Justice Department is attempting to solve a problem that almost no one knew about with a solution that almost no one asked for. The results -- so far, confusion and uncertainty -- have been entirely predictable. The department announced this month that it would permit marijuana legalization on 300 or so Indian reservations in 30 states. The decision has perplexed American Indian leaders, who say that the last thing many tribes want is more lax federal law enforcement. Whatever one may think of legalizing marijuana -- and there are plenty of causes for concern, especially regarding its health effects - -- the way to do it is not to let Attorney General Eric Holder simply pick and choose which federal drug laws he will enforce. Yes, prosecutors have discretion, and it may make sense to use it when a state's voters decide to legalize pot. It makes less sense when local officials not only haven't asked, but also rely on the federal government for law enforcement, as is the case with Indian reservations. [continues 364 words]
HARTFORD - New guidance from the federal Justice Department has the Mohegan tribe weighing the possible economic benefits of legalizing recreational marijuana on its reservation land. In a memo, the Justice Department signaled it was not interested in enforcing marijuana laws on nationally-recognized tribal lands, so long as tribes adhered to rules outlined by the feds. The rules are aimed at preventing the sale of the drug to minors, preventing people from driving while high, and preventing criminals from benefiting from marijuana sales. They mirror guidelines the feds offered last year on state medical marijuana laws. [continues 480 words]
Mohegan- Don't look for marijuana sprouts to start popping up on the Mohegan reservation any time soon. While the tribe that owns Mohegan Sun acknowledged Thursday that it is reviewing a U.S. Department of Justice announcement regarding the legal cultivation and sale of marijuana on tribal lands, it has yet to determine whether such an endeavor would be a good investment. "We are not actively pursuing this," Chuck Bunnell, the tribe's chief of staff, said Friday. "We're absolutely not at the point where we are classifying our interest in any particular aspect of the business. There is a great deal of due diligence required." [continues 348 words]
If we are the parents or guardians of infants, toddlers, young children, we may be telling ourselves that we have nothing to be concerned about regarding the current marijuana controversies. By the time our kids are tweens and teens, our story goes, issues related to marijuana (decriminalization, medicalization, and legalization) will be settled once and for all, and settled with the health and safety of our kids in mind. If, instead, our kids are tweens or teens today, when our young people tell us that pot is very easy to acquire or that "everybody smokes weed," we're definitely relieved that "it's just marijuana" and not some more formidable drug they can easily get. And if we'd ever used marijuana ourselves we may think, "What's the big deal? I smoked pot and I turned out OK." [continues 730 words]
I'm a medical marijuana patient registered under the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection guidlines. I'm writing in hopes of conveying my concerns regarding Connecticut's current regulations. I'm also curious if there's national interest in our battle with these ridiculous regulations? A brief review by anyone who knows the languages used in these regulations will reveal a complete disregard for patients' rights. In Connecticut, there's a current petition reguesting that product not be offered in its "homogenized" form. While I do agree with this, I feel the issues only begin there. Under current regulations, patient-to-patient care or trade is illegal, this is in direct conflict with just about every other compassionate model I have reviewed, and possibly the palliative care act. There's no compassionate care system for less fortunate people, and at the current rate of $95 for five grams, I'm sure you can identify the host of issues here. My final and primary concern lies in patient and co-op grows. Patients have fought for these rights, patients are the consumers until legalization, patients won't get registered if product is not only less expensive on the street and if the state doesn't support them. I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that a consumer of marijuana will grow better medicine than counters of money. [continues 107 words]
