Left and Right Agree That Civil-Forfeiture Laws Must Be Radically Reformed When the public is more afraid of the cops than the bad guys, the system is broken. There's reason for some law-abiding Americans to worry about their pocketbook becoming lighter after a visit from the lawman. Bonnie and Clyde never pretended to be anything but robbers. A 64-year-old Texas woman, for example, was accused of being a drug dealer simply because she was carrying cash in her pickup truck from the sale of her land. The cops took her money, though she had never been convicted of a crime in her life. She had to sue in federal court to get all of her money back. [continues 409 words]
A LEADING American newspaper has come out in favour of the legalisation of marijuana, in an editorial which compares the drug's ban to that of alcohol in the Prohibition era of the Twenties. Calling on the federal government to follow the lead of a number of states in allowing citizens to consume marijuana for recreational purposes, The New York Times said the evidence was "overwhelming" that moderate cannabis use was less dangerous than alcohol and tobacco. And while the newspaper's editorial board called for sales to be limited to those over the age of 21 due to concerns about the effect of the drug on adolescent brains it said the social costs of criminalising marijuana were unsustainable. [continues 145 words]
The Agency Is Caught Between States That Lean Toward Marijuana Legalization and Law Enforcement That Maintains a Hard Line WASHINGTON - For narcotics agents, who often confront hostile situations, Capitol Hill has been a refuge where lawmakers stand ready to salute efforts in the nation's war on drugs. Lately, however, the Drug Enforcement Administration has found itself under attack in Congress as it holds its ground against marijuana legalization while the resolve of longtime political allies - and the White House and Justice Department to which it reports - rapidly fades. [continues 1142 words]
As revolutions go, it is hardly an overnight Leninist coup. National statutes, UN protocols and who knows how many luckless souls bolted up in cells round the world affirm that the old prohibitionist order has not collapsed. But the wheel on drug policy is slowly beginning to turn, both within the United States and further afield. The war on drugs has been a losing fight for 40 years. The response to unending failure has always been to demand more law enforcement and more prison cells. [continues 596 words]
Marijuana is no longer whispered about nor hidden in back rooms and basements. It has slowly come into the open in American life despite decades of federal prohibition and laws treating the drug as more dangerous than meth and cocaine. When The New York Times' editorial board made a full-throated call this weekend for the government to end its ban on weed - and let states decide how to regulate it - the newspaper reflected what a majority of Americans have told pollsters: Marijuana should be legal. [continues 510 words]
I'm looking forward to voting on the Florida constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana. Even though some may abuse a useful tool, many more would be helped by its medicinal qualities. I have a condition for which there is no known cause and no known cure. It visits every person when they least expect it and stays longer than welcome. Those of us with polymyalgia rheumatica take varied medications to help us move our hands, arms and legs every day. Some mornings, I cannot make a fist to wash my face, pour a cup of coffee, or reach an itch on my shoulder. A lot of the medications for this condition have annoying side effects. A physician I visited initially said that more relief - and a quicker remission and recovery - can be attained with medical marijuana. [continues 96 words]
Reports repeatedly conclude habitual drug use in the United States is the root cause for children from Central America to illegally come here. The drug cartels there use violence to make them leave, or the children can stay and be killed. The armed forces, several thousand law enforcement employees, miles of fences and walls, electronic and air spying, jails and deportation proceedings - all of these combined will not greatly alleviate this latest immigration problem we bring upon ourselves. Besides, all of them are a great waste of time, money and manpower except for those among us who want to make money by these means. [continues 96 words]
On this 28th day of July, marking 25 years since the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, we are calling attention to World Hepatitis Day. Why? To begin with, because more than 50,000 Quebecers have the disease. In Canada, the figure is 300,000 to 350,000 people, more than a quarter of whom do not know they have it. Next, because there are new, highly effective treatments for treating and eradicating hepatitis C, with cure rates exceeding 90 per cent. However, in Canada, fewer than 5 per cent of people with hepatitis C have, to date, obtained treatment for it. Hepatitis C is transmitted through the blood. In other words, any act that can cause the blood of two individuals to come into contact can constitute a risk of transmission: parlour-based tattooing and piercing; sharing drug-use equipment and personal-hygiene items; transfusion prior to 1992; and sometimes even certain risky sexual practices. [continues 314 words]
