State Rules May Weed Out Some Numbers Not Final but Look Bullish After a big surge over the last week, Washington state has now received applications for 3,746 marijuana business licenses. While some applicants are likely to be eliminated by residency requirements, background checks and improper locations, Washington state appears bullish about the legal marijuana business. The 30-day window to apply for growing, processing and retail licenses closed on Dec. 20. But data released Tuesday by the state Liquor Control Board is not the final tally, as not all applications have been processed. [continues 391 words]
Switching Sides He Used to Make His Living Fighting Drug Crimes. Now He's Working for a Marijuana-Related Business. Patrick Moen began his law-enforcement career at 20. As a police officer in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y., he arrested drunken drivers before he could legally drink. At 25, he joined the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and rose to Supervisory Special Agent in Portland, running operations mainly against heroin and methamphetamine rings, but also against pot, OxyContin and Ecstasy dealers. [continues 1112 words]
You're basking in the warm glow of your smashing holiday party. Food, friends, ugly sweaters, sedated in-laws - it's all coming together. Then a sweet aroma tickles your nostrils. Someone is smoking marijuana. What do you do? What's the new pot etiquette? In Seattle, 74 percent of the electorate voted last year to legalize weed. Cops handed out Doritos at Hempfest. Even the federal Department of Justice waved us on, saying we could go ahead with our responsible approach to a grand experiment. [continues 858 words]
SEATTLE - The state Liquor Control Board has recommended that home growing still be allowed for medical-marijuana patients, reversing an earlier proposal that inflamed activists and patients. Board members, who are charged with implementing the state's new recreational-pot system, want to allow patients or designated caregivers to grow up to six plants at a time - three flowering and three nonflowering. But some say that's not enough. Ryan Day, who wants to grow a nonpsychoactive strain for his son with severe epilepsy, said he may need at least double the six plants for a reliable supply. [continues 487 words]
Number of Plants Still in Contention Board Also Would Create Registry of Patients The state Liquor Control Board recommended that home growing still be allowed for medical-marijuana patients, reversing an earlier proposal that inflamed activists and patients. Board members, who are charged with implementing the state's new recreational-pot system, want to allow patients or designated caregivers to grow up to six plants at a time - three flowering and three nonflowering. But some say that's not enough. Ryan Day, who wants to grow a nonpsychoactive strain for his son with severe epilepsy, said he may need at least double the six plants for a reliable supply. [continues 741 words]
Hundreds Celebrate Legal Pot Anniversary at Seattle Center Party To some, smoking pot freely at Seattle Center was liberating, a step out of the shadows. For others, it was a chance to partake in a little history - and at least one joint the size of a burrito. The one-year anniversary celebration of legal weed in Washington drew almost 800 tokers by 7 p.m., despite the frigid cold. Most of them crowded into a tent in the fenced-off party area, which quickly filled with sweet smoke, making it what's called in pot parlance a "hot box." [continues 536 words]
Urges Preference for Medical Outlets Message for Liquor Control Board In what he called an effort to make legal pot successful, Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes on Wednesday urged state officials to change how they measure the 1,000-foot distance between pot businesses and prohibited areas frequented by youth. At a news conference, Holmes said he also called for the state to increase the number of pot stores allocated to Seattle from 21 to 50. And he asked state officials to give preference in licensing to existing medical-marijuana facilities that show they can comply with rules for the new recreational-pot system. [continues 313 words]
Zoning Vote Delayed Redmond Ridge Residents Fight Indoor Growing Site Planned for Business Park About 30 residents of Redmond Ridge told the Metropolitan King County Council on Monday that allowing legal indoor marijuana growing in their community's business park would be detrimental to their children. It's a dense community with a lot of children, they argued. Some offered concerns about crime, smell and fire. There has to be a better place for pot businesses, they said. "The real issue is the proximity of an unknown and untested trailblazing pot-production plant that should have its test run elsewhere," said Jen Boon, a mother of three and president of the Redmond Ridge Residential Owners Association. [continues 551 words]
