Thanks for your coverage of Arizona's new medical marijuana law. This legislation makes Arizona the 15th state to help the sick and dying handle their symptoms without having to turn to an illegal underground market for medicine. Too bad New Yorkers can't make the same choice. We now have literally thousands of studies of marijuana's safety and medical effects. This research documents the plant's ability to improve the lives of those with chronic pain, HIV, cancer, sleep problems and a host of other ailments. [continues 119 words]
THE latest bad news from the world of methamphetamine is that makers of the drug have perfected a one-pot recipe that enables them to manufacture their highly addictive product while on the move, often in their car. The materials they need - a two-liter soda bottle, a few cold pills and some household chemicals - are easily obtained and easily discarded, often in a trash bag dumped along the highway. There is, however, a simple way to end this mobile industry - and, indeed, most methamphetamine production. We've tried it in Oregon, and have seen how well it works. Just keep a key ingredient, pseudoephedrine, out of the hands of meth producers. [continues 574 words]
Eureka, Calif. - THE day after voters in California rejected an initiative to legalize marijuana, a package arrived at the bookstore I own with my husband: eight ounces of premium bud. This was not a gift from a grateful customer, nor was it a new product we'd brought in for the holiday season. The package came from a grower here in Humboldt County who had decided it would be amusing to use our bookstore as the return address. And it might have gone directly to a buyer in Austin, Tex., except that the grower had used a little too much packaging, pushing it over the Postal Service's weight limit. Stamped packages weighing more than 13 ounces have to be handed over in person at the post office, not dropped anonymously in a mailbox. And so the padded envelope and its aromatic contents were returned to sender - in this case, our antiquarian bookstore, which is better known for shipping signed first editions and vintage bird lithographs than Humboldt County's most famous agricultural product. [continues 571 words]
Dear Editor: No doubt, cannabis (marijuana) will be re-legalized (editorial, Nov. 8). In 2012, Colorado will join the race to end cannabis prohibition and extermination. Caging responsible adults for using the plant is immoral, vulgar and anti-Christian. In fact, one reason to legalize cannabis that doesn't get mentioned is because it is biblically correct, since God, the ecologician, indicates he created all the seed-bearing plants saying they are all good, on literally the very first page (Genesis 1:11-12 and 29-30). The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is to accept it with thankfulness (1 Timothy 4:1-5). What kind of government cages humans for using what God says is good? Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
The number of times New York City police officers stopped, questioned and sometimes frisked people dropped slightly in the third quarter from a year earlier, but was up slightly in the first nine months compared with a year earlier. Police filled out 137,301 "Stop, Question and Frisk" reports, known as 250s, between July and the end of September, according to statistics provided by the NYPD to the City Council on Wednesday. That number is down about 0.4% compared with the third quarter of 2009. The number resulting in an arrest or a summons-8% and 7%, respectively-was up slightly from a year earlier when 6% of the stops resulted in arrests and 7% resulted in summonses. [continues 210 words]
It may have been one of the most surprising outcomes of last week's voting: Californians rejected a proposal which would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. The defeat of Proposition 19 has left many in the Golden State and around the country scratching their heads, in part because of California's reputation as a liberal trendsetter, and because that state already had legalized medical marijuana. Yet the measure allowing adults to have and grow small amounts of pot went down 54-46, with polls showing opposition across the board demographically. [continues 219 words]
Last week, I asked a lawyer from a libertarian group for a copy of a brief it had filed in a First Amendment case. Sounding frustrated and incredulous, he said a federal appeals court had sealed the brief and forbidden its distribution. "It's a profound problem," said the lawyer, Paul M. Sherman, with the Institute for Justice. "We want to bring attention to important First Amendment issues but cannot share the brief that most forcefully makes those arguments." The brief was filed in support of Siobhan Reynolds, an activist who thinks the government is too aggressive in prosecuting doctors who prescribe pain medications. [continues 785 words]
