Free Republic

The romance with weed is never-ending for California marijuana devotees. Now, they claim their beloved drug can save the state by solving its unrelenting budget nightmare. State legislation is afoot to legalize and tax marijuana to backfill the state budget. But, like the grandiose daydreams of a stoner, the reality of this plan would be far different from its vision. I won't go all “Reefer Madness” on you or claim that hemp T-shirts are a slippery slope to damnation. The problem with marijuana legalization is simpler and worse. California cannot afford more stoned people, especially stoned young people. We need...

YOUNG rats high on cannabis suffer far greater memory loss, and more lasting changes in brain function than doped-up adult rodents. Research by Sydney scientists has also found the drug is a turn-off for grown-up rats. However, the wisdom of age comes too late. "Cannabis produces much greater long-term changes in adolescent than adult rat brains," said Iain McGregor, professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Sydney. His research team used sophisticated cages - more like three-room houses - for the experiments. Each room was given different wallpaper and smells so the rats could tell them apart. Adolescent and adult...

NEW YORK A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she...

U.S. growers produce nearly $35 billion worth of marijuana annually, making the illegal drug the country's largest cash crop, bigger than corn and wheat combined, an advocate of medical marijuana use said in a study released on Monday. The report, conducted by Jon Gettman, a public policy analyst and former head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, also concluded that five U.S. states produce more than $1 billion worth of marijuana apiece: California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Hawaii and Washington. California's production alone was about $13.8 billion, according to Gettman, who waged an unsuccessful six-year legal battle to...

Mary Jane Trumps Joe Camel By Mary BeckmanScienceNOW Daily News23 May 2006 It seems logical that inhaling enough smoke will give you lung cancer. But a new study of Los Angeles residents suggests that smoking marijuana--even more than 22,000 joints in a lifetime--doesn't increase cancer risk. The results surprise many researchers, who point out marijuana has other ill health effects. Decades of research have shown that cigarette smoking dramatically increases the risk of certain cancers. But controversy surrounds the risk of smoking weed. A 1999 study of blood donors suggested a link between marijuana and head and neck cancer,...

Psilyclbin Mushrooms, Bags Of Marijuana Also In CarGREEN, Ore. -- Three California youths had their road trip interrupted when a bong fell from their car at the feet of a policeman during a traffic stop. An Oregon State trooper pulled the car over Thursday near the Douglas County town of Green. Police said the large drug pipe fell out as 18-year-old Benjamin Breiner of Berkeley, Calif., opened the car door. The trooper said he found a bag of psilycybin mushrooms and several bags of marijuana. One occupant, 19-year-old Michael Fox of Oakland, Calif., told the officer he had a California...

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...

Some days New York really does feel like a small town. The annual pot parade—or J-Day—is one of them. It's kind of like the Halloween parade, only a lot less crowded and held in the warmth of the first week in May...

Executive Summary Government prohibition of marijuana is the subject of ongoing debate. One issue in this debate is the effect of marijuana prohibition on government budgets. Prohibition entails direct enforcement costs and prevents taxation of marijuana production and sale. This report examines the budgetary implications of legalizing marijuana – taxing and regulating it like other goods – in all fifty states and at the federal level. The report estimates that legalizing marijuana would save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement of prohibition. $5.3 billion of this savings would accrue to state and local governments, while $2.4 billion...

Setting up a conflict with the Romney administration, lawmakers on Monday advanced a longstanding Beacon Hill proposal to decriminalize the possession of enough marijuana for teens to roll dozens of joints. Approved 6-1 by the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, the proposal would change the penalty for possessing marijuana to a $250 civil fine for anyone caught with less than an ounce of the drug, regardless of age. In addition, parents of those 18 years and younger would be notified of the infraction. Currently, someone convicted of such an offense can be sent to jail for up to six...

