Psychoactive Drugs

Smoke Pot Now, Tallahassee

State Lawmakers Want To Ruin 4/20 For Everybody

Uncle Luke, the man who made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke says its time to legalize medical marijuana.Florida lawmakers need to roll up a fat joint and chill out. While the Republican-dominated state legislature ... More >>

15th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert at Tobacco Road March 2

Lake Worth Legislator Pushing Medical Marijuana Bill

Florida has some of the nation's toughest anti-marijuana laws. For instance, anyone caught growing at least 25 plants in their home can be charged with a second-degree felony and face a maximum sentence of 15 years. Even the feds aren't that draconian. They at least give you 99 plants before chargin ... More >>

70 Percent of Floridians Support Legalization of Medical Marijuana

Come 2014, Florida may join the ranks of states that legalize medical marijuana. There is talk of putting the measure on the ballot in the next state-wide election, and a new poll conducted by People United for Medical Marijuana finds that nearly seven out of ten Floridians back the idea. 

Miami's 15th Annual Medical Marijuana Benefit Concert Is Gonna "Change People's Minds"

It's only happened once, and it wasn't even real -- a recreational pot-smoking session gone terribly wrong. Blanche was simply playing the piano cartoonishly fast to soothe Ralph's mind. But when Jack showed up unexpectedly, Ralph lost his shit and killed the man. The police arrived shortly therea ... More >>

The House I Live In: The Failed War on Drugs, Explained by Powerful Voices

Florida Woman Had Plans to Cook Meth Before and After Meth-Related Court Appearance

For Joleen Crisp and her 65-year-old associate Renter Pete Atwood, it's all meth all the time. Police found the duo cooking meth in a Daytona Beach Shores motel just hours before Crisp, 32, was scheduled to appear in court for previous charges on making meth.

Florida Rapper Money-Clipz Sentenced 30 Years for Possession of 300 Grams of Crack

Tampa rapper Money-Clipz has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for possession of over 28 grams of crack cocaine with an intent to distribute. Jeez Louise! First, they tell you that sharing is caring and then they throw you in jail for caring too much. Mixed messages, you guys. If 30 yea ... More >>

Fake-Pot Industry Comes Down From a Three-Year High

Florida Teen Called 911 to Report That His Dreams Were Real After Smoking Synthetic Marijuana

"Everything that happened today is actually in my dream, and I want to prove it to everybody," 18-year-old Mark Welch of Volusia County told a 911 dispatcher.It sounds like the beginning of a reality-bending sci-fi movie, but it was actually the beginning of a kid who smoked too much synthetic marij ... More >>

Hialeah Gardens Cop Lawrence Perez Gets 12 Years For Stealing Marijuana

Read "Hialeah Gardens Cop Lawrence Perez Shows How Drugs Can Corrupt Police."A Hialeah Gardens Police detective who was helping his pals rip off marijuana dealers got 151 months in federal prison yesterday. Miami New Times profiled Lawrence Perez in June after a jury found him guilty of two felony c ... More >>

Florida Man Smokes Synthetic Pot, Shoots Glock, Runs Around Neighborhood Naked

Here's yet another story of a Floridian ingesting some synthetic drugs and getting all naked and violent.Police in Bradenton say a man who shot off a Glock in his home and then ran around his apartment complex naked had been smoking synthetic marijuana, also known as K2.

Hialeah Gardens Cop Lawrence Perez Shows How Drugs Can Corrupt Police

Texas Man Eats Dog While on Synthetic Drugs

This synthetic drug-induced zombie apocalypse is apparently now spreading outside of Florida. Naturally, Texas was the next stop. A man there got high on K-2, a form of synthetic marijuana, started chasing his neighbor, and then ate his dog.

