Uri Zeevi is used to skepticism. People hear about his Seedo indoor home cultivator and they're astonished. "Nobody has seen anything like this," he said from his office in Israel. "It's really new, just coming onto the market." But someday, indoor home cultivators may be as common as dishwashers or backyard gas grills -- indispensable home appliances that changed the way people live. Without sunlight, outdoor space or experience, anyone could grow tomatoes, strawberries, gourmet lettuce, herbs and, yes, cannabis year-round inside a home cultivator. [continues 589 words]
Marijuana and its derivatives can be effective medicines for treating pain, nausea, vomiting, muscle spasms and other conditions, but cannabis is not harmless, and more research is needed, the nation's top scientists concluded in a landmark review of research released Thursday. The nonprofit National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued their report, "The Health Effects of Cannabis and Cannabinoids," summarizing the current state of evidence for the efficacy of medical marijuana and recommending new studies. The 395-page report will stand as the most official medical review of the botanical drug, which an estimated 8 percent of Americans used in the last month. [continues 1174 words]
The health and public safety concerns that kept marijuana illegal for generations are proving unfounded where it is now legal. A new study from Columbia University found that traffic fatalities have fallen in seven states where medicinal cannabis is legal and that, overall, states where medical marijuana is legal have lower traffic fatality rates than states were medical marijuna remains illegal. The study found that "medical marijuana laws were associated with immediate reductions in traffic fatalities in those aged 15 to 24 and 25 to 44 years, and with additional yearly gradual reductions in those aged 25 to 44 years." Medical marijuana is now legal in 28 states. [continues 317 words]
Newport Beach Police Chief Jon Lewis, seen in this file photo, says Prop. 64, which legalized recreational marijuana possession and use for adults 21 and older in California, will make for "an interesting year" in Newport. (File photo) Marijuana dispensaries and growing and delivery remain illegal in Newport Beach, but residents can smoke it in their homes under California law. The possible effects of the statewide legalization of recreational marijuana use, which voters approved in November, were the focus of discussion Wednesday night at a Speak Up Newport event where Police Chief Jon Lewis and City Attorney Aaron Harp answered questions in front of more than 50 Newport Beach residents and officials. [continues 430 words]
[photo] In this Jan. 5, 2010, file photo, a northbound Amtrak Acela passes through Middle River, Md. For years, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has engaged in a questionable use of thousands of informants. The DEA has used airline employees, parcel services workers and even staff at other government agencies, such as the Transportation Safety Administration and Amtrak, as its informants, in violation of Justice Department policies. According to a recent audit from the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General, the DEA amassed an army of more than 18,000 informants between October 2010 and October 2015. Informants are offered cash rewards of up to $500,000 or 25 percent of successful cash seizures, whichever is less, and the DEA made $237 million in payments to more than 9,500 sources during this period. [continues 425 words]
Though Prop. 64 legalized recreational marijuana, businesses aren't allowed start selling it until the state establishes a licensing system. A security guard enters a shop with a sign posted that reads PROP 64 FRIENDLY! in Compton on Wednesday. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Orange County Register/SCNG) The online ad for Green Light District -- a pot shop in a brick office building 5 miles from Disneyland -- was clear: Anyone 21 years and older was welcome to buy weed with only a "valid ID." [continues 554 words]
Pot's legal in California. So why are people still getting busted in Yosemite? Think pot is now legal in California? Try telling that to the National Park Service rangers ready to bust people caught with marijuana in Yosemite, Redwood, Death Valley and other federal lands across the state. The federal government says it's not backing off on citing people who are caught with marijuana in California's national parks, monuments, recreational areas and other federal lands regardless of the landslide vote that legalized recreational marijuana in the state. [continues 783 words]
Hi is a cannabis brand. Its logo -- "hi" in white letters inside an orange circle -- can be found above the front door of a Portland, Ore., marijuana shop and on a handful of cannabis products, including massage oil and Hi Releaf pain-relief balm. But you wouldn't guess any of that from Hi's trademark filings. In 2015, the brand's parent company, Cannabis Sativa Inc., filed a trademark application -- not for any of Hi's core products, but for hats, T-shirts and a wide array of other apparel. [continues 1251 words]
