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151 US OK: Bill Would Create Cannabis Commission If Oklahoma LegalizesWed, 24 Jul 2019
Source:Oklahoman, The (OK) Author:Simons, Mike Area:Oklahoma Lines:25 Added:07/24/2019

Creation of a Cannabis Commission to regulate medical marijuana in the state was approved by the Oklahoma House of Representatives on Thursday night with no votes to spare.

House Bill 3468, by Rep. John Jordan, R-Yukon, sets up an independent commission that would be activated if voters approve State Question 788 on June 26. That question would legalize medical uses of medical marijuana, although opponents say its broad construction would essentially make policing recreational use impossible.

"If you're for full-on recreational marijuana, this is not your bill," Jordan said in explaining the bill.

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152US GA: Marijuana Decriminalization Push Rolls Into Another MetroMon, 22 Jul 2019
Source:Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Author:Capelouto, J. D. Area:Georgia Lines:Excerpt Added:07/22/2019

It's been about three years since one DeKalb County city made history with the most liberal marijuana enforcement policy in the state. Since then, several more municipalities have followed suit, eliminating the possibility of jail time and severely reducing the fine for possessing one ounce or less of weed.

Months after the state Legislature passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana sales, the push toward recreational decriminalization on the local level is continuing; the city of Chamblee is currently considering a measure that echoes the rules in Clarkston, which passed its marijuana ordinance in July 2016.

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153 US PA: Battle Lines Drawn On Safe Injection SitesFri, 12 Jul 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Kamp, Jon Area:Pennsylvania Lines:79 Added:07/17/2019

Authorities from seven states, the District of Columbia and some major U.S. cities are backing a Philadelphia effort to open a supervised drug-injection site, which the federal government is trying to stop in court.

Safehouse, a nonprofit in Philadelphia, seeks to open a site where people can use drugs in a safe and sanitary environment with help to avoid overdose fatalities. Federal prosecutors sued the nonprofit in February, arguing it would violate federal law by creating a place for people to use illegal drugs such as heroin and bootleg fentanyl.

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154US FL: In Florida, A Haze Builds Around Pot Law Enforcement AsFri, 12 Jul 2019
Source:Tampa Bay Times (FL) Author:Varn, Kathryn Area:Florida Lines:Excerpt Added:07/17/2019

A law that took effect July 1 legalized hemp and CBD products containing traces of THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high. But field tests and crime labs haven't caught up.

Texas hemp enterpreneur Zachary Miller, interviewed here by a television reporter, was arrested in Okaloosa County after products found in his car tested positive for THC. THC is illegal in Florida unless prescribed by a doctor for medical use but trace amounts are allowed in now-legal hemp products. [Courtesy of Zachary Miller]

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155 US: Helping Seniors Find The Right Pot RxSat, 13 Jul 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Lewis, Amanda Chicago Area:United States Lines:234 Added:07/13/2019

The waiting room at NiaMedic Healthcare & Research Services looked just like every other doctor's office at the Saddleback Medical Center in California's Laguna Hills: unflattering overhead lighting, landscape paintings and a smiling person in scrubs behind the reception desk. It was the ideal location to attract NiaMedic's target demographic: seniors. Saddleback is nestled in the rolling hills of a region surrounded by at least 15 retirement communities, including the over 18,000-resident Laguna Woods Village. But the patients who come through NiaMedic's doors generally start with the same question: Can marijuana help?

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156 US: The Mainstream World Discovers MarijuanaTue, 09 Jul 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Garner, Dwight Area:United States Lines:125 Added:07/09/2019

Humphrey Bogart had a way with life's little vices. When he bought you a drink, the critic Kenneth Tynan recalled, he wouldn't just pass it across - "he'd take me by the wrist and screw the glass into my hand as if it was a lamp socket." Bogart's manner with a cigarette was so vivid that his surname became an admonishing hippie-era verb: "Don't bogart that joint."

I've tried repeatedly, over the course of my life, to become a druggie. It's never taken. But even I know what it means to bogart something: to hoard it, to refuse to share. It wasn't until I read Lizzie Post's helpful and inquisitive new book, "Higher Etiquette: A Guide to the World of Cannabis, From Dispensaries to Dinner Parties," however, that I fully understood the term's provenance.

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157 US: Common Name For Cannabis Is Making An Industry WinceMon, 08 Jul 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Holson, Laura M. Area:United States Lines:165 Added:07/08/2019

Kush. Bud. Herb.

Who knows what to call marijuana these days?

