Free Republic

State Question 820 is on the ballot almost five years after Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana with the passage of State Question 788. Groups have worked to get recreational marijuana on an Oklahoma ballot. In October, Gov. Kevin Stitt set a date for early March when Oklahomans could decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana

Detectives said doctors told them there was a high level of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) in his system. They believe the 4-year-old boy ate a large number of THC gummies. The attending doctor at the hospital said if someone intervened shortly after the boy ate them, his death could have been prevented. The Sheriff’s Office said statements Clements made to detectives didn’t match evidence they found in the home.

<p>TISHOMINGO, Okla. (AP) — The teenage driver of a small car that collided with a large truck in Oklahoma, killing all six occupants in the car, tested negative for alcohol but positive for cannabis after her death, according to a preliminary report released Thursday.</p>

Generally, there are two types of marijuana users. First is the most commonly stereotyped “stoner,” depicted in the media of movies (e.g. Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and television (e.g. Shaggy from Scooby Doo). These are the dead-end job, ambitionless abusers who ingest marijuana to escape their already dismal lives. They represent the image which is most often associated with marijuana use. Certainly, the average American high school is teeming with similar directionless pot-smoking losers, further cementing this public perception.

Federal agents executed a search warrant at the home of Minneapolis City Council member Dean Zimmermann today. Zimmermann, a Green party member who is seeking re-election, was not available for comment, but his campaign manager, Lauren Maker, said the agents spent three hours at his home.

Teenagers and young adults who frequently use cannabis are increasing their risk of suffering from psychotic symptoms such as bizarre behavior and delusions later in life, Dutch scientists said on Wednesday. Young people with a family history, or pre-existing susceptibility to mental instability, are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of the drug. “Cannabis does not act in the same fashion on psychosis risk for everybody. There is a group that is particularly susceptible,” Professor Jim van Os, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, told a news conference. He and his colleagues studied 2,437 young people aged 14-24 and identified...

Parishioners stand by priest in court Even municipal judge speaks well of cleric facing marijuana case BARBERTON - She was sitting in the middle of the front row of the public seating area in Barberton Municipal Court, clutching a rosary in her lap and praying for the defendant. Beth Douglas, a 41-year-old mathematics teacher at Akron's East High School and a mother of four, was one of more than 20 Prince of Peace Catholic Church parishioners watching in court Wednesday as their pastor, the Rev. Richard A. Arko, appeared before Judge Michael L. Weigand to have an arraignment scheduled. Arko,...

State forensic scientists are taking the war on drugs to the molecular level. Researchers are compiling a database of DNA from marijuana seized by authorities in an attempt to track the nation's pot distribution network from grower to smoker. Over the past three years, scientists at the state Forensic Science Laboratory have mapped the genetic profile of about 600 marijuana samples taken from around New England. Forensic experts believe efforts like this represent the future of forensic science, which for years has been focused on the analysis of human evidence like blood, semen and hair. Using a single marijuana bud...