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More than a third of Danes have used cannabis at least once in their lives, making them the top users of the drug in Europe. The new statistics from the European Centre for Monitoring of Drugs and Drug Addiction show that Denmark comes out ahead of France and the UK for use of the illicit drug. Of Danish adults 36.5 percent have tried it at least once in their lives, compared to 30.6 percent in France and 29.8 percent in the United Kingdom. However, Denmark only lies in seventh place for the use of cannabis in the last year, which...

Denver-based organization says pot is safer than alcoholOne pro-marijuana group is calling on the government to allow marijuana in smoking lounges at airports across the country. Cigarette smoking at Denver International Airport and other airports across the country is restricted to smoking lounges. Members of the Denver-based organization Safer Alternative for Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER) will ask the government Tuesday to allow pot in airport smoking lounges.

Richard Williams smokes marijuana regularly. But he doesn’t consider himself a criminal, and doesn’t think he should be treated like one. The 46-year-old Richmondville resident has been HIV positive for two decades. Smoking marijuana, he said, relieves the pain in his joints and helps him cope with persistent bouts of nausea. He has hepatitis C and a damaged liver, so he doesn’t want to take pain medication, which is processed by the liver. Williams supports legalizing the use of medical marijuana in New York. He’s hoping the state Legislature will pass a law that does so before adjourning later this...

AMHERST, Massachusetts — With gas and oil prices at an all-time high, the alternative solution for residents throughout Amherst and the country for energy is hemp. Gas prices recently broke the $3-a-gallon mark for the first time in the region, which has drivers and residents who rely on gas for their cars as well as oil for heat struggling. The thought of hemp production as a cheap alternative to oil and gas is appealing because it can be converted to “biomass” that is in turn converted to energy. “Biomass can be converted to methane, methanol, or gasoline at a fraction...

HAILEY, Idaho (AP) - Three pro-marijuana initiatives have again been approved by voters in the central Idaho town of Hailey. Voters yesterday approved initiatives to legalize medical use of marijuana, industrial use of hemp, and to make enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest police priority in the city. Rejected was an initiative to require the city to regulate and tax distribution of the drug. Voters last November passed the same three initiatives, but city officials balked at recognizing them.

Forgive me if the headline above sounds slightly exploitive. My intention is not to piggyback on a personal tragedy, but I did want to get your attention.

Rep. Barney Frank said he plans to file a bill to legalize "small amounts" of marijuana. Frank announced his plans late Friday on the HBO show "Real Time," hosted by Bill Maher. "I’m going to file a bill as soon as we go back to remove all federal penalties for the possession or use of small amounts of marijuana," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, told Maher. Frank didn’t define "small amounts." Efforts to reach Frank on Saturday were not immediately successful. Frank said he’d filed a similar bill in the Massachusetts Legislature in the 1970s, but hasn’t tried since he was...

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) recently said that, if elected president, he would end the federal raids on marijuana clinics in states that have legalized the drug for medical purposes. That makes the Democratic field unanimous now — all would end the raids and allow the states to craft their own medical marijuana policy, free from federal interference. By contrast, just two of the remaining GOP candidates — Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) and Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.) — and none of the front-runners have promised to call off the raids. This is unfortunate for a party that once fancied itself the...

Libertarian suspected of felony menacing Paul Tiger accused of threatening road worker By Vanessa Miller Saturday, August 18, 2007 A Boulder County political activist and longtime Second Amendment advocate was in court Friday after being arrested on suspicion of threatening a road worker with a gun. Paul Tiger, 51, of Longmont, is accused of felony menacing with a deadly weapon. Police said he confronted a traffic-control flagger about 2:40 p.m. Aug. 11 near the intersection of South Sunset Street and Nelson Road because of road closures and detours near his business. He left the scene and returned with a handgun,...