Born of the need for secrecy, slang has long dominated pot culture. But as entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on new laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana, they too are grappling with what to call it.

Heading to the dispensary to buy a few nugs or dabs? Marketers seeking to exploit the $10 billion market would prefer that you just called it cannabis.

Shirley Halperin, an author of 2007's "Pot Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life," has seen the shift in recent years. Not long ago, she met with an executive to talk about his company's products. "He physically winced when I said the word 'pot,'" she recalled. "Businesses don't want to call it 'weed.'"

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158 US: PUB LTE: Legal Marijuana Is Nowhere Near A High PointWed, 03 Jul 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Armentano, Paul Area:United States Lines:51 Added:07/03/2019

Alex Berenson's allegation that public support for marijuana law reform is waning ("Marijuana Activists Pass Their High Point," op-ed, June 26) is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Nearly one in four Americans reside in a jurisdiction where the adult use of cannabis is legal, and 33 states regulate medical marijuana access by statute. No state has ever repealed a marijuana legalization law, and two-thirds of adults-including majorities of self-identified Democrats, Republicans and independents-endorse making the plant legal, according to the latest Gallup poll. As more states amend their cannabis laws, public support for legalization continues to rise.

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159 US CO: Colorado's Marijuana Experiment, After 5 YearsMon, 01 Jul 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Healy, Jack Area:Colorado Lines:309 Added:07/01/2019

DENVER - Serenity Christensen, 14, is too young to set foot in one of Colorado's many marijuana shops, but she was able to spot a business opportunity in legal weed. She is a Girl Scout, and this year, she and her mother decided to sell their cookies outside a dispensary. "Good business," Serenity said.

But on the other side of Denver, legalization has turned another high school student, David Perez, against the warehouselike marijuana cultivations now clustered around his neighborhood. He said their skunky aroma often smacks him in the face when he walks out his front door.

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160 US: With Pot, Buying Local Can Be CostlyFri, 28 Jun 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Ryan, Carol Area:United States Lines:81 Added:06/28/2019

It is wise to know where your cannabis comes from. Intoxicated by bullish demand forecasts, pot investors aren't paying nearly enough attention to supply.

U.S. states currently decide whether to legalize cannabis within their own borders, even though the drug remains illegal at the federal level. It is a misnomer to speak of a single U.S. pot industry, considering the patchwork of self-contained cannabis economies across the country.

Pot can't cross state lines today, even between two states where the drug is allowed. Should federal laws change, high-cost growers and areas with less favorable climates for cannabis growing will be undercut.

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161 US IL: Countdown Begins To Jan. 1 After Pritzker Signs Bill MakingWed, 26 Jun 2019
Source:Chicago Tribune (IL) Author:McCoppin, Robert Area:Illinois Lines:153 Added:06/26/2019

A landmark battle in the war on drugs ended Tuesday, and a new approach to address racial inequities began, as Gov. J.B. Pritzker acted to legalize marijuana in Illinois effective Jan. 1, 2020.

Sponsors called the change "historic" as Pritzker signed into law a bill that will allow Illinois residents 21 and over to possess up to 30 grams of cannabis flower, 5 grams of concentrate and 500 milligrams of THC infused in edibles and other products. Out-of-state visitors may have up to half those amounts.

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162 US IL: Answers To Other Burning Questions About Recreational WeedWed, 26 Jun 2019
Source:Chicago Tribune (IL) Author:McCoppin, Robert Area:Illinois Lines:107 Added:06/26/2019

Marking a historic moment in an expanding national movement, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation that makes recreational marijuana legal in Illinois.

After debate in Springfield earlier this year - during which one lawmaker even cracked eggs into a frying pan to depict the "brain on drugs" - the bill allowing possession and sales to begin on Jan. 1 was approved by the House and Senate.

Illinois became the 11th state to legalize cannabis and the first state in which a legislature approved commercial sales. Vermont lawmakers legalized possession, but not yet commercial sales. Approval in other states came via referendum.

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163 US: OPED: Marijuana Activists Pass Their High PointWed, 26 Jun 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Berenson, Alex Area:United States Lines:112 Added:06/26/2019

This was supposed to be the year full cannabis legalization in the U.S. moved much closer to being a reality. Instead it has been a disaster for advocates. Although Illinois legalized recreational use on the final day of its legislative schedule, a half-dozen other deep-blue states that were expected to legalize failed to follow-including New York.

