marijuana

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Mexico, Paraguay Named Top Pot Growers

Brazil, Argentina say use is rising as supply grows

(Newser) - Mexico holds the distinction of being the world's biggest marijuana producer—no big surprise there. But little landlocked Paraguay is turning heads after hitting No. 2 on the UN's list of top pot-growing countries, CNN reports. Paraguayan officials aren't surprised: Raids are difficult to orchestrate, marijuana fetches 500% the selling...

Amsterdam Weeds Out Pot Cafes Near Schools

Liberal city chokes on measure handed down by Dutch government

(Newser) - The city of Amsterdam will close some of its famous cannabis-selling coffee shops, AFP reports, targeting cafes that operate near schools in keeping with a new directive from the Dutch government. The law, which will shutter 43 of the city’s 228 such establishments, isn’t terribly popular with city...

Miss Teen La. Loses Crown Over Pot Bust

Cops say she skipped diner bill, left purse behind—with weed in it

(Newser) - Miss Louisiana Teen USA's reign is ending early, TMZ reports. Lindsey Evans was arrested over the weekend after she and friends allegedly skipped out on a restaurant bill—and cops found pot in the purse she left behind. Pageant officials weren't impressed, saying the organization “believes in opportunities when...

Report to UN: Dudes, Legalize Weed

Drug less harmful than alcohol or smoking, report says

(Newser) - Slick-suited diplomats are not the likeliest advocates for lifting worldwide marijuana bans, but a British scientific report targets the UN, saying a regulated marijuana market would remove most of the drug's harm, since it comes from prohibition itself, the Guardian reports. Legalizing it would also allow governments to tax the...

Calif. Brewer Wins Fight to Sell 'Legal Weed'

Feds reverse course on double-entendre bottle cap after 6 months of bad publicity

(Newser) - Vaune Dillmann can market his beer from the small California town of Weed with the slogan "Try Legal Weed" after regulators backed off what could have been a drawn-out court battle, the Los Angeles Times reports. The feds tried to block Dillmann, citing a law prohibiting drug references on...

Wild Pot Found in Indiana National Park

Park officials, police plan search-and-destroy mission

(Newser) - The National Park Service has found wild marijuana growing in a northern Indiana federal park, the Chicago Tribune reports. Officials don't know how many plants are spread throughout the 15,000-acre Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, on Lake Michigan about 30 miles southeast of Chicago, but said they will work with...

Tampa Drug Bust Nets 41 Arrests
 Tampa Drug Bust
 Nets 41 Arrests

Tampa Drug Bust Nets 41 Arrests

Villa Palms apartment complex a base for trafficking

(Newser) - Police surveillance at a Tampa apartment complex resulted in 41 drug-related arrests, more than investigators expected, the Tampa Tribune reports. "I figured it would be four or five people," one deputy remarked. The bust turned up 67.7 grams of crack cocaine, 466.7 grams of marijuana, and...

Wash. Vineyards Flush With Pot Crop

110K marijuana plants already confiscated this year

(Newser) - Washington state is cracking down on drug dealers' latest innovation: Using vineyards to secretly grow marijuana crops, the AP reports. Police have made 22 arrests this year and confiscated 110,000 pot plants from the Yakima Valley alone, worth more than $100 million. But tracking dealers isn't easy: Some are...

Mexican Cartels Growing Pot in US National Park

Plants worth hundreds of millions thriving amid Sequoias

(Newser) - Mexican drug cartels are growing hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of marijuana in the thick of California’s Sequoia National Forest, CNN reports. Hours on foot from the nearest road, pot gardens flourish with as many as 10,000 plants, irrigation systems created by daming mountain creeks, and their...

1.5 Tons of Pot Seized in Florida
1.5 Tons of Pot Seized in Florida 

1.5 Tons of Pot Seized in Florida

Biggest bust ever for Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

(Newser) - Police have seized a record 1.5 tons of marijuana in Florida's Hillsborough County, the St. Petersburg Times reports. The drugs carry an estimated street value of $13 million, making the bust the county's largest to date. Raids on area homes resulted in 62 arrests, and authorities say more will...