Robert Platshorn, Former Smuggler Turned Medical Marijuana Activist, Faces Return to Prison

Robert Platshorn served thirty years in prison for smuggling pot into Florida. That's more than any other person has served for a marijuana offense in the United States. He'll turn 70 years old in November. But it now appears clear that he will never be free from the federal government. Platshorn ... More >>

Miami-Dade Takes First Step Toward Banning Synthetic Marijuana

Well this couldn't have come at a more opportune time. Today, the Miami-Dade County Commission took the first step towards adopting a strict ban on synthetic marijuana products. It comes hot on the heels of news that a North Miami Beach man on some sort of synthetic drug tried to bite a police offic ... More >>

Miami-Dade Takes First Step Towards Banning Synthetic Marijuana

This couldn't have come at a more opportune time. Today, the Miami-Dade County Commission took the first step towards adopting a strict ban on synthetic marijuana products. It comes hot on the heels of news that a North Miami Beach man on synthetic pot tried to bite a police ... More >>

Miami-Dade TNT Unit Loses the War on Drugs and Liberty City's Trust

Florida Mom, Dad and Son Busted for Growing Shrooms Together

​The family that grows drugs together takes mugs together.Over in Charlotte County, Sheriff's deputies have arrested a mother, father and son after they discovered that the family was growing psychedelic mushrooms.

Pot smuggler schools seniors on medical marijuana

Don't Set Up a Growhouse Next Door to a School Like These Three Kendall Men

​If you're going to take the risk of setting up an illegal marijuana growhouse, it's best to take just the littlest bit of caution and make sure that growhouse isn't directly next door to a school where kids as young as kindergarteners study.Three Miami men weren't so smart and set up shop right a ... More >>

Medical marijuana's unlikely Florida hero is 64-year-old Larcenia Bullard

Medical Marijuana Bills Introduced In Florida Senate and House

​Miami-area State Sen. Larcenia Bullard has fired up a big ol' blunt of legislative reform this morning, as her proposal to give Florida voters a chance to legalize medical marijuana was introduced in the Senate. Bullard's bill joins a similar proposal by Lake Worth Rep. Jeff Clemens in the House ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Amendment Gets Sponsor in Florida State Senate

​The first steps towards the possibility of legalizing medical marijuana in Florida are underway. Last month State Rep. Jeff Session, a Democrat from Lake Worth, introduced a resolution that would allow Floridians to vote on the matter in 2012. Now, state Sen. Larcenia Bullard, a Miami Democra ... More >>

Stynx, Shark Teeth, and the Funnest Guy at the Racetrack

​Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro t ... More >>

$7.6 Million Worth of Pot Seized at Port of Miami

​U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they haven't made a huge pot bust at the Port of Miami for months, but sometimes you just have to wait. Authorities report they discovered 3,837 pounds of marijuana, nearly two tons, stuffed inside shipping containers at the port last Friday.

Obama's war on weed

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

Tyler Hadley Was on Ecstasy When He Killed His Parents; Can MDMA Cause You to Kill?

​A new druggy detail has emerged in the shocking case of Tyler Hadley, the Florida teen who killed his parents with a hammer over the weekend and then threw a party in their house: Hadley's best friend now tells the media that the teen claimed he was high on ecstasy when he bludgeoned his parents ... More >>

Mugshots Friday: Mr. Babyhair, Future Justin Bieber and a Cranium Tarantula

​​Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to ... More >>

Tallahassee Is America's Pot-Smoking Capital, Miami Isn't Even On the List

​Tallahassee is not only the political capital of Florida, but also apparently the pot-smoking capital of America. Surprisingly, Miami, most often associated with drugs, doesn't even make the Daily Beast's list of Mary Jane-loving cities. Then again, maybe it's not much of a surprise that college ... More >>

Democratic Rep. Pushes for Amendment to Legalize Medical Marijuana in Florida

​With a recent poll showing 57 percent of Floridians favoring legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, state Rep. Jeff Clemens (D-Lake Worth) has introduced a resolution to put an amendment on the 2012 ballot that would do just that. Clemens claims that the move could bring in $5 to $12 million ... More >>

57 Percent of Floridians Support Legalizing Medical Marijuana

​With 14 states and the District of Colombia allowing the legal medical use of marijuana, acceptance of the issue is steadily growing in America. A new poll shows that 57 percent of Floridians support legalization of medical marijuana as buzz grows that the issue could be placed on the ballot as s ... More >>

Buju Banton Found Guilty in Cocaine Case

​Despite a triumphant concert in Miami and a Grammy win within the last few months, Buju Banton's dark days are not behind him. After an initial trial on drug charges was declared a mistrial, Banton has been found guilty of conspiring to set up a Florida cocaine deal back in 2009.

