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The federal marijuana cultivation trial of former High Times columnist Ed Rosenthal began Tuesday like so many drug cases. Prosecutor George Bevan told jurors that agents seized some 3,000 plants growing in Rosenthal's warehouse in Oakland. "It's a federal offense," Bevan said. But this is no routine drug prosecution for a man whose column and books preach the gospel on tips for growing marijuana and evading the law. Rosenthal says he was growing medical marijuana, "to help the sick," which is legal under California law and in seven other states. Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and Washington allow the infirm to receive, possess, grow or …

Marijuana's link to hard drug use not genetic 21:00 21 January 03 NewScientist.com news service The reason why young cannabis users are much more likely to progress to harder drugs has provoked fierce debate - but a new study of twins has ruled out a strong genetic component. Researchers looked at over 300 pairs of same sex twins, both identical and non-identical, in which one twin started using cannabis before his or her 17th birthday and the other did not. Michael Lynskey, at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri, and his team found that the early user was two to five times more likely to go on to use harder drugs or become dependent o…

Clash on Medical Marijuana Puts a Grower in U.S. Court By DEAN E. MURPHY AKLAND, Calif., Jan. 20 — As a marijuana celebrity, Ed Rosenthal has been on a career roll. The author of a dozen cannabis self-help books and a magazine advice column, "Ask Ed," Mr. Rosenthal is the pothead's answer to Ann Landers, Judge Judy, Martha Stewart and the Burpee Garden Wizard all in one. Advertisement Can't get rid of the powdery mildew on your cannabis seedling? Try a 20 percent skim-milk solution. The feds got you in court on charges of cultivation? Challenge their crop yield estimates. Want a high without the harmful tar? Use a pipe that vaporizes it. Mr. Rosent…

A new front has opened in opposition to the war on drugs--a religious front. Several newly formed groups are contesting our prohibitionist, anti-drug strategies because they restrict religious freedom and "cognitive liberty." Drugs alter consciousness and "the right to control one's own consciousness is the quintessence of freedom," reads part of a manifesto of the Journal of Cognitive Liberties. The journal is one of many projects of the four-year-old Center for Cognitive Liberty & Ethics, a California- based, non-profit group that promotes intellectual freedom. The group defines cognitive liberty as "the right of each individual to think independently and aut…

Ottawa — Recipe for Reefer Madness. Take: One rookie justice minister who wants to decriminalize simple pot possession. Toss in: Several court rulings that Ottawa must allow medical use and possession of pot. Spike with: Two lower-court acquittals (and counting) of recreational pot smokers by judges who say the law is no longer valid. Bake: At low heat on backburner for too long. Serve up: Confusion for millions. We can all be forgiven for not knowing the state of Canada's marijuana law. Even the courts seem confused. On Jan. 10, a second Ontario Court judge in a month found there is currently no law prohibiting the possession of small amounts of marijuana, s…

Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ News flash: A new poll has found British Columbia is the most pot-friendly province in Canada. This will come as no surprise to anyone who remembers the flower-power era of the 1960s, when Vancouver was the Canadian equivalent of hippie mecca San Francisco. Out of the haze of the Easter Be-Ins and psychedelic music scene emerged a B.C. pot culture that has only grown en stronger over the years. Pot has become an entrenched part of the provincial economy. Depending on who you talk to, growing marijuana is a $1-billion to $8-billion business in British Columbia. Some argue it contributes more to the economy than f…

Source: NOW Magazine (Canada) Published: Vol. 22 No. 20 - January 16 - 22, 2003 Copyright: 2003 NOW Communications Inc. Contact: letters@nowtoronto.com Website: http://www.nowtoronto.com/ Medical pot advocates won a landmark decision last week when Justice Sidney N. Lederman of Ontario's Superior Court ordered the feds to fix a medical marijuana regime he declared unconstitutional. The following is an excerpt from his 40-page ruling. The respondent in this case (the government) argued that the several hundred kilograms of marijuana that have been harvested by Prairie Plan Systems to date are intended for research purposes only. Minister (Allan) Rock, however, is …

Source: Columbia Missourian (MO) Website: http://www.digmo.com/ The Columbia City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would lessen the penalty for having small quantities of marijuana. A group seeking to decriminalize possesion of small amounts of marijuana gathered enough signatures on an initiative petition to ensure that their proposed measure will be voted on by the council. If the council does not pass the ordinance, it will be submitted to voters on April 8, City Manager Ray Beck said. The proposed ordinance would direct all people charged with possessing 35 grams of marijuana or less to municipal court instead of state court, limit punish…

Neighbours wondered why the blinds were closed and no one was ever home at several city houses. They found out on Friday: FOUR HOUSES. 992 MARIJUANA PLANTS. STREET VALUE $1M Renata D'Aliesio, Journal Staff Writer The Edmonton Journal Four homes raided by the police Green Team. Above: A home where two suspects lived at 12419 55th Street Jugs of plant fertilizer crowd a kitchen counter at 13418 32A Street. "This house was sweating. I've never seen it so bad. Even the dryer vents had icicles because there was so much condensation. This house may have to be condemned." Det. Clayton Sach, of Edmonton police The middle-aged woman never seemed to stay for more tha…

Source: Columbia Missourian (MO) Author: Stephanie Von Brochowski, Reporter Published: January 19, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Columbia Missourian Contact: editor@digmo.com Website: http://www.digmo.com/ The Columbia City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would lessen the penalty for having small quantities of marijuana. A group seeking to decriminalize possesion of small amounts of marijuana gathered enough signatures on an initiative petition to ensure that their proposed measure will be voted on by the council. If the council does not pass the ordinance, it will be submitted to voters on April 8, City Manager Ray Beck said. The proposed ordinance …

After 14 years of teaching the Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum to Newton's fifth-graders, the School Department has abandoned it and has begun a prevention program that focuses largely on parental involvement and is targeted to all middle-school children. DARE, among the most popular school drug-prevention programs in the country, has been criticized as having limited long-term effectiveness, according to Suzi Kaitz, health and drug-alcohol education specialist for the Newton schools. The School Department decided to make a switch, she said, because of ''the awareness that there were other programs that had more impact.'' National research on the new dua…