Advocates want to believe legalization on their terms, with few restrictions on marketing and age limits potentially as low as 18, remains inevitable. Polls show that between 62% and 66% of Americans support legalization. But cannabis supporters are wrong, and the pushback against marijuana has only begun.

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164 US: Peering Into A Very Dark MirrorWed, 26 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Buckley, Cara Area:United States Lines:169 Added:06/26/2019

The two young women see themselves in Rue, the stumbling, manipulative teenage drug addict that Zendaya plays in "Euphoria," the new HBO show.

They see themselves in Rue when she coughs and flushes the toilet so her mom won't hear her rummaging through the medicine cabinet for Xanax. They see themselves when Rue cops clean urine from a high school friend to pass a drug test. They see themselves when Rue convinces a new friend that getting high first thing in the morning is a good idea; when she threatens her mother with a piece of broken glass; when she aspirates her own vomit after overdosing. They see themselves in Rue's pain, her messiness, her unslakable need to obliterate all the bad feelings, no matter the cost.

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165US IL: Illinois Becomes 11th State To Allow Recreational MarijuanaTue, 25 Jun 2019
Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)          Area:Illinois Lines:Excerpt Added:06/25/2019

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois' new governor delivered on a top campaign promise Tuesday by signing legislation making the state the 11th to approve marijuana for recreational use in a program offering legal remedies and economic benefits to minorities whose lives critics say were damaged by a wayward war on drugs.

Legalization in Illinois also means that nearly 800,000 people with criminal records for purchasing or possessing 30 grams of marijuana or less may have those records expunged, a provision minority lawmakers and interest groups demanded. It also gives cannabis-vendor preference to minority owners and promises 25% of tax revenue from marijuana sales to redevelop impoverished communities.

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166 US: OPED: Marijuana Damages Young BrainsMon, 17 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Davis, Kenneth L. Area:United States Lines:78 Added:06/22/2019

Recent efforts to legalize marijuana in New York and New Jersey have been stalled - but not killed - by disputes over how exactly to divvy up the revenues from marijuana sales and by worries about drugged driving. Those are both important issues. But another concern should be at the center of this debate: the medical implications of legalizing marijuana, particularly for young people.

It's tempting to think marijuana is a harmless substance that poses no threat to teens and young adults. The medical facts, however, reveal a different reality.

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167US CA: Can Marijuana Help You Lose Weight? UC Riverside ResearcherThu, 20 Jun 2019
Source:Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) Author:Staggs, Brooke Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:06/22/2019

In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizio's lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana.

DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity.

The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana -- or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administration's strict Schedule I category. It also marks the school's first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health.

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168 US: PUB LTE: Regulate Marijuana SalesSat, 22 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Armentano, Paul Area:United States Lines:42 Added:06/22/2019

Re "Marijuana Damages Young Brains," by Kenneth L. Davis and Mary Jeanne Kreek (Op-Ed, June 17):

No one is advocating that young people either consume or have ready access to cannabis. In fact, it is precisely because marijuana use may pose potential risks to certain consumers - for example, adolescents or people with a family history of psychiatric illness - that NORML believes that lawmakers should regulate it accordingly.

These regulations should include age restrictions, prohibitions on the unlicensed commercial production or retail sale of the plant and rational limits with regard to product marketing.

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169 US NY: Push To Legalize Marijuana Falls Short At The Last MinuteThu, 20 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Wang, Vivian Area:New York Lines:138 Added:06/20/2019

ALBANY - New York's plan to legalize marijuana this year collapsed on Wednesday, dashing hopes for a potential billion-dollar industry that supporters said would create jobs in minority communities and end decades of racially disproportionate policing.

Democratic lawmakers had been in a headlong race to finalize an agreement before the end of the legislative session this week. But persistent disagreement about how to regulate the industry, as well as hesitation from moderate lawmakers, proved insurmountable.

"It is clear now that M.R.T.A. is not going to pass this session," Senator Liz Krueger of Manhattan said in a statement on Wednesday morning, using an acronym for the legalization bill she had sponsored. "We came very close to crossing the finish line, but we ran out of time."

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170 US: The Highs And Lows Of LSD LiteratureFri, 14 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Bowles, Nellie Area:United States Lines:187 Added:06/14/2019

It can seem as though everyone in Silicon Valley is either heading to or coming back from a psychedelic trip, and it is probably Michael Pollan's fault.

