One tingle sends Dave Mulford rushing to his refrigerator.

Cracking the cap off an unopened bottle of G2, he quickly slams down 20 ounces. Then comes the water. He said re-hydration is key in moments like this.

Next, Mulford fumbles toward the basement where he employs a series of relaxation techniques he has learned over the years. He has had plenty of practice.

If none of these methods work to subdue his spasm - if it persists or intensifies - Mulford said he resorts to an herbal remedy on which he has relied for the better part of two decades: marijuana.

[continues 2456 words]

WICHITA - A physician assistant who worked at a clinic tied to 68 overdose deaths testified Tuesday that records were so disorganized that a patient was able to get more painkillers even though she went to an emergency room for an overdose two days earlier.

Hien Tran said a hospital fax about the emergency treatment never made it into the patient's file at Schneider Medical Clinic in Haysville. Tran said she never would have refilled the prescription had she seen the fax.

[continues 490 words]

The voters of trendsetting California may well decide this November to legalize marijuana -- there's a ballot referendum, and 56 percent of Californians are in favor. No doubt this would be great news for the munchie industry, the bootleggers of Grateful Dead music, and the millions of stoners who have long yearned for an era of reefer gladness.

Seriously, this is a story about how desperate times require desperate measures. Legalization advocates, including many ex-cops and ex-prosecutors, have long contended that it's nuts to keep criminalizing otherwise law-abiding citizens while wasting $8 billion a year in law enforcement costs. That argument has never worked. But the new argument, cleverly synced to the recession mindset, may well herald a new chapter in the history of pot prohibition.

[continues 836 words]

Marijuana often evokes images of the dregs of society, clothed in tattered tie-dye, unwashed and unmotivated, everything our parents have warned us about. Recently a small group of students opened a KU chapter for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, to challenge these stereotypes and the laws that reinforce them. Meeting Times

What: NORML meetings

When: 5:30 p.m. every Tuesday

Where: Room 412, Lindley Hall

NORML is a 30-year-old organization whose ultimate goal is the decriminalization of cannabis. Reid Calver, a sophomore from Overland Park, and the director of communications for KU's chapter, explained the club hoped to garner support to ultimately change marijuana legislation.

[continues 366 words]

Finally, someone has had the courage to tackle the scourge of drug abuse at the Statehouse, where legislating under the influence is a problem of epidemic proportions.

Senators, stoned.

House members, half-baked.

It's like Woodstock, except with suits and comb-overs. Shoot, did you see that a committee approved a bill last week naming an official state grass?

Clearly, it's time for an intervention.

OK, enough kidding around. None of the above is remotely true except for the part about the official state grass, and that designation would go to little bluestem - not to anything you might find on Willie Nelson's tour bus.

[continues 348 words]

While state legislators were working this month to outlaw synthetic forms of marijuana such as K2, a new House bill sprouted that proposes the real thing be made available in Kansas.

Gail Finney, a Wichita House Democrat who serves on the House Health and Human Services Committee, introduced bill 2610 this month. It calls for the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes.

While the bill closely resembles those of the 14 states that already allow the use of cannabis for medical reasons, Kansas likely has a long way to go before actually passing the bill.

[continues 613 words]

A medical marijuana bill introduced recently in the state Legislature is unlikely to be seriously considered - much less adopted, a Cowley County state representative said.

"I would say that bill probably is not going anywhere, especially after what happened with K2," said Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, late last week.

She referred to the Legislature's endorsement earlier last week of criminalizing K2, a synthetic form of marijuana.

Kelley said she could not support a medical marijuana bill.

"There are so many other remedies out there," she said.

[continues 275 words]

TOPEKA - On Thursday, a Wichita lawmaker introduced a bill that would create state-registered "compassionate care centers" allowing for people suffering from chronic illness who have a doctor's prescription to receive medical marijuana.

State Rep. Gail Finney, D-Wichita, brought up the bill to legalize marijuana for people with prescriptions.

"Mine is kind of personal," Finney said. "I am a lupus patient and I have been through the treatment and I have met a lot of people with chronic conditions. One of the reasons I ran was because I wanted to be an advocate for those people."

[continues 344 words]

After all, Kansas was the first to embrace Prohibition, and one of the last to end it. Even today, you can't find full-strength beer on a grocery store shelf.

Yet in the same week that state lawmakers voted to make Kansas the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, a Wichita legislator introduced a bill to legalize marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

"I just think it's the right thing to do," said Rep. Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat.

[continues 480 words]

A Kansas lawmaker on Monday will announce his plans for legislation that would ban incense that some say produce a marijuana-like high when smoked.

Rep. Rob Olson, R-Olathe, said in a Sunday news release he will introduce a bill this session that would "address concerns regarding the use of unregulated synthetic drugs in Kansas, in particular two found in a smoke-able herbal product known as K2."