If Proposition 19 passes in California tomorrow and it is no longer illegal to sell, possess or grow marijuana, we may have begun ascending a slope less slippery than opponents of legalizing drugs might think. American states spend an estimated total of $50 billion a year on our penal system. If Proposition 19 decriminalizes marijuana in California, the entire country will see how much money can be saved with laws based less on puritanical superstition than on facts. Then there's the issue of tax revenues: federal and state tax revenues for alcohol sales exceed $5.6 billion. Imagine if Prohibition were still in place, and what that would mean for our tight budgets. [continues 565 words]
LOS ANGELES - I dropped in on a marijuana shop here that proudly boasted that it sells "31 flavors." It also offered a loyalty program. For every 10 purchases of pot -- supposedly for medical uses -- you get one free packet. "There are five of these shops within a three-block radius," explained the proprietor, Edward J. Kim. He brimmed with pride at his inventory and sounded like any small businessman as he complained about onerous government regulation. Like, well, state and federal laws. [continues 756 words]
Democrat Andrew Cuomo is not a fan of medical marijuana. Heading into the final week of his campaign for governor, Cuomo told reporters on Sunday that he does not want to see New York follow California's example and legalize pot for medical purposes. "The dangers of medical marijuana outweigh the benefits," said Cuomo, who has admitted using marijuana in his youth. "I don't think the bill passes." Told that pot's legalization could generate revenues for the state, he said, "A lot of things could raise revenues. Legalizing prostitution could raise revenues. I'm against that, too." [continues 365 words]
To the Editor: Re "In Mexico, Scenes From Life in a Drug War: Monterrey's Habit" (Op-Ed, Oct. 17): Ricardo Elizondo Elizondo's essay about the drug war in Mexico says that Mexico must take notice of its own drug use problems and that "there can be no solution until we come to terms with the truth." I am sure that is true, but there is a larger truth at work that trumps all others in the drug war: We must end the folly of prohibition -- that is, end the drug war -- or there will be no solution. [continues 58 words]
Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.'s recent chest-thumping against the California ballot initiative that seeks to legalize marijuana underscores how the war on drugs in this country has become a war focused on marijuana, one being waged primarily against minorities and promoted, fueled and financed primarily by Democratic politicians. According to a report released Friday by the Marijuana Arrest Research Project for the Drug Policy Alliance and the N.A.A.C.P. and led by Prof. Harry Levine, a sociologist at the City University of New York: "In the last 20 years, California made 850,000 arrests for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and half-a-million arrests in the last 10 years. The people arrested were disproportionately African-Americans and Latinos, overwhelmingly young people, especially men." [continues 877 words]
Rhetoric Meets Reality In November, California residents will have the opportunity to vote on Proposition 19, the legalization of recreational marijuana use. It's surprising that such an initiative is on the ballot and even more surprising that it has a legitimate chance of passing. In 14 states across the country, medical marijuana has already been legalized, and Proposition 19 seems to be the next logical step in the complete decriminalization of marijuana. With the opportunity to raise hundreds of millions in additional tax revenue and clean out America's overloaded jail system, the legalization of marijuana is logical, both financially and socially. [continues 481 words]
Mexico City - EVERY 100 years, Mexico seems to have a rendezvous with violence. As the country gathers on Wednesday night for the ceremony of the "grito" - the call to arms that began the war for independence from Spain - we are enduring another violent crisis, albeit one that differs greatly from those of a century and two centuries ago. In 1810 and 1910, revolutions erupted that lasted 10 years or more and were so destructive that both times it took decades for the country to re-establish its previous levels of peace and progress. Both episodes furthered Mexico's political development, however, and our collective memory centers on these two dates that have taken on such symmetrical and mythical significance. [continues 1116 words]
