Forced Recuitment? With China developing an appetite for marijuana, methamphetamine and other illicit substances, Chinese authorities are looking to stars as front-line soldiers in the battle against drugs. BEIJING - Imagine if, after arresting a wave of celebrities on drug charges, U.S. government officials pressed the heads of major Hollywood studios, A-list actors, recordlabel chiefs and chart-topping singers to sign promises that they would stay away from vices such as drugs, pornography and gambling. Simultaneously, substance-abusing performers found their films shut out of cinemas, forcing producers into hasty reshoots and re-edits, and news media began running editorials criticizing top directors for failing to inform on associates they had seen smoking pot or taking Ecstasy. [continues 940 words]
Three weeks after their drive to collect enough petition signatures to get a medical marijuana initiative on the D.C. ballot apparently failed, activists are gearing up to start the process all over again. They had until Dec. 8 to gather the signatures of 17,070 registered D.C. voters to get their measure called Initiative 57 placed on the September mayoral primary ballot. They delivered hundreds of pages of signatures to the city's Board of Elections and Ethics, but organizer Steve Michael, of ACT UP Washington, said last week that they fell short by at least 800 names. [continues 341 words]
By Julie Makinen Bowles Washington Post Staff Writer Chet Layman was 9 years old when a teenage driver hit him headon while he was helping a friend deliver newspapers on his bicycle. The 1972 accident left him comatose for 29 days, severely damaged his optic nerve and caused him to lose 90 percent of his field of vision. The legally blind Layman, now a 34yearold Northwest Washington resident, still gets severe headaches sometimes. He has tried numerous prescription drugs to relieve the intense pain, but he finds that only one thing really works: marijuana. [continues 940 words]
