News

He was a friendless high school loner struggling with autism. So why did an undercover cop target him as a drug dealer?

The number of patients on Colorado's medical marijuana registry rose ever so slightly in the first month of recreational store sales, according to new figures from state health officials.

Legislation Would Regulate the Industry That Has Had Little Oversight Since 1996. San Francisco (AP) - A California lawmaker has introduced legislation to regulate the state's freewheeling medical marijuana industry - the farmers who grow the drug, the hundreds of storefront shops that sell it and especially the doctors who write recommendations allowing people to use it.

(AP) - The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Friday approved a measure relegating marijuana possession to a civil offense.

Opinions

Lawmakers Let Pot Legalization Bill Die In Committee Sooner or later, Oregon voters once again will decide whether to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. If that time comes this fall, as is likely, state lawmakers will regret their decision to let die in committee a bill that would have asked voters if they want to legalize pot and leave the regulatory details to lawmakers in the 2015 session.

And now into the haze. Washington took another concrete step toward legal sales of marijuana for recreational use last week, picking the first person to receive a license, but there's a lot about this new direction that's still hard to know.

Let Colorado have legal pot. Kansas can sit back and watch how this experiment goes and wait for more science on the health and societal impact of marijuana use.

Polarization and gridlock create the impression of a nation stuck, but beneath the frozen political machinery cultural and demographic currents are shifting dramatically. The most obvious is the speed with which the nation is changing its mind about same-sex marriage. The next big sea change may be in attitudes about legalizing marijuana. Opposition to easing laws on marijuana has gone up in smoke in Colorado and Washington state. Last week, the Washington, D.C. city council voted to decriminalize small quantities of pot, joining 17 states. Since California voters approved the medical use of marijuana in 1996, 19 more states have followed. More than a dozen states are weighing doing the same this year.

Letters

Kristine Lessard's account of the tragic loss of her son to heroin ["This addiction doesn't follow any rules," Local Opinions, March 2] struck a deep chord with me, as my husband and I lost our son to a cocaine addiction several years ago.

Re: "Police chiefs seek pot money; Group urges more money for marijuana enforcement," March 6 news story.

Re: VPD to feds: We won't enforce new pot law, March 5 I'm pleased the Vancouver police will refuse to enforce the new pot law by allowing medical-marijuana dispensaries to continue operating. A truly absurd aspect of the federal Conservatives' "free market" scheme is that the product only be delivered by "secure courier."

Re: Rob Ford defends his record as mayor on Jimmy Kimmel's TV show, March 4 A B.C. woman named Jess Goldstein was denied entry into the U. S and barred for life, for admitting to the customs officials she had smoked marijuana in the past. Her car was searched, she was questioned for six hours and told she could never enter the U. S. again. She owns a cabin in Washington state and her father is American so she used to cross quite often. Now she can cross the border only because she was granted an official waiver, which cost her almost $ 600, and has to be renewed again each year.

Reading The Pueblo Chieftain, Feb. 26, I noticed in the local news section the article, "Growing concern, county may consider cultivation tax soon."

Now that a medical marijuana referendum will be on the November ballot in Florida, it seems that a lot of state legislators are trying to save face by creating bills of their own for medical marijuana.

My great-grandparents gifted my Grandpa with a tavern, at Church & Chapel Streets in New Haven, when Gramps graduated from NYU. The year was 1924. The extensive array of liquor covered the walls of the back bar, behind the restaurant, in vintage photographs.