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Abraham Friesen-Remple In what prosecutors called a drug smuggling conspiracy involving Mennonites and a Mexican drug cartel, a Mennonite man was sentenced Monday to 15 months in prison for aiding the movement of tons of marijuana to the US. It was an unlikely alliance that authorities said involved a group of pacifist Mexican Mennonites accused of growing tons of marijuana and working with a notoriously vicious Mexican cartel to ship it across the U.S. border. Abraham Friesen-Remple was one of six members of the Mennonite farming community in Ciudad Cuauhtémoc who were indicted and accused of smuggling pot in the...

Mexican drug cartels are now smuggling higher grade and more expensive marijuana grown in the US south of the border. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, the alleged smuggling involves marijuana grown by American entrepreneurs in states that allow marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, most recently Oregon and Alaska. DEA spokesman Lawrence Payne said the agency learned of the trafficking from intelligence operations - but said the scale of the operation is not known.[snip]Earlier this week, NPR reported that domestic sales of marijuana are undercutting the operations of Mexican cartels - and as a result, the Sinaloa Cartel is...

With marijuana legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington; decriminalized in 13 more states; and available by prescription in 6 more; there is a growing concern about driving and other activities while under the influence. Several companies are rushing to provide a breathalyzer to accommodate these concerns. The device is timely, since there is currently no way to verify recent marijuana use without taking spit or urine samples – a practice that would involve the collection of DNA and potentially run afoul of sections 7 and 8 of the 4th Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure.

Made-in-America marijuana is on a roll. More than half the states have now voted to permit pot for recreational or medical use, most recently Oregon and Alaska. That number also includes the District of Columbia. As a result, Americans appear to be buying more domestic marijuana, which in turn is undercutting growers and cartels in Mexico. "Two or three years ago, a kilogram [2.2 pounds] of marijuana was worth $60 to $90," says Nabor, a 24-year-old pot grower in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa. "But now they're paying us $30 to $40 a kilo. It's a big difference. If...

… The data coming out of Colorado is exhibit A on why voters should reject legalization efforts. Even the Democratic governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, said that legalizing marijuana in Colorado was “reckless.” As I have written at Heritage, pot-positive traffic fatalities have gone up 100 percent since voters legalized pot in Colorado. This is true despite the fact that overall traffic fatalities in Colorado have gone down since 2007. A report by a federal grant-funded agency in Colorado found seven specific negative side effects that pot legalization has caused in Colorado: the majority of DUI drug arrests involve marijuana;youth...

<p>CNN's Don Lemon is under fire for making the elementary observation that some of the Ferguson protesters planning violence and mayhem were smoking pot. Linking dope to violence is taboo for most of the media.</p> <p>Reporting from the scene, Lemon said, "Maybe a minute, two minutes ago we heard a gunshot and watched people scattering. And we're watching people on the roofs of cars, on the tops of cars and....Obviously there's a smell of marijuana here as well."</p>

For shoppers of age in Colorado and Washington state, the most novel deal this Black Friday isn’t a gadget like the iPhone 6. If what they’re looking for is relaxation, they’re in luck: For their first Black Friday ever, recreational marijuana dispensaries in those states are offering some great deals on weed. “This is one of the first times in the nation that we’re going to be able to do such crazy discounts and specials on marijuana products, and have people 21 years or older be able to come in and join the festivities,” says John Satterfield, a distribution worker...

A CNN anchor's comments about the obvious smell of marijuana during the riots last night in Ferguson, Missouri, have landed him in hot water. While describing a scene across the street from the Ferguson Police Department, Lemon was asked by another anchor, Anderson Cooper, to share some of the sights and sounds of the escalating protest, according to USA Today. "Just a couple seconds ago, we heard a gunshot," the newspaper quoted Lemon as saying. "People started running this way and there are a couple police officers in the crowd." "Obviously, there's a smell of marijuana in the air, as...

Michael Brown had THC, a behavior-altering substance found in marijuana, in his system when he was killed on August 9th by Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson, according to a toxicology report performed at a St. Louis University lab. The toxicology screen, which was done on Aug. 10th, found “12 nanograms/ML of Delta-9-THC”, the primary psychoactive ingredient in pot, in Brown’s bloodstream at the time of his death. This amount of Delta-9-THC in Brown's blood was more than twice the amount that in Washington State--where marijuana is legal--would allow someone to be arrested for driving under the influence. “Delta-9-THC detection...

Three sheriff’s deputies were recovering Sunday after going into a home that had a small marijuana farm inside. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies were sent around 9:30 p.m. Saturday to a home located in the 36000 block of Sierra Highway to serve a warrant. Once on scene, deputies were exposed to numerous chemicals and open flames inside of the small grow room. Firefighters explained the deputies, along with a woman who lived at the residence, were overcome by fumes and became ill. Officials said two of the deputies have already been treated and released from the...

