What a long, strange trip it's become, even though it's just been a little more than a month. Boulder City Council decided to take a look at its cannabis regulations, and the first of three readings took place Sept. 30. For the most part, municipalities and counties in Colorado that allow cannabis sales adopted the state regulations written after the passage of Amendment 64. For whatever reasons, the City of Boulder came up with its own complex set of rules, which often differ from the state's. Confusion over the differences was at least one reason to prompt the reconsideration. [continues 738 words]
Regarding Heather Mac Donald's "Obama's Tragic Let 'em Out Fantasy" (op-ed, Oct. 24): Respectfully, Ms. Mac Donald would do well to spend time in a real federal courtroom to observe the ridiculously low amount of drugs that needs to be trafficked for an offender to earn a long prison sentence. Our office, located in a state with the nation's highest rate of drug-overdose deaths, routinely represents drug addicts charged with distributing as few as two or three prescription pain pills to other addicts who happen to be cooperating with local law enforcement agencies. Such defendants are hardly the serious drug traffickers Ms. Mac Donald suggests fill federal prisons. [continues 195 words]
At the after-party for the National Cannabis Summit - an annual conference thick with entrepreneurs and business people, held in the bowels of the Sheraton in downtown Denver - eight of us attendees boogied alongside one of the more engaging speakers, the medical researcher Dr. Suzanne Sisley, who wore throughout the party a towering, purple velvet Mad Hatter's hat. Remembering that in her speech she had said, "I've never tried marijuana in any form," I wanted to whisper in her ear, "But your millinery tells a different story." [continues 1618 words]
Legalization Bill Will Become Law Unless Mccrory Vetoes Spring Hope Has One of the Only Hemp Processing Plants in the Country Supporters Battle Stigma: 'We're For Rope, Not Dope' Farmers in North Carolina are likely to wake up Saturday morning with a new option for growing crops: Industrial hemp production is expected to become legal at the stroke of midnight. Lawmakers passed the legalization legislation in September, in the final days of the session. The proposal hadn't previously been made public, and some conservative groups worry that questions about the plant's connections to its cousin, marijuana, didn't get answered. [continues 1072 words]
SANTA ANA - An embattled medical marijuana dispensary where Santa Ana police were filmed during a May raid purportedly eating pot edibles was searched by officers again Monday and ordered to close. Santa Ana police carried out a search warrant at Sky High Collective on West 17th Street, Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said. "They continue to operate illegally," Bertagna said. "They don't have a permit." Marla James, a volunteer at Sky High, provided the Register with a copy of the search warrant, which indicated that police had confiscated about 22 pounds of marijuana edibles, computers, electronic tablets and digital video recorders from the dispensary. [continues 322 words]
Making Substances Illegal 'Cedes Control to the Drug Dealers' SOUTH Africans growing dagga in their gardens would help destroy the illegal market and the cartels that control it. This is what Durban chef Christian Baker told the High Court in Pietermaritzburg this week in a bid to have his prosecution on a drug-related charge stayed. He intends challenging the constitutionality of provisions in the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act. The court granted a postponement of the trial and ordered Baker to institute his case within 60 days or have the criminal charge reinstated. [continues 293 words]
Voting for one of the three left parties means voting for a government that disregards every one of God's 10 commandments. One might say, but they don't allow murder or stealing. Yes they do! They allow murdering the most helpless human beings, the ones that should be the most secure, still living inside of their mother. But what about stealing? Well, they allow taking the lives of these little people that might have lived a happy long life. Also, all three left parties are in support of assisted suicide. I am not going into more things that the left thinks is normal, like totally unnatural stuff. [continues 128 words]
Abortion, Refugees and Marijuana Legalization Among the Topics in Norwich Oxford's federal election candidates were faced with questions about abortion, marijuana, Syrian refugees and federal debt when they gathered in Norwich for their sixth all-candidates meeting Monday night. Students in the public speaking class at Rehoboth Christian School asked the five candidates prepared questions before opening the microphone to the audience at the event, hosted by the Norwich Township Chamber of Commerce. Conservative incumbent Dave MacKenzie, NDP candidate Zoe Kunschner, Liberal candidate Don McKay, Green Party candidate Mike Farlow and Christian Heritage Party' candidate Melody Aldred were each asked to explain their party's platform on abortion and their feeling about being required to toe the party line, as is the case for Liberal MPs. A later question from the floor raised the topic again. [continues 889 words]
I hear the Pentagon ordered Gov. Christie to tell his National Guard commander to lose weight. At first I thought it was an Internet hoax, then I had to take a couple bong rips to stop laughing so hard. Ummm, can you say "Pot, meet the kettle." The late-night TV hosts have had a ball with this one. I can only take that as a funny scenario. Is it political or intentional? As far as timing goes it was perfect - right in the middle of his presidential campaign. I'm with the "just say no to Christie" pot-smoking crowd. [continues 805 words]
Last week Larry Wilmore did a skit on The Nightly Show that showed how Fox News can take a falsehood (in the sketch, it's a poll that shows 58 percent of Americans believe that cop killings are on the rise, when statistics actually show they are falling), give it a title (the "war on police"), repeat the meme over and over, have a couple of talking heads connect it to something else (the Black Lives Matter movement), and finally show Ted Cruz and Scott Walker blaming the rise in violence against cops on President Barack Obama. [continues 672 words]