WILLINGTON - Nicole Steinhilber recently graduated from the University of Hartford with a degree in chemistry and didn't have to look far to find a job. Steinhilber is working as a lab technician in a converted former mill building here testing three strains of medical marijuana that went on sale last week at six state dispensaries. The first medical marijuana samples will likely arrive soon-once a high-level security system is installed. The lab, known as "theCRO," which stands for Cannabis Research Organization, is a division of Releaf Therapeutics and will perform testing on medical marijuana to ensure patients' safety and provide them with the best quality products, CEO James Bento said. [continues 1463 words]
Marijuana activists in Connecticut are asking the Department of Consumer Protection to offer whole cannabis buds in the state's medical marijuana program, rather than groundup plants. Peter Mould of North Haven is executive director of Connecticut NORML, which advocates for reform of marijuana laws. He and others claim that homogenizing the plant, which the state requires, results in "the degradation of the cannabinoids, the actual essential oils that are in the flower," Mould said. Mould has posted a petition at change.org (search for "medical marijuana CT"), which states: "We request that you please change your regulations to allow producers to sell the bud-form to dispensaries, in order to enable patients to have their high-quality medicine." [continues 530 words]
Marijuana activists in Connecticut are asking the Department of Consumer Protection to offer whole cannabis buds in the state's medical marijuana program, rather than ground-up plants. Peter Mould of North Haven is executive director of Connecticut NORML, which advocates for reform of marijuana laws. He and others claim that homogenizing the plant, which the state requires, results in the degradation of the cannabinoids, the actual essential oils that are in the flower, Mould said. Mould has posted a petition at change.org, which states: [continues 559 words]
Medical marijuana is just starting to grow throughout Connecticut. Recently four producers were accepted out of the 16 applicants to open up plants to grow medical marijuana. There originally was supposed to be only three producers; however the number of patients increased from 900 to 1,700 during a short period. The increase in the number of patients required another producer to be chosen from the applications. This amount of increase is only the start of the amount of patients there will be in the years to come, which means more and more producers will need to open up. [continues 350 words]
Is it worth the risk to lose a precious child to the use of marijuana? This question is raised by the Sept. 2 story, "Will traffic deaths rise as states legalize pot?" I applaud The Day for keeping the pot issue going, as it has by quoting several other reliable experts, since Judy Benson's front-page report, "Group urges wariness amid marijuana push: 'We need to stop this train'," (June 18). This may hopefully make Day's readers aware of the increasing pot dangers, especially as evil "Big Marijuana" interests may start lobbying the state, even before the gubernatorial elections in November. [continues 61 words]
Prohibition of a popular commodity is useless. Endless games of cops-and-robbers result. These games weed out amateur merchants, leaving only solid, well organized criminal enterprises. Prohibition of alcohol established the mafia in America. Prohibition of marijuana established the drug cartels in Mexico. The law boasts when the boss (or jefe) is captured or killed, but the organization runs itself. Alcohol is a dangerous drug. Find out. Ask any doctor. But it remains popular. Marijuana may have consequences yet unknown, despite centuries of use. We will find out, because it remains popular. Whether we like it or not, people will continue to drink, smoke and toke. [continues 144 words]
Town Resident Who Is Also a Detective in Westerly Outlines Concerns in an Email to the First Selectman Stonington - A veteran Westerly Police Department detective who lives in Pawcatuck has criticized the Stonington police department's drug enforcement efforts in an email to First Selectman Ed Haberek. In his March email, Detective Steven Johnson said he has "witnessed multiple hand to hand drug deals, in the open, in Downtown Pawcatuck." He added that he is aware that on a daily basis, drug deals are being conducted in a local parking lot. [continues 487 words]
Good news, people: I survived ingesting a "brain poison," easily operated a Hertz rental car an hour or two afterward without killing anybody and lived to tell the tale. Dr. Arthur Taub, a retired clinical professor at the Yale School of Medicine, wrote a hysterical letter to the New Haven Register after I reported in my column last week that I ate one-third of a 10-milligram marijuana cookie outside a legal cannabis shop in Boulder, Colorado. "Marijuana is a brain poison," the good doctor began. "It is an uncontrolled mixture of long acting brain-destructive neurotoxins and carcinogens." [continues 717 words]
