• Drug Policy

    Drug War Stalks Texas City

    Pubdate: Tue, 4 May 2010
    Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
    Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
    Contact: [email protected]
    Author: Ana Campoy
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Texas
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico

    DRUG WAR STALKS TEXAS CITY

    For Years, McAllen Profited From Ties to Mexico, but Now Violence Is Reversing Gains

    MCALLEN, Texas–For most of its history, McAllen was a dusty little farm town at the southern tip of Texas, long on cactus and short on jobs.

    That started to change two decades ago, when factories began opening across the Rio Grande. McAllen morphed into a palm-fringed boomtown, sending workers across the border to Reynosa and luring shoppers and vacationers from Mexico’s northern industrial center, Monterrey, a few hours away by car. Texas City Turns to Mexico

    Now, drug-gang violence, until recently confined to Ciudad Juarez and other cities far to the west, is startlingly close by. Last month, some 30 gunmen stormed two hotels in Monterrey and kidnapped six people, in a shock for the city. The 130-mile highway from Monterrey to the border has seen a number of incidents, including a recent shoot-out between armed men and the Mexican military.

    The gunplay hasn’t erupted in McAllen itself, but people here fear their hard-won economic gains, already dimmed by the recession, are under threat.

    “So far, the violence has acted as a disruption,” said Keith Patridge, whose job as president of the local development agency is to attract companies to the area. “If it were to get worse, it would have a big impact.”

    Spooked by the spreading violence, fewer companies are investing in the U.S.-Mexico manufacturing corridor than last year. The flow of Mexican consumers, on which McAllen relies for almost a third of its retail revenue, also has dwindled.

    Continued: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n338.a01.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    D.C. Set to Vote on Legalizing Marijuana, Already a Widely Used Drug

    Newshawk: Please Write a LTE www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides
    Pubdate: Tue, 4 May 2010
    Source: Washington Post (DC)
    Page: A01, Front Page
    Copyright: 2010 The Washington Post Company
    Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/mUgeOPdZ
    Authors: Paul Schwartzman and Annys Shin, Washington Post Staff Writer
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis – Popular)
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis – Medicinal – U.S.)

    D.C. SET TO VOTE ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA, ALREADY A WIDELY USED DRUG

    Just after 11 one morning last week, two men and two women, all in their early 20s, sat on a basketball court behind Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington and filled an empty cigar with marijuana — their first hit of the day.

    Also that day, at a picnic table by the Oxon Run stream, east of the Anacostia River, five men played dominoes and passed a joint.

    And at an Adams Morgan park, as dog walkers and bicyclists wandered by, a 23-year-old man in a Pittsburgh Pirates cap rolled a thick joint using cherry-flavored paper. “This is hitting nice,” he said moments later, forecasting that he would smoke five or six more before day’s end.

    The D.C. Council is set to vote Tuesday on legalizing medical marijuana, thereby allowing the chronically ill — including those with HIV, glaucoma or cancer — to buy pot from dispensaries in Washington.

    Yet marijuana is already ubiquitous in many parts of the city, as demonstrated by federal surveys showing that Washingtonians’ fondness for weed is among the strongest in the country — and growing.

    The popular image of the nation’s capital leans toward the straight and narrow, a town of over-achieving, button-down bureaucrats, lawyers and lobbyists. But meander through any neighborhood from Congress Heights to Friendship Heights, and Washingtonians across race and class lines can be found lighting up.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n337/a09.html

  • Feature

    California Marijuana Initiatives, Then and Now

    “The last time an initiative to legalize pot outright was put before California voters, in 1972, it was trounced.” wrote a San Francisco Chronicle reporter in a front page article today which you may read at http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10.n335.a01.html

    While the statement is true, there are differences between the 1972 California Marijuana Initiative, Proposition 19, and this year’s much more complex initiative which you may read at http://www.taxcannabis.org/index.php/pages/initiative/ Here are some facts to consider:

    The newspaper article noted “… that opposition to legalization in California polled at around 80 percent until voters authorized pot in 1996 for medical use. By the early 2000s, those in favor of legalization were polling above 40 percent. Last year, with the state deep in budgetary crisis, a Field Poll cracked the halfway mark and put support in California at 56 percent.”

