He was a friendless high school loner struggling with autism. So why did an undercover cop target him as a drug dealer? Jesse Snodgrass plodded around yet another stucco corner, searching for Room 254 in time for the second-period bell, only to find he was lost yet again. Jesse felt a familiar surge of panic. He was new to Chaparral High School and still hadn't figured out how to navigate the sprawling Southern California campus with its outdoor maze of identical courtyards studded with baby palm trees. [continues 6985 words]
"This bill is no way intended to be a gateway to recreational use" of marijuana, said State Sen. Norm Wallman, who introduced the measure. "This bill is about agriculture. It's really that simple." Lincoln, Nebraska - Thirteen years ago, industrial hemp's resemblance to marijuana sank legislation to legalize growing of hemp in Nebraska. On Tuesday, a bill to allow production and marketing of industrial hemp sailed through first-round debate in the Nebraska Legislature. Legislative Bill 1001, introduced by State Sen. Norm Wallman of Cortland, advanced on a 32-1 vote. [continues 402 words]
RAYMOND Yans is president of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the UN agency charged with monitoring the implementation of antidrug treaties. It is therefore not surprising that Yans takes a dim view of marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington, which he says poses "a grave danger to public health and well-being." But according to the INCB, legalization isn't just dangerous; legalization is illegal. Even Americans who support marijuana prohibition should be troubled by the implications of that argument, which suggests that international treaties trump the Constitution. [continues 509 words]
But We're Evenly Split on Whether Weed Should Be Legal for Recreational Use. HARRISBURG (AP) - A large majority of Pennsylvania voters favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, but they are divided over whether possession of even small amounts for recreational use should be legalized, according to a poll released Monday. The poll from Connecticut's Quinnipiac University focused on an issue being debated in the Pennsylvania Legislature and among the Democrats hoping to challenge Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election bid. [continues 327 words]
Sandy Kaercher of East Coventry has a hope shared by a majority of Pennsylvanians. For Kaercher, however, the hope is very personal. Kaercher wants to see marijuana legalized for medical purposes as a last resort to control seizures that disrupt the life of her 15-year-old daughter, Grace. Kaercher is part of a group of parents advocating for legalization of medical marijuana. The group took their wishes directly to the state House of Representatives in January, asking for legislation that would give children with seizure disorders hope for some relief. [continues 439 words]
Lawmakers Press White House, Again, on Pot Rules WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior U.S. drug enforcement official urged Congress and others Tuesday not to abandon scientific concerns over marijuana in favor of public opinion to legalize it, even as the Obama administration takes a hands-off approach in states where voters have made legal its sale and use. The deputy administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Thomas Harrigan, testified Tuesday before a House oversight panel that easing laws governing marijuana threatens U.S. institutions. [continues 496 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - A senior U.S. drug enforcement official urged Congress and others Tuesday not to abandon scientific concerns over marijuana in favor of public opinion to legalize it, even as the Obama administration takes a hands-off approach in states where voters have made legal its sale and use. The deputy administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Thomas Harrigan, testified Tuesday before a House oversight panel that easing laws governing marijuana threatens U.S. institutions. "We should not abandon science and fact in favor of public opinion," Harrigan said. He echoed previous testimony from James Capra, DEA's chief of operations, who told a Senate panel in January that "going down the path to legalization in this country is reckless and irresponsible." [continues 448 words]
With new federal regulations cracking down on exactly who can grow medical marijuana taking place April 1, the Vancouver Police Department says it won't change how they enforce the law. "The new laws that are coming into play April 1 have nothing to do with the sale of medical marijuana," said Cst. Brian Montague. "It has to do with the growing of medical marijuana. So many of the current growers will no longer be allowed to do that. That's where the law is changing." [continues 85 words]
21,000-Square-Foot Spokane Facility State Board to Issue Dozen More Licenses Soon Washington's first legal pot grower was introduced by state officials Wednesday as an entrepreneur who followed the rules and out-hustled other applicants to the finish line. Sean Green, 32, now runs medical-marijuana dispensaries in Spokane and Shoreline. He plans to open a 21,000-square-foot growing and processing facility in Spokane. Officials at the state Liquor Control Board (LCB) said Green was one of the first to apply, and hurdled each step of the vetting process without hang-ups. [continues 814 words]
