About the same time as I was posting about the Washington Post's refusal to run  MPP's response to Charles Lane's preposterous anti-medical-marijuana diatribe, the Post allowed Lane to strike again, with yet another online column filled with distortions and misstatements. I'm old enough to remember when the Post was a great newspaper. Yesterday I was angry; now I'm just sad.

On Oct. 20, the Washington Post published an inaccurate and arguably libelous anti-medical marijuana diatribe by Charles Lane on its Web site. After a deluge of complaints, the version now posted is cleaned up slightly: shorn of an offensive reference to Supreme Court medical marijuana plaintiff Angel Raich as a hypochondriac and with a feeble "clarification" appended. But it's still a cascade of distortions and inaccuracies. Since the Post declined to print MPP's reply, we thought we'd share it…

Monday’s Gallup poll showing that a record 44% of Americans favor making marijuana legal has brought increased attention to the need for an open, national debate on marijuana policy. The fact that 44% percent of people favor taxing and regulating marijuana is even more impressive because—in stark contrast to many other public policy issues—for once, a substantial number of Americans actually view an issue favorably. After all, Americans are a finicky bunch. We don’t like much these days, and in 2009…

Responding to recent calls to shutter Los Angeles county's medical marijuana collectives, MPP commissioned a poll that found Angelenos overwhelmingly supportive of medical marijuana access in their community. According to the survey, 74 percent of Los Angeles County voters support the state's medical marijuana law. 77 percent said that they prefer regulating L.A.-area medical marijuana facilities over closing them all down. Support for regulation crossed all demographic groups, including Republicans…

MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston explains the implications of the new federal policy toward medical marijuana state laws, and discusses the growing acceptance of marijuana in public perception. 10/20/2009

Aaron Houston weighs in on the Justice Department's formal decision to not prosecute medical marijuana patients and providers who are following state law. 10/19/2009

Just as federal medical marijuana policy appears to be moving toward sanity, some local officials in the nation's second largest city seem to be losing it altogether. Earlier this month, I reported on Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley's decision to use resources prosecuting each of the area's medical marijuana collectives as common drug dealers -- even those operating within city or county guidelines. Now, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich joins Cooley in his fight against the popular…

Over the weekend, the Oakland Tribune reported that law enforcement officers at Oakland International Airport follow an official written policy of respecting California's medical marijuana laws. Qualified medical marijuana patients traveling out of Oakland are not arrested or cited for possession of eight ounces or less of processed marijuana. In fact, patients are allowed to board their plane with their marijuana just as they could with any other legal medicine or prescription drug. The policy was…

MPP Assistant Director of Communications Mike Meno is interviewed about the Justice Department announcement that the federal government will no longer use resources to prosecute medical marijuana users and providers that are in compliance with state law. 10/19/2009

Bruce Mirken discusses the Obama administration's memo intended to stop federal resources from being used to prosecute medical marijuana users and caregivers operating within state laws. 10/19/2009