PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - A graduate student has sued a textile company for refusing to hire her for a two-month internship because she uses medical marijuana to treat frequent and debilitating migraine headaches, a decision her attorney calls discrimination. Christine Callaghan, who is studying textiles at the University of Rhode Island, sued Westerly-based Darlington Fabrics Corp. and its parent, the Moore Co., on Wednesday. The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Ms. Callaghan, said it believes it's the first lawsuit of its kind in the state. [continues 84 words]
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing a Westerly-based fabric manufacturer on behalf of a University of Rhode Island graduate student who says she was denied a paid summer internship because she is a registered medical marijuana user. The lawsuit alleges that Darlington Fabrics violated the Rhode Island Civil Rights Act and the state medical marijuana law when it turned down Christine Callaghan for a paid internship at the company last July after she disclosed she was a medical marijuana cardholder, the ACLU said in a news release. Callaghan uses medical marijuana to treat "frequent, debilitating migraine headaches." [continues 190 words]
Tuesday's elections showed us that the momentum for marijuana policy reform continues to grow across the country. Oregon and Alaska became the third and fourth states to regulate and tax marijuana like alcohol, and voters in Washington, D.C. overwhelmingly approved a measure to remove all penalties for adult marijuana possession. Americans are rejecting costly and ineffective marijuana laws that punish adults for using a substance that is less harmful than alcohol. Marijuana prohibition is on the way out. Ballot initiatives to regulate and tax marijuana are expected to appear in Massachusetts and Maine in 2016. Rhode Island has an opportunity in the 2015 legislative session to become the first East Coast state to regulate and tax marijuana. I hope the General Assembly notices the national trend towards marijuana policy reform and enacts legislation to give our state a head start advantage in the emerging legal marijuana economy. Mark Gray Providence The writer is president of Young Democrats of Rhode Island. [end]
WOONSOCKET, R.I. - CVS Pharmacy announced that it would offer the opiate antidote Narcan without a prescription at all of its 60 pharmacies in Rhode Island by the end of month. Narcan, also known as naloxone, offers immediate help for anyone overdosing from an opiate such as heroin or a prescription painkiller such as OxyContin. If given in time, Narcan can reverse an overdose by restoring breathing. "Over half of our pharmacies are now under a collaborative agreement that allows them to dispense Narcan without a prescription," CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said Friday. "It's part of our commitment to combat prescription drug abuse. We think it's a great public service." [continues 395 words]
CRANSTON, R.I. - Inside a cinderblock classroom at the Adult Correctional Institutions' medium-security facility, a group of inmates who are nearing their release dates get a lesson about how to say alive on the outside. Their chances of dying from a bullet are nothing compared with the risk of a fatal drug overdose. The men are told how to recognize the signs of an overdose: Pale or bluish skin. Faint pulse. Slow or labored breathing. "They may sound like they're snoring," Rebecca McGlodrick, a volunteer instructor, says, but when someone is overdosing the noises mean they're "struggling to take a breath." [continues 762 words]
For decades marijuana prohibition has been one of the cornerstones of our ineffective and costly war on drugs. The sad irony, however, is that using criminal law to direct our police officers, prosecutors and judges to arrest and punish individuals for marijuana has failed to reduce its widespread availability and use. Despite criminal penalties, daily marijuana use has more than tripled among teenagers since the early 1990s. According to an annual survey from Columbia University, nearly half of all high school students know of someone in their school who sells drugs. Ninety-one percent of those teenagers know a peer who sells marijuana. By comparison only 1 percent knows of a classmate who sells alcohol. [continues 675 words]
When something is broken, it needs to be fixed. Marijuana prohibition is a broken policy, and it is time to enact a solution. The "rush" to end marijuana prohibition ("Why rush on pot, Rhode Island?," Commentary, May 6) comes from the fact that we have lived under this failed policy for more than 70 years. We have seen that marijuana prohibition does nothing to reduce the availability and use of marijuana. Instead, it only enriches criminals who sell it illegally in an unregulated market. We don't need to wait any longer to know that our current approach to marijuana is the wrong way to go. [continues 145 words]
The Rhode Island Disaster Medical Assistance Team, or DMAT, conducted recent training and has ordered 300 doses of Narcan for the state police. With the death toll from Rhode Island's ongoing drug overdose epidemic continuing to rise, the State Police on Friday announced the full deployment of Narcan to state troopers. "If Narcan can save even one life, then it is incumbent upon us to have it available and for our troopers to be trained in its administration," said Col. Steven O'Donnell, superintendent of the state police. "Narcan will keep someone alive long enough for rescue personnel to respond, provide additional medical assistance, and transport the victim to the hospital. It's the right thing to do." [continues 194 words]
