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A Denver woman was allegedly shot to death by her own husband while on the phone with police after he consumed marijuana edibles and began hallucinating. Kristine A. Kirk clung to her phone with a 911 dispatcher for nearly 15 minutes before her final scream was accompanied by a piercing gunshot late Monday night, NBC reported. When officers arrived at the 44-year-old's home they reported finding the mother of three dead at the scene after suffering a gunshot wound to the head.

A Denver, Colorado mother has been shot dead in front of her children by her 'hallucinating' while she was on a 13 minute call to 911, police said. Kristine Kirk, 44, called for help around 9:30p.m. Monday, telling dispatchers that her husband Richard Kirk, 47, was 'talking about the end of the world' and 'scarring' their three children. A source told FOX31 investigators are looking at whether he had eaten a marijuana cookie. Mrs Kirk said in the 911 call that there was a gun in the house but it was in a safe, according to a probable cause statement....

...Researchers at Northwestern University have analyzed the relationship between casual use of marijuana and brain changes – and found that young adults who used cannabis just once or twice a week showed significant abnormalities in two important brain structures. The study’s findings, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, are similar to those of past research linking chronic, long-term marijuana use with mental illness and changes in brain development. Dr. Hans Breiter, co-senior study author, said he was inspired to look at the effects of casual marijuana use after previous work in his lab found that heavy cannabis...

Casual marijuana use may come with some not-so-casual side effects. For the first time ever, researchers at Northwestern University have analyzed the relationship between casual use of marijuana and brain changes—and found that young adults who used cannabis just once or twice a week showed significant abnormalities in two important brain structures. The study’s findings, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, are similar to those of past research linking chronic, long-term marijuana use with mental illness and changes in brain development. …

They’re calling it the future of marijuana in Colorado. No long lines and no sales person needed. Marijuana entrepreneurs unveiled a high-tech marijuana vending machine in Eagle County Friday night. The machine isn’t in use yet, but it went on display at Montana’s Smokehouse barbecue in Avon. Stephen Shearin’s company, American Green, delivered the “Zazz.” It’s Colorado’s first marijuana edibles vending machine. “Many people could look at this and say that’s just a vending machine, and they’d be right but mostly wrong.” …

Legendary singer Willie Nelson will be featured at a high-dollar fundraiser for Democratic governor nominee Wendy Davis. The event will be held April 27 in the Houston backyard of plaintiff’s lawyer Steve and Amber Mostyn, featuring barbecue, Nelson and — for those who stay overnight at the Hotel ZaZa — a campaign briefing on Monday morning.

She should have left the hemp at home. A northern California teen was sentenced to four years of probation this week for selling brownies made with marijuana to fellow high school students. Saira Munoz of Yuba City may also get thrown out of the country and deported to her native Mexico for a 2013 bake sale she held to raise money for a prom gown. Her dress dreams went up in smoke after a schoolmate ate her chocolate concoction, became ill and had to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital

DENVER (MainStreet) — It's something Colorado's legalized marijuana industry did not want to see: a college student tried a cannabis edible product and inexplicably jumped to his death. ... "There is a groundswell building to repeal it," he said. "It's going to continue to lose support because there are going to be more harms coming from it, large and small." ... "Increasingly, we are contacted by parents, desperate to learn more," he writes on his blog. "Their typical and tragic messages go something like this: "We never knew. We thought marijuana wasn't even addictive and that it was less harmful...

In a report I did on the marijuana business, I focused on a company called mCig, which sells a hybrid between an electronic cigarette and a joint. Basically, the $10 device takes anything from "dry herb" to oil, heats the substance to the edge of combustion and creates a vapor, or a vapor/smoke combination, that can be inhaled. To demonstrate the product, we asked mCig COO Mark Linkhorst to heat up some mCigs and vape them on camera. It was all done legally in a medical marijuana setting. Linkhorst is allowed to do this under Washington state law. First, there...

The debate over legalizing marijuana for medical and even recreational purposes is blurring conservative and liberal lines. With polls showing a slight majority of Americans now supporting the legalization of the drug, especially younger voters, and billionaire campaign financiers such as George Soros funding the pro-pot movement, a number of candidates are finding themselves at odds with their own party's positions. Ari Fleischer, a White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, called marijuana "a sleeper issue," in the upcoming campaign and noted its trickiness, telling The Wall Street Journal, "All of a sudden the ground is shifting, and...

