SACRAMENTO (AP) -- Gov. Gray Davis has signed a bill that will create a card for medical marijuana users to help protect them from arrest, but he vetoed another that would have let pharmacists sell up to 30 hypodermic needles without a prescription. Davis' deadline to sign or veto legislation was Sunday, by which time he had signed a total of 909 bills this year and vetoed 58. Last year, the Legislature send Davis 1,433 bills, of which he vetoed 263. [continues 583 words]
SACRAMENTO -- A survey of California students released Friday found that more than 10 percent of high school students have tried the drug Ecstasy, prompting the state to create a media campaign to target use of the drug. The biennial survey by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office found that Ecstasy was the third most popular drug among the 7th-, 9th- and 11th-graders questioned. Alcohol and marijuana topped the survey, Lockyer said. This was the first year students were asked about their use of Ecstasy. [continues 345 words]
SACRAMENTO- A Calaveras County man featured in an HBO documentary in which he encouraged his teen-age children to take drugs was arrested on child abuse charges, Sacramento police said Thursday. In the film "Small Town Ecstasy," Scott Meyers, 42, is shown using the drug Ecstasy with his teen-age children and going to drug parties, including one in Sacramento. The documentary was filmed in 2000 and aired on HBO in April, said Sgt. Justin Risley. Sacramento police arrested Meyers on Wednesday night at his Mokelumne Hill home, based on his activities in the documentary. Calaveras County authorities cooperated in the arrest. [continues 249 words]
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--In the four years since California's groundbreaking medicinal marijuana law, bugs have been detected, other states have been inspired and the federal government remains unhappy. Advocates say more research could help solve problems that arose from the 1996 measure, such as how best to take the drug, how much to prescribe and how law enforcement officials should treat those with a doctor's recommendation. Gina Pesulima, spokeswoman for Americans for Medical Rights, said California's law doesn't define the specific amounts of marijuana allowed or say if patients should be registered or required to carry an identification card. That, she said, has created confusion among law enforcement officials, medical personnel, patients and lawmakers. [continues 609 words]
SACRAMENTO -(AP)- California's groundbreaking medicinal marijuana law is being used in other states as a model of how not to write a law to allow chronically ill patients to smoke the drug. The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 doesn't define the specific amounts of marijuana allowed or say if patients should be registered or required to carry an identification card, and that has created confusion among law enforcement officials, medical personnel, patients and lawmakers, said Gina Pesulima, spokeswoman for Americans for Medical Rights, a group that advises grass-roots organizations promoting medical marijuana laws. [continues 563 words]
Law Enforcement, Medical Personnel, Patients And Lawmakers Are Finding Problems In Interpretation SACRAMENTO -- California's groundbreaking medicinal marijuana law is being used in other states as a model of how not to write a law to allow chronically ill patients to smoke the drug. The Compassionate Use Act of 1996 doesn't define the specific amounts of marijuana allowed or say if patients should be registered or required to carry an identification card, and that has created confusion among law enforcement officials, medical personnel, patients and lawmakers, said Gina Pesulima, spokeswoman for Americans for Medical Rights, a group that advises grass-roots organizations promoting medical marijuana laws. [continues 750 words]