He did after all write a best seller, "How to Change Your Mind," about how healthful psychedelics can be. His neighbor Ayelet Waldman, whose memoir "A Really Good Day" recounts how taking acid helped her mood and marriage, has something to do with it, too. And now, inspired by Pollan, the writer T.C. Boyle has a new novel, "Outside Looking In," about Timothy Leary, the charismatic Harvard professor turned psychedelics pied piper of the 1960s.

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171US: Medical Pot Laws No Answer For Us Opioid Deaths, Study FindsMon, 10 Jun 2019
Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) Author:Johnson, Carla K. Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:06/13/2019

A new study shoots down the notion that medical marijuana laws can prevent opioid overdose deaths, challenging a favorite talking point of legal pot advocates.

Researchers repeated an analysis that sparked excitement years ago. The previous work linked medical marijuana laws to slower than expected increases in state prescription opioid death rates from 1999 to 2010. The original authors speculated patients might be substituting marijuana for painkillers, but they warned against drawing conclusions.

Still, states ravaged by painkiller overdose deaths began to rethink marijuana, leading several to legalize pot for medical use.

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172 US OH: A Curriculum To Anchor Young Lives Caught Up In A Drug CrisisThu, 13 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Levin, Dan Area:Ohio Lines:245 Added:06/13/2019

MINFORD, Ohio - Inside an elementary school classroom decorated with colorful floor mats, art supplies and building blocks, a little boy named Riley talked quietly with a teacher about how he had watched his mother take "knockout pills" and had seen his father shoot up "a thousand times."

Riley, who is 9 years old, described how he had often been left alone to care for his baby brother while his parents were somewhere else getting high. Beginning when he was about 5, he would heat up meals of fries, chicken nuggets and spaghetti rings in the microwave for himself and his brother, he said. "That was all I knew how to make," Riley said.

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173US CA: Disneyland Of Marijuana Dispensaries Coming To Santa AnaWed, 12 Jun 2019
Source:Orange County Register, The (CA) Author:Staggs, Brooke Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:06/12/2019

Planet 13 in Las Vegas has attracted international attention since it opened perhaps the world's biggest marijuana store last fall, with 3,000 people shopping each day for newly legal cannabis products while surrounded by light shows and interactive art displays that feel natural a few miles off The Strip.

Now Planet 13 has announced that its second location - and likely the largest cannabis shop in California - will open early next year. And since it's being billed as the "Disneyland of dispensaries," it's fitting that it's opening just six miles from the theme park, in an industrial stretch of Santa Ana.

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174 US: Editorial: Justice For Wronged Drug OffendersWed, 12 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY)          Area:United States Lines:75 Added:06/12/2019

New data about the effects of the First Step Act, a bipartisan prison reform bill that President Trump signed into law in December, is showing that past injustices can be corrected, even in the most politically polarized of times.

Last week, the United States Sentencing Commission, an independent agency that advises federal judges on carrying out changes to sentencing policy, reported that in the four months after the law went into effect, more than 1,000 federal inmates were granted a sentence reduction for offenses involving crack cocaine. In 2010, Congress passed legislation to address these racially unjust sentences, but that change wasn't retroactive.

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175US CA: Oakland Decriminalizes Shrooms And Other Natural PsychedelicsWed, 05 Jun 2019
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Ravani, Sarah Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:06/10/2019

The Oakland City Council passed a resolution Tuesday night that decriminalizes certain natural psychedelics, including mushrooms, a move that makes Oakland the second city in the nation to do so.

The resolution instructs law enforcement to stop investigating and prosecuting people using the drugs. It applies to psychedelics that come from plants or fungi, not synthetic drugs like LSD or MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

After the vote, nearly 100 supporters rose from their chairs, clapped and cheered loudly.

"I don't have words, I could cry," said Nicolle Greenheart, the co-founder of Decriminalize Nature Oakland. "I'm thrilled. I'm glad that our communities will now have access to the healing medicines and we can start working on healing our communities."

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176US CA: Psychedelics, Long Ignored By Scientists, Seeing Resurgence InSat, 01 Jun 2019
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Allday, Erin Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:06/04/2019

UCSF psychiatrist Brian Anderson is studying an experimental therapy to help long-term AIDS survivors - people who were infected with HIV in the 1980s and never expected to live this long - who are feeling sad and demoralized.

In a clinic outfitted with a comfortable couch, soft lighting, throw pillows and blankets, the participants of his study are given psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms. They lie down for a few hours, a mask over their eyes and soothing music playing in the background, and experience a psychedelic trip.