    Just before election day in 1972 the respected Field Poll stated that support for that initiative was at 15%. But the election results came in at 33.4%.  What happened?  The largest factor was voter turnout. What was most significant about the turnout was that about 7% of the voters voted ONLY on Proposition 19! If the reform community is well mobilized something similar could happen this November.

    Did you know that Proposition 19 was the last initiative placed on the ballot in California by people power alone?  There were no paid signature gatherers for that initiative.

    In 1972 all the California newspapers that we knew of editorialized strongly against the initiative, except one. The Weed News newspaper in Weed, California editorialized in favor of the initiative. When I visited the editor he told me he did not know anything about marijuana but thought that it was not the business of anybody what any person wanted to smoke.

    Today, months before election day, we are already seeing some editorial page opinions which support the initiative. See http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act

    This year we will see hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, spent both for and against the initiative. In 1972 the total spent was all on our side, perhaps a quarter million in all.

    Finally, the end result of the 1972 initiative was that as a result of the vote the issue had a respectable constituency. The draconian California law of the time which could result in years in the state’s prisons for a few joints was changed by the Moscone Act of 1976 to the current one ounce misdemeanor law. Those results are analyzed at http://www.drugpolicy.org/library/aldrich.cfm

    Win or lose, this year’s California initiative will move the issue of legalizing marijuana forward, both in California and nationally.

  • Focus Alerts

    #438 Little Consensus On Initiative To Legalize Cannabis?

    Date: Mon, 3 May 2010
    Subject: #438 Little Consensus On Initiative To Legalize Cannabis?

    LITTLE CONSENSUS ON INITIATIVE TO LEGALIZE CANNABIS?

    **********************************************************************

    DrugSense FOCUS Alert #438 – Monday, 3 May 2010

    Today the San Francisco Chronicle printed a front page article about
    The Regulate, Control, and Tax Cannabis Act.

    The actual text of the initiative may be found at http://www.taxcannabis.org/index.php/pages/initiative/

    A DrugSense blog post related to the article is at
    http://drugsense.org/blog/feature/california-marijuana-initiatives-then-and-now

    News clippings specific to the initiative may be found at
    http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act

    News clippings specific to California are posted at
    http://www.mapinc.org/find?115

    An anonymous donor has challenged DrugSense and MAP to raise $25,000
    in new donations and/or increases in current monthly donations. Once
    the goal is achieved the donor will provide us with $25.000. Today we
    are about half the way to our goal. Please help us meet the challenge!
    http://www.drugsense.org/donate.htm

    **********************************************************************

    Source: San Francisco Chronicle

    Copyright: 2010 Hearst Communications Inc.

    Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1

    Author: Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

    LITTLE CONSENSUS ON INITIATIVE TO LEGALIZE POT

    Talk about murky.

    The economic impact, the potential social and legal landscape, even
    the split between the pro and con sides in the squabble over the
    initiative on the Nov. 2 ballot to legalize marijuana for recreational
    use in California – they’re all about as clear as smoke from a bong.

    Most medicinal-marijuana advocates think it would be just fine if
    good-time tokers joined their legal crowd. Others worry it might ruin
    the purity of using pot as medicine.

    Some associated with law enforcement think it’s time to treat weed
    like liquor and give up trying to tamp down the trade. More think this
    approach will just lead to a dangerous explosion of potheads on the
    roads and at work.

    There are illegal-weed growers who are afraid they’ll lose their
    livelihood, and others who think business will boom. A few
    politicians, including Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata and
    Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, who is floating his own
    legalization bill in the Legislature, are backing the measure. Many,
    including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the major candidates to
    replace him, oppose it.

    And then there is the money issue – the biggest elephant in a smoky
    room of elephants.

