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Kansas City Star, 04 Feb 2010 - After all, Kansas was the first to embrace Prohibition, and one of the last to end it. Even today, you can't find full-strength beer on a grocery store shelf. Yet in the same week that state lawmakers voted to make Kansas the first state to outlaw a synthetic form of pot, a Wichita legislator introduced a bill to legalize marijuana with a doctor's prescription.

Wall Street Journal, 03 Feb 2010 - PROVIDENCE, R.I.--A retired police officer and the proprietor of an organic eatery make an odd couple when it comes to trying to overturn marijuana laws in this tiny state, but Jack Cole and Josh Miller are giving it their best shot. Mr. Cole, 71 years old, is a veteran of decades with the New Jersey State Police, almost all with the drug squad. Mr. Miller, 55, runs Local 121, a restaurant favored among "buy local" diners, and also serves in the state Senate, where he leads a special commission to study marijuana prohibitions. The panel began hearings in January to discuss an overhaul of the state's pot laws, starting with decriminalization of small amounts. As legislators across the U.S. struggle to rescue state budgets hammered by the recession, decriminalization is one idea gaining traction. Advocates say states could cut costs of policing, prosecuting and incarcerating offenders, and even raise money by taxing users. "Any respect for this issue lies right now in its impact on the budget," said Mr. Miller.

Pawtucket Times, 02 Feb 2010 - PROVIDENCE - While a special Senate commission continues studying the prohibition of marijuana and perhaps a Massachusetts-style decriminalization of the drug, two House members have submitted legislation to tighten up the state's medical marijuana law. The Senate commission, chaired by Sen. Joshua Miller, will meet Wednesday at 5 p.m. to hear from Rhode Island Public Defender John J. Hardiman, Esq.; Jack Cole of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; a representative of the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association; and commission member Joe Osediacz, a retired state trooper. Osediacz will discuss state laws concerning the taxation of marijuana.

Los Angeles Times, 02 Feb 2010 - To Make the City's New Ordinance Work As Effectively As Possible, Legislators Need to Clarify the State's Medical Marijuana Laws The Los Angeles City Council last week finally adopted a medical marijuana ordinance. Though not perfect, it balances the needs of local communities with those of patients who truly need access to medical marijuana. And it will rein in an out-of-control situation in which a federally banned substance has been sold for the last four years as hundreds of dispensaries proliferated in the city of Los Angeles, with no local regulations and ambiguous state laws to guide us.

Foreign Policy, 01 Feb 2010 - Five myths that caused the failed war next door. Mexico's current government took office on Dec. 1, 2006, but really only assumed power 10 days later, when Felipe Calderon, winner of a close presidential election that his leftist opponent petulantly refused to concede, donned a military jacket, declared an all-out war on organized crime and drug trafficking, and ordered the Mexican army out of its barracks and into the country's streets, highways, and towns. The bold move against odious adversaries (and change of topic) garnered Calderon broad support from the public and the international community, along with raised eyebrows among Mexico's political, business, and intellectual elites.

Summit Daily News, 01 Feb 2010 - DENVER - The Senate has passed a bill preventing recreational pot users from skirting the law to obtain medical marijuana is headed. The Senate voted 34-1 on Monday to back the measure, Senate Bill 109, and send it to the House.

Summit Daily News, 01 Feb 2010 - Local Prosecutor Aims To Revamp Drug Laws SUMMIT COUNTY - Fifth District Attorney Mark Hurlbert, a Republican, aims to win a seat from the Democrats and bring a prosecutor's perspective to the Colorado Senate.

Indianapolis Star, 01 Feb 2010 - I'll admit to being one of the multitude of fans who have made shows like "NCIS" and "CSI" such hits. It isn't that I don't recognize how unrealistic they are; no publicly financed lab could afford such cutting-edge equipment even if someone invented it. But I love watching the search for hard evidence, and the characters' willingness to abide by what that evidence shows even when the result is to exonerate some really unattractive suspect. Wouldn't it be nice if those we elect to make policy were similarly devoted to evidence-based decision-making?

