Authorities around the nation are expressing concern over the rising popularity of a legal marijuana knockoff called “Spice,” also known as K2. Spice is a mixture of organic and synthetic ingredients and apparently, when smoked, it produces a euphoria similar to marijuana.

Spice is sold legally as a marijuana alternative in stores across the country but some are suggesting that it's more dangerous that the real thing. We’ve known for a long time that our marijuana laws are leading people to use more dangerous drugs like alcohol. Now, Spice might be added to the list of dangerous concoctions marijuana prohibition is encouraging people to use in order to stay out of jail.

I suppose there could be stranger ways to achieve a legal high.

Utah’s lawmakers are getting a little desperate in their search to alleviate the state’s $700 million budget shortfall. One in particular, state Sen. Chris Buttars, is now proposing that Utah cut costs by eliminating the 12^th grade, or at least giving students the option of skipping their senior year of high school.

Well, I have a better idea for how Utah could bring in new revenue and keep kids in the classroom at the same time.

If Utah really wants to rake in the big bucks, the state should tax and regulate marijuana, the nation’s largest cash crop. Doing so would produce untold millions in new tax revenue and save millions more in reduced law enforcement costs. Marijuana is already pervasive in our society, and right now the only people making a profit from it are criminal drug dealers.

Sure, the idea might seem extreme for some in Utah, but is it any more crazy than sacrificing the education of the state’s young people?

California has had legal medical marijuana for over 13 years, and more than 80% of Americans support patients' rights to use it. But none of that mattered to Christian Hughes’ employer, who fired him for testing positive for marijuana that he uses under his doctor’s recommendation to treat injuries related to an auto accident.

Hughes, 33, was the on-site manager for a senior apartment complex in Anderson, California until his recent termination by MCA Housing Partners.

The resident senior citizens are up in arms over the unfair firing of their beloved manager. Norene Faidley, 68, told the Redding Record Searchlight that “Christian is our brother, our son, our grandson, and we love him.”

“He cares about us and our concerns,” she added. “No problem is too large or small, whether repairing an earring or eyeglasses to handling the unexpected illness or death of a resident.”

Some residents have even organized a petition and have gathered about 60 signatures from the 80-unit apartment complex in order to try to have Hughes reinstated.

Unfortunately, California law does not explicitly protect patients from sanctions in the workplace even when they are using marijuana in accordance with state law. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed legislation that would have changed that in 2008.

You can read Christian Hughes’ whole story and view a video about the reaction, here.

I posted the story a couple weeks ago about a medical marijuana lab in Denver being raided by the DEA, but it turns out the lab inadvertently led agents to their doors.

According to Betty Aldworth, the lab’s director of outreach, employees were caught off guard by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s visit because they did everything they could to be in compliance with DEA requirements, even formally applying for an analytical lab license.

"We didn't need to do that, but we thought it was the right thing to do,” Aldworth told the Denver Westword. But as it turns out, doing the right thing isn’t always the best solution, at least not with the DEA. Since the lab did in fact apply for a license through the DEA, the law requires the DEA to follow up on the suitability of applicants for permits, including investigating whether the applicant is in violation of any federal laws.

So, technically the lab was not raided. But should it really be a priority of the DEA to investigate an organization whose sole purpose is to test the potency of a legitimate medicine to help legitimate patients?

This is just ridiculous.

Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested 74-year old Canadian citizen, grandmother, and healthcare support worker Homenella Cole.

The charge? Possession of marijuana. Twenty-nine years ago. Cole was in her mid-forties at the time.

Is this really the most important thing border patrol agents could be doing with their time?

Ongoing efforts to reform marijuana laws in Rhode Island received a huge endorsement today from the state’s largest newspaper. In this editorial, the Providence Journal calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, writing that “[t]he pursuit of nonviolent marijuana users puts enormous strain on the justice system, feeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars that could have been used more effectively elsewhere.”