A hate-crime indictment against a teenager accused of beating and racially abusing a Mexican student was dropped by a Supreme Court judge on Tuesday after a request by the Staten Island district attorney. The case was among a rash of alleged bias incidents that increased the police presence in the borough as well as concerns about racial tensions, authorities said. Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan said the victim withheld information from investigators that conflicted with an initial determination that he was targeted for the beating and robbery simply because he was Mexican. During the course of the investigation, [name1 redacted], 18 years old, admitted he had fought with the group of African-American men after he felt they cheated him on a marijuana sale. [continues 576 words]
Bill O'Reilly blames the Mexican government for not doing more to curb its country's drug-related violence, like the 28,000 dead, and crush the drug cartels ("The Madness in Mexico," PostOpinion, Sept. 3). Apparently, O'Reilly, who fancies himself a student of history, has learned nothing from the self-defeating futility of alcohol prohibition or the decades-long war on drugs. O'Reilly, who is a staunch suppressionist, opposing even the most modest decriminalization, should ask himself: Have we won the war on drugs? If not, are we any closer to winning the war on drugs? Before he continues to blame the admittedly inept Mexican government, perhaps he should look in the mirror to see one of the unwitting perpetrators of this fiasco. At least O'Reilly can control his own attitudes and actions. Edward S. Hochman, Manhattan [end]
An NYPD tow truck operator who accused a vengeful Bronx cop of giving him a parking ticket says he was ordered to take a drug test after the Daily News started asking questions. Marvin Robbins, a tow truck drivers' union official, got a ticket Sunday for parking his Lexus by a fire hydrant outside his apartment in the Melrose Houses. He says the ticket was written by Officer David Moshier, whom he had met two days earlier at a restaurant on E. 149th St. in the Bronx. [continues 132 words]
The full story of the massacre in Tamaulipas, in northeast Mexico, awaits telling by its one survivor. The early news accounts are horrifying: 72 people, said to be migrants from Central and South America on their way to the United States, are waylaid and imprisoned by drug smugglers on a ranch 100 miles south of Texas. They refuse to pay extortion fees and are executed. The survivor, shot in the neck, hears their screams for mercy as he flees. After a gun battle with the authorities, the killers escape in S.U.V.'s. The dead, 58 men and 14 women, are found piled in a room, discarded contraband. [continues 249 words]
ALBANY -- The shift by some states to legalize marijuana is being invoked by a pair of New York City attorneys who are challenging whether a Saratoga County man implicated in a coast-to-coast drug smuggling case should be subjected to severe federal penalties at a time when the Justice Department has arguably softened its position on the drug. Michael Kennedy, an attorney associated with the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws (NORML), and his partner, David Holland, are waiting a decision on their arguments filed in the case that's pending in U.S. District Court in Albany. Their motions cite a controversial 2009 Justice Department memo that encouraged federal prosecutors not to pursue criminal prosecutions of medical marijuana growers and users. [continues 999 words]
Fewer Financiers Failed Screenings Last Year; Cocaine, Down; Pot, Up The credit crisis has sobered up Wall Street in more ways than one. Only 2% of the financial industry failed drug tests last year, compared with 3.6% of the working world, according to drug-testing concern Sterling Infosystems. Retail workers, in comparison, were red-flagged 4.1% of the time. A review of drug-test data compiled by Sterling, a New York business that screens about 5,900 employees a year for some 270 finance shops, also shows that cocaine is losing its favor among investment professionals, showing up in 7% of the positive tests at Wall Street firms, down from 16% in 2007. But the prevalence of marijuana in positive tests jumped to 80% from 64% between 2007 to 2009. [continues 491 words]
This month legislation was signed into law by Governor Paterson that would bar legislative districts from counting imprisoned individuals in state prisons as part of their population. New York became the second state, following Maryland, to end the practice. For years New York activists called for the dismantling of prison-based gerrymandering (PBG) that allowed mostly rural counties to inflate their population numbers. This resulted in financial rewards for those communities that utilized it. Brent Staples of the NY Times colorfully described PBG when he once said, "There are many ways to hijack political power. One of them is to draw state or city legislative districts around large prisons -- and pretend that the inmates are legitimate constituents." The new change could dramatically change the state's political dynamics. [continues 568 words]
