We're changing our minds about tobacco and marijuana. This week a Boston jury found it so disgusting that tobacco company Lorillard pushed free cigarettes on a 9-year-old in a poor neighborhood, they awarded crazy money to the estate of the now-dead Marie Evans. Jurors blamed Lorillard for hooking her as a child even though she died at 54 of lung cancer decades after everybody found out that smoking kills. This week we also learned that more high school seniors are smoking marijuana than cigarettes and that high schoolers viewed weed more favorably than tobacco. [continues 361 words]
An Ounce of Pot Does Not a Thousand Joints Make. Dear Gerry Leone: I sympathize. Truly, I do. The state chose to reform its marijuana laws by the half measure of decriminalization of small amounts rather than full legalization, and, no matter how tiny your stash is, you still can't spell "decriminalization" without "criminal." But, honestly, as Middlesex district attorney, you're going to have to do a better job making your case than you have done. When we voted in Question 2 - a.k.a. "The Snack Food Support Act of 2008" - a while back, we did so as an informed, if somewhat slow-moving, electorate uniquely aware of the subject at hand. (There are a lot of us who still own Wishbone Ash albums, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.) Nobody . . . er . . . blew smoke in our eyes. Therefore, your plaintive pleas of late have fallen on deaf ears or, at least, ears muffled by earbuds. At one point, you asked, "Can't anyone get through the day without a drink or a drug?" I believe that, in the former case, the United States of America answered the question rather definitively between the years 1920 and 1933. As to the latter case, there are several large pharmaceutical companies that would like a word with you. But you also argued that "an ounce of marijuana can make a thousand joints." Really? Where? In the Land of the Lost? You'd have to have leaves the size of a phone book to make this true. Do yourself a favor and relax. Have a potato chip. [end]
NEW BEDFORD - A synthetic marijuana that is legally sold as an herbal incense at convenience stores is drawing fire from health professionals and public officials concerned that more teens are becoming violently ill after smoking the substances. The various mixtures of herbs, plants and chemical compounds - popularly known as K2, K4, or K9 and sold in foil packets or vials - are about to be banned for one year while federal regulators determine whether the products should be classified as controlled substances. [continues 227 words]
NEW BEDFORD - A synthetic marijuana that is legally sold as an herbal incense at convenience stores is drawing fire from health professionals and public officials concerned that more teens are becoming violently ill after smoking the substances. The various mixtures of herbs, plants and chemical compounds - popularly known as K2, K4, or K9 and sold in foil packets or vials - are about to be banned for one year while federal regulators determine whether the products should be classified as controlled substances. [continues 763 words]
Worcester See Spate of Crimes Worcester has seen a spate of violent crimes associated with marijuana dealing and use this year, including murder, home invasions and assaults. The grim record of criminal activity is testimony to the destructive influence of a drug that is often portrayed by those who use it as a harmless recreation. It may be true that the majority of those who use marijuana do so in moderation and do not permit their habit to destroy their lives. But there is an insidious cost to society in such so-called harmless, personal use, nonetheless. Like any other product, marijuana must be grown by someone, harvested and sold. Those who use it are contributing to a drug culture whose ill effects are visible. [continues 124 words]
GEORGETOWN -- The Massachusetts Cannabis Convention resolved that "noncommercial cultivation for personal use is a human right and is not to be taxed" at a meeting in Georgetown last weekend. More than 50 marijuana reform activists from around the state attended the convention called by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition (Mass Cann), a state affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Before the resolution, those in attendance exchanged ideas on advancing marijuana law reform. Terry Franklin of Amherst spoke about FreedomBusCaravan,org, an activist plan for the presidential primary season in New Hampshire. [continues 150 words]
Dear Editor, If Michelle Durant and the University of Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition are going to make Massachusetts the first state (Mass. Supports Marijuana Reform Laws Statewide, Nov. 22, 2010) to legalize cannabis, you must get it in gear. California's Proposition 19 organizers are already planning another proposition for 2012 and Colorado also is preparing initiatives for 2012 to legalize cannabis. Washington, Oregon, Nevada and others may join in. Perhaps the next step is to make the effort to legalize the plant a race. There is some question as to which state will be first. Becoming the first state could appeal to America's competitive spirit and may help get cannabis legalized sooner. As a Colorado cannabis activist and citizen, I challenge Massachusetts, California and the rest of the states to a race to legalize cannabis. If I were a gamblin' man, I'd bet on Colorado by an hour. Truthfully, Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
Violence in the drug trade is due to the uncontrolled black market created by prohibition ("New pot law blamed as violence escalates," Nov. 15). When there are goods in demand, the market will supply them. If the market is underground and unregulated, violence occurs. To blame recent tragedies on the overwhelming passage of Question 2 is not only politically motivated by the district attorneys, who suffered a huge loss at the hands of common sense, it also misdirects the conversations we should be having about making our communities safer and healthier. Carol Rose, Executive Director ACLU of Massachusetts [end]
Although the reporting has improved in recent years, US media coverage of the "war on drugs" continues to ignore the economic realities of just who is fighting who in the conflict. The drug war is best understood as a battle of dollar versus dollar -- a bloody war between the dollars of US taxpayers and the dollars of US consumers. On one side, Americans pay large sums of money to vast networks of people who grow, process, ship, smuggle, defend, and deliver drugs to the US. On the other side, Americans also pay another network of people vast amounts to find, fight, arrest, and kill those whom we hire to provide the drugs to begin with. [continues 581 words]