The Marijuana Policy Project (www.mpp.org) reports that 55% of polled enrolled members of New York State's Conservative Party support medical marijuana with 35% oppose. See New York Conservatives Favor Medical Marijuana Bill, Poll Shows ... However, the leadership of the Conservative Party is adamantly opposed to medical marijuana. It is not really suprising to those who actually know many New York Conservatives that they support medical marijuana. It is a little reported fact that the Christian Coalition has endorsed medical marijuana. There is both a philosophical and self-interest component to these unexpected positions.... Just as many black Americans diverge from...

Congressman Ron Paul Against UIGEA Congressman Ron PaulBy Arthur Crowsonhttp://www.pokerlistings.com/congressman-ron-paul-against-uigea-16785There is one more opponent of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). According to www.house.gov, Presidential hopeful Ron Paul will be offering his support to Congressman Barney Frank's revised gambling bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act or IGREA. The act would create an exemption to the ban on online gambling for licensed operators, allowing Americans to lawfully bet online.Paul called UIGEA an, "Outrageous affront" to individual freedom. He went on to state the importance of respecting the American people's right to decide for themselves whether or not they...

Ken Starr Oral Argument Bong Hits 4 Jesus "Illegal drugs and the glorification of the drug culture are profoundly serious problems for our nation." http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/06-278.pdf

At a recent backyard barbecue in Miami's Upper Eastside, a group of middle-age, middle-class folks tamely sipped berry cocktails and beers. Among them: a couple of lawyers, a couple of city administrators and an arts administrator. Somewhere between the skirt steak and the apple pie, somebody lit a joint and passed it around. Nobody blinked. Even in mainstream, white-collar settings, smoking marijuana can be commonplace and unremarkable, like having a little wine with dinner. Once a stamp of the arty, the marginal and the counterculture, today marijuana's popularity cuts across social boundaries. Yet several high-profile marijuana arrests have recently made...

Jeffery A. Miron finds that by decriminalizing cannabis, the federal government would generate $2.4 billion in federal tax revenue annually, and that an additional $7.7 billion would be saved as the cost of incarceration, policing, and processing offenders. Now, that's too much money to for the human brain to fully conceptualize, given the air quality around April 20th, so your friends at the Prometheus Institute have provided this handy quantitive index in order show exactly how much the U.S. can earn each year from cannabis decriminalization. The math: $2.4 billion per year + $7.7 billion per year = $10.1 billion...

They can't send 'guru of ganja' to jail, but feds will retry case Federal prosecutors brushed off a judge's suggestion that they not retry a prominent marijuana advocate on cultivation charges and said Friday they would press ahead, even though he cannot be sent to prison if he is convicted. Assistant U.S. Attorney George Bevan made the announcement at a hearing in San Francisco before U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who presided over the first trial of 62-year-old Ed Rosenthal of Oakland. When Bevan said last month that the government intended to retry the self-described "guru of ganja," Breyer urged...

Medical marijuana: Governor's wrangling revives measure New Mexico -- The state Senate on Saturday resurrected the medical marijuana issue, passing a new bill allowing people suffering certain serious medical conditions to smoke cannabis to treat their symptoms. The action came two days after the House voted 37-32 to defeat the original bill (Senate Bill 238). But on Saturday, the Senate voted 32-3 to pass Senate Bill 523, which now goes to the House. Gov. Bill Richardson told The Associated Press on Friday that he had talked to several Democrats who had voted against that bill in an effort to get...

He looks like a good cop. He's got the 'stache, the short-cropped hair, the pushed-out chest and the shiny badge. He sounds like a good cop too; drawled and official. He's got a TV reporter's microphone in his face and a brick of marijuana in his hand, and he's answering questions—not in the "I just accidentally Tasered an old lady" kind of way, but with a grin of accomplishment. The total bust was in the neighborhood of 275 pounds. This is the old Barry Cooper. Top cop. Total prick. He claims more than 300 felony drug arrests during his eight...

