MONTEGO BAY (IPS) - "Traditionally people have had it, and put it in bottles with rum and used it for various ailments. Over the years, it got demonised by the United States," Freckleton told IPS. Called ganja in Jamaica, mention of marijuana, or cannabis, tends to conjure up images of hedonistic tourists smoking "weed" with easy-going Jamaicans.. The reality for thousands of Jamaicans has been far different, however. Possession of marijuana, even in the small amounts present in a ganja cigarette, popularly known as a spliff, is a criminal offence. The police every year drag hundreds of Jamaicans -- most of them poor young men -- before the courts, where they are fined sums as low as five U.S. dollars, but left with a criminal record. [continues 988 words]
LONDON (Reuters) - Smoking cannabis is not the harmless recreational activity it may seem because it can cause lung damage, researchers said Friday. Regularly smoking three or four joints a week, even for less than six years, can impair lung function and rob the body of antioxidants that protect cells against damage that can lead to heart disease and cancer. "Smoking cannabis on a regular basis actually depletes your lung of protective antioxidant substances...and this may have chronic long-term implications for young individuals," said Dr Sarah Nuttall of the University of Birmingham in central England. [continues 239 words]
Akwesasne Mohawk Territory (CP) -- The chase is on as twin 150-horsepower engines split the late-night stillness in smugglers paradise. An RCMP zodiac takes off down the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ont. Reaching 80 kilometres an hour, it skips over a frigid surface that glitters like cut glass. Two Mounties and a local police officer race without running lights to catch a boat as it speeds into the darkness. "Over there," shouts RCMP Sgt. Gilles Tougas above the roar. He points north toward a swath of the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. [continues 940 words]
BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) - They have tried aerial assaults and stiff jail sentences. Now Colombian officials have a new and unlikely weapon to combat the cocaine trade: push-up bras and thongs. Some 900 peasant women in Colombia are set to make racy lingerie and sell it to French supermarket chain Carrefour under a U.N.-backed program aimed at encouraging impoverished farmers and their families to stop growing drug crops. "We thought it was a very original idea. These are regions where there are drug crops and people need legal jobs," said Thierry Rostan of the U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention in Bogota. [continues 172 words]
OAKLAND, Calif. -- If there's an epicenter of the nation's medical marijuana movement, it may be in a gritty six-block area near Oakland's city hall, where at least 11 dispensaries sell pot to any California resident with a doctor's note. Since voters approved a state ballot measure legalizing medical marijuana in 1996, "pot clubs" have popped up in San Francisco, Hayward, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, among other California cities. But nowhere is their concentration as high as Oakland, leading some residents of this famously tolerant city of 400,000 to wonder if the proliferation of clubs has gone too far. [continues 664 words]
(Reuters) - Scientists in the United States have identified a key protein involved in one of the most lethal side effects of the popular but illegal drug ecstasy. Most ecstasy-related deaths are caused by an increase in body temperature, or hyperthermia, which leads to organ failure. Researchers at Ohio Northern University and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland have discovered that mice lacking a protein called UCP-3 manage to stay cool even after they were injected with the drug which is known chemically as MDMA. [continues 302 words]
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--A U.N. agency has delivered an emergency shipment of rice to former opium poppy farmers in Myanmar who have turned to growing substitute crops, state media reported Thursday. The U.N. World Food Program on Saturday delivered 690 metric tons (760 U.S. tons) of rice to the remote Kokang region of northeastern Shan State, where people are facing a serious food shortage, the Myanma Ahlin newspaper said. Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, and recently has become a major exporter of the illicit stimulant methamphetamine. [continues 240 words]
BANGKOK (AP)--Myanmar's military government Friday denounced U.S. government sanctions against its banking industry, saying any financial sector problems were partly the fault of developed nations that failed to provide aid. The U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday designated Myanmar and two of its private commercial banks as being of "primary money-laundering concern," and announced plans to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from doing business with the two. The action against the two banks represented the first time the U.S. Treasury Department used a section of the USA Patriot Act against specific foreign financial institutions, it said. [continues 256 words]