A pot bust against legal growers in Yolo County seems to go too far If ever you needed proof that we live in an age of confusion about marijuana laws, let me share with you the story of Ted Hicks and Ryan Mears, two Sacramento-area entrepreneurs who decided to start a legal medical cannabis business last year and ended up on the business end of assault rifles wielded by officers from a multi-agency, anti-drug task force. I first heard about the case from Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor in September, at a "State of Marijuana" conference aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Saylor, who was on a panel discussing how cities and counties were dealing with cannabis regulation, said that Hicks and Mears and their business, Big Red Farms, were considered by county officials to be "shining stars" in the cannabis licensing arena. [continues 1201 words]
Los Angeles residents awoke Sunday morning to see that one thing, at least, looked different in the New Year: the Hollywood sign. Photos shared on social media showed the iconic sign modified to read, "HOLLYWeeD." Security footage taken around midnight Saturday showed a "lone individual" climbing up Mount Lee, scaling the sign using the built-in ladders and hanging tarpaulins over the sign's O's to change them to E's, said Sgt. Guy Juneau of the LAPD's Security Services division. [continues 89 words]
It was March when fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, insinuated itself into Sacramento County. In a matter of weeks, dozens of people overdosed. The drug killed 12 people, including Jerome Butler, a 28-year-old father of three young children. "We have lost so many of our kids behind this pill," Butler's mother, Natasha Butler, said at the time. "All the parents that (have) lost their kids behind this, we have to stand together. We have to get it stopped." [continues 491 words]
[photo] Production supervisor Joshua Ramos trims marijuana plants in a flowering nursery at ButterBrand farms in San Francisco, California, on Friday, Oct. 28, 2016. In 2016, the legal marijuana industry in the United States earned $5.8 billion dollars, according to San Francisco-based Arcview Market Research, first reported by Forbes. In the whole of North America, those sales add up to $6.7 billion for the year, meaning the cannabis industry in the U.S. and Canada grew by an incredible 30 percent over the previous year - "faster and larger than," as Forbes writes, "the dot-com era." [continues 134 words]
[photo] What looks like oxycodone pills are actually fentanyl. The pills were seized and submitted to crime labs in Tennessee. (Tommy Farmer The Associated Press( [photo] Fentanyl is often legally prescribed to cancer patients to manage pain. It comes in patches and lozenges. (Tom Gannam Associated Press file) It was March when fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine, insinuated itself into Sacramento County. In a matter of weeks, dozens of people overdosed. The drug killed 12 people, including Jerome Butler, a 28-year-old father of three young children. [continues 528 words]
Huron could be the second city in Fresno County to allow medical marijuana cultivation, manufacture and distribution, city documents show. Meanwhile, growers already are lining up to court neighboring Coalinga, which approved medical cannabis in July. But other cities in conservative Fresno County, which has opposed all marijuana use for decades, remain in opposition to medical cannabis. Some have even passed resolutions formally opposing California Proposition 64, the state initiative in the upcoming election that would legalize adult recreational marijuana use. The initiative is likely to pass, but most of the county appears ready to forgo millions in potential marijuana revenue due to public safety concerns. [continues 693 words]
As Victor Emilio Cazares Gastellum stood in a San Diego courtroom for sentencing Tuesday, the judge acknowledged the defendant was unlike the vast majority of drug offenders he sees day in and day out. Cazares was not your typical drug mule caught crossing the border, nor was he a low-level distributor. Cazares, 53, was a kingpin, the head of a large Mexican drug-trafficking organization aligned with the powerful Sinaloa cartel. He was in the business of shipping tons of cocaine from producers in Colombia and Venezuela to Mexico and distributing the drug throughout the U.S. [continues 934 words]
Thomas Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column, appearing twice weekly in 93 newspapers around California, with circulation of over 2.2 million. As a United States attorney in Alabama serving under President Ronald Reagan in 1986, the 39-year-old Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III was charged with enforcing civil rights laws. But he said then that he didn't have much of a problem with what the Ku Klux Klan stood for, musing that he thought the KKK was "OK until I found out they smoked pot." [continues 640 words]
Despite Proposition 64's clear mandate to end adult cannabis prohibition in California, a significant hurdle remains: how to legalize banking services for the newly legalized industry. Cannabis is a multibillion-dollar cash-only business in our state, which invites money laundering, tax evasion and armed robberies. Federal rules prohibit banks and credit unions from extending banking services to the cannabis businesses, despite legal recognition under California law. California Treasurer John Chiang is taking steps forward towards resolving this cannabis banking dilemma, for which he should be commended. [continues 516 words]