WASHINGTON - The growing national debate over legalizing marijuana made its way to a congressional hearing Tuesday as lawmakers sparred over what role the government should take in reconciling divergent state and federal laws on the issue. The House Government Operations Subcommittee hearing was convened by the Republican chairman to address inconsistencies in federal law enforcement efforts and what he called "mixed signals" sent by the Obama administration in the wake of legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington. But several Democratic representatives quickly seized control of the hearing and used it to grill Drug Enforcement Administration Deputy Administrator Thomas Harrigan on his agency's policies, calling his approach on marijuana outdated. [continues 439 words]
Regarding Kristine Lessard's March 2 Local Opinions commentary, "This addiction doesn't follow any rules": It is a gift to all parents that Ms. Lessard was able to pen the story of her son Derek's life and heroin overdose. Many parents may believe that their child's marijuana experimentation is harmless and is perhaps even part of normal social development. They may also believe that, because they have provided so much to their children in terms of academic, social, recreational and material opportunities, this experimentation cannot possibly progress to heroin. Both of these beliefs are wrong. Also, in their desire to foster appropriate independence, they may miss the need for firmer intervention. I am grateful to Ms. Lessard for sharing Derek's story as she grieves. Janis W. Gold, McLean [end]
Georgia Children With Severe Seizure Disorder Are Closer to Treatment. The Georgia House on Monday gave overwhelming approval to a bill that would legalize a type of medical marijuana to treat certain seizure disorders. Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon, the sponsor of House Bill 885, said it's an important step toward saving the lives of children who can suffer 100 or more seizures a day. The particular strain of marijuana, known as Charlotte's Web, has shown it can ease or eliminate symptoms of patients taking the cannabis oil derived from the plant. [continues 435 words]
ST. PAUL -- A Minnesota House committee approved the use of marijuana to help suffering patients after 7-year-old Amelia Beaver provided an example Tuesday night of why some want the practice legalized. Advertisement The girl suffered a seizure, one of 30 she suffers a day, while her mother told the Minnesota House Health and Human Services Policy Committee on Tuesday that marijuana could help her daughter. "It would be the best day of my life if I could hear my daughter say 'momma' again," Angie Beaver of Hibbing said, adding that there is evidence that marijuana can help some patients regain speech and reduce seizures. [continues 558 words]
Hemp hearts, or raw shelled hemp seeds, have grown increasingly popular in the nutrition community over the past couple of years. But despite being labeled a superfood by some, they still have a stigma as part of the cannabis family. With all the recent news about hemp and marijuana, we'd like to shed some light on the benefits of pot's nutritious cousin. First of all, the hemp plant is legal to consume in the United States. Marijuana and industrial hemp are different varieties of the same plant species, Cannabis sativa L. Marijuana typically contains 3 to 15 percent of the psychoactive ingredient delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a dry-weight basis, while industrial hemp contains less than 1 percent, according to the Agriculture Department. (Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods, a large Canadian manufacturer, says hemp contains 0.001 percent THC and will not cause a psychoactive effect or a false drug test.) Though growing hemp is still banned in most U.S. states, we're the world's leading consumer of hemp foods, soaps, lotions and other products. [continues 451 words]
ST. PAUL -- Mothers tearfully described how their babies suffered as many as 100 seizures a day before receiving marijuana treatment as they begged lawmakers late Tuesday to legalize the drug for medical use in Minnesota. Others told a state House committee how the drug helped alleviate pain and different ailments from suffered from cancer and glaucoma. One mother described watching her daughter's face disappear inch by inch as surgeons removed malignant melanoma, saying her child's pain and lost appetite was relieved only by medicinal marijuana. About half a dozen others said it helped their children's seizures. [continues 599 words]
Our president recently said that marijuana was no more harmful than tobacco. Since marijuana is now legal in a couple of states, there is a push to legalize it by those who claim it is not harmful. The evidence does not support their claim. Dr. Kevin Sabet served in the Obama administration as senior advisor at the White House office of National Drug Control Policy. He is now director of the Drug Policy Institute at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He says, "The marijuana conversation is one mired with myths. Many Americans do not think that marijuana can be addictive, despite scientific evidence to the contrary." The American Medical Association has come out strongly against the legal sales of marijuana. According to the National Institute on Health, one in six 16 year-olds who try marijuana will become addicted to it. It has also been linked to an eight point redirection in IQ; and that if used strongly it is connected to mental illness. [continues 133 words]