This call for sensible marijuana reform comes just days before public hearings will be held by the state’s Marijuana Prohibition Study Commission, which was set up by the state Senate last year to study the cost of marijuana prohibition in Rhode Island. Last week, a bill to change the penalty for possession of marijuana from up to six months in jail to a civil fine was introduced into the state House, where nearly half of the representatives signed on as co-sponsors.

Kansas was the first state to embrace alcohol prohibition, and one of the last to end it.

Now, could it become the 15^th to pass medical marijuana? Yesterday, Kansas state Representative Gail Finney (D-Wichita) introduced a medical marijuana bill.

Finney suffers from lupus, which makes her sympathetic to those with diseases such as cancer and HIV, and Finney thinks the chronically ill should be allowed to use the medicine that works best for them without having to fear being arrested or thrown in jail. Her bill would set up state-registered “compassionate care centers,” where those with recommendations from doctors could safely obtain marijuana for the treatment of pain or a debilitating illness. Finney’s bill also makes sure the money generated from medical marijuana stays in Kansas by requiring that the marijuana be grown in the Sunflower State.

However, not all Kansas lawmakers are as informed and compassionate as Rep. Finney. Rep. Scott Schwab (R-Olathe) says that marijuana “has no benefit for pain management,” and that, “all it does is make you crave another bag of chips.” Mr. Schwab should do his homework before he speaks. It’s not theory that marijuana is medicine; it’s fact, backed by 5,000 years of recorded history. Research has shown that marijuana relieves symptoms like nausea, appetite loss, muscle spasms, and certain types of pain. This evidence has been acknowledged by the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, and many other reputable health organizations.

Will the rest of the nation follow Kansas’ lead? We sure hope so.

Yesterday, lawmakers in Colorado unveiled a bill that could severely restrict the progress of medical marijuana in that state. Among other changes, the bill would place an 18-month moratorium on any new dispensaries, force existing establishments to reopen as nonprofit “medical marijuana centers,” and impose severe limitations on who can grow marijuana or work in a dispensary.

In response, medical marijuana advocates, led by the group Sensible Colorado, filed a statewide ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution and direct the state legislature to establish regulations for dispensaries and production centers.  It would, in fact, give Colorado citizens the right to operate and work in such establishments. MPP provided assistance in drafting the initiative.

The campaign will need to file more than 75,000 signatures by July in order to qualify for the November 2010 ballot.

“State-licensed medical marijuana patients need storefront dispensaries in the same way that other sick Coloradans need pharmacies,” said Brian Vicente, executive director of Sensible Colorado. “Medical marijuana patients will not go without medicine in Colorado. This initiative will establish sensible regulations for dispensaries and secure the rights of sick Coloradans to have safe access to their constitutionally-protected medicine.”

Keep checking MPP’s blog for further developments

MPP director of California policy Aaron Smith discusses the effort to tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol, and the failure of marijuana prohibition, on NBC. 02/01/2010

An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that President Obama chose to ignore marijuana reform questions. The questions posed to him were selected by YouTube, which decided not to present the highest ranked questions to the president. This post has been changed to correct that inaccuracy.

YouTube's CitizenTube forum concluded today with questions about ending marijuana prohibition receiving the most votes, by far. Yet, the questions about marijuana prohibition were not presented to the president this afternoon.

Last year, when marijuana reform questions topped the “Open For Questions” forum operated by the White House, the president did answer them -- albeit without serious consideration to the issue. It's unfortunate that YouTube would shelter the president from something that's obviously on a lot of people's minds.

Ending marijuana prohibition is not a fringe issue. Not anymore. The polls are showing rapid increases in support for reform nationwide (46% of Americans think small amounts of marijuana should be legal, according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll), and at least three states are considering legislation or ballot initiatives to tax and regulate marijuana like alcohol in the coming years. This issue will be addressed in a serious way, and it's regrettable that YouTube would shy away from it.