Two state legislators say Californians might think it's illegal to smoke marijuana while driving, but that there's no specific ban on the practice in state law. Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and Sen. Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) said Thursday that they'll introduce legislation to close what they call a loophole. The lawmakers said Proposition 64, the state's new law legalizing marijuana, allows a citation for having an open container of marijuana in a vehicle. But, they said, it doesn't expressly ban the use of the drug while driving. [continues 63 words]
[photo] Gelato marijuana is for sale at Bud and Bloom, a dispensary in Santa Ana that got a $2 million loan this year from AP Investment Fund, a private lender that works with marijuana businesses. Allen J. Schaben Los Angeles Times Asked whether marijuana should be legal for adults in California, voters answered with a resounding "yes" in November. But that doesn't mean the matter is completely settled. And it definitely doesn't mean voters support marijuana use by minors. [continues 545 words]
Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times [photo] Andrew Modlin, left, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Adam Bierman, co-founder and chief executive, inside MedMen cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. One inspiration for the shop was the Apple store. Andrew Modlin, left, co-founder and chief operating officer, and Adam Bierman, co-founder and chief executive, inside MedMen cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. One inspiration for the shop was the Apple store. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) On a bustling stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard lined by vintage stores and eateries, the MedMen shop looks right at home. [continues 1575 words]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks at a military ceremony in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks at a military ceremony in suburban Quezon city, northeast of Manila, Philippines. (Bullit Marquez / Associated Press) He has compared himself to Hitler, called President Obama a "son of a whore," and overseen a wave of extrajudicial violence that has left thousands of people dead. Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines' 71-year-old president -- a former city mayor with a level gaze and an aura of casual dishevelment -- passed his 100th day in office Oct. 8, and despite his profanity and repeated calls to violence, he is the country's most popular leader in recent memory. [continues 1174 words]
It's a Friday night and you're at home, sitting on the couch watching TV. But you're not really watching it. It's more like a background hum to fill the quiet gap that's been filling your head ever since you got that call. That call. It shattered your oblivious peace on the night you decided to not go to that party with your friend. And that friend called you just five minutes ago, frightful and high out of her mind, talking about Xanax and how she heard how fun it was. But also how she didn't really know what it did, or how much she was supposed to take. [continues 95 words]
Tikisha Upshaw was charged in a murder-for-hire plot that targeted an Antioch father killed in July. Wessley Brown was charged in a murder-for-hire plot that targeted an Antioch father who was gunned down in July. A 38-year-old father, who was gunned down in Hayward last July, was targeted in a murder-for-hire plot by the operator of a "sophisticated" illegal marijuana grow operation, officials said Wednesday. Antioch resident Adan Katani - who was on the way to pick up his 4-year-old daughter from daycare on July 13 - was shot to death as he sat in his truck in a broad-daylight ambush. [continues 307 words]
The state Department of Health has proposed amending its regulations to allow hospitals to develop procedures under which patients could take medical marijuana and other medications brought from home. While not specifically outlawed now by department regulations, the amendment would give explicit permission for hospitals to formulate their own rules about patient use of medical marijuana, Jill Montag, a Health Department spokeswoman, said in an email. Hospitals that want to permit self-administration of medical marijuana or other medications "must develop and follow policies and procedures to ensure the safe self-administration and security of the medication," according to the Health Department's proposed amendment to the state's Medical Marijuana Program. [continues 501 words]
In the weeks since Californians voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, the phones have been ringing more intensely and the flow of walk-in patients has picked up at 420 Med Evaluations, a midtown Sacramento clinic specializing in medicinal pot referrals. The passage of Proposition 64 on Nov. 8 instantly allowed adults 21 and older to consume marijuana, regardless of medical need. Along with that, went the thinking, people seeking pot for pleasurable pursuit no longer had to endure the inconvenience of going to a doctor and citing a physical ailment to get a medical recommendation to legally light up a joint. [continues 1316 words]
