Hi-ho-the-Derry-O! (With very special emphasis on "high.") Marijuana is now officially legal in Oregon. However, before you Oregonians who are so excited by this think the rest of time will be filled with late night visits to a 24-hour fast-food place followed by a "Robot Chicken" marathon on Cartoon Network, there are some things you might not have considered. For instance, while the state of Oregon is cool with pot, your employer probably isn't. In fact, if you've been hired by any company over the past 25 to 30 years, chances are at some point (most likely on your job application) you've signed an agreement that you'll submit to random drug tests as a condition of your employment. Meaning your employer is probably keenly aware you're in a state where pot is now legal, and as such, he or she will most likely enforce that drug test condition, and should you fail, you're out of a job. [continues 667 words]
Another reason for accepting cannabis (marijuana) due to its chemical compounds that give it healing properties, that doesn't get mentioned (Professor says marijuana benefits the body, Apr. 12, 2015) is because it's Biblically correct since God (The Ecologician) created all the seed bearing plants saying they're all good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible. Many people know of cannabis as the tree of life and the very last page of the Bible indicates the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. In over 5,000 years of documented medical use, there still isn't one single death, that's safety on a Biblical scale. Cannabis is the king of the plant kingdom. Truthfully, Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
ONTARIO - Curious locals and supporters of medical marijuana were offered some nuggets of information at the U People Like Me Medical Marijuana Awareness Blitz Friday night in Ontario. The event was hosted by the Stormy Ray Cardholders' Foundation at the Four Rivers Cultural Center, and wasn't without it's technical issues. Throughout the entire evening there were periodic microphone glitches. "Someone turned off our live feed right before we started," said Stormy Ray, who heads up the foundation. "It was devastating to all of us who put in our hard work." [continues 314 words]
ONTARIO - This year on the November ballot, Oregon residents will be voting on whether to legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21. Oregon Ballot Measure 80, or the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act, is a citizen's initiative campaign to regulate cannabis and restore industrial hemp in an effort to create jobs, shrink the marijuana black market and create millions of dollars in tax revenue. The proposal references the abolition of the alcohol prohibition as a previous example of how legalizing and regulating an illegal substance has protected society, and that restoring the hemp industry will also create several environment friendly "green" jobs in a struggling economy. [continues 731 words]
ONTARIO -- With the Nov. 2, general election right around the corner, Jim Klahr, chair of the Advisory Committee of Medical Marijuana, wants to let voters see another side of the issue. Klahr said all the facts may not have been shared in an article that appeared in the Argus Observer Aug. 1. He said he wanted to let voters hear his side of the argument and make an informed decision. Klahr said he sees many different problems with the current program that is in place and helped draft the current measure that is on the ballot to help fix the problems and fill in any loose ends. [continues 549 words]
EUGENE (AP) - An Oregon utility official has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that Eugene police used excessive force and violated her civil rights during a 2009 drug raid. The complaint filed by Eugene Water & Electric Board Commissioner JoAnn Ernst also includes her three adult children. It seeks unspecified damages for the use of "paramilitary activities, personnel, tactics and equipment" while executing a search warrant at Ernst's home. Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns told The Register-Guard he has not yet had a chance to review the complaint in detail. But he told the newspaper the police department has investigated and determined the search followed department policy and met national law enforcement standards. [continues 359 words]
ONTARIO -- Oregon voters will have the opportunity to approve the use of dispensaries to grow and distribute marijuana for the use of medial marijuana users in the state, or to simply reject the initiative in the general election in November. The measure, known as Initiative 28, will be on the ballot Nov. 2. The initiative will coincide with the measure already in place, Measure 67, which was approved by voters in 1998. Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee wants to raise awareness to the issue. [continues 459 words]
Local Teens Display Artwork In Fight Against Meth PAYETTE -- The Idaho Meth Project has found a way to enrich Idaho's youth and to involve them more in the campaigning for a safe and drug free state. IMP's "Paint the State" competition is a way for teens 13 to 18 years old to get involved in their communities and compete for $3,000 in cash prizes in each of Idaho's 44 counties. Prizes all over the state total more than $135,000. Paint the State is a way to implement a positive focus for the groundswell of outrage against methamphetamine in Idaho. [continues 672 words]
