The New South Jersey Site Will See 32 Patients Daily. 675 Have Signed Up. Sitting quietly in her parent's car, 2-year-old Vivian Wilson toyed with her iPad and grew weary during the two-hour drive to a medical marijuana dispensary close to Atlantic City - South Jersey's first. Opening day at the facility in Egg Harbor Township was Monday, and the state's youngest marijuana patient was among nine people with debilitating illnesses who had appointments to pick up some cannabis. [continues 770 words]
Edward Forchion, a medical-marijuana activist and patient, has begun serving a 270-day jail sentence in Burlington County for marijuana possession. Serving jail time in New Jersey for possession is unusual, so what did Forchion do to deserve the heel of the jackboot? He spoke out in support of medical marijuana and criticized his conviction - pointing out the hypocrisy of convicting a medical-marijuana patient for possession in a state with a medical-marijuana law. Civil disobedience has its price, and Forchion has always been willing to pay it. But jailing him is absurd in this changing legal climate. He should be freed. Terry H. Stern, Pennsauken, thstern@yahoo.com [end]
For States Forging Ahead, the Challenge Is to Keep Marijuana Away From Minors. The Debate Has Intensified As Momentum for Legalization Builds. WASHINGTON - When the Justice Department promised not to prosecute illegal marijuana sales planned to begin in Washington state and Colorado next year, its top lawyers demanded that the states reciprocate with a pledge to keep the drug away from minors. Officials in those pioneering pot states - where recreational use of marijuana was approved by voters in November - say they are ready to comply. But to legalization opponents, such promises are a pipe dream, destined to fail. They say it's more likely the United States will unleash a new industry that will try hard to attract young users and turn them into "addicts." [continues 637 words]
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J - There are no signs out front, but people still show up at a drab beige warehouse outside Atlantic City to ask whether medical marijuana is available. Inside the cavernous building, 1,500 plants are growing beneath glowing fuchsia, yellow, and white LED lights inside a makeshift room. Soon, the sweet-smelling, leafy plants will be harvested. They now stand 18 inches tall, each in a three-gallon pot, after three months of nurturing. Growers in white lab coats fussed over them last week, culling out unwanted half-male half-female specimens while three New Jersey health inspectors watched. [continues 929 words]
South Jersey's first medical marijuana dispensary, which is expected to open Oct. 15, received an unusual approval for a $357,000 low-interest loan Thursday from the state Economic Development Authority so that it can expand. "I'm elated. ... This means the state recognizes us as a legitimate business," said Bill Thomas, CEO of Compassionate Care Foundation, which leases a former casino warehouse in Egg Harbor Township, near Atlantic City. He said the EDA had to consult with the Attorney General's Office for a legal opinion before approving the 4.65 percent loan. [continues 199 words]
Gov. Christie signed legislation Tuesday that changes New Jersey's medical marijuana law to improve sick children's access to the drug. Last month, Christie vetoed a bill designed to remove barriers preventing a 2-year-old Scotch Plains girl with a rare form of epilepsy and other children with ailments from obtaining cannabis. He promised to sign it if lawmakers would agree to his revisions. On Monday, the Assembly went along with the governor, following Senate action last month. "I'm pleased the Legislature accepted my recommendations so that suffering children can get the treatment they need," he said in a statement Tuesday. "I've said all along that protection of our children remains my utmost concern, and this new law will help sick kids access the program while also keeping in place appropriate safeguards." [continues 81 words]
The Assembly Approved Allowing Edible Forms for Children, Sent Measure to Christie. TRENTON - A 2-year old Scotch Plains girl and other sick children who qualify for medical marijuana moved closer to getting treatment when the New Jersey Assembly overwhelmingly approved changes in the regulations Monday. Vivian Wilson, a toddler who suffers from a rare and severe form of epilepsy, was issued a card to obtain the drug in February but faced a number of roadblocks, including a ban on edible cannabis. [continues 637 words]
The Justice Department recently made headlines when it announced a new federal policy on marijuana. It should come as welcome news to the majority of Americans who, according to an April Pew Research Center poll, believe marijuana should be made legal for adults. The policy memo issued to U.S. attorneys across the nation says that the federal government will not interfere with state laws allowing the medical or adult use of marijuana, as long as those states follow certain guidelines in their regulation of the product. This means that people in Colorado and Washington state, where voters passed such laws in November, will be able to start selling marijuana to people 21 and older next year. [continues 562 words]