Libertarian Party candidates may have cost Senators Jim Talent (R.-Mo.) and Conrad Burns (R.-Mont.) their seats, tipping the Senate to Democratic control. In Montana, the Libertarian candidate got more than 10,000 votes, or 3%, while Democrat Jon Tester edged Burns by fewer than 3,000 votes. In Missouri, Claire McCaskill defeated Talent by 41,000 votes, a bit less than the 47,000 Libertarian votes. This isn’t the first time Republicans have had to worry about losing votes to Libertarian Party candidates. Senators Harry Reid (Nev.), Maria Cantwell (Wash.), and Tim Johnson (S.D.) all won races in which Libertarian candidates got more votes...

Tentative ruling nixes challenge to medical marijuana A judge in San Diego indicated Thursday that he would reject three counties' challenge to California's medical marijuana law, saying the state could enforce a law allowing people to use the drug even if the federal government bans it. Federal officers are free to enforce the U.S. law prohibiting possession and cultivation of marijuana, but that doesn't prohibit California from allowing medical use of the drug under its own law, Superior Court Judge William Nevitt said. The voters did just that when they approved Proposition 215 in 1996. The two laws would be...

Nevada is known for gambling, 24-hour liquor sales and legal prostitution. Yet the main group opposing Question 7, an initiative on the state's ballot next month that would allow the sale and possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults 21 or older, is called the Committee to Keep Nevada Respectable. In Colorado, opponents of Amendment 44, which would eliminate penalties for adults possessing an ounce or less of marijuana, are equally certain of their own rectitude. "Those who want to legalize drugs weaken our collective struggle against this scourge," declares the Colorado Drug Investigators Association. "Like a...

The skies were clear but a haze hung over hundreds of marijuana activists as they paraded up State Street to the Capitol for the 36th Annual Great Midwest Marijuana Harvest Festival. Some who marched advocated marijuana for medicinal purposes, while others championed hemp as an answer to the state's agricultural woes. And more than a few undoubtedly toked up for the sheer pleasure of smoking a doobie on a sunny afternoon on State Street. "The sky didn't fall, nothing happened, nobody got hurt, and we went all the way down the road in full public view and nothing went wrong,"...

A Downers Grove woman admitted in court Wednesday that she persuaded her teenage son to plant drugs in a Westmont High School classmate's backpack in a scheme to embarrass the boy's mother.

Leon Nunn stepped out his front door one recent afternoon only to be waved back by a squadron of drug agents using a battering ram on a neighbor's home. The half-million dollar home in the quiet subdivision was stuffed with high-grade marijuana, plants covering nearly every square foot. The bust is one example of a phenomenon that has come to light recently in subdivisions around the state's capital. Marijuana growers with suspected ties to Asian organized crime have been buying suburban homes — many in newer developments — because of the anonymity the drug dealers believe the neighborhoods afford. They...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is distributing government-produced, anti-drug videos on YouTube, the trendy Internet service that already features clips of wacky, drug-induced behavior and step-by-step instructions for growing marijuana plants. The decision to distribute public service announcements and other videos over YouTube represents the first concerted effort by the U.S. government to influence customers of the popular service, which shows more than 100 million videos per day. The administration was expected to announce its decision later Tuesday. It said it was not paying any money to load its previously produced videos onto YouTube's service, so the program is...

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - A woman admitted to smoking marijuana daily with her 13-year-old son to reward him for completing his homework. Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, pleaded guilty to several charges Monday and will be sentenced Nov. 27. Livelsberger, of Conewago Township, admitted in Adams County court that she had been smoking marijuana with her son since he was 11, and that she often gave it to him as a reward. The boy told police that he was required to do his homework as soon as he got home from school, and then was allowed to smoke marijuana with his mother,...

98 Percent Of All Domestically Eradicated Marijuana Is "Ditchweed," DEA Admits September 7, 2006 - Washington, DC, USA Washington, DC: More than 98 percent of all of the marijuana plants seized by law enforcement in the United States is feral hemp not cultivated cannabis, according to newly released data by the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Domestic Cannabis Eradication/Suppression Program and the Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. According to the data, available online at: http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/pdf/t4382005.pdf, of the estimated 223 million marijuana plants destroyed by law enforcement in 2005, approximately 219 million were classified as "ditchweed," a term the agency uses to...