Police Department Circulates Memo Warning Officers To Watch For Drug Dealers Who Use Underwear With Secret Pockets Brooklyn police officers were involved in the ultimate "debriefing" last month when a prisoner being questioned told them about the latest in criminal fashion: underwear with secret pockets. A memo circulated to all members of the New York Police Department, and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, warns officers to be aware that "drug dealers are using underwear with secret pockets sold in stores from several different companies to hold drugs and small weapons." [continues 530 words]
Legalization of drugs -- long an issue championed mainly by fringe groups -- is rapidly moving to the mainstream in Latin America. The recent surprise statement by former Mexican President Vicente Fox in support of "legalizing production, sales and distribution" of drugs made big headlines around the world. Fox, a former close U.S. ally who belongs to the same center-right political party as President Felipe Calderon, rocked the boat at home by indirectly criticizing the very premise of Calderon's all-out military offensive against Mexico's drug cartels, which has cost 28,000 lives since 2006. [continues 561 words]
Regarding the July 31 Bruce Dunn op-ed: "Science supports medical marijuana": While there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps them feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors. Drug warriors waging war on non-corporate drugs contend that organic marijuana is not an effective health intervention. Their prescribed intervention for medical marijuana patients is handcuffs, jail cells and criminal records. This heavy-handed approach suggests that drug warriors should not be dictating health care decisions. It's long past time to let doctors decide what is right for their patients; sick patients should not be jailed for daring to seek relief by way of marijuana. Robert Sharpe Arlington, Va. Sharpe is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy. [end]
New York City police made nearly 170,000 "stop and frisks" between April and the end of June, 21% more than were conducted in the year-earlier period, according to statistics released on Tuesday. The 169,403 stops made by police increased the total number of stops over the first half of this year to 319,156, which is up about 2% the year-earlier period. The NYPD generated a record number of "Stop and Frisk Reports" in the 2009 first half. [continues 183 words]
To the Editor: Re "Colombia Can Win Mexico's Drug War" (Op-Ed, July 30): Gustavo A. Flores-Macias is quite correct to point to the important improvements in good governance in Colombia as an explanation for that country's relative success against the drug cartels. He recommends that Mexico follow the same course. That would be a good thing, although as he points out, political and security reforms would be needed to do so. The more fundamental issue is the raging demand for illegal drugs, in the United States and in Europe. If Colombia drives out the cartels, they just move elsewhere. Mexico's location means, however, that it will remain a focus of cartel activity. The real game-changer will be when the United States learns the lesson of Prohibition and legalizes, regulates and taxes these drugs. John Peeler Lewisburg, Pa., July 30, 2010 The writer is professor emeritus of political science at Bucknell University. [end]
This is in response to Julia Dostal's column of July 17 about medical marijuana. She is largely misinformed. The New York medical marijuana bill was introduced by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried in 1997 has been getting voted out of one committee after another since 2002. There is certainly ample anecdotal evidence that marijuana is medicine, but there is more than that. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine reported, "nausea, appetite loss, pain anxiety ... all can be mitigated by marijuana." [continues 960 words]
To the Editor: Re "V.A. Easing Rules for Patients Who Use Medical Marijuana" (front page, July 24): The Department of Veterans Affairs deserves to be commended for ceasing to penalize veterans who use medical marijuana in states where it is legal. No longer will these veterans be cruelly denied pain medications or other needed services. But as your article points out, the department still forbids its own doctors from recommending medical marijuana to their veteran patients, who, as a consequence, are forced to go to private physicians that may be unaffordable. Veterans and advocates have called on the department to allow its doctors to recommend medical marijuana directly. The very least we can do for returning veterans is to provide unfettered access to the medicine that works best for their conditions. Daniel Robelo Berkeley, Calif., July 26, 2010 The writer is a research associate at the Drug Policy Alliance. [end]
