Oakland: First in Pot Tax?

There's green to be made in green. Like a junkie looking for a fix city fathers can smell a dollar bill and Oakland is looking at a new revenue stream - marijuana.

The new tax measure is expected to add $400 000 to the cash-strapped coffers. As it is now the city charges just over a buck in tax for every thousand bucks sold at any of the four marijuana dispensaries in town. The proposed cash grab...tax...would up the ante to $18 per $1000 worth of retail weed.

This is where it starts to get surreal - the dispensaries are calling for the increased tax levy.

This is where it gets bizarre - one city councilor says that the revenue could save four or five jobs...police jobs!

Oakland residents will vote on the measure later this month.

Pothead Real Father to Michael Jackson Kids?

Us is claiming that Arnold Klein is the biological father of Michael Jackson's two children with Debbie Rowe. That's Arnold with the big pot leaf on his shirt. Klein is a dermatologist who was also Rowe's boss at the time.

Hapless Pot Smugglers from North of the Border

Usually our tales of hapless pot smugglers involve our southern border and include surfboards. This time around - in honor of Canada Day - we train our sites to our northern border.

A couple was arrested at the Niagara Falls border crossing for trying to smuggle an unspecified quantity of marijuana in the United States. Cops found five vacuum sealed bags secreted in the spare tire of the lovebirds car.

You figure that if you are going to go through the trouble of taking a tire off the rim, packing said tire full of weed and putting the tire back on the wheel you'd have the sack to be calm and cool at the border. Maybe the cops got suspicious when they saw all the cheesie dust on the wheel.

Happy Canada Day you crazy Canucks!

Tot Walk Nets Pot

An 11-year-old out for a walk with his dog yesterday morning spotted 44 potted plants in Indiana. Found by the edge of a swamp, the boy reported his find of "cultivated marijuana plants" to the sheriff's office.

While somebody out in Steuben County is in for a shock the next time that they check in on their crop there has to be more to the story than meets the eye. And, no there are no cute "dog got high" angles here but the larger question of how did an 11-year-old boy know what marijuana looked like anyway?

If I found a pack of cigarettes when I was 11 I was keeping them and not telling anyone. I never had the good fortune to find a grow-up, and I spent a lot of time in the woods. You have to wonder about this kid's parents. Are they social pariahs?

Kids, next time you find a grow op don't call 911 dial 420 and Tio Pacheco will help you dispose of your find. Our reward is much higher than the county's.

Maybe that will be our new motto - "We pay more for your new found score!"

While police haven't made any arrests in the case they are taking a closer look at locals with long faces.