LONDON (AP) - The United Nations' drug watchdog agency said the legalization of marijuana in the U.S. states of Colorado and Washington poses a threat to the international fight against drug abuse. In a report published Tuesday, the International Narcotics Control Board said that it "deeply regrets" moves by those two states to lift restrictions on the sale and use of cannabis. The board said the moves violate drug control conventions and called on national authorities to block the states' moves. The U.S. Justice Department has made clear it won't go after state-legal businesses even though federal law still bans marijuana consumption. The INCB, which has no enforcement power, has previously voiced its opposition to legalization. [end]
The medicine that Valley resident Bob Davidson takes for multiple sclerosis treats all of his symptoms, has allowed him to wean himself off morphine and get out of his wheelchair and start walking again. But that medication may soon become unaffordable, putting his most effective treatment - marijuana - out of reach. Federal changes to the medical marijuana system will go into effect on April 1, switching from the current personal at-home production licences to large-scale and highly regulated commercial grow-ops that will deliver the product by mail. [continues 1071 words]
City Won't Interfere If Illegal Stores Sell Only to Patients Vancouver police say they won't bust down the doors of the city's many illegal medical marijuana dispensaries April 1 when a new federal law will delegate weed production and distribution to a handful of licensed premises. Coun. Kerry Jang - who closely watches health issues - minced no words, saying the city believes the federal law interferes with the right of people to access medicine. As a result, the city won't make any extraordinary efforts to shut down "professionally run" medical marijuana dispensaries, even though most operate without city business licenses. [continues 1228 words]
The first ones who stand to make a windfall off medical marijuana aren't necessarily the dispensaries or doctors; they might just be the advertisers and the media that air their campaigns. In April, months before the first dispensaries are scheduled to open in Massachusetts this summer, what's expected to be the Northeast's first marijuana-related commercial is due to air on major networks, opening the floodgates to what could turn out to be big business for both the companies that create the commercials and the ones that run them. [continues 169 words]
A Bill Legalizing Medical Marijuana Had Its First Committee Hearing Tuesday. The discussion of whether to allow medical marijuana in Minnesota kicked off in the state Legislature on Tuesday, marking the proposal's first step in the legislative process. The House's Health and Human Services Policy Committee weighed the pros and cons of legalization in front of a packed hearing punctuated by emotional testimony. Authored by Rep. Carly Melin, DFL-Hibbing, the measure would allow people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer or HIV to use marijuana based on a doctor's recommendation. If it passes, individuals with state-issued medical marijuana identification cards could purchase or grow up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana. [continues 106 words]
HARRISBURG (AP) - A large majority of Pennsylvania voters favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, but they are divided over whether possession of even small amounts for recreational use should be legalized, according to a poll released Monday. The poll from Connecticut's Quinnipiac University focused on an issue being debated in the Pennsylvania Legislature and among the Democrats hoping to challenge Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election bid. The survey showed that 85 percent of voters believe adult Pennsylvanians should be allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it. [continues 444 words]
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A large majority of Pennsylvania voters favor legalizing marijuana for medical purposes, but they are divided over whether possession of even small amounts for recreational use should be legalized, according to a poll released Monday. The poll from Connecticut's Quinnipiac University focused on an issue being debated in the Pennsylvania Legislature and among the Democrats hoping to challenge Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election bid. The survey showed that 85 percent of voters believe adult Pennsylvanians should be allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes if their doctor prescribes it. [continues 350 words]
It's disingenuous for the head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, to say that the trend of marijuana legalization has made research into it more "feasible." The National Institute on Drug Abuse, under NIH, has always been the gatekeeper on marijuana research, which it has stifled over the years. Collins is also disingenuous on whether marijuana smoke causes cancer, saying "nobody's done that study." As recently as 2012, NIH-funded research was published, and reported in USA TODAY, showing that marijuana smoke did not cause long-term lung damage. The ultimate irony is Collins saying we need to "mount studies that were impossible before." Not only were studies possible, they've been undertaken. Kris Hermes Americans for Safe Access Oakland, Calif. [end]
