JAKARTA, Indonesia - I.B. Agung Partha foresees an apocalypse, as he put it, on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. The threat is not a plague of locusts, nor one of Bali's dormant volcanos springing to life. It is in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital several hundred miles away, where Parliament is debating legislation that would ban beer, wine and spirits across the thousands of islands that make up this country. For Bali, whose beaches, lush landscapes and cultural attractions drew four million visitors last year, the effect would be something like the end of the world, said Mr. Partha, the chairman of the Bali Tourism Board. [continues 1143 words]
Just in the last year alone, Colorado has brought in $1 billion from the distribution of recreational marijuana. It is generally boosting the economy's revenue. Why wouldn't all states legalize recreational use of weed when it benefited Colorado so much? Christian Cox-Elander, Reno [end]
Of the 15 companies cleared for cultivation, at least eight have ties to marijuana industries in other states. From page A1 Thirty businesses have won approval to grow and process medical marijuana in Maryland, regulators announced Monday, putting life into the industry more than three years after lawmakers legalized the drug for medical use. Several of the winning applicants have political ties - with major donors or high-ranking officials on their teams - including a company that hired the Maryland lawmaker who was the driving force behind the tightly regulated program. [continues 1024 words]
Former Sheriff Janney Has Stake in Application BALTIMORE - Today marks the day when Cecil County will find out whether its future will be green, benefitting economically from the development of potential medical marijuana growing and processing facilities. The Natalie M. LaPrade Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission, under the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which was formed by 2014 legislation to develop policies, procedures and regulations to implement the state's medical marijuana program, voted on its stage one license pre-approvals for 15 growers and the first 15 processors on Aug. 5. [continues 972 words]
BANGKOK In a backroom heavy with sawdust, Mr Akkarin Puri, 33, carefully examines the veneer of a half-finished guitar. There was a time when the craftsman's attention was more focused on inhaling the vapours from a pill of yaba - a methamphetamine - heated over a flame. In fact, by the age of 21, his drug habit had landed him in juvenile detention at least six times and a military lock-up for 18 months. There, he tried to rob a fellow addict to fund his next fix and landed himself in jail for another eight years. It was while doing time in a particularly notorious prison, in Pathum Thani province next to Bangkok, that he saw up close one of the gravest consequences of the kingdom's long-running "war on drugs". [continues 1319 words]
MD. Delegate Did Not Disclose His Connection to Dispensary Applicant The state lawmaker who led the effort to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland is part of a company trying to sell and profit off the drug - a position he never disclosed as he pushed bills and regulations to help cannabis businesses. Del. Dan K. Morhaim (D-Baltimore County) is the clinical director for Doctor's Orders, according to a portion of a dispensary licensing application obtained by The Washington Post through a public records request. [continues 1079 words]
Severely Ill Patients Vouch for Medicinal Benefits of Dagga Oil AS A mother, Veronica Ellis would do anything to help her eight-year-old child, even if it meant the unthinkable: giving her a small daily dose of a forbidden drug. But she could no longer watch her once-radiant daughter, now a hollow skeleton, slipping away. "What convinced me was looking at Bayleigh, lying all day on a mattress here in front of the TV," says Ellis, a small-framed, resolute mother of three. "She was so tired, she just didn't want to get up. Her face was white, she had black rings under her eyes. She wouldn't eat anything. She lost 1kg in a week." [continues 1205 words]
Dueling Petitions Would Allow for Social Use of Pot Denver voters could have their pick in November between two initiatives aimed at allowing social use of marijuana in different places. One group has been gathering signatures for an initiative that would allow private marijuana consumption clubs. The other has a more expansive aim: to allow nearly any business, including a bar, to offer a set-off, 21-and-over public "consumption area," so long as the owner obtains a neighborhood group's support first. [continues 644 words]
If there was ever a time when we should restore the fourth amendment to the constitution, this is it. "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches ans seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation..." This month a federal appeals court ruled that law enforcement agencies can scan credit, debit and gift cards without running afoul of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches. [continues 870 words]
The people lining up to profit from Maryland's legal medical-marijuana market include former sheriffs and state lawmakers, wealthy business executives and well-connected political donors, according to previously undisclosed public records obtained by The Washington Post. Nearly 150 businesses are competing for up to 15 cultivation licenses that will be awarded starting this summer, the first footholds in an emerging industry that is already worth billions nationally. Very few applicants have publicly discussed their plans. But through a public-records request and database searches, The Post identified more than 950 people working for or investing in prospective growing operations in Maryland. Among them: former Drug Enforcement Administration agents; the leader of a Maryland statewide police union; former heads of the Department of Natural Resources police; a former U.S. Capitol Police chief; and Eugene Monroe, the recently released tackle for the Baltimore Ravens who is the foremost advocate of medical marijuana in the National Football League. [continues 2683 words]