Minors Will Visit Stores in Washington State to See If They Can Buy Pot. Seattle - A select group of minors will go into Washington state's new legal pot stores on a covert mission: to try to buy weed for the state. To curtail youth access to legal marijuana, state officials want to use minors in pot-buying stings next year when stores are expected to open. Charged with implementing the new law that allows adults to possess an ounce of pot, the state Liquor Control Board already uses minors in "controlled buys" of alcohol at retail stores. [continues 470 words]
Underage Stings to Test New Stores A select group of minors will go into Washington's new legal pot stores on a covert mission: to try and buy weed for the state. To curtail youth access to legal marijuana, state officials want to use minors in pot-buying stings next year when stores are expected to open. Charged with implementing the new law that allows adults to possess an ounce of pot, the state Liquor Control Board already uses minors in "controlled buys" of alcohol at retail stores. [continues 913 words]
Business License Needed Not As Many Seek to Run Retail Stores, Except in Seattle-Tacoma Area After the first week of applications for pot-business licenses, it's apparent people want to grow weed all over Washington state. Aspiring growers are seeking licenses in 34 of 39 counties, from Benton to Yakima, in a total of 444 applications. The counties without growing applicants - Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Garfield and Wahkiakum - have a combined population of just more than 50,000. Retail stores were not quite as popular, with 158 applicants for 334 state stores. But a number of cities, including Seattle and Tacoma, already have more retail-store applicants than allotted stores, likely triggering state-run lotteries for those licenses. [continues 418 words]
Marks Anniversary of Legalization Vote Permit Allows Smoking Outdoors at Fun Forest On the first anniversary of legal weed in Washington state, the city will permit a big pot party on the site of Seattle Center's old Fun Forest amusement park. Pot activist Ben Livingston has the contract to prove it, a city document that says "Licensee is permitted to host a private outdoor marijuana smoking area." Livingston forked over $1,900, which he got from a local law firm, to use part of the 74-acre Seattle Center for about eight hours on Dec. 6, the anniversary of the day Washington's recreational pot law took effect. [continues 472 words]
Pot entrepreneurs eager to get into the state's new recreational-marijuana industry started submitting license applications Monday. By 2 p.m., 299 applications had been received at the state Department of Revenue (DOR), the first stop in the application process. While business was brisk at DOR, there were no long lines of pot entrepreneurs at the agency's offices. Everyone is being encouraged to apply online because it is more convenient, said DOR spokeswoman Beverly Crichfield. Still, some folks "just sort of trickled into" DOR offices Monday, Critchfield said. [continues 291 words]
North Bonneville Supporters Hope Pioneering Move Will Guarantee Control and Generate Revenue Many cities in Washington state are trying to ban or block new state-regulated pot stores. North Bonneville, population 1,005, is not one of them. A city some see as a Chevron station just west of the Columbia River's Bridge of the Gods, North Bonneville not only wants a pot store - it wants to own a pot store. Mayor Don Stevens figures that would give the Skamania County city more control of a store they're likely to get anyway - and more revenue. [continues 1364 words]
Thank you for Howard Weissman's commentary "Legalizing marijuana means children will be targeted" (Nov. 8). Points that he made are strongly supported by a new book written by addiction medicine specialists Dr. Scott Teitelbaum and Michael Nias, "Weed: Family Guide to Marijuana Myths and Facts." The authors emphasize that due to crop engineering, marijuana is a much stronger drug than it was in decades past. The chemical that makes users feel high, THC, is 5 to 7 times higher than it was in the 1970s. [continues 103 words]
Two suspended Border Patrol agents were sentenced Tuesday to 24 months each in federal prison for civil-rights offenses because of their mistreatment of undocumented migrants they caught smuggling marijuana in the Arizona desert five years ago. In April, a jury convicted agents Dario Castillo, 25, of four felony counts, and Ramon Zuniga, 31, of four misdemeanor counts, of deprivation of civil rights under color of law. That charge applies to government officials or officers who use their position unlawfully to deprive anyone of their rights under the U.S. Constitution. [continues 293 words]
Proposed Changes in the State System Worry the Parents of a 5-Year Old With a Severe Form of Epilepsy. Ryan Day describes himself as the last guy who would ever grow marijuana. But he is doing just that in the garage of a middle-class house in Thurston County. Day's 5-year old son, Haiden, has Dravet syndrome, a severe form of epilepsy. Haiden's 45-pound body is wracked by seizures, often more than 100 a day, which have delayed his cognitive development, leaving him essentially a 2-year-old inhabiting a 5-year-old's body. [continues 1682 words]
