City's Police Joining Efforts to Treat Addicts Instead of Jailing Them GRAPEVINE - Imagine a drug user walking into a police station and handing over his drugs and paraphernalia. But instead of police putting the addict behind bars, the would-be criminal is taken to a treatment facility to get help - without any charges being filed. That's the essence of a new nationwide initiative coming soon to at least one North Texas police department. Grapevine officials, stung by some drug-related deaths in recent years, said Wednesday that they will soon begin participating in the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, or PAARI. The program takes a more compassionate approach toward drug users by treating addiction as a disease rather than simply a crime. [continues 824 words]
It's concerning on a number of levels that the volume of used needles being found around town has seen a big spike in the last six months. About two dozen a month isn't a reason to panic, certainly, but it's enough to make us want to know why there's so many turning up in our public places all of a sudden. Make no mistake, it is highly unlikely that these needles are from random diabetics needing to give themselves insulin. [continues 284 words]
Program's Expansion Targets Opioid Overdoses Over the weekend, three people died in Buffalo from opiate overdoses. On Monday, a woman barely survived an overdose. With the death toll increasing by the day, Buffalo Police on Monday announced that they are co-sponsoring with the Erie County Health Department more free classes throughout the city to train citizens in how to use Narcan, the opiate antidote. "We are concerned about the health and safety of city residents," Deputy Police Commissioner Kimberly L. Beaty said. "Opioids do not discriminate. That is why we are making this extra effort with the classes." [continues 571 words]
WILKES-BARRE - It's not a soft spot in their heart that has city officials pushing to decriminalize a minor drug offense, but rather a soft spot in their wallet. Mayor Tony George and his administration aim to reduce possession of drug paraphernalia from a misdemeanor criminal offense to a summary offense so the city could boost its coffers with the money collected through city-issued citations. City council at its regular meeting Thursday unanimously approved the first of two readings of the motion to amend Wilkes-Barre's ordinance. The maximum penalty for a summary conviction is a $300 fine. Defaulting on the payment could land an offender in Luzerne County Correctional Facility for up to 90 days. [continues 591 words]
Legalization's Coming, They Say, and So Are the Potential Opportunities FORT WORTH - There was a day when you'd have been considered under the influence to think that Texas might ever legalize marijuana. Lawrence Jenkins/Special Contributor "the 'Green rush' is going to happen," said San Antonio lawyer Daniel Mehler, who stood out in a pot-leaf-patterned suit at the cannabis expo in Fort Worth. But this weekend, an event dedicated to that very notion drifted into the Fort Worth Convention Center. [continues 419 words]
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION - A second-grader's tales of how he was helping a "farmer" grow "special medicine" plants led to the bust of a large indoor marijuana growing operation in Windsor last week. Steven Mann, 54, pleaded innocent Monday in White River Junction criminal court to a felony count of cultivating more than 25 marijuana plants. He was released on a $10,000 unsecured appearance bond. Windsor Police Det. Jennifer Frank wrote in an affidavit that Mann's girlfriend's 8-year-old son told school officials and Frank about Mann's "green thumb" and how he got to help him grow "special medicine that can cure anything at all." [continues 283 words]
Should incriminating evidence be used against a defendant if it was discovered in the course of an illegal police stop? That was the question before the Supreme Court on Monday, the first day of oral arguments since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. The court has been weakening the Fourth Amendment's defense against illegal searches for years. Monday's case gives the justices an opportunity to restore some of its power. The case, Utah v. Strieff, started in 2006, when the Salt Lake City police got an anonymous tip reporting drug activity at a house. An officer monitored the house for several days and became suspicious at the number of people he saw entering and leaving. When one of those people, Edward Strieff, left to walk to a nearby convenience store, the officer stopped him and asked for his identification. [continues 348 words]
It looks more and more likely there will be at least one ballot measure this fall regarding the legalizing of marijuana use in North Dakota. There are two groups looking to have initiated measures related to marijuana use on the November ballot. One group is gathering signatures to allow medical marijuana use only and a second group gathering signatures wishes to allow legal use of marijuana by anyone over the age of 21. If signatures are gathered and it is passed by voters into law it also would allow adults 21 and older to grow marijuana and possess paraphernalia and would cap the sales tax. [continues 389 words]
As Hawaii gets close to opening its first medical marijuana dispensaries - some 16 years after medical cannabis was legalized - one might expect that the major issues have been worked out. Not so. Even as the state Department of Health labors under a fast-approaching April 15 deadline to approve eight applications for dispensary permits, the Legislature is busy, too - trying to change the rules under which the Health Department is working. It's the legislative equivalent of trying to change the tires on a car while it's speeding down the freeway - in other words, a bad idea. [continues 467 words]