While many New Jersey communities have refused to host medical marijuana dispensaries during the last three years, blue-collar Bellmawr seems more relaxed, even a bit surprised that others would object. "I don't care. If they run it properly, then it's just another business," said John Brown, who owns a heating and air-conditioning establishment directly behind the building in the Camden County borough that is being converted into a marijuana clinic and cultivation area. "If it helps people who are in pain and can't see, that's wonderful," he said. [continues 863 words]
A small borough that rejected plans for a marijuana clinic more than two years ago now will become the home of South Jersey's second dispensary. The Compassionate Sciences dispensary is expected to open early next year in Bellmawr in Camden County, four years after the Garden State legalized the drug for medical use. Bellmawr, a 3-square-mile town with 12,000 people, situated along a popular South Jersey Shore route, had been approached by another dispensary operator, Compassionate Care Foundation, in 2011. At that time, Mayor Frank Filipek said that he and the police chief and other officials had grave reservations and told the operator they would not support the proposal. [continues 296 words]
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration announced Thursday a limited pullback on federal enforcement of the prohibition on marijuana, saying it will not interfere with new state laws that permit recreational use of the drug. The Justice Department said that it will not seek to veto new state laws in Colorado and Washington that legalize the recreational use of marijuana, and that it will not bring federal prosecutions against dispensaries or businesses that sell small amounts of marijuana to adults. A department official stressed, however, that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and that U.S. prosecutors will continue to aggressively enforce the law against those who sell marijuana to minors and to criminal gangs that are involved in drug trafficking. [continues 107 words]
BURLCO BUZZ - New Jersey Assemblyman Reed Gusciora, one of the prime sponsors of the state's three-year-old medical marijuana law, is puzzled by Gov. Christie's veto of a bill that would remove hurdles that keep seriously ill children from using cannabis. The veto was conditional, meaning Christie is demanding changes before he will sign the bill. The bill was passed after Brian and Meghan Wilson told lawmakers their 2-year-old girl needs cannabis because it has the potential to stop her frequent, life-threatening seizures. The Scotch Plains couple urged amendments to the law, which they said was flawed. [continues 202 words]
He Said He Would Back Edible Marijuana for Young Patients, but He Insisted on Two Changes. Gov. Christie told the Legislature on Friday that he would ease restrictions on minors using medical marijuana, but only if certain stipulations remained in place. The governor returned a medical-marijuana bill (S-2842) with recommended changes, saying he supported legalizing edible forms of marijuana and additional strains better suited to minors, but rejected a provision that would decrease the number of physician referrals required for a minor's entry into the program. [continues 677 words]
Parents of a 5-year-old Colorado girl who suffered from severe seizures say medical marijuana has saved their child's life. Footage of the child before and after she was given cannabis was shown Sunday in a documentary, Weed, aired on CNN and hosted by Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon. Paige and Matt Figi said in the CNN interview that their daughter, Charlotte, had 300 seizures a week before she was administered drops of cannabis under her tongue a year ago. She had been in a catatonic state, unable to eat, talk, or walk. Now, after regularly using cannabis, she has only one seizure every seven days, the parents said. Footage shows her talking, walking, laughing, and riding a bicycle and also a horse. [continues 158 words]
WASHINGTON - U.S. drug czar Gil Kerlikowske is leaving office unceremoniously, forgotten long before he was ever known to most Americans. But for those leading the push to legalize marijuana, he'll be remembered as the tough-talking former police chief from Seattle who never yielded on the question of legalization, always warning of the health dangers linked to smoking pot. That stance put him at odds with the growing majority of Americans who now back legalization. As Kerlikowske, 63, heads for a possible job as the U.S. Customs and Border Protection commissioner, his exit prompts suggestions that America's drug czar has become irrelevant and whether President Obama should bother with a replacement. [continues 224 words]
The deadline for Gov. Christie to sign or veto a bill that would make it easier for children to use medical marijuana has been pushed back 11 days, to Aug. 19. Christie has said he has misgivings. Advocates say severely ill children can benefit from the drug. The ingredient that produces a high would be removed from the drug before it is given to children. The issue spiked last week when the parents of 2-year-old Vivian Wilson dropped off 2,100 petitions from supporters that ask the governor to sign the bill. The Scotch Plains girl has a severe type of epilepsy that triggers daily seizures that have not responded to barbiturates and other prescribed narcotics. [continues 162 words]