Legalization Bill Would Allocate Millions In Tax Revenue To Narcotic Abuse Prevention The House Judiciary Committee last week heard testimony on several bills proposing to legalize marijuana in Rhode Island and to improve current regulations on the sale and distribution of medical marijuana. While marijuana legalization has gained momentum in the state recently, there remain concerns for some about regulation and legalization's effects. Legalizing marijuana The first bill - introduced Feb. 13 by Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence - would legalize the possession and cultivation of small amounts of marijuana for personal use for adults over 21 years old, a policy supported by 47.6 percent of respondents in an April 10 poll from the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions. The committee heard testimony on the bill Wednesday. [continues 1396 words]
In the late 1970s and early '80s, just as this country's war on drugs was ramping up, I joined the Providence Police Department, serving five years as a uniformed police officer in the patrol division. Even then, with the lion's share of our federal drug enforcement budget devoted to treatment, I had doubts about the efficacy of a "war on drugs." The criminal justice system seemed ill-suited for addressing public health problems, and it appeared that the issue was being manipulated and exploited for political reasons. But I could never have imagined the damage this new prohibition would inflict on the fabric of our cities and on our national identity. [continues 701 words]
It's time to retire the marijuana bust photograph. So, this week in The Providence Phoenix, we are hereby sending the accompanying photo - both a recent local example of what we mean when we say "marijuana bust photograph" and a symbolic stand-in for an entire genre of news photography - somewhere warm and sunny to live out the rest of its days away from the public eye. We cannot speak on behalf other local media outlets: newspapers, radio stations, TV channels, or online outlets like Coventry Patch, which ran this pic under the headline "Coventry, Scituate Police Make $250,000 Pot Bust in Joint Investigation," on March 14. (There's a nice "joint" pun tucked in there.) We can only speak for ourselves. [continues 473 words]
The March 10 letter by Debby Richards Perugini ("Legal pot's dark side") has me scratching my head and wondering why every parent in the country is not this passionate about Alcohol and the effects it has on our young people - and anybody else! I am not entering the ring to battle about pot being legal or not; it's just that I really cannot remember the last time I read about a person getting killed by a person under the influence of pot! [continues 117 words]
Let's face it: marijuana prohibition has failed. It has failed in Rhode Island and it has failed across the country. Historic majorities of Americans across the nation - including here in the Ocean state - support regulation instead of criminalization. The newly introduced Marijuana Regulation, Control and Taxation Act is Rhode Island's opportunity to lead the way in the northeast, and we shouldn't let it pass us by. This bill would permit adults 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of marijuana and grow up to two plants in a locked space. Additionally, it would establish a strictly regulated system of retail stores, cultivation centers and testing facilities, lifting marijuana out of the risky, unpredictable and criminal black market. [continues 71 words]
It appears that Governor Chafee may be warming to the concept of legalizing and regulating marijuana in Rhode Island as a potential source of tax revenue. Over the weekend, Chafee, a Democrat, attended the National Governors Association's winter meeting in Washington, D.C., and listened to Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, also a Democrat, talk about the legalization of marijuana in his state that is expected to generate more than $100 million in taxes and regulatory fees this year. Hickenlooper had been an opponent of legalization, but state voters approved it in a 2012 referendum. [continues 595 words]
I firmly believe it is far better to legalize adult possession and private use of marijuana, than to continue down the failed path of prohibition (""Bill to legalize, regulate, tax marijuana introduced"." Feb. 13). Colorado and Washington are showing us all that it can be done responsibly, and, clearly, House Judiciary Chairwoman Edith Ajello, and Senate Health and Human Services Chairman Joshua Miller are paying attention. They have introduced thoughtfully crafted legislation that would allow adults in Rhode Island to purchase marijuana from a well-regulated, taxpaying business, rather than from a tax-avoiding criminal. Their legislation would impose very thorough regulations so the state finally would know who is selling marijuana, where it is being sold, and to whom. Finally, it would address one of our most pressing public health concerns by earmarking 40 percent of revenue, after the cost of regulation, to go towards alcohol and drug treatment, prevention, and education. Here's hoping this will be the year we end our state's foolish, very costly, and often disastrous prohibition of marijuana. Anthony De Luca Saunderstown [end]
Marijuana policy reform is a hot topic these days in Rhode Island and across the country. Over the last three years, we've been discussing the issue with constituents, colleagues, opinion leaders and activists on both sides of the issue. Our conversations have led us to two points of agreement: First, our current marijuana policy has failed. For instance, studies indicate an increase in youth marijuana use and that it is easy for them to get it. Second, most Rhode Islanders are ready for change. [continues 644 words]
BOSTON - Two Rhode Island legislators introduced a bill Wednesday that could make the state the third in the United States to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. State Sen. Joshua Miller and Rep. Edith Ajello, both Democrats, said the bill would regulate and tax marijuana, treating it similarly to alcohol. The bill would allow adults to possess up to 1 ounce and to grow two marijuana plants. [end]
Inside Rhode Island
