Daily Breeze, 28 Jan 2013 – Re "Long Beach property crime increase due in part to AB 109 early releases, police say" (Jan. 20): Long Beach police allege that property crime increases are due to prison realignment, but they have nothing to back it up. Their supporting data is absent, just as it was when they pointed to Long Beach marijuana dispensaries as "magnets of crime" – another counter-intuitive product of their unwillingness to think critically and challenge the dominant theory of their organizational culture. According to Police Chief Jim McDonnell, 4,000 fewer people are in the prison system – people with a history of property crimes, of thefts and burglaries and other nonviolent offenses. Without any facts to back it up, perhaps the chief should consider the fact that those 4,000 people were not all "serial" property thieves, and were absorbed into a statewide population approaching 33 million – not just among the 462,000 folks living in Long Beach. The realignment legislation is finally forcing "smart on crime" solutions to the economic, social and human costs that the "tough on crime" extremists shoved down our throats the past 30 years. It’s time to stop listening to their zealotry and start listening to those who are working to save us from the mass imprisonment, social damage and economic plunder that’s made our nation’s incarceration rate the highest in the world.

Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan 2013 – After a closed-door session Tuesday of the San Diego City Council, the city attorney, council president and newly elected mayor emerged to promise that the council will soon discuss a proposal aimed at allowing marijuana dispensaries to operate in the city. Mayor Bob Filner said he wants a zoning law that will allow "those who legitimately need medical marijuana for the relief of pain to have access to it legally."

San Diego Union Tribune, 29 Jan 2013 – In response to "Pot dealer to do 8 years in prison" (UTSanDiego.com, Jan. 25): So another felony gardener is going to learn how to become a "real" criminal. Who were the victims? – Kirk Muse Mesa, Ariz. – — MAP posted-by: Jo-D

DrugSense

Record Searchlight, 28 Jan 2013 – Shasta County supervisors have yet to decide who will make up a medical marijuana advisory committee they voted to form earlier this month, how many members it will have or any other specifics. But the supervisors and community members agree the eventual group needs a balanced roster with a tight budget.

Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan 2013 – As the Five Top Contenders Start Outlining How They’d Handle the Issue, Most Argue for Paring Dispensaries Back. As Los Angeles voters face the possibility of as many as three medical marijuana initiatives on the May ballot, several mayoral candidates have begun to outline their own plans to deal with the proliferation of pot dispensaries – an issue that has ensnared the City Council in countless legal tangles.

Los Angeles Times, 27 Jan 2013 – Sixteen years after voters OKD medical marijuana, state high court will decide if municipalities can ban cannabis dispensaries. High court is poised to decide whether medical pot outlets can be banned. Sixteen years after Californians approved medical marijuana, the state’s highest court is poised to decide whether cities and counties can ban cannabis dispensaries.

The Chico News & Review, 24 Jan 2013 – Re "Taking the high road" (Cover story, by David Downs, Jan. 17): The people of Colorado and Washington state are way ahead of the politicians in Washington, D.C. If the goal of marijuana prohibition is to subsidize violent drug cartels, prohibition is a grand success. The drug war distorts supply-and-demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees.

Sacramento News & Review, 24 Jan 2013 – It’s cold and flu season, and I still want to smoke big with my friends, but I don’t want any icky germs. What to do? – -Johnny Germaphobe Yeah, passing joints and pipes and bongs and whatnot is an incredibly easy way to pick up all kinds of influenza. I recommend using a one-hitter pipe and not sharing. If that’s impossible, hit the blunt "chillum" style: Place the jay between your fingers, make a fist and use your hand as a sort of pipe stem, so you don’t actually put your mouth on that germ-encrusted doobie. Your hands will reek of weed, but you should be a little safer that way.

Chico Enterprise-Record, 25 Jan 2013 – OROVILLE – A judge has declined to take a woman facing marijuana charges into custody after she was arrested in a new case Tuesday. Daisy Jean Bram was arrested with Jayme Jeff Walsh at their Red Bluff residence Tuesday on suspicion of cultivating marijuana, possessing it for sale and child endangerment. Their three young sons – Thor, Zeus and Invictus – were removed and placed into protective custody.