News

It was 2012, and Ferrell Scott was watching television inside Pennsylvania's Allenwood federal penitentiary when he learned that the sale of marijuana, something he was given a life sentence for just four years earlier, was becoming legal in two states.

In the cloudy world of travel with marijuana, what gets dispensed in Vegas should probably get smoked in Vegas.

Surgeon General Warns Pregnant Women and Teenagers Not to Smoke or Vape Marijuana Dr. Jerome Adams, the surgeon general, said they may be unaware of the health hazards posed by new, professionally grown marijuana crops.

The medical marijuana "Unity Bill" that sets up a basic legal framework for the implementation of State Question 788 will take effect Thursday.

Opinions

The legalization of marijuana as a medicine in 33 states, 11 of which allow its use as a recreational drug, has made weed a dynamic American industry, among the economy's fastest-growing sources of new jobs. California alone, with $3.1 billion in projected marijuana sales for this year, has a legal market as large as that of any country on the planet.

SEATTLE - On gritty streets where heroin, fentanyl and meth stride like Death Eaters, where for decades both drugs and the war on drugs have wrecked lives, the city of Seattle is pioneering a bold approach to narcotics that should be a model for America.

Canada has been at the forefront of cannabis research, education and regulation for the past 2 decades, yet uncertainty remains about how the drug should be used in medicine. Physicians lack evidence-based information and formalized training about cannabis, which stems, in part, from the drug's previously illegal status that hindered research. Among the public, however, many perceive cannabis as a natural and safe medical treatment. Patients increasingly seek advice about cannabis from physicians, request prescriptions or experiment with cannabis for medical problems on their own. However, physicians must adhere to good medical practice regardless of public pressure and provide counselling to patients based on up-to-date knowledge and evidence. Now that cannabis is legal in Canada more research should be forthcoming, but the evidence base remains weak.

More than half of all Canadians believe drug treatment should focus on abstinence, rather than opioid replacement therapies, according to poll results released this week.

Letters

Re "Ending the War on Drugs," by Nicholas Kristof (Sunday Review, Aug. 25): This article gives me hope that Seattle is finally doing something about the devastation of drug use on its streets.

Wow! Are you kidding me? This is the most fantasized assessment of Seattle's drug epidemic I've ever seen. In actuality, we are spiraling toward complete social meltdown here, and Nicholas Kristof thinks we've figured out how to end the war on drugs?

Tobacco products, which kill almost 500,000 people per year, are legal, and still advertised to a limited extent. Alcoholic beverages, which kill about 88,000 people annually, are not only legal but also widely advertised. Many of the opioid deaths are a result of accidental overdoses because users are unaware of just how much drug is in a particular dosage they consume.

In highlighting Seattle's new approach to drug possession, Nicholas Kristof makes a compelling case that it is past time to adopt a public health approach to addiction, but he is too narrow in his conclusions. When we view the war on drugs strictly though the lens of drug possession, we fail to include people who need help the most: those who have committed crimes driven by their addiction and/or mental health disorder and who face incarceration as a result (crimes including D.U.I., theft, property crimes). These individuals desperately need treatment but are not eligible for diversion via programs like LEAD, which typically only address drug possession.

"New Warning Against Use of Marijuana for 2 Groups" (news article, Aug. 30) is reminiscent of coverage of pregnant women and cocaine use that reported damage theories that were alarmist.

I thought that Nicholas Kristof's article was very good in showing the efforts of Seattle's prosecuting attorney, Dan Satterberg, to scale back on drug prosecutions and promote treatment alternatives.

I want to thank Nicholas Kristof for bringing our attention to the successful way Seattle's Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program is addressing the interplay of drug addiction and the law. I support his call for more "evidence-based public health interventions." At Exponents, we also invest in evidence-based practices that employ recovering individuals and those with the lived experience of addiction.