Mandatory Minimums Don't Deserve Your Ire Jeff Sessions's policy won't lock up harmless stoners, but it will help dismantle drug-trafficking networks. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is being tarred as a racist-again-for bringing the law fully to bear on illegal drug traffickers. Mr. Sessions has instructed federal prosecutors to disclose in court the actual amount of drugs that trafficking defendants possessed at the time of arrest. That disclosure will trigger the mandatory penalties set by Congress for large-scale dealers. [continues 796 words]
Council Says Letting Clubs Peddle Marijuana Would Invite Fed Crackdown OAKLAND -- Measure Z, which made private, adult use of cannabis the Police Department's lowest law enforcement priority, does not allow commercial sales of the drug at private clubs, the City Council decided Tuesday. Brimming with outrage, more than a dozen supporters of the measure -- passed with 65.2 percent of the vote in November 2004 -- accused council members of thwarting the will of the voters by narrowing the measure's scope. [continues 327 words]
Oakland Dispensaries Try to Allay Customers' Fears of a Possible Federal Marijuana Crackdown OAKLAND - The vibe was decidedly not mellow Monday afternoon at Oakland's medical marijuana dispensaries. Possibly because many were worried about drawing the ire of federal officials, few customers or employees wanted to chat about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision Monday that allows prosecution of people who smoke marijuana to relieve pain or nausea for violating federal drug laws. Despite some uncertainty, city officials said the ruling would not change Oakland's commitment to providing cannabis to people whose doctors recommend or prescribe it. [continues 383 words]
Measure Changes Little About Pot Policy OAKLAND -- Although adult, private use of marijuana is now the Oakland Police Department's lowest priority, the new law is all but certain to face additional challenges. According to unofficial election results, Measure Z won 64 percent of the vote, delighting supporters who said Wednesday they hope the victory heralds the end of the war on drugs in Oakland and starts a chain reaction that ends with legalization of marijuana in California. "With a couple more percentage points, we could have raised taxes," said Joe DeVries, one of the authors of the measure, referring to the two-thirds margin needed to levy assessments in California. "But we're not going to gloat." [continues 331 words]
Supporters Say Approval Means End to City Drug War OAKLAND -- Voters on Tuesday laid the groundwork for the decriminalization of marijuana by voting overwhelmingly for Measure Z, which orders the Oakland Police Department to make private, adult use of pot its lowest priority. According to early unofficial returns, Measure Z received almost two-thirds of the vote, appearing to win decisively. Celebrating at the Old Bulldog Cafe in the heart of what was once known as "Oaksterdam," supporters said the victory heralded the end of the drug war in Oakland. [continues 325 words]
OAKLAND -- Advocates for the legalization of marijuana plan to ask voters to adopt an initiative in November that aims to tax and regulate the sale of pot in Oakland. While the measure, to be submitted to City Attorney John Russo today, would not decriminalize pot, it would direct the Oakland Police Department to treat the private use of marijuana by adults as its lowest priority until cannabis is legalized by California officials. "It is possible to keep cannabis out of the hands of street dealers and away from children, if we tax and regulate it," said Dale Gieringer, a member of the Oakland Civil Liberties Alliance. [continues 509 words]
Oakland Group Wants Voters to OK Levy on Pot OAKLAND -- Advocates for the legalization of marijuana plan to ask voters to adopt an initiative in November that aims to tax and regulate the sale of pot in Oakland. While the measure, to be submitted to City Attorney John Russo today, would not decriminalize pot, it would direct the Oakland Police Department to treat the private use of marijuana by adults as its lowest priority until cannabis is legalized by California officials. [continues 541 words]
When Bad Habits Met a Mayor Who Wouldn't Put Up With Them At least a few New Yorkers have long despaired of making non-New Yorkers grasp the gargantuan perversity of the city's welfare system. Help has arrived. "Hands to Work" (William Morrow, 308 pages, $25.95), by Columbia journalism Prof. LynNell Hancock, purports to be an expose of welfare reform under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. It is far more profitably read as a breathtaking tour of the mindset -- supplied by the author and by those she writes about -- that for decades made New York the welfare capital of the world. [continues 936 words]
The toxic marker that sent 13 Buena Park youths to area hospitals is the tool of choice for some graffiti artists, but it has a far more dangerous use as an inhalant. The Magnum 44 marker contains high levels of xylene, which can cause heart rhythm problems that can lead to sudden death, said Cynthia Johnson, a California Poison Control system toxicology case manager. "This is not something you want to play around with," Johnson said. Repeated abuse, she said, can slow reaction time, irritate eyes and case lung and kidney damage, dizziness, memory loss and tremors. [continues 103 words]
