OKLAHOMA CITY - Despite getting the federal government's go-ahead to grow and sell marijuana, local tribes are showing little interest in expanding into the trade.

If they did, says one expert in Native American affairs, it would raise a tangle of questions involving tribal and state law that are unique to Oklahoma.

State leaders have outlawed marijuana - its growth, possession or use - - and violators face prison. But the 39 federally recognized tribes here have a way around that. A Justice Department memo published last week cites tribal sovereignty as grounds to allow the cultivation of marijuana on their land.

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Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow pot smokers to carry a concealed firearm.

The 'Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights' is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and pot.

The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists.

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PROSSER - Another benefactor has stepped forward to reward the Prosser School District and another organization for their refusal of a $14,000 donation from a marijuana grower.

Rich Gerlitz, a Richland resident and 1971 graduate of Prosser High School, and his wife, Jan, recently gave $7,000 checks to the district and the Prosser branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton & Franklin Counties after both turned down money from Randy Williams, owner of Fireweed Farms just north of town.

Williams approached the district about donating some money after he made about $600,000 during a Nov. 15 marijuana auction. Superintendent Ray Tolcacher and the Prosser School Board turned it down, saying it could send mixed signals to students about marijuana.

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DENVER (AP) - Chris Easterling was sick of relying on drug dealers in Minneapolis when he needed marijuana to help ease the pain of multiple sclerosis. They were flaky, often leaving the homeless man without the drug when he needed relief the most.

So he moved to Denver, where legal pot dispensaries are plentiful and accessible.

Easterling is among a growing number of homeless people who have recently come to Colorado seeking its legal marijuana and who now remain in the state and occupy beds in shelters, service providers say.

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DENVER (AP) - Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow cannibis smokers to carry concealed firearms.

The "Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights" is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and marijuana.

The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists.

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Legal Dispensaries Are Nearing Final Approval to Open in San Diego

SAN DIEGO - Five more illegal medical marijuana dispensaries have been shut down by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith, including two in Mission Valley and one each in North Park, Kearny Mesa and City Heights.

City officials are facing pressure to close as many illegal pot shops as possible before the first legal dispensaries open early next year.

The most recent estimates put the number of illegal dispensaries operating in San Diego at roughly 50.

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Gov. Walker wants to extend the timeline for marijuana regulation. Grace Jang is quoted as saying the "new industry will require regulatory infrastructure that Alaska has to create from scratch ..." (ADN Dec. 20).

Three thoughts:

1. The Alaska Department of Law lists the minutes from the Constitutional Convention, which took all of 72 days to complete. Voters have given the Legislature nine months.

2. Why start from scratch? There are four other examples already on the books: Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Alaska alcohol. Alaska is not them but we're close enough to start from their efforts. Think they have forgotten some little nook or cranny; it will be easier to identify if you don't start from scratch. The topics and subtopics ad nauseam are known, the outline is there. Four big flip charts and an outlined fifth ought to do it.

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The Fairbanks North Star Borough will follow Anchorage in forming a working group to explore the legalization of marijuana in Alaska and the crafting of laws specific to local commercial regulation.

On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly's new Committee on Regulating and Taxing the Cultivation, Manufacture and Commercial Sale of Marijuana met briefly to outline how it will work to craft marijuana laws in Alaska's largest city.

Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins said he too would form a working group to begin crafting ordinances addressing legalization to present to the borough assembly. In an interview Tuesday, Hopkins said the makeup of the body had not been finalized but that it would include community stakeholders and be led by borough Community Planning Director Christine Nelson.

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The letters sent from prison inmates follow a script. In block letters, handwritten in pencil, as many words as possible are squeezed onto irregular scraps of paper. Sentences are vague and innocuous so as to not raise the hackles of the prison censor. They're also profoundly depressing, even when the prisoner claims to be in good spirits.

"On the way here, the guards had the prisoner next to me taken out and killed," read one letter I received from a man who is doing time for running a state-legal dispensary. "There are other things I can only tell you about in person."

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Or change your laws

As the beginning of the lawsuit filed last week puts it, "Come now the States of Nebraska and Oklahoma, by and through their Attorneys General" ... to stop legalized marijuana. The states are suing the state of Colorado in the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to get the federal government to curtail Colorado's industry.

The joint suit cites the Controlled Substances Act and various international treaties in its argument. It requests the Supreme Court declare Amendment 64 unconstitutional, stop Colorado from further implementing legal marijuana and, of course, pay the states' attorney fees.

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State Allowing Food, Liquid Infusions for Qualifying Children

Children who live in Illinois will be allowed access to medical marijuana in the new year under rules announced by state officials Tuesday.

Those younger than 18 will need permission from a parent or legal guardian, must get the drug through an adult caregiver and will be required to receive approval from their own treating physician and a second doctor. Children may obtain only marijuana-infused products, such as food or liquid drops, and will not be allowed to get raw pot for smoking, under Illinois Department of Public Health rules.