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177 US NY: James Ketchum, Who Led LSD Experiments For The Army, Dies AtTue, 04 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:McFadden, Robert D. Area:New York Lines:196 Added:06/04/2019

Dr. James S. Ketchum, an Army psychiatrist who in the 1960s conducted experiments with LSD and other powerful hallucinogens using volunteer soldiers as test subjects in secret research on chemical agents that might incapacitate the minds of battlefield adversaries, died on May 27 at his home in Peoria, Ariz. He was 87.

His wife, Judy Ketchum, confirmed the death on Monday, adding that the cause had not been determined.

Decades before a convention eventually signed by more than 190 nations outlawed chemical weapons, Dr. Ketchum argued that recreational drugs favored by the counterculture could be used humanely to befuddle small units of enemy troops, and that a psychedelic "cloud of confusion" could stupefy whole battlefield regiments more ethically than the lethal explosions and flying steel of conventional weapons.

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178 US: John Boehner: From Speaker Of The House To Cannabis PitchmanMon, 03 Jun 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Williamson, Elizabeth Area:United States Lines:162 Added:06/03/2019

WASHINGTON - John A. Boehner, the former speaker of the House, once stood second in line for the presidency and staunchly against legalized marijuana. Now you can find the longtime Republican standing before a wall-size photo of the Capitol, making an online infomercial pitch for the cannabis industry.

"This is one of the most exciting opportunities you'll ever be part of," Mr. Boehner says in an endlessly streaming video for the National Institute for Cannabis Investors. "Frankly, we can help you make a potential fortune."

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179 US IL: Legal Recreational Pot Bill Passes Illinois House, On Way ToFri, 31 May 2019
Source:Chicago Sun-Times (IL) Author:Sfondeles, Tina Area:Illinois Lines:137 Added:05/31/2019

Once Gov. Pritzker signs the bill into law, Illinois will become the first state to approve cannabis sales through the Legislature, instead of a ballot measure.

SPRINGFIELD - A recreational marijuana legalization bill will soon land on Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk after the Illinois House on Friday voted to pass the comprehensive measure.

The Illinois House voted 66-47 after more than three hours of debate. The Illinois Senate on Wednesday cleared the measure. The governor issued a statement applauding the bill's passage and pledging to sign it.

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180 US: Editorial: Treating Overdose Deaths Like Murder Will Only DeterThu, 30 May 2019
Source:Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)          Area:United States Lines:73 Added:05/30/2019

On Wednesday, 24-year-old Emma Semler was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for her frienda=80=99s overdose death. The Inquirera=80=99 s Jeremy Roebuck and Aubrey Whelan reported that in 2014, Emma met up with Jennifer Rose Werstler, a friend she had met in rehab. The two used heroin together in a bathroom of a restaurant in West Philadelphia. Jennifer overdosed and died. Emma, who brought the drugs and left the scene, was later charged by federal prosecutors and convicted of heroin distribution -- which has a mandatory minimum of 20 years if it involves a death.

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181US GA: Seized 'Drug Houses' To Be RefurbishedTue, 28 May 2019
Source:Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Author:Habersham, Raisa Area:Georgia Lines:Excerpt Added:05/28/2019

By day, Dill Avenue is a relatively quiet street: a few residents walk their dogs or ride a bike and mostly keep to themselves. It wasn't always this way.

Fulton County officials have seized a "notorious drug house" with the plan to renovate it and eventually sell it to a low-income family.

For the past six years, the house at 730 Dill Avenue, located in the Capitol View community, has been the site of drug use and violent crime, including a stabbing and a killing, according to online police records. Atlanta police have received numerous complaints about the derelict property, some of which resulted in nine search warrants.

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182US: Column: Exhale: No Quick Action By NFL Coming On Medicinal PotThu, 23 May 2019
Source:USA Today (US) Author:Bell, Jarrett Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:05/23/2019

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. - Don't hold your breath if you're thinking the NFL is on the brink of giving players the green light to smoke their pain away with marijuana.

Go ahead, exhale. This is still going to take a while.

Sure, the league has put a progressive foot forward in striking an agreement this week with the NFL Players Association in the name of holistic health and wellness. There's a joint committee coming - not joint as in blunt, but joint in that medical experts will be appointed by the league and union - that is charged to study data on several alternative methods of pain management and make recommendations.

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183 US MD: Heroin Is Vanishing As Fentanyl Swamps StreetsSun, 19 May 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Goodnough, Abby Area:Maryland Lines:195 Added:05/19/2019

BALTIMORE - Heroin has ravaged this city since the early 1960s, fueling desperation and crime that remain endemic in many neighborhoods. But lately, despite heroin's long, deep history here, users say it has become nearly impossible to find.