As of January of 2014, the citizens of Colorado have allowed cannabis use for recreational purposes. Overnight, users lined the sidewalk as they waited for their opportunity to legally purchase a substance still listed as a Schedule I Controlled Substance under Federal law. Prior to approved recreational use, Colorado went from having just over 5,000 registered medical marijuana patients, to over 125,000 patients in less than 2 years. In this cash-only business, dispensaries take in thousands of dollars per day, but since Federal law prohibits cash deposits from specified illegal activities, banks are unable to accept dispensary monies. This forces...

The Obama administration today signaled that it was willing to work with Congress to move marijuana out of the federal outlaw-drug category known as Schedule I. Under that classification, shared with heroin, ecstasy and other narcotics, marijuana has no legitimate use whatsoever, even for medical research or patient treatment. Lower schedule status, such as II or III, gives drugs limited medical legitimacy. Today U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama's top cop, addressed a House Appropriations Committee budget hearing: We'd be more than glad to work with Congress if there is a desire to look at and reexamine how the...

The Palestinian Authority continues to disseminate a modern form of blood libel against Israel—by claiming that Israel deliberately distributes drugs to harm Palestinian Arab society. Adnan Al-Damiri, the official spokesman of the PA Security Forces, reiterated this libel in February, stating that Israel “has spit up and vomited a shocking amount of drugs onto our land,” according to Palestinian Media Watch. He explained that the PA had even seized a lab “turning marijuana into heroin.” …

The Denver coroner says an exchange student from Wyoming fell to his death after eating a marijuana cookie, the first reported death linked to marijuana since the drug became legal for recreational use in Colorado in January. Nineteen-year-old Levy Thamba died after falling from the balcony of a Denver hotel on March 11. …

The number of chronic marijuana users—defined as those who used it on four or more days in the past month—increased 84.3% between 2000 to 2010, according to a RAND Corporation report commissioned by the White House. “In January 2012, the U.S. White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) asked RAND to generate national estimates of the total number of users, total expenditures, and total consumption for four illicit drugs from 2000 to 2010: cocaine (including crack), heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine (or meth),” says the report, What America’s Users Spend on Illicit Drugs: 2000-2010. …

Oregon officials are backing off their proposal to prohibit sales of pot-infused treats at medical marijuana stores. In a new set of rules released Monday, the Oregon Health Authority will only ban marijuana-laced products that are made or packaged in ways that might appeal to children. That means nothing brightly colored or formed in the shape of animals, toys or candies. …

Boise, Idaho (CBS SEATTLE) – An Idaho state trooper arrested and fully searched a 70-year-old Washington man’s vehicle solely because he had a Colorado license plate – a state where marijuana is legal – a federal “license plate profiling” lawsuit alleges. Darien Roseen was driving along I-84 between his second home in Colorado and Washington state on Jan. 25 when Idaho State Trooper Justin Klitch “immediately” pulled out from the Interstate median and began “rapidly accelerating” to catch up to Roseen, according to the complaint in a Courthouse News Service report. Exiting at a designated rest area, Roseen says he...

Our great friend and Boss Emeritus, Michelle Malkin, offers a powerful testimony today in her column on marijuana legalization — and a surprisingly personal perspective. Sure, we all have fun with jokes at Colorado’s experiment with recreational approval, but the access it creates does more than just serve as easy access to intoxication. Michelle found herself in one of the pot shops that have opened to serve demand that comes from more than just fun and games, hoping to find help for her mother-in-law: It’s 9 a.m. on a weekday, and I’m at the Marisol Therapeutics pot shop. This is...

A new poll, conducted by a Democratic and Republican polling firm in partnership with George Washington University, suggests voters would be overwhelmingly more likely to go to the polls if they could vote on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, something Democrats may want to keep in mind as they work to boost turnout. Facing a tough map and perennial low turnout in midterms, Democrats are hoping to minimize losses in this year's elections by enticing their voters to the polls in any way possible, which in some states includes marijuana liberalization. At least six states are expected to have...

Medical marijuana dispensary guard shoots self in foot SAN BERNARDINO - A medical marijuana dispensary guard shot himself in the foot for unknown reasons Friday night, according to police. Just after 9 p.m. officers went to the 3300 block of East Highland Avenue to investigate the shooting. “On our arrival, we found that the security guard for the business, for some reason, had his weapon out, discharged his firearm, striking himself in the foot one time,” said Lt. Travis Walker. The security guard was transported to a hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound, according to Walker. “We plan...

