The MNGOP spent $10,500 on a study supporting legalizing medical marijuana in Minnesota.

​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-depth report by MPR on how the state Republicans found themselves $2 million in debt. City Pages contacted Goar for further explanation of the study's methodology and goals, and received a response from him via email.

"The main goal was to determine if this issue should become one that the party should consider looking at given the Libertarian infusion to the ranks of late," Goar writes.  "I concluded that this issue, based on existing research, polling and such, is one that the party should consider."

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Not exactly the best setting for an acid trip.

​Can you imagine taking LSD inside a prison cell? Seems like it'd almost certainly result in a bad trip.

According to a Star Tribune report, a group of inmates at the state prison in Faribault tested that theory on Christmas Eve. And predictably, they had bad trips.

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The drugs were flown into a Blaine airport on a Mooney M20 single-engine airplane.

​A drug plot that involved flying hockey bags full of weed into the Twin Cities using a single-engine plane has led to five men being indicted, according to federal court records unsealed this week.

The five men -- Todd C. Skonnord, 26, of St. Paul, and Cameron L. Christensen, 23, of Andover, and Coloradans Boyd E. Wilkinson, 36, Robert L. Bowker, 33, and Anthony W. Raymond, 37 -- were arrested in late September and early October for conspiring to distribute 132 pounds of weed, according to the indictment, which was originally filed in late November.

If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy charges, and another five for possession.

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Aaron Boogaard still faces one misdemeanor charge in the case surrounding his brother's death.

​This morning, a judge ruled that when Aaron Boogaard, the brother of Derek Boogaard, handed his brother the pills that ultimately contributed to the hockey star's death, he was not committing a felony.

"The victim . . . acted alone in acquiring the drugs: he purchased them, from an unknown third party, with his own money, and transported them himself to Minnesota," the judge's order reads. "Defendant only held the drugs for the victim."

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Erickson stole info for her friends, and learned how to make fake prescriptions.

​Jenna Erickson forged prescriptions for Oxycodone to sell it to people she met online, according to a complaint filed by the Hennepin County Attorney's office Wednesday.

Erickson, 26, worked at a CVS pharmacy in Eden Prairie until police came across her alleged scheme in February.

Erickson is charged with filing six fake prescriptions in order to sell them to two unnamed people she met on the internet. She used real names of patients and doctors to print out fake prescriptions from her house in Bloomington, the complaint says.
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This guy is upset, but can't remember why.

​Stoner Avenue in Bemidji is set for a name change after years of stolen signs and giggling high school kids.

The Bemidji City Council agreed unanimously last night to approve a change to something less weed-friendly. Craig Gray, a city engineer, said at least a dozen Stoner Ave. signs were stolen each year, adding up to thousands of dollars to replace them.

Though, to be fair, some of those signs were stolen twice by the same kids, who just forgot they already stole it.
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Michael Beasley, living up to dreadlock stereotypes.

​Looks like Michael Beasley's long love affair with weed is not over yet.

Beasley was pulled over for speeding at around 3 a.m. on June 26. When police searched his vehicle they found a little more than a half-ounce of dope under the driver's seat.

Beasley told police it belonged to a friend that he'd just dropped off. Come on, B-Easy. That line won't even work with your mom.
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Michael Andrist looks like he could use a relaxing bath.

​Michael Andrist was arrested Sunday for breaking the state's new law against synthetic drugs, and breaking the state's old law against driving like a maniac.

Andrist was seen driving down Highway 52, swerving onto the shoulder, down into the ditch, and back onto the road at 70 miles an hour. When he was pulled over, Andrist admitted to police that he'd injected himself with bath salts.

This is not what Bed Bath & Beyond had in mind.
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The head shops' lawyer says he'll fight the decision.

​A Hennepin County judge denied a motion to delay the ban on synthetic drugs today, meaning the Minnesota law will go into effect Friday as planned.

The motion was filed by a collective of head shops that have been diligently fighting to keep synthetics legal. They filed a lawsuit against the state of Minnesota earlier this week, arguing that the ban is unconstitutional and not supported by scientific research.

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Is Minnesota's ban on synthetic pot unconstitutional?

​The war on synthetic drugs is far from over.

A lawyer representing several head shops filed a lawsuit today against the state of Minnesota, alleging that a statewide ban on synthetic pot is unconstitutional and not supported by scientific evidence.

A hearing is scheduled in Hennepin County Wednesday morning where a judge will rule on a temporary restraining order, which would postpone the ban from going into effect this Friday.

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