News

Draft Pot Rules Would Encourage Black Market for Cannabis Concentrates Last week, the Washington State Liquor Control Board released draft regulations for the legal cannabis market enacted by voters. The 46-page document specifies the qualification process for potential pot entrepreneurs-including fingerprints that will be sent to the FBI-requirements for growing and selling marijuana, and many rules about license objections, violations, and suspensions. Potential licensees will have a one-month window to apply, and if more retailers apply than the liquor board intends to license, they will conduct a pot-store lottery.

Lawsuits and Other Challenges Await Measure Reducing Number of Shops. Los Angeles voters took regulation of the city's medical marijuana shops into their own hands Tuesday, embracing a ballot measure to sharply reduce the number of dispensaries in the city.

After four years spent investigating marijuana grow operations, not much surprises Luigi Greco anymore.

After four years spent investigating marijuana grow operations, not much surprises Luigi Greco anymore.

Opinions

The first time I talked to Mark Kleiman, a drug policy expert at UCLA, was in 2002, and he explained why legalization of marijuana was a bad idea. Sure, he said, the government should remove penalties for possession, use and cultivation of small amounts. He did not favor making outlaws of people for enjoying a drug that is less injurious than alcohol or tobacco.

There are some columnists, correspondents and commentators I call RAVEs - reporters against virtually everything - who believe that Canada's engagement in international operations is a waste of tax dollars. Operations such as the RCN's participation in the 28-nation Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), they say, are unnecessary and expensive.

Canadians trust their politicians to do the right thing, even if they do the wrong thing. They trust them to have honour, and to respect the honour of their office.

IN THE "war on drugs", drugs seem to be winning. As the approach to global drug policy is characterised by prohibition, to many it seems obvious that the only way forward is to substitute it with policies sometimes referred to as "legalisation" combined with "public health".

Letters

Editor: State Attorney General Kathleen Kane says marijuana is a "gateway drug" ("Kane against pot legalization," May 18). So why don't we have more than 100 million heroin addicts? More than 100 million cocaine addicts? More than 100 million meth addicts?

Thousands of Americans die every year from Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. That is why the federal government set up a bureau to regulate these products a century ago, but they still are legal to possess and use.

Re: "Marijuana rule defies First Amendment," May 13 editorial. A proposed rule forcing pot magazines behind the counters is not only in violation of the First Amendment, but it is just plain stupid. If the under-21 crowd wants information on marijuana, they only need to check their smartphones. Print magazines are sooo last decade, dude.

Regarding "Suburbia's deadly secret" (Page A-1, May 5): How many more young adults and kids must die before we relearn the lesson that our nation painfully learned between 1920 and 1933? Prohibition doesn't work, it can't work and it will never work.

The government justifies the drug war by saying it "takes drugs off the street". What it really does is raise the price so high that casual users quit. But they were no problem in the first place. Problem users will do almost anything to get the cash to pay the price.

Thanks for publishing Edward R. Arnold's thoughtful letter: "Marijuana is safer than tobacco or alcohol" (May 12).

Health care professionals report America is suffering an epidemic of obesity and diabetes. What if a widely used substance could prevent and maybe "cure" diabetes? There is, and cannabis is that substance.