Does legalizing recreational marijuana cause more teens to smoke it? That's highly possible, according to a new UC Davis study, which found teens in Washington state were "significantly" less aware of its potential harm and more likely to have smoked pot after it became legal. "Adolescents are particularly important to look at, since some will go on to chronic use. This is something we need to look at further ... to prevent any unintended consequences down the road," said Dr. Magdalena Cerda, associate professor in emergency medicine and associate director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program. [continues 290 words]
Lynwood officials move toward allowing commercial cannabis production. Lynwood officials last week took a step toward allowing businesses to grow medical marijuana within city limits. If the measure gains final passage, the city of 70,000 would be among the first in Los Angeles County to issue such permits. On a 3-1 vote, the City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that would amend the zoning code to permit commercial cannabis producers to cultivate and manufacture marijuana in industrial areas. [continues 294 words]
After multiple failed attempts over the course of a century, Proposition 64, which legalizes the recreational use of marijuana, passed with a 56 percent vote in California on Nov. 9. Proposition 64 legalizes the recreational use of marijuana; anyone 21 and older can possess up to an ounce of marijuana and grow a maximum of six marijuana plants at home. The proposition can also potentially reduce sentences as well as clearing criminal records of prisoners that have been convicted of felonies related to the possession and consumption of marijuana. [continues 543 words]
SANTA ROSA - Amid the euphoria of this weekend's famed Emerald Cup weed fest, there was this creeping buzzkill: the glacial rollout of legalization. Right when it seems like "The Great Pot Moment" is upon us, it turns out there are a lot of really tough regulatory issues to resolve first, according to government and industry experts who sketched out all the thorny challenges at the two-day conference, competition and harvest celebration at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. And implementation of commercialization could be delayed a year until 2019, said insiders. [continues 102 words]
Amid celebration at Emerald Cup fest, there is angst about regulatory future SANTA ROSA - Amid the euphoria of this weekend's famed Emerald Cup weed fest, there was this creeping buzzkill: the glacial rollout of legalization. Right when it seems like "The Great Pot Moment" is upon us, it turns out there are a lot of really tough regulatory issues to resolve first, according to government and industry experts who sketched out all the thorny challenges at the two-day conference, competition and harvest celebration at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. And implementation of commercialization could be delayed a year until 2019, said insiders. [continues 937 words]
SANTA ROSA, Calif. - California's multibillion-dollar marijuana industry, by far the nation's largest, is crawling out from the underbrush after voters opted to legalize cannabis in this month's election. In Sonoma County alone, an estimated 9,000 marijuana cultivation businesses are operating in a provisional gray market, with few specific regulations, and are now looking to follow the path of the wine industry, which emerged from its own prohibition eight decades ago and rose to the global prominence it enjoys today. [continues 1362 words]
If the craziest and most contentious presidential election in modern history is making you feel somewhat lightheaded, a little disoriented, maybe even a tiny bit stoned, well, just you wait. Lost amid the endless (and sometimes endlessly entertaining) stream of insults, scandals, and outright atrocities of the 2016 campaign is the fact that it isn't just the leadership of the free world at stake on Nov 8. Voters in California, Massachusetts, Maine, Arizona, and Nevada will also decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana-and it looks like most will vote yes (although Nevada is still iffy). They'd be joining Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, which permit the recreational use and sale of marijuana. Washington, DC, allows recreational use but not retail sales. [continues 1510 words]
Editor: Decades of cannabis prohibitionist lies, half-truths and propaganda ("Vote No for a Safer Community," Oct. 20, 2016), today, is one of the reasons cannabis (marijuana) prohibition is about to end. Colorado voters heard it all before and voted. While polls predicting election results regarding cannabis seem to indicate it will pass, one poll is spot-on that voters can count on. In Colorado, every subsequent poll indicates citizens continue supporting the end of cannabis prohibition. There is every reason to believe when California citizens end cannabis prohibition, you will not look back with regret either. Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
