News

Officials Aim to Reduce Number of Dispensaries; Advocates Vow Petition Drive SAN JOSE - Bolstered by new legal authority, San Jose leaders are trying again to impose rules that would sharply shrink the number of medical marijuana dispensaries that have proliferated across the city in recent years as officials struggled to regulate them.

Two revamped marijuana ordinance proposals - one that completely bans marijuana growing in Fresno County - will be before county supervisors on Tuesday.

Hundreds Celebrate Legal Pot Anniversary at Seattle Center Party To some, smoking pot freely at Seattle Center was liberating, a step out of the shadows. For others, it was a chance to partake in a little history - and at least one joint the size of a burrito.

Several Owners Are Struggling to Find the Proper Containers. Child-resistant packaging is a pillar of Colorado's rules for recreational pot shops, approved as a requirement months ago to reduce the risk of accidental ingestion by young children.

Opinions

The fence that separates Nogales, Ariz., from Nogales, Mexico, is a see-through wall of vertical steel rods 15 to 18 feet high, set four inches apart in a deep bed of concrete. It is a rusty ribbon that runs up and down dusty hills and streets, cutting one city into two and jutting into the desert for a few miles east and west.

Twenty years ago this month, U.S. authorities helped bring down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, but Washington's global war on drugs has not let up. In fact, it has become costlier, bloodier, more widespread and futile.

Today is Sensible B.C.'s deadline to hand in its petition to force a vote on decriminalizing marijuana in B.C.

Well, British Columbia, it looks like you'll be hiding your joints for a while yet. In the foreseeable future, otherwise lawabiding citizens will be forced to huddle around basement bongs, away from the prying eyes of the police. Suburban moms and dads will continue lurking in the backyard around their portable vapourizers, having told their kids that they're "just taking the dog for a walk."

Letters

In response to Nancy Starr's recent letter, those of us who advocate for a regulated, aboveboard cannabis market do not argue that the use of marijuana by adults is not without potential risks or that it cannot be abused by some people ("Don't legalize pot," Nov. 30).

Missouri voters, not legislature, should make decision on marijuana legalization Dan Viets, chairman of Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, is doing the correct thing taking the issue of re-legalizing the plant cannabis (marijuana) to the voters rather than the legislature.

Editor, Regarding the editorial, "Time for Pa. to recognize pot's medicinal value," Nov. 25, 2013:

DIVERSIFYING THE ECONOMY THROUGH MEDICAL MARIJUANA THE EDITOR, Sir: Over the last few months, the debate as to whether marijuana should be decriminalised for medicinal purposes has gained traction. Recently, Dr Fenton Ferguson, minister of health, has asserted explicitly that he will endorse the decriminalisation of marijuana for medicinal purposes, an encouraging position. The minister should be commended for his boldness and, hopefully, he will convince his Cabinet colleagues of the economic imperative of the medical marijuana industry.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom should stick to his role: enforcing, not writing, the law ("Backstrom firmly against medical use of marijuana," Dec. 1)

In response to the Dec. 1 letter by Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny et al.: It's true that anyone in California who wants a medical marijuana recommendation can get one. So-called medical marijuana abuses are not to be feared. As long as there is a demand for marijuana, there will be a supply. The medical recommendation allows consumers to purchase locally grown marijuana of known quality and safety from dispensaries that generate tax revenue. Is it somehow preferable that consumers purchase untaxed, unregulated and potentially unsafe marijuana from criminals?

It's encouraging to see more states working to allow hemp cultivation (Kentucky officials again approach DEA on hemp issue, Nov. 27). It's time to Re-introduce hemp as a component of American agriculture.