Now that Colorado has "passed the joint," we see the unintended consequences, just like President Barack Obama peddling insurance. Drugs dangerous to children ought to be packaged in childproof containers. Think about a loaded gun accessible to a child. When gun owners purchase weapons and bullets, they are responsible to control access to them, by storing them in a gun safe or utilizing new technology like "smart guns" that can only fire for the intended user. Gun owners are thus held accountable for others' safety. "Don't Bogart that joint, my friend" ... but don't pass it over to a child. Steve Schweitzberger, Littleton [end]
OAKLAND, Calif. (TNS)- The suppliers arrive at one of the nation's largest marijuana dispensaries carrying hundreds of pounds of cannabis in duffel bags, knapsacks and baby diaper totes. They leave with those same carriers stuffed with wads of cash. Harborside Health collects the money from thousands of customers, spending $40 to $60 a pop for one-eighth of an ounce of pot. No credit cards or checks are accepted. That's not by choice. Though Harborside's business is legal in California and a growing number of other states, most banks still won't touch the marijuana industry, fearing the federal prohibition that remains in place. [continues 447 words]
Sir Peter Fahy said he was in favour of a 'more medical approach' to dealing with drug offenders. The GMP chief constable added that 'everyone' involved in drugs policy had 'concerns' about the current approach. A Home Office report revealed there was 'no obvious' link between tough laws and drug use. It sparked a debate of decriminalisation of some or all drugs - with the report pointing to the example of Portugal, where there has been a 'considerable' improvement in the health of users since the country made possession a health issue rather than a criminal one in 2001. [continues 114 words]
Chief Constable Says Force Has Policy of Not Criminalising Children With Small Amounts of Illegal Substances ALMOST 100 pupils have been found with illegal drugs in Greater Manchester's schools over the last three years - but charges were only brought in six cases. Dozens of pupils have been caught with cannabis The vast majority of the pupils caught had cannabis, but some were discovered with class A drugs - including heroin and ecstasy. Most of the incidents related to secondary schools, although police were called to two primary schools after pupils inadvertenly brought suspicous or illegal substances in from home. Figures, obtained by the M.E.N. using Freedom of Information laws, show that Greater Manchester Police dealt with 99 drug crimes involving students at schools between January 2012 and September this year. [continues 318 words]
Would Make It Easier to Give Anti-Addiction Medication to Help Users U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) was in Toledo today to generate support for a bill he's co-sponsoring that would make it easier to give anti-addiction medication to help heroin users break their heroin habit. The bill, still awaiting action in the Senate, would increase the number of patients who would be able to get methadone medication to help them break their drug habits in response to demand from opiate abuse. [continues 259 words]
ILLEGAL drug use has become a social norm now. You can walk through Manchester city centre any day of the week and within minutes you will smell cannabis. And that's in the city centre, never mind the estates, where people are smoking it like they would drink a cup of tea. I see kids walking to school at 8am smoking spliffs. It's pretty clear that the war on drugs has been a failure. History teaches us that prohibition doesn't work. [continues 223 words]
Time did not heal all of the wounds inflicted on Lance Cpl. David Counts during the Korean War. "I shouldn't be here, but I did make it back," said the former Marine Corps truck driver. "The things I've seen in my life, it's not been good," said Counts, who copes with post-traumatic stress disorder by smoking medical marijuana. "It stays with me every day." Veterans Affairs physicians prescribed 10 drugs, including those for anxiety and depression, for Counts. He recently started using medical marijuana after a VA nurse recommended it to him, even thought it's an illegal drug under federal law, he said. [continues 1206 words]
ALBANY -- U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed on Monday a $100 million "heroin surge" to combat a sharp rise in heroin addiction and fatal overdoses that some public health officials have characterized as an epidemic. The proposal calls for an additional $100 million emergency appropriation to the federal High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program. The money would help battle drug trafficking and heroin production, would bolster law reinforcement efforts and coordinate intelligence-sharing and drug enforcement efforts among local, state, federal and law enforcement agencies. Schumer said the money would aim to disrupt the heroin pipeline into the Capital Region from New York City and Vermont, which comes across the border from Canada. [continues 868 words]
The United Nations' meddling in U.S. domestic affairs is an old story. But the latest chastisement brings into question what the egalitarians are smoking at their headquarters along the East River. The head of the U.N. drug policy office is ripping the legalization of marijuana in some states, most recently in Oregon and Alaska, where voters last month approved marijuana's use. "I don't see how the law can be compatible with existing conventions," says Yury Fedotov, a Russian diplomat and director of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. But these U.N. "conventions," which date back to 1961, have no teeth, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, tells Fox News. [continues 115 words]
MARIJUANA should not be used in medical treatments. Dr. Clarette Dy from the Department of Psychiatry of Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center shared the Philippine College of Addiction Medicines' view on the legalization of marijuana stands firm, "no". "We as doctors and even our society, our stand is not to legalize marijuana in the country," she stressed. This is in response to proposed House Bill 4477 or the Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Bill or simply the marijuana bill. In the bill's explanatory note, the bill hopes "to provide accessible, affordable, safe medical cannabis to qualifying patients." [continues 161 words]
Regarding Aaryn Belfer's Oct. 29 "Backwards & in High Heels" column about Prop. F in Encinitas and marijuana dispensaries: It's been 18 years since California voters approved medical marijuana. That California legislators are only now getting around to regulating medical marijuana is absurd. They missed the boat. Restricting access at this point is a gift to Mexican drug cartels. It's time to catch up with Colorado and fully legalize it. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply-and-demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. [continues 90 words]
