A proposed constitutional amendment to legalize marijuana in Ohio was rejected yesterday by Attorney General Mike DeWine. DeWine turned down petitioners for the End Ohio Cannabis Prohibition Act of 2012, citing four reasons that the submitted summary was not "fair and truthful" as required by state law. The petition was submitted on Aug. 2 by three Ohio residents, including Tonya Davis, of Kettering, a suburb of Dayton, who has been involved in several previous marijuana issues. Proponents submitted 2,304 signatures of registered Ohio voters, more than double the 1,000 required. [continues 173 words]
WAITSFIELD, Vt. (AP)- Some Vermont farmers want to plant hemp now that the state has a law setting up rules to grow the plant, a cousin of marijuana that's more suitable for making sandals than getting high. But federal law forbids growing hemp without a permit, so farmers could be risking the farm if they decide to grow the plant that the Drug Enforcement Agency basically considers marijuana. Hemp and marijuana share the same species - cannabis sativa - but hemp has a negligible content of THC, the psychoactive compound in marijuana. Under federal law, all cannabis plants are marijuana, regardless of THC content. [continues 479 words]
MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio - Police are not allowed to use checkpoints to search motorists and their vehicles for drugs. So in Mayfield Heights, officers are trying the next best thing - fake drug checkpoints. Police gathered in the express lanes of I-271 on Monday after placing signs along the freeway warning motorists that a drug checkpoint lay ahead. There was no checkpoint, only police waiting for motorists to react suspiciously after seeing the signs. A Mayfield Heights assistant prosecutor says it's a lawful and legitimate tactic in his city's war on drugs. [continues 480 words]
Toward the end of May, Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell took another momentous step in his valiant efforts to restore the right to vote for nonviolent felons in his state. Effective July 15, his administration will remove the two-year waiting period and the application process for nonviolent felons in good standing. McDonnell, a Republican, has been praised by the NAACP and African-American leaders for his diligence in working to reinstate the franchise to those who have served their time. Although McDonnell's proposals have bipartisan support, they been harshly contested by some members of his own party. When he attempted to amend Virginia's constitution so voting rights could be restored immediately to nonviolent offenders after they've completed their sentences, it was rejected by Republicans in the House of Delegates. [continues 551 words]
WASHINGTON (AP)- Black people are arrested for possessing marijuana at a higher rate than white people, even though marijuana use by both races is about the same, the American Civil Liberties Union reports in a new study. The ACLU's analysis of federal crime data, released last week, found that marijuana-arrest rates for blacks were 3.73 times greater than those for whites nationally in 2010. In some counties, the arrest rate was 10 to 30 times greater for blacks. In two Alabama counties, everyone arrested for marijuana possession was black, the ACLU said. [continues 294 words]
In his Saturday letter "Don't put limits on healthcare choices," Dan Riffle said, "Nationwide, 3 out of 4 Americans recognize the medical benefits of marijuana" but fails to say exactly how many were asked. Four? Were they all members of the Marijuana Policy Project, and who, exactly, funds that? The May 3 Dispatch article "Proposals would legalize marijuana in Ohio" indicated a recent poll that shows more than 1,000 Ohioans want to legalize marijuana for both medical and recreational use. [continues 137 words]
The headline of Dr. Ed Gogek's column in Thursday's Dispatch, "Voters becoming wise to medical-marijuana ruse," could not have been more appropriate. Despite his and others' efforts to convince people that medical marijuana is a "ruse," support for allowing medical marijuana is greater than ever. Eighteen states and Washington, D.C. have adopted medical-marijuana laws, and two more - Illinois and New Hampshire - are expected to enact them within the next couple of months. [continues 443 words]
California voters passed the country's first medical-marijuana law in 1996, but many are having second thoughts. Last year, five California cities voted on initiatives to allow marijuana dispensaries, and all five voted no. Oregon also voted down dispensaries. These liberal West Coast states have seen medical marijuana up close, and learned it's barely medical at all. That shouldn't surprise anyone. The idea that smoking pot is medicine didn't come from doctors or groups representing the seriously ill. Neither the American Cancer Society nor the National Multiple Sclerosis Society supports it, and the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics strongly oppose it. [continues 652 words]
As poll numbers show Ohioans are growing increasingly comfortable with the idea of marijuana use, a Youngstown Democrat wants to give people the chance to make the drug fully legal in Ohio. Rep. Robert F. Hagan has made a few attempts over the years to persuade his colleagues to allow for the use of medical marijuana in Ohio, and each effort has died a quiet death. A spokesman for Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, declined to comment on the pair of proposals Hagan introduced yesterday. [continues 311 words]
The Bloomberg News article "Some teen drivers say pot 'helps' " in the Friday Dispatch, suggesting pot use improves driving skills, is no surprise. Ask pot users and they'll say that everything is better when they are high. Ask the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and it will agree. The problem is that users are not competent to judge their driving skills. Do not expect intoxicated people to be aware of their impairments. Scientific studies have shown that pot users are 41 percent impaired after one joint and 63 percent impaired after two. There have been many studies of pot use and driving; the evidence shows that even hours after the high wears off, the user still is impaired. This involves motor skills, visual perception, attention, ignoring signals, etc Alcohol and pot use end up in tragic accidents, as happened only a few days ago in Columbus. Too many things are settled by public opinion. Let's look at the facts. Columbus [end]
