The arbitrary classification of cannabis as a prohibited drug because it is habit-forming prevents children with ravaging diseases from pursuing the happiness promised by the nation's founders ("Desperate to get pot for ill kids," Dec 22). Isn't it more humane to exchange a child's suffering from dozens of seizures daily for a child almost seizure-free when the only price is having a marijuana habit? The public must demand the national legalization of medical marijuana. Rod Meyers, Bryn Mawr, rodmeyers@aol.com [end]
The Ruling Limits the Ability to Seize Family Members' Homes That Were Used by Drug Dealers. In a potentially precedent-setting decision, a Pennsylvania appellate court has restricted the circumstances under which prosecutors can seize homes used by convicted drug dealers. The 5-2 majority opinion by Commonwealth Court applies to homeowners who can show they had little or no involvement in the illegal activity. The ruling in the case involving a 69-year-old West Philadelphia widow, and the settlement of two seizure cases in a federal lawsuit Dec. 20, constitute twin setbacks for the city's civil forfeiture program. [continues 464 words]
Editor, Regarding your Dec. 15 op-ed, not only should medical marijuana be made available to patients in need, but adult recreational use should be legal and regulated. Drug policies modeled after alcohol prohibition have given rise to a youth oriented black market. Illegal drug dealers don't ID for age, but they do recruit minors immune to adult sentences. So much for protecting the children. Throwing more money at the problem is no solution. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. [continues 77 words]
Editor: Regarding your Dec. 15 editorial (Our Opinion, "Authorize Medicinal Pot"), medical marijuana has lifesaving benefits that extend beyond patient relief. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with access to medical marijuana have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than states where marijuana is prohibited. This research finding has huge implications for states like Pennsylvania that grapple with prescription narcotic and heroin overdose deaths. The substitution effect was documented by California physicians long before the recent JAMA research. Legal marijuana access is correlated with a reduction in opioid and alcohol abuse. The marijuana plant is incapable of causing an overdose death. Not even aspirin can make the same claim, much less alcohol or prescription narcotics. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal marijuana access has the potential to save thousands of lives. ROBERT SHARPE POLICY ANALYST, COMMON SENSE FOR DRUG POLICY, WASHINGTON, D.C. [end]
If Pennsylvania House members had been asked to legalize marijuana for recreational use, their commitment to delay would be understandable. Legalization in Colorado, Oregon and Washington is a work in progress, an experiment that could guide other states in the future. But the state House and Gov. Tom Corbett have treated the legalization of medicinal marijuana as a law enforcement matter rather than the introduction of a valuable medicine to relieve suffering. That position contradicts the experiences of 21 other states where medicinal marijuana is legal and uncontroversial. [continues 179 words]
All the Pundits Have Been Busily Clucking About What a Rocky Road Lies Ahead for New Gov. Tom Wolf. They're right, of course. The state's financial situation is dire - and both Republicans and Democrats are playing the blame game. The new governor is sure to find himself at odds with an even more solidly Republican Legislature (thanks to gerrymandering). Inequitable school funding is a huge problem across the state. Small cities such as York are imploding into insolvency. Hey Mr. Wolf, remind us again why you wanted this impossible job. Yeah, it's going to be tough. So why not start with something easy? [continues 378 words]
If Pennsylvania House members had been asked to legalize marijuana for recreational use, their commitment to delay would be understandable. Legalization in Colorado, Oregon and Washington is a work in progress, an experiment that could guide other states in the future. But the state House and Gov. Tom Corbett have treated the legalization of medicinal marijuana as a law enforcement matter rather than the introduction of a valuable medicine to relieve suffering. That position contradicts the experiences of 21 other states where medicinal marijuana is legal and uncontroversial. [continues 182 words]
If Pennsylvania House members had been asked to legalize marijuana for recreational use, their commitment to delay would be understandable. Legalization in Colorado, Oregon and Washington is a work in progress, an experiment that could guide other states in the future. But the state House and Gov. Tom Corbett have treated the legalization of medicinal marijuana as a law enforcement matter rather than the introduction of a valuable medicine to relieve suffering. That position contradicts the experiences of 21 other states where medicinal marijuana is legal and uncontroversial. [continues 183 words]
If Pennsylvania House members had been asked to legalized marijuana for recreational use, their commitment to delay would be understandable. Legalization in Colorado, Oregon and Washington is a work in progress, an experiment that could guide other states in the future. But the state House and Gov. Tom Corbett have treated the legalization of medicinal marijuana as a law enforcement matter rather than the introduction of a valuable medicine to relieve suffering. That position contradicts the experiences of 21 other states where medicinal marijuana is legal and uncontroversial. [continues 181 words]
Medical marijuana legislation will get a second chance in 2015. The bipartisan pair of state senators who pushed for legalization during 2014 announced this week they will re-introduce the same text of a bill approved by the state Senate with a 43-7 vote in September. The bill didn't receive a vote from the House of Representatives before the two-year legislative session came to a close Nov. 30. Since it will be a new legislative session when lawmakers return to Harrisburg in January, the bill will have to start over again at the beginning of the process. But there is good reason to believe 2015 could be the year Pennsylvania legalizes marijuana as a treatment for some chronic ailments. [continues 494 words]
