Congress and President Obama are under pressure to reschedule marijuana. While rescheduling makes sense, it doesn't solve the state/federal conflict over marijuana (de-scheduling would be better). But more important, it wouldn't fix the broken scheduling system. Ideally, marijuana reform should be part of a broader bill rewriting the Controlled Substances Act. The Controlled Substances Act created a five-category scheduling system for most legal and illegal drugs (although alcohol and tobacco were notably omitted). Depending on what category a drug is in, the drug is either subject to varying degrees of regulation and control (Schedules II through V) -- or completely prohibited, otherwise unregulated and left to criminals to manufacture and distribute (Schedule I). The scheduling of various drugs was decided largely by Congress and absent a scientific process -- with some strange results. [continues 607 words]
This stupid, hypocritical war on drugs is in its long, slow retreat The United Nations General Assembly special session on drugs took place in New York last week, and the UN, as it has so many times before, reached a consensus as to what it would do to counteract the world's drug problem: Nothing. "It was a wash," said Donald MacPherson, executive director of SFU's Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, who attended the three-day session. "There was serious resistance to any kind of drug policy reform initiatives from Asian countries and China and Russia. So (the UN's) consensus-based model is not where change will happen. Even the legalization of cannabis in some American states was not talked about there. So things that were actually happening in the world were not discussed." [continues 669 words]
A lame duck with nothing to lose but his legacy, Barack Obama is now in the peculiar position of being America's most cannabis-friendly president. He has earned this title passively: by doing nothing. Obama did nothing when Washington and Colorado legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. He did nothing when Oregon and Alaska did the same in 2014. But in 2010, when recreational marijuana was legal nowhere and when drug agents seized a record number of marijuana plants, Obama's Justice Department also did next to nothing - vague threats of jail time and some threatening letters to property owners - which, at the time, was enough to help kill legalization in California and to slow down the growth of the state's weed industry for a couple of years. Never have a few pieces of certified mail had more effect. [continues 776 words]
Psychedelic drugs have made a resurgence as medications to treat illnesses from post-traumatic stress disorder to end-of-life anxiety, but researchers at the University of B.C. say the substances might also rein in domestic violence. The UBC Okanagan study, published last week in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found that 42 per cent of imprisoned men in the U.S. who did not take psychedelic drugs after their release were arrested within six years for domestic battery, compared to 27 per cent for those who had taken drugs such as LSD, psilocybin - also known as magic mushrooms - and MDMA, which is known by the street name ecstasy. [continues 594 words]
UBC Study: Project Uncovers Some Surprising Results Psychedelic drugs such as acid, ecstasy and magic mushrooms have been making a resurgence as a medicine to treat a range of illnesses from post traumatic stress disorder to end of life anxiety. Now researchers at the University of B.C. say the drugs may help curb domestic violence committed by men with substance abuse problems. The UBC Okanagan study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, found that 42 per cent of U.S. adult male prison inmates who did not take psychedelic drugs were arrested within six years for domestic battery after their release, compared to a rate of 27 per cent for those who had taken drugs such as LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and MDMA (ecstasy.) [continues 229 words]
H.R. 4378 Addresses the Need to Provide Treatment Facilities for Those Already Bound by Addiction. Education and Prevention Are Imperative in Fighting the Epidemic, but Don't Work by Themselves. the Economic Advantage of Treating Addicts Is Huge, When Factoring in Health Care and Judicial Costs. Since Nancy Reagan first spoke the familiar words "Just say no" in 1982, this country has been engaged in a war on drugs that to some seems unwinnable. There is currently a piece of legislation in Congress that takes a different approach to the matter. Rather than solely focusing on prevention of substance abuse, the Access to Substance Abuse Treatment Act of 2016 (H.R. 4378) addresses the overwhelming need to provide treatment facilities for those already bound by the chains of addiction to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) and phencyclidine (PCP). [continues 466 words]
Campaigning for president in the liberal oasis of Madison, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont rose to the defense of marijuana. Critical of the nation's war on drugs, Sanders said the lives of millions of Americans have been "ruined" because they got a police record for possessing marijuana. "Today, under the federal Controlled Substance Act, marijuana is listed in the same Schedule I as heroin. That is nuts," Sanders declared March 26, 10 days before he defeated Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin's Democratic primary. [continues 694 words]
Consumers Number About 246 Million, With the U.S. Leading the Way and Cannabis the Top Narcotic. As leaders from around the world gather in New York for what many are calling the most important summit on illegal drugs in two decades, one thing is clear: The world has a serious drug problem. Worldwide, about 246 million people use illicit drugs, and 1 in 10 of these users suffer from disorders related to drug use. Of the estimated 12 million people who inject drugs, at least 1.6 million are also living with HIV, while slightly more than half suffer from hepatitis C. Each year, 200,000 people suffer drug-related deaths, such as overdoses. [continues 785 words]
As millions of marijuana aficionados light up Wednesday at 4:20 p.m. in celebration of "Weed Day," many are blissfully unaware of the increasing interest that investors with deep pockets are showing in their favorite psychoactive herb. A green rush is on in the marijuana industry, with legal sales of cannabis rising by a billion dollars or more each year nationwide, according to one report, and venture capitalists pouring millions into marijuana enterprises ranging from computer software and social networks to storage bags, vaporizers and insurance. [continues 1016 words]
The Iconic Stoner Chats With Us About Detroit, Cancer, and Donald Trump It's a Friday morning, and Tommy Chong is about to ride up John R in a replica of The Love Machine, the 1964 Chevy Impala from Up in Smoke. He has one hand on the chain link steering wheel and what Cheech Marin might call a Led Zeppelin-sized joint in the other. When asked if he wants to blaze, though, the most iconic of stoners declines. "It's still Michigan," he says. [continues 1307 words]