Parents Took 2,200 Letters to Christie Seeking Change to the Ban on Distributing Edible Medical Marijuana. Parents who have been fighting for changes in the state's medical marijuana law so they can provide the drug to their severely ill children took their campaign to Gov. Christie's office Thursday, armed with more than 2,100 letters from supporters. In New Jersey, sick children are allowed to use cannabis under the three-year-old law, but strict regulations and problems in implementation have made it impossible for any of them to obtain marijuana. [continues 508 words]
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A 25year-old college student reached a $4.1 million settlement with the federal government after he was abandoned in a windowless Drug Enforcement Administration cell for more than four days without food or water, his attorneys said Tuesday. Daniel Chong was taken into custody during a drug raid and placed in the cell in April 2012 by a San Diego police officer authorized to perform DEA work. The officer told Chong he would not be charged and said, "'Hang tight, we'll come get you in a minute,' " his lawyer Eugene Iredale said. [continues 84 words]
I was shocked to learn that children with serious medical conditions can use medical marijuana legally in New Jersey. However, it makes no sense if there are regulations that make it difficult for parents to obtain the treatment, nor that the sole dispensary in the state has been forbidden from offering the edible form of cannabis to children ("Christie pressed to OK medical pot for children," July 16). The benefits of trying marijuana, a natural drug that does not get the child high and has worked on children in Colorado and California, far outweigh the risks. It was inspiring that Gov. Christie received more than 1,500 faxes supporting a proposal to ease access to medical marijuana for children. Steven Pfeifer, Tabernacle [end]
A 24-Year Philadelphia Study Produces Unexpected Results. A Quarter-Century Philadelphia Study of Cocaine Exposure in the Womb and Its Effects Produces an Unexpected but Clear Result. Jaimee Drakewood hurried in from the rain, eager to get to her final appointment at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Ever since her birth 23 years ago, a team of researchers has been tracking every aspect of her development - gauging her progress as an infant, measuring her IQ as a prechooler, even peering into her adolescent brain using an MRI machine. [continues 1919 words]
Gov. Christie has received 1,500 faxes over the last three weeks urging him to sign a bill that would ease the requirements children must meet before they can use medical marijuana, say the parents of a 2-year-old who has a severe form of epilepsy. So far, the governor has issued no response, but at previous news conferences, he said he was "not inclined" to let children have marijuana. Children with serious diseases and conditions in New Jersey can legally use marijuana, but current regulations make it difficult for them to obtain it. A bill that would address these problems passed the legislature last month and is on Christie's desk. He has until next month to act on it. [continues 558 words]
Christie's opposition to fewer restrictions has led to a campaign by parents of a child, 2, with severe epilepsy. Gov. Christie has received 1,500 faxes over the last three weeks urging him to sign a bill that would ease the requirements children must meet before they can use medical marijuana, say the parents of a 2-year-old who has a severe form of epilepsy. So far, the governor has issued no response, but at previous news conferences, he said he was "not inclined" to let children have marijuana. [continues 610 words]
Patty DiRenzo fought for a Good Samaritan law for drug overdoses after her son died of one in 2010. Since Gov. Christie signed New Jersey's version of the law in May, she has been fighting to educate the public on what it means. The law gives immunity to drug users who call for help for someone who has overdosed or needs medical attention. Recently, DiRenzo, of Blackwood, began an effort to hang signs around South Jersey that read: "Don't run. Call 911. New Jersey's Overdose Prevention Bill Will Protect You." [continues 316 words]
The U.S. Conference of Mayors should be congratulated for its unanimous support recently of a resolution calling for the respect of local decisions regarding marijuana. A dramatically shrinking number of Americans believe the hard federal line regarding marijuana. It's not more dangerous than crack cocaine. It is not more addictive than tobacco. It does not cause indolence. The mayors are among the first group of officials to acknowledge that people are thinking for themselves about cannabis, but they're not the only ones in authority. Recently, I witnessed police responding to a noise complaint at an apartment building. They found an apartment full of smoke, giggling men, and a bong. The lead policeman sighed, saying, "We had a noise complaint. Keep it down, OK?" And they left. One officer said he couldn't arrest a guy at home for pot, no matter the law. Not in public, he said, but in private, it's not his business. Other authorities should acknowledge that people are making up their own minds about cannabis, whatever it does. It is time to formally allow it. Terry H. Stern, Pennsauken [end]