This week, voters will be deciding the fate of proposed tax increases by the state of Colorado and by the cities of Denver, Boulder and Littleton on the sales of recreational marijuana. The purposes of the taxes are to cover expenses for licensing, regulation, enforcement of rules and laws, the prevention of diversion of legal marijuana to those under 21, and costs for educating people on health and public safety impacts of marijuana use. Of particular concern regarding public safety is expanding public awareness of the level of increased impairment caused from using marijuana and alcohol at the same time. [continues 1113 words]
The citizens of Colorado legalized the personal use of marijuana last year, and now the state and local governments face the challenge of carefully regulating the sale of recreational marijuana. In order to fund that, Proposition AA was submitted by the Colorado legislature. It imposes a 10 percent sales tax on the sale of all recreational marijuana products, but does not change the current tax on medical marijuana. It also imposes a 15 percent excise tax on the wholesale price of cultivated marijuana. The first $40 million collected from the excise tax revenue will be given to the Public School Capital Construction Fund to build new schools and repair existing schools. [continues 61 words]
Concerns of Competition With Recreational Market Medical marijuana would face new taxes, and patients would be limited to smaller supplies under rules proposed Monday by three state agencies. The rules also would tighten definitions of qualifying conditions and forbid home growing. The recommendations were requested by state lawmakers trying to reconcile the largely unregulated medical system with the new tightly controlled recreational pot market, which seeks to undercut illicit dealers. Lawmakers are concerned the medical system, which they see as a fiction to some degree, will be a rival that undercuts the recreational system's ability to collect tax revenues. [continues 681 words]
SEATTLE - The female marijuana plant, sold for its sticky psychoactive chemicals, is where the value lies in the marijuana industry. But the industry has long been dominated by men and can be crassly sexist, particularly in underground pot commerce. Women are relegated to supporting roles and sometimes blatantly viewed as sex objects, according to a study published this year. One Craigslist ad for pot trimmers posted by a grower in California sought a "good looking girl" willing to have sex. Legalization in Washington state, though, could give women recourse for sexual harassment and withheld wages, and make the industry safer for women in general, said Lydia Ensley, a Seattle dispensary operations manager. [continues 706 words]
Arduous Process Ends, but More Work Ahead Next Up, Licensing; Stores Expected to Open by May OLYMPIA - With little fanfare in a drab conference room, the state Liquor Control Board adopted rules for a legal marijuana system after 10 months of research, revisions, wrangling with the federal government and wrestling with who-would've-imagined questions. In a unanimous vote Wednesday, state officials charted the course for an experiment that seeks to undercut illegal dealers and launched the next leg of the journey: licensing a recreational pot industry serving customers with 334 retail stores. [continues 1062 words]
First Big City to Craft Such Detailed Regulations Industrial Groups Fear Pot Business Will Drive Up Rents Pot farms of up to 10,000 square feet will be allowed in most Seattle industrial areas under zoning approved Monday by the City Council. The decision marks a slight retreat by the council, which had approved 50,000-square-foot farms - almost the size of a football field - in a May committee vote. Since then, though, the full council delayed action until it could see the state's rules, which now cap all growing operations for legal recreational pot at 30,000 square feet. [continues 530 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a San Francisco group's challenge Monday to the federal government's refusal to allow doctors to prescribe marijuana, leaving intact the government's classification of the drug as a dangerous substance with no legitimate uses. The advocacy group Americans for Safe Access contended that more than 200 studies, performed and reviewed by medical professionals, have established that marijuana is both safe and effective in relieving pain and nausea, and in relieving the effects of chemotherapy for cancer patients. But federal courts have deferred to the Drug Enforcement Administration's conclusion that the drug's effects have not been adequately studied. [continues 274 words]
A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit over a Pittsburg police detective's fatal shooting of a man during a drug raid, saying there was evidence that the officer opened fire on the unarmed man without warning. Timothy Mitchell Jr., 29, was killed in his Antioch apartment during a 7 a.m. raid by a Contra Costa County narcotics squad in March 2011. Officers, who had a search warrant, said they had to force open a security door after a male voice shouted from inside that they were at the wrong home. Les Galer, a Pittsburg police officer, said he entered with his gun drawn and shot Mitchell after the man approached and grabbed his arm. [continues 280 words]
