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Racine man fatally shot teen trying to break into car.Racine - Rejecting the defense's argument of self-defense, a jury Monday found Adrial C. White of Racine guilty of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of attempted homicide in the shooting death of a Racine man and the wounding of another in a case that divided the community.The verdict means White could face life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 8. White, 29, had contended that he was acting in self-defense when he went outside his house early Jan. 18 and found three teens attempting to break into his girlfriend's...

COOL, Calif. — Dr. Mollie Fry never thought telling her patients where to get the medicine she recommended for pain, depression and nausea would be a problem. Federal drug agents who raided her home and office thought otherwise, and she was indicted last year on felony charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana.

Nearly 10,000 Oregonians carry medical marijuana cards, about 20 times more than officials predicted when the program started six years ago.The fee-based program, which gets no money from the state general fund, has grown so fast that it built up a cash surplus of nearly $1 million last year. To reduce the surplus, officials slashed the annual fee for a medical marijuana card from $150 to $55 this month. For Oregon Health Plan patients, the fee dropped to $20. The number of cardholders has doubled in less than two years. Between 80 and 100 new or renewal applications arrive on...

Governor Craig Benson conducted a ceremonial signing of two important bills that the New Hampshire legislature passed by large margins. The ceremony was attended by a large number of state legislators, including the sponsors of the bills, senior representatives of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation and the New Hampshire Sportsmen's Political Action League, New Hampshire-based manufacturers Ruger and SIGarms, the owner of Riley’s Sport Shop, the president of Savage Arms, the state coordinator of Second Amendment Sisters, and the president and several of the directors of Gun Owners of New Hampshire, the state NRA affiliate. HB 811 makes New Hampshire...

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. The Rocky Mountains apparently aren't high enough for eleven people cited for smoking marijuana in a gondola at a Colorado ski resort. A spokesman for the ski area in Steamboat Springs says the sheriff was called in because of complaints the gondola was filled with smoke and that it reeked of marijuana. Colorado forbids using ski resort facilities while under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. All those cited are 22 years old or younger. They've had their ski passes revoked for two weeks.

Ask Your Representative To Oppose The Safe Access to Drug Treatment & Child Protection Act of 2004.H.R. 4547, "The Safe Access to Drug Treatment & Child Protection Act of 2004" would dramatically increase mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses. Under the proposed legislation, sponsored by House Judiciary Chair James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), any person age 21 or over who attempts or conspires to offer marijuana to someone younger than 18 years old shall face a mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison. The mandatory penalty for a subsequent violation of the statute is life in prison. Defendants found to have...

Officials say Dr. Phillip Leveque is "grossly negligent" in endorsing the patients' applications.Oregon's medical licensing board suspended the license Thursday of the state's most prolific medical marijuana doctor, saying he "poses an imminent risk to public health and safety." The board suspended the license of Dr. Phillip Leveque, 81, a Molalla osteopath whose practice consisted mostly of processing patients who seek a doctor's signature on their applications for a medical marijuana card. Oregon law permits the use of marijuana for certain medicinal purposes if the patient gets permission from a licensed physician. Kathleen Haley, executive director of the Oregon Board...

<p>Santa Cruz, California police pulled over a car with tinted windows — a no-no in California — last September, reports the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Inside they found two men and 18 ounces of "Purple Haze" brand marijuana worth about $3,000.</p>

Football expert and social commentator Rush Limbaugh claimed last Sunday morning that the media are partial to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, and you know what? He's absolutely right, at least when it comes to one media guy. Me. Yep, Rush has my number. Well, if he had my number I'd change it and get a restraining order--but it is true that I've long been a McNabb fan because he and I have so much in common. For one thing, McNabb and I are both from south suburban Dolton. Also, McNabb attended Mt. Carmel High School on the South Side--same...