It was Juliette Gordon Low’s vision to empower young girls to grow courageous and strong and to develop their full potential. For that reason, she founded Girl Scouts in 1912. Today, membership has grown to 3.2 million, 2.3 million girl members and 890,000 adult members working primarily as volunteers. Some of the many benefits of scouting include learning skills, discovering fun, increasing understanding and respect, contributing to society and developing values to guide actions. If value driven actions matter, I can’t help but wonder if Juliette would have envisioned a sweet little 8-year-old girl selling cookies on the doorstep of...

Was just watching the show and they played a clip of Rick Perry saying that Texas has lowered fines for first time offense for marijuana use. So far he has not said he would legalize it. So the members went around the table and all but Beckel (recovering addict) said they were for legalizing marijuana. Dana Pirino said Texas might as well legalize it because Texans are coming into Colorado to legally smoke the stuff. She also said that if a republican wants to get a hand in an audience full of hipsters all they have to say is they...

In the first two parts of this series, I explained the comparative dangers and health risks of alcohol and marijuana. To elevate one over the other is like saying a plain doughnut isn't so bad as a glazed one. The point is that neither of the drugs is good for us or our culture. We examined both of their addictive natures, the withdrawal symptoms and the hazards they create when those using them operate motor vehicles. We then looked at what science has concluded about their effects on our minds, bodies and relationships. (Of course, there are many other arenas...

A Texas teenager set his mother’s clothes ablaze after the woman refused to provide him money to purchase marijuana, authorities said. The Harris County Fire Marshall’s Office said John Carter, 18, started setting his mom’s wardrobe on fire after she declined to give him money for drugs. “Our investigation found that 18-year-old John Carter was angry at his mother because she would not give him money so he could buy marijuana, so he started setting her clothes on fire,” Lt. Dean Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal Office told KTRK.

You knew it was coming.With the legalization of pot in Colorado and other states, it has been discovered that over the past few months, purchases of marijuana in pot dispensaries have been paid for with cash from welfare benefits. The purchase of marijuana is strictly a cash business so it was obvious that ATM machines should be made available inside the dispensaries for easy access to money.That’s fine except that there is no distinction between a credit/debit card and an EBT card. Taxpayers have given this money to people that are “in need of assistance”, not to people who need...

There are things you expect to see at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and there are things you don't. One of the things you probably don't is an audience cheering and applauding arguments for legalizing pot and bemoaning the war on drugs. A panel titled "Rocky Mountain High" held Thursday afternoon started out as a debate between Mary Katherine Ham of Fox and Hot Air and Christopher Beach a staffer for former Drug Czar William Bennett's radio show. But as the debate wore on it became clear the real disagreement was between Beach and the overwhelming majority of the...

SEATTLE — More drivers tested positive for marijuana in Washington in 2013 -- the first full year after the state legalized pot -- but officials so far say there's been no obvious, corresponding jump in car accidents. The Washington State Patrol says 1,362 drivers tested positive for having active marijuana in their system -- a jump of just under 25 percent from the year before, even though the patrol had fewer troopers on the road and there was no overall rise in intoxicated driving arrests.

SONORA (CBS SF) — Three third-grade students at a Sonora elementary school were busted for smoking pot in the school’s bathroom last week. Two 8-year-olds and a 9-year-old were caught by another student, who immediately informed school administrators. Those officials then alerted local police. The students were questioned by officers, and later released to their parents on February 27th. Sonora Elementary School Principal Chris Boyles would not speak with CBS SF regarding the case, but Superintendent Leigh Shampain confirmed that the students were caught smoking marijuana in the school’s bathroom. He would not discuss how the students might be disciplined.

Consuming marijuana in a private home will no longer be a criminal offense in the nation’s capital under a measure that passed the D.C. Council on Tuesday and that instantly escalated a simmering national debate over loosening marijuana laws. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) intends to sign the measure, a spokesman said, putting District drug law in conflict with federal law. The signed measure will go to Congress, which has veto authority over D.C. laws but has organized to override only three times since 1979. National advocates for marijuana legalization celebrated the 10 to 1 vote by the D.C. Council,...

Democrat Governor Jerry Brown opposed marijuana legalization during an interview on Meet the Press Sunday. By advertising and codifying the drug, Brown feared its acceptance and use could lead to a less alert and less competitive population. The problem with anything, a certain amount is okay. But there is a tendency to go to extremes. And all of a sudden, if there's advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation? The world's pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day,...

