Is Medical Marijuana A Big Deal? The slacker protagonists of "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" fail to steal medical marijuana from a hospital. As with many other films, this one uses the drug as a punch line. However, medical marijuana isn't a joke to the people who want it legalized. This question got more attention last week when comedian and "Price Is Right" host Drew Carey appeared in a Reason. tv video advocating the reclassification of medical marijuana. (Perfect. Exactly what the world needs right now is another celebrity championing a shaky cause.) [continues 386 words]
Council Members Will Hold a Public Hearing Monday Night on a Proposal to Ban Medical Marijuana Dispensaries From the City. HUNTINGTON BEACH - The City Council will consider an ordinance Monday night that would ultimately ban medical marijuana dispensaries from opening in the city. This comes after the Planning Commission's September vote in favor of being consistent with federal law, which considers medical marijuana dispensaries illegal. Now it's up to the council to make a final decision after a hearing in which residents can voice their thoughts. [continues 192 words]
Indoor Cultivators Learn to Blend With Suburban Neighbors The first two of a dozen people arrested last year in connection with a spate of area homes converted into hot-houses for growing marijuana have pleaded guilty and await sentencing in federal court. Yet authorities who suspect a San Francisco-based crime syndicate backed these residential enterprises said indoor marijuana cultivation is on the rise. With high-profile busts, the illegal growers have learned to disguise these large-scale operations, authorities said. [continues 450 words]
What is holding up the long-promised and much-delayed Quebec plan to deal with Montreal's escalating street-gang crime? After Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme said he'd "had it up to here" with waiting, and after Claude Dauphin, the Montreal executive committee's public-security man, backed him up, the Parti Quebecois and Action democratique du Quebec made it unanimous by also insisting loudly last week that Quebec finally produce the blueprint to eradicate that particular plague. Premier Jean Charest keeps saying the project will be ready by Christmas. We hope so, and we wonder why it has taken so long. [continues 396 words]
When his new boss at Ragingwire Inc. ordered Gary Ross to take a drug test, the recently hired computer tech had no doubt the results would come back positive for marijuana. But along with his urine sample, Ross submitted a doctor's recommendation that he smoke pot to alleviate back pain - a document he figured would save him from being fired. It didn't, however, and Ross was let go eight days into his tenure because the company said federal law makes marijuana illegal no matter the use. [continues 709 words]
DENVER -- In 2005, voters here approved a measure making it legal for an adult to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. But arrests for misdemeanor marijuana possession have risen since then. Now, voters are to decide on a ballot measure that would make possession of small amounts of marijuana the lowest enforcement priority for the police. "People didn't want anyone arrested," said Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation, a pro-marijuana group that sponsored the 2005 measure and is sponsoring the latest one. "That's what they voted on." [continues 456 words]
Bloody Battles Could 'Wipe Out A Generation' Of Durban Men A bloody drug turf war in Chatsworth, south of Durban, has resulted in 17 drive-by shootings and eight drug-related killings in less than a year, creating a climate of fear in the community. The market has boomed since the introduction of the highly addictive "Sugars" drug about three years ago. Mandrax and crack-cocaine dealers, who built empires, have been squeezed in recent years as Sugars has become Chatsworth's drug of choice, sparking rivalry between dealers for the new market. [continues 543 words]
Swiss teenagers who sometimes smoke marijuana don't appear to have higher rates of "psychosocial problems" than those who abstain, according to a study published today in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. "Those who use cannabis sometimes do better than we think," J.C. Suris, the study's author, said in an interview. Light users of marijuana "don't have great additional problems. They are kids who function well." There's no question that heavy use of marijuana does hurt, said Suris, who, along with colleagues at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, conducted surveys of 5,263 Swiss students in 2002. [continues 462 words]
The 21st Judicial Drug Task Force may be breathing a little easier after receiving a $145,000 grant to aid in operations of the agency. "The $145,000 state grant is to be used for operations of the Task Force only," Escambia County Commission Chairman David Stokes said Friday. "The funds will be used for things like salaries and expenses." The grant, which requires an equal match from Escambia County and municipalities within the county, was announced by Gov. Bob Riley's office. [continues 210 words]
Toward Fairness In Sentencing The U.S. Sentencing Commission is finally allowing federal judges to treat crack and powdered cocaine about the same when they sentence drug defendants. That's welcome news. The drugs aren't that much different, but since the 1980s sentences have been much harsher for crack dealers. Authorities then were motivated by the violence due to crack dealers battling for turf. That particular violence abated years ago in most cities, but the harsher sentences remained. The result has not been good for poor, especially African American, neighborhoods where the cheaper crack cocaine is more prevalent. [continues 167 words]