<p>PORTLAND -- Drug czar John Walters said Thursday that medical marijuana is being used as a political ploy to support efforts to legalize marijuana in a state where it already poses the most serious drug abuse problem for teenagers.</p> <p>Walters said about 25 percent of teens in the metro area who report drug abuse problems say they are dependent on marijuana, compared with 15 percent who report alcohol abuse.</p>

The number of medical marijuana plants being grown in Curry County has become a dilemma for law enforcement, say Brookings police officers. "This medical marijuana is out of control," Brookings Police Detective Ron Plaster said Thursday. Plaster said there are nearly 300 grow sites — addresses where someone is authorized to grow medical marijuana — in Brookings alone. "What that's supposed to mean is one person per site with a card for seven plants," said Plaster. "That's not the way it's happening." Oregon's medical marijuana law lets a person with a prescription for the plant — which can only be...

Ontario leads Canada in the number of people who can legally smoke medical marijuana, but the 240 certified users in the province are a long way from having easy access to the drug despite the federal government's new distribution plan. The Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Medical Protective Association both remain adamantly opposed to the use of medical marijuana and are telling doctors not to get involved in any aspect of it. "There is a possibility that if a physician acts as a distributor, they might be sued if something goes wrong. We recommend they shouldn't distribute marijuana unless...

<p>OAKLAND, Calif. - A doctor who recommended that thousands of his patients use marijuana is facing charges that could cost him his medical license, but the physician and his supporters say the case is merely an attempt to hush a vocal advocate for medicinal use of the drug.</p>

<p>COLUMBIA, Mo. — Voters in this college town rejected a proposition to soften penalties for marijuana possession and allow pot by prescription.</p> <p>With all votes counted, Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren said nearly 58 percent opposed Proposition 1 in Tuesday's election. Vote counting had been slowed by a problem requiring inspection by hand of ballots in an unrelated county race, she said.</p>

<p>LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- A long-shot effort at legalizing marijuana for medical use went up in smoke in a House committee Tuesday. The panel heard from Dr. Jocelyn Elders, the former U.S. surgeon general, who said people with serious illnesses should have the chance to use the treatment that works best for them, including marijuana.</p>

Although the state House of Representatives passed a medical-marijuana bill two years ago, the House overwhelmingly rejected a similar bill Thursday. A majority of Democrats and a huge majority of Republicans defeated House Bill 242 with a 46-20 vote Thursday. The House vote effectively killed the bill, since no similar measure is before the Senate. The mother of a 26-year-old cancer patient who died last year was angered by the vote. "These people who voted against it, I just pray that they never find out what they've done," said Vicki Plevin of Albuquerque, who is working as an unpaid lobbyist...

HELENA -- The state House voted down a bill Wednesday that sponsor Rep. Ron Erickson, D-Missoula, said would have sent a message to the state that "pain counts." House Bill 506, to allow patients to use medicinal marijuana for pain or illness relief, died in the House, 60-40. Opponents said the bill would send the wrong message -- that it's OK to use marijuana. The bill's initial hearing in the House Judiciary Committee last week was emotional, as chronic pain sufferers and multiple sclerosis patients told the committee how cannabis had saved their livelihoods and in some cases, their lives....

Parents in the high-desert say it's not what they expected their six year old' to learn in school, but police say teachers at Yucca Valley Elementary noticed one of their first graders doing a show-and-tell with marijuana they say he brought to school. The boy's parents are under arrest for child endangerment. In elementary school, kids are thinking about recess and what's for lunch. You don't think drugs are even in the picture. But yesterday, police say drugs were at school, brought there by a first grader. It's not what you'd ever expect a six year old to bring to...

A skydiving instructor who died in July while attempting to land on a pond at Skydive Chicago in Ottawa was seriously impaired by smoking marijuana within two hours of his death, according to a toxicology report released Wednesday. The report was made public an at inquest conducted by LaSalle County Coroner Jody Bernard into the death of Ronald Passmore Jr., 33, who died July 14 when he slammed chest first into the pond at the jump zone and died of a severed aorta. A coroner's jury declared the death accidental. Passmore's death was the sixth in a year at Skydive...