MONTREAL (CP) - Canada and other members of the Organization of American States must reject the trend to legalize drugs in order to better fight drug abuse, trafficking and organized crime, Mexico's attorney general warned Monday. But Canada's Solicitor General Wayne Easter insisted the federal government's plans to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana aren't contrary to Canada's participation in an international drug abuse control commission meeting this week in Montreal. Easter was responding to an opening address by Rafael Macedo de la Concha, Mexico's attorney general and outgoing chairman of the OAS Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission. [continues 290 words]
Montana high school and middle school student leaders decided Tuesday to oppose random drug testing. The 900 students attending the Montana Association of Student Councils convention here adopted a resolution "staunchly opposed to drug use in our schools" but equally opposed to any random drug-testing program in schools. The students said testing of students in athletics and other extracurricular activities could deter some students from taking part in positive activities. They also passed a resolution against community service as a requirement for graduation. [continues 153 words]
GOOSE CREEK, S.C. -- State police are investigating why officers charged into a crowded high school hallway with guns drawn in a drug sweep. Videotape from Stratford High School surveillance cameras showed students sitting on the floor Wednesday while officers with guns drawn looked for drugs. Charleston-area prosecutor Ralph Hoisington asked the State Law Enforcement Division to look into possible police misconduct in the operation. He called for the probe Friday after consulting with Berkeley County Sheriff Wayne DeWitt. No drugs were found in the early morning sweep that included 14 officers and one drug dog. Some students were cuffed during the raid. [continues 540 words]
BALTIMORE (AP) -- Faced in recent years with burgeoning budget deficits, half of the legislatures in the country have rolled-back at least some of the get-tough on crime provisions of the past two decades, prison reform advocates were told Monday. States have repealed mandatory sentencing laws, re-established parole, and diverted nonviolent offenders from prison and into treatment programs, said Judith A. Green, of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Speaking at the opening session of a two-day national conference on criminal justice reform, Green said the public appears to have reached a "tipping point" where reform efforts will continue even after the budget crisis is over. [continues 451 words]
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) -- New Jersey leads the nation in the proportion of prison inmates jailed for nonviolent drug offenses, as a result of punitive, inflexible laws that are burdensome to taxpayers and ineffective in curbing drug abuse, a drug policy reform group says. The Washington-based Drug Policy Alliance reported Thursday that 36 percent of New Jersey's 28,000 prison inmates are serving sentences for drug crimes, compared with the national average of 20 percent. The group quoted figures from the New Jersey state Department of Corrections as of June 2002. [continues 622 words]
BLANTYRE, Oct 29 (IPS) - Malawi police are losing the battle against crafty marijuana smugglers, who have evaded a nationwide clampdown by transporting the popular narcotic in hearses, coffins and ambulances, with the support of some rogue government officials. Police spokesperson, George Chikowi, told IPS in an interview that Malawi remains one of Africa's largest producers, despite concerted efforts to rid the country of the illicit crop. "Malawi remains the second largest marijuana producer in Southern Africa, after South Africa. This is despite our best efforts to clampdown on the production, trafficking and consumption of marijuana," said Chikowi. [continues 1120 words]
The Government says it will consider roadside testing for cannabis but it wants to see the results of trials being carried out by Australian police. Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton today released the Government's response to the report on cannabis from Parliament's health committee, which was the result of a three-year inquiry. One of its recommendations was that a testing regime for cannabis should be developed, and the way it affected drivers should be investigated. Mr Anderton said there would be funding in the next budget for research, and in Australia the police were trialing roadside detectors and saliva testing. [continues 331 words]
The Government has again ruled out changing the legal status of cannabis and says it is up to Parliament's justice committee to make a recommendation - if it wants to. Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton today released the Government's response to the health committee's report on the status of cannabis, which was issued in August after a three-year inquiry. The health committee made several recommendations covering cannabis issues but it did not recommend on the legal status of the drug. [continues 52 words]