SEATTLE - The female marijuana plant, sold for its sticky psychoactive chemicals, is where the value lies in the marijuana industry. But the industry has long been dominated by men and can be crassly sexist, particularly in underground pot commerce. Women are relegated to supporting roles and sometimes blatantly viewed as sex objects, according to a study published this year. One Craigslist ad for pot trimmers posted by a grower in California sought a "good looking girl" willing to have sex. Another advertised that he'd pay extra for topless workers. [continues 1439 words]
Extracts Gaining Ground Users Consume Average of 123 Joints Per Year The state of Washington is counting on the average marijuana user to smoke a joint every three days. Under the state's consumption estimate for a legal pot market, the math breaks down to 80 million joints, or the equivalent in pot, smoked by roughly 650,000 adults every year. That's 123 joints per user annually. The state's consumption estimate is important because it drives licensing for pot production, including the number of growers and the size of their operations. Underestimating statewide consumption could hand customers to illicit dealers, according to state officials. Overestimating could lead to surplus weed being diverted to other states. [continues 440 words]
This is in response to County Attorney Sheila Polk's Talk of the Town on Saturday, Sept. 7 and the addictive perils of marijuana usage, especially for young people. Marijuana remains a federally proscribed schedule 1 controlled substance (1970) and is illegal for anyone of any age to use. Medical usage still remains under federal jurisdiction. Although pot remains illegal, Polk's sincere and comprehensive article illustrates that in practice this hasn't necessarily worked, but that the alternative of legalization would be worse. Educational efforts and awareness of the hazards of any drug use will be successful for everyone; scare tactics and demonizing pot - a universally utilized plant for thousands of years - is also not effective. Anything that can be abused will be abused but this doesn't mean it must be banned. [continues 152 words]
Youth Buffer Will Be 1,000-Foot Straight Line State Gauged Likely Path From Schools, Day Care There is at least one part of Washington state's rules for legal marijuana that federal prosecutors can't abide. The state is changing its plans for where pot businesses can be located, after Department of Justice officials told Gov. Jay Inslee that enforcing federal drug laws near schools and playgrounds remains a priority. The state Liquor Control Board announced Friday it will file an emergency rule to revise the way it measures a 1,000-foot buffer between pot businesses and schools, playgrounds, childcare centers and other venues frequented by youth. [continues 259 words]
Historic Senate Hearing State Worried Transactions Would Have to Be All Cash The U.S. Department of Justice is working with federal regulators to allow banking services for pot merchants in Washington and Colorado, the two states that have legalized adult possession of small amounts of marijuana. Deputy Attorney General James Cole acknowledged the current dilemma, that without changes at the federal level, legal pot stores will operate on a cash-only basis because banks fear they'll violate federal law by accepting pot money. [continues 887 words]
Could Open by June or Sooner; Revised Rules Are Released The state would license 334 pot stores, including at least 21 in Seattle and 61 in King County, under revised state rules for a recreational marijuana system. Total pot production would be capped at 40 metric tons next year in rules approved Wednesday by the state Liquor Control Board. The cap is intended to meet anticipated consumer demand that would roughly equal 25 percent of the total state market for legal recreational, medical and illicit market marijuana. [continues 971 words]
Though Recreational Use Was Approved, Rules Will Be a Challenge SEATTLE - For some laboring in Washington state's fledgling marijuana industry, last week's announcement by the U.S. Justice Department was a policy shift more nuanced than bold, more a flashing caution signal than a green light. The department's long-awaited statement on legalized marijuana in Washington and Colorado - the first two states to approve recreational use - offered neither outright support nor opposition. Instead, the four-page memo to federal prosecutors set boundaries on what the feds would tolerate from the two states creating recreational markets for adults. [continues 653 words]
Statement Opens Door to Legal Industry, But... Tax Looms on Medical Sales; Banks, Cities Remain in the Dark For some laboring in Washington's fledgling marijuana industry, this week's news from Washington, D.C., was a policy shift more nuanced than bold, more a flashing caution signal than a green light. The Department of Justice (DOJ)'s long-awaited statement on legalized weed in Washington and Colorado offered neither outright support nor opposition. Instead the four-page memo to federal prosecutors set boundaries on what the feds would tolerate from the two states creating recreational pot markets for adults. [continues 1160 words]