Study Claims Ecstasy Doesn't Damage Brain (No Wonder Ultra Sold Out)

Photo by Ivon David RojasA reveler at Ultra Music Festival. ​Miami's credentials as a cocaine capitol are well established, but for that last weekend every March during the Ultra Music Festival, it's no secret an extravaganza of ecstasy use takes hold of the city. Now, one of the largest studies i ... More >>

Joints for the Sick

Miami Beach's reefer revolution

SoBe is ground zero in the battle to decriminalize pot.

Today In Cocaine: Ten Busted in Juarez-to-Miami Ring, Colombian Coke Lord Due In Federal Court

​It's already been a busy week for the drug that made Miami -- or at least for the feds' perpetual war on the white stuff. First, the DEA arrested 10 people, mostly from Miami and Hialeah, and charged them with organizing a ring shuttling coke from Juarez to South Florida.Then came word that a muc ... More >>

Marijuana-Food Pairings: 10 Questions With Denver Pot Critic William Breathes

From Amsterdam​After recently writing a goofy post about imaginary pot-food pairings, I received an email from the pseudonymous William Breathes, one of two medical marijuana critics for our sister paper Westword, in Denver, Colorado. He expressed gratitude for being mentioned in the post and disa ... More >>

Marijuana is Not a Significant Gateway Drug Claims Study That Followed Miami-Dade Students

​The belief that Marijuana use will lead to dabbling in harder drugs is overblown claims a new study that followed 1,286 young adults enrolled in the 1990s in Miami-Dade public schools. Researches from the University of New Hampshire who conducted the study are now urging policy makers to reconsid ... More >>

Fifteen Members of "Murda Grove Boys" Gang Arrested by FBI

A handmade t-shirt displaying the group's insignia with guns we found on one possible members MySpace​The Murda Grove Boys are not, as their name would suggest, a horror-core boy band but actually one of Miami-Dade's most violent criminal gangs. CBS4 reports that Miami Gardens police, the FBI and ... More >>

Eighty Percent of Cocaine Contains Chemical That Will Rot Your Flesh

​We've seen some coke heads practically descend into a zombie-like state where they become completely devoid of normal human emotion and only fixate on their next fit like they were in a George Romero movie looking for brains (pure, uncut Bolivian marching brains). Well, now co ... More >>

Luke's Gospel: Legalizing marijuana will fix the economy

Cocaine Blamed for Global Warming

British Models: Your Government is concerned that your love of cocaine is killing trees, and then what will you dry hump in black lingerie?​Those of us who like to "ski" might be making it harder for those of us who want to, you know, actually ski. Apparently, members of the British Parliament are ... More >>

The Fast Lane: Championship Racecar Driver Will Do Three Years in Ecstasy Case

Joyoendho via Flicker CCWhen it comes to the drug habits of the rich and famous, there's a thin line between hilarious and disturbing. Championship race car driver Mariusz Malyszczycki's relationship with ecstasy is something closer to entrepreneurial. The Polish speedster was busted in the middle o ... More >>

Puff, Puff, or Perish

For some, ganja is nothing to giggle about.

The Ultimate Herbal Remedy

The chronic cause

Jump-Out Boys

Scheming snitches, dirty detectives, intrepid investigators. This ain't The Shield's Strike Team.

Bud Men

Despite the risks, local pot farmers have taken homegrown high-tech

Dynasty