Holding the addict's hand as he overdosed isn't what hit Erin Schulte the hardest. It was the way he smelled. "I remember looking at him and thinking he was so 'normal.' Clean cut. I smelled his cologne. No scabs or wounds. Nice clothing. I just remember how he smelled and remember thinking, 'Why does this guy feel the need to get so high he leaves this planet?'" She sat on the ground with him, rubbing his hand. She told him to come back and not to stop breathing. [continues 1443 words]
Rally Pressures Obama to Deschedule Marijuana The local activists who helped legalize marijuana possession in the District were on the trail of bigger game Saturday, lighting up in front of the White House to protest the way federal laws classify the drug. "This is about needless incarceration," Dave Anderson said as he walked along a 51-foot inflatable joint that protesters planned to march from 15th Street NW and Pennsylvania Avenue NW to the gates outside of the north lawn of the White House. "We've got local momentum in D.C., so this is an opportunity for a dialogue." [continues 716 words]
The mass of protesters gathered outside the White House couldn't quite wait for 4:20 Saturday afternoon, the pre-planned time they had designated to light their marijuana-packed joints and pipes in protest of the federal laws that prohibit the drug's consumption. Just past 4: 17, plumes of smoke arose from the crowd of more than 100 people, which was surrounded by officers from the U. S. Park Police, Metropolitan Police and the Secret Service. Still, because the activists remained on the street - owned by the District, which has legalized pot possession- and off the sidewalks-owned by the federal government, which has not - no one was arrested. Just two people were given citations and $25 fines for public consumption. A man who knew the pair said they were confronted by police only after a member of their group accidentally blew smoke in an officer's face. [continues 199 words]
For a religion in which wine plays such a central role, Christianity may prove surprisingly effective at curbing drug use, according to a study. Data analyzed by DrugAbuse.com in "Drugs and Devotion: Comparing Substance Abuse by Believers and Nonbelievers" show a correlation between religious belief and a reluctance to experiment with narcotics. Americans who said they are not religious are more likely to have used a host of recreational drugs, ranging from marijuana and alcohol to Ecstasy and heroin. Nonbelievers in the study, for instance, were 12 times more likely to use LSD and more than four times as likely as than their religious counterparts to try cocaine in the past year. [continues 595 words]
Supporters of Legalization Risk Arrest for Lighting Up Outside the White House Attention senior class-trip chaperones, cherry blossom lovers, and anyone else who may wander by the White House on Saturday: Brace yourself for a cloud of marijuana smoke - and, possibly, mass arrests. Organizers of the successful ballot measure that legalized pot last year in the District say they have had enough with President Obama's slog toward loosening marijuana laws. To protest, they are planning what they promise will be the first large-scale display of public pot smoking in the nation's capital, with the intention of getting arrested. [continues 933 words]
While it would appear that drug use is a prominent feature of student life, quantitatively, it seems that drug use is actually decreasing at university campuses as well as Brock University specifically. According to Campus Security, there have been approximately 87 instances of controlled drug and substance abuse infractions in 2015, which has decreased considerably from 2014 (126 infractions) and 2013 (100 infractions). "The drugs and or drug calls that we respond to on campus generally involve marijuana. We have also come across cocaine, ecstasy, prescription drugs, however, these are very few incidents that we are aware of," said Donna Moody, director of Brock University Campus Security Services. [continues 894 words]
Being simultaneously high on pot, cocaine, heroin, MDMA and LSD is never a good combination, but the Ford Motor Company wants you to know that it's particularly bad if you plan to get behind the wheel. That's the idea behind the automaker's new "drugged driving suit," an elaborate collection of weights, bandages, goggles and noisemakers that claims to simulate the physical effects of taking a variety of drugs. Ford will be rolling the suit out this year as part of its Driving Skills for Life classes, asking new drivers to navigate a driving course while pretending to be blissed out on an improbable cocktail of illegal substances. [continues 377 words]
In a recent report, the Register's pot reporter, Brooke Edwards Staggs, wrote on the different ways the growing legal marijuana industry is navigating the complex and conflicting mix of state and federal law especially when it comes to money, that most necessary asset of any successful business. "Even with checks and balances, [Chris Francy, director of the OC3 dispensary in Santa Ana] said, operating in cash makes businesses vulnerable to internal theft. They struggle with simple transactions like paying workers and bills," the Register reported. "The state Board of Equalization says some dispensaries have settled tax bills with duffel bags stuffed with up to $150,000." [continues 235 words]
It's not surprising that feeling supremely stoned in front of two uniformed police officers is a truly embarrassing feeling. Yet that's exactly how I felt Thursday when Ottawa Police Const. TJ Jellinek was instructing me to walk toe-to-toe in a straight line while counting out loud at the Shaw Centre. Ottawa police officers were at the Ottawa-Gatineau International Auto Show to give live demonstrations of a drugged driving simulation suit designed by Ford to show what it's like to operate a vehicle while impaired by cannabis, LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, or heroin. [continues 194 words]
Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel Tom Wainwright, PublicAffairs, 278 pages, $26.99. In "Narconomics," Tom Wainwright of the Economist brings a fine and balanced analytical mind to some very good research, undertaken largely in northern Mexico. By looking at the drug trade as a business, Wainwright is able to reveal much about why it wreaks such havoc in Central and South America. The issue of violence is not a random by-product of gangster culture. It is central to the industry, Wainwright observes, as the only way "to enforce contractual agreements." To control or police a market like drugs, the cartel must be able to wield decisive violence or, at the very least, be able to project a credible threat of violence. [continues 151 words]
