Police seize 554 cannabis plants
The News Review:
- Police seize 554 cannabis plants
- Fresh views on why dagga is dangerous
- Bob Barr Lobbies for Marijuana Group
- Drug dog sniffs out marijuana
- Tinnie-house raiders vow to keep up fight
Police seize 554 cannabis plants
NEWS.com.au – Mar 31, 2007
7 million in Sydney's south but have made no arrests so far. Skip to: Search Box Section Navigation Network Navigation Content View the Sitemap ndm.
Fresh views on why dagga is dangerous
Independent Online – Mar 31, 2007
they hold down jobs, bring up their families, run major companies, govern our country and yet cannabis is still officially regarded as a dangerous drug. ”
A short time later, the British Medical Association agreed that cannabis had useful medical properties, and in 2004 it was reclassified from a class B to a class C drug, effectively decriminalising it for personal use. It was hailed as a victory for common sense and libertarianism. But almost a fortnight ago, on Sunday, March 18, that same newspaper led on its front page with the eye-catching headline “Cannabis: An apology”. It read: “If only we had known then what we can reveal today”. Had those campaigners possessed the gift of foresight, they would reveal that while 1 600 Britons were being treated for cannabis addiction in 1997, that figure would be 22 000 some 10 years later… They would also have known that 21 percent of those under the age of 24 would abuse cannabis by 2007. Other startling figures that have come to light include the number of under-18s in treatment for cannabis-related problems (9 600) and the likelihood that 25 000 people with schizophrenia could have avoided the illness if they had not used this substance. The variety of cannabis now being smoked is called “skunk”, and the active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, is up to 25 times more potent than the stuff beloved by the 1960s hippies. The developing brain of teenagers is significantly more sensitive to its effects, resulting in the record numbers needing treatment. A UN report last year added that the numbers smoking cannabis in Europe have climbed steadily over the past four decades, and the average age of initiation has fallen. Even when the campaign to decriminalise cannabis began, concerns were voiced by some psychiatrists. But the weight of evidence was far less then than it is now, and libertarian instincts prevailed.
Bob Barr Lobbies for Marijuana Group
WXIA-TV – Mar 31, 2007
, voters approved medical marijuana use. Now, as a Libertarian and a lobbyist, he’s changing sides. Earlier this month, Barr signed on as a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project, where his duties will include pushing for repeal of his own “Barr amendment,” which enraged medical-marijuana supporters as a gratuitous federal intrusion into local affairs in the nation’s capital. According to the group’s director of government relations, Aaron Houston, Barr also will be working to persuade his former colleagues to adopt broader medical-marijuana legislation and to get the federal government to stop airing what critics say are misleading and ineffective anti-drug ads that link dope-smoking to terrorism and violence. “We’re working together pretty closely right now,” Houston said. “He brings a great deal of credibility and a lot of gravitas to the cause… At the time, he said he had become disillusioned with the post-Sept. 11 erosion of civil liberty protections and with Republicans’ failure to cut government spending even as they controlled the White House and Congress. According to its Web site, the Marijuana Policy Project’s mission is to eliminate criminal penalties for marijuana use. The group, which Friday advertised a fundraising party at the Playboy Mansion on its Web site, had pushed for legalizing marijuana use for people with serious illnesses. (Copyright