Arbitration Rulings Show It's Considered a 'Disability' MONTREAL - A war of words has broken out over a fired cocaine-using locomotive engineer. Canadian Pacific chief executive Hunter Harrison lashed out when CP was ordered this month to reinstate the engineer even though an arbitrator confirmed the employee had "consumed cocaine at a time and of a quantity which could impact his work performance." Harrison said: "On my watch, this individual will not operate a locomotive." The engineer's union - Teamsters Canada Rail Conference - called Harrison's comments an "unjustified and unprecedented" personal attack, arguing the worker deserved a second chance. [continues 1456 words]
New York Times Latest Voice To Join Call For The Legalization Of Marijuana The political debate over marijuana legalization in Canada could soon intensify, following a New York Times editorial that calls for the U.S. federal government to repeal its 44-year ban on pot. The influential newspaper, which says the question of legalization should be left up to individual U.S. states, is running a six-day series on the issue, and has reignited a hot debate among Americans. [continues 680 words]
The New York Times has seen the light. On Sunday, the paper editorialized in favor of an end to the federal ban on marijuana. According to Tony Newman of the Drug Policy Alliance, the Gray Lady has become the first major national newspaper to support legalizing marijuana. The Times did not celebrate marijuana use; it simply addressed the downside of prohibition - 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, with a disproportionate representation of young black men. The editorial also laid out a rational view of marijuana. While research suggests that marijuana can have adverse affects on adolescent brains - - hence the paper's support for a ban on sales to those under 21- it's not as hazardous to health as alcohol and tobacco. The paper also made this commonsense but rare assertion: "Moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults." [continues 440 words]
Someday, we'll look back on two federal prohibitions - on same-sex marriage and marijuana - and ask ourselves: "How were we ever so dumb? What's the big deal?" Indeed, more and more people are asking that question every day. Even before the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, several states moved to recognize same-sex marriage. Massachusetts was the first, in May 2004. Today, either by legislation or court order, marriage equality is the law in 19 states, plus the District of Columbia. Courts in 14 other states, most recently Virginia, have ruled to strike down bans on same-sex marriage. While those decisions remain on appeal, it's clearly only a matter of time before all 50 states accept the fact that every American, gay or straight, should be free to marry the one he or she loves. [continues 402 words]
Three medical marijuana caregivers are ready to open a shop for their patients now that the Ferndale City Council has approved their plan. Adam Applebaum, CEO of Meridian Wellness, told city council members he and two other caregivers will service up to five patients each, as allowed under the state's medical marijuana law. Patients would be serviced by appointment and the facility would host educational seminars and other meetings, Applebaum said. "It is very hard for a patient to get matched with a caregiver," he said Monday, adding that some patients are hesitant to have caregivers come to their homes. "This way we can facilitate a neutral ground with security." [continues 385 words]
A proposal to legalize possession of marijuana won't appear on November ballots in Grosse Pointe Park after all. Organizers of the effort learned Monday that city officials had found a technicality - an incorrect date of Feb. 27 instead of June 27 on one set of signatures -- that invalided their petition drive. "It's my fault - I put down a two rather than a six," said Tim Beck, 62, of Detroit, who helped organize petition drives in 16 other cities for marijuana questions headed for ballots this year. [continues 250 words]
President's Views On Medical Use Unfair, Some Say Some doctors are raising concerns that the national body representing them has outdated views on medical marijuana that are creating barriers for patients who could benefit from the herb. Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, president of the Canadian Medical Association, recently told the Citizen there isn't enough medical evidence to support medical marijuana use, and that people who seek the drug in doctors' offices are just looking for "dope." Dr. Marcia Gillman, a physician who specializes in palliative care at Montreal's Jewish General Hospital, said Monday that Francescutti has a duty to be well-informed, which is "clearly not the case here." [continues 548 words]
S.F. startup brings medical marijuana to clients' doorsteps. Tap your smartphone to summon delivery of medical marijuana, arriving more quickly than a Domino's pizza. Brant Ward / The Chronicle An Eaze delivery person will arrive at a medical marijuana patient's door with buds sealed in plastic bags. That's the vision for a San Francisco startup launching Tuesday that says it wants to be the "Uber of pot." Eaze (www.eazeup.com) says it has relationships with an unspecified number of local dispensaries as well as dozens of drivers piloting their own vehicles. Deliveries will be free for patients, with driver fees and Eaze paid by dispensaries in exchange for gaining new business. [continues 874 words]