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Dutch Politicans Seek Marijuana Rules Amsterdam, Netherlands -- A broad coalition of political parties unveiled a pilot program Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, which opponents say would be tantamount to legalizing growing the drug. Under the test program, to be conducted in the southern city of Maastricht, existing health and safety standards will apply to growers, but they would no longer be the target of police raids or prosecution. Coffee shops permitted to sell marijuana would be required to provide consumers with information about the health hazards of smoking - similar to tobacco companies -...

WFTV.com Man Busted For Pot After Calling Police About Possible Break-In POSTED: 10:51 am EST November 14, 2005 PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- Ronald Meyers called police when he heard suspicious noises outside his home. He ended up in jail after officers saw something suspicious inside the home: an eight-foot tall pot plant and nearly $100,000 of marijuana.

IN 2004, law enforcement officials arrested 771,605 people for marijuana violations, according to federal statistics. Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project was so alarmed he sent out a press release noting that there were more arrests for marijuana charges than all violent crimes combined. The number of arrests for possession alone was 684,319. Said Mirken of the 771,605 statistic: "This is, in fact, an all-time record. This number of arrests is the equivalent of arresting every man, woman and child in San Francisco." Some 40 percent of Americans say they have used marijuana or hashish in their lifetime, and...

BEHIND BARS A former police chief wants to end a losing war by legalizing pot, coke, meth and other drugs SOMETIMES PEOPLE in law enforcement will hear it whispered that I'm a former cop who favors decriminalization of marijuana laws, and they'll approach me the way they might a traitor or snitch. So let me set the record straight. Yes, I was a cop for 34 years, the last six of which I spent as chief of Seattle's police department. But no, I don't favor decriminalization. I favor legalization, and not just of pot but of all drugs, including heroin,...

A chemical found in cannabis can act like an antidepressant, researchers have found. A team from Canada's University of Sasketchewan suggest the compound causes nerve cells to regenerate. The Journal of Clinical Investigation study showed rats given a cannabinoid were less anxious and less depressed. But UK experts warned other conflicting research had linked cannabis, and other cannabinoids, to an increased risk of depression and anxiety. They suggested this could be because different cannabinoids acting at different levels have contradictory effects. Cannabinoids have been shown to relieve the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and pain relief in humans. They are naturally...

Every day 4,700 kids try marijuana for the first time. In fact, marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug among America's youth. Unfortunately, a lot of American teens, and their parents, continue to see marijuana as harmless. QUESTION 1: Ecstasy is more popular than marijuana among kids today. True or False? False. Far more youth use marijuana than any other drug. Among kids who use drugs, approximately 60 percent use marijuana only. QUESTION 2: Marijuana is not addictive. True or False? False. Research shows that marijuana is addictive. In fact, more teens enter treatment with a primary diagnosis of...

TORONTO (Reuters) - Comedian Tommy Chong has spent almost three decades wringing laughs from cigar-sized joints and smoke-filled vans but now a nine-month jail term has turned him serious and revitalized his flagging career. Promoting his documentary "a/k/a Tommy Chong" at the Toronto International Film Festival, he hopes the film will expose what he says is the U.S. government's heavy-handed dealing with marijuana offenders in the post-September 11 era. "The United States is under martial law, it's under dictatorship," the 67-year-old father of four said in an interview. The film chronicles the Canadian-born comedian's 2003 arrest and imprisonment for selling...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.— Agents have seized more than $2.6 billion worth of marijuana plants this year, already surpassing last year's season total by 20 percent, authorities said. The state Department of Justice's annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, is still a month away from wrapping up operations after the season peak at the end of September. The raids, many in remote, forested terrain, pit agents against often heavily armed guards protecting their marijuana plots. About three weeks ago, a grower was shot dead and a state Fish and Game warden was wounded during a raid on a 22,000-plant pot farm...

Unlike their mellow brethren in San Francisco, the half-dozen or so medical marijuana clubs that have sprouted up in the urban no-man's-land between San Leandro and Hayward have turned into something out of the Wild West. There's been a rash of armed robberies, a shootout that left one robber dead, and the possible attempted hit of a worker for cooperating with police. "I don't think this is what the voters had in mind when they passed the medical pot law, but that's what we're dealing with," said Alameda County Sheriff's Lt. Dale Amaral, whose Eden Township beat includes the 2...