Gray to Sign D.C. Bill, Which Would Partially Decriminalize Drug Possessing marijuana and smoking it in the privacy of one's home would no longer be criminal offenses in the nation's capital under a bill passed Tuesday by the D.C. Council, putting the District at the forefront of a simmering national debate over decriminalization. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) intends to sign the bill, which would partially decriminalize pot by imposing civil fines rather than jail time for most offenses. The District joins 17 states that have taken similar action but doesn't go as far as Colorado or Washington state, where voters have legalized the sale and taxation of marijuana. [continues 1164 words]
Hub top cop William B. Evans yesterday slammed medical marijuana dispensaries as crime magnets, while city councilors were left fuming after state officials blew off a public hearing on the siting of two local pot shops - one of them less than half a mile from a Roxbury grade school. "I can just see this being abused big-time. You can imagine how many phony scripts are going to be out there for people with their bad backs, their ingrown toenail. You name it. And then they're going to be out there with their 2 pounds - they get two months' supply when they go in - they're going to be out there selling it," Evans said on Boston Herald Radio. [continues 519 words]
I read with interest the 'Guest Voice' Article on the 'Dangers of decriminalizing marijuana' by Michael Covarrubias. Despite my concern about retribution I felt the need to respond to the outrageous claims made in the article. It seems drug enforcement officers such as Mr. Covarrubias seem to have an outline for these articles. I'd like to respond to several of their 'talking points' about the evils of medical marijuana. Big Cannabis has duped the voters A common theme used by those with a vested interest in the 'War on Drugs' is that there is a hidden hand at work - Big Cannabis. Big Cannabis is a 'tool' of the drug cartels and a danger to truth, justice and the American Way. They talk about the 'intent' of the voters to help terminal patients. They talk about marijuana financing heroin and cocaine. [continues 717 words]
A Madison Heights businessman is building a facility in Canada to grow government-controlled medical marijuana that he hopes to turn into a $5 billion a year business that could spread to the U.S. Bill Chaaban, CEO of Creative Edge Nutrition Inc. headquartered in Madison Heights, is working with that company's Canadian subsidiary, CEN Biotech, to build a marijuana growing facility near Windsor in Lakeshore, Ont. The company has gotten permission from the national Health Canada department to build its industrial growing facility. Once it is complete and Health Canada inspects it, Chaaban expects he will get permission to grow and sell marijuana for import and export with the roughly 30 countries worldwide that allow for medical or legal marijuana use. [continues 675 words]
U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert on Tuesday introduced a bill to ban the use of welfare-benefit cards at stores selling marijuana, adding them to a prohibited list that includes casinos, liquor stores, strip clubs and tattoo parlors. Reichert, a Republican from Auburn, joined 11 other lawmakers in sponsoring the Preserving Welfare for Needs Not Weed Act. The bill would prevent low-income recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits from using their cards to buy pot, or to withdraw cash from ATMs inside such stores. [continues 207 words]
Re: "Legalization will create monster," by Gary Schornick, and "Compare liquor, pot prohibitions," by Kent Kelley, Saturday Letters. Schornick's letter is one of the most irrational circular arguments against legalization I've ever heard. His argument is that legalizing weed will simply cause the black market to push other illegal drugs in its place. Schornick's reasoning is actually one of the strongest arguments one could possibly posit for the decriminalization of all drugs, not just marijuana. When Prohibition was overturned in 1933, they didn't just legalize gin or just vodka, they legalized ALL alcoholic beverages. [continues 141 words]
He heard about the drug trial from a friend in Switzerland and decided it was worth volunteering, even if it meant long, painful train journeys from his native Austria and the real possibility of a mental meltdown. He didn't have much time, after all, and traditional medicine had done nothing to relieve his degenerative spine condition. "I'd never taken the drug before, so I was feeling - well, I think the proper word for it, in English, is dread," said Peter, 50, an Austrian social worker, in a telephone interview; he asked that his last name be omitted to protect his identity. "There was this fear that it could all go wrong, that it could turn into a bad trip." [continues 803 words]
Joining the effort to try to head off a planned 2016 initiative to legalize marijuana in Arizona, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution Monday opposing the legalization of marijuana. The county is the second local government to sign on to the resolution, after the Prescott Valley Town Council. By getting signatures of governments throughout the state, the local MatForce coalition against drug abuse seeks to send a message that the initiative petition drive isn't welcome here. [continues 541 words]