A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania says he has filed a bill to legalize nationwide the kinds of non-psychoactive medical marijuana treatments that have attracted dozens of families to Colorado. Dubbed the "Charlotte's Web Medical Hemp Act of 2014"- after the name of the Colorado-developed marijuana strain most famously used in the treatment - U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's bill would exclude all hemp, as well as the non-psychoactive compound cannabidiol, or CBD, from the federal government's laws against marijuana. [continues 176 words]
Washington - Concerned that federal policies toward marijuana usage in states that have legalized the drug often are "at odds with one another," the four U.S. senators from Colorado and Washington state are asking the White House to intervene and establish "consistent and uniform" guidelines across the administration. In a letter dated Monday, the senators expressed frustration with what they saw as conflicting messages coming from various federal agencies. And they urged Attorney General Eric Holder and Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, to help develop a single policy that would respect the rights of their states to regulate the fledgling industry. [continues 270 words]
Every now and then, a good deed go unpunished. So it appears with San Jose's regulation of medical marijuana distributorships. Some wrenching decisions loom for the mayor and City Council, including whether to put any tax measures on the ballot, and every serious policy debate this fall will be complicated by heated races for mayor and several Council seats. But at least there will be no ballot battle over the city's new laws regulating medical marijuana operations. Signatures for a referendum on the rules passed in June fell short, and activists have given up on a separate measure they hoped would hoodwink voters into substituting bogus regulations for the council's plan. It's taken years, but San Jose now has rules that will continue the availability of medical marijuana while protecting neighborhoods and the city's potential to attract good jobs. [continues 366 words]
Goal is to help parents and teens recognize recruitment techniques and drug operations B.C. anti-gang police and educators have prepared a booklet to help parents understand how gangs work so they can better protect their children. Called Understanding Youth and Gangs, the publication explains how teens are most vulnerable to being recruited by gangs when they have a driver's licence and a need for cash. It says the dial-a-dope delivery system for illicit drugs is usually the point of entry for some youth, who get sucked in by the promise of earning big money. [continues 476 words]
Police appear to be losing their zeal for investigating marijuana-related offences - particularly those related to cases of trafficking and production. While they are still searching people for pot and laying charges of possession, statistics suggest they are increasingly less likely to go to the trouble of finding actual drug dealers. The federal Conservative government has introduced a slate of legislation aimed at punishing those who profit from marijuana production and distribution. But criminologists say those laws are not working in a country where the majority of people, and perhaps even a majority of police, do not recognize the recreational use of cannabis to be a crime worth prosecuting. [continues 502 words]
Dr. Brian Ferguson has come up with a really novel idea. He would like to see to it that drug dealers receive training related to their trade. It might be a degree in pharmacology, or at the very least a bachelor's degree in chemistry. The problem - as Dr. Ferguson has noted - is that those who are selling drugs have no idea what the impact will be on their customers. They don't have enough knowledge, good common sense, and concern to warn the person who might be tempted to "experience" the effects of oxycodone and/or hydromorphone ... or one of the so-called designer drugs being sold on the street. [continues 451 words]
Ottawa has a problem with guns and gangs. Several problems actually. But the biggest one, as usual, is conceptual, because if you don't realize what you're doing wrong you can't change it. On the surface our problem is a spate of people being shot in the legs in public housing. The victims then "refuse to cooperate with the police," sociology-speak for "they won't tell the cops who did it." They know, of course. This is drug trade violence and they are shot by partner-competitors when deals go bad or over turf. But they won't talk partly because they are more afraid of their rivals than of polite society and partly because they are deeply alienated from polite society. [continues 526 words]