Lawmakers Are Considering Loosening Dispensary Rules and Allowing Greenhouses Advanced practice registered nurses, who already prescribe prescription drugs, could start certifying patients for medical marijuana under a bill passed out of committee Wednesday. House Bill 2707, one of roughly 60 bills related to medical marijuana, also permits pot samples to be transported interisland for testing and eliminates penalties for patients who use paraphernalia, such as pipes and vape pens, to take their medicine. Friday is an internal deadline to move bills to the next committee to keep them alive. [continues 569 words]
BISMARCK - Backers of a proposed ballot measure to legalize marijuana in North Dakota made an error in their petition submitted Wednesday, and the state's chief law enforcement officer said their proposal to legalize pot-related synthetic drugs also is a big mistake. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and the head of the state Board of Pharmacy expressed concern Thursday that, in addition to legalizing natural marijuana, the measure would delete synthetic cannabinoids from the list of Schedule 1 drugs after several years of efforts to outlaw the substances. [continues 731 words]
It was in a low-rent town in flyover country, playing a gig in front of a crowd of squares and straights in the Ronald Reagan '80s - the dark days of Just Say No, compulsory D.A.R.E. classes for children, and the crack-cocaine epidemic, all the things that led to our country's current drug-fueled incarceration crisis - when Tommy Chong really blew his audience's minds. Chong and his partner Cheech Marin had been plying their brand of stoner humor for almost two decades, their comedy LPs and films on the Hi-Fis and Betamaxes of cannabis users around the world. (And the pair would separate soon after, when Marin tried to make a break from the THC-fueled typecast and go for a straight-laced acting career.) But on this night and in this town - some nameless "right-wing Christian" place Chong cannot recall - the still-bearded longhairs were not playing to their audience. Still, the crewcuts paid to see these freaks, leftovers from the '60s, in action. And they were curious. [continues 792 words]
There's a marijuana recall saga playing out in Denver that suggests our regulatory system isn't quite up to snuff yet (at least when it comes to quality control.) It first blew up last March when the city of Denver quarantined more than 100,000 plants from six separately owned and operated grows after the fire department discovered off-label pesticide use on the plants during routine safety inspections. The city stepped up its inspections of cultivation facilities, and the Denver Post 's Cannabist blog even commissioned its own tests for pesticides on retail marijuana extracts. [continues 538 words]
Just after Uncle Ike's Pot Shop opened in Seattle's Central District, it boasted in an ad, "Our weed cures Ebola." Knowing that merchants in the new industry weren't allowed to make any medical claims about pot, the fine print disclaimer winked: "If you believe this ad, you are a (expletive) moron." That in-your-face Vern Fonk-on-weed sensibility has helped make Uncle Ike's the state's top-selling pot store, with $1.4 million in monthly sales. [continues 1955 words]
The Canadian government stands to make over $5 billion from taxes if marijuana is legalized but Fredericton dealers aren't too concerned with how it will affect their sales. One local pot dealer thinks the possible legalization will only affect the people who will have the money to buy government supplied marijuana, and that the taxing will help the province. Andrew Rankin* has been selling pot for the past few years. He said most of the people who buy pot need to have a higher income to afford higher quality weed. [continues 394 words]
I've sometimes wondered what the cannabis lounge of the future will be like when cannabis connoisseurs don't have to sneak around and keep their pleasure on the down low. Will it have the typical bar and lounge look? Will it look like a coffeehouse? Will it have a psychedelic feel? Will there be overstuffed chairs providing something soft and comfortable for customers to settle back into? Will there be ferns at the windows while patrons sip chai? I've been to a place in Holland where there was a guy selling hash from a table in the back of a regular bar but never saw any place that was specifically catering to a specific cannabis atmosphere. [continues 1201 words]
Attempted murder, deceit, collusion, perjury, obstructing justice and something else that won't be revealed until a disciplinary tribunal in March. These are your cops, Toronto. "It certainly has been an anomaly week for our service," said Police Chief Mike Saunders, confirming the latest charges Thursday. And you've got to feel some sympathy for the guy, who's barely had a moment's peace since he got the top job. Const. James Forcillo: Guilty of attempted murder in the six rounds he fired at the already dying teenager Sammy Yatim. [continues 1110 words]
The people behind the new vaping lounge in downtown Windsor say it's not just about providing a place for medical marijuana users to toke up - it's about clearing the air when it comes to pot. "We have medical users who are being discriminated against, who have stigmas lingering over them," said Jon Liedtke, co-owner of Higher Limits at 251 Ouellette Ave. "It's not necessary. Quite frankly, it's inappropriate in the year 2016.=C2=85 It's easy to joke about cannabis. But would you joke about someone who needs to use insulin?" [continues 798 words]
Will the importance of road safety be left in the dust when the smoke clears around the expanded use and distribution of marijuana? With Canadian lawmakers and politicians shifting into high gear on the drive to legalize marijuana, there is a real risk that important questions about the impact on road safety in Ontario and across Canada will be left in the dust. This is one key area of concern for Ontario Safety League (OSL) as we move into 2016, and one of several challenging issues all road users will be confronting this year. [continues 757 words]