Top Cops Say Change in Law Would Save Policing and Court Costs Chatham-Kent police Chief Dennis Poole agrees with Canada's top cops that handing out tickets for illegal possession of small amounts of marijuana could be more effective than laying criminal charges. At the same time, Poole emphasized he does not support any move to totally decriminalize marijuana possession. Delegates at the recent Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police passed a resolution saying officers need more enforcement options to deal with people caught with pot. [continues 312 words]
The Obama administration has pressured landlords, banks and credit card companies to cut off services to medical marijuana dispensaries. Now the administration may have found a new target: armored car companies that carry cash for the pot clubs. The executive director of Oakland's huge Harborside Health Center, already fighting a federal eviction suit, has used armored cars to pay tax collectors and other creditors because he can no longer use checks or credit cards. On Wednesday, he said, the armored car company told him it was terminating service on the orders of an unnamed federal agency. [continues 522 words]
'Law Provides for Such a Bargain' Could Help Limit Illegal Growing, Exporting The state's top pot consultant says the federal government should sign contracts with Washington and Colorado that would allow their legal marijuana systems if the two states agree to clamp down on illegal growers and exporters. Mark Kleiman, a UCLA professor, suggested the contracts as a solution to the lingering tension between new recreational-pot laws in the two states and the federal government, which considers all marijuana illegal. [continues 374 words]
They're calling it "Operation Orange Fingers." Really. Seattle police will hand out bags of Doritos at Hempfest on Saturday. Police department spokesman Sgt. Sean Whitcomb confirmed the unusual duty, saying he and other officers will distribute one-ounce bags of nacho-cheese chips with educational information affixed to them about the state's new legal pot law. The bags also will contain a label with a link to the department's "Marijwhatnow" FAQ, which explains that, yes, adults are now allowed to possess up to an ounce of weed, and that, no, you can't get back the pot that cops might have seized before voters legalized recreational weed in last November's election. [continues 365 words]
Regulations Due Today Postponement Wins Praise; Members Want to Consider More Public Feedback The Washington state Liquor Control Board staff is recommending that rules for a legal recreational-pot system be postponed while it takes additional time to consider public feedback. Final rules were scheduled to be issued Wednesday by the agency, after approval by the three appointed board members. Agency spokesman Brian Smith said board members have indicated they're agreeable to the delay. "What we're hearing is that no one is telling us to hurry up," Smith said of public feedback. [continues 373 words]
In S.F., U.S. Attorney General Calls for Fewer Low-Level Offenders in Jail The "so-called war on drugs" has needlessly imprisoned thousands of Americans for relatively minor crimes, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday in a San Francisco speech announcing Obama administration policy changes that will reduce or possibly eliminate federal sentences for some low-level drug offenders. While Holder ordered federal prosecutors to reduce their use of mandatory sentencing laws in drug cases, the impact of his order will depend on such unpredictable factors as how prosecutors interpret the new rules and whether Congress decides to add flexibility to rigid sentencing laws. [continues 720 words]
Event in Its 22nd Year With Recreational Marijuana Legal in the State, Some Question If the 'Protestival' Is Still Relevant The first Hempfest since the legalization of pot is just days away, and Viv McPeak, longtime director of the "protestival," says he isn't sleeping well, isn't eating well and isn't even smoking pot. Hempfest turns 22 this year. "The heat is on," McPeak said of the Aug. 16-18 event expected to draw 250,000 people. Business groups lobbied the city to move Hempfest from the waterfront, saying it's too big and messy. [continues 967 words]
'A Lot of Unknowns' Some Moving Ahead With Zoning Laws, Others Issuing Moratoriums Some Washington cities, such as Seattle and Shoreline, are moving ahead with zoning and other local rules for a new state-sanctioned recreational-marijuana industry. Others, including Kent and University Place, are girding for battle. "I don't think an individual or the state has the right to force us" into welcoming pot commerce, said Steve Victor, city attorney for University Place. "I hope we don't have to defend ourselves in court, but we are prepared to." [continues 1178 words]