Marijuana questions could pop up on ballots in at least 17 cities across Michigan this summer and fall. The questions aim to ease or eliminate local penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, an approach that supporters call decriminalization. Last week, volunteers submitted stacks of signed petitions in Frankfort, Huntington Woods, Mt. Pleasant, Pleasant Ridge and Utica; in prior weeks, they did so in Berkley, Grosse Pointe Park, Harrison, Hazel Park, Lapeer, Montrose, Oak Park, Onaway and Saginaw, said leaders of the nonprofit Safer Michigan Coalition, which coordinated the petition drives around Michigan. [continues 1009 words]
In 1970, at the height of his white-hot war on crime, President Richard Nixon demanded that Congress pass the Controlled Substances Act to crack down on drug abuse. During the debate, Senator Thomas Dodd of Connecticut held up a package wrapped in light-green paper that he said contained $3,000 worth of marijuana. This substance, he said, caused such "dreadful hallucinations" in an Army sergeant in Vietnam that he called down a mortar strike on his own troops. A few minutes later, the Senate unanimously passed the bill. [continues 1372 words]
Emanating wisdom from the Rocky Mountains is columnist Mike Littwin, the magnus Apollo of Colorado journalism. Littwin, now in his 60s, stands as testimony that there are no coincidences in life. His first columns chronicled the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association, and like the team's incandescent star, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Littwin's work dazzled and defied gravity. Dr. J and Littwin had uncanny court savvy and daring, one of the boards the other on the keyboard. That they broke in together was kismet. [continues 1379 words]
A surprising detail was revealed when the Delaware Valley School Board recently made a minor language revision to its controversial drug testing policy. The board removed the method of blood testing from the policy because the method is not used at Delaware Valley. The surprising detail? Students who refuse a random test will be considered insubordinate, be suspended from school and the refusal will be treated as a positive test, district Superintendent John Bell said. That change was in effect this past school year. [continues 204 words]
Commission Right to Offer Reduced Penalty America's effort to use our prisons to stem the illegal drug problem has largely failed. Incarceration of drug offenders has seen prison and jail populations skyrocket, even as public opinion has shifted away from harsh sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. That's why the U.S. Sentencing Commission was right to decide this month that some 50,000 federal drug trafficking offenders could be eligible for reduced sentences. The amendment to federal sentencing guidelines, approved in April, is already in effect for offenders facing sentencing in the future, creating an issue of fairness: Why should the length of a sentence be determined by the date of sentencing? [continues 377 words]
It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished. It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana. We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times's Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws. [continues 416 words]
ST. PAUL -- Dr. Marshall Brinton saw the headlines after Minnesota passed a medical marijuana law, looked around at the equipment in his old veterinary laboratory and thought, "Yeah, I could do that." A retired veterinarian in Willmar, Brinton hopes to convert the lab where he once made vaccines for animals into one of Minnesota's two medical marijuana production facilities. After the long slog to legalize medical marijuana, the state's real work has begun to get the unconventional medicine in severely ill patients' hands by this time next year. Next steps range from the mundane, such as securing office space, to integral pieces, such as building a computer system to register patients and track their medication, hiring a research director to help determine dosages and placing eight dispensaries across Minnesota. [continues 593 words]
Advocates Worry Proposed Regulations Will Discourage Doctors From Participating Proposed rules for Maryland's nascent medical marijuana system are drawing objections from a leading advocate, who says the regulations could discourage doctors from participating. Del. Dan K. Morhaim, one of the chief sponsors of the legislation, criticized the draft regulations for requiring training and continued education in the medical use of marijuana for physicians who want to help their patients access the drug. "Please don't create any barriers for physicians," Morhaim, a Baltimore County Democrat and the General Assembly's only physician, told the state's Medical Marijuana Commission at a hearing this week. [continues 1091 words]
How terrible it would be if Eric Garner died for a theory, for the idea that aggressive police enforcement against minor offenders (he was a seller of loose, untaxed cigarettes) is the way to a safer, more orderly city. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton responded swiftly after Mr. Garner was fatally assaulted by officers on Staten Island. They reached out to his family, promising to retrain every officer about the rules against using chokeholds. Two officers have been put on desk duty pending investigations. [continues 498 words]