The California Highway Patrol has ordered its officers to stop confiscating medical marijuana during routine traffic stops, a victory for patients hoping to win broader acceptance of the controversial medicine from balky police departments around the state. Highway Patrol officials sent out a bulletin last week to field commanders spelling out the policy shift, which would allow patients to travel on California's highways with up to 8 ounces of marijuana as long as they have a certified user identification card or documented physician's approval. For the last fiscal year, ending in July, Americans for Safe Access collected reports from 457...

A San Leandro neighborhood was on edge Saturday after a brazen daytime robbery and shootout at a medical marijuana club that led to the death of an 18-year-old Oakland man. Alameda County sheriff's investigators were still searching for three suspects after five men -- several armed with semiautomatic rifles and pistols -- stormed the medical marijuana club at 16360 Foothill Blvd. on Friday and exchanged gunfire with the store owner. The shooting happened just before the pot club was due to open at noon, said sheriff's Sgt. Linda Thuman. The owner was inside with one other employee, she said, when...

Patients arrive broke, busted or abandoned at our methadone clinic in a raw section of Northeast Washington. They are opiate addicts, primarily dependent on heroin, though some take vast doses of street-bought painkillers like OxyContin. Drinking the pink methadone solution every day prevents withdrawal sickness. About half of our patients have also spent years on crack or alcohol. Not all have stopped, but at least they have cut back. We see almost no methamphetamine users, but that is a simple accident of geography - the corrosive drug hasn't yet reached epidemic proportions in this part of the country. The personal...

The Rolling Stones' upcoming album contains a song seemingly critical of President Bush, but Mick Jagger denies it's directed at him, according to the syndicated TV show "Extra." "It is not really aimed at anyone," Jagger said on the entertainment-news show's Wednesday edition. "It's not aimed, personally aimed, at President Bush. It wouldn't be called 'Sweet Neo Con' if it was." The song is from the new album, "A Bigger Bang," set for release Sept. 6. There is no mention of Bush or Iraq. But it does refer to military contractor Halliburton, which was formerly run by Vice President Cheney...

The Supreme Court's medical marijuana decision this past June was a minor defeat for the so-called states' rights cause but a major setback for compassion and common sense. It marked one of the few defeats suffered by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her long campaign against federal regulation of the national economy and for the enhancement of individual rights. This time, she should have won. Although the decision temporarily halted the conservative assault, it allowed federal authorities to deny a locally grown and marketed drug with proven therapeutic value to people who desperately need it. In Gonzales v. Raich,...

Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri has vetoed a "medical marijuana" bill, saying it would encourage marijuana use and criminal activity. His veto comes as an anti-drug group has released dramatic video footage of a marijuana activist declaring that he uses dope for a health problem that he doesn't really have. The bottom line for this activist, Ed Rosenthal, is that "I like to get high. Marijuana is fun." The video has the potential of dealing a major blow to the "medical marijuana" movement, largely funded by billionaire George Soros. The video footage, posted at the website http://www.sorosmonitor.com, gives the...

Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a father and grandfather of a Lincoln boy on suspicion of felony child abuse. The alleged abuse was blowing marijuana smoke in the face of a 5-year-old boy. According to a sheriff's office report and Sheriff Terry Wagner, here's what happened: When the boy's mother, who lives in Crete, picked him up Friday for a weekend visitation, the boy smelled like marijuana. The boy said his grandfather had held him and blew marijuana smoke in his face, forcing him to inhale. The boy said he did not like the smoke in his face, but...

Steve, 25, Jamie, 23, and Amit, 30, all liked, or like, a smoke. Steve tried cannabis at school and was smoking 10 to 15 joints every evening by the time he was at college. He lost his job and started behaving erratically. One night, drunk and stoned in a club, he ate a lump of hashish resin and woke up hearing voices. He is still being treated for schizophrenia. For several years Jamie had smoked 20 joints, often of powerful skunk, a week. He holds down a well-paying office job and says that he has no problems with motivation or...