10) MARIJUANA USE HAS NO EFFECT ON MORTALITY: A massive study of California HMO members funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found marijuana use caused no significant increase in mortality. Tobacco use was associated with increased risk of death. Sidney, S et al. Marijuana Use and Mortality. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 87 No. 4, April 1997. p. 585-590. Sept. 2002. 9) HEAVY MARIJUANA USE AS A YOUNG ADULT WON’T RUIN YOUR LIFE: Veterans Affairs scientists looked at whether heavy marijuana use as a young adult caused long-term problems later, studying identical twins in which one...

Denver DEA Rep: Don't Legalize It Colorado -- The Drug Enforcement Agency is stepping into the political fray to oppose a statewide ballot issue that would legalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. In an e-mail to political campaign professionals, an agent named Michael Moore asks for help finding a campaign manager to defeat the measure, which voters will consider in November. If passed, it would allow people 21 and older to have up to 1 ounce of marijuana. In the e-mail, which was sent from a U.S. Department of Justice account, Moore also writes that the group has $10,000...

It turns out that alcohol is legal for the simplest, most nostalgic, and most American reason of all. Despite its risks and harmful side-effects, adults are reserved right to drink because they are independent adults in a free country. For all of the empty rhetoric about economics and black markets, the end of Prohibition was due to a single principle: even if drinking may be bad for society, government has no right to keep the people from doing it. The ability to get drunk is an inalienable right that we have forever confirmed with the 18th Amendment.

White House Sends Money To Fight Pot Growing Washington, DC -- The White House is sending money and some momentary manpower to reinforce the fight against California marijuana growers. When national drug czar John Walters lands in Fresno on Tuesday, he'll be bringing a commitment of an additional $2.2 million in law enforcement funding. The money will include $100,000 grants for Fresno, Tulare and Kern counties, as well as more support for a coordinated anti-pot campaign. He'll also be bringing the extra attention that comes along with the job of directing the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy....

The reporters made their way through the dim lights and small huts of Virginia City's Chinatown. In the huts, one of the reporters later wrote, "A lamp sits on the bed, the length of the long pipe-stem from the smoker's mouth; he puts a pellet of opium on the end of a wire, sets it on fire, and plasters it into the pipe much as a Christian would fill a hole with putty; then he applies the bowl to the lamp and proceeds to smoke--and the stewing and frying of the drug and the gurgling of the juices in the...

Marijuana Amendment Will Be On Ballot Denver -- Coloradans are to decide this fall whether to make it legal under state law for anyone age 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. Secretary of State Gigi Dennis said Wednesday that backers of that initiative had turned in enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 7 general election. The proposal will be Amendment 44 on the state ballot, Dennis said. Under Colorado law, anyone in possession of an ounce or less of marijuana can be charged with a Class 2 petty offense, punishable by a fine of...

Voters have been losing their taste for the war on drugs lately; in the past few years, states from Arizona and Alaska to California and Hawaii have moved toward making marijuana, in particular, a low priority for law enforcement, with first-offense possession cases often dismissed with small-time fines and medical-marijuana measures on the books in several states. But the initiative voters in Nevada will be considering this fall goes much further: The “tax and regulate” measure, whose supporters got it on the ballot by collecting 86,000 signatures, would allow anyone over 21 to possess up to one ounce for personal...

Reefer is Worth Getting Mad About Vienna -- Supporters of the legalization of cannabis would have us believe that it is a gentle, harmless substance that gives you little more than a sense of mellow euphoria. Sellers of the world's most popular illicit drug know better. Trawl through websites offering cannabis seeds for sale and you will find brand names such as Armageddon, AK-47 and White Widow. "This will put you in pieces, then reduce you to rubble -- maybe quicksand if you go too far," one seller boasts. This is much closer to the truth. In Canada, as in...

