News

Ecosystem, Water Supply Threatened Impact on Yurok Is Worse Amid Drought WEITCHPEC, Calif. - The California National Guard on Monday joined more than a dozen other agencies to help the Yurok tribe combat rampant marijuana grows that have threatened the reservation's water supply, harmed its salmon and interfered with cultural ceremonies.

I Traveled to Eastern Washing to Visit a Bunch of Pot Farms The first place your legal pot comes from is officially a mystery.

Briere Says He'll Continue to Sell Small Amounts - Medical Note or Not - Until His Hand Is Forced

Children and adults who suffer from epilepsy could soon find relief in medical marijuana under a bill signed Sunday by Gov. Pat Quinn.

Opinions

Pity the Lonely Anti-Weed Crusaders, Whose Clout Has Gone Up in Smoke As pro-marijuana forces deployed their sidewalk soldiers to gather signatures to put pot legalization on the District's November ballot, Aaron McCormick, a 47-year-old city native and father of three, watched with growing alarm.

One of Florida's foremost cancer hospitals takes the job of caregiver so seriously it holds a 'Caregiver Academy' for those caring for patients following stem-cell transplants.

I AM not a user of nicotine or marijuana. I personally do not care whether someone uses these drugs or not. The only thing I care about is respect from the smoker to not subject me or my family to the secondhand smoke.

There were legitimate concerns with some of the Department of Health's proposed revisions of its medical marijuana rules - a hefty new fee that had yet to be justified chief among them.

Letters

Re: Lots of buzz over first pot licences, July 8 (and related stories) Now that neighbouring Washington state and Colorado have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must maintain marijuana prohibition to maintain good U.S. relations. The Canadian Senate in 2002 offered a common-sense alternative to marijuana prohibition when the special committee on illegal drugs concluded marijuana is relatively benign, prohibition contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use.

Your editorial ("Free medicinal pot - only in Berkeley," July 20) makes the assertion: "Reality check II: Regular pot can take a toll on motivation, judgment and attention to detail." That point should be rebutted by the likes of Michael Phelps, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama and Carl Sagan. I've done OK with a lifetime of cannabis use, starting five decades ago.

Let us accept these children from Central America with grace (July 17). The hellish circumstances they came from are caused, in good part, by our own drug use. It's these drugs that feed the drug cartels and gang culture these kids are running away from to come to the U.S. We are the well from whom these children draw their misery. So let's bite the bullet ... and be generous.

I am very glad the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the will of Massachusetts voters by ruling that the smell of unburnt marijuana can no longer justify searches ("Court marijuana ruling can't pass sniff test, police say," July 10). But I was disappointed in the fearmongering by critics of the ruling.

Regarding "Migrant kids, I feel for you, but go back home" (Opinions, Wednesday): I disagree with the letter writer. The combination of America's insatiable drug habit and the dismal failure of the "war on drugs" is the cause of much of the violence in Mexico and Central America. Just as alcohol prohibition escalated organized crime in the 20th century, our inability to manage our drug use is currently causing much of the violence in those countries, as well as in our country.

Re: Witness of drug overdose fearful to contact emergency services, by Kayla Follett, Page 8, Truro Daily News, July 16, 2014

The law commanded the agency to have at least one treatment center open and serving patients in each county by early last winter. The law is also explicit that until treatment centers are open, qualified patients with a recommendation or their designated caregiver registered with the department may obtain marijuana from the "black market" or grow; clearly, an incentive for prompt compliance by the department with its duties.