KENNEWICK, WA- Measure 91, approving recreational marijuana use in Oregon, has lawmakers developing rules and regulations. Many wonder if Oregon will adopt similar policies as Washington. Both Liquor Control Boards have set rules for both I-502 in Washington and Measure 91 in Oregon that will take effect on July 1st of next year, but there are a few big differences between the states. NBC Right Now spoke with both boards Tuesday to simplify the details. In Washington and Oregon you can have up to 1 ounce of usable marijuana in your possession. In Oregon you can have up to 8...

That whiff of pot that drifts your way at a rock concert or outdoor event could damage your heart and blood vessels as much as secondhand cigarette smoke does, preliminary research suggests. Blood vessel function in laboratory rats dropped by 70 percent after a half-hour of exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke -- similar to results found with secondhand tobacco smoke, researchers from the University of California, San Francisco reported Sunday. Reduced blood vessel function can increase a person's risk of developing hardened arteries, which could lead to a heart attack. "Smoke is smoke. Both tobacco and marijuana smoke impair blood...

CLAM LAKE — The war on drugs has a new battleground and it’s deep in the heart of Wisconsin’s great northwoods. Drug traffickers with ties to Mexican cartels are setting up shop in our state and national forests. FOX6 Investigators got an exclusive invitation to see what’s left of one massive pot farm near Clam Lake. In just the past four years, state agents have wiped out more than $70 million worth of marijuana grown on the same public lands where people go to hunt, hike and camp – and that’s just what they’ve found. Drug traffickers are setting up...

PROSSER, WA- Fireweed Farm made history Saturday after they hosted the first marijuana auction in the state. Nearly 500 pounds of marijuana were auctioned off Saturday to approved producers, retailers, and processors. Those bidders came from all over to get in on the marijuana action. There is a first time for everything, and many did not know what to expect. “I expected nothing to be quite honest with you and everything at the same time,” said Jack Ron, marijuana grower. Nearly 100 producers, processors, and retailers from Spokane, Vancouver, Bellingham, and other areas around the state, bid on marijuana from...

mericas are angry with their politicians but nuanced in their political opinions. Voters in Alaska simultaneously ousted their Democratic Senator and legalized the use of marijuana. Floridians gave 505,000 more votes medical use of pot than they did in re-electing Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley took their places on the pantheon of the Right while arguing against drug prohibition. The electorate appears to be moving their way. ,P. Which makes sense. If you want to limit government and protect individual liberty, it’s impossible to ignore the ill consequences of arresting and imprisoning millions of people...

A graduate student has sued a textile company for refusing to hire her for a two-month internship because she uses medical marijuana to treat frequent and debilitating migraine headaches, a decision her lawyer calls discrimination. Christine Callaghan, who is studying textiles at the University of Rhode Island, sued Westerly-based Darlington Fabrics Corp. and its parent, the Moore Company, on Wednesday. The Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Callaghan, said it believes it's the first lawsuit of its kind in the state.

Experimental mice have been telling us this for years, but pot-smoking humans didn't want to believe it could happen to them: Compared with a person who never smoked marijuana, someone who uses marijuana regularly has, on average, less gray matter in his orbital frontal cortex, a region that is a key node in the brain's reward, motivation, decision-making and addictive behaviors network. More ambiguously, in regular pot smokers, that region is better connected than it is in non-users:The flow of signal traffic is speedier to other parts of that motivation and decision-making network, including across the superhighway of "white matter"...

Oregon and Alaska approved recreational pot use – following Washington State and Colorado, which did the same in 2012 – and the District of Columbia approved legal marijuana possession but not sales, though the move could still be halted by the new US Congress. Though medical marijuana was rejected in Florida, the steps by Oregon, Alaska, and the District add momentum to a movement that is eyeing California next. Recommended: How much do you know about marijuana? Take the quiz ... Yet marijuana remains prohibited by the federal government, and the issue could come to a head in the District...

The national marijuana legalization debate is moving into the backyard of a Republican-controlled Congress, now that the District of Columbia has voted to legalize growing, possessing and sharing small amounts of pot. Voters in Oregon and Alaska also approved legalization initiatives, joining Colorado and Washington state, where pot is already legally available. But while states out West enjoy both autonomy and distance, federal lawmakers have the power to quash any District law they don’t like. And with legalization getting a foothold on the East Coast for the first time, the District’s initiative could force Congress to make decisions affecting the...

The 2014 election was a successful one for marijuana legalization. Referendum initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana passed in Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia. Florida’s legalization amendment (which was limited to medical marijuana) failed, but only because victory required a 60% supermajority (it got just over 57% percent). A medical marijuana initiative did pass in the Pacific island territory of Guam. Coming on the heels of the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington in 2012, this is a further sign of pro-legalization momentum, and perhaps of dissatisfaction with the War on Drugs more generally – even among some conservatives.