Created by the Los Angeles Police Department in 1983 as a spin-off of Nancy Reagan’s tragically flawed “Just Say No” campaign, the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program’s intent was to send neighborhood police officers into local schools to teach kids about the dangers of drugs and the effects of peer pressure. Though it celebrates its 30th year in existence in 2013, the program has long been under scrutiny from a wide range of critics, none more vocal than the cannabis community.
| flickr.com/tiarescott |
Long before Eric Oriol became Bikram’s enemy number one, he was just another student at Bikram Yoga North Miami. He loved that the classes in 107-degree heat helped him keep off the pounds. (“Us Haitians, if we don’t eat beans and rice, it’s like we’re not having dinner!” he says.) However, he soon began to feel excruciating pain in his lower back.
Oriol, who had injured his back years ago in the Navy, was wary of overdoing it. But his instructors encouraged him to continue taking classes — and paying, he says. Miami New Times has the rest of this strange tale.
Mexico City Council is debating allowing private marijuana smoking clubs as well as the private cultivation of cannabis plants as a way of easing drug-related crime in the violence-torn nation.
While the idea makes perfect sense to supporters and anyone with a set of eyes who can see marijuana prohibition has failed, Mexico President Enrique Pena Nieto says he’s against the measure and any legalization efforts.
The U.S. tiny island territory south of Florida is now considering allowing medical marijuana for various medical conditions, according to the Associated Press. The proposal would also allow for state-regulated medical cannabis dispensaries as well as giving patients the option of growing their own herb.
“Treating this strictly as something that should be punished has clearly not worked,” Rep. Carlos Vargas, the bill’s other author, told the AP.
It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Ricky Williams used to smoke pot the night before Dolphins games. And it’s even less of a surprise that former Dolphins Channing Crowder is blabbing about it.
Former linebacker Crowder was on WQAM yesterday morning when he started addressing Williams’ marijuana use. Miami New Times has the full story.
You need further proof that marijuana attitudes are rapidly changing in this country? Here’s your sign: former presidential candidate Sen, John McCain, a republican from Arizona, now says he’s open to marijuana legalization.
Yeah, you read that right. The guy who called marijuana a “gateway drug” as recently as 2007 is saying he’s changed his mind.
Smoke a joint, go to jail? Not too much anymore. Not in California. In 2010, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law making possession of less than an ounce of weed a ticket-worth infraction.
Now State Sen. Mark Leno has seen his bill that would allow non-violent drug possession convicts to be tried as misdemeanor cases pass the state assembly this week. The law would expand the lax stance on having a little in your pocket (so long as you’re not a violent felon) to other drugs. LA Weekly has the rest.
The Marijuana Policy Project has placed another sports-related pro-marijuana billboard, this time targeting the National Football League and their harsh penalties for players caught using cannabis.
That policy is especially harsh in Colorado and Washington where the use, possession and cultivation of limited amounts of marijuana are now legal, MPP spokesman Mason Tvert says.
The Washington Liquor Control Board, which is charged with regulating Washington’s emerging retail cannabis industry, released a new set of proposed rules Wednesday. Among (many) other things, the laws limit the number of dispensaries that will be allowed to operate in the state to 334.
Of the 334 shops, Seattle will have as many 21 according to Jake Ellison over at Seattle PI. King County has the potential for the most, with 61 stores. People can own up to three dispensaries or 33 percent of the local market, whichever comes first.
| Chris Perez. |
Cleveland Indians pitcher Chris Perez was arrested in June after police say a package with about ten ounces of pot was delivered to his house via a packaged addressed to his dog, Brody.
Despite the insistence at the time of Perez’s wife Melanie, police didn’t buy that Brody the dog wasn’t capable of interstate drug trafficking and the husband and wife were arrested and charged with marijuana possession.