Rep. Morgan Griffith is a pretty straight-laced fellow, and that may well make him the right person to take up the cause for medical marijuana.

The 9th District Republican has filed a bill that would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana in 21 states, including Virginia, with laws permitting its use for medicinal purposes.

Those state laws are largely meaningless now because physicians who recommend marijuana to their patients could be charged under a federal law that still bans it.

It's a serious cause, and a personal one, for Griffith, whose support for using marijuana as a painkiller traces back to his experience with a cancer patient whose friends smuggled the drug to him while he was in the hospital to help stimulate his appetite.

[continues 282 words]

I ask my fellow residents of the Roanoke Valley to contact their U.S. representative and senators and ask them to support Rep. Morgan Griffith's bill (HR4998) to legalize the use of medical marijuana.

This legislation is very similar to that passed last year in Colorado. The system Colorado is using is a perfect example of what could be done across the U.S. It's treating patients with AIDS, HIV, seizures, glaucoma and many others extremely painful illnesses.

Oh, did I also mention it pulled in $2 million in revenue? In the first month. Think about how many schools and roads we could fix.

[continues 74 words]

The War on Drugs Should End Because It Is Costly, Anti-American and Unnecessary

The purpose of this piece is not to disprove the widespread notion that drug use is bad; rather, I want to illustrate how legalization is the best way to limit the social, human and economic costs of drug use. As a clarifier: this argument covers recreational drugs like marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, MDMA, LSD and heroin.

A brief outline of theoretical, economic and public health and safety arguments will demonstrate how legalization is the best approach to taking on the enormous challenge presented by the growing illicit drug trade and the War on Drugs that is spiraling out of control - both in lives lost and tax dollars wasted.

[continues 677 words]

Average THC Levels Up 400 Percent in Last Eight Years, Expert Says

Although it has been decriminalized and even made quasi-legal in some states, the dangers of marijuana have not gone away.

That was the message March 27 in Annandale at a presentation made by the Unified Prevention Coalition of Fairfax County titled "Marijuana Harmless? Think Again."

Community leaders including health care professionals, counselors and law enforcement officials joined parents and students who related their own unfortunate experiences with marijuana and other drugs.

[continues 452 words]

But Recreational Marijuana Is Still Opposed In Virginia

A new poll finds that Virginia voters support legalizing medical marijuana by an overwhelming 84 percent to 13 percent, but support for recreational marijuana is divided with 46 percent in favor and 48 percent opposed.

Thirty-nine percent of Virginia voters say they have tried marijuana, according to the survey released Monday from Quinnipiac University.

Dick Kennedy, with Virginia NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said Monday that the poll numbers show that Virginia "is moving toward more sensible drug policies, along with the rest of the country, and the overwhelming support for medical marijuana is something the legislature can't ignore in 2015."

[continues 588 words]

The war on drugs has failed. This is one of the conclusions we are forced to draw from our in-depth article chronicling drug use in Frederick County schools, which detailed just how easy it is for students to get hold of heroin, LSD, ecstasy and marijuana.

One way to hit back is to target the source of the supply line by making marijuana legal, regulating the trade and taxing it. In early February, The News-Post's editorial board hosted two representatives of the movement to legalize marijuana in Maryland -- Neill Franklin, a 33-year veteran officer and executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Rachelle Yeung, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project. We've taken on board and debated what they said, and it's convinced us there's a stronger case for legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana than simply decriminalizing it.

[continues 514 words]

WASHINGTON - One of the nation's top scientists raised concerns about the nationwide move to legalize marijuana, saying regular use of the drug by adolescents had been tied to a drop in IQ and that a possible link to lung cancer hasn't been seriously studied.

"I'm afraid I'm sounding like this is an evil drug that's going to ruin our civilization and I don't really think that," Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, said Thursday. "But there are aspects of this that probably should be looked at more closely than some of the legalization experts are willing to admit."

