News

A family is being torn apart in its bid to give a 6-year-old medicinal cannabis. Jessika and Brendan Guest moved from the United States to Whangarei last year with their children Jade, 6, and Ethan, 8.

Practice Has Head of Cma 'Quite Frightened' Some doctors feel intimidated not only by marijuana company reps, but by patients themselves.

Critics Complain of 'Hard Sell' OTTAWA - Representatives for licensed medical marijuana companies are being sent to doctors' offices as part of a push to get hesitant physicians to prescribe the drug more often.

Const. Chris Allport is quick to judge your footwork, balance and hand movements. But he's not a local dance instructor, he's a Barrie Police drug recognition evaluator.

Opinions

When Cheech and Chong lit up the movie screens with their marijuana fogged dialogue - "Hey man, how's my driving?" "I think we're parked, man" - they probably never imagined cannabis would become legal. But today more than 20 states have authorized medical marijuana, while Colorado and Washington have legalized it for personal use. So we say it's time to back up (carefully) and take a look at the health risks associated with recreational use (addressing medical use is for another column).

It's Possible for Someone WHO Sells Marijuana to Do More Jail Time Than Someone WHO Produces Child Pornography

Our City Council here in Paso Robles couldn't decide last week whether to ban the delivery of medical marijuana to people within the city. The vote was a 2-2 deadlock. One councilman was absent.

Just what is the Aspen brand? It's a question that often arises when city leaders, image-conscious because of the high stakes involved, wrestle with Aspen's latest dilemma of the day.

Letters

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.

Re "Lost Dowd in high weeds" (Notes from the Neon Babylon, July 10): Let's remember that dumbass Dowd gobbled an entire edible that was clearly marked as a 16-dose edible. Hell, that kind of edible dose would would have given Rasta Bob Marley heart palpitations. I have been a California medical cannabis patient since 1998 and now, after recent heart surgery and a complication or two, I can not vaporize flowers ever again, and I depend entirely on edibles and tinctures for pain medication.

No one seems to want to face up to the bad policies and laws that have created our latest immigration problems on our southern border. Starting in 1937 with the prohibition of marijuana and all other recreational drugs thereafter, America has funded all the drug cartels in Mexico and Central and South America to such an extent that they are more powerful than the governments in those countries.

Wake up, America. Medical marijuana could one day help you or your loved one. Enough studies have already proven the profound benefits for certain people with chronic conditions or diseases. The federal government's role in preventing access to reputable pharmaceuticals made from the chemicals in marijuana is absurd. I have been a medical professional for 37 years, and I believe education is the key to understanding the plant and the process. Laws need to change.

Sir, - Further to Simon Carswell's "The highs and lows of legalised marijuana" (July 12th), which examined the legal status of the drug in the US, it is clear that the days when politicians could get away with confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant are coming to an end. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidise violent drug cartels and open a gateway to the harder drugs they sell, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. If the goal is to deter use, marijuana prohibition is a catastrophic failure.