Controversial Bill Would Set Standard for How Much Pot Is Too Much to Be Behind the Wheel Growing acceptance of medical marijuana and an initiative to legalize recreational pot use in California are stoking a debate over how to keep stoned drivers off the roads. While driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal in all 50 states, determining when a motorist is too stoned to drive isn't as easy as it sounds. Unlike alcohol, the active ingredient in marijuana can linger in the body long after any noticeable effects of the drug wear off. [continues 1094 words]
Inmates desperate to get high still rely on an old standard - pruno - a potent prison wine concocted from hoarded fruit and ketchup using the water in cell toilet bowls. Street drugs also regularly get smuggled past guards by wily visitors. But the latest way to get stoned behind bars has been Seroquel and Wellbutrin, expensive psychotropic drugs that inmates obtain by pretending to be schizophrenic or depressed. Santa Clara County's tab last year for the two drugs: $614,000 at a time when the county is facing a $220 million deficit. [continues 524 words]
They Enjoyed the Race, Got a Few Votes Losing can be almost as special as winning, at least when you come in dead last for governor. San Diego actor Todd Lewis garnered 172 votes in Tuesday's recall election - -- the least of any of the 135 candidates, and fewer than his run for president of his seventh-grade class. But instead of slinking away unnoticed, Lewis, 27, found himself in the spotlight Wednesday. "I'm thrilled about being the caboose," said Lewis, who was interviewed on eight radio shows from Portland to Springfield, Ill. "People want to know who I am." [continues 589 words]
Going to jail is never fun, but it's about to get even grimmer for nicotine fiends, coffee addicts and sugar junkies in Santa Clara County. In contrast to most Bay Area counties, whose jails ban only smoking, Santa Clara County will also eliminate free coffee and accompanying sugar next year -- at the same time as it reinstates a no-smoking ban. ``If you stay with us, you're going to have to change your whole lifestyle,'' said Tim Ryan, the county's new chief of corrections, who ordered the changes, which will start Jan. 1. [continues 745 words]
New Restriction Added To Its Ordinance On Medicinal Marijuana The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a new medicinal marijuana ordinance that makes it more difficult to set up cannabis dispensaries in unincorporated areas of the county. The county's original ordinance, passed 17 months ago, restricts marijuana dispensaries to commercial and industrial zones of the unincorporated area, and requires operators to obtain a special use permit from the county. No one has applied for a county permit. [continues 193 words]
Bail Bond Firm Threatens Lawsuit Over Lack Of License Responding to pressure from the bail bond industry, Santa Clara County Jail officials delayed the debut Wednesday of a bail-dispensing machine while they double-check whether it is legal. County officials said the decision to postpone the use of the machine came after a bail bond company in Sacramento threatened to sue the county. The company, Allied Bail Bonds, contends the bail kiosk is illegal because the operator is not licensed by the state. [continues 608 words]
Santa Clara County to install machine that bypasses bondsmen Ah, modern life. You have your ATM kiosks, your ticket kiosks, your espresso kiosks and -- in the heart of Silicon Valley -- your bail-yourself-out kiosk. Starting Wednesday, Santa Clara County will be the first major jail in the country with a bail-dispensing machine. With a swipe of a credit card, eligible defendants will be able to get out of the clink within moments of being booked instead of waiting hours or even days for a relative or bail bondsman to arrive with the necessary cash. Only one other place in the nation so far -- tiny San Luis Obispo County -- has installed such convenience machines. But the private company that sells the kiosks expects them to become as ubiquitous as ATMs. [continues 883 words]
Harsh term: Judge says it was justified; critics say politics played role. A 21yearold man who sold methamphetamine to junior high school girls in Los Gatos burst into tears Monday as he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, a lengthy term that his angry supporters charged was politically motivated. In imposing the tough sentence, Superior Court Judge Lawrence F. Terry noted that Anthony A. Garcia was a twiceconvicted felon who ``exploited'' girls as young as 13, some of whom relied on ``crank'' to lose weight. [continues 870 words]