Regarding Randall Beach's Aug. 22 column, the people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C. The days when Congress can get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. [continues 104 words]
Vacationing in Colorado these days now gives you a chance to experience far more than what John Denver long ago hailed as a "Rocky Mountain high." Oh yes, my wife and I did travel around Rocky Mountain Park last week when we went out to visit my sister in Boulder. The Rockies are breathtaking, fabulous to behold. But there were other memorable spots on our itinerary, including a store called Cannabis in Nederland and another retail outlet, the Village Green Society in Boulder. (We also saw ads for Cannabis Station, Kindman Marijuana, Heads of State, the Weed Show, Green Fields, Cannasseur, etc.) [continues 781 words]
NORTH HAVEN - After trying various outlets to reach the community about drug awareness and prevention, First Selectman Michael Freda and substance abuse advocates are heading into people's homes - on the television screen that is. In an effort to raise awareness about drug and alcohol abuse, Freda and members of the town's Substance Abuse Action Council are taping a miniseries of TV shows discussing various topics surrounding substance abuse. Freda said the idea for the show surfaced after attempts to hold public discussions about drug and alcohol prevention. [continues 362 words]
TORRINGTON The city's police department and a local substance abuse agency are holding a ribbon cutting Thursday morning for the launching of a prescription drug drop box program. The pill drop off box was installed inside the Torrington Police Department's lobby in April but was not immediately ready for use. The box was installed with the help of the McCall Foundation, a local, private nonprofit behavioral healthcare agency that provides substance abuse treatment. The release said the foundation received a grant from the state's Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to help establish the pill drop off program. [continues 371 words]
The type of responsible reporting by Day Staff Writer Judy Benson on June 18, "Group urges wariness amid marijuana push: 'We need to stop this train'," is doing the country a big favor and may help wake up some of our politicians, attorneys general and judges before another public health crisis occurs like is happening in overgrown-pot Colorado. Kevin Sabet, former senior drug policy officer to the White House, warned a large audience of professionals at Connecticut College that there is ample evidence from Colorado that legalization was a mistake . and that Connecticut should take heed. There may be no stopping the momentum for legalizing pot and playing into the quest by "Big Marijuana" to reap big profits. [continues 96 words]
Where Pot Has Been Legalized, Group Warns of Tactics Formerly Used by Big Tobacco New London - Calling on his audience to help "stop the next public health crisis from happening," Kevin Sabet, former senior drug policy adviser to the White House, said corporate interests are funding the push for legalization of marijuana, and that public misinformation and the assumption that there's no stopping the momentum for legalizing pot are playing into the quest by "Big Marijuana" to reap huge profits from this new market. [continues 1012 words]
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) - Activists who succeeded in legalizing possession of marijuana for recreational use in Portland are now turning their attention to three more Maine communities. David Boyer from the Maine Marijuana Project says activists will be at polling places Tuesday to seek 1,000 signatures in Lewiston and South Portland to force local referendums the issue. They'll also be seeking 100 signatures to put the matter before the Town Council in York. The proposal is similar to one enacted by Portland voters in November except that the amount of marijuana would be smaller - 1 ounce instead of 2.5 ounces. Boyer said the smaller amount is in line with voter-approved marijuana laws in Colorado and Washington. It would remain illegal to use marijuana in public or for those under 21 to have it. [end]
In the last chapter, I covered how not to get high. In this one, I will cover how to get high. After my admission that I did a foolish thing in Denver-failing to realize that consuming a single square, about a quarter, of a pot candy bar was dicey for an edibles virgin - many in the pot industry upbraided me for doing a foolish thing. But some in Mary Jane world have contacted me to say that my dysphoria (i.e., bummer) is happening more and more in Colorado. [continues 790 words]