Let's Legalize Drug Use: Argentine Prez

In US, Rep. Barney Frank leads lawmakers on marijuana crusade

(Newser) - Argentina's president is seeking to legalize drug use and a crack down on dealing and trafficking, CNN reports. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's plan follows similar moves by European and Latin American nations, where decriminalization has not increased drug use, one expert said. Mexico proposed such a law several years...

Turtle Assists in Pot Bust
 Turtle Assists in Pot Bust 

Turtle Assists in Pot Bust

Radio monitoring leads officials to marijuana patch

(Newser) - Agent 99, watch out: A 6-inch-long box turtle known as "No. 72” may want your job. Washington, DC, police recently got an assist from No. 72 in making a drug bust, the Washington Post reports. One of several turtles fitted with transmitters that allow National Park Service researchers to...

Overdose Deaths Spike
 Overdose Deaths Spike

Overdose Deaths Spike

Problem linked to patients sent home early with powerful prescriptions

(Newser) - The number of deaths caused by fatal combinations of prescription medications with alcohol or street drugs has exploded in recent years in part because patients are being released from hospitals early, according to researchers. Such deaths rocketed from 92 in 1983 to 3,792 in 2004, reports MSNBC.

On the Trail of Medical Marijuana
 On the Trail of
 Medical Marijuana 
GLOSSIES

On the Trail of Medical Marijuana

California's system has plenty of gray areas, New Yorker finds

(Newser) - California's legalization of medical marijuana helped create a cultivation and distribution network that promises big money for those willing to work in legal gray areas. Guided by an old friend, Blue, who's a dealer in all but name, David Samuels of the New Yorker follows the trail of Tibetan prayer...

Dutch Smoking Ban Leaves Pot Users in a Fog

Cannabis in coffee houses is fine, but take that butt outside

(Newser) - Effective tomorrow, the Netherlands bans smoking tobacco in public places, and the new law means big changes for Amsterdam's famously relaxed coffeehouses, reports USA Today. Because the law doesn't cover cannabis or hashish, users can continue to smoke them inside. But those who prefer their pot mixed with tobacco, as...

Group Backs Preflight Toke
Group Backs Preflight Toke

Group Backs Preflight Toke

Allowing weed at airport would chill 'air rage,' pro-marijuana org in Denver says

(Newser) - Denver has a pretty lax marijuana policy (small amounts are legal) and pro-pot advocates are wondering whether, after a recent rash of "air rage" incidents, such permissiveness shouldn’t extend to the city airport’s smoking lounge, CW2 News reports. “This madness has got to stop,” said...

Stronger Weed Ignites Controversy
Stronger Weed Ignites Controversy

Stronger Weed Ignites Controversy

As potency grows, so does dispute over whether drug is harmful

(Newser) - Marijuana is getting stronger, but what exactly that means is open to interpretation. The Boston Globe looks at a dispute with clearly drawn sides but fuzzier facts. Is pot addictive and highly hazardous, or no more harmful than caffeine and perhaps medically beneficial? With minimal research to draw on, experts...

Weed Potency Hits 30-Year High
 Weed Potency Hits 30-Year High 

Weed Potency Hits 30-Year High

Study finds THC levels have doubled since 1983, raising mental health worries

(Newser) - Today's marijuana is the strongest crop since the heyday of Cheech and Chong, a new study finds. University researchers who analyzed seized samples dating back to the '70s found the level of active ingredient THC hit an average of 9.6% last year, up almost 1% from the year before...

Calif. County Cracks Down on Lax Pot Law

'Emerald Triangle' residents have their 25-plant limit cut to 6

(Newser) - Voters in a northern California county have backed a measure tightening one of America's loosest pot laws, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. State law allows Californians to grow six marijuana plants each for medicinal use, but Mendocino County allowed its residents 25 plants each for any use. The county's residents...

Dude! Harsh! Weed Shrinks Your Brain

Long-term smokers show abnormalities, damage to emotions

(Newser) - Heavy marijuana use over a number of years can cause significant brain abnormalities, damage memory and emotional processing, and even shrink parts of the brain, the Age reports. All cannabis smokers—not just high-risk groups such as the young and those susceptible to mental illness—can experience effects equivalent to...

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