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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – A new study finds that longtime marijuana use lowers motivation and reward-seeking behavior as the brain produces less dopamine. In a small sample test, researchers in the United Kingdom scanned the brains of 19 long-term marijuana smokers along with 19 nonusers of the same age and sex, measuring the distribution of chemicals throughout the brain via positron emission tomography. Marijuana smokers were found to produce less of the “feel good” chemical dopamine than their counterparts over time.

San Francisco park workers and volunteers spent much of Sunday picking up and hauling away 10,000 pounds of garbage strewn all over the eastern part of Golden Gate Park known as Hippie Hill, the remnants of Saturday's annual yet unofficial pot-smoking bacchanalia. But this year's annual celebration - which falls each year on April 20 and is known as "420" - drew a larger-than-average crowd of between 10,000 and 15,000 revelers on the warm weekend day. They proceeded to smoke, drink, eat and rack up more than $10,000 in costs for city crews to clean up the mess, ironically just...

Shots were fired in the area of the 4/20 marijuana rally being held at Civic Center Park in Denver, KDVR.com reports. Denver police say one person has been shot in the leg and another is down with unknown injuries. Witnesses say they heard three or more shots about 20 minutes after 4:20 p.m. Police swarmed the scene, and crime tape was around the pavilion where the celebration was being held. Aerial footage showed the massive crowd frantically running from the park. The pot celebration Saturday was the first since Colorado and Washington made marijuana legal for recreational use. Read more:...

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: Wayne Terhune Delegation Chair, Nevada Six States Nominate Congressman Ron Paul for President at the Republican National Convention TAMPA, August 28, 2012-- Supporters of Congressman Ron Paul have collected the necessary signatures to nominate him for President of the United States at the RNC. The current rules state that a plurality of delegates from five states are required to nominate a candidate for President. The Secretary of the Convention, Kim Reynolds, was presented with the forms over an hour before the call for nominations. “We are excited to get Dr. Paul nominated,” said...

In the 2008 United States election, I wrote in Ron Paul for President. In the 2012 election, I will be voting for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Those who are of a more leftist persuasion than myself might want to consider voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Here are 93 things that Barack Obama has done, that should cause his supporters to switch to Gary Johnson or Jill Stein: 1) Carried out military interventionism in Libya without Congressional approval In June 2011, U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said that Obama had violated the Constitution when he launched military operations...

An announcement from Rep. Ron Paul indicates that the Republican presidential candidate will no longer actively campaign for the GOP nomination, but will continue to work to secure delegates at upcoming Republican state conventions. "Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," said Paul, in a statement released Monday afternoon. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have."

April 24, 2012. Des Moines. Two networks yesterday, CNBC and MSNBC, broadcast a little known fact – Ron Paul appears to be winning the Republican nomination for President. When the popular Texas Congressman repeatedly assured supporters that the race was about delegates, not beauty contests, he apparently knew what he was talking about. Now, after three more states locked in delegates to the GOP nominating convention – CO, MN and IA – indicators point to a brokered convention with a possible, even probable, Ron Paul victory. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) appears to be piling up enough delegates to force a...

April 24, 2012. Des Moines. Two networks yesterday, CNBC and MSNBC, broadcast a little known fact – Ron Paul appears to be winning the Republican nomination for President. When the popular Texas Congressman repeatedly assured supporters that the race was about delegates, not beauty contests, he apparently knew what he was talking about. Now, after three more states locked in delegates to the GOP nominating convention – CO, MN and IA – indicators point to a brokered convention with a possible, even probable, Ron Paul victory.

Yes, two cast members of TLC's "All-American Muslim" were busted while crossing the Canadian border. The border officer caught the pair with nine grams of "the chronic" (a.k.a. "cannabis," "giggle weed," "ganja," "dope," "wacky tobacky," "grass," "indo," "the herb," "Mary Jane," etc.). Wow. If this was another desperate attempt to show us that Muslims really are "just like everyone else" . . . Genius! Apparently, it is notoriously easy to get a "medical marijuana" card in Michigan. However, can anyone who watched "All-American Muslim" point to anyone on the show who displayed any symptoms that would require a sack of...

Even loyal Obama supporters are raising their eyebrows at the very pricey fundraising -- like that exclusive $35,800-per-person dinner in San Francisco -- planned as part of the President's April 20 visit to the Bay Area. The April Western U.S. swing by the President, which includes a stop in Reno and Los Angeles as well as San Francisco, is part of Obama's 2012 re-election kickoff campaign. But also scheduled .. a jobs and economy event in the Bay Area on April 20. On April 21, Obama heads to Los Angeles. ... Obama supporters acknowledge that the $35,800 per person San...

