The young biochemists who trained at Rice University came to pitch their business plan for testing legally produced marijuana for a "cannabinoid signature" that consumers can use to decide which batch of a given strain is best for their medical conditions or the recreational high they desire. A team from Florida and another from Colorado each made the case for new lighting systems designed to cut electricity expenses for indoor growers while helping boost their agricultural output. Another hopeful entrepreneur outlined plans to convert trees killed by pine beetle infestation into a unique charcoal that would feed fertilizer to plants more efficiently and reduce runoff, while some big dreamers from Washington state promised tourists a "luxury cannabis experience" in a Victorian-era castle with a pot-friendly hotel and fancy restaurant. [continues 695 words]
Program for Low-Level Pot Offenders Makes Sense The second time, we hope, will be the charm. An underused 2007 state law offered police officers the option of writing citations for certain low-level offenses rather than hauling suspects to jail. The point was to keep cops on the street and avoid burning up valuable hours processing defendants for misdemeanors like marijuana possession or graffiti. Dallas tried to take advantage right away, but the experiment went poorly, with most offenders failing to show for court. [continues 487 words]
Drs. Oz & Roizen With clever names like Peace of Mind, Girl Scout Cookies, Train Wreck and Tsunami, it's a good bet that the marketers of legal marijuana finished high school. That's less certain for their younger customers. New research shows daily marijuana use before the age of 17 cuts your chances of graduating from high school or getting a college degree by 60 percent. And that info's just the tip of the joint. Now that marijuana is legal for recreational use in Washington and Colorado, and for medical purposes in 19 other states plus the District of Columbia, scientists are able to study the drug more closely. The result is an outpouring of data on marijuana's formerly unknown or underappreciated risks. [continues 144 words]
The call to legalize pot steadily emanates from the decaying 74-year-old home in Montrose. A gray-haired, sharp-voiced Dean Becker settles in behind a microphone there each Sunday night at the studios of KPFT public radio to spread his mantra: End the Drug War. Becker and those of a like mind about legalizing marijuana say they are getting some traction nowadays. With recreational use of pot now legal in Colorado and Washington - and public opinion polls showing growing nationwide support for such measures - speculation is rampant that even in law-and-order Texas, it is not a question of if, but when, legalization will happen. [continues 791 words]
Freeing Up Police Resources the Goal of Possible Policy Change People caught in Dallas with a small amount of pot may soon be able to avoid jail. County criminal justice leaders are quietly working on a program that would allow police to issue tickets to people accused of simple possession. Those cited would still face prosecution in court, but they wouldn't be arrested. Officials hope to launch a pilot program in Dallas in mid-January. Applied countywide, such a change in enforcement policy could result in hundreds fewer arrests each month. The goal, officials say, is to reduce the jail population and free up police resources. [continues 600 words]
Ogg Argues She Originated Plan to Decriminalize Possession A move to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana emerged Wednesday as a major issue in the contentious race for Harris County district attorney with both candidates claiming ownership of the idea. At a news conference, Republican Devon Anderson, the incumbent, said that beginning Monday, nonviolent first offenders carrying less than 2 ounces of marijuana will be able to escape prosecution by performing eight hours of community service or going through a drug awareness class. [continues 590 words]
Is America's scientific research biased to focus on the harmful effects of drugs? That was one of the questions at the heart of a congressional hearing this summer seeking to understand more comprehensively the scientific evidence related to marijuana. And it was how Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, found herself being grilled by Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. "Dr. Volkow, your testimony seems to completely disregard lots of other data," he accused. Volkow and I were the witnesses, along with a representative from the Food and Drug Administration. Connolly was particularly interested in learning why NIDA and the FDA - both part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - supported so little research into the potential medical uses of marijuana. He appeared exasperated by the focus on drugs' harmful effects, which "impeded the ability to have legitimate research that could benefit human health." [continues 1113 words]
IF YOU THINK BIG TOBACCO WAS BAD, WAIT TILL YOU GET A WHIFF OF BIG MARIJUANA, SAYS KEVIN SABET Proponents of legalization and other drug policy reforms make some important points. It is true that most people who try drugs do not get addicted - they stop after using a few times. It is also true - and regrettable - that America's incarceration rate is embarrassingly high and that blacks and Latinos bear the brunt of harsh arrest policies. And, finally, despite our best efforts, fully eradicating drug use and its consequences remains a distant dream. But placing faith that legalization will help any of these issues is misguided. In fact, legalization threatens to further contribute to disproportionate health outcomes among minorities, all the while creating a massive new industry - Big Tobacco 2.0 - intent on addicting the most vulnerable in society. [continues 1245 words]
Regarding "New 'wax' form of pot can be explosive, feds warn" (Page B1, Saturday), isn't it time the Chronicle stopped being complicit in spreading "Reefer Madness" nonsense from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration? The two scare quotes from your article on 'dabs' or 'wax' is that it's twice as strong as regular pot and that people may blow themselves up trying to make it. People have been smoking hashish with the same strength as 'wax' for millennia with no ill effects. If drug prohibition vanished, experts would be making 'wax' commercially and the toking public wouldn't be trying to make it. Pot use hasn't killed anyone in the history of its use (including hashish, sensimilla, and 'wax'). People shouldn't get high and drive, but since the 1960s, auto death rates haven't skyrocketed because of pot. Rick Potthoff, Houston [end]
