New Mexico’s Donna Smith says she was fired illegally for her off-work consumption of medical cannabis to deal with post-traumatic stress she was diagnosed with after serving in the military in the 1990s. New Mexico has laws against discriminating against people for their medical conditions, she argues.
But her employer, Presbyterian Health Services, says they are “protecting” their other employees from Smith and her off-work, medical use of cannabis.
Marijuana use by teens continues to decline in Colorado since the proliferation of retail medical-pot stores, but the state’s health department would rather focus on perceptions over reality. A news release put out today by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is headlined, “New survey documents youth marijuana use, need for prevention.” And the article begins with the concern-inducing statement, “Fewer high school students in Colorado think using marijuana is risky.”
Reading on, though, it’s obvious the real news from the 2013 Healthy Kids Colorado Survey is that marijuana use among teens in one of the country’s most marijuana-friendly states is falling.
Two men are dead after a crew of seven robbers dressed as cops forced their way into a Fresno, California family’s home Thursday in an effort to steal marijuana.
Details aren’t all that clear yet, but police say that the homeowners and robbers got into a shootout and at one point a 15-year-old girl was used as a human shield by robbers, who took the girl hostage for a short time before dumping her in downtown. Cops say that one man in the home was pistol-whipped by the robbers.
A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) collects data from each state to determine the use of alcohol and drugs. Among the findings? Texans like their booze, and they like a lot of it.
The report divides the findings by age group and type of substance abuse, such as general alcohol use, binge drinking, illicit drugs, and marijuana use. For Texas adults, numbers show that they aren’t generally fond of pot. Only around 5 percent of adults smoked pot in the past month.
If medical marijuana rolls out in November, people with legal businesses related to pot will be living like they’re in Breaking Bad. Until weed is legal on a federal level, it’s not going to be easy for people to stick their profits from the biz into a Wells Fargo. They’ll be stuck keeping tons of cash under the floor boards.
Sally Kent, a marijuana lawyer who practices in both Colorado and Florida, says this legal lag poses a huge security risk.
| Twitter.com |
| Wiz Khalifa in an El Paso jail cell. |
Don’t expect to see Wiz Khalifa performing in Texas any time soon. At least, not until he gets the warrant for his arrest cleared up with an El Paso, Texas court.
| “I have no idea what you are talking about, officer.” |
If you live in a state where marijuana is illegal – like, say, Florida – the smart thing to do is to keep your cannabis plants out of view of the general public. That means parading them around town in the back seat of your car with the top buds sticking out the rear window should be avoided at all costs. And if you do, don’t break other blatantly obvious laws like driving at night without your lights.
Apparently, Clearwater, Florida’s Justin Goodloe, 20, and Allen Barnes, 19, completely missed that memo.
| This should not equal life in prison. |
Back in May, we told you about Jacob Lavoro, a 19-year-old who was arrested in Round Rock, Texas after cops busted in his door and found a tray of pot brownies. Lavoro isn’t simply facing pot charges, he’s looking at anywhere from ten years to life in prison thanks to ass-backwards laws in Texas regarding hash and hash oil and how products are weighed
| Jason Lauve. |
Five years ago today, Jason Lauve was acquitted in a high-profile medical marijuana case decided on the cusp of the MMJ boom. Since the conclusion of the landmark trial, Lauve is astonished by everything that’s happened on the Colorado pot scene. But while he’s optimistic about the future for both cannabis and hemp, for which he’s become a well-known activist, he acknowledges that not all the changes have been positive.
Lauve broke his back in 2004 after being hit by a snowboarder. He subsequently became a medical marijuana patient under the provisions of Amendment 20, the measure that legalized the concept after being approved by voters in 2000. But in June 2008, he was arrested in Boulder County for allegedly having too much weed — two pounds, two ounces.
The Florida Medical Association has come out and opposed Amendment 2, the initiative to legalize medical marijuana in Florida. The FMA, which represents 20,000 doctors in matters such as regulatory affairs, public health, advocacy, and licensers, released a statement Monday over its concern that legalized medical marijuana would bring “unintended consequences” that would create a health risk.
The biggest threat, according to the FMA, would be that legalized medical pot would allow health-care providers with no training to order medical marijuana.