    Proponents of the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 say
    taxing pot could inject $1.4 billion a year in taxes and fees into a
    state general fund that badly needs the money. The annual California
    pot output, according to the state Board of Equalization, is estimated
    to be worth $14 billion, making it the state’s biggest cash crop – and
    if marijuana is legalized, the figure could billow much higher,
    advocates say.

    Opponents counter that the figure is a pipe dream, because even if the
    measure passes, pot use will still be illegal under U.S. law – so
    anyone reporting income will be vulnerable to federal
    prosecution.

    About the only thing both sides can agree on is that if the measure
    passes, nobody knows exactly how it will play out.

    It would be the most sweeping decriminalization of the use and sale of
    marijuana in America.

    Attitudes Changed

    “It’s hard to imagine how the discussion of legalizing marijuana would
    have even gotten off the ground if not for the state budget crisis,”
    said Robert MacCoun, a UC Berkeley law professor who specializes in
    drug policy.

    He noted that opposition to legalization in California polled at
    around 80 percent until voters authorized pot in 1996 for medical use.
    By the early 2000s, those in favor of legalization were polling above
    40 percent. Last year, with the state deep in budgetary crisis, a
    Field Poll cracked the halfway mark and put support in California at
    56 percent.

    Clearly, the desire to aim a new fire hose of cash at the state’s $20
    billion deficit is making the taxation of pot more attractive than
    ever, MacCoun said. But just as significant, most of the momentum to
    legalize pot comes from younger people.

    A KPIX-TV poll by Survey USA, released April 21, found that
    three-fourths of respondents 18 to 34 years old supported
    legalization. Part of that is probably attributable to a more relaxed
    attitude toward pot after its legalization for medical use, MacCoun
    said, but equally important is that the younger generation is more
    accustomed than even their Baby Boomer parents to being around people
    who use marijuana – and to using it themselves.

    UC Davis law Professor Vikram Amar, another expert on marijuana
    policy, summed up the explanation for legalization being taken
    seriously in succinct, nonbudgetary terms:

    “A lot of people like pot now,” he said. “And a lot of other people
    don’t care about pot.”

    Money Issue

    Amar believes that because cannabis will still be illegal under
    federal law, “the state can’t possibly make as much money in taxes as
    some people estimate. It can’t raise the money unless people report
    the income, and if you do that you are serving yourself up to the
    feds, and you could go to jail for a long time.”

    U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in October that the federal
    government would not pursue medical marijuana operations and users if
    they are following state law, but he has not said how his office would
    react to passage of the California initiative.

    Skeptics of legal marijuana’s economic benefits for California such as
    Amar have some unlikely allies – people involved in the illegal trade.
    Some of them say the crop is worth a fortune now, but if it is
    legalized, pot will be easier to get and prices might plummet, along
    with tax revenue.

    Still, the more common sentiment among those in the cultivation trade,
    both legal and illegal – particularly growers in boutique-heavy
    Mendocino County – is that they are itching for legalization so they
    can turn their weed vistas into a dope-tourism draw akin to Napa Valley.

    Medical Pot Backers Weary

    Most purveyors of medicinal herb have cautiously backed the
    initiative, but many are concerned that that health-conscious medical
    approach they’ve been emphasizing will be diffused.

    “I do support the measure, but I am still afraid this could lead to an
    explosion of cannabis shops and different levels of regulation
    everywhere, with some counties being taken by surprise,” said Steve
    DeAngelo, director of the Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the
    nation’s biggest medical marijuana dispensary, with 46,000 clients. “I
    believe adults should be able to use something as safe as cannabis – –
    but it should done responsibly.”

    Expansion in Growth Seen

    The basics of the proposition are that it would legalize the
    possession of up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal, recreational
    use by anybody 21 or older. Each person could also grow weed for
    personal use as long as it was confined to a 5-by-5-foot space.

    But the application of the six-page law could lead to significant pot
    growth and sales from one end of the state to the other.

    Local jurisdictions would be allowed to set their own regulations
    under the proposed law, and that could mean anything from cities or
    counties keeping the recreational ban in place to the spread of large
    farms and the sales of dope, packaged like cigarettes in sprightly
    boxes, in corner stores on every block.