Licensed medical marijuana growers in Calgary busted over alleged trafficking Police have arrested a pair of Calgarians for allegedly trafficking marijuana while licensed to grow medicinal pot. And city police officer Staff Sgt. Keith Hurley said the case highlights the difficulty of determining who's legally growing the drug and who's abusing that privilege. "There's a lot of grey in this area...the lines are definitely blurred and it's difficult to police," said Hurley, adding Health Canada, which issues growing permits doesn't supply law enforcement with information on the medicinal gardens. [continues 241 words]
Officers busted a medicinal marijuana grow op in southwest Calgary that police believe was used to fuel a drug trafficking operation, following a six-week investigation that stemmed from an unrelated traffic stop. A man and a woman are now facing a total of 20 drug and weapons related charges in connection with the case. Staff Sgt. Keith Hurley, with Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team's Green Team South, said the pair had not been on police radar until a traffic stop a few months ago. [continues 314 words]
Some communities embrace outsiders as insiders from the second they pass Go. Plenty of people are considered real New Yorkers, for instance, the first time a cabbie or landlord overcharges them. Visit Florida, California or Washington, and chances are you'll eat authentic Latin American or Asian cuisine made and served by people not necessarily native to those states but who are still considered a critical part of their fabric and character. In September, I'll celebrate 11 years as a resident of Colorado. I met my husband, who just passed the 17-year mark in the Centennial State, six weeks after I moved here. Our children were born in a hospital 1.3 miles from the house that we own, and our income is earned within state lines. Yet by unspoken Colorado standards, neither he nor I are considered locals. [continues 548 words]
Pick up that cellphone and make a call. Tell how being arrested for a small bit of marijuana in Philadelphia has changed your life. That's the latest request from City Councilman James Kenney as he continues to pound on Mayor Nutter to sign into law a measure that would make possessing a small amount of pot punishable by only a $25 fine, with no arrest. Since Tuesday, Kenney's staff has been handing out fliers promoting the at large councilman's new marijuana-arrest hotline, which encourages callers to leave a detailed message and, "if possible, please include information about the loss of job opportunities or schooling opportunities." [continues 311 words]
(AP) - Marijuana and hemp have joined wacky paint colors and unsightly fences as common neighborhood disputes facing homeowners associations. Though a few HOAs have willingly changed their rules to accommodate legal marijuana use or home-growing, many more are banning home pot smoking. Homeowners associations can't ban members from using marijuana in their homes. But if neighbors can see or smell weed, HOAs have every right to regulate the drug as a nuisance. "The fact that people may be legally entitled to smoke doesn't mean they can do it wherever they want, any more than they could walk into a restaurant and light up a cigarette," said Richard Thompson, who owns a management consulting company that specializes in HOAs. [continues 102 words]
DISCOVERY BAY -- The first recreational marijuana store to open on the North Olympic Peninsula sold out in its first day. Sea Change Cannabis in Discovery Bay opened at 10 a.m. Friday, more than two weeks after the state's first pot shops began sales. Its inventory was sold out by about 7:30 p.m., owner Greg Brotherton said. The store at 282332 U.S. Highway 101, the first to be licensed and open in either Clallam or Jefferson counties, had 2 1/2 pounds to sell, about 320 packets of one-eighths of an ounce each. [continues 1043 words]
I would like to challenge Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos' claims in her recent column in opposition to the passage of Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana. Dr. Haridopolos describes life under Amendment 2 as the wild west of cannabis - pot shops on every corner, no quality control, children with unlimited access, no tests for molds or bugs; when in fact, that is the current condition under prohibition. She warns of financial opportunists or recreational marijuana users who will exploit Amendment 2. Right now, profiteers prey on patients who are forced into the same position as recreational users. Patients find supplies are untested, with no labeling requirements, no guarantees of purity, nor even an assurance of regular access. [continues 528 words]
RE: "Border Patrol checkpoint challenge," UpFront, Sunday, July 20 Evidently (Timothy) Blomquist was so wrapped up in viewing the scenery that he did not see the speed limit signs to reduce his speed as he neared the checkpoint and the flashing lights advising of the road closure. As an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, was he not trained to be aware of his surroundings, to be ready to react to unexpected situations? As U.S. citizens, we must all obey the laws of our great land and cooperate with those charged with enforcing those laws. And what is so difficult in answering the one little question, "Are you an American citizen?" VICTOR VELASQUEZ Rio Rancho [end]
