News

BISMARCK -- Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in North Dakota turned in a proposed initiative Tuesday to put the issue on the November ballot.

Tulare County this week filed for injunctive relief against a medical marijuana collective in the community of Cutler.

The county is going to court to shut down a medical marijuana collective in Cutler. According to the complaint filed on Monday with Tulare County Superior Court, Tulare County alleges that the medical marijuana collective violates county zoning ordinance, which states that marijuana collectives and cooperatives must be located on land zoned for commercial or manufacturing use within the unincorporated county. The collective is located in an agricultural zone.

Users of Medical Marijuana Sued Costa Mesa and Lake Forest Over Crackdown. LAKE FOREST - A decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeal has found that two Orange County cities are not violating the Americans With Disabilities Act by closing down medical marijuana shops and preventing handicapped patients from having access.

Opinions

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is adamant about getting low-level, nonviolent drug offenders out of the criminal courts and into special drug courts -- a move that would save the state millions and get people into rehab programs, while avoiding lengthy criminal records.

TEWKSBURY, Mass. - Russ Caswell, 68, is bewildered. He and his wife, Pat, are ensnared in a Kafkaesque nightmare unfolding in Orwellian language.

Most of us can agree that drug abuse is a serious problem. We have all seen the dreadful things that heroin, crack, "meth" and other hard street drugs have done to individuals, families and society.

Family-Owned 'Budget' Motel Threatened With Civil Forfeiture for Crimes of Guests TEWKSBURY, Mass. -- Russ Caswell, 68, is bewildered: "What country are we in?" He and his wife Pat are ensnared in a Kafkaesque nightmare unfolding in Orwellian language.

Letters

In regards to the story entitled, Pot isn't necessarily safe, says doc (The News, May 11), neither are alcohol and cigarettes, but they are legal.

Why is cannabis (marijuana) prohibited? We know it is not immoral to get high. Booze and smokes, both extremely toxic to humans, are here in Vernon.

I disagree with Lisa Green's May 3 op-ed article, "Reducing drug penalties isn't worth the risk to public safety," which criticized The Californian's April 29 editorial "Prison reforms require smart choices." The same day Green's article appeared, The Californian published a news story titled "Former Mexican president Fox calls drug war 'useless.'"

To the Editor: Like Justice Gustin L. Reichbach, I, too, suffered the depredations of cancer treatment and obtained no relief from synthetic marijuana substitutes. Though I lived in Washington, a state in which medical marijuana "possession" was legal, it was difficult to legally obtain it.

To the Editor: Re "A Judge's Plea for Pot" (Op-Ed, May 17): I salute Justice Gustin L. Reichbach for his courageous act of civil disobedience and his willingness to admit publicly his use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Re "End failed drug war" (Forum, May 17): The drug war is largely a war on marijuana smokers. In 2010, there were 853,839 marijuana arrests in the United States, almost 90 percent for simple possession.

Re. "Pot legalization problematic" by Garnett Payne, letters, May 16 I thought Garnett Payne was a conservative and that true conservatives oppose nanny-state policies. Obviously, I was wrong.