Archive for the &;medical-marijuana&; Category
Me, Medical Marijuana and the LATimes
December 8, 2009
Another media blog recently took the LA Times to task for having &;at least three&; of its columnists write expose columns about how easy it is to get medical marijuana. Make that four LA Times writers.
I wrote this piece for the LA Times Magazine in 2007, before any of the other three. And unlike Sandy Banks or Steve Lopez, I actually smoked the stuff and commented on its power. Perhaps in these days of layoffs they&;re afraid of peeing in a cup?
More likely, they (and their editors) suffer a paucity of imagination. The tone of each article was the same; &;Wow, it&;s too easy to get a recommendation for medical marijuana. Now almost anyone can buy some.&;
Yes, like it&;s difficult for anyone to buy marijuana from a dealer. As I wrote in the story,
&;I forked over $50 for an eighth of an ounce. Later, when I told a friend about my purchase, he laughed and delivered the ultimate insult: &;You paid more than street value.&;&;
Tags:LA-Times, Marijuana, medical-marijuana, Sandi-Banks, Steve-Lopez Posted in Los-Angeles-Times, medical-marijuana, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment &;
Medical Marijuana: Feds Attack SickPeople
July 26, 2007
The wars in Iraq and even Afghanistan are not going well. The economy is starting to shrivel up and people are losing their homes. The immigration bill failed badly, the Attorney General doesn&;t know if torture is OK, Osama Bin Ladin is still on the loose and the president&;s approval rating is at an all-time low.
But there&;s one target the Feds can hit: medical marijuana dispensaries in California, where medical marijuana for suffering people has been legal since 1996. Today&;s raids came the same day the Los Angeles City Council introduced an ordinance calling on federal authorities to stop targeting clinics allowed under state law.
A DEA spokeswoman described the timing as &;purely coincidental.&;
LA City Councilman Dennis Zine, who spent over 30 years as a police officer, doesn&;t think so. Zine, who wrote a letter to DEA Administrator Karen Tandy asking the agency to stop the raids, called the federal agents &;bullies.&;
&;They&;re trying to bully us. Instead of using resources to go after drug dealers ruining neighborhoods and poisoning school kids, they&;re going after individuals dying of cancer and suffering from AIDS who need cannabis to have any type of appetite.&;
Posted in DEA, Iraq-war, medical-marijuana | 1 Comment &;