[continues 316 words]

The Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia has joined its national counterpart in supporting improved access and research into medical marijuana to treat epilepsy.

In a statement released Friday, the leading advocacy group for people with epilepsy in Virginia said it backs the national Epilepsy Foundation in calling for an end to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration restrictions that limit clinical trials and research into medical marijuana for epilepsy.

Specifically, the Virginia group said it will:

* ask the DEA to implement a lesser drug schedule for marijuana so it can be more easily accessible for medical research;

[continues 91 words]

Never let it be said that the General Assembly is a do-nothing legislature. Lawmakers have been doing a great deal in the short time since they convened.

Herewith, some brief comments on a few items:

Hybrid Tax: Both chambers have approved a measure to repeal the $64 tax on hybrid vehicles passed as part of last year's transportation package. The rationale for the tax - hybrids use less gasoline, so their gas taxes don't cover the costs they impose on the road network - - makes sense, but applies to more than just hybrid vehicles.

[continues 394 words]

To the Editor:

When asked, "Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not?" a 2013 Gallup poll found that 58 percent of American adults responded, "Yes," compared to 31 percent in 2000 and only 12 percent in 1969.

Let's consider two ways this huge shift in public opinion might be explained. One contends that misguided and lopsided enforcement of the marijuana prohibition laws is the cause. The other, more fundamental view contends that Americans simply no longer see any reason to continue outlawing this relatively benign substance.

[continues 621 words]

In a recent Op/Ed column, "Legal marijuana challenges culture," John Crisp described new challenges posed by legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington. In his conclusion, Crisp wrote: "But the challenge for citizens in both states will be avoiding self-indulgence and achieving a level of moderation. . ."

He is dead wrong. A year ago, any Colorado adult or school kid could get marijuana within two days, provided he or she had $500. Getting dope was, and is, just slightly more challenging than getting alcohol. This holds true for Denver, Minneapolis and Richmond. Legalization will not increase availability because marijuana has always been available. The war against it has accomplished nothing but making criminals out of those few unlucky enough to get caught - at a cost of billions of dollars.

[continues 159 words]

DENVER- Seven years before legal marijuana went on sale this month in my home state of Colorado, the drug warriors in President George W. Bush's administration released an advertisement that is now worth revisiting.

"I smoked weed and nobody died," intoned the teenage narrator. "I didn't get into a car accident. I didn't O.D. on heroin the next day. Nothing happened."

The television spot from the White House drug czar was intended to discourage marijuana use by depicting it as boring. But in the process, the government suggested that smoking a little pot is literally, in the words of the narrator, "the safest thing in the world."

[continues 546 words]

BOGOTA, Colombia - Twenty years ago this month, U.S. authorities helped bring down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, but Washington's global war on drugs has not let up. In fact, it has become costlier, bloodier, more widespread and futile.

Escobar died in a hail of bullets on Dec. 2, 1993, fleeing from police on a rooftop in his native city of Medellin. It took a 3,000-strong elite force of Colombian police-supported by U.S. intelligence agencies and $73 million in aid that year alone-to bring down the drug baron.

[continues 384 words]

On Oct. 29, Republican congressman and tea party affiliate Trey Radel was arrested for the possession of cocaine after allegedly purchasing it from an undercover agent outside a Washington restaurant. According to The Washington Post, this was not the first cocaine purchase by Radel since being elected 10 months earlier.

Radel pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to one year of probation, with no jail time and the ability to retain his position as a House of Representatives member. This poses the question: Why is it that the U.S. jails 750,000 for marijuana possession each year, but lets off a politician who has repeatedly bought cocaine? Granted, marijuana is a Schedule I drug while cocaine is a Schedule II drug, but this does not excuse disregarding the law for people who meet a certain standard.

[continues 112 words]

Washington Think Tank Says Small Changes to Virginia Laws Could Make Big Differences

Virginia's justice system is too expensive, ineffective, unfair and headed for a crisis, according to a policy brief released Wednesday by the Justice Policy Institute.

