It won't be easy clearing 80 years of smoke from a room.

Not marijuana smoke -- the smoke of propaganda. The smoke of fear. The smoke already being blown in our faces by opponents of Arizona's Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which is working to get an initiative legalizing small amounts of marijuana on the November ballot.

It shouldn't be any surprise that there is an early poll on the issue showing that the initiative probably wouldn't pass, particularly since the poll was released by the group trying to defeat the initiative.

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We live in a state where it appears that marijuana smokers are more inclined to offer tax money for education than state legislators. On the bright side, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol announced this week that it has collected more than 200,000 signatures for a November ballot initiative that would end marijuana prohibition in Arizona.

The campaign needs to collect 150,642 valid signatures.

A local backer of the initiative sent me a note saying, "Is 200,000 signatures a milestone or a milestoned?"

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The campaign to legalize marijuana for recreational use in Arizona has gathered more than 200,000 signatures in its effort to qualify for the November ballot, it reported Tuesday.

The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, which has been pushing the effort for about a year, needs 150,642 signatures from registered voters to make the ballot. Some of the gathered signatures may be invalid because they were signed by people who cannot vote.

To account for invalid signatures, the group aims to collect about 225,000 signatures, a spokesman said, and hopes to have a healthy cushion once the signatures are verified by the Secretary of State's Office. Barrett Marson, a campaign spokesman, could not say when those signatures would be filed with that office.

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Why Can't Advocates of Legal Weed Get Along With Each Other?

In an ideal weed-topia, all marijuana advocates work together to accomplish the ultimate dream: abolishing prohibition. But because the world is an imperfect place, several groups in Arizona have split up into at least half a dozen initiatives-with similar but different demands-campaigning for voter support.

Most of them are going nowhere, but the two measures that have gathered traction are the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, backed by the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project, and the underdog Phoenix group Arizonans for Mindful Regulation.

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Medical Marijuana Researcher Sue Sisley Briefly Came Back to the UA for a Special Lecture on the Challenges of Conducting Weed Research

Nearly two years after medical marijuana researcher Sue Sisley was fired from the UA, she returned for a special lecture on medical weed in front of a room of more than 50 people at the off-campus entity, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute-an educational program for older adults.

The crowd was filled with questions about Sisley's research and the current UA administration's decisions to back away from a study that seeks to find answers on the soothing impact of marijuana on post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

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Here we go again with another diatribe by Sheila Polk and friends against the legalization of marijuana (Our Turn column, April 4; letters, Feb. 13).

Sheila Polk is making sure that the USA keeps its lead for having the highest incarceration rate in the world by helping to continue the draconian laws that lead to arresting people for marijuana use even though more people died from prescription drugs each year than all illegal drugs combined. Also, booze and tobacco kill more people each year than "illegal drugs," and they are more harmful.

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The people behind the marijuana initiative want to "regulate marijuana like alcohol." Clever marketing. But it hides the many flaws inherent in legalizing this drug flaws that have statewide lawenforcement leaders, along with many others, united in opposition.

Just look to Colorado, the pioneer in marijuana legalization. Since legalization there, teen use has increased to more than 70 percent above the national average. So much for this being about giving adults choices. Arizona should expect similarly disastrous effects.

Meanwhile, advocates claim that legalization will allow law enforcement to focus on more serious crimes than marijuana possession. We already are: Only about 3 percent of marijuana users are ever arrested, and those people are generally involved in other crimes as well. Or, they are carrying pounds (not ounces) of marijuana.

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Vice Media Creates a Buzz With "Weediquette" Show

Krishna Andavolu tackles a controversial issue in the first episode of his new show Weediquette: Parents who turn to concentrated cannabis oil to fight cancer.

Weediquette, which airs weekly on the Vice Media's new channel Viceland, launched a TV segment where Andavolu called his mom to share some good news.

"I got the new show," Andavolu told her. "It is about weed."

"Oh no," she replied. "Don't smoke it on camera."

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Today's question: What's the difference between "medical marijuana" and "street marijuana?" And how come medical marijuana costs $300 an ounce while "street" marijuana only costs $60 an ounce? There are several reasons for this.

For starters, it's kind of like the difference between really cheap rotgut whiskey and the finest Tennessee sipping whiskey.

Medical marijuana is usually grown using hydroponics or aeroponics in climate controlled conditions and raised with quality nutrients. And security can be expensive. Purveyors of street weed are not quite so fussy.

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I was a warrior in the war on drugs.

I spent 20 years fighting the flow of drugs into America, including 18 years as a DEA special agent. As a special agent, I helped spearhead the Drug Enforcement Administration's marijuana efforts in Florida and New Mexico before retiring.

I spent a lifetime's work in law enforcement, mostly centered on stanching the flow drugs into America, and have come to one conclusion: I don't believe marijuana should be illegal.

