RICHMOND - After months of an undercover investigation in 2008, a York County sheriff's deputy finally had enough evidence to charge Brandon Gomez, then 18, with intent to distribute marijuana. "I had actually been just basically the middleman," Gomez said, describing himself as an intermediary between a dealer and users in marijuana sales. During the investigation, the undercover officer bought 4 ounces of marijuana. After Gomez spent a few nights in jail, the officer offered him a deal: If he turned in his dealer and buyers, the felony charges would be reduced to misdemeanors. Gomez reluctantly agreed, and spent the next six months betraying the people who trusted him most. [continues 1282 words]
In a new book, Mark Haskell Smith explores our relationship with the cannabis plant Franco walked into the coffee shop dressed head to toe in yellow and black motorcycle racing leathers. He had asked me to meet him for lunch at the Green House United Coffeeshop on Haarlemmerstraat. It's one of several coffeeshops owned by Green House and Green House Seeds, where Franco is a partner. I had been sitting under a vibrant gold-colored mural depicting what looked like the ancient Phoenician or Minoan alphabet and watching the ornamental carp swim back and forth in the massive fish tank installed under the glass floor. [continues 1277 words]
Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelics Studies, said the government and the National Institute on Drug Abuse has a "monopoly on marijuana research" at Suffolk University NORML's 2012 Cannabis Curriculum and Hemposium on Tuesday. "The only place in the country that has NIDA approval to grow marijuana for research is a government-run facility at the University of Mississippi," he said. "We have been in court for six years trying to get clearance." About 65 students and speakers gathered at Suffolk University for a forum that encouraged students to do research and projects on cannabis and its prohibition, in addition to providing a place for students to showcase their results. [continues 477 words]
"[Michael] Ondaatje once called me Canada's most famous addict." Dean Wilson shared this anecdote with students in the Norm Theatre on Tuesday evening after Cinema Politica's screening of FIX: The Story of an Addicted City. Wilson, the ex-president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), is a central figure in Nettie Wild's 2002 Canadian documentary. "After that, I called up my mother and said, 'Hey! Look, something became of me!'" Wilson joked. After 33 years of battling addiction, Wilson has proudly maintained two years of sobriety at the age of 49. [continues 424 words]
Leading Thunderbird Lodge the youth treatment centre, in Fort Qu'Appelle, has been changing lives. The centre opened its doors in 2007, the goal was to focus on spirituality and culture. It has evolved over the years, but culture has remained a key component. Michael Tyance, a former client of the centre, is happy such a place exists. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ont., the now 20-year-old took a chance and travelled to Saskatchewan to seek treatment for his addictions. [continues 368 words]
A Dozen Years After Fleeing the Valley, Bill Conde Remains As Pro-Hemp As Ever Editor's note: Today is the first installment in a monthly series that revisits and updates stories we reported on as the 21st century began a dozen years ago. Lots of people around the mid-valley remember William Conde, formerly of Harrisburg, who from 1984 to 2001 was a lumberyard owner, festival promoter, failed candidate for governor and champion of hemp and of legalizing marijuana. The impressions of him, developed before he moved to Central America, remain quite vivid to his former customers, the law enforcement officers who investigated him, the Linn County Board of Commissioners that dealt with him, and the reporters who wrote about him. [continues 1093 words]
Career Took Him From Saving Addicts to Scouts Chaplain, but He Was Always Happiest on the Streets While he was training to be a priest in the 1960s, Jean-Claude Proulx bristled at the monastic life. It was too quiet, too rule-bound, too confining. He was a non-conformist who wanted to shake things up. And so, a few years after leaving the Major Seminary on Kilborn Avenue, he took on the drug trade of Vanier, standing in steely defiance against the dealers who were defiling the community. [continues 1176 words]
Colombia's Success in Curbing the Drug Trade Has Created More Opportunities for Countries Hostile to the United States. What Happens When Coca Farmers and Their Allies Are in Charge?. In the dusty town of Villa Tunari in Bolivia's tropical coca-growing region, farmers used to barricade their roads against U.S.-backed drug police sent to prevent their leafy crop from becoming cocaine. These days, the police are gone, the coca is plentiful and locals close off roads for multiday block parties--not rumbles with law enforcement. [continues 2327 words]
College Student Experiences Firsthand The Pros And Cons Of Contraband, Offers Her Take On Drug Laws And What She Wished She Knew About Tripping Krystle Cole has tried more psychedelic drugs than all of the Beatles combined, personally knew the operators of the biggest LSD laboratory in history and lived through some of the most profound and darkest experiences a human being can have, such as run-ins with the law and bad trips. A native of Kansas and former Tucson dweller, Cole is a pursuing a master's degree in psychology from Capella University. Through her experience, she became an expert in psychedelics and safe drug use, penned a book called "Lysergic" and founded Neurosoup.com, a website that focuses on trying to educate people on responsible drug use. [continues 1150 words]