Heroin's presence is fading up and down the Eastern Seaboard, from New England mill towns to rural Appalachia, and in parts of the Midwest that were overwhelmed by it a few years back. It remains prevalent in many Western states, but even New York City, the nation's biggest distribution hub for the drug, has seen less of it this year.

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184 US: OPED: Not So Fast On Magic MushroomsSat, 11 May 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Pollan, Michael Area:United States Lines:122 Added:05/11/2019

Only a few days ago, millions of American probably had never heard of psilocybin, the active agent in psychedelic mushrooms, but thanks to Denver, it is about to get its moment in the political sun. On Tuesday, the city's voters surprised everyone by narrowly approving a ballot initiative that effectively decriminalizes psilocybin, making its possession, use or personal cultivation a low-priority crime.

The move is largely symbolic - only 11 psilocybin cases have been prosecuted in Denver in the last three years, and state and federal police may still make arrests - but it is not without significance. Psilocybin decriminalization will be on the ballot in Oregon in 2020 and a petition drive is underway in California to put it on the ballot there. For the first time since psychedelics were broadly banned under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act, we're about to have a national debate about the place of psilocybin in our society. Debate is always a good thing, but I worry that we're not quite ready for this one.

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185 US CO: Denver Voters Support 'Magic' MushroomsThu, 09 May 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Mazzei, Patricia Area:Colorado Lines:108 Added:05/09/2019

Voters in Denver, a city at the forefront of the widening national debate over legalizing marijuana, have become the first in the nation to effectively decriminalize another recreational drug: hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The local ballot measure did not quite legalize the mushrooms that contain psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound. State and federal regulations would have to change to accomplish that.

But the measure made the possession, use or cultivation of the mushrooms by people aged 21 or older the lowest-priority crime for law enforcement in the city of Denver and Denver County. Arrests and prosecutions, already fairly rare, would all but disappear.

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186 US CA: A Marijuana Brand Cultivates Its Own LookThu, 02 May 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Williams, Alex Area:California Lines:99 Added:05/02/2019

To his die-hard fans, Mr. Sherbinski is a storied name in marijuana.

A celebrated California cultivator, he helped create the Gelato and Sunset Sherbert strains that have been name-checked in more than 200 hip-hop songs, including "First Off" by Future and "Bosses Don't Speak" by Migos.

At the Business of Fashion's Voices conference in London last year, his brand, Sherbinskis, was introduced as "the Supreme of marijuana."

And when Sherbinskis released its first sneaker design last year at ComplexCon, a two-day festival of hip-hop and fashion in Long Beach, Calif., the limited-edition Nike Air Force 1 model sold out in two hours. (There is a pair currently on eBay asking more than $1,000.)

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187US: OPED: Modern Marijuana Took My Son's LifeMon, 29 Apr 2019
Source:USA Today (US) Author:Schindel, Sally Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:04/29/2019

As attorneys argued over a section of Arizona law that differentiates between marijuana and cannabis, the state's Supreme Court justices joked about baking pot brownies in their kitchens.

They clearly do not understand how the marijuana industry has irresponsibly manipulated pot into dangerously high levels of potency.

My son could explain it to them. Or he could if he was still with us.

"I want to die," he wrote before hanging himself at the age of 31. "My soul is already dead. Marijuana killed my soul + ruined my brain."

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188 US: Cannabis Industry Produces Sweet Fruit: JobsSun, 28 Apr 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Dougherty, Conor Area:United States Lines:173 Added:04/28/2019

SAN FRANCISCO - David Dancer is a 48-year-old marketing executive who has worked for big brands like Charles Schwab and Teleflora. A year ago, he got a call from a recruiter for a different kind of company: MedMen, a cannabis retailer that has been called "the Apple Store of weed." The opening was for a chief marketing officer. He took it.

One of Mr. Dancer's early projects was a slick two-minute video by the director Spike Jonze that begins with an anecdote about George Washington as a hemp grower, a staple of dorm-room conversation. It concludes with a suburban couple coming home with a bright red bag of legally purchased pot, symbolizing "the new normal" - an ending that, like his own career twist, seemed improbable not long ago.