If there is one thing you can say about New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, it is that she knows her brand. Even when she has a bad high in Colorado and uses it as the peg for a column on the messy process of marijuana legalization, she does not lose sight of her Dowdisms. Dowd may have lost her mind via mis-dosage, but in writing about it, she stays on message by describing "my more mundane drugs of choice, chardonnay and mediocre-movies-on-demand," blaming a girlish affinity for chocolate for her misfortune and confessing her stoned fascination with the green corduroy jeans she was wearing at the time. [continues 566 words]
If there is one thing you can say about New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, it is that she knows her brand. Even when she has a bad high in Colorado and uses it as the peg for a column on the messy process of marijuana legalization, she does not lose sight of her Dowdisms. Dowd may have lost her mind via mis-dosage, but in writing about it, she stays on message by describing "my more mundane drugs of choice, chardonnay and mediocre-movies-on-demand," blaming a girlish affinity for chocolate for her misfortune and confessing her stoned fascination with the green corduroy jeans she was wearing at the time. [continues 567 words]
New London - Ledge Light Health District and seven substance abuse prevention coalitions throughout Connecticut will present, "Reefer Sanity: Seven Great Myths about Marijuana with Dr. Kevin Sabet," from 9 to 11 a.m. June 17. The forum will take place in the 1941 Room in the College Center at Crozier Williams at Connecticut College. The purpose is to inform state and local policymakers about this important public health issue. Sabet will discuss marijuana's impact on youth, the importance of preventing another "Big Tobacco," legal reform, as well as the latest data and experiences from Colorado and Washington. He is the co-founder of Smart Approaches to Marijuana and past senior advisory for policy to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. He started the movement to educate the community on medical marijuana and he is concerned with the national trend toward legalization. State and local policy makers are invited. Ledge Light is the public health agency that serves East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, New London and Waterford. [end]
Months before any cannabis-based products will reach patients, Connecticut's new medical-marijuana industry has already created hundreds of jobs -- in construction. Former factories are being reconfigured into secure pharmaceutical facilities for the growing, harvesting, curing and preparation of various strains of marijuana that should be delivered to the state's dispensaries by early fall. Since the state awarded four marijuana producer licenses in January, an estimated $20 million has been committed to the West Haven, Watertown, Portland and Simsbury buildings that in a few weeks will begin growing thousands of pounds of pot. [continues 1130 words]
Last month, NBC News ran a series of stories about the United States' "growing heroin epidemic." Last month, NBC News ran a series of stories about the United States' "growing heroin epidemic." Two things stand out in the reports: One is their sympathetic tone; the other is that almost everyone depicted is white. Drug users and their families aren't vilified; there is no panicked call for police enforcement. Instead, and appropriately, there is a call for treatment and rehabilitation. Parents of drug addicts express love for their children, and everyone agrees they need support to get clean. [continues 692 words]
Letter writer Ron Johnson proves that cannabis causes irrational and illogical thinking in those who don't use it. His statement about it being a "gateway drug" has been thoroughly disproven. Using his logic one could deduce that nearly 100 percent of heroin addicts drank milk as a child, so milk must be a gateway drug. Recent studies have provided that cannabis use does not cause cancer, so his statements about health consequences are similarly off base. The truth is the only reason anyone dies of a heroin overdose is because of prohibition. If they could buy this drug from legal sources with known purity and accurate dosage information overdoses would disappear. [continues 77 words]
Regarding the Buzz poll [May 12, "Should State Legalize Pot?"], why is so much evidence surrounding this issue being ignored? There are numerous ongoing studies from New York to New Zealand on the negative effects of marijuana. In the 1960s, as a student nurse, I learned that the substance could alter genes. At that time, the amount of THC in a joint was about 2 percent. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, today the average joint is 12%. No one denies the plant succeeds in relieving chemo-induced nausea, but there are synthetic meds in pill form (nabilone and dronabinol) that are FDA-approved that accomplish the same thing. [continues 109 words]
