The federal government’s incredibly poor, misleading

[Sir X]

The federal government’s incredibly poor, misleading argument for marijuana prohibition
69 More

By Christopher Ingraham July 30

Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, left, shakes hands with clerk Pam Fenstermacher after purchasing marijuana at Cannabis City on July 8, 2014, in Seattle, on the first day that sales of recreational pot became legal in the state. (Elaine Thompson/AP)
The New York Times editorial board is making news with a week-long series advocating for the full legalization of marijuana in the United States. In response, the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) published a blog post Monday purporting to lay out the federal government's case against marijuana reform.

That case, as it turns out, it surprisingly weak. It's built on half-truths and radically decontextualized facts, curated from social science research that is otherwise quite solid. I've gone through the ONDCP's arguments, and the research behind them, below.

The irony here is that with the coming wave of deregulation and legalization, we really do need a sane national discussion of the costs and benefits of widespread marijuana use. But the ONDCP's ideological insistence on prohibition prevents them from taking part in that conversation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...a-prohibition/

[Sir X]

Colorado’s marijuana rollout has been ‘largely successful,’ Brookings report finds
18 More

By Niraj Chokshi August 1

With the Colorado state capitol building visible in the background, partygoers dance and smoke pot on the first of two days of the annual 4/20 marijuana festival in Denver, Saturday April 19, 2014. (Brennan Linsley/AP)
As it enters its eighth month, Colorado’s implementation of the first-in-the-nation experiment in legal, recreational marijuana has so far been a success, Brookings Institution fellow John Hudak concludes in a new report.

The rollout of Colorado’s legal marijuana policy—which created a new industry virtually overnight—was a “largely successful” contrast to dysfunction at the federal level, Hudak writes in a more than 20-page report based on interviews with local officials, regulators, business owners and others.

“That was the most surprising, I think—how mature opponents were and how willing to work with the other side they were—in at least a national political environment where that’s unheard of,” he said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-report-finds/

[Sir X]

Colorado's marijuana edible manufacturers face tougher rules
By Eric Gorski
The Denver Post
POSTED: 07/31/2014 06:39:45 PM MDT8 COMMENTS| UPDATED: A DAY AGO

Marijuana edible cookie in Denver, Colorado.
Marijuana edible cookie in Denver, Colorado. (Erin Hull, The Denver Post)
Jul 31:
Pot revenues starting to help select schools on pricey projects
Jul 29:
Feds need a coherent weed policy, say Colorado and Washington senators
Jul 5:
Wariness around legal pot seeps into worker retirement, bank accounts
Jun 20:
Hemp seeds headed to Colorado from Canada stopped at border
Jun 10:
Denver may shut down dozens of medical-marijuana businesses on July 1
Jun 6:
Denver plans to beef up staffing using marijuana sales tax money
Jun 1:
Pot shops in Denver's suburbs fewer and farther between than in city
Colorado's recreational marijuana edible manufacturers face tougher rules on potency, serving size and packaging of their products under stopgap rules adopted by state regulators Thursday.

The new guidelines, crafted in response to concerns about overconsumption by inexperienced consumers, will do away with bite-sized products that pack in 100 milligrams of the psychoactive chemical THC — the maximum allowed by state law.

Products still may contain up to 100 milligrams of THC, but they must be easily broken off into pieces that have 10 milligrams or fewer — the standardized edible serving size under state law.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_26...-tougher-rules

[Sir X]

Marijuana legalization is a risk not worth taking
By Stuart Gitlow
updated 3:41 PM EDT, Wed July 30, 2014
There appears to be a shift in the United States in favor of relaxing marijuana laws, a topic that has dipped in and out of the national conversation for decades. Public perceptions about pot have come a long way, from the dire warnings of "Reefer Madness" to growing acceptance of medical marijuana. There appears to be a shift in the United States in favor of relaxing marijuana laws, a topic that has dipped in and out of the national conversation for decades. Public perceptions about pot have come a long way, from the dire warnings of "Reefer Madness" to growing acceptance of medical marijuana.
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History of marijuana in America
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Stuart Gitlow: More U.S. states are opening the door to legalizing marijuana
Gitlow: Research indicates 1 in 6 teens who start using marijuana will become addicted
He says with pot, people can also experience long-term psychiatric disease
Gitlow: As a society, why would we want to take on such health risks and costs?
Editor's note: Dr. Stuart Gitlow is the president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and chairman of the scientific advisory board of Smart Approaches to Marijuana. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
(CNN) -- Back in the 1980s, while attending medical school in New York City, I watched patients remove their oxygen masks so they could smoke cigarettes while in their hospital beds. I watched the chairman of the board of the hospital smoke during board meetings. And I recall people smoking in airline terminals, in their offices, on trains and in restaurants.
Although tobacco smoking rates have dropped significantly in the decades since -- thanks in part to legislation and shifting public sentiment -- there are still many people who seek the "benefit" of being allowed to smoke, the "benefit" of the feeling they get from smoking, no matter the personal risk or the societal cost of their eventual illness and early death. And almost always, they started smoking well before they hit the age at which they could legally buy cigarettes.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/30/opinio...marijuana-use/




For Tilla...lol