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Since its legalization in Denver there have been many jokes about the Broncos and marijuana. The fact that the football team's home, Denver, is also known as "Mile High" just makes it easier.

Even though marijuana is legal in Colorado, it is still banned in the NFL. Players are tested regularly for marijuana and punished if found to have any in their system.

With the Broncos in the Super Bowl the jokes were at an all-time high, but does marijuana have a place in the NFL and sports other than jokes and suspensions?

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PHOENIX (AP) - The state Supreme Court plans to decide whether the mere smell of marijuana is enough to justify a search by police in the wake of Arizona's legalization of medical marijuana.

The justices agreed Tuesday to consider appeals of contradictory rulings by the Phoenix and Tucson divisions of the state Court of Appeals.

A three-judge panel of the Phoenix division ruled the enactment of the medical marijuana law doesn't eliminate a legal doctrine that says the plain smell of marijuana is sufficient to establish probable cause for a search.

A ruling by a divided panel of the Tucson division ruled that circumstances other than the mere smell of marijuana are now needed to provide the legal basis for a search warrant.

The justices plan to hear oral arguments on the issue.

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If You Don't Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard, Then Probably Not

Last week, I wrote about the need for research into the positive effects of marijuana. I chose this as my first topic because of how important I believe it to be. If I had to list in order of importance that would be issue 1A and issue 1B would be the decriminalization of marijuana.

This is another area where progress has been made, but there is still much work ahead.

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94 Percent of U.S. Research Is Aimed at Finding Negative Effects of Marijuana

Greetings readers. This is my first article for the Tucson Weekly. My Mary Jane Doe cannabis column will be a mix of news, opinions and reviews. Sometimes all in the same article.

I have known and believed in the medicinal power of cannabis since the '90s, when my friend credited it with saving his life. His illness made it impossible for him to keep food down. He was malnourished and dying until he found marijuana.

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The parents of a young woman whose 2010 murder remains unsolved have alleged their daughter was a confidential informant for Phoenix police, a position that may have placed her in direct contact with her killer.

On Tuesday, the family of Nicole Glass filed a wrongful-death suit against the city of Phoenix for what they say were officers' failure to warn the 27-year-old about the dangers of their arrangement.

The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the recruiting officers and their supervisors, all labeled as John Does for now.

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For those of you that think using and selling drugs is not a violent crime, I suggest you consider the event that occurred to the Buckner family on Tuesday in Glendale.

Alex Buckner killed his mother, father and two sisters and then set the house on fire. Responding police had to shoot and kill Alex. What could be more violent?

Furthermore, there is a TV program called "The First 48" which televises real-life homicide events around the country. A large portion if not the majority of homicides involves drugs. So ask yourself, would the world be a better place if there was no marijuana, crack cocaine or heroin? Q.E.D.

- - Sammy Bell

Glendale

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A rise in suspensions and expulsions caused by students' marijuana use is truly an issue, and we should be (I certainly am) working on solutions.

But, prohibition hasn't worked - kids can still buy marijuana! Fifty-eight million dollars in tax revenue isn't a "mere drop in the bucket" for taxpayers who want the best for our kids or for the countless students who benefit from better-funded schools.

Last year, our state's school system ranked 48th out of 51. We shouldn't pretend like we have the luxury of turning down millions of dollars.

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I have listened to and read the pros and cons of legalizing marijuana, and I don't see anyone talking about the strength of the THC in weed today.

The weed if the '70s was much weaker than the weed of today. Unless there are strict controls on that, I can't support legalization.

We have strict controls on the percentage of alcohol in liquor. You can't go into a bar or liquor store and buy a bottle of pure grain alcohol. Until we can have controls on the THC in weed, we can't legalize it.

If weed is to be consumed for medical purposes, the THC must be bred out of the marijuana plant. I can't see legalizing it just so stoners can get high any time they want. There must be controls!

Teresa Hering

Phoenix

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Preventing kids from using drugs and alcohol is not easy, in fact, it is complicated.

But this much we know about keeping kids safe from alcohol and drugs; the way to reduce the number of kids who use is to decrease supply and easy access, and increase the understanding of risks.

Colorado, where marijuana was made legal in 2014, now leads the nation in youth use of marijuana and all illicit drugs. Colorado has been the proving ground that legalizing marijuana increases supply, increases ease of access, decreases perception of risk and increases the social acceptance of the drug.

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There have been several articles published recently by the folks who don't want to see cannabis legalized for recreational use. Several of these opinions are penned by current and former elected officials, all of whom base their opinions on dubious facts, half-truths and outright lies.

What message do you think that this sends to the very people the anti-cannabis crowd claim to want to protect, the adolescents? Today's kids are smarter than these folks give them credit for, and they know the facts about cannabis.

So the message they may be getting is, "If they're lying to us about the harmful effects of cannabis, they're probably lying to us about the harmful effects of alcohol, meth and heroin, too." Unintended consequences of dishonesty?

Bob Uselton, Phoenix

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