Mission Hill Junior High School officials will allow a seventh-grader to display her medical marijuana project when the school science fair opens today. School officials had questioned whether "Mary Jane For Pain," a project that included marijuana-laced props when the 13-year-old, who asked not to be identified, turned it in last Thursday, fit science fair guidelines. But after reviewing the girl's research during the weekend, school officials concluded the project -- sans the marijuana-laced muffin and rubbing alcohol initially presented as props -- fits fair criteria under the category of social science. [continues 519 words]
SANTA CRUZ -- Science projects are supposed to give kids the chance to explore the world. But a 13-year-old Mission Hill Junior High School seventh-grader discovered the limits of scientific inquiry this week when she tried to enter the school science fair with a project on medical marijuana. The girl was permitted to present her report, titled "Mary Jane for Pain," to classmates Thursday, but school officials quickly seized props -- including a marijuana-laced muffin and a spray bottle of pot-steeped rubbing alcohol. [continues 680 words]
At first blush, it seems illogical: Medical marijuana advocates want more county regulations for the legal use of marijuana. Nonetheless, some pot proponents are demanding the county be more specific about how much marijuana people can grow or carry for medical purposes. Though many counties have adopted possession guidelines for medical marijuana since passage of Proposition 215 in 1996, Santa Cruz County has not. While the county's handling of the issue is considered progressive, the Sheriff's Office deals with arrests on a case-by-case basis, making judgment calls about whether a person is growing more plants than an illness demands. [continues 1176 words]
Dear Ann Landers: This is in response to the letter from DEA administrator Donnie Marshall about ecstasy. The ecstasy knock-off known as PMA that has been taking the lives of young Americans is today's version of bathtub gin. The black market has no controls for quality or user age. Unlike legitimate businesses that sell alcohol, illegal drug dealers do not ask for ID. They push trendy, synthetic "club drugs" when given the chance. The drug war fails miserably at its primary mandate — protecting children from drugs. [continues 563 words]
According to an article published in the Jerusalem Post on June 7, "Hashish found to be good for joints," a doctoral student at the Hebrew University's School of Pharmacy in Jerusalem has discovered that hashish can be effective as an anti-inflammatory drug for rheumatoid arthritis. For her work with hashish as a therapeutic agent, Susanna Tchilibon, a 32-year-old immigrant from Milan, has been named a winner of one of this year's Kaye Prizes for Innovations and Inventions at the university. The active agent, HU-320, is comparable to the known drug indomethacin, but without the known and considerable gastrointestinal side effects caused by that drug. Tchilibon added that use of hashish or marijuana has never been shown to cause those side effects. Lee Eisenstein, Watsonville [end]
Pot smokers who get caught by the law with less than an ounce of marijuana would no longer be charged with a misdemeanor crime under a bill that could come to a vote as early as Monday Under the provisions of the measure sponsored by state Sen. Bruce McPherson, possessing less than 28.5 grams of pot would be an "infraction," rather than a misdemeanor. The maximum $100 fine would remain the same. However, far from attempting to scale down marijuana laws, the bill is aimed at reducing court costs for counties, a McPherson staffer said last week. [continues 424 words]
State Assemblywoman Virginia Strom-Martin said Saturday that her bill aimed at legalizing hemp production in the Golden State has a "60-40" chance of passing. "I'm feeling pretty good about it," Strom-Martin, D-Santa Rosa, said at the fourth annual Santa Cruz Industrial Hemp Expo. "I'd say it has a pretty good chance at this point in time." The expo continues today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium. Strom-Martin's bill is now before the state Assembly's agriculture committee. [continues 339 words]
Three months before implementation, there are still many questions surrounding a new law that will require judges to sentence minor drug offenders to treatment facilities instead of jail. County drug and alcohol treatment providers are perplexed about how Proposition 36 will affect them when it goes into effect July 1. They wonder how they will accommodate more clients and what they will be asked to do for the people sent their way. Those and other questions are expected to come up at a community forum on Proposition 36, scheduled tonight from 7-8:30 at the Simpkins Family Swim Center, 979 17th Ave. in Live Oak. [continues 422 words]
Christening the "tokers" deck, medical-marijuana advocates freely passed around victory joints, celebrating the opening of this one-of-a-kind bed and breakfast in downtown Santa Cruz. "Let's medicate," said one gray-haired woman before lighting a tiny black pipe and taking a long drag. Others, old and young, plucked sweet-smelling buds from their personal stashes and rolled joints at the debut of the Compassion Flower Inn, a "bed, bud & breakfast" that caters to medical marijuana users and open-minded travelers interested in alternative lifestyles. [continues 545 words]
SANTA CRUZ - City officials have served a shut-down order on a new medical marijuana provider on Seabright Avenue but will allow the group to continue operating while it seeks the proper permits. Kate Wells, who opened Santa Cruz Cannabis Pharmaceuticals in a small home on Seabright almost two weeks ago, said she wants to comply with city rules but has no plans to abide by Monday's notice. City officials said Wells, a lawyer, never obtained the proper permits to open. A permit was needed because the house was previously used as a residence and is zoned for offices. [continues 481 words]
THE OLD warplane, a P-51 Mustang, roared toward Valerie Corral on a straight stretch of Highway 395 outside Reno. It was a beautiful spring day in 1973, the kind that makes the desert shimmer with sunlight. Corral and her girlfriend could see the plane coming from a long way off. It was flying so low over the asphalt that it looked like something out of a war movie. Maybe the pilot needed to make an emergency landing, they thought. Maybe something was wrong. [continues 2723 words]
SANTA CRUZ - Fear is a powerful incentive to not take action. And that's a barrier a number of area agencies and the Santa Cruz Needle Exchange Program are determined to break through with a new education program. The program aims to inform heroin users that a call to 911 in the event of a medical emergency will not mean punishment even though possessing heroin is illegal. The countywide needle exchange program provides more than 2,000 intravenous drug users with clean needles. In October, Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation legalizing needle exchange programs. [continues 497 words]