"Despite some recent small progress in the areas of post-incarceration re-entry, particularly felony disenfranchisement, the state continues to suffer under misguided policies and practices of the past," the study concludes.

Reaction from state officials was not immediately available Wednesday. The Justice Policy Institute is a liberal think tank based in Washington.

[continues 587 words]

Colonial Heights Man Accused of Accepting Bribe, Smuggling Contraband into Federal Prison

A former federal corrections officer could spend years behind bars for accepting a bribe and smuggling marijuana and cigarettes into a federal prison in Prince George County.

The former correctional officer, Jeffery T. Jones, 53, of Colonial Heights pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Richmond to two of nine counts in an indictment against him.

He admitted to accepting money to provide marijuana and cigarettes to two prisoners at the Federal Correctional Complex Petersburg in Prince George.

[continues 192 words]

Last year voters in Colorado and Washington approved ballot measures legalizing recreational marijuana use. Last week Colorado approved another measure that imposes a 15 percent excise tax and a 10 percent retail tax on pot. Portland, Maine, also passed a measure legalizing weed. So did three more Michigan cities (bringing the total there to five).

Virginia should, too. Here are five reasons why.

(1) It's none of the government's business. Consider: "Marijuana prohibition is perhaps the oldest and most persistent nanny-state law we have in the U.S. We simply cannot afford a government that tries to save people from themselves. It is not the role of government to try to correct bad behavior, as long as those behaviors are not directly causing physical harm to others." Those are not the words of some San Fran hippie holdover with love beads and a Seventies-vintage VW bus. They come from former Sen. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, a Republican with a lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 99 percent.

[continues 690 words]

There is growing bipartisan support for escaping the cell-block money trap.

Virginians who didn't blink at the time may have noticed that state sentencing reform got a quick twirl from both major party candidates during the gubernatorial campaign - though no dance partner.

In a state that in 1994 sent George Allen to the governor's mansion on a promise to end parole, talk of abandoning mandatory minimums for some offenses creates barely a ripple as we head into 2014.

[continues 393 words]

To the Editor:

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, commander-in-chief of Washington's failed War on drugs, recently issued what looks a lot like a domestic version of Vermont Sen. George Aiken's famous 1966 face-saving formula for exiting from America's lost war in Vietnam: Declare victory and get out. After more than 58,000 deaths, that is exactly what he did.

And now a timely American Civil Liberties Union report titled, "The War on Marijuana in Black and White" explains why Holder's similar announcement is especially good news for African-Americans nationwide and in Virginia.

[continues 583 words]

Aggressive enforcement of federal drug laws has proven quite effective at building up law enforcement agencies and exploding government expenditures. But actually reducing drug use in the U.S.? Not quite.

That assessment isn't in dispute. An Associated Press investigation in 2010 revealed this nation has spent $1 trillion on drug-control efforts since 1970. In return, an estimated 37 million nonviolent drug offenders have been imprisoned, the number of overdoses has steadily increased and the number of drug users nearly doubled.

[continues 285 words]

On marijuana policy, there's a rift between the federal government and the states. It started with California's allowing marijuana for medical use in 1996, widened as several other states followed suit and became too big to ignore 10 months ago, when voters in Colorado and Washington decided to legalize the drug for recreational use. Under federal law possession is still a crime.

After conspicuous silence, the Justice Department announced in August that it wouldn't try to put the toothpaste back in the tube - it wouldn't sue to block the Colorado and Washington state laws as long as those states put in place "strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems." But this policy hasn't cleared up all the confusion arising from this tricky situation. Many practical questions remain, as became obvious at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday about conflicts between state and federal marijuana laws.

[continues 311 words]

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's call last week for a revision of mandatory federal sentencing laws is a welcome but overdue proposal. Holder specifically took aim at low-level, nonviolent drug offenders who have filled the nation's prisons during the so-called "War on Drugs" of the past 30 years.

