Editor: In view of the many comments online in support of medical marijuana contradicting the professional articles giving MATT Force and a DEA Agent's negative opinion about medical marijuana, this is just in from the MPP (Marijuana Policy Project). The DEA has gone rogue. Despite clear evidence from the Department of Justice directing them to do otherwise, agents are conducting raids of homes and businesses where the occupants are acting in compliance with state medical marijuana laws. These agents are storming onto the property of law-abiding citizens with guns drawn, destroying marijuana plants being grown for patients, stealing computers and cash, and even trashing the place behind them when they leave. [continues 321 words]
Is Georgia ready for medical marijuana? Heather Boles of Rossville thinks so. Boles is gathering signatures to petition legislators to legalize medicinal marijuana, like neighboring states that have pushed for legalization, including Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska. Boles, who has collected more than 2,000 signatures for the cause, wants the state to consider the medical bene-fits of cannabis sativa and join the other 14 states that already have medicinal marijuana facilities. "I would like to see blanket legalization, but I realize that there is a responsible way about going about things and I think the best way is to test the waters and see if our citizens have the ability for freedom to choose," Boles said. "Georgia is in a unique position to look at other state policies and construct a policy that is on the forefront of compassionate care. It is really about our right to choose what is right for our own bodies." [continues 2290 words]
COTTONWOOD -- A former special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration examined the language that would allow medical marijuana use under Proposition 203. Douglas Hebert, who is now a board member for the Partnership for a Drug Free America /Arizona said the proposition text is 32 pages long and is a "vehicle to legalize marijuana." He spoke Thursday to a regular meeting of the MATForce in Prescott and Cottonwood. Hebert says George Soros has been financing the medical marijuana initiatives around the county in an effort to "prey on voters sympathy." But, he notes, "make no bones about it, it is a stated intention to legalize marijuana." [continues 481 words]
If a member of your family, a close friend or even a neighbor whom you did not know very well were in severe pain, wouldn't you want to do what you could to help relieve their suffering? Of course you would - as a matter of compassion and mercy. Marijuana provides relief not available in any other way to sufferers of chronic and severe pain from cancer, multiple sclerosis and other illnesses. I have met those for whom this is true. In some cases, the relief from pain has saved their lives - literally. [continues 522 words]
Teachers union boss Randi Weingarten thinks it's high time marijuana is legalized. Weingarten - head of the American Federation of Teachers and former president of New York's United Federation of Teachers - came out in support of a California proposition to legalize pot for personal use. "Everything in moderation is pretty much fine," Weingarten said when asked by "Real Time" host Bill Maher whether she'd back the measure. "Wow," said fellow guest Washington Post editorial writer Jonathan Capehart. "Teacher-approved!" [continues 254 words]
An increase in Hawaii high school students trying alcohol and some drugs is disturbing and might be a sign of the difficult economic times. While schools should be on the lookout for risky behavior, parents need to be on top alert to detect their children's diversions and recognize the potentially horrendous consequences. A biennial survey of high school students in the state last year showed 8 percent had used over-the-counter drugs to get high in the previous month, and the same percentage had used ecstasy at least once in their young lifetimes, up from 5 percent in 2007. Nationally, ecstasy use rose from 6 percent to 10 percent from 2008 to 2009, according to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and MetLife Foundation. [continues 308 words]
Twenty-eight years after then-First Lady Nancy Reagan began telling students to "Just Say No" to drugs, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America issued a statement addressing a rise in teen alcohol, Ecstasy and marijuana use. The statement cited a recent study, which showed that the number of high school students who said they've used alcohol in the past month had risen 11 percent. The study also showed that the number of high school students who said they had used Ecstasy and marijuana in the past year had grown 67 percent and 19 percent, respectively. [continues 720 words]
The latest survey of Hawaii high school students shows that more kids are trying alcohol before age 13 and using over-the-counter drugs to get high than two years ago, although meth use remains low. In the 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 29 percent of public high school students in the state said they had drunk more than a few sips of alcohol before age 13, up from 21 percent in 2007 and 27 percent in 2005. But experts say it is too early to conclude that there is a trend. [continues 842 words]
Will history repeat itself? Is what happened before destined to occur again? If so, can we hasten the outcome? History. That amorphous high school course can be a great teacher, if only we heed its lessons. Central Ohio sits in a unique position with regard to history. One hundred years ago, it was at the epicenter of an emerging social movement. This movement conjoined women's suffrage with Protestant churches and the Republican Party. A mere pledge of personal restraint grew to envelop America in its worldview and pose serious and lasting Constitutional issues. While repeatedly repudiated as ineffective and corrupt, it exists in the form of the present day "War on Drugs." That movement was alcohol prohibition. [continues 359 words]
Salvia Divinorum is a plant that has seen shamanic use as a visionary sacrament in Mexico and South America for centuries. It is a unique drug, as it is the only k-opioid receptor agonist, which has a strong hallucinogenic effect. Scientists have been very interested in researching the medicinal potential of the drug; however, due to growing hysteria surrounding salvia, that research may be cut short. Salvia and its active ingredient, Salvinorin A, are currently being researched for unique anti-depressant properties, analgesic effects, as well as potential as a treatment for alcohol or narcotic addiction. Just as with the African plant psychedelic Ibogaine(which is one of the best available treatments for heroin and crack cocaine addiction), and LSD (which had a 50% success rate treating alcoholism in the 1950's), and Psilocybin Mushrooms (which is one of the best treatments for cluster migraines), and MDMA (commonly known as Ecstasy, one of the most effective treatments for returning soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), the war on drugs continues to impede medical research. [continues 518 words]
