Free Republic

A new La Crosse County ordinance would send criminal charges up in smoke for low-risk offenders busted with under 25 grams — a little less than an ounce — of marijuana. At a Thursday meeting, the county board voted 15-12 to pass the ordinance, which would send first-time offenders away with a citation and fine instead of a misdemeanor charge. The vote followed nearly two hours of debate that included testimony from the district attorney, a judge and the county sheriff — and a few moments of levity that would please Cheech and Chong. District Attorney Scott Horne argued against...

Hydro, more potent and more expensive than regular grass, is sold mostly to the affluent, but police fear rise in violence, crime if youth start using Israel Police have waged a war on the distribution of Hydro, a more potent and more expensive type of marijuana that is sweeping the local drug market. Dubbed by police as “death grass,” Hydro goes for about NIS 500 (USD 110) per 10 grams (0.35 ounces), compared with regular marijuana which is sold for NIS 600 (USD 133) per kilo. The high price of Hydro is mainly due to the high cost of growing...

Does Kelly Maddy have a point, or is it just a case of reefer madness? Maddy, a local advocate for reforming marijuana laws, believes pot should be decriminalized. The drug is harmless, he says, and prohibition destroys the lives of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens. Nuts, says Joplin police Chief Kevin Lindsey. Marijuana is a gateway drug, he said, and compared the consequences to those of a much harder substance, methamphetamine: Those who indulge aren't just harming themselves; they're hurting their families and the community. Also, Lindsey noted, marijuana is illegal. Possession of single joint is punishable by up to...

SCOTTISH police officers have sparked anger after calling for the legalisation of all drugs - including heroin and cocaine. The Strathclyde Police Federation has called for a dramatic change of direction in the battle on drugs crime, and the issue will be debated later this month. The body, which represents 7000 officers, is set to argue that all drugs should be licensed in the same way as cigarettes and alcohol. Officers claim this would cut drug deaths and divert police resources to other crime-fighting priorities. It is the first time that an organisation representing officers has made such a demand....

Setting up a conflict with the Romney administration, lawmakers on Monday advanced a longstanding Beacon Hill proposal to decriminalize the possession of enough marijuana for teens to roll dozens of joints. Approved 6-1 by the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, the proposal would change the penalty for possessing marijuana to a $250 civil fine for anyone caught with less than an ounce of the drug, regardless of age. In addition, parents of those 18 years and younger would be notified of the infraction. Currently, someone convicted of such an offense can be sent to jail for up to six...

[...] Organizers blasted the federal Drug Enforcement Administration for targeting businesses that are legal under Proposition 215, a California law that permits marijuana use for medical treatment. Demonstrators said the action would restrict access to regulated pot shops for seriously ill patients. [...] "They didn't do any arrests, just took drugs and computers," said Paula "Cookey" Brown. "It just seems like a straight armed robbery." [...]

Police are losing the war against pot and it’s time to make it legal and regulate the cultivation and use of it, says Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa University criminology teacher who co-founded the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. Police say the number and size of local marijuana operations they’re discovering is increasing. In the last several weeks, police have laid charges after discovering more than $43-million worth of marijuana, mostly from four big busts. Monday West Grey police discovered another $1.3-million worth of marijuana growing south of Flesherton. The biggest of recent busts have often involved young, Asia men. Police...

Police searched Saturday for three suspects involved in a robbery that erupted in gunfire at a medical marijuana dispensary, leaving one of the gunmen fatally injured The shootout occurred shortly after 11:30 a.m. Friday as employees and the store owner were preparing to open Natural Source and were met by five gunmen armed with semiautomatic rifles. The robbers forced the employees inside, then began taking marijuana and cash, said Lt. Dale Amaral of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department

WASHINGTON - Drug enforcement agents have arrested some 160 people in four U.S. cities and two countries and have broken up three major drug transportation rings with international ties in a 10-month drug-trafficking sting revealed Friday. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the people arrested were involved in 27 U.S. distribution groups that have moved enough methamphetamine into the United States to have provided the drug to more than 22,700 users a month. Arrests in the sting — dubbed Operation Three Hour Tour by the Drug Enforcement Administration — were made Thursday in Los Angeles, New York, New Haven, Conn., Des...

WASHINGTON (AP) — More teens are saying there are drugs in their schools, and those who have access to them are more likely to try them, said a Columbia University survey released today. Twenty-eight percent of middle-school-student respondents reported that drugs are used, kept or sold at their schools, a 47 percent jump since 2002, according to the 10th annual teen survey by Columbia's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. The number of high schoolers saying drugs are at their schools rose 41 percent in the last three years, to 62 percent, the survey said. Twelve- to 17-year-olds who...

Bay Area pot farming is taking a frightening new turn. A state Fish and Game warden was shot in both legs and a man was killed Friday during an early morning raid on a huge marijuana garden near Mount Umunhum in a rugged, remote area of Santa Clara County. The operation had the hallmark of aggressive Mexican drug cartels, which in recent years have cornered California's marijuana-growing market, state drug agents say."It's scary," Bob Cooke, special agent in charge of the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement in San Jose, said of the new trend. "Once you hit the ground, they...

The federal government's war on drugs has turned into a witch hunt for doctors who legitimately prescribe legal painkillers, says a California physician who claims he was the target of an unethical federal investigation. "The war on drugs has become a war on sick people," Dr. Frank Fisher said Friday. "The war on drugs has morphed into a war on patients, and the doctors are caught in the crossfire." Fisher said the battle has erupted in Billings, where the Drug Enforcement Administration is investigating neurologist Richard A. Nelson. Nelson treated multiple chronic-pain sufferers with opioids, or narcotic painkillers, until federal...

Court Allows Arrests of All in Drug Stops WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court issued a traffic warning Monday: Beware of whom you ride with. If drugs are found in a vehicle, all occupants can be arrested, the justices said in a unanimous decision. It was a victory for Maryland and 20 other states that argued police frequently find drugs in traffic stops but no one in the vehicle claims them. The court gave officers the go-ahead to arrest everyone. In a small space like a car, an officer could reasonably infer "a common enterprise" among a driver and passengers,...