No one of these steps will solve the crisis, but collectively they can achieve progress. This will take time. Drug addiction will never go away, but as a community and as a nation, we can do much better. In recent weeks our community has had an extraordinary discussion about the heroin crisis that confronts it. That discussion has included families touched by the disease of addiction, law enforcement, educators, the medical and substance abuse and treatment community, and elected leaders. The conversation has provided some consensus, if not universal agreement, on a way forward. Addressing the problem will take time and persistence will be paramount. [continues 647 words]
Substance Abuse Prevention Expert Tells Rotary Parents Must 'Stop Teenagers From Using Anything' New London - Since most addiction starts in the teenage years, the most effective way to combat the rising rates of heroin and prescription opioid addiction it to "stop teenagers from using anything," one of the region's leading substance abuse prevention experts told the New London Rotary Club Thursday. "We need to keep the vulnerability envelope of teens closed for as long as possible," said Karen Fischer, a longtime mental health counselor currently working for the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut at the Lymes' Youth Service Bureau on a five-year substance abuse prevention grant. [continues 475 words]
When the state Senate in New Mexico this week considered a measure that would have asked voters whether to legalize marijuana, the debate inevitably became as much about Colorado as the lawmakers' home state. When making his case against the measure, Sen. William Sharer, a Republican from Farmington, pointed to Denver, where he said crime has increased since retail marijuana stores opened in the city in 2014. The measure ultimately failed, 24-17. Marijuana policy experts and Colorado officials urge caution when trying to grade legalization's impacts - which are the subject of debate all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, where this week justices are scheduled to discuss a lawsuit over pot filed against Colorado by two neighboring states. But there is one thing that legalization supporters, opponents and neutrals within Colorado agree on: It's unlikely marijuana has much to do with Denver's recent uptick in crime, as Sharer suggested it did. [continues 406 words]
As former Arizona superintendents of public instruction, we have spent our professional careers dedicated to seeking positive outcomes for our state's youth and its education system. Given what we know about the challenges involved in education reform, we are compelled to go on record in vociferous opposition to current efforts to legalize marijuana in Arizona. Most critically, we take great exception to recent campaign efforts to promote legalized marijuana as a net positive benefit to education reform. Legalizing a drug whose dangers have become more widely known and documented overturns decades of prevention work in our education and health-care systems. [continues 418 words]
Levy on Marijuana Cultivation in Sacramento Would Raise Money for Youth Programs Children's Services Don't Get a Big Enough Share of City Budget Children Don't Have a Lobbyist, So Council Should Let Voters Decide Tuesday night, the Sacramento City Council has the opportunity to make a statement of its values and priorities with a proposal to place a measure on the June 7 ballot to create a dedicated funding source for children and youths. It will provide desperately needed resources to help our young people succeed in their education, career and life. The proposal is to place a small tax on the cultivation and manufacturing of marijuana. The real decision before the council is not whether to tax this industry but where to direct the funds. [continues 356 words]
Members of Colo. Group Say Pot Strengthens Faith CENTENNIAL, Colo. - As snow began to fall outside, Deb Button snuggled up on her couch, fired up a joint and spoke of the nature of Christ. "Even if Jesus didn't smoke weed, he'd still be a stoner," she said, exhaling a white cloud. Her kitten sniffed the air curiously. "Jesus was peaceful and loving. He went from house to house and was always accepted," she explained. "Only a stoner could do that." [continues 984 words]
Waterville and Vassalboro school boards also will vote on the policy to allow a caregiver to administer medical marijuana to students at school. Winslow, Waterville and Vassalboro schools are enacting policies to allow students to use medical marijuana in school as districts across the state move to comply with a state law passed last year that allows the practice. The Winslow School Board on Monday voted to approve a policy that allows a parent or legal guardian considered a primary caregiver under Maine's medical marijuana laws to administer marijuana on school grounds to a student certified to use the drug. [continues 611 words]
Members of Stoner Jesus Bible Study Say Pot Strengthens Their Faith As Snow Began to Fall Outside, Deb Button Snuggled Up on Her Couch, Fired Up a Joint and Spoke of the Nature of Christ. "Even If Jesus Didn't Smoke Weed, He'd Still Be a Stoner," She Said, Exhaling a White Cloud. Her Kitten Sniffed the Air Curiously. "Jesus Was Peaceful and Loving. He Went From House to House and Was Always Accepted," She Explained. "Only a Stoner Could Do That." [continues 966 words]
Michael J. Kennedy, who as a criminal lawyer championed lost causes and deeply unpopular defendants - including John Gotti Sr., Huey P. Newton and Timothy Leary - and finally won freedom for Jean S. Harris, the convicted killer of Dr. Herman Tarnower, the Scarsdale Diet doctor, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 78. The cause was complications of pneumonia, which developed while he was being treated for cancer, his wife, Eleanora, said. A steadfast defender of the underdog and the First Amendment, Mr. Kennedy represented radicals including Rennie Davis, Bernardine Dohrn and Mr. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. His clients also included the Native American protesters at Wounded Knee, S.D., the family of the rogue real estate heir Robert A. Durst; Mr. Leary, the LSD guru; and Mr. Gotti, the mob boss. [continues 742 words]
Taboos about drugs are lying shattered across the U.S., like broken debris after a party. But even as some states have begun to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, there is an argument that is making some Americans hesitate. They ask: Aren't many drugs, even pot, much more potent today than they were in the 1960s when the boomers formed their views on drug use? Hasn't cannabis morphed into super skunk? Aren't people who used legal painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet sliding into heroin addiction, suggesting that legally accessible drugs are a slippery slope toward the abuse of harder drugs? [continues 609 words]
