US CA: OPED: Prop. 19 Dangerous to Residents, Catastrophic to
San Bernardino Sun, 05 Sep 2010 - The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, now known as Proposition 19, is on the ballot for the upcoming November election. As a police chief I encourage you to review the initiative and join me in voting "no." Regardless of your opinion concerning medical marijuana, this initiative is poorly written and passage would be dangerous to our residents and could be catastrophic to our already fragile state economy. The California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act in 1996 (Proposition 215) providing marijuana for medical patients who suffer from a predetermined list of ailments. A few years later the Medical Marijuana Program Act (Proposition 420) was passed which codified some of the provisions of medical marijuana specific to the identification of people in need.
UK: OPED: Legalise Drugs and a Worldwide Epidemic of Addiction
The Observer, 05 Sep 2010 - Those Who Argue We Should Decriminalise the Trade in Narcotics Are Blind to the Catastrophic Consequences The debate between those who dream of a world free of drugs and those who hope for a world of free drugs has been raging for years. I believe the dispute between prohibition and legalisation would be more fruitful if it focused on the appropriate degree of regulation for addictive substances (drugs, but also alcohol and tobacco) and how to attain such regulation.
Ireland: Column: El Chapo - The Mexican Drug Czar Whose
Irish Examiner, 04 Sep 2010 - ALTHOUGH we should learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others, we persist in following the failed tactics of the US in relation to drugs. Our drug problems, which began in Dublin, have gradually spread throughout the country. Gardai currently estimate there are around 100 heroin users in Tralee. How long will it be before other places witness the gunplay currently blighting the Finglas area of Dublin? Our problems are minor compared to Mexico, but this should be a warning. On coming to power in late 2006 Felipe Calderon vowed to intensify the war on drugs in Mexico. Half a million people there are involved in the drug trade, producing marijuana, opium and amphetamines, as well as trafficking cocaine. The drug trade contributes $5bn annually to the Mexican economy.
US TX: Editorial: Mexican Violence Is a U.S. Problem
San Antonio Express-News, 03 Sep 2010 - Often times, the word "war" is employed as a metaphor to describe something less than a major armed struggle. There have been wars on poverty, wars on diseases, wars that aren't really wars on just about everything. But what's happening in Mexico right now is the real thing. As a Saturday front page headline in the Express-News put it, the drug war across the Rio Grande is just that - a war. Mexico's drug war has for some time resembled the violent conflicts of the Middle East, featuring tactics similar to those of terrorist groups. The cartels and their enforcers have carried out assassinations, beheaded adversaries, set off car bombs and engaged in seemingly random acts of violence.
US CO: OPED: Bringing MMJ Issue to Voters Is the Logical Next Step
The Gazette, 04 Sep 2010 - Amendment 20 was passed by Colorado voters in 2000. It calls for the use of Medical Marijuana (MMJ) by individuals with "debilitating medical conditions" who have received an MMJ card through the state Health Department. It was designed to deliver the drug through a caregiver model allowing a caregiver to provide MMJ to a very limited number of patients. It also allows for a patient to grow his or her own personal supply of MMJ. For years, this model worked well and provided MMJ for up to 4,000 patients statewide. In 2008 however, the Obama administration declared that, within states with MMJ laws, there would no longer be any federal enforcement of marijuana laws. Add to this an appellate court decision that essentially said that the omission of a definition or even mention of dispensaries within Amendment 20 meant that they must be legal, and suddenly the number of MMJ card applications skyrocketed. Also skyrocketing over the past two years is the number of dispensaries, large scale grow operations and infused products operations.
US CO: Editorial: County Should Have Held Pot Farm Hearing
The Daily Times-Call, 04 Sep 2010 - The area around the 67-acre Szymanski Farms property at 10437 Yellowstone Road, north of Longmont, is lightly populated. But it appears that most of the area's residents were against the Boulder County commissioners' approval of Laramie, Wyo., resident Scott Mullner's request to change the property's use to allow an indoor medical marijuana growing operation there at some point in the future.
US FL: OPED: Violence in Mexico Needs More U.S. Attention
Sun-Sentinel, 02 Sep 2010 - The headline-making news in Mexico is almost always linked to violence. That is a fact of life for our neighbors south of the border. One only needs to do a quick review of the top stories in Mexico for the past week to realize how brutal the war against the drug cartels has turned in that country. Tuesday, for example, was supposed to be a good day for the Mexican government. Its troops had captured "La Barbie," the moniker for a U.S.-born man alleged to be one of Mexico's most ruthless drug lords.
US CA: Editorial: No on Prop 19
The Gilroy Dispatch, 02 Sep 2010 - Wholesale Pot Legalization a Lousy Idea "Nine of 10 states having the highest levels of past-month illicit drug use among persons age 12 or older also had the highest levels of past-month marijuana use (in alphabetical order: Alaska, Colorado, District of Columbia, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington)."
US CA: Editorial: Keep a Lid on the Pot
North County Times, 03 Sep 2010 - Harm Outweighs Good in Proposition to Legalize Pot While there are good, reasonable arguments to be made in favor of Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana for personal use and allow counties to legalize it entirely, it strikes us that the potential harm from legalizing pot far outweighs any good it might accomplish.
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