Burlco Buzz Without fanfare, the New Jersey Health Department reported last week that 1,000 patients are now registered to receive medical marijuana. It's hardly a milestone. Due to a shortage of dispensaries and several delays in the state program, only about 130 patients have actually been able to buy cannabis. Many patients are upset. Medical marijuana was legalized 31/2 years ago for compassionate use. Only patients with serious illnesses and diseases, including terminal cancer, AIDS, epilepsy, and MS, qualify for its use. Most still cannot get it. [continues 251 words]
Assembly Passed Bill to Make It Easier for the Severely Sick to Use the Drug. It's now up to Gov. Christie to decide whether he wants to amend the state's medical marijuana law and regulations - the strictest in the country - to make it easier for severely sick children to use the drug. The New Jersey Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill Monday, days after the Senate passed identical legislation, that would streamline the approval process and allow children to use an edible strain of cannabis that does not get them high. [continues 765 words]
TRENTON (AP)- Patients, families, and advocates gathered Friday to highlight what they say is New Jersey's failure to meaningfully implement the state's medical marijuana program. They say the current system is restrictive and expensive. About two dozen people - many of whom spoke about troubles with the medical marijuana law - met to push lawmakers toward reforming regulations. Many complained about there being only one fully functional dispensary in Montclair, which for some is a five-hour road trip. A second dispensary in Egg Harbor Township received a permit Thursday to start growing the crop. It is not expected to open until September. The state's medical marijuana law was signed in 2010. [continues 182 words]
For the first time, marijuana can be grown legally in South Jersey, now that the state Health Department has granted a permit allowing seeds to be planted at a soon-to-open medical marijuana dispensary in Egg Harbor Township. Dave Knowlton, chairman of Compassionate Care Foundation, said the nonprofit, which got the permit Thursday, hopes to begin selling marijuana to registered patients in mid-September out of the Atlantic County facility. Normally, it takes three to four months to cultivate the crop and prepare it to be sold, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the Health Department. [continues 550 words]
WASHINGTON - 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 Tuesday, found marijuana arrest rates for black people were 3.73 times greater than those for white people nationally in 2010. In some counties, the arrest rate was 10 to 30 times greater for blacks. In two Alabama counties, 100 percent of those arrested for marijuana possession were black, the ACLU said. [continues 238 words]
Changes in Brain Structure, Lower Iq, Memory Disorders Are Among the Effects. We often hear that marijuana isn't that dangerous. In reality, regular use of marijuana may permanently damage a teen's developing brain, and could lead to a reduction in IQ, other drug use, and mental health issues. I heard a frightening lecture by Sharon Levy of Children's Hospital Boston about the effect of marijuana on the developing brain last month at the Pediatric Academic Societies meeting in Washington, DC. [continues 308 words]
The New Jersey Assembly has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would prevent medical-marijuana patients from being disqualified for receiving organ transplants because they are using a drug that historically was deemed illegal. The bill would make sure hospitals and doctors don't "exclude people who are otherwise eligible for organ transplants" just because they use medical marijuana, said Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes (D., Middlesex), a prime sponsor. New Jersey legalized medical marijuana three years ago and restricts the drug's use to people suffering from debilitating illnesses, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and other conditions. More than 900 patients are registered statewide. [continues 243 words]
Dwight D. Eisenhower, mastermind of D-Day, wrote that, "Every gun ... made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed." To that, I would add that every addict warehoused in prison, every alcoholic locked behind bars instead of treated, every dollar spent on our dysfunctional prisons instead of warning the public of the true dangers of drugs (most crime is drug-related) is a theft of people's potential, a distraction of valuable police resources, a waste of talented lawyers' time, and a senseless plundering of citizens' tax dollars. [continues 56 words]
Woodbridge site could join one in Egg Harbor as a dispensary of medical marijuana in New Jersey. Two more medical marijuana dispensaries may open soon in New Jersey, bringing the total to three, state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd said Thursday in response to a legislator's questions about the progress of the three-year-old program. Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli (D., Gloucester) asked whether the program's budget should be cut, noting that only one of the six dispensaries that were preliminarily approved had opened. [continues 384 words]