"The two chemicals named JWH-018 and JWH-073 are very similar to tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the chemical in marijuana that gives a user his high," the release said.

[continues 62 words]

I decided to write after reading John Chase's thoughtful letter of Dec. 12 about legalizing marijuana.

According to a recent Rasmussen poll, 44 percent of adults believe that pot is just as, or more, dangerous than alcohol.

Until this false belief can be changed, marijuana will probably remain an illegal substance. The fact is marijuana is an extremely safe product.

People consume marijuana for the same reasons they consume alcohol. Why not offer adults the much safer alternative to alcohol?

Mesa, Ariz.

[end]

I've been purchasing hemp food products for years from my local health food store, but the hemp is all imported from foreign countries. I'd rather purchase products from hemp grown by American farmers.

It's anti-American that communist Chinese farmers may grow hemp but free American farmers may not.

Another reason to permit America's farmers to grow hemp is that it's biblically correct, as God indicated in Genesis that he created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good.

The only biblical restriction placed on cannabis is that it is to be accepted with thankfulness. (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Stan White,

Dillon, Colo.

[end]

It is terribly misguided to suggest that decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana would be beneficial to society.

The marijuana lobby has latched on to the laughable notion that somehow marijuana taxation will bring needed profits to distressed states.

What stoner would pay taxes on pot instead of buying it illegally or growing his own?

Aside from that, why add more accidents, medical problems and social dysfunction to our massive spectrum of problems.

Notoriously, taxes on alcohol and tobacco have lagged far behind the social cost of such substances. Why would pot be any better?

[continues 115 words]

If you had asked me 10 years ago whether the United States will ever change its interdiction-focused counternarcotics policies -- and perhaps even decriminalize marijuana consumption at home -- I would have told you, "never." Today, I say, "perhaps."

Last week, in a tacit admission that current U.S. anti-drug policies are not working, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to create an independent commission to review whether the U.S. anti-drug policies of the past three decades in Latin America are producing positive results.

[continues 712 words]

Dear Editor,

The USD 248 Board of Education needs to educate itself on the downside of student drug testing. Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular programs.

Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing. Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent.

[continues 124 words]

I enjoyed reading George Will's recent column on medical marijuana and have asked my local planning department where it would zone property for medical marijuana dispensaries.

Cannabis Sativa L. Hemp has been documented as medicine for more than 2,000 years. The slang name, marijuana, was introduced in the early 1930s.

I personally hope the state will stand up and change its laws regulating cannabis. Legalization of cannabis would provide enormous agri-business advantages for Kansas, one of the states chosen by the federal government to grow hemp for the World War II Hemp For Victory campaign.

[continues 120 words]

George Will's column on medical marijuana suggests that good intentions are not enough to get relief to sick people. No law, for instance, can say conclusively who defines "sick," or even what that word means.

So how do we get relief to patients? Full legalization would be strong medicine, but the only way to avoid chaos. Put pot on the same legal basis as beer, but lose the ads.

Legalization would clear the air of the ignorance and distortions displayed by both sides of the war on pot. If it were legal, we would see unbiased research to assess pot's benefits and risks. Then patients could make informed decisions on whether to smoke, kids couldn't fake illness to get prescriptions for pot and adults wouldn't need to.

John Chase, Palm Harbor, Fla.

[end]

Regarding George Will's Dec. 2 column on marijuana, the drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2008, there were 847,863 marijuana arrests in the U.S. Almost 90 percent of those were for simple possession.

At a time when state and local governments are laying off police, firefighters and teachers, this country continues to spend enormous public resources criminalizing Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis. The result of this ongoing culture war is not necessarily lower rates of use. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available.

[continues 58 words]

GIRARD -- A conversation has begun that may one day lead to a drug-testing policy at Girard High School.

During Thursday's USD 248 Board of Education meeting, GHS Principal Blaise Bauer told the board that he, the school staff and members of the student body particularly, the student council have been discussing the possibility of creating a random drug-testing policy for students who participate in extracurricular activities.

No specifics have been determined, as the idea is in its early stages. The board took no official action on the matter Thursday night.

[continues 402 words]

Bruce Springsteen's cousin, whose death in October prompted the singer to cancel his Sprint Center concert, died from an accidental drug overdose, according to autopsy results released Tuesday.

Lenny Sullivan, 36, died from acute amphetamine and heroin intoxication. An ambulance was called just before 4:15 p.m. Oct. 26 to the InterContinental Hotel at the Country Club Plaza. When emergency crews arrived, they found Sullivan dead on his bed.

Sullivan was the assistant tour manager for Springsteen and was in charge of luggage for the band and crew.

Fans got word that the concert was off about 90 minutes before the 7:30 p.m. show. Refunds were offered.

[end]