A few weeks ago, I began to show from extensive studies and evidence how alcohol use and marijuana use compare in terms of addiction, withdrawal and using motorized vehicles. This week, I will discuss in greater detail how alcohol and marijuana compare in their effects on our minds, bodies and relationships. And then I want to conclude by addressing the most overlooked aspect of the marijuana legalization debate: its effects on the youth of America. CNN recently reported on multiple studies on alcohol and marijuana use. Of course, we know that long-term drinking can lead to neurological and psychiatric problems,...

Today MarijuanaDoctors.com began airing a television commercial that looks to be the first ever marijuana commercial on a "Major Network". The spot began airing in New Jersey and is believed to be the first time that any major television network in the U.S. has allowed a commercial addressing the controversial subject matter and advertising the first ever medical marijuana service. The commercial will be on the COMCAST system and the networks that will air the commercial include: A&E, AMC, FOX, CNBC, CNN, COMEDY CENTRAL BRAVO, DISCOVERY, ESPN, FX, FOOD NETWORK, HGTV, HISTORY, and several others. With Comcast considered the largest...

LANDIS — A Rowan County school bus driver remains in jail today after Landis Police say he allowed students to smoke marijuana on the bus. Police say it wasn’t the first time he allowed students to smoke on the bus. Brian Davis Overcash, 30, was charged with four counts of misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The incident occurred Feb. 20 after Corriher-Lipe Middle School assistant Principal Matt Krome contacted authorities. Krome told officers with the Landis Police Department that Overcash, who drove bus No. 162, told the assistant principal that several students were on the bus smoking...

While Drug Enforcement Administration agents in California are cracking down on the popular new drug known as “wax,” people in Colorado are rushing to embrace it. Wax, the ultimate distillation of marijuana, is so potent that it is said a single hit will keep a person high for more than a day. “There is no weed out there that possesses the punching power that the wax does,” an undercover DEA informant who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News’ “Nightline.” “And it’s like smoking 20 joints of the best grade of weed that you have into one hit of the...

A legal Rocky Mountain high Marijuana, still illegal under federal law, is now at the center of a thriving industry that’s attracting a new breed of entrepreneurs, as Colorado becomes the first state to allow the sale of pot for recreational use. Colorado made history as the first state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana for recreational use. NBC News correspondent Harry Smith tells the story behind this stunning development, which has been called one of the great social experiments of the next century. Premieres Wednesday, February 26th at 10p on CNBC TV

DENVER (AP) – A southern Colorado county with two recreational marijuana stores has become the first in the state to announce tax totals from the new industry. Pueblo County finance authorities announced Monday that its two shops had about $1 million in total sales in January, producing about $56,000 in local sales taxes. ... snip ...

The study draws its conclusions from statistics on more than 23,500 drivers who died within one hour of a crash between 1999 and 2010. The toxicology tests were performed on victims from six states including: California, Hawaii, Illinois, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and West Virginia. While alcohol related traffic fatalities remained steady at 40% throughout the decade, drug related deaths soared from 16% in 1999 to a whopping 28% in 2010. Significantly, the study cites marijuana use as the leading culprit for the swelling number of drug related traffic deaths, contributing to 12 percent of 2010 crashes. This represents a...

Marijuana can be deadly, according to German researchers who claim to have discovered the first deaths caused by cannabis. The researchers in Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia, have been investigating cannabis-related deaths since 2001 and performed post-mortem examinations on 15 people whose deaths were linked to the drug. […] Benno Hartung from the University Hospital in Düsseldorf said he and his colleagues performed autopsies and toxicological tests to rule out other causes of death such as liver disease and alcohol use. …

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Police say some of the merchandise at a medical marijuana dispensary in South Los Angeles went up in smoke Monday morning after someone threw a Molotov cocktail through the window. The fire bomb went through the glass of a dispensary in the 5300 block of South Hoover Street at about 3 a.m., Los Angeles police Sgt. Rick Rodgers said.

All the buzz at the National Governors Association meeting over legalizing pot, some say, is just smoke. Nearly three months after Colorado began selling recreational marijuana, the nation’s governors are taking a cautious approach to loosening their drug laws despite growing support for legalization. Republican and Democratic state chief executives meeting in Washington this weekend expressed broad concern for children and public safety should recreational marijuana use spread. At the same time, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is warning other governors against rushing to follow his lead. …

