Chief: Firefighters would fail drug test after battling marijuana…
The News Review:
- Chief: Firefighters would fail drug test after battling marijuana…
- BP agents seize more than half million dollars of marijuana
- Farmers granted licenses to grow hemp
- Houston man sent to jail for marijuana possession
- Locals ask state help to battle pot houses
- Commission to look at expanding State House
- Proposal calls for increased use of year-round screening
Chief: Firefighters would fail drug test after battling marijuana…
International Herald Tribune - Jun 22, 2007
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were investigating the origin of the drugs. Local officials were investigating whether arson was the cause. Snider said Thursday the firefighters were exposed to so much marijuana smoke that they would not be able to pass a drug test, despite wearing air packs to prevent them from inhaling toxic or hazardous fumes.
BP agents seize more than half million dollars of marijuana
KVIA - Jun 22, 2007
According to CBP officials, agents working in the Santa Teresa, NM area noticed footprint sign in the desert region near Highway 9. Agents tracked the group's foot sign and were able to locate and apprehend a group of eight people. Officials say members of the group were carrying eight large burlap sacks containing 352 pounds of marijuana. Agents estimate the value of the marijuana to be $282,160. In a separate seizure, CBP Border Patrol agents working in a remote area east of Fort Hancock also interrupted a group during a drug smuggling operation in progress early Tuesday morning. As the agents moved in to make the arrest, the suspects fled. Agents began a foot pursuit and were able to snag the smugglers before they fled back to Mexico.
Farmers granted licenses to grow hemp
Albuquerque Tribune - Jun 22, 2007
— Two farmers granted the first licenses in the nation to grow industrial hemp have filed a federal lawsuit to get final permission from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The lawsuit, filed this week, asks a federal judge to recognize that hemp is allowed to be grown in North Dakota, said the farmers’ attorney, Tim Purdon. Industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana, is used to make everything from paper to lotion. But without permission from the DEA, the farmers could be arrested for growing the crop. Hemp contains trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a banned substance, and it falls under federal anti-drug rules, the DEA says. Hemp proponents say it is safe because it contains only trace amounts. “What they say is hemp, we say is marijuana,” said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA in Washington… Hemp contains trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a banned substance, and it falls under federal anti-drug rules, the DEA says. Hemp proponents say it is safe because it contains only trace amounts. “What they say is hemp, we say is marijuana,” said Garrison Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA in Washington.
Houston man sent to jail for marijuana possession
KHOU - KHOU (subscription) - Jun 22, 2007
Precinct three deputies pulled him over Friday for speeding, but took him to jail for drug possession. They found more than 22 pounds of marijuana in his car. That’s worth about $22,000 on the street. Deputies have impounded the suspect’s car and sent him to jail.
Locals ask state help to battle pot houses
St. Petersburg Times - Jun 22, 2007
"The days of mom and pop growing a couple pots of grass in their house is gone, " said Mark R. Trouville, chief of the U. Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office… Drug Enforcement Administration's Miami office. The upswing of indoor marijuana growers in Florida culminated Thursday in a strategy meeting between officials from the agency and local and state authorities. "We're so overwhelmed with the operational side of things and we're only working in our own little functional jurisdictions, " Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton said. Florida has the second highest number of indoor marijuana growers behind California, Trouville said. In 2006, officials in 41 of Florida's 67 counties uncovered indoor growers, he said. "Local law enforcement is keeping up with the day-to-day operations, but we're missing the intelligence piece to pull it altogether, " Benton said.
Commission to look at expanding State House
Providence Journal - Providence Journal (subscription) - Jun 22, 2007
The House and Senate both voted to override Governor Carcieri’s veto of a House bill, sponsored by Rep. Slater, D-Providence, continuing the state’s medical marijuana program. The Assembly legalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes last year, notably to help patients suffering from cancer or other diseases causing extreme pain, but set it to expire in one year. Slater, who has cancer, got a loud round of applause when he entered the Senate, carrying the bill, for the last step in its trip through the legislature. The Senate Finance Committee approved a $243,999 sales-tax exemption for the $100-million indoor water park and hotel complex proposed for the West Warwick Business Park. Senate fiscal adviser Russell C.
Proposal calls for increased use of year-round screening
USA Today - Jun 22, 2007
Its year-round random program screens only for steroids, masking agents and the stimulant ephedrine. A primary target of the expanded program, Wilfert says, would be marijuana, which more than a fifth of responding football players and 17% of all responding athletes admitted using in a 2005 NCAA study. That same year, marijuana accounted for 15 of 38 positive drug tests at NCAA championships. Positives for all street drugs at championships went from fewer than nine a year from 2000-04 to 17 in 2004-05. A separate new measure would keep penalties for street-drug positives milder than those for performance-enhancers: a first offense bringing ineligibility for a half-season rather than a full year, and a second offense drawing a one-year penalty rather than permanent ineligibility. A third street-drug offense would lead to permanent ineligibility. Page 6CE-mail | Save | Print |.