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A leader of efforts to revise Oklahoma's marijuana laws says Attorney General Scott Pruitt's attempt to stop legal retail sales in Colorado is "ridiculous" and mischaracterizes that state's cannabis industry.

Chip Paul, a Tulsa business owner and leader of Oklahomans for Health, said it would be impossible to accumulate more than a small quantity of marijuana through legal purchases in Colorado, and that licensed growers have too much at stake to sell on the black market.

"It's just not possible," Paul said in a telephone interview.

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The last time a marijuana decriminalization bill was introduced in the Virginia General Assembly the year was 2011 and the patron was Del. Harvey Morgan, R-Gloucester, a former assistant clinical professor of pharmacy at Virginia Commonwealth University's medical school. The bill never made it out of committee. The Virginia General Assembly will again consider a marijuana decriminalization bill in the 2015 session, this one sponsored by Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).

The fact that marijuana decriminalization in Virginia has been championed by a conservative Republican from Southern Virginia and liberal Democrat from Northern Virginia is telling. Marijuana law reform is a bipartisan issue supported by a majority of Americans.

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Judge Says Nestdrop, Which Takes Orders From Customers, Is Violating L.A. Law.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge said Tuesday that Nestdrop, a smartphone application that lets customers order medical marijuana, must stop delivering pot.

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer filed a court complaint earlier this month saying that Nestdrop, which offers alcohol and medical marijuana delivery, violates a law that restricts pot shops in Los Angeles from taking their product to customers.

Judge Robert O'Brien granted a preliminary injunction against the company Tuesday to stop the pot deliveries.

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Editor:

Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes could put to good use a large harvest basket of revenue.

I am sure that there are respected tribe members that smoke cannabis.

They just have to be careful not to be captured or exposed.

If the elders can be persuaded to see the wisdom in embracing this newly proffered liberty, the tribes can prosper on the capitalist playfield. It is a lot easier to educate your people on any harms of cannabis than to prohibit it.

As there is nowhere in Wyoming where one may possess or use cannabis, one idea worth consideration would be the creation of a cannabis lodge/spa. Open to adults with ID, offering cannabis, garden tours, food, lodging and camping.

JAY BERGSTROM, Forest Ranch, California

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Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational marijuana sales. Now the state's voters may consider a ballot measure to allow pot smokers to carry concealed firearms.

The Colorado Campaign for Equal Gun Rights is working to put a question on the November 2016 ballot to have Colorado ignore guidelines from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about firearms and pot.

The measure would change state law to prevent sheriffs from denying concealed-carry permits because of marijuana use. It's a new frontier in the marijuana wars, and one that has divided gun-rights activists.

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Editor: Regarding your Dec. 15 editorial (Our Opinion, "Authorize Medicinal Pot"), medical marijuana has lifesaving benefits that extend beyond patient relief.

New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with access to medical marijuana have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than states where marijuana is prohibited.

This research finding has huge implications for states like Pennsylvania that grapple with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths.

The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the recent JAMA research. Legal marijuana access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The marijuana plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or prescription narcotics.

The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses.

Legal marijuana access has the potential to save thousands of lives.

ROBERT SHARPE POLICY ANALYST, COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY, WASHINGTON, D.C.

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Powerful Tool Has Become Another Government Idea Gone Awry, Says David Simpson

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

- - James Madison, 1788

Civil asset forfeiture, or forfeiture of contraband as it is referred to in Chapter 59 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, is the process by which the state may confiscate assets of an individual that are alleged to be proceeds or instruments of crime. Current law allows such property to be seized even if the property owner is never charged, much less convicted. If charges are brought, the seized property may be disposed of prior to conviction, or in the case of acquittal, does not have to be returned to the owner.

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FLAGSTAFF, ARIZ. (AP) - The Navajo Nation had bitter debates when it was deciding whether to allow casinos on the reservation and whether alcohol should be sold in them. The arguments focused on the revenue and jobs that casinos and liquor could bring to a reservation where half the workforce is unemployed and most arrests and pervasive social ills are linked to alcohol abuse.

When the federal government announced this month that it would allow American Indian tribes to grow and sell marijuana, the same divisive discussions resurfaced. The tribal president's office talked of expanding crops to include pot for medicinal but not recreational use, while a tribal lawmaker quickly declared his opposition.

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As a physician working on the front lines of addiction treatment and research in Baltimore, I read Lisa Lowe's recent op-ed with great interest but also with some perplexity ("Addiction services needed more than statistics," Dec. 18).

I share Ms. Lowe's frustration with the difficulty that many patients and families - especially those with private insurance - have accessing affordable addiction treatment and transitional housing.

However, despite her impassioned advocacy for "evidence-based best-practice therapies," Ms. Lowe's piece contains misleading and frankly false information about effective addiction treatments.

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