The letter written by Rebecca Finn about another election is right on. The people of Butte County voted five district supervisors to represent the majority of the voters in Butte County. Supervisors voted for tighter restrictions so, if you have five acres, you are only allowed one 5-foot by 10-foot area to grow. That amounts to two each very small plants. They are not thinking. Bugs kill many plants. The board is also inconsiderate to people who don't own five acres. How do they obtain or grow their medical marijuana? [continues 85 words]
WASHINGTON - District of Columbia lawmakers voted on Tuesday to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, in what advocates of more lenient marijuana laws hope is another step toward legalizing the drug outright. The measure, which would make possessing up to an ounce of marijuana a civil infraction punishable with a fine as low as $25 and seizure of the drug, passed in a 10-to-1 vote by the City Council, with one lawmaker voting "present" and another, who helped introduce the bill, absent. [continues 430 words]
ATLANTA (AP) - Patients diagnosed with certain illnesses could take a form of medical marijuana under a plan that Georgia's state legislators backed Monday ahead of an important deadline that sorts out which bills go forward and which will likely fail for the year. Legislative rules force Georgia's state lawmakers to get their bills approved by at least one chamber of the General Assembly by what's commonly called "Crossover Day," or else those bills are unlikely to get to the governor's desk. That rule can be bent, but it is difficult. [continues 496 words]
There's no doubt that Georgia's law enforcement officials dislike strings that restrict civil asset forfeiture, which is the power of law enforcement to seize and keep property suspected of being involved in criminal activity. They've told state legislators that, time and again. For the rest of Georgia, however, it's a problem. Unlike with criminal asset forfeiture, under civil forfeiture the owner of the property being seized does not have to be charged with a crime. Cash, cars, homes and other property can be taken without even filing charges, let alone convicting the property's owner of a crime. [continues 598 words]
A former city resident charged with drug and theft allegations two years ago has launched a $750,000 lawsuit against city police. Corey Maxwell, 50, had the charges against him withdrawn in August 2012 after police charged him with marijuana production-related charges stemming from a search warrant executed for an allegedly stolen XBox. Maxwell had a Health Canada licence to grow up to 73 pot plants and possess up to 3,285 grams of the drug for relief of a chronic back injury. [continues 121 words]
I would like to respond to the recent letter about keeping cannabis illegal. Whether or not cannabis is physically and/or psychologically addictive ignores the fact that by prohibiting cannabis we are empowering criminals at the same time we are putting children and teenagers at risk. I imagine that the letter writer has heard of Al Capone and why he benefited from the illegality of alcohol during that failed Prohibition. Al Capone is no longer alive, but we now have even more vicious drug cartels in Mexico that are similarly benefiting from an illegal product that many people want to consume. By legalizing cannabis we could hurt the profit margins of those cartels and have a regulated product with quality controls and age restrictions. [continues 163 words]
An attorney for Denver's 4/20 marijuana rally has "rescinded and withdrawn" a controversial letter that said organizers would sanction public smoking of pot at the event. But Denver's city attorney on Monday asked organizers to clarify their intentions - by agreeing to notify attendees that toking would violate the law. Attorney and activist Robert Corry's original letter, sent to city officials last month, caused a stir. It left in question whether the city will grant a needed permit to use Civic Center for the annual event, planned for April 19-20. [continues 431 words]
A medical group of epilepsy experts on Monday called on the federal government to reconsider classifying marijuana as a dangerous drug so its impact on seizures can be studied. The American Epilepsy Society's statement comes as a British pharmaceutical company is scheduled to begin tests of an anti-epilepsy drug derived from cannabis, with the hallucinogenic ingredients removed, and parents are flocking to Colorado to try a strain of pot they say has helped some children with seizures. - - Wire services [end]
Activist Dean Wilson says he's no longer a drug user Dean Wilson is having a good laugh as he recalls the time a popular Canadian author assessed the drug activist's celebrity status way back in the day. "Michael Ondaatje told me I was Canada's most famous junkie." Famous because of his real-life role in Fix: The Story of an Addicted City, a documentary film by Nettie Wild that captured Wilson's battles with addiction and his fight with city hall to do something about the mounting drug deaths. [continues 986 words]
LEGISLATIVE EFFORTS - Proposed measures are aimed at meeting the needs of patients while tightening the medical system, but patients and advocates fear the bills would make their access to adequate, affordable medical marijuana much more difficult. State lawmakers are poised to make significant changes to Washington's medical-marijuana system. And the changes likely will come from two bills that have emerged as the vehicles for reconciling the largely unregulated medical system with the state's new, stiffly taxed and regulated recreational system. [continues 1375 words]
