Oregon's Medical Marijuana Growers Want to Win Respect, Help the Sick...and Grow the Kindest Bud on the Planet. A miniature version of Eden grows in Chris Duback's deep-Southeast Portland basement. But there is trouble in paradise. Visitors wouldn't notice the danger. Everything in this small, white-walled room looks fantastic. The 1,000-watt metal-halide lights and two-headed sets of 100-watt fluorescent bulbs shower 18 marijuana plants with a downpour of artificial light. The blaze makes every shade of green glow with radioactive intensity. [continues 3461 words]
MEDICAL MARIJUANA'S "POSTER CHILD" ATTACKS THE NEW GANJA BALLOT MEASURE. Back in 1998, Stormy Ray was medical marijuana's mascot. When reporters wanted a flesh-and-blood argument in favor of that fall's initiative making Mary Jane a legal medicine for ailing Oregonians, proponents steered them to the 48-year-old, wheelchair-bound woman. Ray starred in wrenching TV commercials, describing how cannabis eased the agony of her multiple sclerosis. Her barnstorming paid off: Oregon voters approved medical marijuana by a margin of more than 100,000 votes. Six years (and more than 10,000 registered medical-marijuana patients) later, Ray is back on the political warpath. But this time she's battling against former allies in the medicinal-pot movement. [continues 264 words]
