Regarding Norm Kent's Nov. 14 op-ed, "Pot smokers out of hiding as marijuana becomes accepted:" Marijuana has been legal for medicinal use in Colorado for more than 10 years and the sky hasn't fallen. As more citizens learn how effective and relatively safe it is, and how it has been historically used medically for thousands of years, laws have changed to reflect those realities. About the only way remaining for prohibitionists to stop sick citizens from using marijuana is to stop them from voting on the issue. What kind of people strive to cage sick citizens for using what God indicates He created and says is good on literally the very 1st page of the Bible? Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Weed advocates call the link a myth lacking scientific support. But doctors see evidence in their practices. As legalized medical marijuana gains acceptance across the country, a long-smoldering question burns a little hotter. In the vernacular, stoners ask, "Do doobies make boobies?" Plastic surgeons phrase it more scientifically. "Does marijuana cause gynecomastia?" Speculation that men who smoke pot are prone to develop abnormal breast tissue or "man boobs" has been around for decades. The first scientific paper examining the clinical impact of the drug's active ingredient, THC, on hormonal systems was published in 1972 in the New England Journal of Medicine. [continues 1079 words]
Two States Have Legalized and Taxed Recreational Marijuana; Will Others Do the Same? WASHINGTON - Earlier this month, Colorado voters overwhelmingly approved a plan for taxing their state's legal marijuana market. And next month, Washington state will start issuing licenses to retailers to sell recreational marijuana. Washington and Colorado are set to provide a case study in the debate over legalization. That debate is expected to spread to other state legislatures next year - advocates have identified Rhode Island and Maine as potential targets - and also to foreign countries such as Uruguay. [continues 1158 words]
DENVER (AP) - There's money to be made in legal weed. But you better have a strong stomach for risk. That's the message Colorado's nascent pot industry is taking from federal marijuana raids in Colorado this week. Thursday's raids underscored how state legalization doesn't remove risk from an industry that violates federal drug law. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency and Internal Revenue Service raided at least 10 locations in Colorado on Thursday. The raids included growing warehouses, a Denver dispensary and two homes. No one was arrested, but federal authorities say an investigation is ongoing. [continues 521 words]
Man Busted With Marijuana Says It Is for Religious Purposes Richard L. Chavez, aka "Rasta Ritchi," smokes marijuana as a religious sacrament, and he smokes a lot of it. So when Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies arrived at his home at 4 a.m. two months ago, they discovered upwards of 75 plants - some of which stood more than 12 feet tall in Chavez's South Valley front yard - and more than 8 ounces of pot. They arrested him, and now he's facing felony charges of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, despite what Chavez claims is his religious right to smoke marijuana as a practice of his faith. [continues 403 words]
Nine years ago, Ronald Washington swiped two Michael Jordan jerseys from a Foot Locker in Shreveport, La. Although the shirts were on sale for $45 each, they were officially priced at $60, putting their combined value above $100. The difference between the discounted price and the list price was the difference between a misdemeanor punishable by no more than six months in jail and a felony that triggered a life sentence. Washington is one of the prisoners profiled in a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on nonviolent offenders serving sentences of life without parole (LWOP). [continues 585 words]
Thanks to a well-funded effort by ubiquitous trial lawyer John Morgan, Florida voters are likely to get the opportunity to vote for, or against, approving the use of medical marijuana next November. For most supporters, the issue of medical marijuana is a highly emotional issue based on personal beliefs and scientific evidence that is often criticized by the establishment. Meanwhile, opponents say approving marijuana usage for medicinal purposes is a mere foot in the door that will eventually lead to approval of recreational marijuana use. That, they say, will lead to greater use of harder drugs and create more societal ills. [continues 1629 words]