Mandatory minimum sentencing and so-called "three strikes" laws were enacted throughout the 1980s and 1990s as politicians sought to "get tough" on crime and more aggressively combat the failing "War of Drugs." These laws removed any discretion in sentencing from judges based on the actual conditions of specific cases and imposed arbitrary prison time for general classifications of different types of crimes.

[continues 169 words]

DENVER - Whether it is the impeached Bill Clinton leaving office with solid approval ratings or the once-disgraced Eliot Spitzer now surging in New York City electoral polls, there is ample evidence that America forgives public figures for their transgressions. And yet, contrition is not exactly common on the public stage. Like the Fonz from "Happy Days," today's media stars, politicians and celebrities often have trouble saying the words "I was wrong" or "I am sorry" - even when they have made obvious mistakes and when apologies are clearly necessary.

[continues 447 words]

Attorney General Eric Holder's speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco was a bit like hearing from a stockbroker after trading has closed. "Well, of course the market went down." Well, of course the U.S. needs to rethink drug laws and enforcement.

Decades after America righteously declared a zero tolerance policy toward all drug crimes and nonviolent crimes involving drugs, Holder and others want to stop the abuses.

Seize the belated insights whenever they come along.

Support for being "Smart on Crime," in the AG's words, is aimed at undoing laws that maintain "a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration" that "traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities."

[continues 158 words]

I thought I'd never live to see the day. But now it's happened. An attorney general of the United States has finally said he is ready to blow the whistle on America's ill-fated, racially tinged and cruelly applied "war on drugs."

Eric Holder signaled the shift in a speech Monday to the American Bar Association. He admitted that the drug war, which his department has spearheaded, has wrought grim unintended consequences including decimating communities of color - part of "a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration that traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities."

[continues 723 words]

It's been a war on justice, an assault on equal protection under the law. And a war on families, removing millions of fathers from millions of homes.

And a war on money, spilling it like water.

And a war on people of color, targeting them with drone-strike efficiency.

We never call it any of those things, though all of them fit. No, we call it the War on Drugs. It is a 42-year, trillion-dollar disaster that has done nothing - underscore that:

[continues 556 words]

Students who participate in extracurricular activities in Orange County schools next year will be subject to random drug testing.

The School Board Monday passed, by a 4-1 vote, a measure that would require testing for "Students Involved with Competitive Extracurricular Activities."

The regulation was developed by a committee of parents, students, school staff and community members in response to the findings of the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey completed earlier this year.

Under the new program, 10 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 who are involved in competitive extra-curricular activities will be randomly selected to complete testing for drug and alcohol use.

[continues 394 words]

Under a new proposed plan, some Orange County students may soon undergo drug testing.

An Orange County Public Schools committee, comprised of parents, students, coaches, activities directors and administrators, has spent the past several weeks working on a plan that would screen students for drug use.

The plan would only affect those students in grades 6-12 who participate in competitive extracurricular activities and Virginia High School League related activities-sports, band, JROTC, Orange County B.A.S.S. Anglers and more. It wouldn't affect co-cirricular activities such as Future Business Leaders of America and Future Farmers of America.

[continues 1220 words]

When will Virginia pass medical marijuana legislation? Just think of the money the commonwealth could save. It's about time Virginia lawmakers woke up and smelled the coffee. They should take a look around them. Seventeen states including Washington D.C. have passed some sort of legislation regarding marijuana.

It would be a bad thing for Virginia to be last on the bandwagon. It would be a good thing for the state and its citizenry to get this legislation passed as soon as possible. If the state needs a road map on how to get it done, all they have to do is look at Colorado and Washington state.

DANVILLE.