The medical industry has many tools for treating pain and illness, and while America has some of the most advanced medical treatments in the world, treatment is a tricky thing and sometimes has unintended side effects. One issue that afflicts Americans in particular is reliance on painkiller prescriptions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 10,000 men and 6,600 women died in 2010 from painkiller overdose. Women in particular are facing a tremendous increase in the number of overdoses each year, with a 400 percent increase since 1999 compared to 265 percent among men. [continues 740 words]
The Ability to Cite Small-Time Marijuana Offenders Results in a Patchwork System. While you may not find Texas listed alongside marijuana-friendly states like Colorado and Washington, we actually decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana back in 2007 - sort of. State law allows peace officers to issue a citation for certain misdemeanor crimes, such as graffiti, criminal mischief, theft and, yes, possession of marijuana. Instead of every Willie Nelson fan caught with a joint having to spend a night in the slammer before meeting with a judge, smokers could have a set appointment in court the next week. This system saves space in crowded jails and saves otherwise harmless citizens an unnecessary trip. It also saves police officers' time that could be spent keeping Houston safe. [continues 448 words]
Re: "For Sane Drug Laws - Texans need to know where candidates stand on pot," Sunday Editorials. Regarding your thoughtful Aug. 3 editorial, the days when politicians 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. 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. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. It's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana. Robert Sharpe, policy analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C. [end]
Regarding "End prohibition" (Page B6, Saturday), thank you for calling for an end to marijuana prohibition in your editorial. Mexican drug cartels are no doubt thrilled with our federal government's insistence that marijuana remain illegal. 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. 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 is legal. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. [continues 52 words]
Regarding "Marijuana find no surprise to Polk County residents" (Page B1, Wednesday), if Polk County or the state has any problem getting rid of the pot they are pulling up, I have a suggestion: Sell it to Colorado or to the state of Washington. Texas could certainly use the couple million dollars it would bring. Bob Sieckmann, Trinity [end]
Texans Need to Know Where Candidates Stand on Pot The Marijuana Policy Project advocacy group, spearhead for national pot reforms, has hired a full-time political director in Texas to focus on changing laws here. The organization has also hired a lobbyist to work the state Capitol. The idea that conservative, law-and-order Texas is ripe for change might have been ridiculed in the not-too-distant past. Things are moving fast, though, as it becomes clearer that the public is fed up with needless casualties and wasted money from the nation's decades of waging war against weed. Even in Texas, people are fed up. [continues 392 words]
With calls for change coming from across the spectrum, let states dictate marijuana laws. We always knew that marijuana altered the human brain, but it must be more powerful than we thought if it has the famously liberal New York Times editorial board in agreement with Gov. Rick Perry. In a recent editorial, the collective voice of the Grey Lady echoed a sentiment that Perry expressed last year at World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland: Marijuana laws should be dictated by the states, not the federal government. It is a position that this board has reiterated over the past several years. [continues 515 words]
Regarding "Marijuana isn't necessarily safe to treat what ails us" (Page B13, Sunday), before David Murray, the senior fellow in the Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research, condemns using marijuana medically, he should ask, "What is marijuana?" The federal definition of "marihuana" is over 100 words long, but does not mention either THC, CBD or smoke. He should know that there has been a bait-and-switch to advance a political agenda. It occurred about 44 years ago, when that definition was enacted into law, then temporarily placed into Schedule 1, thus precluding the studies he requires for validation. [continues 86 words]
Re: =93Lower Sentences for Drugs =AD Commission right to offer reduced penalty,=94 Monday Editorials. For the 50-year period spanning the 1920s to early 1970s, there were about 110 state and federal prisoners per 100,000 in the United States. In 1973, President Richard Nixon created the Drug Enforcement Administration by executive order, thereby ushering in the modern war on drugs. State and federal prisoners now number about 700 per 100,000. After release, these prisoners can be legally discriminated against for the rest of their lives. They can be refused employment, housing, education, government benefits and the right to vote. [continues 132 words]
Reports repeatedly conclude habitual drug use in the United States is the root cause for children from Central America to illegally come here. The drug cartels there use violence to make them leave, or the children can stay and be killed. The armed forces, several thousand law enforcement employees, miles of fences and walls, electronic and air spying, jails and deportation proceedings - all of these combined will not greatly alleviate this latest immigration problem we bring upon ourselves. Besides, all of them are a great waste of time, money and manpower except for those among us who want to make money by these means. [continues 96 words]
Commission Right to Offer Reduced Penalty America's effort to use our prisons to stem the illegal drug problem has largely failed. Incarceration of drug offenders has seen prison and jail populations skyrocket, even as public opinion has shifted away from harsh sentences for nonviolent drug crimes. That's why the U.S. Sentencing Commission was right to decide this month that some 50,000 federal drug trafficking offenders could be eligible for reduced sentences. The amendment to federal sentencing guidelines, approved in April, is already in effect for offenders facing sentencing in the future, creating an issue of fairness: Why should the length of a sentence be determined by the date of sentencing? [continues 377 words]
Inside Texas