RICHLAND, WA-- A Richland medical marijuana patient recently applied for a Concealed Pistol License, but was denied by police. Medical marijuana is legal under Washington state law, but the federal government won't make an exception for that when it comes to getting a Concealed Pistol License. Richland police sent the medical marijuana patient a letter stating that federal law prohibits anyone who uses a controlled substance from "shipping, transporting, receiving or possessing firearms or ammunition." And even if marijuana is legal here, it's still illegal at the federal level. When anyone applies for a concealed weapons permit with Richland police,...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)DENVER — Colorado welfare recipients are using ATMs located inside marijuana retail shops to withdraw cash. The money was given to them by taxpayers to help their families survive, but an exclusive Fox31 Denver investigation found some cash benefits most likely going toward marijuana purchases. FOX31 Denver asked the Colorado Department of Human Services for its “Quest card” database of Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cash transactions for the month of January, 2014. That is the first month in which Colorado marijuana dispensaries were regulated and open for recreational sales. The FOX31 Denver investigative team matched the addresses of EBT cash...

SUGARCREEK, Pa. —An act of charity may end badly for one donor to a Pennsylvania Salvation Army outlet. Sugarcreek Borough police say they were called when workers found a large plastic bag of marijuana among some donated clothes. Police Chief Matt Carlson tells the (Oil City) Derrick (http://bit.ly/1gnLZm2 ) he suspects the owner of the drugs has noticed them missing by now, if only because the bag contained a "substantial quantity" of pot. Police were working with store employees to determine who donated the clothes and when. Police say the drugs were found earlier this week.

Colorado’s legal marijuana market is far exceeding tax expectations, according to a budget proposal released Wednesday by Gov. John Hickenlooper that gives the first official estimate of how much the state expects to make from pot taxes. The proposal outlines plans to spend some $99 million next fiscal year on substance abuse prevention, youth marijuana use prevention and other priorities. The money would come from a statewide 12.9 percent sales tax on recreational pot. Colorado’s total pot sales next fiscal year were estimated to be about $610 million. Retail sales began Jan. 1 in Colorado. Sales have been strong, though...

The transformation of America is proceeding apace this week, with the Obama Administration clearing the way for banks to legally get involved with drug dealers. The Justice Department and Treasury Department on Friday issued guidelines for banks and other financial service companies to get involved with marijuana growers and distributors in states where the drug is legal. Washington and Colorado in January became the first two states to completely legalize pot. Other states, such as California, have legalized "medicinal" marijuana. The new guidelines were intended to allow banks to serve pot distributors while still ensuring the legitimacy of the businesses...

But the U.S. government won’t let scientists try out this promising treatment on humans. On a warm summer day in Chicago at the International Cannabinoid Research Conference, hundreds of marijuana researchers were giggling. It wasn’t the groundbreaking research they’d just heard—proving the ability of THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana, to stave off HIV (or RIV in monkeys)—that did it. Nor was it the author of the study, Dr. Patricia E. Molina, who had them laughing. It was the rogue researcher daring enough to taint the victory with a harsh dose of reality: “What’s next, testing this on...

DENVER — Bankers should beware of the Obama administration’s newly issued green light for banks doing business with the legal marijuana industry, according to the head of the Colorado Bankers Association. Memos released Friday by the Justice Department and Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network were intended to give banks leeway to open accounts for marijuana businesses in states like Colorado and Washington that have legalized retail pot. Instead, the guidance “only reinforces and reiterates that banks can be prosecuted for providing accounts to marijuana related businesses,” said the CBA in a Friday statement. “In fact, it is even stronger...

SEATTLE (AP) — For marijuana dispensaries around the country, the days of doing business in cash — driving around with bill-stuffed envelopes to pay the rent, or showing up at a state revenue office with $20,000 in paper bags for the tax man — can't end soon enough.

US regulators gave banks the green light to accept money from legal marijuana businesses but cautioned that they expected financial institutions to conduct “thorough due diligence” and report possible criminal activity. The guidance from the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Department of Justice is meant to tackle one of the biggest challenges for a growing industry that is legal in a score of states but prohibited by federal law. Banks have shied away from doing business with marijuana groups for fear of prosecution. Unable to make deposits or accept credit cards, many “cannabusinesses” operate entirely in cash,...

The Obama administration on Friday issued new law-enforcement guidelines aimed at encouraging banks to start doing business with state-licensed marijuana suppliers, like those in Colorado, even though such enterprises remain illegal under federal law. Administration officials said the policy shift seeks to address problems faced by newly licensed recreational marijuana retailers in Colorado, and medical cannabis dispensaries in other states, that must operate on a cash-only basis, without access to financial services or credit. It remained to be seen whether many banks would feel sufficiently assured by the new policy, which the Justice and Treasury departments outlined in writing to...