Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) introduced the National Criminal Justice Act of 2009 last week, an exciting piece of legislation that will create a commission to study, among other things, America’s war on drugs.
The commission will look broadly at criminal justice reforms, with an emphasis on reducing America's rising prison population (now the largest in the world per capita). Centered in that debate is the hard truth about America’s punitive drug laws. One-third of U.S. inmates are drug offenders, and…
The evidence continues to mount that cannabinoids -- the unique, active components in marijuana -- fight cancer. The latest such study , just published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, shows that THC can kill glioma cells through a process known as autophagy. Gioma is a particularly deadly form of brain cancer that afflicts, among others, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).
The good news is that this study got a decent amount of media attention. The bad news is that much of the coverage lacked…
The journal Clinical EEG and Neuroscience has just published a review of the data on the effects of substance use on the developing brains of adolescents. The unmistakable conclusion: While heavy substance use of any kind is a really bad idea for teens, the damaging effects of alcohol are clearly worse than marijuana. The researchers write:
Abnormalities have been seen in brain structure volume, white matter quality, and activation to cognitive tasks, even in youth with as little as 1-2 years of…
In what turns out, sadly, to be the last episode of CNN's "D.L. Hughley Breaks the News," aired Mar. 28 and 29, D.L. devoted a large block of the show to proposals to make marijuana a legally regulated and taxed product for adult consumption. The first segment included an interview with yours truly, followed by Ronald Brooks of the Narcotic Officers Associations Coalition, who wants to keep arresting and jailing marijuana users.
MPP Director of Government Relations Aaron Houston talks about President Obama's flippant response to the question of decriminalizing marijuana at the first "Online Town Hall" on Russia Today. He also discusses how taxing and regulating marijuana will help quell the violence associated with the drug war in Mexico and provide a much-needed boost to the economy. 03/27/2009
White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs is asked to clarify President Obama's position on legalizing marijuana and on medical marijuana after he brought up the topic in the first Online Town Hall. Questions involving marijuana reform appeared in several categories and received far more votes than any other policy issue. 03/26/2009
A week after Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Department of Justice would only target marijuana growers and collectives that were in violation of BOTH state and federal law, the DEA raided Emmalyn's California Cannabis