BETHEL -- After weeks of looking for a place to open a medical marijuana dispensary, and with a Thursday deadline looming, a Trumbull company finally found a home in an empty building on Garella Road near Interstate 84. D&B Wellness Inc. had to secure zoning approval somewhere to receive one of six state licenses to operate a dispensary. The company had failed twice -- once in Stratford and again in Bridgeport -- and seemed likely to be turned down in Redding as well. [continues 609 words]
Georgetown could be home to Fairfield County's first medical marijuana dispensary. Angela D'Amico and Karen Barski of D & B Wellness LLC presented a plan to establish a pharmaceutical dispensary store at 12 Old Mill Road to the Water Pollution Control Commission (WPCC) during a special meeting on Monday, May 5. The WPCC oversees the Georgetown wastewater treatment facility that serves customers in Georgetown. The commission questioned the amount of water to be used by the dispensary. The location has one bathroom and one hand-washing sink, so the commission approved an allocation of up to 100 gallons per day of water for the 1,600-square-foot building. [continues 391 words]
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - This state's law approving the sale of marijuana for medical purposes has been on the books for two years, but the drug is still not available. Among the challenges has been finding dispensing locations acceptable to Connecticut towns and cities. Fairfield and West Haven let applicants for licenses to operate dispensaries know they would not pass zoning muster; other municipalities, including Madison, New Canaan and Westport, have imposed moratoriums of as long as a year while their zoning rules are reviewed; and this month the Bridgeport zoning board turned down a licensee. [continues 1260 words]
The dictionary describes marijuana as hemp-the dried flower tops and leaves of this plant, capable of producing disorienting or hallucinogenic effects when smoked in cigarettes or ingested. Does this sound like a substance we want people to be under the influence of? How about pilots, drivers, ship captains, train operators, lawyers, doctors, teachers and engineers? Of course not; but I encourage those who advocate the use of pot to read the book "The Real Marijuana Danger" by Malcolm F. Smith. [continues 221 words]
Marijuana use is again highlighted in the news via a report from the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Hans Brietner reports that teenagers who smoke marijuana once or twice per week can incur a lasting ill effect on their brains. He states that it affects motivation, emotion, causes apathy and lack of focus. I checked this assertion out by asking a prominent PhD friend from a nearby state and he confirmed he tried marijuana once and said "it left him nutty feeling for days." Brain experts say this new medical finding should be closely watched. [continues 94 words]
Addiction in Region Is Worse Than Ever, They Say After more than 20 years in psychiatry, Dr. Rajesh Parekh is witnessing a new and disturbing trend among patients who come for help with drug addiction. "Twenty years ago I would see an adolescent a few times a year," said Parekh, attending psychiatrist at the Care Plus outpatient program in Groton, part of Natchaug Hospital. "Now it's a few times a month." The reason? Too many teenagers are abusing prescription opiate painkillers like Percocet, getting addicted, then turning to heroin. [continues 729 words]
Painkiller Abusers Find a Cheap Option to Help Them Cope, Often With Lethal Consequences Just 10 years ago, heroin made up a small fraction of the drug-related arrests in Norwich. These days, Detective Lt. Mark Rankowitz and fellow officers can recite any number of stories about the drug's ever-increasing impact. There is the star high school athlete with national aspirations who injured her knee and became addicted to prescription painkillers before turning to the cheaper and more widely available alternative - heroin. [continues 1981 words]
Legalizing marijuana with controlled conditions is not just something many people want to occur; it's the right thing to do. This topic is controversial, and of course the advocates will say it's a drug that must be kept away from children. This is true -- keep it away from children just like cigarettes and alcohol. Control the distribution, put conditions on the sales. For example with controlled sales like alcohol, you must be 21 years of age. It is not appropriate to drink and drive, so the same laws should be followed for marijuana with the same consequences. [continues 96 words]
