marijuana

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Mexican Pot Lords See Green in Strapped Calif. Parks

(Newser) - Mexican drug traffickers are having a banner year growing pot in California’s plentiful—and, due to the state budget crisis, woefully understaffed—parkland, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Authorities think California might see a record-breaking, multi-billion dollar crop. “Our whole state is overrun,” said a spokeswoman for...

Pot Backlash Grows in Mendocino

Culture is changing in a way that locals don't like

(Newser) - Hey, man, things aren't so cool anymore with marijuana farming in Mendocino County. Sure, it was great for years while "steel-haired" California hippies tended their crops, but things are getting out of hand, reports the Washington Post. Little kids started coming to school reeking of pot, while outsiders, some...

Recession Sparks Efforts to Legalize Pot

Full-scale regulation and taxation on the table in Calif.

(Newser) - The recession has given marijuana-legalization advocates an unexpected boost, Time reports, as cash-strapped states are tempted by possible revenues from pot taxes. With an existing medical-marijuana market and cuts to education and health services pending due to a huge budget deficit, California advocates are preparing both legislation and ballot initiatives...

Oakland First City in Nation to Pass Pot Tax

Voters back levy on medical marijuana that could raise $1M

(Newser) - In a landslide, Oakland voters yesterday made their city the nation's first to levy a special tax on medical marijuana, the Los Angeles Times reports. By an 80% margin, voters backed a tax of $18 on every $1,000 in pot sales, a move that may catch on in other...

New iPhone App Locates Pot Spots
New iPhone App
Locates Pot Spots
Jul 20, 2009 8:34 AM CDT

New iPhone App Locates Pot Spots

(Newser) - Instead of hotspots, IPhone users can now find pot spots, thanks to a new app that locates legal medical marijuana outlets, reports Mashable. Apple has approved the $2.99 iPhone app, Canabis, which seeks out legal pot clinics, collectives, advocacy organizations, and prescribing docs throughout the US. The smokin' application...

Calif. Stoked About Pot Profits
 Calif. Stoked About Pot Profits 
Jul 19, 2009 12:07 PM CDT

Calif. Stoked About Pot Profits

Some call for legalization; others say it makes no difference

(Newser) - Even if they’re not legal without a doctor’s recommendation, marijuana sales are far from clandestine in California, and some say the state should finish what it started and just legalize pot for everyone, the AP reports. “The culture has gone so far beyond the law,” says...

Is Pot Addictive? Critics, Fans Fight Over Data

(Newser) - Advocates and critics of marijuana are wielding scientific data as the debate over legalization becomes one about addiction, the New York Times reports. "Science really has proven, if anything, that cannabis is likely one of the safest substances we can interact with,” says one marijuana legal reformer. But...

Toker on New Ad: Legalize Pot, Then Tax Us, Please

(Newser) - A pro-legalization group has launched a statewide ad campaign in California stressing that pot smokers want to pay taxes, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The Marijuana Policy Project ads feature an "actual California marijuana consumer" who points out that regulating and taxing marijuana could help save services being cut...

Let's Lock Up Casual Drug Users
 Let's Lock Up 
 Casual Drug Users 
OPINION
Jun 30, 2009 12:10 PM CDT

Let's Lock Up Casual Drug Users

Addicts need help, but casual users need jail: Monbiot

(Newser) - The head of the UN drug and crime office recommended last week that casual drug use be decriminalized and said users "need medical help, not criminal prosecution." We should certainly help addicts, but casual users of marijuana and cocaine belong in jail, George Monbiot of the Guardian writes....

Heath Almost Gave Up Pills
 Heath Almost Gave Up Pills 
GLOSSIES
Jun 29, 2009 3:47 PM CDT

Heath Almost Gave Up Pills

Friends, colleagues remember tragic actor

(Newser) - Heath Ledger was a complicated actor who quit using marijuana and alcohol and came close to giving up the sleeping pills that may have killed him, friends and colleagues tell Vanity Fair in a profile. Though he was leery of summer blockbusters—“He was afraid it would define him...

RI Legalizes Medical Marijuana
 RI Legalizes Medical Marijuana 
Jun 18, 2009 1:45 AM CDT

RI Legalizes Medical Marijuana

Legislature overrides governor's veto to back 'compassion centers'

(Newser) - Rhode Island has become the third state to legalize the sale of marijuana for medicinal use, the Providence Journal reports. The state House and Senate overrode the governor's veto of the bill, which will allow the opening of three "compassion centers" where critically ill patients can buy the...

Legal Pot Backers Target 2010 Calif. Vote

Advocates step up efforts to have legalization put on next year's ballot

(Newser) - Advocates of marijuana legalization—and taxation—have stepped up their efforts to include the issue on California's November 2010 ballot, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Backers say the tide of public opinion has turned strongly in favor of legalizing and taxing pot for personal use, especially in light of its...

The Craziest 911 Calls, From Burgers to Pot Brownies

Time lists top 10

(Newser) - Time counts down the top 10 weirdest non-emergency 911 calls. Among the craziest:
  • A cop who stole pot from a drug bust and made brownies. After getting stoned, he called 911 in a panic. "I think we're dead," he told the operator. "Time is going by really
...

Dude Busted for Smuggling Pot on Surfboard

(Newser) - A Mexican surfer off a California beach was busted for trying to smuggle 24 pounds of pot on his board, reports the Los Angeles Times. When suspicious cops on the beach close to the Mexican border ordered the surfer to come ashore, he heaved a duffel bag into the water....

2010 Olympic Torch Looks Familiar ... to Potheads

Winter sports design looks like a joint to many

(Newser) - The 2010 Olympic torch gets attention wherever it goes, much of it from people who look at the sleek metal shape and see a joint, the Toronto Star reports. The resemblance is probably unintentional——the design is supposed to look like the tracks skis and skates leave on snow...

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Calif. Pot Law

Court declines to hear case arguing federal drug act is being flouted

(Newser) - The US Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to California's medical marijuana law from two holdout counties, the Los Angeles Times reports. The court, without giving a reason, declined to hear the case brought by San Diego and San Bernardo counties that argued federal anti-drug laws contradicted the state's authorization...

This Ain't Your Dad's Weed: Pot Potency Jumps

THC concentration has been climbing for decades

(Newser) - Marijuana’s average potency, as measured by the concentration of psychoactive component THC, has broken 10% for the first time after decades of steady increase, a government report says—and is expected to keep increasing, CNN notes. Potency will likely plateau at some 15% in the next 5-10 years, though...

Pot Farms Sprout in National Parks

Rangers warn that illicit, cartel-run plantations are on the rise

(Newser) - America's park rangers are battling a growing number of marijuana plantations taking root in national parks, NPR reports. Marijuana farms have been found in at least six national parks on the West Coast, where rangers say growers camp in the woods all summer, tending hidden plantations that can't be spotted...

Pot, Not Dangerous Drugs, Best for My Autistic Son

(Newser) - Marie Myung-Ok Lee gives marijuana to her 9-year-old autistic son and has no intention of stopping, she writes for doubleX, a new Slate spinoff for women. It’s working to calm him and curb his aggressive behaviors, writes Lee, who had her own misgivings initially. “I was already the...

Schwarzenegger: It's Time to Talk About Legalizing Pot

California Gov. says he would welcome debate on legalization, taxation

(Newser) - California's governor would welcome a debate on terminating the state's ban on recreational use of marijuana, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that while it isn't time for the state to start treating marijuana the same as alcohol, the legalization issue should be discussed—especially in light of...

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