[end]

Sometimes the government just doesn't get it and the people do. When everyone is violating the law, it's time to change the law. Consider three areas where the government has it wrong and needs to change: Internet sales taxation, marijuana use and outdated laws regarding consensual sex between adults. Internet sales tax Sales taxes on online purchases have been a contentious issue for years, but mostly at the federal level. States like Virginia and 10 others have passed measures that treat online retailers, like Amazon, the same as brick and-mortar stores: everyone collects state and local sales taxes on behalf of state and local governments.

[continues 520 words]

WASHINGTON - The time is at hand for the Obama administration to stop dithering, to take a clear position on the rights of Washington state and Colorado, and by precedent all others, to experiment with legalized marijuana.

That's what Govs. Jay Inslee of Washington and John Hickenlooper of Colorado are asking the Justice Department to do - even though they personally opposed the marijuana legalization measures their voters approved in November.

The governors insist they can make their states' new laws work well through responsible regulations that license, regulate and tax the production and sale of marijuana. New state labeling laws, say supporters, will also remove confusion and dangerous use levels by showing the potency in terms of THC, the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant, analogous to the labeling of alcoholic beverages.

[continues 714 words]

Date published: 4/21/2013 'Forbidden fruit' is marijuana's allure Thanks for publishing Robert Sharpe's thoughtful letter: "Marijuana prohibition: A catastrophic failure" [April 4].

I'd like to add that if we want as many children as possible to use marijuana, we should keep it as a criminalized substance. Marijuana use has increased 1,000-fold since it was criminalized via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Testifying before the U.S. Congress in 1937, the commissioner of narcotics, Harry Anslinger, testified that the U.S. had a total of 100,000 marijuana users.

[continues 66 words]

To the Editor:

The use of so-called synthetic marijuana is an unintended side-effect of the war on natural marijuana. Consumers are turning to potentially toxic drugs made in China and sold as research chemicals before being repackaged as legal incense.

Expanding the drug war will only add to the highest incarceration rate in the world. Chinese chemists will tweak formulas to stay one step ahead of the law and two steps ahead of the drug tests. New versions won't be safer. Misguided efforts to protect children from drugs are putting children at risk

[continues 94 words]

The military has lent its weight to the community effort to battle the use of synthetic drugs commonly known as "spice." Fort Lee officials last month declared two local business off limits to military personnel because the establishments sell synthetic drugs.

The two businesses that are off limits to the military are the Cigarette City at 333 Cavalier Square in Hopewell and the Shell Gas Station at 3320 Boulevard in Colonial Heights.

"It's a serious issue because much of the revenue generated by local establishments comes from those who live and work on Fort Lee," said Maj. David Martin, provost marshal. "The potential economic impact on a business that does not play by the rules is significant."

[continues 183 words]

Thank you for making the case for marijuana law reform in your April 1 editorial ["A reefer reckoning"]. The people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply-and-demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a catastrophic failure. The U.S. has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legal. The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. Not just in Colorado and Washington state, but throughout the nation, it's time to stop the pointless arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Washington

Mr. Sharpe is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.

[end]

Major kudos to Michael Paul Williams for his outstanding column, "Waging a war against mass incarceration," and to Michelle Alexander for her outstanding book, "The New Jim Crow."

When we re-legalized alcohol in 1933 after alcohol prohibition, we didn't surrender to the alcohol cartels - we put them out of business. When we legalize, regulate, tax and control our now-unregulated, untaxed and uncontrolled drugs, our overall crime rate will decline substantially. The drug dealers, drug lords and drug cartels will be out of business overnight and our robust prison-building industry will come to a screeching halt.

[continues 95 words]

You might call it a nascent civil rights movement in response to the new Jim Crow.

About 150 people gathered Saturday morning at St. Peter Baptist Church in Glen Allen to discuss mass incarceration, the war on drugs and their effect on the black community. The Virginia Alliance Against Mass Incarceration has scheduled forums Wednesday in Richmond's East End.