The marijuana policy landscape changed rapidly between 2002 and 2013. During that time, 13 states passed medical-marijuana laws, nearly as many relaxed penalties for marijuana use, and Colorado and Washington became the first states to fully legalize recreational pot use. Opponents of marijuana liberalization warned that these changes would bring devastating consequences, particularly for kids. The president of National Families in Action, an anti-drug group, warned that commercial marijuana would "literally dumb down the precious minds of generations of children." Psychiatrist Christian Thurstone, an outspoken opponent of Colorado's marijuana legalization, argued that "the state's relaxed laws have made the drug widely available - and irresistible - to too many adolescents." [continues 666 words]
The courts continue to waste time and money prosecuting people for marijuana-related offences despite feds' promise to legalize it. Welcome to the new war on drugs. The war on the drugs is supposed to be coming to an end in Canada as far as marijuana is concerned, but you wouldn't know it from the number of pot charges still making their way through Toronto's Old City Hall courthouse. Or, for that matter, from Mayor John Tory's threat to shut down what he describes as the "alarming" number of medical marijuana dispensaries cropping up around town. It's reefer madness all over again, though the federal government has promised to establish a regime for legalized weed by spring 2017. [continues 1154 words]
BOSTON - The number of people treating their chronic pain, cancer symptoms or other medical conditions with marijuana has nearly quadrupled in a year, but a scarcity of licensed dispensaries and supply shortages are keeping many from getting their medicine, advocates say. At least 24,196 patients are certified to buy medical marijuana in Massachusetts, according to the Department of Public Health, up from nearly 7,846 a year ago. In April, patients bought 9,603 ounces of marijuana from six licensed dispensaries, according to the department. [continues 775 words]
In the first three months of 2016, Colorado pot shops sold more than $270 million of cannabis and related products, according to new figures from the state Department of Revenue. The state's latest data show that its marijuana shops sold nearly $90 million of cannabis in March. The licensed stores sold more than $55 million of recreational marijuana and more than $33 million of medical cannabis in March, the latest month for which the department has released tax data for the industry. Totals for retail and medical marijuana dipped slightly in March after a bustling February, which was the state's fifth-most-lucrative month for sales since they began in January 2014, according to the Cannabist's calculations and state data. [continues 222 words]
Ten people control nearly 20 percent of the 1,046 marijuana business licenses in Denver, and those owners have built their empires largely through acquisitions of smaller operations. With new industry caps on grow-facility and store locations in Denver, consolidation by the big players is likely to intensify. Some independent owners say tax and regulatory burdens make it difficult for smaller pot businesses to survive. Vail's largest commercial developer. An owner of a car-detail shop. A former nonprofit event planner. A businessman who made a fortune in child car seats. A one-time Subway franchisee bankrupted by real estate losses. [continues 1165 words]
"We thought America was the best in the world." "This can't be happening." That's how Saw Marvellous Soe and Eh Wah described their astonishment after police seized more than $ 53,000 in cash from Eh Wah's car in Muskogee, Okla., in February. Eh Wah is tour manager for a Christian rock band led by Marvellous that played in 19 U.S. cities, raising money from concerts to support an orphanage in Thailand and a Christian college in Burma. Worthy causes, no doubt. But when law enforcement found the cash during a routine traffic stop, a little-known legal process known as "civil asset forfeiture" allowed police officers to seize it, and whatever other property they wanted, without having to prove that Eh Wah was guilty of a crime. [continues 535 words]
In the late sixties, I remember Pierre Trudeau walking along the West Coast Trail on the west side of Vancouver Island and he was approached by a group of hippies. They were badgering him about the possibility of legalizing marijuana. And Mr. Trudeau gave a very good reply, probably the smartest thing he ever said. He questioned them by asking them why he should do that. He referred to the fact that one can get a natural high by relishing the pristine beauty of the West Coast Trail. Enough said. Fast forward to 2016 and we have Pierre's son, Justin, advocating the legalization of marijuana. [continues 133 words]
SAN DIEGO - Years of struggling to shut down illegal pot shops has prompted City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to shift gears and begin criminally prosecuting shop operators and their landlords. Goldsmith has resisted a criminal approach, contending the civil injunctions his office has used for many years are the fastest and most effective legal method. But Goldsmith announced last week that the city will start utilizing both civil and criminal means in the face of increasing outcry over the illegal shops from residents and the owners of 14 legal dispensaries approved under a 2014 city ordinance. [continues 823 words]
If "reason and honesty" were part of the public discourse regarding cannabis (marijuana) prohibition (Letter: "Marijuana misinformation," by Bob Alley, April 3, 2016), it would never have been orchestrated from the beginning. Historically, its existence is due to racism, greed and the omission of science. It's truly mistaken to claim, "Medical science has access to drugs that provide more relief with less damage than does pot," since cannabis often competes with opiates, which are responsible for an epidemic of addiction and death rates in America. Scientifically, cannabis is safer than aspirin and less addictive than coffee. [continues 64 words]
Program Educating Students About Dangers of Drugs for More Than 20 Years Eleven-year-old Emily Malott has never been impaired by drugs or alcohol, but she now has a good idea what it would feel like. The Grade 5 student from Harwich-Raleigh Public School in Blenheim tried walking while wearing special goggles that give the sensation of being impaired. She was among the many students unable to walk a straight line while wearing the goggles, which was one of the "pit stops" during the annual Racing Against Drugs program, held at Erickson Arena in Chatham on Wednesday. [continues 286 words]