Just a thought - Bill O'Reilly could use a medicinal joint. Bill's a very decent, successful guy in his mid-50's, and, in my opinion, Bill could really use a bit of a doobie. Bill's becoming so rigid, so angry, so terminally sure of himself, that he's losing his once benign, powerful, and positive effect.Who will volunteer to get old Bill high? He has stuck his neck out quite courageously over the years on some very important subjects, but now he's slipping into a self-absorbed, know-it-all position, and is leaning toward diminishing all his positives. Who wants to volunteer, I'll go...

My first criticism of libertarians is that they can never seem to get their act together. I think there are some very good and sensible arguments for the legalization of marijuana, but these points never get made. Every time libertarians put forward a spokesman to champion this cause they do something to totally undermine their credibility. Most notably the tie died shirt. You can’t show up for a press conference and expect to be taken seriously wearing a motley and ragged Phish shirt. Please if you want to be taken seriously put on a suit (not the hemp suit) and...

Camera's first catch gets felony drug charge As Marcus D. Jackson smoked dope in a blue Chevy Caprice, he had no idea anyone was watching, police say. But about a block away, officers were monitoring his every move on a surveillance camera set up at Augusta and Pulaski to target crimes both serious and minor that bring down the neighborhood's quality of life. When they swooped in and arrested Jackson, the officers allegedly found $20 worth of pot and Ecstasy, a so-called "club drug," valued at $60. The 1:30 a.m. Saturday bust was the first one for Operation Disruption, which...

— WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Countering a basic principle of American anti-drug policies, an independent U.S. study concluded on Monday that marijuana use does not lead teenagers to experiment with hard drugs like heroin or cocaine. The study by the private, nonprofit RAND Drug Policy Research Center rebutted the theory that marijuana acts as a so-called gateway drug to more harmful narcotics, a key argument against legalizing pot in the United States. The researchers did not advocate easing restrictions in marijuana, but questioned the focus on this substance in drug control efforts. Using data from the National Household Survey on Drug...

WASHINGTON — Backers of drug reform policy say White House officials overstepped their bounds by using taxpayer funds to actively campaign against statewide ballot initiatives in the last election. One group says the federal government might have broken the law and is considering a lawsuit to bring to light what they say are unethical activities by the White House. Bruce Merkin, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project, said any formal suit would target the Office of National Drug Control Policy and Drug Czar John Walters, who made trips to Ohio, Nevada and Arizona in the last year to lobby...

<p>TORONTO, Canada (AP) -- American officials caution they may be forced to drastically slow trade across the northern U.S. border if the Canadian government relaxes its marijuana laws.</p> <p>The changes being considered by Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government would make the penalty for getting caught with a joint similar to a traffic ticket.</p>

EBINO, Miyazaki -- A homeless man has been arrested after dropping a headstone over 6 meters onto traffic because he was annoyed at noisy cars that stopped him sleeping in a highway tunnel, police said Sunday.A man who slammed his car into the headstone as it crashed into the Kitakyushu Expressway sustained minor injuries in the crash, but will recover in full.Shunichiro Koyashiki, 47, unemployed of no fixed address but living in a highway tunnel for the past month, was arrested for breaking the law regarding highways and national roads. He admits to the allegations.“Noise from the cars traveling along...

Cannabis poses a greater threat to health than tobacco, lung experts have warned. The warning comes on the day that Home Secretary David Blunkett is due to make a Commons statement about the future of government drug policy. Many young people are simply not aware that smoking cannabis may put them at increased risk of respiratory cancers and infections . Dame Helena Shovelton: The Home Affairs Select Committee has recommended that cannabis is downgraded from a class B drug to class C. This would mean that possession would lead to a caution, rather than arrest. The British Lung Foundation is...