OTTAWA (CP) - Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he believes there's still time to pass his controversial bill to decriminalize marijuana. Cauchon acknowledged time is tight, but downplayed reports that Parliament will prorogue next week, killing the bill. "People expect that the House will close next week. We don't know yet about that so I'm working on a daily basis in order to make sure that we're going to go as fast as we can." The legislation would reduce the punishment for simple possession of pot to a fine rather than a criminal record, while boosting penalties for growers. Cauchon's comments came as British lawmakers voted to downgrade marijuana's status in their country. The reclassification places pot on par with steroids, rather than hard drugs. [end]
DALLAS - In a speech replete with references to "miracles" and a "higher power bigger than people's problems," President Bush (news - web sites) on Wednesday renewed his push to let religious groups compete for government money. "The best way to help the addict ... is to change their heart," Bush said in a reference to how he stopped drinking at age 40. "See, if you change their heart, then they change their behavior. "I know!" Bush said, thrusting a finger into the air. [continues 442 words]
YANGON, Oct 29 -- Myanmar's military junta slammed the United States Wednesday for failing to cooperate in its war against drugs and warned tough new US sanctions were obstructing efforts to fight drugs production. The criticism followed the US State Department's release Monday of its biannual report on Myanmar which said the Southeast Asian nation had made little headway in combatting illicit narcotics production. "The United States refuses to cooperate in Myanmar's war against narcotics and does not even allow Myanmar to participate in training programs," the junta fumed in its latest salvo in the verbal jousts between the countries. [continues 283 words]
WASHINGTON (AP)--Colombian troops trained and armed by the U.S. under a counternarcotics program failed to rid an area of guerrillas before a U.S. plane fumigating coca crops was shot down last month, a government investigation found. It also said troops weren't close enough to respond once the plane was attacked. U.S. State Department officials who sent the planes on the fatal mission Sept. 21 were unaware of intelligence showing a heavy guerrilla presence in the area, according to a summary of the report's final draft obtained by The Associated Press. [continues 423 words]
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -- As La Paz burned last week, Carlos Mesa, Bolivia's new president, publicly broke ranks with his former boss, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who had ordered troops to put a stop to violent demonstrations. After at least 65 deaths, the demonstrators won, Sanchez de Lozada went into exile and Mesa, who previously served as vice-president, took over. He now faces a baptism by fire. A political independent with no power base, Mesa will have to balance competing demands from powerful, polarized sectors, both domestic and foreign, amid a tremendous public financing crunch. [continues 894 words]
NEW YORK -- With their man in La Paz forced into exile, U.S. policymakers are facing a dicey situation in Bolivia that threatens to spill into neighboring countries. A full-blown crisis was averted in the small Andean country over the weekend when Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, a friend of big business with close ties to Washington, resigned from the presidency and boarded an airplane for Miami after weeks of increasingly violent protests against his government that left dozens dead. Local lawmakers named vice president Carlos Mesa to replace him and Bolivia stepped back, at least temporarily, from the brink of civil war. [continues 1512 words]
Tehran -- The first meeting of National Focal Points (NFP) of the Drug Control Coordination Unit (DCCU) of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) Secretariat was held in the ECO secretariat on Tuesday, said a press release issued by ECO secretariat in Tehran. According to the press release, the meeting opened with a speech by ECO Secretary General Bekzhassar Narbayev which was read by his deputy. In his message, Narbayev welcomed the guests from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. [continues 302 words]
WASHINGTON - Kate Patton had never heard of Ecstasy before the night of Nov. 14, 1999. That's when two police officers came to her home in suburban Chicago to tell her that her 23-year-old daughter, Kelley, was dead. She had overdosed on Ecstasy. Patton joined anti-drug advocates Thursday at a news conference announcing new TV, radio, newspaper and Internet ads aimed at encouraging parents to talk to their children about Ecstasy - known as the "Hug Drug," "X" or "E." [continues 308 words]
LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) - President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned in a letter to Congress on Friday, a senior government source said, after a month-long revolt by Bolivia's Indian majority in which more than 70 people died. "The letter of resignation has been sent to Congress," the source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters. The decision, which the government has not immediately confirmed, came after tens of thousands of people had marched and blockaded the world's highest capital for weeks to reject Sanchez de Lozada's pro-U.S., free-market economic policies. [continues 560 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of grandparents are acting as primary caregiver to their grandchildren, often because their own sons and daughters are in jail or on drugs. A Census Bureau report released Thursday found that more than one-third of the 2.4 million grandparents who are primary caregivers to a grandchild lived in a home without the grandchild's parents. The report, which looked at data from the 2000 census in greater detail, did not include reasons for that dynamic. Some grandparents do it because the parents have died, while other parents may be ill, said Sandra Horton, 59, of Lockhart, Texas, who runs a grandparent support group and cares for her 12-year-old granddaughter. [continues 542 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court rejected an appeal that jeopardized state medical marijuana laws that allow ill patients to smoke pot if they get a doctor's recommendation. Justices turned down the Bush administration's request to consider whether the federal government can punish doctors for recommending or perhaps even talking about the benefits of the drug to sick patients. An appeals court said they cannot. Nine states have laws legalizing marijuana for patients with physician recommendations or prescriptions: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, and 35 states have passed legislation recognizing marijuana's medicinal value. But federal law bans the use of pot under any circumstances. [continues 405 words]
CARACAS -- The U.S. should worry about its own illegal drug problem instead of criticizing that of other countries, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Friday. Rangel accused the U.S. of being "the largest producer of marijuana in the world" and the largest consumer of illegal substances. He didn't back up his comments with specific figures or refer to research. Rangel made the comments in response to recent U.S. press reports that accused the administration of President Hugo Chavez of taking part in the illegal drugs trade with Colombian guerrilla groups. Chavez flatly denied the charges. [continues 127 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday pondered whether an employee fired for drug use can later, after rehabilitation, demand special rehiring preferences as a recovered addict under the Americans With Disabilities Act. The justices took up the issue in the case of Raytheon Co. v. Hernandez, 02-749, which challenges employer drug-use guidelines in place at companies across the country. "This is a decision that has extraordinary implications for thousands of companies that have similar policies," said attorney Carter Phillips, who represented Raytheon (RTN) at oral arguments. [continues 418 words]
MEXICO CITY (AP)--Mexico kept wiretaps and other intelligence secret for nearly a year as part of a joint U.S.-Mexico anti-drug operation, a feat Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor cited Thursday as proof of "a new era" in the country's once leak-prone law enforcement. Top organized crime prosecutor Jose Santiago Vasconcelos said more long-term drug probes like July's successful Operation Trifecta are in the works, and more arrests are expected soon. "This marks a new era in anti-drug cooperation," Vasconcelos said of Trifecta, a joint drug bust that resulted in more than 240 arrests after a 19-month investigation of the Zambada-Garcia drug cartel. [continues 276 words]
Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger is arriving in Sacramento with hopes of getting along better with one of California's recent enemies: the Bush administration. California has staged epic battles with the federal government on issues including environmental protection, energy, health care, consumer protections, immigration and medical marijuana. Schwarzenegger has promised to continue some of these efforts - - an ongoing lawsuit, for example, that would allow California to set tougher anti-smog standards for carbon dioxide emissions than the federal government requires. But during his first news conference as governor-elect, the moderate Republican indicated he's willing to reach some compromises with the more conservative President Bush, who plans to campaign with Schwarzenegger in California next week. [continues 693 words]
SACRAMENTO -- Before he hands over his office keys to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Gray Davis has more than a little business to finish. Despite the demands of the recall campaign, the Democratic governor already has signed or vetoed some 750 pieces of legislation this year. That leaves 282 bills still waiting to be acted on before a midnight Sunday deadline. The remaining measures would eliminate the death penalty for the mentally retarded, ban the sale of ephedra-based pills used for weight loss, waive community college fees for poor illegal immigrants and provide special identification cards for medical marijuana patients. [continues 440 words]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected on Monday an appeal by a South Carolina woman convicted of homicide and sentenced to 12 years in prison for causing her baby to be stillborn by using cocaine. The high court refused to review an appeal by Regina McKnight who challenged the constitutionality of the South Carolina law and argued her sentence amounted to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment. McKnight, a cocaine addict, gave birth in 1999 to a stillborn, 5-pound baby girl. Her pregnancy was estimated to have lasted between 34 and 37 weeks. McKnight's urine sample tested positive for cocaine, and an autopsy of the baby revealed cocaine metabolites. [continues 264 words]
