DrugSense

San Francisco Examiner, 08 Jan 2013 – The nation’s top drug cop advocated a "different approach" to narcotics enforcement – and stressed that there is no "war on drugs" – – but had stern words Monday for the San Francisco-bred medical marijuana movement. Drug users need treatment and education rather than jail terms, according to Gil Kerlikowske, the former Seattle police chief who now heads President Barack Obama’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Porterville Recorder, 07 Jan 2013 – Editor, Regarding your Dec. 27 editorial, if marijuana were fully legal there would be no backyard residential growers cashing in on inflated medical marijuana prices. Legitimate farmers would produce it by the ton at a fraction of the current cost. There is a reason you don’t see Mexican drug cartels sneaking into national forests to cultivate tomatoes and cucumbers. They cannot compete with a legal market.

The Record, 07 Jan 2013 – In a Dec. 20 Record article, staff writer Keith Reid seems to indicate that Lodi’s extension of the moratorium on outdoor cultivation of marijuana stems from the noxious odor given off by the plants. Could this be a case of mistaken identity?

Sacramento Bee, 05 Jan 2013 – Re "Suit says shops sell a dangerous inhalant" (Page A1, Jan. 3): Thank goodness that Jason Starn is getting his story out. I will surely remember this hazard next Thanksgiving, when I am in the kitchen preparing pumpkin pie for serving. It will add a bit to the giggle. And to think that up till now, I thought the only hazard was whipped cream out the nose. – — Jay Bergstrom, Forest Ranch – — MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom

DrugSense

Los Angeles Daily News, 05 Jan 2013 – The fight over medical marijuana in California has taken another turn. A petition to permit about 100 dispensaries to operate in Los Angeles has received enough signatures to force the City Council to either adopt it or put it on the ballot. This does not necessarily mean a meaningful resolution is at hand. In fact, this citywide measure only muddies what were already cloudy waters.

Los Angeles Times, 05 Jan 2013 – Measure would allow any dispensary that meets certain guidelines to remain. Los Angeles voters will get a chance to choose whether to keep pot shops open in the city when they go to the polls in May, thanks to a second medical marijuana initiative that qualified for the L.A. ballot Friday.

Albuquerque Journal, 02 Jan 2013 – Farms in Forests Divert Water, Poison Land and Animals EUREKA, Calif. – California scientists, grappling with an explosion of marijuana growing on the North Coast, recently studied aerial imagery of a small tributary of the Eel River, spawning grounds for endangered coho salmon and other threatened fish.

Sacramento News & Review, 03 Jan 2013 – Zeroing in on the Economic Impact of Marijuana Legalization in California Enough with the doctors’ prescriptions and medicated gummy worms-how much money can California and Sacramento rake in if marijuana is legalized?