The Stoner Army

El Paso Times, 30 May 2010 - Bang! Bang! And perhaps, Bang! Bright, young city councilpersons Beto O'Rourke and Susie Byrd have shot themselves in the foot ... as far as getting re-elected to a political office in El Paso.

El Paso Times, 30 May 2010 - For decades, drug cartels in Mexico have exploited their country's inability to enforce the rule of law. These drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs) have expanded the scope of their criminal operations in Mexico and throughout the world, generating billions in revenue not only from drug trafficking and sales, but also from a wide variety of other criminal activities.

San Jose Mercury News, 30 May 2010 - Medical Cannabis Employees Opt For Representation As State's Legalization Vote Nears Almost 100 workers in Oakland's medical marijuana industry have voted to be represented by organized labor, a first-of-its-kind event for an industry trying to build public support.

Montana Standard, 30 May 2010 - She began with hydrocodone for the pain, Cymbalta and Trazodone for the depression, and Flexeril to ease the muscle spasms. The drugs helped sooth the nagging discomfort in her back. On good days, they dulled the pain in her legs. But while Barb Trego got by, she wasn't happy. The physical toll of her condition, which includes two missing discs in her back, fibro-myalgia and chronic fatigue, left her life in

Montana Standard, 30 May 2010 - HELENA - Montana is hardly alone among the states that have legalized medical marijuana and now are struggling over how to regulate a rapidly growing industry. The most common point of regulatory efforts, officials say, is those who provide the drug to approved patients.

Montana Standard, 30 May 2010 - Rush To Regulate HELENA - Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commissioner Robert Pierce was among the 62 percent of Montanans who voted to legalize marijuana for medical purposes six years ago. "It was compassion," Pierce said.

Helena Independent Record, 30 May 2010 - Montana is hardly alone among the states that have legalized medical marijuana and now are struggling over how to regulate a rapidly growing industry. The most common point of regulatory efforts, officials say, is those who provide the drug to approved patients.

Helena Independent Record, 30 May 2010 - Anaconda - Deer Lodge County Commissioner Robert Pierce was among the 62 percent of Montanans who voted to legalize marijuana for medical purposes six years ago. "It was compassion," Pierce said. But then something showed up in his town that prompted Pierce to take another vote on the issue, this time directing his city and county to withdraw from most parts of the law: a giant marijuana leaf painted on the storefront of a would-be medical marijuana establishment set up right across the street from the Anaconda Dairy Queen.

The Billings Gazette, 30 May 2010 - Medical Marijuana's Popularity Catches Many Off-guard HELENA -- Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commissioner Robert Pierce was among the 62 percent of Montanans who voted to legalize marijuana for medical purposes six years ago.

The Billings Gazette, 30 May 2010 - Used And Abused: Controversy Worries Medical Marijuana Patients HELENA - She began with hydrocodone for the pain, Cymbalta and Trazodone for the depression, and Flexeril to ease the muscle spasms. The drugs helped sooth the nagging discomfort in her back. On good days, they dulled the pain in her legs.

The Billings Gazette, 30 May 2010 - Other States Facing Medical Marijuana Explosion HELENA - Montana is hardly alone among the states that have legalized medical marijuana and now are struggling over how to regulate the rapidly growing industry.

Flint Journal, 30 May 2010 - The Compassionate Care Center of Michigan in Dryden is angling for a legal fight as medical marijuana dispensaries that have popped up across Michigan await their first test case. The Center, in an unmarked, upstairs apartment in this tiny southern Lapeer County community, exists in the margins of the law that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2008 legalizing the medical use of marijuana.

Globe and Mail, 29 May 2010 - Bankrupt California Is Sorely Tempted to Rewrite the Law for a Pot of Gold Pot is in the air here on the shores of San Francisco Bay. Not in the smoke that drifts between the cafes, second-hand shops and indie music stores of legendary Haight-Ashbury. But in the headlines of local newspapers, the posters plastered on phone booths and the ads now airing on the radio.

The Oakland Tribune, 29 May 2010 - Medical Cannabis Employees Opt for Representation As State's Legalization Vote Nears Almost 100 workers in Oakland's medical marijuana industry have voted to be represented by organized labor, a first-of-its-kind event for an industry trying to build public support.

The Telegram, 28 May 2010 - Every time the RNC or RCMP parade a haul of illicit drugs before the cameras to boast about the great job they are doing keeping Canadians safe from dope and dopers, we are reminded of the inanity, hypocrisy, foolishness, ineffectiveness and outright injustice of Canada's drug laws, even if the boastful displays of criminal loot reassure some people that the country's streets will never resemble those they see on TV cop shows. The police, of course, are just doing their jobs, according to the instructions of the laws and the lawmakers of the land.

Aurora Sentinel, 28 May 2010 - Voters Are Poised To Decide Future Of Medicinal Marijuana Within City Limits This Fall AURORA - Voters will be asked point-blank whether they want to ban dispensaries within city limits if Aurora City Council members follow through with a proposal to introduce the item on the November ballot.

The Pasadena Star-News, 28 May 2010 - In his seminal work, "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley predicted we would lose our freedoms not because of fellow dystopian novelist George Orwell's Big Brother, but because of our own blithe acquiescence to societal and regulatory shifts. Some of you know me. I'm not a big believer in conspiracy theories. That's why Huxley's hypothesis rings more true than that of Orwell, who said in "Nineteen Eighty-Four" that freedoms would be taken away by an imposing government.

The Gazette, 28 May 2010 - Claudia Varas moved to Colorado Springs from Florida four years ago to raise her three kids in a conservative bubble. "In Florida, it is a very happy, party state," Varas said. "I didn't think it was the right atmosphere for children."

DrugSense Blog, 28 May 2010 - STEP CLOSE TO SUBJUGATION I am appalled at the decision to extradite Marc Emery on May 10 for clearly political reasons, despite the move directly violating Canada's extradition treaty with the United States which states that no citizen may be extradited for a political crime.

El Paso Times, 28 May 2010 - EL PASO -- The granddaughter of Mayor John Cook was arrested and jailed briefly on an outstanding warrant for possession of marijuana. Amanda Ward, a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, was arrested about 3 p.m. Wednesday after a police officer alleged that she jaywalked across Schuster Avenue. Cars had to stop in order for her to cross the street, said police spokesman Darrel Petry.