In New York City, heroin is being packaged in covert locations and distributed at levels not seen since the heroin crisis of the 1970s. The evidence, according to the city's special narcotics prosecutor, Bridget G. Brennan, is the enormous number of tiny glassine bags, containing single doses of heroin, seized during recent drug raids, which suggest heavy local distribution and use. In recent months, drug agents have discovered unusually productive heroin mills, Ms. Brennan said, where the drug is often cut with lactose, baby laxatives or vitamin B in coffee bean grinders that are bought in bulk because their motors burn out from overuse. The mills are operated around the clock by as many as eight workers at a time in quasi-assembly lines. [continues 139 words]
I have been working in drug prevention for many years. It is still troubling to me and our dedicated volunteers when we hear news reports about the possibility of drug overdose related to misuse of prescription drugs. It is widely speculated Michael Jackson died of a drug overdose and reportedly the same for Heath Ledger. While celebrities attract widespread attention in the headlines, let's not forget about our own families and children. We have a big problem here in Arizona. Kids are dying. [continues 199 words]
Economy Driving Many To Sell, Use, Transport Narcotics, Experts Say WAILUKU - Crystal methamphetamine and other narcotics are showing signs of a resurgence on Maui, due to the dismal economy, according to a Maui Police Department vice officer. As people find themselves unemployed and desperate, they increasingly turn to the drug trade to try to make money, said police officer Ken Doyle. Others start using drugs like meth to stay awake while they work multiple jobs to support their children. And addicts of all ages often say they started using drugs to cope with a dysfunctional or broken family life, he said. [continues 552 words]
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Maui County will hold a Crystal Methamphetamine Prevention Seminar on Friday, May 22, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Maui Economic Opportunity (MEO) Family Center Classroom located on the first floor of the MEO Building at 99 Mahalani St. in Wailuku. The seminar will feature an informative compilation of prevention, treatment and law enforcement presentations by leading experts from across the state. Specifically, the Crystal Methamphetamine Prevention Seminar will address how drug use affects families, schools and keiki. [continues 585 words]
Campus Hosts Inaugural Event On Eve Of Monday's 4/20 Smoke-Out BOULDER, Colo. -- On the eve of the University of Colorado's notorious 4/20 marijuana celebration, hundreds of students and community members converged on the Boulder campus Sunday to talk about -- rather than smoke -- pot. Hosted by CU's chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the inaugural National Forum on Marijuana -- which opened Saturday night and continued all day Sunday -- featured discussions on decriminalization, medical marijuana, hemp and other related topics. [continues 552 words]
AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France - April 20th is a special day - a day when strangers will exchange a wink or a nod, casually addressing an issue that is taboo for the other 364 days of the year. But we formulate our understanding of this issue and public sentiment through the prism of the media. And because of a combination of political and financial influences, that understanding has been blurred, rebuffed and stagnated. The politicization of marijuana likely originated in the Southwest U.S., where targeting Mexicans - with whom marijuana was exclusively popular - was a good way of drumming up support. Epitomized in the 1929 film "Reefer Madness," lies and exaggerations led to excessively frightening views of the plant. [continues 600 words]
Our Failing Marijuana Policies Need Reform by Allen St. Pierre Cannabis prohibition, in 2009, is an abject failure as a public policy fostered and created by the federal government in 1937. In a country where alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical products are lawful, controlled and taxed commerce for adult use - despite the addicting, dangerous and deadly nature of them; annually killing an approximate 25,000, 400,000 and 100,000 Americans respectively - it makes no sense at all to criminalize the responsible use of the non-lethal cannabis plant by adults. [continues 2140 words]
PHILADELPHIA -- In another clear break from past policy, President Obama announced Friday that he intended to nominate as the nation's No. 2 drug czar a scientist often considered the No. 1 researcher on addiction and treatment. A. Thomas McLellan, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist, will be charged with reducing demand for drugs, a part of the foreign-supply-and-domestic-demand equation that many policy experts say has been underemphasized for years. "We're blown away. He understands," said Stephen J. Pasierb, president and chief executive of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, that addiction "is a parent, a family, a child issue." [continues 432 words]
Every April 20, marijuana smokers around the country light up for an unofficial holiday celebrating pot that stems from the smoker slang "420." This year, as the drug war rages in Mexico, the festivities fall against an increasingly violent backdrop. Some antidrug advocates are using the occasion to jump-start a movement against marijuana not just for health and legal reasons, but on moral grounds. American pot smokers, they say, are unwittingly supporting drug cartels in Mexico. Aaron Byzak, president of the North Coastal Prevention Coalition, an antidrug group in north San Diego County, says he'll focus on the Mexican drug war when he addresses 1,000 seventh-to 10th-graders at the group's annual antidrug festival, also held on April 20, at an amusement park in Vista, Calif. Mr. Byzak will urge the kids to think of Mexico's drug lords if they're offered a puff. [continues 839 words]
Two Massachusetts legislators have introduced a bill that would make the sale of marijuana by licensed distributors legal in the state. House Bill 2929 and Senate Bill 1801, introduced in the statehouse March 23, was sponsored by Amherst Rep. Ellen Story, Northampton state Sen. Stan Rosenberg and petitioned for by Northampton attorney Richard Evans. The bills seek to tax and regulate the cannabis industry, stating that "previous efforts have not succeeded in eliminating or curtailing marijuana use and abuse." The bills would also create a regulatory board, the Cannabis Control Authority, to supervise the distribution and sale of marijuana in Massachusetts. [continues 1248 words]