There are only a few days left before voters' last chance to stop California's spiraling plunge into the marijuana morass now plaguing several states by voting no on Prop. 64. Supporters point out that responsible people can use marijuana without ill effect while ignoring it's the irresponsible that pose the threat. Further, they argue that marijuana DUIs are not as prevalent as alcohol users. I'm struggling to see the difference in that one. Proponents argue that tax revenue reaching more than a billion dollars, along with savings to the justice system of tens of millions, will be a boon to California. This ignores the fact that so many regulations being created will create new enforcement issues that will need to be addressed. A further argument is that this financial windfall will "fund youth prevention programs, marijuana research, better drugged driving tests, environmental remediation and grants to impacted communities." The irony is that Prop. 64 will exacerbate these needs. [continues 83 words]
I was pleased to read the CN&R's endorsement of Prop. 64, legalizing cannabis (marijuana). While polls predicting election results regarding cannabis seem to indicate it will pass, one poll is spot-on that voters can count on. In Colorado, every subsequent poll indicates citizens continue supporting the end of cannabis prohibition. There is every reason to believe when California citizens end cannabis prohibition, you will not look back with regret either. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
A sense of certainty that recreational, random marijuana use will be legalized, regulated and taxed in California after next month's election lies behind the millions of dollars invested so far in Proposition 64, which would allow adults to grow, buy and possess pot. No more medical marijuana ruses. The sense of inevitability stems partly from the experiences of Colorado and Washington state, where cannabis can be had anytime in very many places and is regulated somewhat like cigarettes. In short, not much. Polls now show between 55 and 60 percent of likely voters favor complete legalization, and national polls indicate almost exactly half of all Americans also want that. Support for freedom to use the weed has never been higher. [continues 592 words]
DENVER - Many Californians will vote to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use Nov. 8 because - hell, yeah! But many of the rest of us are hoping for a longer, deeper high from legalization. We're hoping it brings some social justice. That benefit of legalization, I fear, is being a bit oversold in California. Ask Candi CdeBaca. Legalizing pot hasn't started to solve decades of inequities in her neighborhood because not enough people there have made social justice a priority. [continues 908 words]
Since they became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2012, Washington and Colorado have been scrutinized as test cases around the country a" particularly in California, where voters will decide on election day whether to follow suit. Here are six questions that are being asked about legal weed, and the answers that are emerging: How much cash are states hauling in? Washington brought in $186 million in marijuana tax revenue in the fiscal year that ended June 30 a" a revenue stream that is on pace to jump by roughly 50 percent in fiscal 2017. [continues 900 words]
EDITOR: Thank you so much for the informative and appreciated column by Paul Gullixson in Sunday's Press Democrat ("Do we really want to become the mecca for marijuana?"). I too think Santa Rosa getting on the "weed train" is a terrible mistake, and I'm ashamed of our city leaders wanting to get us involved with this, all for the sake of making money. We, the city, would have no control over this as there is too much criminal involvement. Santa Rosa [end]
Re "DEA marijuana reclassification behind schedule" [Opinion, Sept. 2]: Being screwed by the Drug Enforcement Agency is sort of like being stung by a scorpion. The scorpion can't really be blamed too much for its actions since its mindless and predictable behavior is largely motivated by instincts. With the DEA, things are essentially the same, although slightly different with the additional complicating factors of greed, prejudice and willful neglect of science. What bugs me, in light of this, is how we continue to let this insane governmental agency gone amok run and ruin our lives and have so much power over us instead of our rationally taking on more responsibility and staying clear of or abolishing it - as we might do with the scorpion. - - Gordon Wilson, Laguna Niguel [end]
EDITOR: Thank you for Paul Gullixson's astute editorial on Santa Rosa's marijuana mecca ("Do we really want to become the mecca for marijuana?" Aug. 28). I had begun to think The Press Democrat was promoting legalization with the three headline stories in August, so it is refreshing to read Gullixson's sane rebuttal, as it has given me some more specific information to pass on to friends. So many people are not aware of the down side to this issue. I was especially interested to read what John A. Jackson of the Colorado Police Chiefs had to say. Our young people have no idea. So thank you for stepping out and sharing. I hope you don't get too much abuse in return. Petaluma [end]
It's 2017. A little boy is walking down a street in downtown Chico with his grandmother. The little boy looks up and ask, : "Grandma, what's that smell?" Grandma looks down and replies, "That's the smell of marijuana growing in back yards throughout the city. Smells like skunks doesn't it?" Then the little boy points to a bum lying in the street in their path. He points and says, "Why is he laying there? And why are those others lined up in front of that store?" The grandmother replies, "Well sweetheart, they are lining up to buy their marijuana from those dispensaries on every street corner." [continues 96 words]