State regulators took a step toward legalizing medical marijuana Wednesday, but supporters of the idea still face a long journey. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted 6-0 to propose legislation that would reclassify marijuana and make it easier to legalize the drug for medical purposes. However, if legislators accepted the proposal, they would also have to approve a separate medical-marijuana program. Several state leaders, including Gov.-elect Terry Branstad, have said they oppose such an idea. Pro-marijuana activist Carl Olsen of Des Moines applauded the board's vote. "All I know is I just won today," he said. "But how much did I win? I don't know." [continues 341 words]
From the Herald's coverage of the marijuana issue we learn that after almost two years under the new law it remains too soon to say whether decriminalization has caused more kids to need counseling and that Boston police have not learned to enforce the $100 citation ("Tokers blow smoke at pot fines, " Nov. 22). From the letters and online comments we learn that most people understand the solution is a legal commerce in cannabis. - - Steven S. Epstein, Georgetown [end]
Marijuana advocates and enthusiasts statewide rejoiced as Massachusetts saw success for approval of several marijuana reform public policy questions in 74 towns in the 2010 election. Voters in 18 districts across the state were asked nine questions on the use of medical marijuana and nine questions on the legalization and taxation of marijuana for distribution to the public. The questions showed that the majority of voters in Massachusetts are in favor of medical use and the repeal of prohibition on sales. [continues 752 words]
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley hits the nail on the head when he acknowledges that wholesale distribution of any illicit substance yields violence and floods the community with illegal drugs ("New pot law blamed as violence escalates," Nov. 15). It's not the drugs, it's the policy. Supply and demand aren't going anywhere. End the prohibition and end the violence, legalize it so we can take it back from thugs that don't ask kids for ID. Bill Fried, Somerville The writer is program director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition [end]
Potheads who've found the grass is greener under the state's mellowed-out marijuana law have racked up as much as $64,500 in unpaid fines in Boston alone, thumbing their noses at hundreds of citations that cops have written up, but authorities are powerless to enforce. Now the City Council wants to smoke out the stoner scofflaws. "Everybody's laughing in the face of this thing. We need to find a way to tighten up the loopholes that are allowing precious dollars to escape," said Councilor Stephen J. Murphy, chairman of the committee on public safety. [continues 393 words]
Finally. That's what many in this region are saying in the wake of Thursday's dismantling of a local heroin distribution ring. Finally, after years of a devastating epidemic, we are hitting the dealers, and hard. Now, we can't let up. Twenty-five were arrested in what officials termed an "unprecedented" police operation. By all accounts, they weren't low-level street dealers, but those who supplied them. The arrests appear to be a big deal. More is needed. [continues 463 words]
Most drugs have side effects, but to claim that marijuana is more harmful than tobacco depends on how much of each is inhaled ("New pot law blamed as violence escalates," Nov. 15). Nobody smokes cigarettes for medical reasons, but marijuana may be recommended by doctors to those on chemotherapy or suffering with HIV. Legalization is meant to reduce the number of drug pushers and gang murders, to increase state revenues and to help chronically ill patients. Prohibition won't prevent substance abuse. My uncle, aunt and cousin died from respiratory illnesses from smoking tobacco, not weed. Joseph Young [end]
Apparently history has no lessons (Nov. 15). The legendary explosion of violence in the 1920s was caused not by the decriminalization of alcohol but by the criminalization of alcohol. It was not cured by redoubling enforcement but by re-establishing a legal and regulated industry. Had the nation continued Prohibition, the Herald today would be reporting stories of murders caused by alcohol deals gone bad and disputes among bootleggers while piously cautioning its readers that drinking a beer is "not a victimless crime." Andy Gaus, Boston [end]
Many have sadly witnessed relatives and friends who used marijuana and other "harmless recreational drugs" and later experienced serious medical difficulties, even death ("Dangers of abuse sobering," Nov. 2). Long-term effects of these drugs are not known, but you can logically conclude that they won't be positive. It is not politically correct today to say that marijuana is harmful. The sad reality is, however, it is more harmful than smoking tobacco. Yet many states - Massachusetts, California and others - are looking to make marijuana more legal and accessible. This is very hypocritical, as well as being illogical. Al DiLascia, Chicopee [end]
The passage of Proposition 19 in California would have marked the beginning of the end of the drug war in the United States. Sadly, the ballot initiative failed, but even the fact of it making it to the ballot, not to mention garnering over 40 percent of the vote in a non-presidential election year is a success. Even if we have not the found the beginning of the end, we have started chipping away at the mentality that led us to this irrational and immoral place. [continues 668 words]
Two years ago Massachusetts voters decided it was no biggie if an adult wanted to smoke the occasional joint, and voted to make possession of less than an ounce of marijuana a civil, not a criminal, offense. It all sounded so chill, dude. But in addition to the fact that those civil penalties are almost impossible to enforce, pot-related trafficking and violence have been going up since passage of Question 2, which is frankly no surprise. Decriminalization is driving demand. Demand is driving the supply. And trafficking of the supply drives crime. [continues 148 words]
Inside Massachusetts
