It’s not exactly the American Bar Association, but the nation’s other major group representing lawyers has just issued a report calling for an end to the U.S. war on weed.
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has been around since 1937 and has taken on a host of causes over the years. Its new report on pot came after months of research into the vast array of ways that marijuana’s prohibition has been harmful to the American public. OC Weekly has the rest.

Screw dogs or firearms, Michael Terry had the right idea when it comes to home security: dangerous reptiles.
Police in Montgomery County, Texas earlier this week received a tip from some nosy neighbor of Terry’s that Terry had been slinging a few dime bags of herb from his property.

Ray Martin McFeters isn’t shy about his drug habit. The 73-year-old Air Force veteran lives in the rural Minnesota town of Aitkin, right on the north end of Mille Lacs Lake. He’s been smoking pot most of his life, currently up to about 25-30 bowls a day, according to a recent interview with the Mille Lacs Messenger. “I go through about an ounce every couple of weeks,” he tells the paper.
McFeters was recently charged in Aitkin County with distribution or possession of “more than 42.5 grams” of marijuana and failure to attach tax stamps to the marijuana. The latter charge alone could carry up to 7 years in prison and $14,000 in fines, according to the complaint.The Minneapolis City Pages has the full, strange tale and an active comment section debating it.

Ever wonder what 17 million pounds of pot looks like? Neither did we, but thanks to the folks over at the Center for Investigative Reporting, we now have an idea.
As part of their series “Crossing the Line”, the group put together this video to demonstrate the absurdity of the war on drugs. Keep in mind that for all of 17 million pounds seized, untold amounts still flow across the border.

Dr. Donald P. Tashkin isn’t a household name, even for cannabis smokers. But he should be. TAshkin’s studies on cannabis use have shown time and time again that cannabis use is not associated with increased lung cancer incidences or risk.
Tashkin’s work is the focus of an article in this month’s Annals of the American Thoracic Society, highlighting the doctor’s work with the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The owner of Culture Shock clothing boutique in Fairfax, California is either really stupid or really diabolic. That’s our conclusion today after a report surfaced about her “accidentally” giving pot food to a local art teacher and her students while the group was on a field trip.

As if things weren’t Big Brother enough lately, CNN released a story this week about roadblocks set up around the country to study drugged and impaired driving through blood and saliva draws.
Yes. Blood and saliva draws. The reallymessed up part? It’s all done on a volunteer basis. That’s right: people are willingly giving their blood and spit to cops for $50 or less. The cost to taxpayers? About $8 million per report.

As if making criminals out of marijuana users and growers wasn’t bad enough, Now we’ve got people becoming criminals for making fake marijuana in their home thanks to the prohibition of the real thing. The Dallas Observer has the full story of Mohsin Zia, a 24-year-old Iving, Texas man, who allegedly burned down his apartment complex – including the units and possessions of 56 of his neighbors – while trying to make synthetic pot out of items he discovered in online forums.

While outrageous, it’s actually just another sad example of why this war on a plant is such a failed endeavor.