Vaunted Battle Against Illegal Narcotics Boasts No Easy Answers Vale Based on capitalism and fueled by a seemingly eternal thirst in America, the war to eradicate illegal drug use may be un-winnable, even as state, local and federal authorities pour millions into the fight. The stakes are arguably higher and the consequences most severe in rural areas of America plagued by high poverty and unemployment. And law enforcement officials are not just battling illegal syndicates that push the illegal substances but a concept as old as the America itself: capitalism. [continues 542 words]
A Malheur County Community Corrections probation officer arrested in late October during an investigation by the Malheur County Sheriff's Office and High Desert Task Force pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct, a misdemeanor, in a Malheur County courtroom Tuesday afternoon. Sydnie Maglaughlin, 36, Nyssa, is slated to go through a drug and alcohol evaluation and must relinquish her Department of Public Safety license, which means she will not be able to work in any law enforcement capacity. The Malheur County District Attorney's Office is also seeking a 30-day jail sentence. Maglaughlin was arrested Oct. 30 pertaining to charges of possession of a controlled substance, third-degree theft and third-degree official misconduct, according to a Malheur County Sheriff's Office press release from October. [continues 161 words]
Brian Zanotelli Says City's Case Against Merchant Is 'Pretty Lame' Ontario - The owner of Old School, the downtown Ontario business the City of Ontario is suing for allegedly selling drug paraphernalia, has retained Vale attorney Brian Zanotelli to represent her side of the case in court. "It's a pretty lame case," Zanotelli said Wednesday of the suit against his client, Victoria Miller. He said the city delivered the civil suit to Miller Dec. 4 or Dec. 5, and she has 30 days to respond. Zanotelli said he is still preparing the response, but said he will deliver it in a week or so. [continues 678 words]
Owner of Old School Says She May File Her Own Lawsuit Against Ontario Ontario - Even as Ontario City Council members explained Wednesday why they felt it was necessary to approve a move to file a civil complaint against a local merchant, the owner of the business in question said she may file a counter suit. The city is preparing to file a civil complaint in Malheur County Circuit Court to force the Ontario business Old School to operate within the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS). The city asserts Old School is a drug paraphernalia shop and that the owner, Victoria Miller, sold, delivered and possessed with intent to sell numerous products constituting drug paraphernalia. [continues 836 words]
Police Aim To Shut Down Ontario Shop Ontario - Ontario Police Chief Mike Kee said Tuesday he hopes to force what he asserts to be a downtown drug paraphernalia shop, Old School, to operate within the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) by filing a civil complaint in Malheur County Circuit Court. "Where we would like to get is to a point where what she's doing is authorized by the law" he said. "It's all I can do." The owner of Old School and the defendant in the complaint, Victoria Miller, said she has always operated within the law. And, she said, she thinks of her business as a tobacco accessory and art shop, not one that sells drug paraphernalia. [continues 941 words]
Federal subpoenas seeking medical records of 17 Oregon medical marijuana patients have growers and users upset and nervous even as a federal judge considers whether to throw the subpoenas out. "It's crazy. It's really scary. If they can get my records, they can get Gov. (Ted) Kulongoski's, they can get yours," said Donald DuPay, a former Portland police officer and 2006 candidate for Multnomah County sheriff. DuPay says his records are among those subpoenaed. A federal grand jury in Yakima, Wash., issued the subpoenas in April as part of an investigation of some growers in Oregon and Washington. [continues 524 words]
In an effort to help parents determine if their child is using a controlled substance, the Malheur County Sheriff's Office is now offering a free, voluntary and confidential drug testing program. And, if the results come back positive, there will be no prosecution. "We want this to be clear. Once we have the results, that's where it stops," MCSO Undersheriff Brian Wolfe said. "It's not prosecutable. First of all, it's voluntary and secondly, in Oregon, there is no charge for consumption of a controlled substance. We just want parents to know that this testing is for their own information. We're not going to be writing a report on it. It's not going to the district attorney or the juvenile officer." [continues 333 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The active ingredients in marijuana can help fight pain and nausea and thus deserves to be tested in scientific trials, a federal advisory panel said in a report sure to reignite the debate over whether marijuana is a helpful or harmful drug. The Institute of Medicine also said there was no conclusive evidence that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. In the past few years, voters in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington have approved measures in support of the medical marijuana, even through critics believe such measures send the wrong message to youth. [continues 621 words]
