Los Angeles Daily News, 28 May 2013 – A pair of bills that would enhance the legal standing of medical marijuana providers have advanced in the Legislature following this month’s landmark court ruling that affirmed the rights of local governments to ban dispensaries. The bills are two components of the ongoing and often passionate arguments between Californians who support brick-and-mortar marijuana dispensaries and those who oppose such storefront operations as "pot shops" that often provide marijuana to people lacking serious medical problems.

San Diego Union Tribune, 27 May 2013 – Your editorial "Medical marijuana: A big mess may get even bigger" (utsandiego.com, May 21) got it backward on medical marijuana. Sen. Steinberg’s bill is hardly "radical"; it simply clarifies existing law, as established in the Medical Marijuana Program Act and attorney general’s guidelines, which provide for dispensing by medical marijuana collectives. These dispensaries have worked fine in communities which, unlike San Diego, have had the wit to pass local ordinances regulating them. The chaos has been caused by those who, like the U-T, refuse to recognize Prop. 215’s mandate to implement a "safe and affordable" distribution system for medical marijuana. As for the notion that medical marijuana should be restricted to specific diseases with fingerprinting and background checks, how can this be justified when other, far more dangerous prescription narcotics are dispensed with no such restrictions?

Los Angeles Times, 27 May 2013 – In his first interview with a national news outlet, Mayor-elect Eric Garcetti said he wouldn’t have any problems if California voters decided to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. During a short interview with Univision’s Jorge Ramos on Sunday, Garcetti was asked if he thought pot use should be legalized for casual use.

San Jose Mercury News, 25 May 2013 – Let’s see if I’ve got this straight. The city raises the weed tax to 10 percent and ultimately hires more police officers, who in turn bust more illegal grow operations that are supplying the dispensaries that collect the tax increase that is paying them. Isn’t that hypocrisy in action? How does anybody even try to explain ethics to their children, with our San Jose City Council and Mayor Chuck Reed participating in this racket? Stop turning a blind eye to the growing and processing of marijuana and regulate the process from seed to sale. Otherwise, you look like greedy fools with no clue, and no concern for public safety, as to how the marijuana gets to the dispensary for legal distribution to patients. Brian Plew

San Bernardino Sun, 24 May 2013 – Regarding John Weeks’ May 12 column, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be legal and there would be no medical marijuana debate. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s. Americans did not begin to smoke pot in significant numbers until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. Marijuana prohibition has failed as a deterrent. The U.S. has higher rates of marijuana use than the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available. The only clear winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who’ve built careers confusing the drug war’s tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

East Bay Express, 22 May 2013 – New research suggests that the main ingredient in marijuana may help alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. It is believed that some 7.7 million Americans suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Yet current treatments for the sometimes devastating anxiety disorder have limited efficacy. Now, a Yale University professor, who recently made a presentation of his research at a conference in Oakland, contends that there is strong evidence that the main ingredient in marijuana, THC, not only helps alleviate symptoms of PTSD, but also may ultimately help cure it.

Sacramento News & Review, 23 May 2013 – Can you update us on some of the latest developments in the world of medical-cannabis research? – -Wanda Wellness Yes, I can! A new study by Israel’s Meir Medical Center has found that inhaled cannabis is very effective for people with Crohn’s disease. The study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, gave 11 people two joints per day for eight weeks. They also gave 10 other people placebo doobies. Out of the 11 people on the real weed, five of them saw their Crohn’s disease go into complete remission, with the others reporting that their symptoms had been cut in half. All patients reported increased appetite and better sleep, with no adverse side effects.

Sacramento News & Review, 23 May 2013 – Eastern District Head Benjamin Wagner Explains That Colorado, Washington Faces Less Fed Intervention Because Laws Are Better Weed ‘Free-For-All’ Sacramento-based U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner drives a minivan.

Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2013 – Lawsuits and Other Challenges Await Measure Reducing Number of Shops. Los Angeles voters took regulation of the city’s medical marijuana shops into their own hands Tuesday, embracing a ballot measure to sharply reduce the number of dispensaries in the city.

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