TORONTO -- An appeals court expanded the ability of patients to obtain medical marijuana but affirmed that possession by non-patients remains a crime. The decision Tuesday resolved a dilemma faced by the federal government: how to follow a court order to enable patients to get marijuana for treatment while also keeping the possession of pot by others illegal. With a looming court-imposed deadline to create a supply system for patients, the government in 2001 started registering qualified patients and authorizing them or other designated people to grow pot for medicinal use. Several hundred people have registered with the federal government to use marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 269 words]
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh ( http://www.rushlimbaugh.com ) said Thursday he resigned as an ESPN sports analyst to protect network employees from the uproar over critical comments he made about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. Limbaugh stepped down from the sports network's "Sunday NFL Countdown" late Wednesday, three days after saying on the show that McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. "The great people at ESPN did not want to deal with this kind of reaction," Limbaugh told the National Association of Broadcasters at its convention in Philadelphia on Thursday. "The path of least resistance became for me to resign." [continues 280 words]
GENEVA -- Philippe, 36, works for that abiding symbol of Swiss respectability - a bank. He also likes to relax with a joint of marijuana after work. Until very recently it looked as though his habit might soon cease to be a crime. But then Parliament killed government-backed legislation that would have decriminalized cannabis consumption. Last month's narrow 96-89 vote was ironic, because it leaves Switzerland - a pioneer in drug liberalization - on the "no" side in a gradual European trend toward softening the marijuana laws. [continues 742 words]
The Green Party is pushing its case for legalising the medicinal use of cannabis with a survey showing a third of doctors would consider prescribing it. MP Nandor Tanczos, a cannabis law reform campaigner, said it was the first such survey ever carried out. "It is a reality check for those cannabis prohibitionists who seem indifferent to the suffering of sick people and a wake-up call for the Government," he said. The survey was sent to 500 doctors selected at random and 45 per cent responded, giving a 6.5 per cent margin of error. [continues 491 words]
Some Examples Of Cannabis Policies In Europe: NETHERLANDS: Legislation dating back to 1976 decriminalized cannabis. Consumption and sale allowed in so-called coffee shops, which have annual sales around $3 billion. BELGIUM: Decriminalized possession of cannabis in 2002. BRITAIN: On Sept. 12, downgraded marijuana from Class B to Class C drug. Possession now carries maximum sentence of two years, but government says most offenders will get off with a warning. FRANCE: Possession of soft drugs risks heavy fine and year in prison, but in practice cannabis use seldom prosecuted. Government may eliminate jail time but toughen fines for cannabis use. [continues 104 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House on Tuesday extended the life of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy for five years while initiating a new program to protect neighborhood activists who stand up to local drug dealers. The legislation, passed by voice vote, also brings changes to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program to ensure that it focuses on places with critical drug problems and meets its goal of having local, state and federal law enforcement agencies work together in places with particularly serious drug problems. [continues 312 words]
JUNEAU -- Proponents of an initiative to decriminalize marijuana will get another chance to put the measure on the 2004 ballot, a Superior Court judge ruled. Anchorage Superior Judge John Suddock ordered Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and the state Division of Elections to reconsider nearly 200 petition booklets that were rejected earlier. Suddock said in a lengthy and, at times, scathing ruling issued Tuesday that state elections officials did not do enough to help the marijuana proponents work through the complicated initiative process. The Division of Elections received the ruling Thursday. [continues 458 words]
Undercover Agent Defends Texas Drug Arrests in '60 Minutes' Interview, Despite Pardons LUBBOCK, Texas Sept. 26 - A former undercover agent who faces perjury charges related to his part in the racially charged drug busts in Tulia says he's proud of what he did and is no racist, despite using a racial epithet "a lot." The epithet is "common slang" and "a greeting," Tom Coleman tells CBS' "60 Minutes" journalist Ed Bradley in Sunday's telecast. But he tells Bradley, who is black, that he wouldn't use the racial slur with him. "Oh, no sir, not you," Coleman says, according to a news release from the show. [continues 308 words]
