Racism

Summit Daily News, 14 May 2013 - Thank God that's over. The state Legislature won't meet again for another 239 days, so productive Coloradans can breathe a little easier; no further confiscations of our hard-earned gains for political purposes can be undertaken at present. How it happened doesn't matter. Whether it was the country-club attitude of Colorado's Republican establishment, who don't realize that politics is a barroom brawl, not a polite conversation; the bottomless bucket of funding from gay activists; the clouds of cannabis smoke obscuring serious issues; the media's mindless prattle about cowboy boots and quixotic quests to describe zygotes as persons; or a tragicomic combination of all of these, Colorado's 2012 election results will produce poisonous fruit for years.

Buffalo News, 12 May 2013 - It's time to set the record straight about marijuana policy in New York. The May 5 article "Look before you leap," by Dr. Robert Whitney, is both inaccurate and misleading. New Yorkers have had a hard and decades-long look at our marijuana policies, and they understand how much destruction they have caused criminalizing seriously ill New Yorkers, saddling tens of thousands of young people with criminal records each year and creating reprehensible racial disparities. Under our current policies, thousands of New Yorkers living with cancer, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening conditions must break the law or needlessly suffer, despite the fact that there is good scientific evidence to support the health benefits of medical marijuana for a range of serious conditions. In addition to at least 110 controlled clinical studies, including randomized controlled trials meeting the "gold standard" of scientific evidence, looking at cannabis or other cannabinoids, in 1999, the congressionally chartered Institute of Medicine conducted the most extensive review of the medical literature on marijuana to date. It concluded that "[t]he accumulated data indicate a potential therapeutic value for cannabinoid drugs, particularly for symptoms such as pain relief, control of nausea and vomiting, and appetite stimulation."

Winnipeg Free Press, 03 May 2013 - The future of three controversial Winnipeg head shops is hazy following a series of police raids and seizures linked to an ongoing investigation. At least two people were taken into custody Wednesday as the RCMP and Winnipeg police executed search warrants at The Joint locations on St. Mary's Road, Pembina Highway and Marion Street. Police also backed a U-Haul truck up to the locations and appeared to remove numerous items from inside.

Philadelphia Daily News, 11 Apr 2013 - Should Philly Issue More Summonses Instead of Making Weed Arrests? ANTHONY GARNER knows that marijuana is illegal in Philadelphia. He just figured that the police focus on drug kingpins and corner dealers these days. They wouldn't waste their time on him.