There are many questions about which physicians are uncertain. One of them centers on the use of marijuana to treat illnesses. A measure pending in the state Legislature could authorize the use of medical marijuana to relieve symptoms in seriously ill patients. The state would maintain a registry of people with debilitating medical conditions, such as HIV or AIDS, cancer and glaucoma. Photo identification cards would be issued to those on the registry, and they could possess a limited number of marijuana plants and usable marijuana. [continues 333 words]
Contempt Of Court Charges Filed LOS ANGELES - Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access filed legal briefs Monday accusing the city of Montebello of contempt of court for refusing to return medical marijuana wrongfully seized more than four years ago. On Oct. 15, 2004, local police seized marijuana plants, growing equipment, and personal correspondence from the Montebello home of Terry Gene Walker. Police criminally charged Walker, regardless of his status as a medical marijuana patient, said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Oakland-based ASA, who is representing Walker in his contempt claim. [continues 312 words]
Contempt Of Court Charges Filed LOS ANGELES - Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access filed legal briefs Monday accusing the city of Montebello of contempt of court for refusing to return medical marijuana wrongfully seized more than four years ago. On Oct. 15, 2004, local police seized marijuana plants, growing equipment, and personal correspondence from the Montebello home of Terry Gene Walker. Police criminally charged Walker, regardless of his status as a medical marijuana patient, said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Oakland-based ASA, who is representing Walker in his contempt claim. [continues 313 words]
BOSTON -- A voter-approved law to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana goes into effect Friday, despite protests from law enforcement officials that they need more time and guidance from the state. The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security issued guidelines on the new law Monday, less than two months after 65 percent of voters approved the measure in a statewide referendum. On Friday, the law will make possession of one ounce or less of marijuana a civil offense, subject to a $100 fine like a traffic ticket. Offenders under 18 will be required to take a drug awareness program, or pay a $1,000 fine. [continues 815 words]
The movement in the New Jersey Legislature to enact the New Jersey Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act has much to recommend it. It is in fact a sound policy to allow those suffering great physical pain to use marijuana to relieve various symptoms. Nevertheless, creating an exception for the medical use of marijuana under state law does not create an exception under federal law. By using state law to sanction marijuana use in the medical context, New Jersey will be encouraging a violation of federal law. That is a problem that must be resolved before the policy deserves full support. The proposed New Jersey statute is admirable in the care with which it sets forth the medical exception. It cabins the possibility of abuse as well as can be expected. That is to say, it establishes a narrow, meticulously circumscribed exception to the general prohibition on marijuana use. The premises for the exception are found in the legislative findings, which include: [continues 552 words]
Officials Are Urging Cities And Towns To Ban Public Marijuana Smoking As Massachusetts prepares to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana on Friday, state officials are urging cities and towns to ban public pot smoking and assuring school administrators that students caught with the drug may still be disciplined. Guidelines issued Monday by the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security also say that - as with marijuana - possession of an ounce or less of hashish may be reduced to a civil offense because its main psychoactive ingredient - THC - is the same as in marijuana. [continues 352 words]
Regarding the subject of compassionate care and medical marijuana in our state, please consider that there is a pill called Merinol that is the man-made form of marijuana. Its main ingredient is THC. And some against medical legalization will say, even argue, that the pill form exists and there is no need for another form, the smoked form. Please know that because the pharmaceutical companies have developed this pill, they have proved that marijuana and the main active ingredient, THC, does, in fact, have medical properties. It is no longer a question of whether it has medical/clinically proved benefits; apparently the pharmaceutical companies believe it does, as well as the doctors who have prescribed marijuana/THC in any form. [continues 117 words]
Contempt Of Court Charges Filed LOS ANGELES - Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access filed legal briefs Monday accusing the city of Montebello of contempt of court for refusing to return medical marijuana wrongfully seized more than four years ago. On Oct. 15, 2004, local police seized marijuana plants, growing equipment, and personal correspondence from the Montebello home of Terry Gene Walker. Police criminally charged Walker, regardless of his status as a medical marijuana patient, said Joe Elford, chief counsel for Oakland-based ASA, who is representing Walker in his contempt claim. [continues 314 words]
William Conde (Mailbag, "Our Most Expensive War," Dec. 23) got an arrow-splitting bull's eye: where would President-elect Obama be if .? Once Obama takes office, there should not be another responsible U.S. citizen caged for using or possessing small amounts of cannabis (marijuana) ever again. Conde was mistaken about the expense of incarceration, however. Caging humans for using the relatively safe, socially acceptable, God-given plant cannabis is a money-making gravy train for the prison industry, police, drug testing industry and their unions; lobbying efforts are one of the reasons cannabis and hemp prohibition perpetuates. A sane argument to continue caging responsible citizens for using the plant doesn't exist. Cannabis prohibitionists are like vampires. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
I read with interest your pieces commemorating the repeal of alcohol prohibition and especially the letters responding (Dec. 13). One in particular is a reply from Mr. Jon Walker against drug legalization. Although crack and other more heavily processed hard drugs are a direct cause of drug prohibition, plant coca and marijuana are in fact "time immemorial," to use Mr. Walker's words. They have been a part of societies world-wide, though maybe not his. Unless you are in complete denial, the 1937 Congressional Record tells us America prohibited pot without any real scientific testimony, no medical expertise and a media campaign based on bigotry three generations ago. Peter Christopher Hurdle Mills, N.C. [end]
