Drugs & Prohibition

San Diego mayor OK with a certain company’s marijuana vending machines

"The San Diego mayor’s office accepts the use of some marijuana vending machines, according to a major manufacturer of the drug-dispensing devices. Though the company’s automated dispensing machine resembles typical vending machines, it differs in key ways. The touch-screen Canna MedBox can only be accessed via a special pre-paid card and fingerprint scan. The machine is also armored to prevent thefts and keeps a record of every transaction." Continue reading →

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Massachusetts Attorney General: Pot shops allowed statewide

"Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley ruled Wednesday that medical marijuana dispensaries must be allowed statewide and individual municipalities cannot legally block them. The ruling (PDF) was issued by Coakley’s Municipal Law Unit in response to a 2012 bylaw passed by officials in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Two other nearby towns also passed a similar ordinance. It says that the legalization of medical marijuana, enshrined in state law, 'cannot be served if a municipality were to prohibit treatment centers within its borders, for if one municipality were allowed to do so, all could do so, making reasonable access impossible.'" Continue reading →

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US Supreme Court Expands Use of Drug Dogs During Traffic Stops

"America's highest court on Tuesday made it easier for police to use drug dogs to perform warrantless searches during traffic stops. Harris was not actually carrying any drugs that Aldo was trained to detect. Instead, he had several ingredients for methamphetamine: pseudoephedrine pills, matches, hydrochloric acid, antifreeze and iodine crystals. At trial, Harris argued the sniffs were bogus because the dog twice alerted on a truck containing no drugs. He pointed out Aldo was certified as a trained drug dog, but the certification had expired. Prosecutors countered it was 'residual odor' that triggered the alert." Continue reading →

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Massachusetts inspector general finds sloppy drug handling throughout closed state lab

"State investigators have found at least a half-dozen drug samples scattered about the state lab in Jamaica Plain, documents show, raising questions about the integrity of all testing where indicted state chemist Annie Dookhan worked. Investigators found a plastic bag containing 'a white rock substance' and test tubes 'containing unknown substances' in one supervisor’s ­office. They found pills taped to a lab bench cabinet and old samples, including marijuana submitted in 1996. The findings, in a confidential report by the attorney ­general, add fuel to defense lawyers’ arguments that virtually all drug tests done there since 2003 are suspect." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMassachusetts inspector general finds sloppy drug handling throughout closed state lab

A First-time Offender, Father To Three, Sells Pain Pills To A Friend, Gets 25 Years In Prison.

"You've got a 46-year-old employed father caught selling four bottles of prescription pain pills. Twenty-five years minimum! It costs Florida roughly $19,000 to incarcerate an inmate for a year. So I ask you, dear reader, is keeping non-violent first-time drug offender John Horner locked behind bars in a jumpsuit really the best use of $475,000? For the same price, you could pay a year's tuition for 75 students at Florida State University. Is it accurate to call a system that demands the 25-year prison term mad? Well. Prosecutors offered to shave years off his sentence if he became an informant himself and successfully helped send five others to prison on 25 year terms." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA First-time Offender, Father To Three, Sells Pain Pills To A Friend, Gets 25 Years In Prison.

Czech pharmacies begin selling medical marijuana

"Medical marijuana legally went on sale Tuesday in pharmacies across the Czech Republic for patients suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis or psoriasis. The new law does not foresee health insurance coverage for marijuana, touted by some as a medical miracle drug. The prescription-only drug formally became legal on Monday, but was virtually unavailable as most pharmacies across the ex-communist European Union state of 10.5 million were closed over to the Easter long weekend. An EU member since in 2004, the Czech Republic provides some of the most liberal access to soft drugs in Europe." Continue reading →

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Public Schools Give Kids Attention Deficit Disorder.

"The CDC has diagnosed this at attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, also known as 'I’d rather not be here' disorder. It is higher in states where boys can go hunting instead of sitting in school. In South Carolina, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas, the squirming is intense: 23%. The solution is drugs. Legal ones. The ones supplied by the pushers: public schools. These drugs keep people from squirming. When you are listening to some tax-funded, tenured drone, and you would rather be hunting, pills help. Medicaid covers the cost of the drugs for poor families. The children in these families have one-third more instances of the disease." Continue reading →

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Odorless ‘weed candies’ in high schools worry Oregon authorities

"Small hard candy infused with marijuana has popped up in high schools in northwestern Oregon, authorities have warned. The sugary green candy is frequently shaped as a skull, Gresham police officer Rick Blake told local news station KGW. 'They just sit and suck on it,' Blake added. 'And, the biggest thing is its odorless, and having no odor, they can sit in class and have this thing and by the end of class, they’re high.' The drug-infused treat is reportedly being sold to high school students for $1 to $5 a piece. Blake told the Portland Tribune the 'weed candy' was relatively easy to make, requiring only marijuana and a few common household ingredients." Continue reading →

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Possessing a little marijuana no longer criminal in Rhode Island

"A law decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana went into effect in Rhode Island on Monday after the state last year became the 15th in the United States to enact such legislation. Governor Lincoln Chafee signed the legislation into law in June but it did not take effect until Monday, a move intended to allow time for officials to work out procedures, said state Representative John Edwards, a co-sponsor of the measure. Possession of one ounce (28 grams) or less of marijuana in Rhode Island now constitutes a civil offense punishable by a $150 fine and forfeiture of the drug, though three offenses in an 18-month period amount to a misdemeanor." Continue reading →

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The GOP’s Drug-Testing Dragnet

"The annual Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) conference, held in 2012 in San Antonio, Texas, looks like any other industry gathering. The 600 or so attendees sip their complimentary Starbucks coffee, munch on small plates of muffins and fresh fruit, and backslap old acquaintances as they file into a sprawling Marriott hotel conference hall. They will hear a keynote address by Robert DuPont, who served as drug policy director under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Nothing odd about any of this until you consider that the main subject of the conference is urine." Continue reading →

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