News Proponents of Measure 80, the Marijuana Legalization Measure, were in our office last week for their editorial endorsement interview. (The opponents were represented by Umatilla County Sheriff John Trumbo, who was on speakerphone). For those in favor of Measure 80, one of the dicier issues is kids—will passage of this measure encourage more children to use marijuana?  In this clip, Roy Kaufmann, ...   More

News  Longtime Portland marijuana activist Paul Stanford today pleaded guilty in Marion County Circuit Court to one count of Oregon personal income-tax evasion. Stanford agreed to a sentence of 18 months' probation and 160 hours of community service.The charge stems from Stanford's failure to file a 2009 tax return. He was also accused of failing to file his 2008 return when he was indicted earlier ...   More

News After failing to gather enough signatures last year to put a marijuana-legalization question on the state ballot, supporters of the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act kicked off a new initiative effort today that would put that question to voters in November 2012. The initiative must collect 90,000 valid signatures from Oregon voters by July 2012 for there to be a ballot question. And campaign manager Jennifer ...   More

News As noted in today's Murmurs column, noted Portland marijuana activist Paul Stanford is hitting back at the Oregon Department of Justice after his March 8 arrest for failing to pay taxes.On March 21, Stanford filed a motion to dismiss (PDF) the two felony charges against him in Marion County Circuit Court. In Stanford's motion, he accuses the DOJ of engaging in a politically motivated attack and smear ...   More

News Longtime Portland marijuana activist Paul Stanford has been arrested for tax fraud, according to a news release from the Oregon Department of Justice.Stanford, who heads a nationwide chain of medical-marijuana clinics, has a reputation as a controversial figure in pot activist circles, and his financial woes were first detailed in a 2007 profile of Stanford we titled "King Bong." The IRS last year ...   More

News Oregon Liquor Control Commission? Try the Oregon Cannabis Commission. Cannabis activist Paul Stanford has filed a new initiative aimed at the 2012 state ballot that would establish a seven-person Oregon Cannabis Commission to regulate the cultivation and sale of cannabis for sale. For all adults. "This wouldn't just make marijuana for medical use," said Stanford. "It would also be [legalized] ...   More

News We already knew Oregon has some of the best weed in the nation. Now CNN wants a hit. WW has word that a crew from Anderson Cooper 360 will be in Portland this weekend reporting for a series on marijuana legalization. Titled "America's High," the series airing next week is already advertised on Cooper's website. A camera crew will attend Oregon NORML's medical-marijuana cardholders' meeting ...   More

News Courthouse News has picked up a story out of the Oregon Supreme Court that provides a coda to our 2007 cover story about Portland cannabis king Paul Stanford (photo above). Our story related one of the more bizarre chapters in Stanford's career building the largest nationwide chain of medical-marijuana clinics: In 2005—in an event that ranks as bizarre even in the Stanford chronicles—the ...   More