Recently I read a national article about a medical team that looked the other way while a patient was smoking marijuana in the bathroom. On a closer reading of the article, the medical case was from over 20 years ago. First mistake: not doing the math (we'll get to this in a minute). Second mistake: concluding that the answer is "medical" marijuana. Did you know that the two major compounds that are medicinal in marijuana are already 100 percent legal here in Kentucky? [continues 557 words]
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A federal judge ruled Friday that Iowa State University administrators violated the constitutional free speech rights of student members of a pro-marijuana group by barring them from using the university logos on T-shirts. U.S. District Judge James Gritzner issued an order granting members of the ISU chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws a permanent injunction which means university administrators cannot use a trademark policy to prevent the organization from printing shirts depicting a marijuana leaf. [continues 144 words]
Nine senior engineering students at the University of Colorado are teaming with a Boulder-based Surna to design the company's new hybrid building for pot growers. Surna engineers equipment for controlled environments with a focus on the marijuana industry. The student team is helping with its newest product: a climate-controlled building that is a mix of an indoor grow operation and a greenhouse. The design includes a clear ceiling over an indoor grow. "It is sunlit - no one disputes that plants grow best under sunlight," Surna CEO Stephen Keen said. It will result in significant energy savings by redistributing heat and recycling water. [continues 67 words]
Look Back to Alcohol Prohibition for Understanding of Why Taboos about drugs are lying shattered across the U.S., like broken debris after a party. But even as some states have begun to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, there is an argument that is making some Americans hesitate. They ask: Aren't many drugs, even pot, much more potent today than they were in the 1960s, when the boomers formed their views on drug use? Hasn't cannabis morphed into super skunk? Aren't people who used legal painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet sliding into heroin addiction - suggesting that legally accessible drugs are a slippery slope toward the abuse of harder drugs? [continues 608 words]
Santa Rosa took another step toward becoming the center of the North Coast's commercial medical marijuana industry Tuesday when the City Council pushed forward a plan to regulate cultivation instead of banning it. Following the advice of its subcommittee, the council rejected an outright ban and instead approved a plan to temporarily allow large-scale marijuana cultivation in at least three nonresidential zoning districts with special permits approved by the Planning Commission. The 7-0 vote was wildly applauded by a chamber filled with people who said they were grateful for the chance to conduct their underground business legally. [continues 792 words]
Not for kids If you're under 18, don't get caught with marijuana paraphernalia in Colorado Springs. You could face harsher punishment here than anywhere else in the state. On Tuesday, City Council adopted an ordinance that imposes a maximum fine of $500 on minors found in possession of paraphernalia, broadly defined to include "equipment, products or materials of any kind which are used, intended for use or designed for use in propagating, manufacturing, compounding, converting, production, processing, preparing, testing, analyzing, packaging, repackaging, inhaling or otherwise introducing marijuana into the human body." The new local law reiterates a state law passed in 2014, but with added teeth at the recommendation of local law enforcement, prosecutors and the municipal court. [continues 465 words]
Colorado Cities High on Benefits of Taxing Marijuana; Proceeds Go to Infrastructure, Substance-Abuse Programs The gym rats who join the still-under-construction recreation centre in central Denver will owe their workouts to weed smokers. In Pueblo County, south of Denver, students will soon be able to walk to school on a sidewalk paid for by marijuana tax revenue, or apply to the world's first cannabis-funded scholarship program. "We're taking dollars that were previously going to drug cartels in Mexico and using them to provide opportunity and education to the next generation," says Pueblo county commissioner Sal Pace. [continues 616 words]
Taboos about drugs are lying shattered across the U.S., like broken debris after a party. But even as some states have begun to decriminalize or legalize marijuana, there is an argument that is making some Americans hesitate. They ask: Aren't many drugs, even pot, much more potent today than they were in the 1960s, when the boomers formed their views on drug use? Hasn't cannabis morphed into super skunk? Aren't people who used legal painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet sliding into heroin addiction - suggesting that legally accessible drugs are a slippery slope toward the abuse of harder drugs? [continues 611 words]
What Toronto can learn from Colorado's taxation of pot sales The gym rats who join the still-under-construction recreation centre in central Denver, Colo., will owe their workouts to weed smokers. In Pueblo County, south of Denver, students will soon be able to walk to school on a sidewalk paid for by marijuana tax revenue, or apply to the world's first cannabis-funded scholarship program. "We're taking dollars that were previously going to drug cartels in Mexico and using them to provide opportunity and education to the next generation," says Pueblo County Commissioner Sal Pace. [continues 616 words]
Mexico City - ON the morning of Jan. 2, a team of hired killers set off for the home of 33-year-old Gisela Mota, who only hours before had been sworn in as the first female mayor of Temixco, a sleepy spa town an hour from Mexico City. Ms. Mota was still in her pajamas as the men approached her parents' breezeblock house. She was in the bedroom, but most of her family was in the front room, cooing over a newborn baby. As the family prepared a milk bottle, the assassins smashed the door open. Amid the commotion, Ms. Mota came out of her bedroom and said firmly, "I am Gisela." In front of her terrified family, the men beat Ms. Mota and shot her several times, killing her. [continues 1708 words]
