Perspectives: Marijuana myth gets busted
The News Review:
- Perspectives: Marijuana myth gets busted
- Cannabis plants in house for sale
- Man tied to fatal robbery is sentenced on marijuana charge.
- Report Names Pot As State’s No. 3 Cash Crop.
- Teens arrested with marijuana
- Authorities seize nearly $40 million worth of marijuana
Perspectives: Marijuana myth gets busted
Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Dec 28, 2006
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Perspectives: Marijuana myth gets busted
It’s now clear that pot doesn’t lead to hard-core drug use
Thursday, December 28, 2006
By Bruce Mirken
Two recent studies should be the final nails in the coffin of the lie that has propelled some of this nation’s most misguided policies: the claim that smoking marijuana somehow causes people to use hard drugs, often called the “gateway theory. ”
Bruce Mirken is communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project (. Maureen Dowd is on vacation. Such claims have been a staple of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under present drug czar John Walters… Then — and here’s the fascinating part — they matched the real-world data from the twins to mathematical models based on 13 different explanations of how use of marijuana and other illicit drugs might be related. These models ranged from pure chance — assuming that any overlap between use of marijuana and other drugs is random — to models in which underlying genetic or environmental factors lead to both marijuana and other drug use or models in which marijuana use causes use of other drugs or vice versa. When they crunched the numbers, only one conclusion made sense: “Cannabis and other illicit drug use and misuse co-occur in the population due to common risk factors (correlated vulnerabilities) or a liability that is in part shared. ” Translated to plain English: The data don’t show that marijuana causes use of other drugs, but instead indicate that the same factors that make people likely to try marijuana also make them likely to try other substances. In the final blow to claims that marijuana must remain illegal to keep us from becoming a nation of hard-drug addicts, the researchers added that any gateway effect that does exist is “more likely to be social than pharmacological,” occurring because marijuana “introduces users to a provider (peer or black marketeer) who eventually becomes the source for other illicit drugs. ” In other words, the gateway isn’t marijuana; it’s laws that put marijuana into the same criminal underground with speed and heroin. The lie that marijuana somehow turns people into junkies is dead.
Cannabis plants in house for sale
BBC News – Dec 28, 2006
He added that Mr Otto had exchanged contracts and was awaiting completion on the property when he was alerted by the agent that cannabis growing equipment had been found inside. “I was shocked and said we had better call the police before it is too late,” said Mr Otto, who lives in London. "Sometimes overheating occurs and a fire begins"
Sgt Russ Phillips, Kent Police
Sgt Phillips said anyone who had suspicions about a cannabis factory in their neighbourhood should contact police as such operations posed a high risk of fire. He explained that high-powered lights and fans were needed to maintain the growing process, with much more electricity used than in a normal household. “Sometimes overheating occurs and a fire begins – this poses a risk to both the house and neighbouring properties as the factories are often unmanned and therefore no one is present to extinguish a fire should one break out,” he warned. “A particular concern is that this house is six doors away from the main entrance to the local secondary school. “If anything did happen the potential is horrendous.
Man tied to fatal robbery is sentenced on marijuana charge.
Free with registration – Omaha World-Herald – AccessMyLibrary.com – Dec 28, 2006
–> COPYRIGHT 2006 Omaha World-Herald Byline: Todd Cooper Dec. 28–An Omaha man whom prosecutors originally charged with planning the robbery that led to the November 2004 death of Trever Lee has been sentenced on a different charge to three years of probation. Keenan Barnes, 24, was sentenced for conspiring to deliver marijuana, a felony. Douglas County District Judge Patricia Lamberty could have given him.
Report Names Pot As State’s No. 3 Cash Crop.
Free with registration – Tampa Tribune – AccessMyLibrary.com – Dec 28, 2006
How about pot? Marijuana is the state’s No. 3 cash crop — behind vegetables and citrus — according to estimates released last week by a pro-legalization analyst. While legal crops benefit from the Sunshine State’s climate, marijuana cultivation in Florida thrives indoors in the temperature- controlled confines of houses with blacked-out windows, according to the report prepared by analyst Jon Gettman. Police and federal authorities have targeted, and stumbled upon, several major grow houses in the Tampa Bay area this year, including a bust last week. Gettman’s report places Florida third in the nation for indoor marijuana growing operations, with… While legal crops benefit from the Sunshine State’s climate, marijuana cultivation in Florida thrives indoors in the temperature- controlled confines of houses with blacked-out windows, according to the report prepared by analyst Jon Gettman. Police and federal authorities have targeted, and stumbled upon, several major grow houses in the Tampa Bay area this year, including a bust last week. Gettman’s report places Florida third in the nation for indoor marijuana growing operations, with.
Teens arrested with marijuana
townonline.com – Dec 28, 2006
He had also picked up some of the seeds and provided a plate number. The teens were no longer at Government Island when police arrived but a short time later the car was spotted heading northbound on South Main Street. After pulling the car over, police could smell marijuana coming from the car as they approached it. Two teens, an 18 and 19 year old, both Cohasset residents, were arrested and charged with possession of a Class D substance (marijuana). The third youth, a 16-year-old juvenile was charged with possession of a Class D substance and possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute. Police said he had eight smaller plastic bags of what appeared to be marijuana in a larger plastic bag. Chief James Hussey explained that people will often pick through marijuana to get rid of the seeds and any small branches before rolling it.
Authorities seize nearly $40 million worth of marijuana
abc13.com – Dec 28, 2006
When deputies arrived on the scene, they were trying to set up surveillance and noticed an 18-wheeler pull out onto West Road without any headlights on. They pulled over the driver, Louis Mendez, 29. On him, they say they found some cocaine and marijuana. That then led them to search the warehouse, where they found more than 500 bails of marijuana. They do believe that it could be worth a street value of at least $40 million, making for a very unhappy holiday for someone planning to profit off those drugs. Story continues below Advertisement digGetAd(“Rectangle”); “I think somebody is upset because up to $40 million of marijuana is out, $40 million out of their back pocket,” said J.