The use of injected drugs such as heroin, methamphetamine and steroids is at an all-time high for high school seniors statewide, according to a survey released Monday by the Indiana Prevention Resource Center. The number of students injecting drugs has increased from 1.8 percent in 2001 to 2.2 percent in 2006. Statistics for the northeast part of Indiana, which includes Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitley counties, mirrored the statewide average. “I was surprised by the injected drug use that was elevated by 12th-graders,” said Ruth Gassman, executive director of the center. Rich Beck, chief of...

Gateway to Nowhere? The evidence that pot doesn't lead to heroin. Earlier this month, professor Yasmin Hurd of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine released a study showing that rats exposed to the main ingredient in marijuana during their adolescence showed a greater sensitivity to heroin as adults. The wire lit up with articles announcing confirmation for the "gateway theory"—the claim that marijuana use leads to harder drugs. It's a theory that has long seemed to make intuitive sense, but remained unproven. The federal government's last National Survey on Drug Use and Health, conducted in 2004, counted about 97 million...

Judge rules against Alaska marijuana law JUNEAU, Alaska – A judge on Monday struck down part of a new Alaska law criminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, saying it conflicts with past constitutional decisions made by the Alaska Supreme Court. That means the police won't be able charge people with a misdemeanor under the new law for possessing less than 1 ounce of marijuana in their homes. The state Department of Law was expected to quickly file an appeal with the high court. Superior Court Judge Patricia Collins said a lower court can't reverse the state Supreme Court's 1975...

A new La Crosse County ordinance would send criminal charges up in smoke for low-risk offenders busted with under 25 grams — a little less than an ounce — of marijuana. At a Thursday meeting, the county board voted 15-12 to pass the ordinance, which would send first-time offenders away with a citation and fine instead of a misdemeanor charge. The vote followed nearly two hours of debate that included testimony from the district attorney, a judge and the county sheriff — and a few moments of levity that would please Cheech and Chong. District Attorney Scott Horne argued against...

The Science of Medical Marijuana Prohibition USA -- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently opined that smoked marijuana has no scientifically accepted medical uses. The FDA received much criticism for this decision because in 1999 the Federal Government’s own scientists concluded that even in smoked form marijuana has medical uses. At the heart of the debate about medical marijuana is the question of science. But what, exactly, is science? Since modern civilization bases itself on a belief in the ability of science to solve any and all problems (human or otherwise), prudent people are obligated to at least try...

Drug Warriors Push Eye-Eating Fungus USA -- Why are members of Congress advocating the use of a dangerous crop-killer in Columbia? On April 16, the New York Times ran a full-page ad from contact lens producer Bausch and Lomb, announcing the recall of its “ReNu with MoistureLoc” rewetting solution, and warning the 30 million American wearers of soft contact lenses about Fusarium keratitis. This infection, first detected in Asia, has rapidly spread across the United States. It is caused by a mold-like fungus that can penetrate the cornea of soft contact lens wearers, causing redness and pain that can lead...

Switzerland's policy of offering heroin addicts substitution treatment with methadone or buprenorphine has led to a decline in the number of new heroin users in Zurich, according to a paper published in this week's issue of The Lancet. Switzerland has implemented various policies to try and reduce harm to dependent heroin users, including needle-exchange services, low-threshold methadone programmes, and heroin-assisted treatments. However, critics say that these policies may lead to a growing number of new drug users and lengthen the period of heroin addiction. To investigate, Carlos Nordt and Rudolf Stohler from the Psychiatric University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland analysed data...

Activists Pushing To Relax Marijuana Enforcement Oregon -- A marijuana advocacy group wants Portland police to get their priorities straight. Introduced by the Citizens for a Safer Portland in early February, a new citywide initiative is aimed at reducing adult marijuana-related offenses to be the “lowest law-enforcement priority.” Chris Iverson, chief petitioner of the initiative and campaign manager for CSP, is confident Portland voters will approve the measure if it gets on the ballot. About 56 percent of city voters endorsed the failed statewide medical marijuana expansion initiative two years ago, which he said was “under-funded and not well-organized.” “Because...

