News

(AP) - Marijuana and hemp have joined wacky paint colors and unsightly fences as common neighborhood disputes facing homeowners associations. Though a few HOAs have willingly changed their rules to accommodate legal marijuana use or home-growing, many more are banning home pot smoking.

DISCOVERY BAY -- The first recreational marijuana store to open on the North Olympic Peninsula sold out in its first day.

Treaty Three Police's New Street Crime Unit Arrests Eight People at Powwow Treaty Three Police arrested eight people at the Wuzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation's powwow, five of whom have been charged with drug possession. The aboriginal police service says people can expect more of the same if they decide to bring illicit drugs and alcohol to powwows elsewhere in the Treaty 3 area this summer.

Mood on Legalization Is Compared With the Swift Fall of Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage. More than a third of adults have smoked it - including the last three presidents.

Opinions

I would like to challenge Dr. Stephanie Haridopolos' claims in her recent column in opposition to the passage of Amendment 2, which would legalize medical marijuana.

Reform of Overly Harsh Prison Sentences Is Both a Just and Practical Step Forward Few would argue at this point that the nation's decades-old war on drugs has been anything but a wretched failure. It has cost uncounted millions of dollars, sent tens of thousands of people to prison (disproportionately African-American) and helped give this country the world's largest incarceration rate - and all without putting a dent in drug use.

Ottawa has a problem with guns and gangs. Several problems actually. But the biggest one, as usual, is conceptual, because if you don't realize what you're doing wrong you can't change it.

Ottawa has a problem with guns and gangs. Several problems actually. But the biggest one, as usual, is conceptual, because if you don't realize what you're doing wrong you can't change it.

Letters

Commentator Jonathan David Farley claims that the violence in Central America is that is driving the influx of children illegally crossing the border is "not our problem" ("#Sendthemback," July 22).

Your July 20 editorial was a vast degree beyond your normal ignorance regarding cannabis issues. The "plan" for free medicine to low incomers is part of a new medical cannabis dispensary permit process, ordinance changes addressing sales, cultivation and enforcement.

Re: Medical marijuana producers attempting to woo doctors, July 24. As the directors of the association representing the majority of licensed producers in Canada, we believe it is imperative that patients with a range of chronic illnesses and severe disabilities be able to manage their conditions through a variety of treatment options, including medical cannabis. It is therefore equally imperative that healthcare practitioners have access to the information necessary to independently assess whether medical cannabis has a place in their practice.

Re: Citizens, not police, should decide on pot's de facto legalization, Daphne Bramham column, July 22

Re: Easy to get, easy to buy, Special Report, July 19 As a licensed naturopathic doctor focused on primary care and adjunctive cancer therapies, I have noticed a staggering increase in patient queries about the medicinal use of marijuana. We see the same in the media, whether CNN profiling Dr. Gupta, myriad patient testimonials, or the advent of legalization in certain states.

I am delighted Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has shown leadership alongside Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) by proposing an amendment to prohibit federal intervention against states with medical marijuana laws.

Re "Lost Dowd in high weeds" (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10): Great column regarding marijuana edibles. Just as most people have to suffer the seriously unpleasant effects of alcohol poisoning before they truly understand how to use that well known drug, so do people need to learn how to dose themselves on edibles.