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A 27-year-old Ypsilanti Township woman was duct-taped and led into a back room while five young men ransacked her home early Thursday morning. The woman and her boyfriend, a 24-year-old man, were sitting in the living room at their home in the 500 block of Bagley in Ypsilanti Township when there was a knock at the door around 12:36 a.m., according to police. When the woman answered the door, five young men burst in the door and pushed her to the back of the house where they duct-taped the woman's wrists, Derrick Jackson of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office said....

NORTH POLE — Marijuana stores are welcome in the city with the motto “where the spirit of Christmas lives year round.” The City Council on Monday rejected a measure that would have banned marijuana dispensaries in North Pole. Even Santa Claus — yes, that’s his real name — spoke in favor of a marijuana store opening in the Christmas-themed community. “As far as the image goes here at North Pole, how do most people perceive Santa Claus?” Claus said. “I would say Santa Claus is a pretty jolly fellow. “I am a medical marijuana patient,” he said. “I would like...

An Indiana-based church that worships marijuana has been granted tax-exempt status. First Church of Cannabis founder Bill Levin said it took 30 days for the IRS to grant his group tax-exempt status. “Somebody at the IRS loves us,” he added. […] Marijuana is still illegal in Indiana. …

Israeli police have arrested the owner of a pizzeria in the city of Holon who sprinkled a drug known as ‘Mr. Nice Guy’ on a pizza order belonging to two policemen, The Times of Israel reported. The pizza peppered with the drug, which reportedly turned out to be synthetic marijuana, left the two policemen in the Tel Aviv area hospitalized for dizziness, vomiting and hallucinations. “I knew the order was placed by police officers, but the officer who called it in seemed cool – plus he told me to add whatever toppings I wanted. So, instead of oregano, I sprinkled...

Featuring a mix of Rock hits and marijuana themed programming, KBUD will also air the syndicated Bubba The Love Sponge in mornings. The station is focusing on the niche of weed smokers in the first state to legalize marijuana, just like the short-lived on-air version of “K-High” in Colorado Springs.

The Senate Appropriations Committee did something last week the Senate has never done; it passed a marijuana reform measure. It was the narrowest of proposals, an amendment co-authored by Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to a military spending bill that would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from using federal money to prosecute doctors who recommend medical marijuana to veterans in states where the drug is legal. Last year, the House passed five measures that supported states' rights on marijuana. For its part, the Senate would not budge -- until Thursday. Twelve Democrats and four Republicans supported...

California might be ready to legalize cannabis for adults 21 and over, but some members of the Oakland community are worried it will be a job-killer for their street dealers. Support for legalization proved mixed at a public meeting of the ACLU’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Legalization in Oakland this week. "Street-level drug dealers who are now selling to 17- to 25-year-olds could see legalization cut their market in half," said Robert Dousa. “Many of these dealers are doing it to support their families — they need to make money,” Dousa said.

Drudge Headline Gives one pause. STUDY: Smoking marijuana causes early puberty, stunts growth... Boys 'four inches shorter'... That's a lot to give up for a bud or blunt. Good headline for dads to show their teen age boys. From the Telegraph: "Boys who smoke cannabis 'are four inches shorter'"

Bill Bennett, a great American and a great Republican was all over television promoting his new book Going to Pot co-written with Robert A. White. This is a topic I have followed for years and previously written about so I thought I would read the book and hope for an interview with Dr. Bennett. I was unable to land the big fish, but did interview his co-writer for an hour discussing the issue of whether the legalization of marijuana should continue. I have previously written that the experiment of legalization should go forward in Colorado and Washington and let us...

MPs from the Green Party and Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have joined forces to say that cannabis should be regulated and legalized. Economic policy spokespeople Joachim Pfeiffer of the CDU and Dieter Janecek of the Greens told broadcaster ARD that they thought it no longer made sense to criminalize possession of or trading in the drug. “Every year we spend between one and two billion euros to punish consumers, although real organized crime should be the focus of our efforts,” they wrote in a position paper. The pair believe that a state-regulated cannabis market would bring in between...