"The endgame is just public awareness through the community and churches," with the hoped-for result of influencing legislation in the General Assembly, said Jesse Frierson, executive director of the alliance.

[continues 718 words]

The notion of alcohol consumers piously demanding that others stop using pot probably makes you think of the beer-swilling World War II generation berating weed-smoking hippies during the 1960s. Now, thanks to the United Nations, that caricature gets an update - and the hypocrisy is at once amusing and depressing.

You may have read the headline-grabbing news that in advance of its conference on drug policy last week, the U.N. issued a report urging the United States government to block Colorado and Washington state from moving forward with voter-approved laws that allow adult citizens to use marijuana as a less harmful alternative to alcohol. What you may not have heard is that on the very same day the U.N. released that report, U.S. ambassador Joseph Torsella slammed his U.N. colleagues for drinking too much on the job. Apparently, binging at the U.N. is so commonplace and excessive that it is hindering the organization from conducting its most basic work.

[continues 475 words]

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

Regarding your editorial, "Victory for hemp," the United States is one of the few industrialized countries that deny farmers the right to grow industrial hemp. Apparently this is because bureaucrats in Washington can't tell the difference between a tall hemp stalk and a squat marijuana bush. Prior to passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (sic), few Americans had heard of marijuana, much less smoked it, despite widespread cultivation of industrial hemp.

The first anti-marijuana laws were a racist reaction to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s. Ironically, Americans did not begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Decades later, marijuana use is increasingly mainstream. The forbidden-fruit appeal has only served to encourage marijuana use.

[continues 66 words]

Every truth goes through three stages, Schopenhauer is said to have said. First it is ridiculed, then it is violently opposed, then it is accepted as self-evident. The truth about industrial hemp seems to be somewhere between the second and third stages.

Having had some heart-to-hearts with Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he now thinks the wide-scale production of hemp for fabrics, rope and other uses is a good idea. Paul has penned a bill to remove the federal ban on the production of hemp a product Washington once encouraged through wartime "Hemp for Victory" campaigns.

[continues 123 words]

Albemarle Board May Act to Set It Apart From Pot

In the cannabis plant family, hemp is the good seed; marijuana, the evil weed.

But while the U.S. ranks as the world's leading consumer of hemp products - total U.S. sales were estimated to top $450 million in 2011, according to an industry group-it is the only major industrialized country that bans growing it, even though 11 states have passed measures removing barriers to hemp production and research. About 90 percent of the U.S. supply comes from Canada.

[continues 399 words]

RICHMOND - A bill requiring drug screening for people in Virginia's welfare-to-work program won subcommittee approval Thursday, with support from Del. Ben Cline, R-Rockbridge County.

The measure, which failed to win approval in the General Assembly last year, could potentially affect about 15,000 people, many of them mothers who are receiving financial assistance while trying to qualify for a job.

Del. Rob Bell, sponsor of HB1789 and a candidate for attorney general, said the measure was needed because the program provides cash to recipients, not just food stamps or housing support.

[continues 242 words]

In his Commentary column, "Glimmers of hope on the drug front," Neal Peirce touches on one dimension of the war on drugs: legalization of pot and the impact on criminal activity. There can be no doubt that such changes will decrease criminal activity, but what are the unintended consequences associated with this movement?

It is remarkable how little attention is brought forward on the health consequences of such actions. Smoking pot is analogous to smoking any combustion product derived from organic material. These products of combustion are little different than smoking tobacco but have additional impact on the user with respect to impairment of complex tasks such as driving. After just completing a multigenerational war against tobacco, to set in motion an even more complex public health debacle simply considering the criminal dimension seems at a minimum to reflect a poor examination of this issue.

COLUMBIA

[end]

In the midst of fierce winter storms, dire budget crises and a tragedy as deep and disturbing as Newtown, it's possible to discern at least one glimmer of positive news. It's a new openness to drug law reform. No, the United States isn't quite ready to abandon its concerted "war on drugs." It's "as vicious as ever," notes Tony Newman of the Drug Policy Alliance. More than 750,000 people a year are arrested for marijuana possession. More than 500,000 are behind bars for some type of drug law violation. No other nation even begins to equal these figures. The cumulative negative impact on human lives is nothing less than breathtaking.