Baltimore Sun, 31 Jan 2010 - The Bill to Be Introduced, Making Maryland 15th State to Allow It, Might Be the Most Stringent in the Nation Even as a proposal to legalize medical marijuana emerges in Maryland, a backlash over the burgeoning industry has developed in other states - - and is likely to influence legislation here.

Pueblo Chieftain, 13 Dec 2009 - Still Another Drug Of Abuse, So Weigh The Consequences Marijuana certainly has been in the news lately. My goal here is not to question whether marijuana should be legalized, or to claim that it has no medical benefits or to suggest that I have the answers to the many problems that it poses. There are some reasonable arguments for legalization of marijuana. It is still, however, another drug of abuse. Many supporters of marijuana legalization claim it is safer than cigarettes and causes fewer problems than alcohol abuse. Marijuana may be safer and cheaper than opiates and other medications used for cancer patients.

Hartford Courant, 13 Dec 2009 - HOW TO BEAT CITY CRIME: LEGALIZE DRUGS Taking the control of Hartford's $42 million drug market from criminals and placing it in the hands of citizens who will be responsible for regulating it seems a strikingly sensible strategy.

Foster's Daily Democrat, 13 Dec 2009 - NEW MAINE MARIJUANA RULES WILL TAKE TIME TO IMPLEMENT A task force has until the end of the month to recommend how Maine should implement its new medical marijuana law, which calls for a patient registry and dispensaries.

Record Searchlight, 13 Dec 2009 - The medical marijuana collective next door to the Tehama County Sheriff's Office is, for now, closed - pushed to stop dispensing after a relentless campaign by Sheriff Clay Parker. But across the street from the Sheriff's Office on Antelope Boulevard, BR Growing Supply and Hydroponics is not only open but thriving in its second location since its founding a year ago. Business was so good that owners Boyd and Rena Hedden set up shop in a larger storefront to peddle their array of liquid fertilizers, light-proof growing boxes, high-intensity lamps and other specialty horticultural equipment.

The Billings Gazette, 11 Dec 2009 - Father And Son Open Billings' 1st Operation Green Cross of Montana has quietly operated out of a red brick building at 3733 Montana Ave. since April 20. But only in the past month or two, after a white sign with a green cross popped up in front of the store, has business taken off.

The Flathead Beacon, 11 Dec 2009 - Problems with Montana's medical marijuana law will only escalate from here. What's odd is that it took five years from the time voters overwhelmingly approved legalizing the drug for medicinal purposes to reach this point. In Whitefish, after people began approaching the planning director about "caregivers" opening medical marijuana dispensaries within city limits, the first question to arise was whether such a business would be zoned light manufacturing, commercial retail or something else entirely. The issue only scratches the surface of problems with a law many attorneys argue is too vague and includes too many loopholes.

Porterville Recorder, 11 Dec 2009 - On Thursday, the Tulare County Sheriff's Department served seven medical marijuana shops with orders, forcing them to shut down for not being in compliance with federal laws. The checks were in accordance with a recently enacted Tulare County law that applies to unincorporated areas.

The Daily Sentinel, 10 Dec 2009 - State Sen. Chris Romer, a Denver Democrat, has assumed a daunting task. He's trying to figure out a means to regulate what appears to be Colorado's fastest-growing business right now: medical marijuana. We applaud him for doing so. It's an industry that has blossomed rapidly this year, thanks to a state court ruling and a federal decision on law enforcement. And there is virtually nothing that says who may dispense medical marijuana or under what circumstances they may do so.

Pottstown Mercury, 08 Dec 2009 - Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store -- which is what it really is -- involve medicine. The U.S. Justice Department recently announced that federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana. Since Justice's decision, the average age of the 400 persons a day seeking "prescriptions" at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.

Badger Herald, 07 Dec 2009 - Students Learn How to Grow, Distribute Plant for Legal Use States with laws permitting the use of medicinal marijuana are seeing an interesting development in the education field -- "cannabis colleges" and universities offering courses on the history, growth and use of the plant.

Saginaw News, 06 Dec 2009 - Saginaw City Hall may ask residents for input on where medical marijuana producers may grow and sell their product. Monday, the City Council could introduce an ordinance imposing a citywide moratorium halting the growth and distribution of marijuana for medical use until June 30, giving leaders time to modify zoning to include the drug.