Freedman, Dan 1/1/1997 - 31/12/2024
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1US TX: Colorado Pot Makes Inroads In TexasSun, 26 Jan 2014
Source:Houston Chronicle (TX) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:Texas Lines:Excerpt Added:01/26/2014

WASHINGTON - Cheap, low-quality Mexican marijuana is facing increased competition in Texas from Colorado's higher-potency pot, federal law enforcement officials say.

When it was legal to buy Colorado pot for medical use only, Texas was a favored destination - but now that Colorado has made personal use completely legal as of this year, state and federal law enforcement officials expect the smuggling into Texas will increase.

Texas ranked fourth among states as destinations for marijuana trafficked by highway in 2012 from Colorado, according to a Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking area (HIDTA) report. The report recorded 18 seizures in Texas of Colorado pot grown for the medical marijuana market.

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2US: As Laws On Pot Ease, Concerns About DUI RiseSat, 30 Nov 2013
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:11/30/2013

WASHINGTON - As California advocates ponder a renewed push to legalize marijuana for adults, law enforcement officials and traffic safety experts are warning of a side effect of states allowing the drug for medical or recreational use: the danger caused by people driving while high.

Research is incomplete on how much marijuana it takes to impair driving. But Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said being even a little intoxicated on marijuana is unacceptable.

"Smoking marijuana has a very negative effect on your ability to operate a motor vehicle," Kerlikowske said. "It's quite dangerous to you, your passengers and others on the road."

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3US DC: Advocates Argue in Federal Court for Medicinal PotWed, 17 Oct 2012
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:District of Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:10/17/2012

WASHINGTON - Marijuana supporters told a federal appeals court panel Tuesday that government agencies have created a "self-fulfilling prophecy" by keeping cannabis illegal despite evidence that using it can be medically beneficial.

Marijuana activists are seeking to "reschedule" marijuana as a drug suitable for medical use and thus remove it from Schedule I of the government's drug classification system, reserved for drugs with high abuse potential.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services say marijuana has no medical use, is as dangerous as ecstasy and heroin, and has even more abuse potential than cocaine.

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4US: Federal Raids Cool Medical Pot Backers' Support For ObamaMon, 01 Oct 2012
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:10/01/2012

WASHINGTON - Four years after enthusiastically supporting Barack Obama, marijuana entrepreneurs and advocates are closing their checkbooks to the president's re-election bid.

The reason: Anger over the Obama Justice Department's crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries after Obama promised in the 2008 campaign that he would not use federal "resources to circumvent state laws on this issue."

"We're all bummed out about it," said Dale Gieringer, California coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

Gieringer donated $2,300 to Obama in 2008. This year, Gieringer won't give Obama a dime, much less vote for him.

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5 US: Marijuana Entrepreneurs Not Donating To ObamaSat, 29 Sep 2012
Source:Charlotte Observer (NC) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:84 Added:10/01/2012

WASHINGTON - Four years after enthusiastically supporting Barack Obama, marijuana entrepreneurs and advocates are closing their checkbooks to the president's re-election bid.

The reason: Anger over the Obama Justice Department's crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries after Obama himself promised in the 2008 campaign that he would not use federal "resources to circumvent state laws on this issue."

"We're all bummed out about it," said Dale Gieringer, state coordinator of California NORML National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

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6US: Attorney General Defends Medical Pot CrackdownFri, 08 Jun 2012
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:06/09/2012

Washington -- Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday defended the Justice Department's pursuit of medical marijuana growers and dispensers, saying they "took advantage" of state medical marijuana laws.

Appearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder acknowledged the Justice Department had broken with the Bush administration and pledged not to go after anyone acting within state law.

Nevertheless, those involved in large-scale marijuana growing and distribution have "come up with ways in which they are taking advantage of these state laws and going beyond that which the states have authorized," Holder said in response to questions from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. "Those are the only cases that we have been going after."

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7US: Justice Dept: 'No Regrets' On Medical Pot StanceFri, 24 Feb 2012
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:02/24/2012

Washington -- Eight months after the Justice Department appeared to reverse course on its apparent hands-off policy on medical marijuana, officials there maintain a "no regrets" stance but acknowledge being out of their element in the face of blowback from marijuana supporters.

"As U.S. attorneys, it's not our job to go out there and engage in public debate," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, whose district is based in Sacramento. "We let our cases do the talking."

Green light in 2009

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8US: Feds' Pot Response Differs In California, ColoradoWed, 15 Feb 2012
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:02/15/2012

Forget about "Rocky Mountain High." In Colorado, the medical marijuana industry is a tightly regulated amalgam of businesses policed by gun-toting agents of the state's Medical Marijuana Enforcement Division.

While medical marijuana providers in California are wary of stepped-up federal law enforcement, comparable businesses in Colorado are confident that despite growing pains, their industry - enshrined in the state's Constitution - will continue to thrive.

"We are on an even keel and moving forward," said Jason Lauve, board member of the Association of Cannabis Trades for Colorado and publisher of Cannabis Health News magazine.

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9US: Putting A Lid On Pot Entering USTue, 14 Feb 2012
Source:Times Union (Albany, NY) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:02/15/2012

Mounties Look to Quash Indoor Operations and Stop Trafficking

WASHINGTON - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are attempting to reduce the amount of Canadian marijuana flowing into the U.S. by focusing public attention on grow ops - clandestine indoor operations that cultivate high-potency pot.