A wide-ranging series of questions and answers at Monday's Penticton Herald election forum provided a broad if not deep overview of the positions of the candidates in South Okanagan West Kootenay and their parties. For two hours, New Democrat Richard Cannings, Liberal Connie Denesiuk, Conservative Marshall Neufeld and the Green party's Samantha Troy took questions from a panel of six area journalists. The subjects ranged from economic policy to the environment, international relations, seniors housing, the legalization of marijuana and beyond. [continues 2155 words]
Most people believe in second chances, but not everyone thinks marijuana should be legal. That was the message underlying Tuesday's announcement that marijuana legalization backers were filing 236,759 signatures for a "Fresh Start Act." It would give people with misdemeanor pot convictions a chance to have them erased. The Fresh Start Act would only work next year if Ohioans approve State Issue 3 this Nov. 3. The constitutional amendment would legalize recreational use for those 21 or older and for medicinal purposes. [continues 394 words]
Participants at a Hope Over Heroin kickoff event braved cold wind and rain for a chance to mingle and find like-minded individuals in a winnable war. Hope Over Heroin organizers delayed a start of a program until about 8 p.m. Sept. 11 to allow rain to pass. Rev. Tim Williams, Greater Victory Christian Ministries, 559 Reid Ave., Lorain, estimated about 600 people attended the event in spite of the rain. "You don't see many homeless people out here getting cold and wet," Williams said, "because if you're homeless and you get wet, you're wet and cold all night." [continues 768 words]
TRENTON - Does marijuana have any connection to religious scriptures and priesthood? Anne Armstrong, a self-described Originalist Judeo-Christian who hopes to influence Pope Francis and President Barack Obama, says the cannabis flowering plant is indeed mentioned in the original Hebrew language editions of the Bible as a key ingredient in an oil mixture for priests. In Exodus 30:23, many English-language interpretations of the Bible refer to the herb in question as "sweet-smelling cane," but Armstrong, 55, of Providence, Rhode Island, said the correct Hebrew-to-English translation would be "cannabis" as she chilled Saturday afternoon in the rear courtyard behind NJ Weedman's Joint restaurant off East State Street. [continues 341 words]
CHEYENNE - Another statewide organization has come out against a possible ballot initiative that would legalize medical marijuana in Wyoming. The Wyoming Medical Society recently published a position paper opposing the proposal. The organization counts more than 700 physicians and physician assistants across the state as its members. It announced its opposition citing concerns that legalizing medical marijuana at the state level would subvert the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's drug approval process. "The WMS opposes legalization of medical marijuana outside of the regulatory process of the (FDA), recognizing however that marijuana may be an option for cannabinoid administration for children and adults with life-limiting or severely debilitating conditions for whom current therapies are inadequate," said Sigsbee Duck, president of the group's board of directors, in a statement. [continues 421 words]
Along with the nation's sharp jump in heroin overdoses has come a startling revelation, often called "the new face of heroin." It is a white face, mostly middle-class and suburban, "far from the stereotype of the shivering urban junkie," as the Christian Science Monitor put it this year. In an article about a white high school soccer star's ultimate triumph over heroin, the Deseret News in Salt Lake City put the emergence of the new face this way: "Leaving sports and school behind, she morphed, in her own words, from a 'pretty girl' to a 'ghetto Barbie,' sinking into a lifestyle once thought to leave young people like [her] untouched." [continues 621 words]
In the United States, and in Michigan, autism is growing. In fact, it is growing at such an alarming rate that it has just recently been identified as a significant public health issue, due to statistics provided by the Center for Disease Control's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, a nationwide federal program that tracks autism rates around the country. Estimates show that autism rates have risen in every report since tracking began in 2002, from one in 150 in 2002 to one in 68 in 2010. There is not a cure, however, new studies show, autism can be treated. [continues 378 words]
Wineries and breweries should brace themselves for some unusual competition. Colorado, which legalized marijuana for recreational use in 2012, will get its first "weedery" in early 2016. The $35 million project, Green Man Cannabis Ranch and Amphitheater, the brainchild of Christian Hageseth, is set to open in Denver. Its greenhouses represent a major shift because producers have largely cultivated marijuana indoors; there will also be a performance space, a restaurant, a rooftop bar, a gift shop and, of course, a marijuana dispensary. [continues 502 words]
Whether Denver voters in November will face a choice about allowing patrons to use marijuana in bars and some other businesses wasn't in dispute Monday, though ballot certification still could be weeks away. Instead, the city attorney's office and initiative backers, who said they turned in more than 10,700 petition signatures Monday - double what's needed - aired a long-standing debate. It centers on state law's prohibition on using marijuana "openly and publicly" and if that law would trump a local decision to allow vaping or edibles inside publicly accessible bars or other establishments that opt in. Smoking could occur only outside, at least 25 feet from public property. [continues 82 words]
CHEYENNE - A Wyoming law enforcement group is planning a campaign to fight back at efforts to legalize medical marijuana in the state. The Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police is gauging interest in starting a statewide outreach effort to inform residents on the "harmful personal and societal effects of marijuana." But Byron Oedekoven, executive director of the group, said he expects there will be support for the project and that it will be launched this month. "We are looking for statements of support for this education campaign," he said. "We anticipate that there will be support, and armed with that grassroots support, we will undertake an educational campaign." [continues 601 words]
