Pubdate: Wed, 07 May 2014
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Post Company
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Al Kamen
Page: A17

FEDERAL FUNDING IS REALLY GETTING INTO THE WEEDS

The federal government is going to grow a whole lot more weed.

Call it supply and demand.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has approved an increase in the
government's research marijuana quota from 21 kilograms to 650
kilograms this year. With 21 states and the District having legalized
the drug for medicinal needs, and two states allowing it for
recreational use, the demand for research has mushroomed.

"The aggregate production quota for marijuana should be increased in
order to provide a continuous and uninterrupted supply of marijuana in
support of DEA-registered researchers who are approved by the Federal
Government to utilize marijuana in their research protocols,"
according to a Federal Register report published Monday.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) oversees the federal
government's pot supply, grown since 1968 at the only legal farm, on
the University of Mississippi campus. The agency has faced criticism
for funding projects that examine the drug's risks rather than its
benefits. But interests are shifting, and many more grant requests
have been approved, jumping from 22 federally funded marijuana and
cannabis projects in 2003 to 69 in 2012, according to a March article
by McClatchy.

A NIDA official said the agency has broadened its definition of
marijuana research to include components of the marijuana plant, such
as cannabinoids. It is funding "well over 100 grants" on cannabis,
marijuana and cannabinoids.

Most of the studies focus on the negative impacts of the drug, but as
of this year NIDA has funded some 30 studies related to the
"therapeutic uses of marijuana."

"It's important that researchers have the tools available to study the
impact of these changing laws," Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy
Project said in an e-mail. "For too long NIDA and the DEA have
obstructed this vital research, and I applaud both agencies for this
change of course."

Tom Angell of the pro-legalization group Marijuana Majority said it
makes sense that the debate about marijuana would extend to academia.

"I'm not surprised the DEA would underestimate the demand since they
constantly pretend medical marijuana doesn't exist," Angell told the
Loop. "This is now a mainstream issue. A lot more people are
interested."

Exit for an ex-envoy

President Obama's ambassador to the Holy See from 2009 to November
2012, University of Dayton theology professor Miguel Diaz, is leaving
the Roman Catholic institution after an investigation last year
concluded it was likely that he sexually harassed a married couple who
were his colleagues, according to a report Monday by the online news
publication InsideHigherEd.com.

The article by reporter Ry Rivard, titled "Unwanted Advances," said
Diaz and his wife, also an academic, were expected to leave Dayton for
Loyola University Chicago, a Jesuit institution. Internal university
documents obtained by InsideHigherEd.com said the unidentified couple
complained last June that Diaz was "harassing [them] through various
requests and references to sexually explicit feelings."

A letter from University of Dayton provost Joseph Saliba to the
unidentified couple last July said the investigation by an outside
counsel "concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe, based
upon a preponderance of the evidence . . . that Dr. Diaz created a
hostile environment by engaging in unwelcome conduct of a sexual
nature, particularly after being told to stop."

By way of remedies, the provost said in the letter that the university
would fire Diaz unless he "avoided contact" with the couple, "whether
in person, by phone or electronic (including texting) communications"
and he was not to get involved "either directly or indirectly, in
either of your employment, performance, service or other involvement"
at the school "or elsewhere, whether negative or positive."

If the university receives another verified complaint against Diaz
like this one, Saliba wrote, "he will be terminated."

Diaz, through his attorney, Gabriel Fuentes, declined comment
Tuesday.

Tip: Don't cross Walt

A womanizer, meth lord and politician walk into a room.

A fantastic setup for a sitcom? Unfortunately, no. But the actors who
played legen - wait for it - dary characters Barney Stinson and Walter
White have banded together with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on
tax policy.

The A-list TV actors, now Broadway stage sensations - Bryan Cranston
playing Lyndon B. Johnson (expertly, we're told) and Neil Patrick
Harris as a transgender woman - joined Schumer in Manhattan last month
to throw their considerable star power behind an otherwise small slice
of a pending tax-extenders package: tax deductions for financiers of
plays and musicals.

"We're here . . . to make sure Broadway and live theater get the same
tax benefits as film does," Schumer said at the event.

The new theater tax credit has passed through the requisite
congressional committees as part of a larger tax-extenders bill that
is expected to be center stage on the Senate floor next week. The
Broadway League, the industry's trade group, has spent $30,000 per
quarter of late on "tax reform as it impacts Broadway investment,"
according to lobbying disclosure forms.

Movie and television producers can expense as much as $15 million of
costs when most of the production is done in the United States.
Schumer and Co. want to extend that benefit to live theater in the
name of entertainment parity. The theater world argues that such an
incentive would encourage more financial backers to invest in Broadway
shows - a risky endeavor, given that so many plays close when they
can't generate enough buzz.

One sure-fire way to ensure attention? Sign up some big-name stars.
Works for Broadway - and Congress.

With Colby Itkowitz
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MAP posted-by: Matt