[continues 711 words]

Richmond Police Say 4 of 2012' S Homicides Had Robberies Involving Drug

Marijuana might seem like a harmless drug to some, but local authorities in Richmond say marijuana deals and the large amounts of money involved in such transactions too often lead to violence.

Richmond police investigators believe that four of the city's 42 homicides in 2012 were motivated by robberies involving marijuana, and about a dozen other shootings - maybe more - involved the drug.

And that doesn't count the innumerable other robberies in which no one was shot, many of which never are reported because the victim doesn't want to tell the police he was selling pot or trying to buy some.

[continues 898 words]

RE 'TIME TO RETHINK the war on pot' (editorial, Dec. 11): The voters of Colorado and Washington state have made it clear that the federal government can no longer get away with confusing the drug war's collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics.

If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to deter use, prohibition is a failure. The United States has a higher rate of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana laws are rarely enforced.

The criminalization of Americans who prefer marijuana to martinis has no basis in science. The war on marijuana consumers is a failed cultural inquisition, not an evidence-based public health campaign. It's time to stop the arrests and instead tax legal marijuana.

Robert Sharpe

Arlington

[end]

Battle lines in this nation's war on drugs became slightly more complicated last month, when voters in Colorado and Washington became the first in the country to legalize use of marijuana. That newfound freedom isn't permitted under federal law, and it is unclear how the federal and state governments will reconcile their differences.

Legalization of marijuana may not be the most prudent solution for regulating America's most popular illicit drug. Other states, including Maryland, have passed laws that permit medicinal use. Virginia has not.

[continues 289 words]

NORFOLK - Over a 34-year police career, Neill Franklin was a big-time drug warrior.

As an undercover narcotics agent with the Maryland State Police, he made hundreds of drug arrests. Later, as a supervisor and commander, he was indirectly responsible for thousands more.

He was proud of his work. He thought he was contributing to the betterment of society.

Today, he tells anyone who will listen that he was wrong.

Franklin is now executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition an organization of current and former law enforcement officers that lobbies for the legalization and regulation of drugs. He will lead an audience discussion Wednesday night after the screening of the documentary film "The House I Live In" at the Naro Expanded Cinema.

[continues 308 words]

DENVER - What's next? Amid all the munchie-themed jokes from reporters, political elites and late-night comedians, this remains the overarching question after Coloradans voted overwhelmingly to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana in the same way alcohol is already legalized, regulated and taxed. Since those anti-DrugWar principles are now enshrined in Colorado's constitution, only the feds can stop this Rocky Mountain state - if they so choose. But will they? And should they even be able to?

The answer to the former is maybe. Barack Obama campaigned for president pledging to respect state marijuana laws but his Justice Department has been authorizing federal crackdowns. Now, with the results of the 2012 election, Colorado's Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper has been forced into the awkward position of fighting off the feds in defense of a state constitutional amendment he tried to defeat.

[continues 408 words]

Seeking to scare the public away from legalizing the stuff, the Obama administration notes that in 2009, marijuana was "involved in" 376,000 emergency-room visits nationwide. Be afraid, be very afraid: This represents less than 0.3 of 1 percent of all ER visits, and 3.3 million fewer visits than are caused annually by recreational sports. Figures such as those help explain why voters in Washington and Colorado were not frightened, and passed referenda decriminalizing pot.

Oregon rejected a similar measure, just as California did two years ago. But the tide may be turning. On Tuesday, five Michigan cities (Detroit, Flint, Ypsilanti, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo) and Burlington, Vt., also passed measures relaxing pot laws. Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have approved marijuana for medical use.

[continues 689 words]