The pot pushers have outdone themselves this time. Their new pot initiative covers everything from A to Z. They forgot one thing though. The A team. For all the money they spent, the Measure L team, which stands for loser by the way, will lose yet again. The A team will win each and every time. The loser team now wants to be commercial "medical" farmers.

They want dispensaries, they want to transport pot to their "patients." They want to grow on up to 25 percent of parcel size, maximum 1 acre. They want to rezone to fit their needs. They want to be called farmers, and call their mind-altering drug a crop, and therefore agriculture. On 1 acre, 3,250 plants can be grown. Can you imagine? This will effect the whole of Butte County. We do not have enough water for our food crop farmers, property owners' wells are running dry. The abuses and negatives of pot are long and well known.

[continues 97 words]

In November, California will consider whether to legalize recreational marijuana, and voters seem ready to approve the idea.

But the question of legalization is out of date, and is derived from the mistaken idea that all pot is created equal and that most of it is fairly weak.

A question we ought to ask ourselves is just as important if legalization is to succeed: What kind of marijuana should we legalize?

The hyper-potent mutant strains that pass for marijuana today have little relation to naturally grown pot associated with Northern California hippie growers of the 1970s. Levels of THC tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical that creates the high in pot now reach 20 to 30 percent, which is seven to 15 times the potency of a few decades ago.

[continues 736 words]

I often do not agree with Debra J. Saunders; however, I found her views regarding use of marijuana to be spoton. The fact that marijuana is still classified as a Schedule 1 drug, by the Drug Enforcement Administration, is outrageous.

The penalties for its possession and or use are draconian. The federal government crackdown on medical marijuana is even more outrageous. This War on Drugs has been an absolute failure.

Donald Beck, Novato

[end]

EDITOR: Santa Rosa is a destination for tourism, dining, wine tasting, boutique breweries, cycling, and the list goes on. Job growth and increasing real estate values are all the more reason not to encourage an industry such as the production of cannabis to be a part of our local economy ("SR aims to be epicenter of legal pot industry," Aug. 14). It brings with it health and safety hazards and environmental concerns. The industry also encourages low-wage earners and has low-density employment.

[continues 59 words]

In less than three months, Californians will vote on legalizing production, distribution and possession of recreational cannabis. Tax revenues are central to that debate, but the really important question is not so much what taxes would be best today but how those taxes should evolve over time.

What many people don't realize is that even if voters reject Proposition 64, state and local officials will still need to deal with cannabis taxes because California's medical cannabis market is undergoing enormous reforms. The new regulatory regime is expected to start licensing for-profit firms to supply medical cannabis in 2018.

[continues 719 words]

Californians first threatened to legalize recreational marijuana by ballot initiative in 1972. It failed 66% to 33%. We tried again in 2010. It was voted down 53% to 46%.

Now we're back at it. This time, though Proposition 64 looks like a sure thing. Polls show support for legalization in general at 55%, and 60% among likely voters. What's so different this time around?

Yes, demographics and attitudes have shifted here, like everywhere. But you also have to understand what went wrong back in 2010. At the time, California - the state that pioneered pot for the people - seemed poised to become the first state to legalize recreational marijuana, but the cause was unexpectedly hurt by the state's convoluted history with medical marijuana.

[continues 724 words]

Federal officials remain in a haze when it comes to articulating a comprehensible national policy on marijuana.

Perhaps last week's ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals curtailing the feds from prosecuting legitimate growers and distributors will help clear the air.

Half the nation's states, led by California, permit medicinal applications. Four states and the District of Columbia allow recreational use. In November, California could become the fifth.

Yet the federal government still sees marijuana as a dangerous drug and dispensary operators as prosecution targets.

[continues 352 words]

During my long medical career, I campaigned against nicotine, excessive alcohol and drug use. I use none. Marijuana, however, must be legalized. Its effects are certainly less than alcohol.

Medically, marijuana has shown good effect in cancer and AIDS therapy, PTSD help, chronic pain, seizures, migraines, gastrointestinal problems and other illness, all denied by the DEA and rarely allowed as evidence in courts.

It has been used for thousands of years in many countries. It appears well tolerated with little evidence of intense addiction (unlike alcohol).

[continues 92 words]

The active ingredient of marijuana, THC (Cannabis), has been available by prescription from medical doctors since 1985. The FDA has allowed a pill form to be prescribed for wasting related to AIDS and for terminal cancer patients. THC pills are regulated just like any other prescription.

The FDA could extend coverage to other conditions only when scientific, evidence-based studies prove that they are effective. To this date, evidence is lacking.

According to the highly respected, "Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics, Aug. 1: "No adequate studies of cannabis (botanical marijuana) are available for any of these indications" (cancer pain, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and neuropathic pain).

[continues 54 words]

Prohibition, by any meaningful measure, appears to have failed. Overcrowded prisons, over burdened court systems and a dramatic socio-economic impact on those prosecuted. Compared to the Netherlands, the U.S. exceeds in marijuana usage.

Cartels are destroying our national forests to compete locally with California's Emerald Triangle. Local growers liken themselves to eco-conscious hippies, yet documented forest and watershed damage disproves this.