    “My personal favorite is selling in coffee shops,” said initiative
    creator Richard Lee, 47, who founded Oaksterdam University, the
    pot-trade school in Oakland. “But if a city or county wants to put it
    in a liquor store or a grocery store, that’s their choice.

    “I’m a believer in the free market,” he said. “If you have a good
    product, it will sell.”

    The groundwork for such sales has already been set in cities such as
    San Francisco and Oakland, where medical-marijuana dispensaries had
    rocky, sloppily run starts but have generally settled in as part of
    the landscape.

    The picture is less rosy in Los Angeles, whose 500 dispensaries are
    the most numerous of any city in the country. Continual police raids
    and wrangling over nuisance ordinances and complaints suggest that a
    further proliferation of sellers might prove challenging.

    Another fear among some growers and users at a recent forum on the
    initiative in Ukiah (Mendocino) was that big companies might come in
    and supplant the little growers with plantations. But noted
    cannabis-advocacy attorney Omar Figueroa of Sebastopol said that was
    unlikely because they would be vulnerable to federal
    prosecution.

    Bill Phelps, spokesman for Philip Morris – the nation’s No. 1
    cigarette-maker – said the company was not taking a position on the
    initiative, but cautioned against anyone taking seriously rumors of
    big corporations going for the pot trade.

    Most Police Oppose Measure

    Most in law enforcement are predictably unimpressed with
    legalization.

    John Lovell, lobbyist for the California Peace Officers’ Association
    and several other law enforcement groups that oppose the initiative,
    said the measure could bring an escalation of addicts and be “a job
    killer.”

    “Under this initiative, you will be able to come to work high on
    marijuana, and in fact you might even be able to sell it at work if
    you have a local permit,” Lovell said. “You will see many California
    businesses move out of state if they can, because they will face
    increased costs and insurance from this. It could be devastating,
    costing the state money instead of bringing money in.”

    Some in law enforcement, such as retired Orange County Judge James
    Gray and former San Jose police narcotics Detective Russ Jones, are
    pushing for the initiative, likening the current situation to
    Prohibition.

    Gray said he is conservative and has never smoked pot. But he has
    written for years that marijuana could more effectively be controlled
    through regulation and treatment programs, rather than police and jails.

    “It is really clear that what we’re doing with marijuana in our state
    and country simply is not working,” he said.

    But backers like Gray are anomalies, Lovell maintained.

    “I think most people know that if this law passes, this state will
    have gone to pot,” he said. “They will vote accordingly.”

    Changed Political Climate

    Poppycock with overblown fears, said Aaron Smith, California policy
    director of the Marijuana Policy Project.

    Under the proposed law, driving and working regulations will be
    enforced the same way they are for drunkenness, he said. He downplays
    any notion of the state teeming with potheads, and said he doubts the
    weed trade will be dampened by fear of the feds, noting that the
    medical pot trade already generates $100 million annually in local and
    state tax revenue.

    The last time an initiative to legalize pot outright was put before
    California voters, in 1972, it was trounced. But since then has come
    the 1996 initiative that legalized medicinal marijuana, and with it
    the rise of medical pot dispensaries and businesses all over the state.

    With 13 other states having followed California’s lead in legalizing
    medicinal marijuana, Smith said, this state is finally primed and
    positioned to lead the way in ending pot prohibition.

    “It’s clear to me we have the support,” he said. “Victory is just a
    matter of getting those supporters out to vote in November.

    “Some adjustments will have to be made after it passes, but it will
    all work out.”

    **********************************************************************

    Suggestions for writing letters are at our Media Activism Center
    http://www.mapinc.org/resource/#guides

    The marijuana section of Drug War Facts has been updated
    http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/53

    **********************************************************************

    Prepared by: Richard Lake, Senior Editor www.mapinc.org

    =.

