He praised a Fresno jury for convicting Ricardo Montes and Luke Scarmazzo on Thursday on federal drug trafficking charges, one of which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years.

"These were drug dealers selling marijuana. This case is that simple," Scott said.

The attorney took aim at Montes' and Scarmazzo's defense during their trial, in which their lawyers argued that their business was "aboveboard" and in compliance with state law.

Scott argued that Montes' and Scarmazzo's California Healthcare Collective flouted state law, too, because it turned a $9 million profit from 2004 to 2006. State law requires that medical marijuana dispensaries operate as nonprofit establishments.

Canada.com brings us the news that two men have been convicted of running a church where marijuana was sold as a sacriment. One was sentenced to two years in jail, while the other was sentenced to one year for selling marijuana at the "Church of the Universe".

"In handing down his ruling, the judge called the operation "a marijuana convenience store that operates for profit like a prohibition-era speakeasy, but disguised as a church.""

"Baldasaro and Tucker maintain that God tells them to smoke marijuana and pass joints to their Church of the Universe parishioners."

After watching "Super High Me" I was considering worshiping at a marijuana church. I don't believe this was the same church that was in the movie as both of the defendants have already been tried, convicted and sentenced.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, which is representing French, said the deputies violated several laws including a constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.

In addition to asking the court to bar the state from interfering with his right to use marijuana under the medical marijuana law, French also seeks compensatory damages and attorney fees.

Four swedes living in Gothenburg are facing charges for smuggling cocaine into the country by using specially crafted postcards mailed from Peru.

According to the story over at The Local each postcard contained around six grams of cocaine and at least thirty postcards were sent to ten different recepients, four of which will now stand trial for their involvement in the smuggling operation.

Florida's WFTV is reporting that after a drug dog sniffed out 100 pounds of Marijuana, that was shipped through Orlando-Sanford International airport, the local sheriff decided to let the two separate shipments make it to their intended destinations to bust the recipients. Apparently those involved with the second delivery were warned about the first bust and took action to confuse the officers, and got away with 45 pounds of Marijuana.

"A short while after the delivery of the package, there was a flurry of activity. A couple of vehicles came into the area and left shortly after. One vehicle took off through an orange grove and apparently that's the vehicle that had the second package containing the marijuana," explained Sgt. John Herrell, Lake County Sheriff's Office."

You can catch some video of the ordeal here.

Officials from the San Francisco office of the Drug Enforcement Administration labeled Martin a fugitive last week when they raided Tainted Inc. in Oakland and arrested three employees but couldn't locate Martin, 33, who lives in El Sobrante.

Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access said today that Martin wasn't a fugitive but simply was out of town on vacation last week. However, DEA spokeswoman Casey McEnry said her agency still considers Martin to be a fugitive because an arrest warrant was issued last week and her agency hasn't been able to locate him.

AlterNET posted an editorial about the continued wasted time and efforts of the police, busting Marijuana users.

Since 1990, over 10.4 million Americans have been busted for pot. When will we recognize it's time to stand up to the war on harmless pot smoking?

Smokedot's main focus is on the reform of marijuana laws, but one of the biggest stories in the news today is "Operation Raw Deal". The DEA has made the largest steroid bust in history in conjunction with nine other countries. They busted "56 steroid labs, confiscated 11.4 million doses, and 534 pounds of raw steroid powder."

Buyers "are solely motivated by a desire to gain an unfair competitive advantage by using illegal performance-enhancing substances," said Terry Vermillion, who heads the Office of Criminal Investigations in the US Food and Drug Administration.