Provision That Aids Defendants Could Put Law Over the Top With pot smoking now legal in Colorado, the state is closer than ever to defining just how stoned is too stoned to drive, say legislative leaders who've seen similar proposals die again and again at the state Capitol. Law enforcers want to set the legal limit at 5 nanograms of active THC per milliliter of blood and recently made a critical compromise to get that standard into the state's DUI statute. [continues 715 words]
The man who pleaded guilty to providing former Arapahoe County Sheriff Pat Sullivan with methamphetamines today received a three-year prison sentence. A defense attorney for Timothy Faase, 49, extolled the man's record of community service, saying he volunteered for breast-cancer-related charities and organized holiday meals in his neighborhood. Faase apologized for enabling others who are addicted to drugs. "I don't want to be an enabler. That's not who I am," said Faase, who's just days away from his 50th birthday and who has a clean criminal history. "I can never fix the people I hurt by selling drugs. I know that." [continues 127 words]
It's Popular With Adolescents, Provides a Marijuana-Like High, Is Available Online and on Colorado Store Shelves, and It's Legal - for Now. As Spice and other synthetic cannabinoids show increasingly public impacts - at Colorado poison control, among probationers and teen addicts, and recently at the Air Force Academy - law enforcers are looking for ways to nip demand for the drug in the bud. Colorado authorities say they suspect increased use of Spice, plant material sprayed with THC-like chemicals, though that spike also coincides with the first tests available to screen for the tough-to-track substance. [continues 643 words]
A year ago, nobody would have called the now 50-year-old Patty McParland - 30 years addicted to drugs and alcohol, homeless and a frequent squad-car passenger - a success story. That's what made the $200 voucher for substance-abuse treatment and the free movie passes that Judge Thomas Mulvahill handed down as praise for her new sobriety so meaningful. McParland beamed as she exited Boulder County's Courtroom I that recent Tuesday morning in December accompanied by the applause of 15 of her peers. [continues 830 words]
New Bill to Legalize the Drug Has Been Filed in the House After enduring two rounds of back surgery and suffering nerve damage in his leg, Marshall Parks knows the rest of his life will be a battle against pain. He's taken a laundry list of medications and treatments. The one he said works the best is illegal. He was rarely a political activist, but now he feels it's time to be an advocate for medical marijuana. Not just for himself, but for people he has watched suffer, including his late mother. [continues 1691 words]
Two state senators vowed Sunday to restore age restrictions on young medical marijuana patients to a bill regulating the relationship between doctors and their pot-seeking patients. Sens. Chris Romer and Nancy Spence want patients younger than 21 years old to first see a substance abuse counselor before getting a recommendation for medical pot from a doctor. Doctors who override the counselor's nonbinding recommendation would be reported to the medical board of examiners for review. Throughout the medical-marijuana debate, advocates and lawmakers have batted down age restrictions based on constitutional language saying anyone 18 years old or older should have access to the medication with one referral from a doctor. [continues 248 words]
If federal authorities in the future prosecute Colorado's medical cannibis growers and wholesalers, the state could pay to defend them in court under a provision unveiled Sunday by state Sen. Chris Romer at a Denver medical-marijuana health fair. Romer, a Denver Democrat who is proposing legislation to regulate the budding industry, wants to use a database to track growers and their plants for health safety and law-enforcement purposes. But growers have operated for decades under the radar and need assurances before divulging identifying information that could later be used against them, Romer said. [continues 245 words]
One bill would require medical-marijuana dispensaries to provide other health services, limit where they can operate and require additional screenings of younger patients. Another would put the state in the pot-growing business and require dispensaries to have licensed pharmacists on staff. Both are initial volleys in an upcoming legislative battle to shape a burgeoning industry that has flourished under one of the nation's most permissive medical-pot laws. The fight will pit those who favor regulating the estimated 100-plus dispensaries now operating in Colorado against those who hope to limit the number of patients one provider can serve. [continues 631 words]
In one of his last acts in office, President George W. Bush gave two former immigration officers their freedom and former Rep. Tom Tancredo an unexpected parting victory. The fervent anti-illegal-immigration congressman worked for three years with other Republicans to free former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. Bush on Monday commuted their sentences. The men were convicted of improperly shooting a Mexican man later convicted of drug smuggling. Even the impending inauguration of a Democrat couldn't spoil Tancredo's day, he said. [continues 179 words]
A House committee Wednesday OK'd a first swat at so-called "pill mills" that recklessly prescribe painkillers that end up on the streets. House Bill 544 would allow law enforcement officers to arrest doctors and health-care professionals who do not follow medical standards for prescribing superaddictive pills, such as oxycodone and methadone. It also would become illegal to operate a business with the sole purpose of selling prescriptions and would fine or imprison those who dispense the medications through fraud or forgery. [continues 428 words]
Herbalists: Ban Would Snare Legal Businesses A House bill aimed at keeping youngsters from getting high ran into opposition Wednesday from herbalists and practitioners of natural medicine, who argue it would hurt their businesses. House Bill 20 would make it illegal to cook down or otherwise process 39 hallucinogenic plants, including morning glories and mandrake. Distributing the substances, which can be lethal in large doses, would also be illegal. Holistic medicine practitioners say that some of the prohibited plants are ingredients in Food and Drug Administration-approved, over-the-counter pills they prescribe. [continues 269 words]
A Senate committee endorsed two bills Tuesday aimed at reining in drug problems in Louisiana. One would require pharmacies and other stores to keep a closer eye on over-the-counter drugs that can be used to manufacture crystal methamphetamine, an illegal and addictive stimulant. The other would boost penalties for illegally possessing and distributing the powerful painkiller oxycodone, sometimes called as "hillbilly heroin." Both measures advance to the Senate floor for a vote. The first, Senate Bill 24, would introduce a number of intense restrictions on the ways drug stores can stock and sell products containing ephedrine and similar compounds found in medications such as Sudafed. [continues 449 words]