Every county heavy in the pot trade voted no to legalization in 2010. Untold millions of untaxed dollars would shift from their pockets to the state coffers. California's economy is sixth globally, without reaping a single tax dollar from this enormous black-market trade.

[continues 59 words]

All we need is to make it easier for young people to get pot. Since the proposed law draws the line at 21, what makes you think that young people 21 or older won't find an easy side job of selling to 18 to 20 years olds? They will say that if you can vote or be drafted at 18, why not smoke pot?

Pot smoke might not be as bad as tobacco, but it surely can't be good for you. Any elected person who supports legalizing pot should not be in office.

Vote no on pot and anyone who supports it.

Richard A Nishkian

Walnut Creek

[end]

Are you kidding? Teens are too young to buy cigarettes and alcohol. Yet you see these young people smoking in public. How many times have we read about a fatal car accident that involved a drunk teenage driver? And now California wants to add a third dimension with recreational marijuana being legalized.

Young people will buy this drug secondhand from some legal purchasers. Wake up and vote no.

Mary McMahon

Livermore

[end]

Pot pushers have enough money to bankroll a serious campaign to make California the third state allowing legalized sale and recreational use of marijuana. Washington and Colorado are already experiencing the tragic results: increased car accidents due to intoxication and increased smoking by young people.

If you think Big Tobacco companies are a scourge, why would you vote to create a new industry to promote another addictive, cancer causing product? Proposition 64 even allows TV advertising for marijuana sales promotion. Do you want your kids bombarded with advertising encouraging them to light up a joint?

[continues 65 words]

A Statewide Ballot Measure on Adult Recreational Use Is Complicated - and Highly Likely to Pass.

SACRAMENTO - I know you've been distracted/disgusted/gobsmacked by the presidential campaign all summer.

But history, polling and common sense tell us that California's electoral votes already belong to Hillary Clinton (sorry, Donald Trump fans). So stop wasting time worrying about that, Golden State types, and turn your attention to the doorstop of a ballot that you'll be facing when you vote Nov. 8.

[continues 1094 words]

So did the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency finally make a decision?

B.A. "Ted" Breath

Meh. They did, but it's pretty much the same old song, although they did make a small change. In case you missed it: Last week, the DEA decided not to change cannabis' Schedule I status, meaning that the DEA still considers cannabis to be of no medical use and to be highly addictive, like GHB or heroin. Go figure. I talked about some of the reasons why the DEA probably wouldn't change their position on pot in the column before this one (see "Overscheduled," August 11). I had thought they would have tried to stall for a while longer, but they didn't. Maybe they should have.

[continues 366 words]

Just as cotton is grown for fabric and twine, so is industrial hemp; just as nut trees yield seeds for food and oils, so does hemp; just as hay is grown for animal feed, so is hemp; just as agricultural products are used for building materials, so is hemp (Oakland Museum of California hemp exhibit). Opposition to industrial hemp stems from the misconception that hemp is psychotropic. It is not. Hemp is a variety of cannabis (sativa) containing less than 1 percent Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal compound effecting euphoria.

[continues 106 words]

A s some areas of the Golden State already seem to be embracing the marijuana industry, thankfully Tulare County continues to follow the law and awaits further legislation.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors again passed an interim ordinance blocking the growing and dispensing of medical marijuana and basically thwarting any attempts for someone to set up a growing operation in the county in preparation should the state's voters pass a measure in November which will legalize cannabis.

There is so much uncertainty and still so much illegal activity surrounding marijuana - medical or not - we support the moratorium on opening up new cooperatives or collectives to distribute medical marijuana because the regulations are still far too lax.

[continues 239 words]

A federal appeals court gave medical marijuana advocates what seemed like a big win this week with a unanimous ruling that the federal government may not prosecute people who grow and distribute medicinal cannabis if they comply with state laws.

The decision affirms a mandate from Congress, which barred the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014 and 2015 from bringing cases against legitimate pot shops in states that have medical marijuana laws. It makes clear that if operators are meticulously following the rules, they shouldn't have to worry about the feds coming after them.

[continues 514 words]

The Drug Enforcement Administration's decision last week not to reschedule marijuana highlights the absurdities of its pre-election limbo.

Marijuana will remain a Schedule I drug, meaning that the federal government doesn't recognize any of its medical uses and considers it to have high potential for abuse. "This decision isn't based on danger," DEA chief Chuck Rosenberg told NPR. "This decision is based on whether marijuana, as determined by the FDA, is a safe and effective medicine ... and it's not."

[continues 776 words]

The backlash came fast and fierce. "Get ready for some hate mail," warned one Facebook commenter about 30 minutes after the post went live. Within hours, the boycott calls began.

On Aug. 10, the Lost Coast Outpost posted to its news site the full list of marijuana growers and manufacturers who have taken steps to register their operations, future and existing, with the county. As of the Outpost's publication, there were 846 of these folks who had registered with the Humboldt County Planning and Building Department, putting pen to paper to officially report who they are, what they're planning, where they're planning it and what, if any, existing commercial marijuana activity is already there.

[continues 660 words]