News

This is the second installment of a three-part series. BAY CITY, MI - For the past decade, John has been plagued by a virulent opiate addiction.

Almost 70 per cent of the manufacture of illegal stimulants is taking place in secret laboratories in residential areas.

This is the first installment of a three-part series. BAY CITY, MI - Two new programs in the Bay County justice system aim to proactively address causes of crime, rather than going after the symptoms.

The Foggy Bottom neighborhood could soon be home to one of the District's first medical marijuana shops.

Opinions

As the war on drugs has spread from Mexico to Central America, so has the U.S. role in Honduras. Pentagon contracts are helping to fund new military bases in remote regions of that country, and U.S. troops and special Drug Enforcement Administration agents have been deployed to train local security forces and assist in counter-narcotics operations.

California voters approved Proposition 215 in 1996, giving "seriously ill Californians ... the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes" as recommended by a physician.

We have the natty kingpins of the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" to remind us why Prohibition failed in this state. And someday, surely, we'll look back on our marijuana laws with the same sense of absurdity.

GETTING arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana will no longer be a crime under a bill now pending in the Legislature. Rather than facing a $1,000 fine and six months in jail, those with less than 15 grams of marijuana - a little more than half an ounce - would be fined $150 for their first offense and up to $500 for repeated violations.

Letters

Re "End failed drug war" (Forum, May 17): The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2010, there were 853,839 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession.

Re. "Pot legalization problematic" by Garnett Payne, letters, May 16 I thought Garnett Payne was a conservative and that true conservatives oppose nanny-state policies. Obviously, I was wrong.

We are less than a month away from the June 5 primary, and one of the most controversial issues on the ballot in Butte County is Measure A. The initiative would limit where and how much medical cannabis can be grown in Butte County.

Calls to end the infamous War on Drugs don't just come from the funny dressed hairy crowd anymore. Over the decades a number of Canadian senate committees have called for an end to it and the conservative Fraser Institute has condemned it since 2001.

Question, from a non-user: How is it that those U.S. states that have legalized marijuana, which resulted in saving investigation, arrests, prosecution, less overcrowding and prison costs, have not seen a measurable increase in its use or of hard drugs?

Let me get this straight. The City Attorney's office is recommending that the city not regulate Vallejo's existing medical marijuana dispensaries, despite a voter mandate to do so, because it believes that the case law regarding the legality of these operations remains unsettled ("Vallejo Council urged to avoid setting pot dispensary regulations," May 6) Yet, the Vallejo Police Department and county prosecutors continue to bring charges against these same operations -- alleging that the law is clear and that these facilities are operating illegally.

To the editor: Re: " Vancouver city hall coddles, protects poisonous pro-dope lobby," May 9. Mark Hasiuk's last column was a toxic, hateful piece of journalism. Under the civil and legal argument that the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users is not playing by the rules (apparently it operates without a permit), he feels completely justified to demonize and vilify the people and work of VANDU.