Marketing and Advertising Pros Say Businesses Need to Weigh Decisions Wisely. A tongue-in-cheek marijuana-pairing menu produced an unexpected marketing bonanza for Mark Van Grack's Hapa Sushi restaurants. CNN, BBC, Fox News, Bloomberg TV, HighTimes and other big media picked up on the ads he placed in small local newspapers, pushing his four restaurant group into the national spotlight. "Timing is everything. It was just after the legalization of recreational, so it was the hot topic of the day," he said. "People are curious." [continues 904 words]
Never in her life did Corey Lowe think her native Georgia would even consider allowing medical marijuana, but now she's hopeful that lawmakers have heard her pleas for a chance to help her improve her child's life with the drug. The Holly Springs resident said she was ecstatic Wednesday after a bill allowing non-psychoactive cannabis oil to treat seizure patients got unanimous approval in a state House committee and moved one step closer to a vote on the floor. [continues 486 words]
Medical marijuana bill offers hope but research requires much time The medical marijuana bill approved by a state legislative committee is titled Haleigh's Hope Act, named for Haleigh Cox, a young girl with a condition that causes severe seizures. "It's hope. That's all it is. Hope. That's what we're fighting for," said Corey Lowe, whose daughter Victoria, 12, suffers from mitochondrial disease that could wrack her body with up to 100 seizures a day if not controlled. [continues 444 words]
ATLANTA - Tanya Smith, a Georgia police officer who oversees criminal investigations, is no stranger to battling the perils of drug abuse. Yet Smith's current fight is personal, in memory of her 20-year-old daughter, Taylor, who died last year while using drugs after no one called 911 for help. Smith is among a group of parents lobbying on behalf of a bill that would grant amnesty from certain drug charges for those who seek help in the event of a drug overdose. Seventeen states have passed similar so-called "Good Samaritan laws," and proposals are pending this year in others including Georgia and West Virginia. [continues 596 words]
After purchasing an Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper on Feb. 21, I read the opinion piece by sportswriter Jeff Schultz, "UGA's policy gets it right." Schultz was referring to the UGA athletic drug policy following the recent dismissal of a key defensive football player. His factual observations, negative feedback from football fans and comparisons with other university drug policies hit the nail on the head when distinguishing between winning at any cost versus the lives of young athletes. Within this sports column, UGA Athletic Director Greg McGarity acknowledged that other SEC athletic directors had preliminary discussions about a conference-wide policy last year. McGarity further stated, "the issue got no traction with presidents." [continues 434 words]
Here's something else important: ... legal drugs can kill if used in excess ... without medical guidance. Marijuana has never killed anybody. A proposed constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana will appear along with the governor's race on the November ballot in the state of Florida. Regardless of their candidate preferences, Florida voters will be able to decide whether medical marijuana will become a reality in the Sunshine State. A November Quinnipiac University poll found that 82 percent of Floridians support the legalization of medical marijuana, and 16 percent do not. Given this degree of popular support, it would not be unreasonable to predict that the measure will pass - adding Florida to the list of 20 states (and the District of Columbia) that permit the commercialization of marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 487 words]
Gov. Deval Patrick and his team have a communal allergy to acknowledging their own shortcomings (see above). But evidence is overwhelming that the allegedly "rigorous" vetting process for those seeking a license to peddle "medical" marijuana in Massachusetts has been anything but. Now House Speaker Robert DeLeo is joining the chorus of voices suggesting the administration scrap it and start from scratch, and good for him. DeLeo says he has been troubled by the drumbeat of reports on problems uncovered in the original applications, such as the inclusion in some cases of misleading and outright false information. [continues 249 words]
Grand Jury Alleges Theft of Property From Occupants in Residential Hotel Five veteran San Francisco police officers and a former officer faced federal corruption charges Thursday after a threeyear investigation that began when the city's public defender released surveillance videos purporting to show officers abusing and stealing from residential hotel dwellers. The grand jury indictments allege that after the FBI and San Francisco police launched a probe in March 2011, they learned three of the officers had stolen a batch of seized marijuana two years earlier. One of those officers, Reynaldo Vargas, delivered the pot to a couple of street informants, told them to sell it and then took a split of the proceeds, federal prosecutors said. [continues 972 words]