Commentator Jonathan David Farley claims that the violence in Central America is that is driving the influx of children illegally crossing the border is "not our problem" ("#Sendthemback," July 22). Really? The violence these children are fleeing is directly attributable to drugs and drug cartels. It's our demand for drugs, our dollars and our archaic drug laws that have created the problem; therefore it's our responsibility to assist in the solution. On another level, we should thank our lucky stars that young people are still clamoring to come to our shores, despite our own not insignificant domestic problems, including our gun violence. [continues 89 words]
Treaty Three Police's New Street Crime Unit Arrests Eight People at Powwow Treaty Three Police arrested eight people at the Wuzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation's powwow, five of whom have been charged with drug possession. The aboriginal police service says people can expect more of the same if they decide to bring illicit drugs and alcohol to powwows elsewhere in the Treaty 3 area this summer. According to Treaty Three Police Detective Terry McCaffrey, the operation at Rat Portage's powwow was one of the first for the force's brand new Street Crime Unit, which was formed on July 1. [continues 526 words]
Mood on Legalization Is Compared With the Swift Fall of Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage. More than a third of adults have smoked it - including the last three presidents. Dozens of songs and movies have been made about it. Marijuana is no longer whispered about, nor hidden in back rooms and basements. It has come into the open in American life despite decades of prohibition and laws treating the drug as more dangerous than meth and cocaine. When the New York Times' editorial board called this weekend for the U.S. government to end its ban on weed - and let states decide how to regulate it - the newspaper reflected what a majority of Americans have told pollsters: Marijuana should be legal. [continues 908 words]
There are approximately 130 state-licensed retail marijuana businesses in the five-county area near Denver. In Larimer County there are just three, according to the most recent state figures. Put another way, there is one licensed recreational pot shop within that five-county metro area for every 13,000 adults 21 years of age and older - a ratio that soars to 72,000 adults for every one retail business in Larimer County, a Coloradoan analysis shows. Even if every local marijuana dispensary was instantly licensed for retail sales, the county still wouldn't match the proportional cannabis availability near Denver. [continues 770 words]
Reform of Overly Harsh Prison Sentences Is Both a Just and Practical Step Forward Few would argue at this point that the nation's decades-old war on drugs has been anything but a wretched failure. It has cost uncounted millions of dollars, sent tens of thousands of people to prison (disproportionately African-American) and helped give this country the world's largest incarceration rate - and all without putting a dent in drug use. Slowly, the country is uncoiling itself from this death grip. New York State has relaxed its Rockefeller drug laws, among the nation's harshest, and now Washington is backing away from mandatory minimum sentences, adopted and clung to since the crack cocaine epidemic hit in the 1980s. [continues 395 words]
Ottawa has a problem with guns and gangs. Several problems actually. But the biggest one, as usual, is conceptual, because if you don't realize what you're doing wrong you can't change it. On the surface our problem is a spate of people being shot in the legs in public housing. The victims then "refuse to cooperate with the police," sociology-speak for "they won't tell the cops who did it." They know, of course. This is drug trade violence and they are shot by partner-competitors when deals go bad or over turf. But they won't talk partly because they are more afraid of their rivals than of polite society and partly because they are deeply alienated from polite society. [continues 527 words]
Your July 20 editorial was a vast degree beyond your normal ignorance regarding cannabis issues. The "plan" for free medicine to low incomers is part of a new medical cannabis dispensary permit process, ordinance changes addressing sales, cultivation and enforcement. Testing dispensary medicine (free or for sale) is required, and diversion of medicine is enforced with strict penalties, with other security measures. Oh yes, about those "reality checks" ... thanks, Chron, I consider your medical assessment of cannabis to match your amount of compassion for the poor (references to people "unemployed or in dead-end jobs"). Reality check, Chronicle: San Francisco dispensaries voluntarily have been giving away medicine for years to those in need and income lacking. Indeed, San Francisco has been a shining example of investigating, accepting, initiating and legislating regulated access to medicine for qualified patients, where our state government and other localities (e.g., Los Angeles, San Jose) have lacked public oversight, failing patients and local citizens both. Charles Pappas, District Six cannabis commissioner, Berkeley [end]