BERN, Switzerland -- Ignoring the appeals of its health minister, the Swiss parliament Thursday blocked government moves to decriminalize cannabis and put state prescription of heroin on a permanent legal footing. After an emotional debate, the National Council voted 96-89 to take no action on the government's proposed narcotics law revision. This means the legislation will be kicked back to the Council of States, the upper house, which approved it in December 2001. Plans to decriminalize consumption and, under certain conditions, production and sale of cannabis - which in Switzerland refers to marijuana and other soft drugs - lay at the heart of the legislation. [continues 337 words]
NEW YORK (AP)--The Bahamas' prime minister said Wednesday he invited U.S. President George W. Bush to consider expanding the U.S. military presence in his country to help in the fight against terrorism and efforts to intercept drug smugglers and illegal migrants. Prime Minister Perry Christie was one of four Caribbean leaders to meet Bush at a breakfast during the U.N. General Assembly's annual session. Guyana's president and the prime ministers of St. Lucia and Grenada also attended. [continues 545 words]
The Green Party today distanced itself from an offensive message sent to United Future leader Peter Dunne. Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons sent a letter of regret and said the person who wrote the email was an unpaid volunteer who had been "unable to restrain himself". The row between the two parties over cannabis was reignited when party worker Stuart Young sent an email to Mr Dunne calling him a coward for refusing to debate law reform with Green MP Nandor Tanczos. [continues 351 words]
DENVER -- Contradictory laws have left Coloradans who qualify to use medical marijuana struggling to get the drug, three years after voters approved its use. While state law allows certified users to buy, own, transport and grow limited amounts of marijuana, federal law forbids it. Also, many doctors are hesitant to authorize the treatment. Today, 320 Colorado residents ranging in age from 18 to 76 have the certification to use medical marijuana. Those patients come from 39 of Colorado's 64 counties. [continues 328 words]
SPRINGFIELD, IL: Add Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Rauschenberger to the list of politicians who say they've tried marijuana. The state senator from Elgin acknowledged Wednesday at a Statehouse news conference that he twice smoked the illegal drug while he was a student at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Rauschenberger says he didn't enjoy it and didn't do it again, but he does think he inhaled. "I was a cigarette smoker at the time," Rauschenberger said. "I'm certain I had that reflex." [continues 75 words]
SAINT JOHN, N.B. (CP) - The owners of a Saint John cafe where patrons are encouraged to smoke pot and sip coffee are now offering over-the-counter sales of medicinal marijuana. Jim and Lynn Wood, founders of the Cannabis Cafe, announced Tuesday they have decided to sell high-grade marijuana from their store to people who need pot to ease their pain. "This will be Canada's first over-the-counter cannabis cafe," said Jim Wood. "Bascially, we're just trying to help people." [continues 503 words]
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A potential breakthrough in the treatment of multiple sclerosis could lie on the horizon, and it may come from an unlikely source: marijuana. According to clinical findings published in the most recent issue of the journal Brain, cannabinoids (ingredients in marijuana) offer neuroprotection against allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. After analyzing the findings, authors at London's Institute of Neurology concluded, "In addition to symptom management, cannabis may also slow down the neurodegenerative processes that ultimately lead to chronic disability in multiple sclerosis and probably other diseases." [continues 507 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - Brian Fitzgerald has been growing a marijuana plant in the window of his Massachusetts home for years, using it to treat his multiple sclerosis. On Tuesday, he and others lobbied Congress to make that treatment legal. More than 20 seriously ill patients urged lawmakers to pass legislation sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., that would allow states to pass laws sanctioning the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. But Frank acknowledged Tuesday that "with the Republicans in power, there is virtually no chance" of the bill becoming law. [continues 326 words]
BOGOTA (AP)--A U.S. drug-spraying plane crashed Sunday in northeast Colombia, the army said. Authorities were investigating whether the crash was an accident, or if rebels operating in the area shot the plane down. "We're not discarding any possibility yet," army Gen. Jairo Duvan Pineda told RCN Television. "What we do know is there is very bad weather in the area." The pilot, who is from Costa Rica, hasn't been found yet. Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are fighting the army, another rebel group and outlawed paramilitary fighters for control of the area, called Catatumbo, which is filled with cocaine-producing coca. [continues 93 words]