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189 US CA: Illicit Pot Sales Boom In California Despite LegalizationSun, 28 Apr 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Fuller, Thomas Area:California Lines:195 Added:04/28/2019

COSTA MESA, Calif. - In the forests of Northern California, raids by law enforcement officials continue to uncover illicit marijuana farms. In Southern California, hundreds of illegal delivery services and pot dispensaries, some of them registered as churches, serve a steady stream of customers. And in Mendocino County, north of San Francisco, the sheriff's office recently raided an illegal cannabis production facility that was processing 500 pounds of marijuana a day.

It's been a little more than a year since California legalized marijuana - the largest such experiment in the United States - but law enforcement officials say the unlicensed, illegal market is still thriving and in some areas has even expanded.

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190US GA: A Complete Failure Of The SystemWed, 02 Jan 2019
Source:Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Author:Sharpe, Joshua Area:Georgia Lines:Excerpt Added:01/04/2019

Dasha Fincher said she was borrowing a friend's car when she noticed a half-eaten bag of blue cotton candy in the floorboard. It was the kind kids like to buy from gas stations near her Macon home. She thought little of it until a few minutes later when it became the biggest problem in her life.

On New Year's Eve 2016, Monroe County deputies pulled the car over for a suspected window-tint violation and spotted the bag. They used a quick roadside test kit on the blue stuff and got a positive result for methamphetamine. Fincher ended up charged with trafficking meth and held in jail for three months on a breathtaking $1 million cash bond before a lab test found the "meth" was really just cotton candy, according to a lawsuit.

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191 US CA: Californians Voted For Legal Cannabis, But Good Luck GettingThu, 03 Jan 2019
Source:New York Times (NY) Author:Fuller, Thomas Area:California Lines:181 Added:01/03/2019

SAN FRANCISCO - A billion dollars of tax revenue, the taming of the black market, the convenience of retail cannabis stores throughout the state - these were some of the promises made by proponents of marijuana legalization in California.

One year after the start of recreational sales, they are still just promises.

California's experiment in legalization is mired by debates over regulation and hamstrung by cities and towns that do not want cannabis businesses on their streets.

California was the sixth state to introduce the sale of recreational marijuana - Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington paved the way - but the enormous size of the market led to predictions of soaring legal cannabis sales.

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192 US: Test Lets Drug Users Indentify FentanylThu, 03 Jan 2019
Source:Wall Street Journal (US) Author:Campos-Flores, Arian Area:United States Lines:101 Added:01/03/2019

There is a new tool to help battle the opioid epidemic that works like a pregnancy test to detect fentanyl, the potent substance behind the escalating number of deaths roiling communities around the country.

The test strip, originally designed for the medical profession to test urine, can also be used off-label by heroin and cocaine users who fear their drugs have been adulterated with the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The strips are dipped in water containing a minute amount of a drug and generally provide a result within a minute-with one line indicating positive for fentanyl, and two lines negative.

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193 US PA: New Marijuana Dispensaries Announced For Philadelphia And TheTue, 18 Dec 2018
Source:Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Author:Wood, Sam Area:Pennsylvania Lines:51 Added:12/19/2018

Philadelphia stands to gain at least two new medical marijuana stores while Reading scored three more dispensaries with the awarding of permits Tuesday morning by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

MLH Explorations LLC, a cannabis company aligned with Thomas Jefferson University, won a permit to operate a retail outlet at 8th and Locust Streets. The retail outlet will do business as Solterra Care - Locust Street.

Beyond/Hello, which is readying a dispensary at 12th and Sansom Streets for the first quarter of 2019, also plans to open a retail store at 475 N. 5th Street in Northern Liberties. Beyond / Hello is owned by Franklin Bioscience LLC which already operates a dispensary in Bristol.

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194US MN: Cannabis For Christmas? In Minnesota, CBD Products Are HotWed, 19 Dec 2018
Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) Author:Pearson, Erica Area:Minnesota Lines:Excerpt Added:12/19/2018

CBD, a cannabis compound, is in everything from gumdrops to bath bombs.

In Maplewood Mall, holiday shoppers pick up CBD tinctures from an organic hemp farm at the Nothing But Hemp kiosk. Festive gift sets with CBD-infused body lotions, shampoos and soaps are available a few miles away at Minnesota Hempdropz. Spot Spa in Minneapolis has CBD oil massages on its list of services and tries to keep pricey gourmet gumdrops from "aspirational" CBD purveyor Lord Jones on its shelves. The problem? They continually sell out.