Police officers should issue tickets, similar to a building code citation, to anyone possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, under an advisory released by the state yesterday recommending ways to manage the law decriminalizing possession of the drug. The law is effective Jan 2. Violators may appeal the citation - a civil infraction - in court within 21 days or pay the $100 fine set by the statute. Municipalities would be responsible for collecting the fines, according to the recommendations. With much confusion over how police should handle marijuana possession, ranging from enforcement measures to whether officers themselves can be punished for using the drug, the state's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security released the seven pages of guidelines hoping to set a clear standard before the law takes effect Friday. [continues 597 words]
When women enter the Harbor House Halfway House, many of them are essentially homeless, lacking in life skills and hope. The 120-day program, with 60 days of after-care, helps change all that. Sixty-one people participated in the program during the fiscal year July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2008. The program provided 3,426 nights of residential treatment. The halfway house provides residential substance abuse treatment for women who have been victims of domestic violence. Their children also stay at the house. They attend school or watched by staff while their mothers are in counseling. The remainder of the time, the mothers are responsible for their care. Harbor House, a division of Personal & Family Counseling Services of Tuscarawas Valley Inc. at New Philadelphia, has operated the halfway house since March 2006. "Most of the women have stayed with relatives and friends and worn out their welcome," said Marilyn Henry, PFCS chief executive officer. "Typically, they have no income, home or medical care, so we try to help get them established. We teach them preventative health care, how to do a budget, make nutritious meals and to prepare a resume and fill out job applications." [continues 411 words]
More Foot Patrols To Bolster Safety I 'm glad that the police can follow the smell of marijuana smoke -- but can't hear the cries of women being raped. How many man-hours -- and how much money -- has been spent to prosecute people for marijuana usage -- or gods forbid -- jogging nude with a pumpkin on their heads? Why isn't community safety the priority of our police? The last attack was at Williamson Village, at 7:45 p.m., which clearly illustrates a basic lack of personal safety in Boulder. The reason is clear: Since I've moved to Boulder in 1999, I've seen foot patrols by police in two locations: the Pearl Street Mall, and 13th Street on University Hill. [continues 304 words]
If Mexican drug violence reaches Victoria, Rusty Fleming can say, "I told you so." Fleming, a Dallas-area filmmaker, spent three years in Mexico and on the border to document a new era of narco-terrorism. He, like many law enforcement experts, say this unsettling war creeps north on U.S. highways. His film, "Drug Wars: Silver or Lead," offers an inside look at the brutal Gulf Cartel, Mexican drug war and violent spillover into Texas. Fleming, 45, agreed to premiere his film in Victoria. [continues 370 words]
Mary Anastasia O'Grady is right on target; reducing the supply of drugs below demand is impossible ("Innocents Die in the Drug War," Americas, Dec. 15). So the question is, who will control the drug supply, us or them? We can have regulated drugs and no cartels or unregulated drugs with cartels. And, if a person wants a drug, is the outcome likely to be better if he gets the drug from a doctor or a drug dealer? Drugs have been "easy to get" for teens since at least 1975, and, with the exception of marijuana, the vast majority refused to use them. Legal or illegal isn't the question. More than 70% of teens who broke the law to use marijuana refused to use cocaine and 90% of cocaine users have never tried heroin. It's time to examine the most thoughtful way to end prohibition again. Jerry Epstein Houston [end]
Nearly 20 years ago I wrote a page-one story in the Journal about the drug-related death of my 16-year-old son, Ryan. It is sad to see the same tired old names and groups making the same, tired old arguments for drug legalization in the Journal recently. To say that "no one has ever died from marijuana" is like saying nobody ever died from cigarettes because cigarette smokers don't overdose on tobacco. While my son was killed when he ran into traffic after using LSD, his dependence on pot is what led to his death. What I wrote in 1989 is still true: "Every day my heart breaks a little more." [continues 81 words]
BOSTON - Guidelines for a new Massachusetts law that ends minor marijuana arrests say the law may also apply to other drugs with the same psychoactive ingredient, such as hashish. The guidelines obtained Monday by The Associated Press say the law that takes effect Friday ends criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less of THC-the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, hashish or hash oil. Voters passed a referendum in November that instead imposes a civil penalty of a $100 fine and forfeiture of the drug. [continues 96 words]
ST. JOSEPH - The Berrien County prosecutor said he will dismiss drug charges against seven people after further investigation into the alleged misconduct of a former police officer. Andrew Thomas Collins, 26, a former Benton Harbor police officer, was arrested Dec. 2 on drug trafficking charges, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Grand Rapids. The indictment claimed Collins used his position as an officer to keep the drugs. He was charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute more than 5 grams of crack cocaine, according to a news release from Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian K. Delaney. Berrien County Prosecutor Arthur J. Cotter said his office met with FBI investigators Monday to review the case. [continues 318 words]
The voters of Massachusetts spoke clearly Nov. 4 on the topic of marijuana: They want simple possession treated as a civil infraction, more like a parking ticket than a serious crime, with a maximum fine of $100. Other laws involving marijuana stay in place, and those under 18 caught with less than an ounce of pot are required to attend a drug education course as well as pay the fine. The only ones unclear about what Question 2 intends are law enforcement officials who act like a civil violation is some radical idea no one ever heard of. District attorneys and police chiefs have been acting like it was all a big misunderstanding. Question 2 proponents "sold the public a pig in a poke, and the public bought it," Cape and Islands DA Michael O'Keefe said last week. [continues 504 words]
Guidelines for a new Massachusetts law that ends minor marijuana arrests say the law may also apply to other drugs with the same psychoactive ingredient, such as hashish. The guidelines obtained Monday by The Associated Press say the law that takes effect Friday ends criminal penalties for possession of an ounce or less of THC - the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, hashish or hash oil. Voters passed a referendum in November that instead imposes a civil penalty of a $100 fine and forfeiture of the drug. [continues 96 words]
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