L.A. Substance-Abuse Prevention Specialist Works to Limit Pot Availability Among Young People. When I wrote on Friday that pot use can have a serious downside for some teenagers, I hardly expected to be accused of embracing an archaic, alarmist "Reefer Madness" point of view. "Are you paid by an anti-marijuana faction?" asked one reader. "You should be ashamed." I'm sure I've done a lot of things that I should be ashamed of, but raising questions about the effects of marijuana on developing brains is not one of them. [continues 894 words]
Re "Pot critics focus on driving while stoned" (Page 7A, Aug. 31): Legalizing marijuana threatens highway safety while increasing court congestion and costs, and state judicial systems are already overwhelmed by drug-related casework. The evidentiary issues are serious. Unlike with alcohol, a scientifically based measure for THC impairment does not exist. THC is fat-soluble, so blood limits could remain above the legal limit for days after the user last legally smoked pot. The user would not appear stoned, but legally could still be considered impaired and presumed guilty. Devastating and long-lasting implications could result in cases such as auto accidents in which someone dies. [continues 53 words]
EDITOR: I applaud Paul Gullixson's Sunday column ("Do we want to become the mecca for marijuana?). It is well worth reading, whichever side of issue you are on. Finally, an article published in The Press Democrat that doesn't sound like a paid advertisement from the yes on Proposition 64 camp. In my opinion, his piece contained much more of a journalistic balance of the issues then virtually anything I have read in The Press Democrat over the last several months. [continues 126 words]
Re "Bumper crop of pot cash" (Insight, Aug. 30): I think Foon Rhee is dead on target when he writes that "California's marijuana market is projected to mushroom from $2.7 billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion by 2020 if recreational pot becomes legal," and "a lot of people are poised to make a lot of money." Whenever I'm deciding whether to vote "yes" or "no" on a particular proposition, I always ask myself in what way the passage or defeat of that proposition will improve the life, socially and economically, of the average California citizen. I emphasize the word "improve." From what I've read and understand, passage of Proposition 64 will does neither. It is as Rhee writes: A lot of people are poised to make a lot of money. Vote No on Proposition 64. Dennis A. Hunter, Sacramento [end]
On August 11, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced its rejection of petitions to reschedule marijuana, an unsurprising, but disappointing, decision. Currently designated a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act, the prohibition of marijuana has long been a central component of the vast web of federal, state and local government entities devoted to combating (certain) drug use. Alongside drugs like heroin and LSD, marijuana is in the most restrictive category of federal drug regulations. Officially, the DEA rejected calls to reschedule marijuana "because it does not meet the criteria for currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, there is a lack of accepted safety for its use under medical supervision and it has a high potential for abuse." [continues 492 words]
Marijuana is not from the devil. It's just a weed that has always grown in specific climates and has been used medicinally since before time. You ask, "Is getting high medicinal?" You betcha it is. Feeling good about life is the greatest healer of all. We do not live in a Puritan society with its tightly controlled codes of moral conduct. Those days are gone. That mindset is obsolete. We live in a free and ever-changing world. Those trying to retard American cultural evolution can be compared to certain religious types trying to maintain the thinking written on Middle Eastern scrolls hundreds or thousands of years ago. We as a species are not there anymore. We aren't them. The world has changed. People have changed. [continues 129 words]
EDITOR: Thank you, Paul Gullixson. We want to acknowledge Gullixson's excellent Sunday column questioning whether Santa Rosa and Sonoma County should be leading the pack to jump upon the weed train ("Do we really want to become the mecca for marijuana?"). Who are these city and county leaders? Let's have some names. Please reprint this excellent column. Is this the reputation Santa Rosa wants? Santa Rosa [end]
As Voters Ponder Prop. 64, Experts Cite the Effects Pot Can Have on Young Users. SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO - Devan Fuentes made it all the way through San Clemente High School without drinking or using drugs. He vividly remembers the first time he smoked pot. He was visiting a friend at Occidental College, and decided the moment had come. "They brought out a giant three-foot bong," Fuentes told me the other day in a rustic coffee shop tucked into this town's historic Los Rios neighborhood. "I heard a lot of people don't get high their first time, so I held it in for a long time, one large hit. Immediately, I couldn't feel my legs." [continues 1001 words]
Inside California