WASHINGTON - How it affects children will be one factor the Justice Department weighs as it determines how to respond to the legalization of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told Congress on Thursday. "I think among the kinds of things we will have to consider is the impact on children," along with factors such as violence connected to trafficking and organized crime, Holder told a House Appropriations subcommittee. He commented in response to questions about ballot initiatives legalizing the drug. "We are certainly going to enforce federal law," Holder said. Marijuana is illegal under federal law, and one congressman pressed Holder to challenge the state initiatives in court. [end]
By 5-4, an Odd Mix of Justices Ruled a Florida Search That Started Without a Warrant Was Unconstitutional. WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court, in an usual alignment of justices, ruled Tuesday that police cannot take drug-sniffing police dogs onto a suspect's property to look for evidence without first getting a warrant for a search. The court split 5-4 on the decision to uphold the Florida Supreme Court's ruling throwing out evidence seized in the search of Joelis Jardines' Miami-area house. That search was based on an alert by Franky the drug dog from outside the closed front door. [continues 365 words]
TRENTON - Three years after New Jersey passed a law allowing patients with serious ailments to use medical marijuana, debate has erupted over whether the program is languishing. On Thursday, hours after the Coalition for Medical Marijuana of NJ held a panel discussion in the Statehouse annex to criticize the state's handling of the program, the Department of Health issued unexpected news. Donna Leusner, the department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail that five of the six nonprofit companies that have been preliminarily approved to open marijuana dispensaries have "secured locations." [continues 537 words]
A Nine-Month Sentence Was Handed Down to the NJ Weedman. The man who calls himself NJ Weedman was sentenced Tuesday to a harsher term for violating probation than he had received for possessing a pound of marijuana. Ed Forchion, 48, received nine months in the Burlington County Jail for failing to sign up immediately with the probation department after he was sentenced in January to two years on probation on an April 2010 drug charge. Forchion, a former New Jerseyan who lives in Los Angeles, was arrested Jan. 31 at Philadelphia International Airport as he prepared to fly home. [continues 205 words]
Ruling for a Mother Whose Infant Tested Positive for Cocaine, It Said the Evidence Was Insufficient. Child protection workers did not prove that a Cape May County mother abused her infant even though the child tested positive for cocaine at birth, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision Wednesday. The decision overturned two lower-court decisions in the 2007 case. Drug tests alone do not substantiate abuse and protection workers must show actual or imminent harm, the justices wrote. [continues 485 words]
A Superior Court judge in Burlington County sentenced the man known as NJ Weedman to two years of probation and more than $3,400 in fines and fees Wednesday for possessing a pound of pot in his car nearly three years ago. Marijuana activist Ed Forchion had used the inconsistency of criminal and medical-marijuana drug laws to win acquittal on the more serious charge of drug distribution when he was tried in October. Forchion could have faced 10 years in prison on the distribution charge. [continues 497 words]
Phila. D.A.'S Office Will Drop More Than 100 Cases on Monday. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is scheduled to withdraw scores of cases Monday as prosecutors continue scrambling to drop arrests carried out by officers in a controversial narcotics unit, according to criminal justice sources. One source in the court system, who asked to remain anonymous because he lacked approval to discuss the dismissals, said more than 100 prosecutions would be withdrawn. If that happens, the number of recent cases dismissed would reach at least 270, surpassing the roughly 250 that were dropped in the late 1990s during the epic scandal involving the 39th Police District. [continues 541 words]
In 1991, Milton Friedman appeared on the television series America's Drug Forum: "I see America with half the number of prisons, half the number of prisoners, 10,000 fewer homicides a year, inner cities in which there's a chance for these poor people to live without being afraid for their lives ... the same thing happened under Prohibition of alcohol as is happening now." JOHN OVERMYER Friedman, a Nobel laureate in economics, then challenged government's infringement on individual liberty: "If [the drug user] is caught, he goes to jail. Now, is that moral? Is that proper? I think it's absolutely disgraceful that our government should be in the position of converting people who are not harming others into criminals.... That's the issue to me." [continues 610 words]
