Lobel: Medical Marijuana Saved Me From Addiction Boston sportscasting icon Bob Lobel is one of the hundreds of patients in Massachusetts who say they have found an effective substitute for opioids by using medicinal marijuana. The 71-year-old longtime television reporter and anchor has dealt with chronic pain for years, the result of numerous surgeries: He's had two knee replacements, two rotator cuff surgeries, four back surgeries and, in separate accidents, fractured the tops of both femurs. "That was brutal," Lobel told the Herald, referencing the femur breaks. The constant pain left him taking a variety of opioids. [continues 1311 words]
Mounties ransacked vehicle after threatening to have her children seized, mother alleges A First Nations woman from B.C.'s central coast is suing the province after two Mounties allegedly threatened to seize her three young children if she didn't let them search her vehicle for marijuana and crack cocaine. Kimberly Mack of Bella Coola is asking to be compensated $15,000 for what she alleges was an illegal search that failed to turn up any drugs. "When I meet up with the cops now I feel a lot of anger," Mack said in an interview. "When I think they can get away with so much I feel angry towards them. [continues 487 words]
Colleen McCool is not what most people envision when they think of a pot user. But at 69-years-old, McCool is just that. She and her husband live separately on property they own in Stephenville, but what they do still share is a fondness for marijuana, which she says helps them cope with a variety of health issues, including depression. "I lost a son and it really helped me deal with that post traumatic stress," she said. "It also helps with my knee and back problems. It elevates my mood and makes me not notice the pain as much." [continues 609 words]
I thank The Dispatch for making the case for civil-asset-forfeiture reform in last Monday's editorial " Unreasonable seizure." The financial incentives are dangerous. Police can confiscate cars, cash and homes without charging owners with a crime. Vague allegations of drug trafficking don't justify turning protectors of the peace into financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government. Warrantless government surveillance, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties, while failing miserably at preventing drug use. A majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and perhaps because of forbidden-fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the United States than any European country. [continues 82 words]
Prison Guards Sounding the Alarm Over Recent Inmate Overdoses The maximum-security Edmonton Institution went into lockdown and exceptional search on Aug. 19 after three inmates were rushed to hospital due to drug overdoses. Two were later released while one remains in stable condition. A fourth inmate, 31-year-old Ryan William Witvoet, was found unresponsive in his cell the following day on Aug. 20 from an apparent drug overdose and later died in hospital. Corrections officials are waiting on toxicology results to identify the substance. However, sources have told the Edmonton Sun that the overdoses are related to the synthetic opioid fentanyl, or a similar version of the drug, making its way into the population. [continues 271 words]
Law Enforcement Officials: Impairment Rules Need to Be Set. The campaign to legalize marijuana in Ohio has raised fears about an increase in people driving under the influence, despite assurances from supporters of Issue 3 that other states that have legalized marijuana have not seen a dramatic increase in accidents. Passage of the issue on the statewide ballot in November would allow anyone over the age of 21 to buy and use marijuana for medicinal or recreational purposes. Law enforcement is voicing the loudest concerns about drugged driving. [continues 628 words]
Poking deep into the U.S., and laced to it by six bridges, Southwestern Ontario's charmed geography for trade makes it a smuggler's alley for cocaine, more than two metric tonnes of which were seized at its borders between 2007 - 2013. How much more gets in, is anyone's guess. Emanuela Campanella reports. On the police blotters of Southwestern Ontario cities - the records of arrests made and charges laid - there's no question which illegal drug commands the most time and attention. [continues 1337 words]
I lost my appeal before the NJ Appellate Court. But before I go into that disappointment, in honor of Gov. Christie's presidential run and national prominence I've renamed my "Jive Turkey Burger" "THE CHRISTIE" and added a Twinkie on the side. (http://tinyurl.com/TheChristieBurger) I am a medical marijuana patient and I'm writing this column from the Philadelphia Veterans Administration hospital where I'm receiving treatment for my painful bone cancer condition. Last year I had my most prominent and painful tumor surgically removed. MRIs and my pain level have confirmed it's back - so technically I'm no longer in remission. [continues 1107 words]
Drug Laws Have Been Liberalised From Portland to Portugal. Why Is New Zealand Missing the (Magic) Bus? Philip Matthews Talks With Decriminalisation Advocate Ross Bell. Drug law reform. Is there any better example of a heart versus head issue? Logic and rationality tells you that the system does not work, that drugs are a medical issue not a criminal one. But your gut says lock all the junkies and potheads up. It is Ross Bell's job to wrestle with these dilemmas. For 11 years he has been chief executive of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a charitable trust charged with preventing and reducing harms caused by drug use. [continues 2104 words]
Frightened Girl Found the Pet After Three Shots Were Fired One gunshot left Rocco lying in the front foyer, steps from the front door at his home in Brampton. Then came the sound of two more shots, according to Mekayla Loots, 10, who was sitting on the couch watching the Family Channel when police officers came through her front door on June 30, shouting. Racing into the hallway, the frightened girl found her family's two-year-old German shepherd dead on the floor, the victim of Peel Regional Police bullets. [continues 492 words]