San Bernardino became the latest Inland city to ban medical marijuana dispensaries late Monday. - The report notes that California's decriminalization conflicts with federal law. Studies by other cities show dispensaries contribute to increases in noise, traffic, burglaries and robberies, the report states.

There was something different in the air today at the 20th annual Boston Freedom Rally at the Boston Common. And it wasn’t just the clouds of pungent marijuana smoke. It was the first time the rally organized by the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition had been held since voters passed Proposition 2 last November, which decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana. The changed law gave attendees reason to celebrate and a better chance of not getting arrested -- a scenario organizers say is a welcome change for the event, which has caused controversy over the years, including many arrests and...

"Nine, eight, seven ..." A crowd of about 10,000 people collectively began counting down on the University of Colorado's Norlin Quadrangle just before 4:20 p.m. Sunday. Yet the massive puff of pot smoke that hovers over CU's Boulder campus every April 20 -- the date of an annual, internationally recognized celebration of marijuana -- began rising over the sea of heads earlier than normal this year. "Oh forget it," one student said, aborting the countdown to 4:20 p.m. and lighting his pipe early. He closed his eyes, taking a deep, long drag. "Sweet." Although it's become an annual and renowned...

WILMINGTON (AP) — A Wilmington high school student is on court-ordered probation after admitting she baked marijuana into cookies that were given to a teacher. The Star-News of Wilmington reported Friday that 17-year-old Elizabeth Ann Coleman was given two years supervised probation and ordered to perform 96 hours of community service. She also must write an apology letter to the Spanish teacher. Assistant District Attorney Tom Old said Coleman admitted sharing the cookies with friends, but Old said it was another teenager at Laney High School that gave the cookies to the teacher. An arrest warrant said the teacher ate...

My birthday is tomorrow (the 19th), so I'm havin' a party!!! I got the food and drinks... And the DJ is settin' up...getting ready for ya'll to get on the dance floor...The most effective way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once. A well adjusted woman is one who not only knows what she wants for her birthday, but even knows what she's going to exchange it for. The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. - Lucille Ball Inside every older person is a younger person wondering...

State field director predicts second, even first in Iowa It seems like when we're young, we like to break a few rules.  Staying out a little too late, sneaking a drink before that official legal age, or backing a candidate who's outside the established mold (YEEEEEAH!) Several of those dynamics were on display Saturday at Olive Court, a notoriously wild tailgate spot three blocks from Iowa City's Kinnick Stadium.  It was here, just a year ago, that John Kerry was infamously photographed with a beer bong.  And into the anarchy marched the Ron Paul revolution. Ron Paul wasn't imbibing...

The meeting of Ron Paul activists was well under way when organizer Steven Talcott Smith offered the kind of basic advice you probably wouldn't hear at a gathering of any other Republican presidential candidate's supporters. "By the way," Smith told the Internet-driven "meet-up" of about 40 people at a library west of Boynton Beach, "by the end of this year everybody in this room should plan to be a Republican." Florida's Jan. 29 Republican primary is, not surprisingly, limited to registered GOP voters. But a Republican pedigree or a familiarity with the elections process cannot be taken for granted with...

Oakland medical marijuana patient and activist Angel Raich dropped her lawsuit against the federal government Thursday, ending a five-year legal odyssey which had taken her all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. "I've lost all faith in the judicial system, I don't understand how somebody can lose their constitutional right to life in this country," she said Thursday. "It's been really, really hard for me these last few months, and I wasn't happy about having to give up the case. "But I'm really having a hard time medically speaking right now -- my brain tumor has finally started causing...

420 Claim:   The term '420' entered drug parlance as a term signifying the time to light up a joint. Status:   True.   Origins:   Odd terms sneak into our language every now and then, and this is one of the oddest. Everyone who considers himself in the know about the drug subculture has heard that '420' has something to do with illegal drug use, but when you press them, they never seem to know why, or even what the term supposedly signifies. “I think people need to be educated to the fact that marijuana is not a...

Craig X Video: A Higher Calling at Temple 420 HOLLYWOOD - The Rev. Craig X Rubin read aloud a passage from 1 Kings as the sun set and his congregation prepared for the Sabbath. Flicking a lighter to the lone candle atop the podium, Rubin burned a bud of marijuana on the flame. He puffed it out, walked to each of the eight members sitting in the pews and waved the smoldering cannabis around them. This, Rubin proclaims, carries the prayers of Temple 420 to God. That's the God of Isaac and of Jesus, because members are Christians and...