After a Spate of Recalls in Denver, Should Users Be Worried? It's Hard to Say. Because Marijuana Is Still Illegal in Most Places, There's No Official "Safe Level" of Pesticides. Despite fining two marijuana growers and suspending the licenses of two others for using unapproved pesticides, Washington state hasn't recalled any products for pesticides during the 18 months that legal pot sales have been allowed. The city of Denver, by comparison, recently recalled 19 pot products for pesticides in 19 weeks. [continues 1200 words]
BISMARCK - Backers of a proposed ballot measure to legalize marijuana in North Dakota made an error in their petition submitted Wednesday, and the state's chief law enforcement officer said their proposal to legalize pot-related synthetic drugs also is a big mistake. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and the head of the state Board of Pharmacy expressed concern Thursday that, in addition to legalizing natural marijuana, the measure would delete synthetic cannabinoids from the list of Schedule 1 drugs after several years of efforts to outlaw the substances. [continues 731 words]
Of course not everything that would follow action by the Utah Legislature to allow the medicinal use of marijuana would be positive. There are few chemicals, natural or artificial, in the human environment that do not, when badly or excessively used, have serious, even fatal, downsides. But there has been more than enough evidence presented to convince any compassionate person - or institution - that medical cannabis offers some of us real relief from unimaginable levels of human suffering. Relief that is more effective, with fewer side-effects, than can be had from legal medications. [continues 566 words]
California Medical Association Hopes to Limit Smoking of One Plant, Legalize Another Doctors, WHO Once Offered Testimonials to Tobacco, Embrace Marijuana Legalization Two UC Tobacco Researchers Seek to Inject Dose of Conscience into Campaign Dr. Steven E. Larson, president of the California Medical Association, was walking a fine line the other day, or trying to. "No one should smoke. It has no benefit. Yes, we'd like to outlaw it if we could," he said, speaking of tobacco. Understandably, the California Medical Association is funding a 2016 initiative to raise the tobacco tax by $2, to $2.87 per pack, and for the first time tax electronic cigarettes. [continues 853 words]
Edmonton city police say it's likely just a matter of time before W-18 - - a drug up to 100 times more toxic than fentanyl - is seized here. Calgary police say they received lab results from Health Canada confirming three fentanyl pills seized during a drug bust in Rocky View County in August contained W-18, a type of opioid that's never been used clinically. Of the 109 pills seized, 20 were tested. W-18 has a different chemical composition than fentanyl but produces similar effects to the addictive drug, which has been linked to 270 deaths in Alberta last year, including 65 people in Edmonton. [continues 321 words]
The box came from Amsterdam. Casey Stone (pseudonym) and his three friends had waited weeks for the package to arrive. Finally, a Canada Post worker dropped off a brown box. It was addressed to one of Stone's friends and had just been flown in from the Dutch capital. Inside the box was a smaller box from a tea company. On top of it sat a letter from the tea company thanking the new customers for their patronage. They opened the box and pulled out a tea bag. Inside the bag was three grams of 3.4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, also known as Molly. [continues 1268 words]
A ban on marijuana bars and social clubs and random marijuana testing for pesticides or other harmful substances at retail stores are among the more contentious elements of Anchorage's draft cannabis business license regulations released this week. Anchorage officials have been developing a local license for marijuana businesses as a way to give local government more control over enforcement. But industry leaders have said a local license would be redundant to a state license and overly burdensome, and have promised to fight it in the coming weeks. [continues 365 words]
DENVER - Standing in a retail marijuana dispensary Tuesday, amid cannabis-infused candy and big jars of "Sour Diesel" and "Bazooka Joe," eight Massachusetts senators had some questions. "If I were to buy this, what would I do with it? Do I crush it? Roll it? Do I -" asked Senator John F. Keenan, pointing to a jar with a potent-smelling strain, his voice trailing off as if he weren't sure of the other options. "Is this medicinal?" asked Senator Michael O. Moore, who then lifted up a jar filled with Purple Alien OG, smiling and posing for a photo on his phone. [continues 854 words]
"If you remember the '60s," the joke goes, "you weren't there." It was a reference to the countless mind-altering "psychedelic" drugs ingested by members of the so-called "Woodstock Generation." Chief among those drugs was lysergic acid diethylamide - LSD or "acid, as it was nicknamed invented by Albert Hoffman, who was born this week (Jan. 11) in 1906. A Swiss chemist doing pharmaceutical research at Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland, in 1938, he synthesized LSD in the hopes that it might help with respiratory diseases, but he shelved the project until, in 1943, he decided to re-examine the possible medicinal uses for the drug. [continues 343 words]
A Scientist Who Looked at the Data Says a Number of Labs Are Overly Grower-Friendly. Some state-certified marijuana labs testing for microbes such as E.coli and mold appear more friendly to pot merchants than others, according to an analysis by a Woodinville data scientist. Four labs rejected none of the pot they tested over a three-month period last year, according to the analysis by Jim MacRae. Four other labs failed more than 12 percent of samples tested over the same time, with two labs rejecting 44 percent of samples for microbes. [continues 1034 words]
FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky's evolving battle with drug abuse will continue into the 2016 General Assembly as lawmakers intensify efforts against synthetic drugs that can slip into communities via the Internet, wreaking sudden havoc. The legislature has enacted at least four bills targeting synthetics since 2010 and is seeking to amp up penalties for traffickers next year following an outbreak in Lewis County of the toxic synthetic drug called "flakka." "They are no less dangerous than anything else out there, and in many cases, more dangerous," said Van Ingram, head of the state Office of Drug Control Policy. "It seems to pop up in a certain community and makes a run for a short time. Then it fizzles out there and shows up somewhere else." [continues 1242 words]
Blowing smoke Professor Herb Hill is designing a marijuana breath test to help police detect stoned drivers. Hill, who teaches chemistry at Washington State University, found out how tricky it can be to identify stoned drivers from a colleague in political science. "I said, 'Why don't we have a Breathalyzer for that?' He said none exists," Hill told NPR. "I said, 'We can probably make one.'" NPR reports preliminary testing has proven the basic concept: Hill's prototype can detect THC. But it's far from mass implementation. The device needs to be calibrated against blood tests to figure what it will read when a driver is legally intoxicated. Further adjustments will account for "gender, race, body types and level of use," according to the report. [continues 318 words]
Experts Want More Data on Effects of Medical Marijuana Even though Maryland is following the lead of 23 other states in setting up a medical marijuana industry, the collective experience of those states has translated to relatively little understanding of how the dozens of active substances within the plant affect health. As a result, Maryland will launch what likely will become a multimillion-dollar industry to make a psychoactive drug more available statewide without the benefit of proven information about the health implications. [continues 1288 words]
For Anthony Miles, Feb. 15, 2013, was a busy day of juggling calls, setting up meetings and touting a high-quality shipment he was expecting soon. Still, he found time to put air in the tires of his Mercedes and to note how well the day was going. Raising a large stack of bills in both hands, he bragged to a companion: I just made $20,000 in one hour. Just three days later, Miles was less euphoric. He grumbled he was making "chump change" while an associate was clearing $150,000 a day "with his eyes closed." [continues 4070 words]
I have a few concerns. I'm concerned that I may be fronting the largest drug operation since Scarface and meth labs ruled the night. I'm concerned about kids and marijuana and making more of it available to their developing young flea-brains (which, if they're like mine, will remain half-baked until their late 20s). I'm concerned about involving the government in oversight and taxation, as we know full well they fuck up everything they get their grubby hands on (and are already squabbling over and redirecting the massive tax revenue being collected). [continues 647 words]
We all remember the days when El Cajon was dubiously labeled the world's crystal meth capital for its many clandestine labs. These small-scale operations in motor homes, trailers and apartments cooked up a product that was about 50 percent pure, sometimes even less. And it was expensive. Those days are all but forgotten now, dwarfed by a new phenomenon. Today's meth is manufactured in huge quantities in giant warehouses in Mexico known as "Super Labs," which are supplied by Asian chemical distributors and staffed by university-educated chemists and engineers. [continues 719 words]
Dear Stoner: How would I test marijuana for pesticides? Dear Mike: Unfortunately, you can't spot pesticides with a trained eye and handheld microscope, as you can powdery mildew, mold or spider mites. Finding chemical residue left behind by pesticides requires processes like gas chromatography or polymerase chain reaction. The former is a technique used by cannabis testing labs in Colorado; it separates compounds of marijuana by using gases such as helium or nitrogen as solvents to extract microbes and contaminants from pot samples. Polymerase chain reaction is a liquid-based test that amplifies certain DNA molecules of pot samples with fluorescent enzymes: If a molecule is high in a certain microbe or toxin, the fluorescent enzymes brighten faster. [continues 278 words]
Regarding the Nov. 16 article "Marijuana's in bloom in N.J.," why this headlong rush into legalizing recreational marijuana? The only answer that makes any sense is that legislators see a big pot (pardon the pun) of tax revenue. They are willing to put many of us at risk so that they can have a new source of money to spend. They claim to be concerned about our health and that is why we've been subjected to countless warnings about the harmful effects of tobacco smoke for the last 40-plus years. Now, not a word about the harmful effects of marijuana smoke. Why? Health issues alone are enough to label the recreational use of marijuana as damaging to your health and should be avoided. [continues 159 words]
Pot Reduced Son's Seizures by 90% Mandy McKnight had tried more than 10 medications to control the seizures of her seven-year-old son, who suffers from Dravet syndrome. Two years ago, she decided to try medical marijuana. It reduced her son Liam's seizures by 90%, she said. But obtaining Liam's medical marijuana, which he consumes in an oil form, wasn't easy. McKnight didn't want Liam, who was five years old at the time, to smoke his medical marijuana, but that was the only legal way to consume it. [continues 373 words]
The Governor This Week Ordered the Quarantine and Destruction of Pot Having Unapproved Pesticides. Thousands of marijuana-infused products, recently recalled in Denver over concerns they contain unapproved pesticides, will likely be destroyed in light of the governor's order to label them a public safety hazard. Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday issued an executive order to quarantine and destroy any marijuana or its derivative products that contain pesticides not approved for use on cannabis. It could have a profound- and expensive-impact on the billion-dollar industry. [continues 1024 words]