Regarding the thoughtful editorial "U.N. Watch: What are they smoking?" : Obsolete United Nations conventions passed in ignorance back in 1961 are no reason to put the brakes on state efforts to tax and regulate marijuana. Marijuana prohibition is indefensible. If the goal is to subsidize violent drug cartels and open a gateway to the meth and heroin they sell, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply-and-demand dynamics so big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The United States has almost double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally available for decades. [continues 54 words]
Under a new Pennsylvania law that took effect last week, doctors and emergency personnel can begin to reduce the death toll from the state's prescription opioid and heroin epidemic. Pennsylvania has the nation's 14th highest death rate from opioid drug overdoses, according to the Pennsylvania Medical Society, which also reported that more state residents die each year from overdoses than from any other cause of injury, including car crashes. In response, the Legislature passed and Gov. Tom Corbett signed a new law to widen the use of a highly effective opioid antidote, naloxone. [continues 274 words]
The United Nations' meddling in U.S. domestic affairs is an old story. But the latest chastisement brings into question what the egalitarians are smoking at their headquarters along the East River. The head of the U.N. drug policy office is ripping the legalization of marijuana in some states, most recently in Oregon and Alaska, where voters last month approved marijuana's use. "I don't see how the law can be compatible with existing conventions," says Yury Fedotov, a Russian diplomat and director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. But these U.N. "conventions," which date back to 1961, have no teeth, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells Fox News. [continues 115 words]
Side effects include increased heart rate, sweating, increased blood pressure, hallucination and violent behavior. But unlike a television commercial that warns of the results of taking medication, this one comes without an official government warning label because it's uncontrolled and unregulated. It's sold on the streets, in stores and through the Internet, both wholesale and retail. It may seem harmless enough, with brand names like K2, spice and potpourri, or marketing that passes it off as herbal incense. Some brands are a little more telling with names like "Geeked Up," "AK 47," "Avalanche" and "Psycho." [continues 1628 words]
Big-time investors hoping to profit from America's emerging business in legalized marijuana might see a bit of themselves in the historic example of Joseph P. Kennedy - the father of President John F. Kennedy. Back in 1933, the Kennedy patriarch made sure his liquor firm would be the first to make millions as Prohibition's decade-long ban on alcohol sales ended. He did so with a blend of politics, cash and timely maneuvers. Today's pot entrepreneurs - looking to cash in on the estimated $20 billion market in marijuana sales by 2020 - may find from some striking then-and-now similarities in Kennedy's experiences. [continues 485 words]
SHAMOKIN - A proposed ordinance was introduced Wednesday night that, if adopted, will ban landlords from renting properties to those convicted of felony drug charges. During a 90-minute work session, solicitor Frank Konopka presented city council with a revised landlord/tenant ordinance that he and code enforcement officer Rick Bozza have worked on for the past six months. The proposal is based on ordinances enacted in Sunbury and Berwick and one that is scheduled to be voted on later this month by Mount Carmel Borough Council. [continues 704 words]
Berwick has done it. So has Sunbury. Two communities in neighboring counties that have been ravaged by drug abuse took the bold step of enacting an ordinance that banned landlords from renting to anyone who had been convicted of a felony drug offense. Mount Carmel could vote on a similar ordinance as soon as Nov. 20. The impact of drug abuse is felt on communities every day, including those in Schuylkill County. Because of it, we drug-test in schools, we drug-test in work places. Like the proposed ordinance, such procedures push the boundaries of constitutionality, and yet many leaders, see little choice. [continues 242 words]
The medical marijuana bill awaiting a vote in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives never made it off the table. How sad for the many young children suffering from severe seizures and other medical problems that SB 1182 is designed to help. Representatives seemed to have a number of excuses for not taking up the Senate bill in the waning days of this legislative session, mainly centered on the rationale that some legislators have not been following the debates that led up to Senate passage of the bill and might not be able to make an informed decision about the bill's merit. [continues 370 words]
Pennsylvania district attorneys already have discretion in how they prosecute marijuana cases, but experts say they must be careful in how they apply they law. "We're not at liberty to pick and choose what sections of the crimes code we're going to enforce," said Richard Long, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association. State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, wrote a letter today to the association's president, Peter Johnson, asking district attorneys not to prosecute offenses related to the medicinal use of marijuana. [continues 326 words]
Regarding your thoughtful Oct. 14 editorial, the ongoing federal crackdown on legal hydrocodone has unfortunately given rise to a resurgence in illegal heroin use. Nationally, death rates from prescription opioid pain reliever overdoses quadrupled from 1999 to 2010. Getting tough on drugs is not necessarily the answer. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than marijuana prohibition states. This groundbreaking research has huge implications for states like Pennsylvania that are struggling with prescription narcotic and heroin overdoses. The phrase "if it saves one life" has been used to justify all manner of drug war abuses. Legal marijuana access has the potential to save thousands of lives. Robert Sharpe Policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. [end]
Inside Pennsylvania