BOTH the United States and Mexico have approached the war on Mexican drug cartels with Colombia in mind. Washington's Merida Initiative, loosely modeled on its Plan Colombia antidrug campaign from a decade ago, provides Mexico with money for helicopters, police training and command-and-control technology. The Mexican government, meanwhile, has taken steps to modernize its judicial system, purge the police of corruption and improve intelligence services. But according to a Government Accountability Office report released this summer, the billions of dollars spent by Mexico and the United States over the last four years have done little to thwart Mexico's cartels. [continues 538 words]
Last weekend, Dwight Gooden was in Cooperstown, of all places, and if you don't find that ironic, you don't know anything about Dwight Gooden. He was there to support his friend Andre Dawson, who was being inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and to play in a charity softball game. There was a time in Mr. Gooden's life, when he was young and pitching for the Mets, that a similar ceremony for him in Cooperstown seemed inevitable, a mere formality that would cap a brilliant career. [continues 871 words]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) famously defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Nothing better describes the war on drugs. The 40-year war on drugs has cost U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion, thousands of lives and broken up families and failed to meet any of its goals. Cocaine, heroin and marijuana were sold in drug stores without a prescription as medicine and treated as such in the early years of the last century. Yet the deadly drug of tobacco is legal (because it's taxed) which kills hundreds of thousands a year. [continues 86 words]
The Bloomberg administration has quietly been fixing up its sons and daughters with cool summer internships, as reported Tuesday in The New York Times. Which is probably fine: It is hard to see nepotism as much of a sin when it is really just another chapter of Darwinism, the drive possessed by all creatures to finagle a better future for their offspring. No matter how much Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg preached about meritocracy, no one expected that the laws of nature would be repealed when he was elected. [continues 615 words]
ALBANY - A poll released today by Cornell University Survey Research Institute found that nearly two-thirds of New Yorkers are in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical use. A higher percentage of upstate residents support it than people who live downstate - 67 percent versus 62 percent. There is a marked difference in attitude between Democrats and unaffiliated voters on one side and Republicans on the other, according to the poll. Sixty-six percent of Democrats and 68 percent of unaffiliated voters support legalization for medical use, while a plurality of Republicans -- 48 percent - said they are against it. [continues 338 words]
Many years ago, when I was a resident in pediatrics, an adolescent patient asked me if I had ever smoked pot. It wasn't a friendly question, more an oh-yeah-says-you response to my own inquiries, warning me off. No patient has asked me that for decades. But recently, I have found myself in several all-pediatrician conversations about the topic. Doctors, and the parents who look to them for advice, need a way to integrate their standards of honesty with what we know about preventing substance abuse -- and with new research that makes it clear we know a lot more today than anyone did when we were young. (Which may help explain some of the dumb decisions made by so many of us, including me.) [continues 954 words]
When night falls, police officers blanket some eight odd blocks of Brownsville, Brooklyn. Squad cars with flashing lights cruise along the main avenues: Livonia to Powell to Sutter to Rockaway. And again. On the inner streets, dozens of officers, many fresh out of the police academy, walk in pairs or linger on corners. Others, deeper within the urban grid, navigate a maze of public housing complexes, patrolling the stairwells and hallways. This small army of officers, night after night, spends much of its energy pursuing the controversial Police Department tactic known as "Stop, Question, Frisk," and it does so at a rate unmatched anywhere else in the city. [continues 3200 words]
As we move toward the end of the budget crisis, the legalization of medical marijuana is still on the minds of many. Although approval of medical marijuana in the budget seems less likely these days, there is still a slight chance it can be worked in. Only about 30 percent of the budget is left to be passed and so far it seems as though medical marijuana will be left out. However, the battle isn't over yet. Even if medical marijuana doesn't get passed through the budget, it still may get passed as a stand-alone bill. [continues 385 words]