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195 US HI: Man Stabbed In Front Of Waikiki Hotel In Botched Drug DealMon, 17 Dec 2018
Source:Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)          Area:Hawaii Lines:30 Added:12/17/2018

Police arrested a 24-year-old man after he allegedly stabbed another man in a drug deal gone bad in Waikiki Sunday night, police said.

Police arrested a 24-year-old man after he allegedly stabbed another man in a drug deal gone bad in Waikiki Sunday night, police said.

The stabbing occurred at approximately 7:50 p.m. in front of The Modern Honolulu located at 1775 Ala Moana Boulevard.

Police said the suspect and victim are acquaintances.

Emergency Medical Services provided advanced life support to the victim who sustained stab wounds. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Police arrested the suspect at approximately 8:20 p.m. on suspicion of second-degree attempted murder.

[end]

196US MN: Marijuana Legalization Seems Headed To Minnesota, But It'sSun, 09 Dec 2018
Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) Author:Coolican, J. Patrick Area:Minnesota Lines:Excerpt Added:12/10/2018

Legalizing marijuana is looming as a next big political showdown at the Minnesota State Capitol.

Fully legalizing marijuana in Minnesota is looming as a next big political showdown at the Capitol, as a growing number of states are ending bans on recreational cannabis.

Gov.-elect Tim Walz, who favors ending marijuana prohibition, will replace Gov. Mark Dayton, who doesn't. A new Democratic House majority will debate proposals to legalize next year and will likely take votes on the issue as soon as 2019 or 2020. And, not one but two legal pot parties -- the Grassroots-Legalize Cannabis Party and Legal Marijuana Now Party -- emerged with 5 percent of the vote in statewide elections, giving them "major party status," which means automatic ballot access and the chance for campaign subsidies.

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197 US: Marlboro Maker Places $1.8 Billion Bet On MarijuanaFri, 07 Dec 2018
Source:Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)          Area:United States Lines:57 Added:12/07/2018

NEW YORK - One of the world's biggest tobacco companies is diving into the cannabis market with a $1.8 billion buy-in.

Store manager Stephanie Hunt posed for photos, in July 2015, with a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, an Altria brand, at a Smoker Friendly shop in Pittsburgh. Altria is diving into the Canadian cannabis market with a $2.4 billion investment in Toronto-based medical and recreational marijuana provider Cronos Group.

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. is taking a 45 percent stake in Cronos Group, the Canadian medical and recreational marijuana provider said today.

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198 US MI: Michigan Marks 1st Day Of Legal, Recreational PotFri, 07 Dec 2018
Source:Honolulu Star-Advertiser (HI)          Area:Michigan Lines:31 Added:12/07/2018

DETROIT - Michigan is officially the first state in the Midwest to allow marijuana for more than medical purposes.

Today marks the first day for the legal recreational partaking of pot in Michigan following voters' strong endorsement in the Nov. 6 election.

Staff at the Lansing City Pulse, a weekly alternative newspaper, marked the day by handing out free joints across the street from the Capitol.

Michigan is now among nearly a dozen states and the District of Columbia with legalized recreational marijuana. Still, retail shops are still months away and must involve state regulators.

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199 US: Does Smoking Marijuana Cause Teen Behavior Problems Or ViceWed, 05 Dec 2018
Source:Philadelphia Inquirer, The (PA) Author:Pattani, Aneri Area:United States Lines:107 Added:12/05/2018

As dozens of states move toward legalizing marijuana -- for both medical and recreational purposes -- scientists and parents have asked what the impact might be on children. Will more teens use pot? Will doing so cause behavioral problems? Will they develop a substance-use disorder?

According to a new study published last month in the journal Addiction: yes, probably not, and maybe.

The study, led by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, found that marijuana use among teens does not lead to conduct problems. In fact, it's the other way around. Adolescents with conduct problems, like cheating, skipping class, and stealing, are more likely to gravitate toward marijuana use.

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200US MN: Minnesota Medical Marijuana Expanding To Add Alzheimer'sMon, 03 Dec 2018
Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN) Author:Olson, Jeremy Area:Minnesota Lines:Excerpt Added:12/03/2018

The Minnesota Department of Health is adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, PTSD and autism. Research is limited, but findings suggest that cannabis inhibits the formation of proteins linked to memory loss and dementia.

Alzheimer's disease will be eligible for treatment with medical marijuana in Minnesota starting next year, becoming the 14th health condition certified by the state since the program began in 2015.

The Minnesota Department of Health announced Monday that it was adding the degenerative neurological disorder to its cannabis program, which already includes cancer pain, epileptic seizures, post-traumatic stress disorder and autism.

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