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Saturday, 14 August 2010 00:00 |
 Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, has joined the effort to legalize marijuana use and sale in his country as a way of defanging the drug cartels.
"We should consider legalizing the production, distribution and sale of drugs. ... Legalizing in this sense does not mean drugs are good and don't harm those who consume them," he wrote on his blog. "Rather we should look at it as a strategy to strike at and break the economic structure that allows gangs to generate huge profits in their trade, which feeds corruption and increases their areas of power."
Fox's successor, President Felipe Calderon, is reluctant to endorse such a move, but he believes the nation should at least debate it. Lots of people are skeptical that it would do any good, especially since the country would continue to outlaw the harder narcotics like cocaine and methamphetamine that help drive border-area lawlessness.
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Friday, 13 August 2010 00:00 |
 A father and son were arrested and charged after authorities said they were growing marijuana plants in their homes in north suburban Skokie and northwest Indiana, the Cook County sheriff's office said today.
The sheriff's office estimated the seizures at the homes netted about $3 million to $5 million in marijuana, if the drug were to be sold on the streets.
The elder Zimmerman was charged with manufacturing and delivery of cannabis, a felony. Alan Zimmerman was charged with felony possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
More charges against the men are expected.
The investigation started when a Cook County sheriff's police narcotics officer developed a lead on a "suspected grow house operation" in Cook County, sheriff's police said. After an extended period of surveillance, the investigation led to the Zimmermans' Skokie house.
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Thursday, 12 August 2010 00:00 |
 LOS ANGELES—One of two men charged with killing a worker at a Los Angeles medical marijuana dispensary has pleaded not guilty to murder.
Daniel Deshawn Hinton also pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted murder, along with the special circumstance allegation of murder during a robbery.
Police are still looking for 27-year-old Raymond Lemone Easter, who along with Hinton robbed the Echo Park dispensary June 24.
After ransacking the business and stealing money and marijuana, the robbers fatally shot Matthew Butcher and wounded a security guard.
The City Council offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Easter's arrest.
Police are also looking for information about the third suspect and the driver of a getaway car.
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Wednesday, 11 August 2010 00:00 |
 It looks like oregano, smells like incense and gets you high like marijuana.
Made of crushed leaves and sprayed with mind-altering chemicals, the substance known most commonly as “spice” is sold legally in head shops around the country.
Demand in Westwood was strong enough to push a local head shop to start carrying it earlier this year. Employees at the Smoke Spot said that spice products with names like “K2” and “Black Mamba” have attracted a steady stream of buyers in the past few months; three grams retail for $50.
With its peg as the “legal marijuana,” spice has also attracted the attention of authorities.
The Los Angeles wing of the Drug Enforcement Administration has been aware of the substance for about a year, said spokeswoman Special Agent Sarah Pullen. The bureau has transported samples from around the country to its lab, with complicated results.
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Tuesday, 10 August 2010 00:00 |
 A newly discovered molecular mechanism helps control the amount and effectiveness of a substance that mimics an active ingredient in marijuana.
However, this substance is produced by the body's own nerve cells.
William R. Marrs of the Neurobiology and Behavior program at the University of Washington (UW) and Dr. Nephi Stella, UW professor of pharmacology and psychiatry conducted the study.
The find may improve treatment in people with multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease and other neurological disorders.
Specifically targeted treatments, for example, might give cancer and AIDS patients the same medicinal benefits as marijuana without its mind-altering properties.
Cannabinoid signalling systems use signals called endocannabinoids - chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana.
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