North Carolina has always had a split attitude toward recreational drug use: Tobacco is OK, alcohol not so much. Now more attention is being focused on a third widely used drug - marijuana. It is now legal to buy marijuana in Colorado and Washington. The venerable New York Times recently called for its national legalization. Even the sharply conservative North Carolina legislature recently took a modest, noncontroversial step by allowing patients with persistent seizures to be treated with cannabidiol extracted from hemp, as long as they qualify for pilot studies. The law allows selected universities in the state to grow cannabis for study. [continues 459 words]
Measure Would Mirror State Law, Including Fine of $103 Without It, State Would Get All Fine Money Some residents in Seattle's University Park neighborhood are fed up with pot smoke wafting into their yards and bedrooms. "I had one complaint from a neighbor who had to close their young son's bedroom window because they didn't want him exposed to marijuana smoke drifting in," said Ruedi Risler, a University Park Community Club board member. "We need to look at what enforcement can be used." [continues 650 words]
Former Congressman Patrick Kennedy announced that a national group he chairs is opening a Washington state chapter to watchdog the impact on minors of legalizing marijuana for adults. Speaking in front of eight adults and two teens at the Mercer Island Community and Events Center, Kennedy said his group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, or SAM, is not now pushing for repeal of Washington's voter-approved recreational pot law. "I couldn't argue with adult recreational use. That's your business," Kennedy said. "But we need to understand the consequences of that right." [continues 362 words]
A federal magistrate blocked the government Wednesday from closing and seizing the nation's largest medical marijuana dispensary while the city of Oakland tries to join a legal challenge to the shutdown. U.S. Magistrate MariaElena James, who had dismissed Oakland's lawsuit against the closure of Harborside Health Center, said Wednesday that the city had a chance of successfully appealing her decision, an effort that would be futile if the dispensary were shuttered in the meantime. Wednesday's ruling could keep Harborside open for at least another year. [continues 277 words]
Draft Rules Revised Liquor Control Board Accepts Changes; Next Come 4 Hearings In a change of course, expansive outdoor pot-growing would be allowed under proposed rules for state-regulated recreational marijuana. The move to permit fieldgrown pot is the biggest difference between initial draft rules and proposed rules unanimously approved Wednesday by the threemember Liquor Control Board. Other changes include shortening the hours of operation for retail pot stores to 16 hours a day, adding childproof packaging for some products and dropping a label for all pot products that showed a silhouette of Washington state with a pot leaf in its center. [continues 717 words]
How to Regulate Potent Extracts? Questions Raised As Officials Plan to Release Draft Rules Aurelio Romero Jr. uses a metal rod to apply a dab of hash oil to part of a bong that's been turned red-hot by a blowtorch. Romero, 31, inhales a cloud of superpotent vapor that fills the pipe. "It only takes a dab the size of a rice grain to have the same effect as smoking two or three bowls" of dried marijuana, Romero explained at last month's Concentrates Cup, a hash-oil seminar and competition in Black Diamond. [continues 1122 words]
Outdoor Growing, New Logo Suggested Allowing Hashish Sales Also Mentioned Often Allow outdoor pot growing and don't ban the sale of hash and hash oil. And while you're at it, dump the state pot-leaf logo. Those were among the most common suggestions in more than 1,000 pages of comments sent to state officials writing rules for a legal marijuana system for adult social use. Members of the Liquor Control Board, the agency charged with creating a marijuana system, were briefed Thursday on the feedback to their initial draft rules. The board is scheduled to formally propose rules on July 3. [continues 458 words]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Rev. Edwin Sanders says churches should help heal the sick, feed the hungry and set prisoners free. Even if they smoke pot. Sanders, pastor of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, is part of a group of clergy who want to end the war on drugs by decriminalizing drug use. Sanders said the so-called war on drugs has failed for two reasons. First, he said, addiction to drugs is a disease, not a crime. "You don't criminalize and incarcerate people who have a disease," Sanders said. "You treat and care for them." [continues 302 words]
Drug Laws Not Enforced Fairly, Clergy at Nashville Conference Say The Rev. Edwin Sanders says churches should help heal the sick, feed the hungry and set prisoners free. Even if they smoke pot. Sanders, pastor of Metropolitan Interdenominational Church in Nashville, is part of a group of clergy who want to end the war on drugs by decriminalizing drug use. They met this week in Nashville at American Baptist College. Sanders said the so-called war on drugs has failed for two reasons. First, he said, addiction to drugs is a disease, not a crime. [continues 705 words]