NEW BRITAIN - Xiomara Gonzalez was "dope sick" by the time she was interviewed by the bail commissioner about her arrest last week on charges she was carrying nearly $16,000 worth of heroin. City detectives had the 25-year-old Hartford resident in their sights after receiving two tips she was selling drugs in New Britain on a regular basis. Her arrest, which also led to the seizure of cocaine and a gun, yielded one of the largest quantities of heroin since the police department changed its enforcement tactics in July 2012. [continues 756 words]
BRISTOL - Brightly colored packages with names like "Bizarro," "Platinum" and "Juicy Herbs Marshmallow Root" are filled with material labeled incense, but police call it synthetic marijuana. "Just looking at the package and names of these things, it almost looks like candy," said Police Chief Thomas Grimaldi. "It says on it 'Not For Human Consumption.' For the marketers, and I use that word loosely, that's their way around it." Grimaldi gave a slide show presentation to the Board of Education recently to alert local educators, parents and students that the controlled substance is being marketed to children. [continues 457 words]
I find it a bit alarming that the New Haven Register is so desperate for letters to the editor that they now are publishing letters from around the country supporting legalizing marijuana. I read the musings of people that sound like they are living in the '60s in a Volks van with flowers on it in San Francisco. I watched a number of friends smoke grass like it was the answer to all their problems. Medical marijuana is a joke, as I know many who have it for back pain. No matter if you believe that grass is no worse than alcohol. No matter if you do not believe that it may lead to harder drugs. The reality is in most instances you inhale a hot mixture of tar and other chemicals into your lungs. Why are the AMA and others silent on the dangers of smoking grass? What lengths are we willing to go to find a new thing to tax? [continues 146 words]
Reading Cindy O'Neill's letter I have to assume that she or no one close to her has ever experienced terrible pain from cancer or another illness. I watched my wife suffer the pain of dying from cancer for three years. Yes, they gave her strong pain pills - oxycodone, oxycontin, morphine. The prescriptions read take one every 12 hours, take one every four hours, take one or two every four hours as needed for pain. Your comment that only people who are addicts would go for it, not "normal" people, is pretty naive. Given enough pain even normal people will try anything. My wife would have tried it and I am sure the thousands of other normal people suffering terrible pain will try it. It might be a better bet than all the pain killers she was given. We talked about it, but where were we going to get it? [continues 85 words]
My great-grandparents gifted my Grandpa with a tavern, at Church & Chapel Streets in New Haven, when Gramps graduated from NYU. The year was 1924. The extensive array of liquor covered the walls of the back bar, behind the restaurant, in vintage photographs. Fats Waller frequently hung out, there - and the marijuana that they smoked was perfectly legal. The tavern closed, with the repeal of prohibition. I like to imagine that we'd still have had our New Haven tavern, if alcohol hadn't been repealed. Yet, just as repeal was the right thing to do, then, abolishing marijuana prohibition is of utmost importance today. Unlike with alcohol, America was founded using industrial marijuana products such as canvas, hemp paper, soaps, paints, and so on. The prohibition of cannabis, under the mandated pejorative, "marihuana" (FDR, 1937) is utterly more offensive to American history than alcohol prohibition was. - - Matthew Stover Philadelphia, Pa. [end]
I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "States should determine own pot laws" (2-5-14). I'd like to add that the cannabis legalization issue is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents; it is not. The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter but we don't cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers. And the voters of Colorado and Washington state have decided that we should not arrest and jail cannabis growers, sellers or consumers. Connecticut adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to consume legal alcohol. Shouldn't they have the same freedom of choice regarding legal cannabis? Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. [end]
In response to Cindy O'Neill's belief that marijuana will only benefit addicts: Cindy you've obviously never watched a loved one die a slow, excruciating death; or known someone who did receive relief from your so-called stronger pills, but was still left with nausea and drastic weight loss from chemo. It's been proven with medical research that marijuana does help cancer patients, people with nerve damage pain and, yes, those with anxiety, to name a few. You will find it is no longer the nickel bag from the street helping these people. There are now many different strains, each containing different medical properties responding to different illnesses. They have even recently discovered a strain that will alleviate seizures in children with epilepsy and other brain disorders; would you deny them the chance at living a normal life? [continues 196 words]
