As a practicing physician specializing in physical medicine, rehabilitation and chronic pain management, I applaud Sen. Steve Murphy for authoring the medical marijuana bill currently being considered by the Legislature. In my practice, I treat patients whose chronic pain profoundly impacts their day-to-day lives. Many of these patients have received very little benefit from available treatments and have often experienced serious side effects from conventional medicine. To take just one example: a previous patient of mine -- a quadriplegic - -- expressed to me that his medical use of marijuana resulted in decreased pain, decreased spasticity and increased appetite, providing him with better relief from his condition than any prescription medication we had been able to provide him or recommend, all with no adverse side effects. [continues 83 words]
Sacramento -- Unable to find enough volunteers, California prison officials said Friday they would begin forcing inmates to transfer from the state's jam-packed prisons to private lockups in Mississippi, Arizona and Oklahoma. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and corrections administrators said the move to ship unwilling inmates out of state was necessary to deal with severe overcrowding, but an inmate advocate said the move is illegal and the state's prison guards union warned it could spark violence in already-tense lockups. [continues 816 words]
Schwarzenegger Orders a Special Legislative Session to Tackle Chronic Overcrowding Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared California's prison system dangerously overcrowded Monday and ordered a special legislative session to enact proposals to build new prisons and shift thousands of inmates from mostly rural prisons into new housing units in urban areas. Less than a week after a court-appointed watchdog blasted the governor for abandoning prison reform, Schwarzenegger guaranteed a spotlight on prisons this year by calling for the special session, which will begin today and will allow bills to advance through the legislative process more quickly. [continues 1074 words]
Sacramento -- California corrections officials allowed contractors hired to run drug abuse treatment programs in state prisons to go on taxpayer-funded shopping sprees that led to the purchases of electric guitars, plasma televisions, $26,000 camcorders and cars. Even as the prison system faced annual criticism for overspending its budget by hundreds of millions of dollars, contractors racked up big bills on all kinds of items that seemed to have little to do with helping prisoners kick drug habits, according to state documents. [continues 1469 words]
Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger approved a bill Monday that could allow California pharmacies to sell hypodermic syringes without a prescription, signing clean-needle legislation that former Gov. Gray Davis twice vetoed. Schwarzenegger cited a growing body of research that has shown access to sterile needles reduces the spread of viruses like HIV in a one-page letter explaining his signature. The new law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, requires local governments to approve the idea before sales begin. The Republican governor's move added to his image as a far more liberal thinker on social issues than his party. Most Republican legislators had voted against the measure, SB1159, authored by Sen. John Vasconcellos, D-Santa Clara. [continues 553 words]
Drug-Rehab Law Called Reason For 10% Decline In Past Year Sacramento -- The number of women in California prisons has fallen 10 percent in the past year, a decline that corrections officials attribute largely to the state's voter-approved drug treatment initiative. In response, two Democratic lawmakers have proposed closing one or two of the four women's prisons to shrink California's budget deficit -- a move that would probably set up a battle with Republicans and the powerful prison guards' union. [continues 729 words]
Operators Fear Members' Records Will Be Confiscated Days after federal drug agents burst into a well-known Los Angeles cannabis club to snatch up the medical records of 960 people who bought marijuana there, Lynette Shaw made sure her clients' paperwork wouldn't be so easy to seize. Shaw, founder of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, moved records from her Fairfax office to another site -- she is not telling where -- as she braced for a visit from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. [continues 855 words]
Recommended Terms For Mood Drug Longer Than For Selling Cocaine Penalties for selling and importing ecstasy, the hip, mood-altering drug some medical researchers argue could have beneficial uses, will be tougher than those for dealing powder cocaine under new federal guidelines approved yesterday. The U.S. Sentencing Commission approved an emergency amendment that will make sanctions for dealing ecstasy akin to selling harder drugs. The commission sets sentencing guidelines for federal judges. The crackdown was imposed by Congress, which last year ordered the commission to toughen ecstasy laws in light of studies showing the growing popularity of the drug. [continues 459 words]
Group Tries To Reduce Risk By Testing Pills Before popping the pill, the 16- year-old in bell-bottoms and a black T-shirt wanted to know what was in it. Brooke Owyang used an X-Acto knife to chip away at the white aspirin-size tablet the teenager's dealer had called ``X-Files.'' On a glass plate, she mixed a drop of clear liquid from an eyedropper with the pill's dust. The chemical reaction was immediate, allowing for a quick verdict. [continues 1567 words]