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US CA: ACLU Attacks Draft Pot-Dispensary Ordinance

    Pubdate: Mon, 3 May 2010
    Source: North County Times (Escondido, CA)
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/G1Dn3nUX
    Copyright: 2010 North County Times
    Contact: http://www.nctimes.com/app/forms/letters/index.php
    Website: http://www.nctimes.com
    Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1080
    Author: Edward Sifuentes
    Cited: Americans for Safe Access http://www.americansforsafeaccess.org/
    Cited: Drug Policy Alliance http://www.drugpolicy.org/
    Cited: American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego http://www.aclusandiego.org/issues.php?sub_cat_sel=000066
    Cited: San Diego County Board of Supervisors http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/general/bos.html
    Referenced: The draft ordinance http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu/docs/POD_09-007_Medical_Marijuana.pdf
    Referenced: The ACLU letter to the County http://mapinc.org/url/gReM0Nkx
    Referenced: Conant v. Walters http://www.safeaccessnow.org/downloads/conantvwalters.pdf
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/San+Diego+County+supervisors

    ACLU ATTACKS DRAFT POT-DISPENSARY ORDINANCE

    Proposal Would Violate Patient Privacy Rules, Activists Say

    The county’s proposed medical marijuana dispensary ordinance would violate patient privacy laws because it opens patient lists and other records to law enforcement, medical marijuana advocates and civil rights groups say.

    County officials released a draft of the document in March. It was heavily criticized by patient advocacy groups and others, including Americans for Safe Access, the Drug Policy Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego.

    Since the criticisms started to pour in, county officials have refused to answer questions about the ordinance, including whether any medical professionals helped draft it.

    Critics, including medical marijuana activist Rudy Reyes, say the county’s refusal to work cooperatively with patients and advocacy groups led to a poorly written document.

    The ACLU, which last year won a lawsuit against the county forcing it to implement the state’s medical marijuana ID program, said in a letter criticizing the proposed ordinance that county leaders once again were trying to deter patients’ right to access the drug.

    “The county is trying to do indirectly what it couldn’t do directly, which is ban collectives in the county,” said David Blair-Loy, legal director for the ACLU in San Diego.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n334/a03.html

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    US CA: OPED: It’s Time to Legalize and Regulate Pot

    Pubdate: Sat, 1 May 2010
    Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
    Page: 13A
    Webpage: http://mapinc.org/url/JiVvKvjJ
    Copyright: 2010 The Sacramento Bee
    Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/2006/09/07/19629/submit-letters-to-the-editor.html
    Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
    Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
    Author: John Russo
    Cited: Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act http://www.taxcannabis.org/
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Tax+Cannabis+Act
    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

    IT’S TIME TO LEGALIZE AND REGULATE POT

    When it comes to marijuana policy, California has been stuck in a fairy tale for decades.

    This particular fairy tale is like “The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

    Everybody can see that marijuana prohibition has done nothing to prevent its use, and that arresting tens of thousands Californians every year for misdemeanor possession diverts police resources away from violent felonies.

    And nobody is blind to the fact that marijuana has funded and empowered the sociopathic drug cartels responsible for untold suffering and violence on both sides of the border.

    It’s time for Californians to acknowledge the truth about the war on marijuana. Not only is it ineffective, it directly compromises public safety in our state.

    In November, California can become the first state to recognize this reality by passing the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.

    This smart initiative would legalize personal cultivation and possession of small amounts of marijuana for adults over the age of 21. Individual cities and counties could strictly regulate distribution and sales as they see fit. It would increase the penalty for providing marijuana to minors, and sales by unlicensed dealers those now funding the cartels and wreaking havoc in our cities would still be illegal.

    California banned cannabis almost a century ago based on sensational and unscientific notions about the plant. Modern prohibition, based on some of the same anachronistic ideas, has failed to control widespread availability and use. Like the 18th Amendment’s prohibition against alcohol, it is routinely overlooked by millions of otherwise law-abiding citizens.

    Others have made common-sense arguments about the economic benefits of taxing this major industry. Cannabis is by far the largest cash crop in the state, with an estimated value of about $14 billion. Estimated tax revenue from sales alone would be $1.4 billion money that could go to police, public schools and other critical services now being gutted by California’s budget crisis.