LAST week, the Food and Drug Administration staked out its position on the long-standing controversy over the medical use of marijuana — and made a lot of people smoking mad. The F.D.A. endorsed a multi-agency study that found that "no animal or human data supported the safety or efficacy of marijuana for general medical use." This came as an affront to those who claim that cannabis is an appropriate treatment for ailments from nausea and vomiting to muscle spasticity and intractable pain. Many news reports and commentaries accused the F.D.A. of contradicting a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine...

America's war on drugs is actually a Raid on Taxpayers. The war costs an estimated $70 billion a year to prosecute, and the drugs keep pouring in. But while the War on Drugs may have failed its official mission, it is a great success as a job-creation program. Thousands of drug agents, police, detectives, prosecutors, judges, anti-drug activists, prison guards and their support staffs can thank the program for their daily bread and health benefits. The American people are clearly not ready to decriminalize cocaine, heroine or other hard drugs, but they're well on their way to easing up on...

MEXICO CITY — The issue of drug decriminalization split Mexican politics in strange ways on Saturday, after President Vicente Fox refused to sign a bill that would have eliminated criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of drugs. About 500 protesters held a marijuana smoke-in in Mexico City, and a presidential candidate who visited the demonstration came out in favor of decriminalization. Mexico City's police chief came out against it, and some members of Congress accused Fox of yielding to U.S. pressure to veto the bill.

Prague- Several thousands of people attended the annual gathering in support of marijuana legalisation at Prague's Letna plain, which was preceded by their march through Prague streets. The march and the gathering, where music and dance prevailed, was part of the international Marijuana March event. The police estimated the number of the participants at 2,000. For the first time this year, the Prague meeting included not only a concert but a march through Prague. Its participants want marijuana to be approached in the same way as alcohol and tobacco, and that its medical use be allowed. The marching advocates of...

'Bong Hits' To Supreme Court? Alaska -- The Juneau School Board is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a court ruling that supported a former student's right to display a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The Juneau School District has enlisted some big-name help in hopes of overturning the ruling that could potentially cost it money. Los Angeles attorney Kenneth Starr, who served as the independent counsel investigating former president Bill Clinton, has agreed to represent the School Board and former Juneau-Douglas High School Principal Deb Morse on a pro bono basis to appeal an April decision...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Congress approved a bill Friday that would legalize drug possession for personal use — decriminalizing the carrying of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and even heroin. The only step remaining is the signature of the president, whose office indicates he will sign the measure, despite the implications for the war on drugs. The bill, approved by the Senate on a 53-26 vote with one abstention, had been approved earlier by the lower house of Congress. U.S. officials had no immediate reaction on what this means for the fight against drug trafficking, or the vast numbers of...

In the course of researching paramilitary drug raids, I’ve found some pretty disturbing stuff. There was a case where a SWAT officer stepped on a baby’s head while looking for drugs in a drop ceiling. There was one where an 11-year-old boy was shot at point-blank range. Police have broken down doors, screamed obscenities, and held innocent people at gunpoint only to discover that what they thought were marijuana plants were really sunflowers, hibiscus, ragweed, tomatoes, or elderberry bushes. (It’s happened with all five.) Yet among hundreds of botched raids, the ones that get me most worked up are the...

Frequent Cannabis Use Not Associated With Cognitive Declines In Working Memory, Selective Attention Utrecht, the Netherlands: Frequent cannabis use is not associated with cognitive deficits in memory or attention, according to trial data published in the forthcoming issue of the journal Psychopharmacology. Investigators at the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience assessed brain function in "frequent but relatively moderate" cannabis users in the domains of working memory and selective attention using functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI). "No evidence was found for long-term deficits in working memory and selective attention in frequent cannabis users after one week of abstinence" compared to non-using...