In a surprise move that supporters hailed as a historic victory, the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would make it legal to buy and sell marijuana in the state. Two Republicans joined with the panel's three Democrats in support, giving House Bill 2165 a decisive 5-2 victory. The proposal, which would make Texas the fifth state in America to OK pot for recreational purposes, has virtually no chance of clearing any other hurdles on the path to becoming law in this year's legislative session. Still, advocates described the committee vote as a big step toward future...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court asked Monday for the Obama administration’s views on whether Oklahoma and Nebraska should be able to sue Colorado over its marijuana laws. The court sometimes asks the solicitor general — the president’s advocate before the U.S. Supreme Court — for input on a case justices potentially will hear.

An outbreak of plague that affected four people and a dog in Colorado might be the first instance of person-to-person transmission of plague in the United States in 90 years, officials said Thursday. It started with a sick pit bull, and its owner, two vet techs and a close personal contact of the dog's owner all ended up infected. The dog died but all four people were treated with antibiotics and are okay. And while the Yersinia pestis bacteria that causes plague is usually passed along in flea bites, the pneumonic form that infects the lungs can be transmitted by...

The GOP-controlled House Thursday barely rejected a bid by supporters of medical marijuana to permit veterans to receive information about the drug from their government doctors. The 213-210 vote came on a failed amendment to a bill funding the budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The proposal by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would have lifted a rule blocking VA doctors from discussing the pros or cons of medical pot. They would still not have been able to prescribe it. He said marijuana is less addicting and dangerous than drugs like opiates that are commonly prescribed. "States are listening to...

Almost all of the declared and undeclared Republican candidates for 2016 could be found this weekend at one of two events, or both. The first was organized by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, and held in Point of Grace Church in Waukee. Dominated by Evangelical Christians, who were 60 percent of Republican caucus-goers in 2008 and 2012, the Point of Grace Church event drew no fewer than nine Republican hopefuls. Ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Sen. Rick Santorum, past winners of the Iowa caucuses, were there. So, too, were Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Scott Walter. Cruz and Walker are...

When workers at his Colorado business went to pot, Mark Brawner said it was enough for him to roll out of the Rockies and head for South Carolina. Brawner, who ran Little Spider Creations out of an old Denver warehouse for years until this month, told KUSA-TV Thursday he moved because pot was hurting his company. He said employees started to come to work stoned after the state legalized the drug for recreational use in 2012.

Health officials are warning New Jerseyans about a street drug that has sent about 30 people to emergency rooms throughout the state. Authorities have issued the warning for synthetic marijuana, commonly known as spice or K2, which can cause severe agitation, seizures and renal failure. No one has died in New Jersey as a result of the drug. But a 22-year-old South Brunswick woman apparently suffered an adverse reaction on Tuesday.

Want to escape the booming neighborhoods of San Francisco? Head west, where the rows of single-family Mediterranean-style or boxy Doelger homes that make up the Sunset District are virtually unchanged since their construction in the mid-20th century, giving the avenues a timeless feel. There are no towering construction cranes putting up condos, and 21st-century conveniences fail you: My Sidecar ride request to be taken to the Sunset was rejected three times before I settled in for a $40 cab ride. There is also little sign of California's multibillion dollar cannabis industry. The city's west side is entirely bereft of legal...

Colorado lawmakers started work Wednesday on a proposal to ask voters to keep some $58 million in marijuana tax collections. Colorado voters already approved the taxes on recreational pot sales in 2013. But because that ballot measure didn’t account for a quirk in state law related to new taxes, the money will have to be refunded unless voters again approve the 10 percent sales and 15 percent excise taxes. Colorado voters approved the taxes the first time by a 2-to-1 margin. The new ballot measure has broad bipartisan support, with lawmakers calling the measure a do-over of what voters already...

The presidential contender says "we need to enforce our federal laws" in states with legal pot -snip- Hewitt: A lot of people are criticizing the President for not enforcing the immigration laws. He's also not enforcing the drug laws in Colorado and Washington State. If you're the president, will you enforce the federal drug laws and shut down the marijuana trade? Rubio: Yes. Yes, I think, well, I think we need to enforce our federal laws. Now do states have a right to do what they want? They don't agree with it, but they have their rights. But they don't...