Prohibitionist government and politicians orchestrated cannabis (marijuana) prohibition and citizens don't care how it ends (Editorial: States Should Determine Own Pot Laws, Feb. 5, 2014), as long as it is immediately. It's one of America's worst policy failures in history. The plant never should have been labeled a Schedule I substance alongside heroin while methamphetamine and cocaine are only Schedule II substances. There are numerous options for government to end this discredited devil law before the end of the day. Citizens know cannabis prohibition is discredited and could end today and have demonstrated they're not waiting on snail pace measures to get the job done. [continues 58 words]
Drug-related deaths in Connecticut hit their highest point in nearly 10 years last year, according to statistics from the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. It's a development that is not surprising to law enforcement and treatment providers throughout the state. "Mood altering has always been a stubborn problem -- stubborn and persistent," said Alan Mathis, chief executive officer of Liberation Programs, a drug treatment program with facilities in Norwalk, Stamford and Bridgeport. "We've never won the war on drugs." [continues 863 words]
A new conventional wisdom is on the rise: Drug prohibition, or "the war on drugs," is a costly flop. It not only failed to cut drug use and associated social ills significantly but has also imposed additional social costs - or "catastrophic harm," as my colleague Radley Balko put it - far exceeding the benefits. Those costs include violent crime linked to the black-market drug trade as well as the mass arrest and incarceration of small-time users, a disproportionate number of whom are African American. [continues 726 words]
Am I the only person who sees that this marijuana factory is just a means to let addicts legally use drugs? What's next, heroin-on-demand? You can't tell me that the average non-addict person who has terrible pain from cancer or another illness would ask for marijuana for pain instead of taking a strong pain pill prescribed by their doctor. Only people who are addicts would go for it, not normal people. A totally stupid idea, especially since cigarettes and their smoke is banned everywhere - but marijuana smoke is a godsend to people in pain? If you've never smoked it, you're not going to ask for it. Another example on why our country is going down the drain! - - Cindy O'Neill Orange [end]
I'm writing about your thoughtful editorial: "States should determine own pot laws" (2-5-14). I'd like to add that the cannabis legalization issue is not whether cannabis is completely safe for everybody, including children and adolescents; it is not. The issue is freedom of choice for adults. Children have died from eating peanuts and peanut butter but we don't cage peanut growers, sellers or consumers. And the voters of Colorado and Washington state have decided that we should not arrest and jail cannabis growers, sellers or consumers. Connecticut adults have the freedom of choice of whether or not to consume legal alcohol. Shouldn't they have the same freedom of choice regarding legal cannabis? - - Kirk Muse Mesa, AZ [end]
I felt pretty good heading into Black History Month. I ended 2013 on a high note, had settled quite nicely into my new job as metro editor at the Register and with the help of newsroom staff, had put together a good group of stories that represented a crosssection of the black community. So I was feeling a bit heady on the eve of Black History Month as I sat down to edit a story about a man awarded a site in West Haven to grow "medical marijuana." [continues 975 words]
A national anti-marijuana organization announced Monday it would join forces with a state group, and warned legalization efforts are poised to create a public health crisis in the form of the "next Big Tobacco." Smart Approaches to Marijuana, founded in January 2013 by former U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, D-R.I., and Kevin A. Sabet, a former White House policy adviser, announced at a press conference it would work with the Connecticut Association of Prevention Practitioners. Sabet said the marijuana movement that has led to the drug's legal, recreational use in Colorado and Washington state is being driven by money and is not a "mom and pop" industry. It is "multimillion dollar, multinational conglomerate," he said. [continues 455 words]
Inside Connecticut