"Marijuana and the grow ops are jet fuel for organized crime," said RCMP Superintendent Eric Slinn, the force's drug branch director. "If we bring down the amount of grow ops, we diminish the amount of marijuana that travels southbound across the border."

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10US: Survey Finds Cocaine Use Down Sharply in USTue, 20 Dec 2011
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:12/21/2011

Washington -- Once the glitterati's drug of choice, cocaine appears to have achieved the dubious status of a has-been drug, forcing drug cartels enriched from trafficking the white powder to find new markets and diversify their illicit products.

Between 2006 and 2010, domestic cocaine use declined 37 percent, according to the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That's no blip on the screen.

Workplace drug tests proving positive for cocaine went down 65 percent in the same time frame, according to data provided to the government by a major testing firm, Quest Diagnostics Inc.

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11US CA: Medical Marijuana Barely Dents Mexican Drug TradeSun, 20 Feb 2011
Source:San Francisco Chronicle (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:California Lines:Excerpt Added:02/20/2011

Domestic pot production and the proliferation of medical dispensaries have affected California's previously strong appetite for Mexican marijuana but have had minimal impact on Mexican traffickers' marijuana revenues.

Fifteen years after voters approved Proposition 215, permitting medicinal marijuana use, strong varieties like those produced in Northern California's so-called Emerald Triangle dominate the market. Weaker Mexican pot, once the weed of choice for the 1950s Beat generation and the 1960s flower children, is less popular, according to drug policy experts and law enforcement officials.

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12 US: Medical Marijuana Users Not YoungSun, 01 Dec 2002
Source:Bergen Record (NJ) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:85 Added:12/07/2002

WASHINGTON - The typical medicinal marijuana user is likely to resemble someone from the baby boom generation - or older -- rather than a 20-something poster child, according to a congressional study.

Data collected in Hawaii and Oregon - two of the eight states allowing marijuana use for medical treatment - show that the majority of users are males, 40 years old or older, who take the drug for severe pain or persistent muscle spasms, said the report.

The study by the General Accounting Office, which covered Alaska and California as well, also said the relaxed drug laws in those four states have had minimal impact on fighting crime, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases.

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13 US: Agency Examines Medical Marijuana LawsSat, 30 Nov 2002
Source:Oklahoman, The (OK) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:78 Added:11/30/2002

Police Report 'General Softening' In Public's Attitude, Study Finds

WASHINGTON -- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday. The report by the General Accounting Office stated that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to only four counties and no statewide figures were available.

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14 US: New Pot Laws Don't Help PoliceSat, 30 Nov 2002
Source:Detroit Free Press (MI) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:45 Added:11/30/2002

WASHINGTON -(AP)- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, though they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said a small fraction of people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to four counties.

The GAO found that about 2,450 people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska use marijuana for medical purposes -- accounting for no more than 0.05 percent of the population in any of the states.

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15 US: Study: Police Reactions To Medical Marijuana MixedSat, 30 Nov 2002
Source:North County Times (CA) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:82 Added:11/30/2002

WASHINGTON -(AP)- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to four counties and no statewide data were available.

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16 US: Medical Marijuana a Complication for PoliceSat, 30 Nov 2002
Source:Sun Herald (MS) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:70 Added:11/30/2002

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to only four counties and no statewide data was available.

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17 US: Reactions Mixed to Medical Pot UseSat, 30 Nov 2002
Source:Deseret News (UT) Author:Freedman, Danny Area:United States Lines:85 Added:11/30/2002

WASHINGTON -- Law enforcement officials in four of the states that allow medical use of marijuana say the laws have had minimal impact on crimefighting, although they at times complicate prosecution of drug cases, a congressional report said Friday.

The report by the General Accounting Office said that only a small fraction of the people in Oregon, Hawaii and Alaska used marijuana for medical purposes. The results in California, the fourth state studied, were limited to only four counties and no statewide data were available.

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18US: They're Also Prisoners Of Alcohol And Drug AbuseSat, 10 Jan 1998
Source:Orange County Register (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:United States Lines:Excerpt Added:01/10/1998

SOCIAL ISSUES: Report says those substances played a role in the crimes of 80 percent of the inmates in the nation's prisons.

WASHINGTON - Drugs or alcohol-and sometimes both-played a role in the crimes of 80 percent of the nation's 1.7 (million sic)prison inmates,according to a report released Thursday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

Yet while the number of inmates in state and federal prisons needing treatment rose 5 percent from 1995 to 1996, the number of those receiving it went down 11 percent in that period, the study found.

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19 Drug War ExpandsMon, 09 Jun 1997
Source:San Francisco Examiner (CA) Author:Freedman, Dan Area:California Lines:95 Added:06/09/1997

WASHINGTON The Clinton administration has announced expansion of its crusade against crime and drugs in the nation's embattled public housing projects, adding seven more cities to a list that includes San Francisco.

"Make no mistake about it, in public housing, drugs are public enemy No.1," Housing Secretary Andrew Cuomo said Thursday at a White House ceremony attended by public housing tenants, federal officials and law enforcement officers from across the nation. "There is no greater service, no greater improvement we can make to this nation's public housing than the elimination of drugs."

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