Local police chief defends regional SWAT teamA small number of local SWAT team incident reports, among dozens made public last week, illustrate the threats police departments face in executing so-called high-risk search and arrest warrants versus the concerns of civil liberties advocates, who criticize the use of heavy armored police units to serve warrants. In the case of a Haverhill man, police suspected he was selling prescription drugs, had at least two guns in his home, and had shot into a woman's car multiple times in the city. But he is confined to a wheelchair, cannot get out of bed and needs a catheter to empty his bladder. [continues 1019 words]
Editor: Regarding your July 10 editorial on civil asset forfeiture, vague allegations of drug trafficking don't justify turning protectors of the peace into financial predators. The drug war threatens the integrity of a country founded on the concept of limited government. Warrantless government surveillance, drug-sniffing dogs in schools and random drug testing have led to a loss of civil liberties, while failing at preventing drug use. The drug war is largely a war on marijuana consumers. Based on findings that criminal records are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents, a majority of European Union countries have decriminalized marijuana. Despite marijuana prohibition and perhaps because of forbidden fruit appeal, lifetime use of marijuana is higher in the U.S. than any European country. [continues 82 words]
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling should be the final nail in the coffin for the type of drug-interdiction cash seizures that have generated so much bad publicity in Northern Nevada. Nobody likes to see the bad guys get away, but even more important is Americans' constitutional right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. An Elko County case involving more than $167,000 taken from a Delaware RV during a traffic stop was held up in federal court earlier this year pending a ruling in Rodriguez v. United States. In April, the Supreme Court ruled that law enforcement cannot prolong traffic stops to wait for drug-sniffing dogs to arrive and inspect vehicles when there is no probable cause to do so. Justices said police cannot detain drivers after issuing them a ticket, even if a driver appears "nervous." [continues 431 words]
Officials Sound the Alarm As Research Shows Heroin Users Are More Likely to Be Wealthy, Privately Insured and 18 to 25 Standing in the pulpit above Austin Klimusko's casket three years ago, his mother used his death to draw the connection between pills from a pharmacy and drugs from the street. "When his prescriptions dried up, he turned to heroin," Susan Klimusko said in a frank eulogy meant as a warning to the young mourners at Simi Valley's Cornerstone Church. [continues 1014 words]
Prison inmates are masters at manipulating their guards into bringing them drugs, according to Seth Ferranti, whose article "Prison Drug Smuggling: The Old Fashioned Way" appeared in the New York Times (7/18/12). Seth writes that "although part of a new guard's orientation is meant to teach how prisoners may try to prey on staff members to gain favors or leverage, guards still fall victim and with all the avenues available and all the conniving drug addicts incarcerated prisons are clearly incapable of denying prisoners their drugs." [continues 326 words]
When you lift that freshly poured glass of beer to your lips, the scent that bubbles up to your nose, sometimes tickling it, just before the liquid rolls across your tongue, is part of the entire experience. It gives an olfactory preview of the depth of flavor in the beer. What you smell are the hops in the beer, specifically the terpene -Myrcene, which gives beer its bitter, hoppy smell and taste. It's a good complement for beer. -Myrcene is known to be sedating, a muscle relaxant, a bit of a hypnotic, and an anti-inflammation agent - - all geared to making your beer-drinking experience an enjoyable one. [continues 858 words]
The Launch of the the National Cannabis Bar Association, and More Good News. Sooner or later, everything winds up in court. You spilled a scalding cup of java on your nads at the McDonald's drive-through; the insurance company refuses to pay for "water damage"; you're tired of arsenic in the drinking water; ya feel like suing Costco . . . just because. And now that cannabis is entering the mainstream, it's time to lawyer up, in this week's legal round-up. [continues 866 words]
More Than 150 Inmates Have Died of Overdoses Since 2006 VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) - California inmates are dying of drug overdoses at nearly triple the national rate and it's unclear whether the tough steps state officials took this year to stop illicit drugs from getting into prisons are having any effect, though they are prompting criticism from civil rights advocates. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is spending $8 million this year on drug-detecting scanners and a new breed of drug-sniffing dogs while also employing strip searches on visitors suspected of carrying drugs. [continues 658 words]
VACAVILLE (AP) - California inmates are dying of drug overdoses at nearly triple the national rate and it's unclear whether the tough steps state officials took this year to stop illicit drugs from getting into prisons are having any effect, though they are prompting criticism from civil rights advocates. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is spending $8 million this year on drug-detecting scanners and a new breed of drug-sniffing dogs while also employing strip searches on visitors suspected of carrying drugs. [continues 218 words]
VACAVILLE, Calif. (AP) - California inmates are dying of drug overdoses at nearly triple the national rate and it's unclear whether the tough steps state officials took this year to stop illicit drugs from getting into prisons are having any effect, though they are prompting criticism from civil rights advocates. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is spending $8 million this year on drug-detecting scanners and a new breed of drug-sniffing dogs while also employing strip searches on visitors suspected of carrying drugs. [continues 846 words]