A member of a Yuba County medical marijuana collective was acquitted on three felony drug charges, according to court records. A jury found Eric L. Salerno not guilty on one count, and Yuba County Superior Court Judge Julia Scrogin threw out two others. Salerno and another man were arrested in April 2011 as they tried to consummate a pot sale in a fast-food restaurant parking lot in Marysville. Then-Police Chief Wally Fullerton was one of the arresting officers. "The significance of this case is it's really important for people to have safe access (to medical marijuana)," said Salerno's Los Angeles attorney, Michael Levinsohn. "People need to be able to get medical cannabis in a safe environment, so they don't have to be forced to do it in ways they are subjected to arrest." [continues 379 words]
Trying to straddle a potentially dangerous social issue, Gov. Chris Christie agreed on Friday to expand New Jersey's medical marijuana program, but stopped short of what parents of children with life-threatening diseases say is necessary to improve their access to treatment. Mr. Christie would allow medical marijuana dispensaries to provide edible marijuana, but only for children. Parents say the edible product provides the benefits but not the high of marijuana, and makes it easier to treat children who are too impaired to smoke. Mr. Christie also eliminated a part of the law that limits to three the number of strains of marijuana that dispensaries can cultivate. [continues 877 words]
It's been a war on justice, an assault on equal protection under the law. And a war on families, removing millions of fathers from millions of homes. And a war on money, spilling it like water. And a war on people of color, targeting them with drone-strike efficiency. We never call it any of those things, though all of them fit. No, we call it the War on Drugs. It is a 42-year, trillion-dollar disaster that has done nothing - underscore that: [continues 556 words]
It's been a war on justice, an assault on equal protection under the law. And a war on families, removing millions of fathers from millions of homes. And a war on money, spilling it like water. And a war on people of color, targeting them with drone strike efficiency. We never call it any of those things, though all of them fit. No, we call it the War on Drugs. It is a 42-year, trilliondollar disaster that has done nothing - underscore that: absolutely nothing - to stem the inexhaustible supply of, and insatiable demand for, illegal narcotics. In the process, it has rendered this "land of the free" the biggest jailer on Earth. [continues 521 words]
The Western Plant Science Association, with headquarters in Butte County, represents the interests of qualified medical marijuana patients and collectives. Recently, we were quite disappointed to read a statement in The Sacramento Bee by The Bee's Dan Morain ("Environment is going to pot," Aug. 4). Referring to medical marijuana growers, Morain made the unqualified statement that: "Growers don't obtain permits and take no steps to limit erosion." This statement impugns the character and credibility of legitimate medical marijuana growers, both qualified patients and medical marijuana collectives. [continues 326 words]
TRENTON (AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie agreed Friday to give chronically ill children easier access to medical marijuana, but he was unwilling to go as far as state lawmakers wanted. The Republican governor conditionally vetoed a bill on the topic, saying in the document, "Parents, and not government regulators, are best suited to decide how to care for their children." He said he agreed with provisions that would allow production of ingestible forms of pot at state-approved dispensaries and to allow dispensaries to grow more than three strains of the drug. But he struck a part of the bill that would have dropped a requirement that a psychiatrist and pediatrician sign off before children are allowed medical marijuana. He said he wanted to keep in some safeguards for young patients. [continues 659 words]
Thousands Gather in Park SEATTLE (AP) - Thousands streamed into a Seattle waterfront park Friday for the opening of a three-day marijuana festival - an event that is part party, part protest and part victory celebration after the legalization of pot in Washington and Colorado last fall. "This is going to be the biggest year for Hempfest," said Jack Beattie, an 18-year-old Seattle University student, as he shared a joint with two friends. "In past years, people were a little bit sketched out about smoking in public. Now, there's going to be a lot more." [continues 360 words]
(AP) - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie agreed Friday to give chronically ill children easier access to medical marijuana, but he was unwilling to go as far as state lawmakers wanted. The Republican governor conditionally vetoed a bill on the topic, saying in the document, "Parents, and not government regulators, are best suited to decide how to care for their children." He said he agreed with provisions that would allow production of ingestible forms of pot at state-approved dispensaries and to allow dispensaries to grow more than three strains of the drug. But he struck a part of the bill that would have dropped a requirement that a psychiatrist and pediatrician sign off before children are allowed medical marijuana. He said he wanted to keep in some safeguards for young patients. The bill now goes back to the Legislature. If lawmakers make the changes Christie requested, it will become law. It was not immediately clear when lawmakers may take it up, but the state Senate does have a voting session scheduled for Monday. [end]
Attorney General Eric Holder's speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco was a bit like hearing from a stockbroker after trading has closed. "Well, of course the market went down." Well, of course the United States needs to rethink drug laws and enforcement. Decades after America righteously declared a zero-tolerance policy toward all drug crimes and nonviolent crimes involving drugs, Holder and others want to stop the abuses. Seize the belated insights whenever they come along. Support for being "Smart on Crime," in the AG's words, is aimed at undoing laws that maintain "a vicious cycle of poverty, criminality and incarceration" that "traps too many Americans and weakens too many communities." [continues 239 words]
He Said He Would Back Edible Marijuana for Young Patients, but He Insisted on Two Changes. Gov. Christie told the Legislature on Friday that he would ease restrictions on minors using medical marijuana, but only if certain stipulations remained in place. The governor returned a medical-marijuana bill (S-2842) with recommended changes, saying he supported legalizing edible forms of marijuana and additional strains better suited to minors, but rejected a provision that would decrease the number of physician referrals required for a minor's entry into the program. [continues 677 words]