The United States has been fighting a "war on drugs" since the Nixon era. Yesterday, Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman said the fight probably will never end in Ohio and now is the time to start calling it something else. "A lot of people talk about the reference to end drug abuse as an armed conflict because it's a war on drugs," Portman said during his keynote speech at the 2013 Ohio Opiate Conference. "I think it's the wrong way to think of it. I think that in part because millions of our co-workers, our families and others suffer from addiction disorder, and it's not really a war, it's more a public-safety, public-health issue." [continues 326 words]
While reading the April 5 letter "Make life tougher for the lawbreakers" from Jeff Rickel, I laughed when I read his conclusion, "Stop the drug flow and most of the gun violence will end." Rickel placed blame for America's love affair with guns and their associated violence on illegal drugs, which is like blaming a child's teacher for the failing grade. Every day in America, on average, 289 people are shot. Eighty-six of those people die. Of these, 30 are murdered, 53 commit suicide, two are shot accidentally and one person dies after being shot by the police. [continues 279 words]
WASHINGTON - Only five months after Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize marijuana for recreational use, a poll released yesterday found that a majority of Americans now agree and say it should be legal to smoke the drug. And, as Attorney General Eric Holder tries to figure out how to respond to the new laws, the poll had more good news for voters in the two states: Sixty percent of Americans say the U.S. government should not enforce federal drug laws in any state that has voted to legalize pot. [continues 206 words]
Medical marijuana isn't a bad idea, a former Obama administration drug official said today, but it's wrong to use "smoked marijuana under the pretense of medicine." Kevin Sabet, a senior advisor to national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske from 2009 to 2011, spoke at a Statehouse press conference where anti-drug groups blasted two proposed medical marijuana constitutional amendments being circulated in Ohio, potentially for the November ballot. Nationally known as a crusader against medical marijuana in the traditional form, Sabet said existing drugs, and others in the testing stage, contain the key chemical components of marijuana but are dispensed in pill form. One such drug is Marinol, often prescribed for cancer and AIDS patients. [continues 348 words]
A medical-marijuana amendment might or might not be on the ballot in Ohio this fall, but opponents are already spoiling for a fight. Representatives of several anti-drug groups spoke at a Statehouse news conference yesterday, blasting the idea of putting legalization of marijuana for medical use to a public vote. Kevin Sabet, a senior adviser to national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske from 2009 to 2011, said prescribing marijuana for medical purposes isn't a bad idea if it is in pill form, but it's wrong to use "smoked marijuana under the pretense of medicine." [continues 289 words]
A medical-marijuana amendment might or might not be on the ballot in Ohio this fall, but opponents are already spoiling for a fight. Representatives of several anti-drug groups spoke at a Statehouse news conference yesterday, blasting the idea of putting legalization of marijuana for medical use to a public vote. Kevin Sabet, a senior adviser to national drug czar Gil Kerlikowske from 2009 to 2011, said prescribing marijuana for medical purposes isn't a bad idea if it is in pill form, but it's wrong to use "smoked marijuana under the pretense of medicine." [continues 290 words]
Realizing that more young people are no longer "just saying no" to drugs, local schools are changing their approaches to drugprevention programs. Districts such as Westerville, Pickerington, Bexley, Dublin and Hamilton now offer drug counseling as an alternative to suspension or expulsion for students caught using drugs. Since the loss of federal funding for schools' prevention efforts in 2009, officials are discovering that DARE and zero-tolerance policies are no longer enough, said Greg Viebranz, the spokesman for Westerville schools. Westerville is building relationships with anti-drug groups and referring students who use drugs to counselors. Pickerington also is offering counseling. [continues 640 words]
DENVER - Inside the industrial-scale marijuana farms that dot Denver's low-rise warehouse districts, it is perpetual summer - 78 degrees, with moderate humidity and fields of shoulder-high plants with fat, sticky buds swaying in the breeze. These unmarked THC factories are easy to miss from the street, except for the casino-style security cameras perched on each corner. But inside the world's only fully regulated, for-profit marijuana market, there are few secrets. Colorado has approved 739 of these indoor farms over the past two-plus years after vetting their owners' finances and requiring the buds be tracked on high-definition video and bar-coded every moment from seed to sale. Local building inspectors have signed off, and cops - city, state and federal - can drop in at any time. [continues 1240 words]
Initiative Would Create 9-Member Panel to Set Rules The Ohio Medical Cannabis Association has planted the seed for a ballot initiative that would put the question of medical marijuana to Ohio voters this November, and now it is working to ensure those efforts bear fruit. The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment would make Ohio the 17th state to legalize marijuana for treatment of patients with a variety of diseases that cause chronic pain, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and spinal-cord injuries. [continues 472 words]
Two proposed medical-marijuana issues potentially headed for Ohio's Nov. 6 ballot seem similar at first glance but are quite different in terms of specifics and supporters. The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2012 was approved yesterday by the Ohio Ballot Board, clearing the way for supporters to begin gathering the 385,245 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify the issue for the ballot. The group has until July 6 to submit names. Mary Jane Borden of Westerville, a committee member for the Cannabis Amendment, said medical marijuana can be an effective, natural way to ease chronic pain without relying on addictive narcotic medications. [continues 423 words]