Critics' claim that marijuana is "too dangerous" a substance to allow for therapeutic purposes demonstrates a willful ignorance of the science surrounding its use ("Medical marijuana too dangerous, costly," June 30). For example, in February, the results of a series of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials performed by the University of California concluded that inhaled cannabis is safe and effective as a medicine, particularly in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and neuropathic pain. Months earlier, the American Medical Association's Council on Science and Public Health reported, "Results of short term controlled trials indicate that smoked cannabis reduces neuropathic pain, improves appetite and caloric intake especially in patients with reduced muscle mass, and may relieve spasticity and pain in patients with multiple sclerosis." [continues 127 words]
Ex-convicts and single moms with children are about to start living side by side in an unusual housing experiment that begins later this month in Harlem. One new tenant at the building, known as Castle Gardens, is Belkis Alonzo. She and her 4-year-old daughter have been staying with relatives for two years since her divorce, sharing a bedroom with Ms. Alonzo's mother in a small three-bedroom apartment with her sister, brother-in-law and nephew. She'll be sharing the laundry facilities and roof-deck garden with Carl Dukes, who served 31 years in an upstate prison for first-degree murder. [continues 471 words]
Gerald Turetsky's recent commentary, "Medical marijuana too dangerous, costly" (June 30), contains substantial misinformation that could lead New Yorkers to make unethical decisions about helping fellow citizens. He confuses the impact of marijuana with the impact of marijuana prohibition, and perpetuates myths that have been summarily disproved for decades. Contaminants in the plant arise because cultivation has been forced into an underground market, not because the plant is inherently problematic. As data from my own laboratory show, marijuana need not cause lung problems. The plant does not change brain structure in adults, create dependence on hard drugs, or weaken human immune function. [continues 122 words]
Re "Marijuana bill has many flaws," Friday letter: This writer's description of pending medical-marijuana legislation in Albany is seriously flawed. The bill before the Legislature is based on the state's Controlled Substances Act, the law that regulates the sale and use of dangerous narcotics. Consistent with that law, a dispenser of the drug must get a license from the Department of Health, just as a pharmacy would. Dispensers must have no criminal background; clear a character and competency check; prove they are capable of complying with state laws; and document the steps they will take to keep the drug secure. Because the law gives the Department of Health the power to license (and limit) dispensers, problems other states have faced regarding dispensary placement and over-saturation will be avoided. [continues 151 words]
To the Editor: Re "When Capitalism Meets Cannabis" (June 27), about the medical marijuana business: While components of the cannabis plant can have useful medical effects, its recreational use still produces problems, including addiction and impaired driving. Adolescents are especially at risk. Compassion for the very sick shouldn't blind us to the risks of cannabis abuse. If marijuana were legalized and taxed, the increased revenue would pale in comparison to the increases in health care and other social costs. The federal government, with the help of the pharmaceutical industry, should embark on a crash program to develop medically useful compounds from cannabis. As for recreational use of marijuana, national referendums should decide whether we want an alcohol model -- with strict enforcement on under-age use, potency controls and all the potential risks. What is not desirable is the "Wild West" situation in California and Colorado. Manhattan, June 28 The writer is a professor of psychiatry and director of the Division on Substance Abuse at Columbia University. [end]
To the Editor: I find it tragically ironic that after so many years of cannabis prohibition - with the last 40 or so being especially intense - governments have decided to try to recoup some of their wasted billions on that effort via various regulatory schemes involving legalized medical marijuana. Government once vilified and hunted down users of marijuana as if they were dogs. Now it is trying to make money off of the same plant, with a perverse twist on the old saying, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Daniel Williams Bonita Springs, Fla. [end]
President Obama did the right thing in December when he repealed the 21-year-old ban on federal financing for programs that give drug users access to clean needles. Almost nothing has happened since because the Department of Health and Human Services still has not issued the new rules that states and localities need before they can use any federal money to expand existing exchange programs or start new ones. Administration officials say the rules will be issued soon. They must be written in a way that broadens access to needle exchanges, rather than restricts it. [continues 267 words]
