforcement -- an uptick in heroin use, particularly among youth.Deaths caused by heroin overdoses in the three counties increased nearly three-fold l ... More >>

Two Minneapolis firefighters embroiled in drug charges

Lawrence Wajda, the Minneapolis firefighter charged with meth possession last week, was placed on administrative leave Sunday, says Matt Laible, spokesman for the city of Minneapolis. Wajda was arrested while working at a firehouse in Stadium Village last Tuesday. Upon searching Wajda, Minneapolis ... More >>

Lawrence Wajda charged with meth possession in Mpls fire house

Lawrence Anthony Wajda Jr., a veteran Minneapolis firefighter, was charged with possession of methamphetamine Wednesday after police found .5 grams of the drug with him at work. Wadja, who has worked at the department for more than 20 years, faces felony fifth-degree drug possession. "It's unfortu ... More >>

Champions Sports Bar haven for crack cocaine dealing, says Minneapolis police

​Minneapolis' Champions Sports Bar and Grill, located near Lake & Nicollet in the Lyndale neighborhood, has long been known as a drug den.Bar management promised to clean the place up in 2007, but their efforts apparently didn't stick. Monday afternoon, Minneapolis police announced they arrest ... More >>

Derek Wayne Brown sentenced to eight years for 500 grams of cocaine

Derek Wayne Brown, a 43-year-old Minneapolis man, was sentenced to eight years in prison today for possession with intent to distribute 500 grams of cocaine. Brown was released from jail in 2008 after serving 14 years for first-degree assault. In November 2010, he and eight others were indicted fo ... More >>

MNGOP spent $10,500 on study that supports legalizing medical marijuana

​The MNGOP spent $10,500 on a study supporting efforts to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota.That's according to Tim Goar, the owner of TG Med Inc., the medical supply company in Mound, Minnesota, that was paid to do the research.The September 2010 payment for the study was mentioned in an in ... More >>

Obama's War on Weed

In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees

Ziggy Marley

The War on Drugs

Kurt Vile: The extended interview

Photo by Shawn Brackbill ​BY IAN POWERIn the print edition of this week's City Pages, we have an interview with Matador signee and Philadelphia indie rocker Kurt Vile, who is coming to the Varsity Theater next Monday with Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. What follows is the extended transcript of Ia ... More >>

Maurice Harrison and three others face drug charges from after-hours club raid

​The wild details of Wednesday's early morning raid of an after-hours club at 3019 27th Ave. in south Minneapolis haven't resulted in equally wild charges, at least not yet.Police described finding alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, and suspected ecstasy pills on the scene, as wel ... More >>

Tim Pawlenty would rather cancer patients suffer than smoke a little reefer

Arguing against government meddling in health care, while simultaneously arguing for it.​It's probably too much to ask a presidential candidate who once outlawed bong water to take an enlightened look at the benefits of medical marijuana. But when it comes to a drug that can make life more b ... More >>

Big Lake bust nets 300 pounds of pot and 5 Texans

300 pounds of marijuana seized in Big Lake.​Suspected of being a stash house, the home on Sherburne County Road 83 in Big Lake Township had been under watch for five months by the time police moved in on Valentine's Day. When the dust settled, 300 pounds of marijuana had been seized, and five ... More >>

Marijuana soda soars high without smoke

Cana Cola"12 mind-blowing ounces" in various flavors​Move over Four Loko and whiskey-in-a-can. Clay Butler, an entrepreneur in California, is developing Canna Cola, a soft drink that contains THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. He plans to produce a line of sodas that includes a Dr. P ... More >>

Brandi Favre meth bust mug shot: Photo of the day [UPDATE]

Brandi Favre: "Always in trouble."​Vikings QB Brett Favre's younger sister Brandi was arrested yesterday during a meth bust in Diamondhead, Miss. Now the local police have released her mug shot. "She's always in trouble," Hancock County Sheriff's Maj. Matt Karl told AP.

Brandi Favre, Brett's sister, arrested in meth bust

Brett Favre's younger sister, Brandi, has been arrested in a meth bust.​More trouble in the Favre family. Brandi Favre, Brett's younger sister, has been arrested in Mississippi after police moved in on a meth lab. Hancock County narcotics agents say they watched a drug buy at a gas station in ... More >>

Marijuana: now available as ice cream

New form of marijuana will give you--and also cure--an ice cream headache​Minnesotans will have to wait for a post-Pawlenty era for the idea of medical marijuana to become a reality in the state, but this story out of California offers a reason to redouble efforts once T-Paw is out the door: M ... More >>

K2 and the synthetic marijuana boom

Minnesota head shops see high profit margin

Former KFAN jock Jeff Dubay flunks out of drug program again

Dubay fails another drug test​Jeff Dubay, the former KFAN radio jock, is headed back to the Ramsay County workhouse after admitting that he used cocaine -- again -- in violation -- again -- of his parole agreement. He's been sentenced by District Judge Joanne Smith to another 87 days in the p ... More >>

Sara Peck, whose bong water made Minnesota famous, sentenced

The state Supreme Court said her bong-water was a drug. Now she'll serve six months in jail.

Readers respond to "Smoke Signals"

Marijuana steadily creeps toward legalization

Is D.C. finally ready to let us toke up?

City Pages' most popular pot posts of 2009

Toke one and read our top 10 pot stories from the year.

This week's cover: The national effort to legalize marijuana

At least 14 states have legalized pot in one form or another, with New Jersey jumping on the bandwagon just this week.

Teen sells Skittles as ecstasy... to an undercover cop

Taste the rainbow!

That meth smell? I'm just cleaning up my vomit, officer

If it smells like meth, and it looks like meth ...

New Denver restaurant serves up pot-infused cuisine

A new Denver medical marijuana dispensary serves up pot-infused hummus, pizza, and lasagna alongside its "Bud Bar."

MPD chief's brother a no-show at drug court date

We can only imagine an awkward Thanksgiving if these brothers ever even see each other.

Wis. gov supports medical marijuana

Could Wisconsin make medical marijuana legal before Minnesota?

Comedy Addiction Tour

abNORML Minnesota Annual 420 Party

State lawmaker tries to ban Salvia...

...so we decide to try the potent, legal psychedelic ourselves.