The New Jersey chapter of the country's largest drug-abuse prevention program for schoolchildren is in jeopardy of losing its charter in a dispute over a national curriculum it says is unproved. The state chapter of Drug Abuse Resistance Education, popularly known as D.A.R.E., introduced an alternate curriculum in New Jersey elementary schools in July, allegedly without seeking approval of its parent organization, D.A.R.E. America. The move came after the New Jersey Association of School Administrators notified New Jersey D.A.R.E. Inc. in October 2011 it would not allow the national nonprofit group's program, "keepin' it REAL," to be introduced in grade schools because it had not been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as effective for young children. [continues 1013 words]
A Note From the State to Participants Inadvertently Showed E-Mail Addresses and Even Some Full Names. Lisa Segal prays that those who inadvertently obtained the names of New Jerseyans approved by the state to buy medical marijuana will maintain the privacy she says those seriously ill patients deserve. The state Department of Health apologized Wednesday for an e-mail sent to more than 400 marijuana program participants in which the recipients' e-mail addresses were plainly visible. Some addresses incorporated the patients' full names. [continues 413 words]
A dispensary in Essex County sold the drug to 300 people after a long fight to legalize sales. When Jay Lassiter took his first-ever toke of medical marijuana Tuesday evening, he knew it would relieve the nausea he experiences from the nine prescription drugs he consumes daily to treat HIV. For years, the political consultant has kept a marijuana-filled pipe in his Cherry Hill kitchen to calm his frequently upset stomach and to nudge him to eat when his appetite flagged. [continues 1250 words]
N.J.'S First Licensed Dispensary Served Only 20 Patients on Its First Day Open. For many advocates of medical marijuana, the opening of New Jersey's first dispensary was a milestone worth celebrating, even though the door was cracked open long enough to let in only 20 patients that day. So far, 354 seriously ill people have state-issued licenses to buy the drug, but Greenleaf Compassion Center in Montclair said it could accommodate only a limited number when it finally opened Thursday, three months later than it had anticipated. [continues 811 words]
Now the governor wants to tax marijuana prescribed to relieve cancer patients' pain. Medical marijuana has been declared a prescription drug by the Legislature, so why is Gov. Christie trying to charge a sales tax when it's purchased? Is it out of spite because he couldn't block the legislation? Whatever the reason, it's wrong. Medical marijuana should be treated like other prescription and over-the-counter drugs, whch means no sales tax would be collected. The Christie administration jumped on an apparent loophole in the law when the Treasury Department announced last week that medical marijuana would be subject to a 7 percent sales tax - a potential revenue windfall for the state's coffers, but an additional financial burden for cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other patients prescribed marijuana to relieve pain. [continues 504 words]
SEATTLE (AP) - Legal marijuana possession becomes a reality in Washington state Thursday, and some plan to celebrate the new law by breaking it. Voters in Washington and Colorado last month made those the first states to decriminalize and regulate the recreational use of marijuana. Washington's law takes effect Thursday and allows adults to have up to an ounce of pot - but it bans public use, which is punishable by a fine. Still, some people planned to gather to smoke beneath Seattle's Space Needle. Others planned to party outside Hempfest headquarters in Seattle. [continues 51 words]
Lawmakers Behind the Bill Say They Were Not Told About Imposing a Sales Tax. A lawmaker who was influential in getting New Jersey's medical marijuana law passed said he was stunned by the Christie administration's announcement last week that the drug would be taxed. State Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D., Mercer), who spent five years gathering support for the bill before it was enacted in 2010, said the Treasury Department's rationale was jarring, given the history of the bill. [continues 609 words]
SPOKANE, Wash. - Young voters helped pass laws legalizing marijuana in Washington and Colorado, but many still won't be able to light up. Most universities have codes of conduct banning marijuana use, and they get millions of dollars from the federal government, which still considers pot illegal. And it's still not clear how the federal government will respond to state legalization off campus as well. With federal money comes a requirement for a drug-free campus, and the threat of expulsion for students using pot in dorms. [continues 262 words]
It bothers me to read that one-third of our states now permit medicinal marijuana and even more that two states are now allowing its recreational use ("Marijuana laws no pipe dream," Wednesday). This is in direct violation of our federal laws, which consider marijuana an illegal drug. States that choose to condone violating federal antidrug laws perhaps should no longer receive federal funds that pay for antidrug activities. Why should taxpayers from other states spend their money to deal with a problem that these states do not take seriously? If these states don't consider drugs a problem, let them deal with the fallout. Michael E. Bail, Norristown, michaelbail@icloud.com [end]