Regardless of how one feels about marijuana in general or medical marijuana in particular, it is clear that the current bill pending in the New York Legislature, to allow medicinal uses of marijuana, has too many problems to move forward in its current form. Given the potential for abuse associated with marijuana, it is important that any bill proposed includes proper measures to ensure that the use of smokeable marijuana for "medicinal purposes" does not lead to further abuse. Strong legislation in this area should include mechanisms to prevent easy access to marijuana by people who are trying to circumvent current laws, and that the dispensing mechanisms are controlled enough that neighborhoods are not adversely impacted. [continues 216 words]
ALBANY -- Former talk-show host Montel Williams visited the Capitol to support a medical marijuana bill moving through the Legislature. Williams discussed his own experience since he began grappling with multiple sclerosis a decade ago, joined by Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a prime sponsor of the state measure. Medical marijuana "changed my life -- it allowed me to have my life back," said Williams, who shows few visible signs of the degenerative condition except for a slight wobble in his stride. He said that many days use of marijuana suppresses his pain enough to allow him to "get out of bed, go to work and pay my taxes." [continues 316 words]
Bills in the state Senate and Assembly to legalize medical marijuana are set for a major, last-minute push. If they are passed, New Yorkers are in for serious financial and health problems. Common sense dictates before the Legislature moves forward with such a high-risk program, thorough hearings must be held. Marijuana is not a safe drug. Over time, damage to users' lungs and brains are measurable and significant. Marijuana is widely regarded as a "gateway drug" that introduces children to the drug culture. Most kids who become addicts move on to other more potent drugs. Although most who experiment with marijuana do not become addicted, young people who avoid it altogether tend not to become drug addicts of any kind. [continues 412 words]
Re "Legalizing medical marijuana remains on the table in N.Y. budget talks," June 22 article: The above article on medical marijuana raised some serious concerns with the legislation currently pending in New York state. We should learn from the experiences of other states before we institute a system that will create more problems than it solves. As currently written, the legislation leaves loopholes that will make it easy to obtain a significant amount of marijuana. The bill allows people over 18 to obtain enough marijuana for 150 to 300 joints if they have a variety of conditions, including "dysphoria" which is a mood disorder characterized by anxiety, depression or restlessness. Are these really the conditions that we want to see treated with smokeable marijuana? [continues 101 words]
The Pharmacists Society of the State of New York has become the latest professional health organization to endorse the medical marijuana bill under consideration in Albany. As medical professionals who believe in palliative care, responsible oversight, and -- most important -- relieving the suffering of ill patients whenever possible, we strongly support this legislation. It will establish a controlled and orderly system, based on established medical practice, for providing seriously ill patients with access to a medicine that has been demonstrated to relieve intractable pain and suffering. [continues 392 words]
Young Republicans Embrace Low Taxes, but Reject Moral Issues You know something is changing in American mores when the supposed leader of the culture wars from the right, Sarah Palin, declares that smoking pot is "a minimal problem" and that "if somebody's gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody any harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in." Like many other pointless wars, the culture conflict has mainly resulted in exhaustion. Now the troops are laying down their arms and going home. [continues 777 words]
The empty glassine packets can be found in Manhattan, Brooklyn and beyond, scattered on streets and sidewalks with only obscure slogans or graphic images to suggest their former use. At one time they contained heroin and the markings stamped on the packets were meant to differentiate strains of varying purity or provenance. To some they are crime evidence. Addicts may see them mainly as a vehicle to fulfill a dangerous urge. For a group of artists who have been collecting them they are cultural artifacts that are equally unsettling and compelling. [continues 880 words]
Inside New York