    As the city attorney of Oakland a city where dozens of people are killed in drug-related murders every year my primary concern is the war on marijuana’s collateral damage to public safety.

    Black-market marijuana is a main source of fuel powering the vast criminal enterprises that threaten peace on our streets and weaken national security on our borders. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Mexican drug cartels get more than 60 percent of their revenue from selling marijuana in the United States.

    Money is the oxygen of these organizations. For decades, our approach to fighting violent drug gangs has been like trying to put out a house fire with a watering can. Why not try shutting off the fire’s main oxygen supply?

    The actual costs of enforcing prohibition are hard to estimate. We spend hundreds of millions of dollars and countless law enforcement hours arresting people for low-level marijuana crimes, further overburdening courts and prisons. Jail beds needed for marijuana offenders could be “used for other criminals who are now being released early because of a lack of jail space,” the state Legislative Analyst’s Office wrote.

    More than 61,000 Californians were arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession in 2008. That same year, about 60,000 violent crimes went unsolved statewide. The reality is that resources tied up fighting marijuana would be better spent solving and preventing violent felonies and other major crimes.

    Regulating and controlling marijuana is really a law-and-order measure. It takes marijuana off street corners and out of the hands of children. It cuts off a huge source of revenue to the violent gangsters who now control the market. And it gives law enforcement more capacity to focus on what really matters to Californians making our communities safer.

    It’s time we call marijuana prohibition what it is an outdated and costly approach that has failed to benefit our society. In November, we will finally have the chance to take a rational course with the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act.

  • Hot Off The 'Net

    California Can Lead the Nation

    We’re taking our movement national!

    As grassroots momentum and news coverage builds around California’s ballot initiative to control and tax marijuana, it’s increasingly clear that what happens at the ballot box in our state this November will impact the whole country. That’s why we’re urging California’s delegation in the U.S. Congress to endorse this groundbreaking initiative.

    http://dpa.convio.net/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=554&s_src=email

    A win in our state will virtually guarantee more victories throughout the country — but we’re up against the drug war establishment and its powerful law enforcement lobby. To win, we’ll need allies, and we can gain a lot of ground with our senators and representatives in Congress on our side.

    Urge your members of Congress to endorse California’s marijuana ballot initiative:
    http://dpa.convio.net/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&id=554&s_src=email

    So far, not a single member of the California congressional delegation has spoken out in support of making marijuana legal. They’re scared of losing votes, but they’re not paying attention to the tide of public opinion.

    Polling shows more people support ending marijuana prohibitionthan ever before. California Democratic Party chair John Burton even acknowledged recently that promoting marijuana law reform is the key to attracting voters in their 20s and 30s.

    We need to show members of Congress the tremendous scope of our movement and to prove that supporting reform is not a political risk. Urge your members of Congress to get behind California’s initiative to make marijuana legal: http://dpa.convio.net/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&idU4&s_src=email

    Sincerely,

    Stephen Gutwillig
    Director, California
    Drug Policy Alliance Network

  • Cannabis & Hemp

    UK: Column: Why Can’t Our Politicians Come Clean on Drugs?

    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis – California)

    Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?207 (Cannabis – United Kingdom)

    WHY CAN’T OUR POLITICIANS COME CLEAN ON DRUGS?

    What is the single most curable evil afflicting community life in London? The answer is the criminalisation of drug use under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.

    It blights half the capital’s youth at some stage or other. It hovers as a black cloud over every neighbourhood, pub and street corner.  It causes crime and gangland disorder.  It packs the courts and fills the prisons.  It costs billions of pounds in personal loss and public spending.

    Needless to say, not one party in the current General Election is prepared to discuss it.  As a result, London is about to be taught a lesson in social policy by, of all places, America.

    As I whiled away last week waiting in Los Angeles for Her Majesty’s Government to find an ash cloud policy, I decided to pop into one of many local cannabis “dispensaries” — strictly in the interests of research.

    Continues: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n325/a03.html