REFORML.org

USA — About 80 percent of Americans approve of medical marijuana laws, but some conservatives are incensed that state legislatures keep passing them. In a recent column, George F. Will, the Washington Post’s bow-tied curmudgeon, decried the reefer madness he sees taking over California, sweeping across Colorado and perhaps even coming to a normal state [...]

CA — California and Los Angeles have been pioneer sites for the expansion of the legal right to use marijuana. But, now, local officials may be at the forefront of curtailing some of that exuberance. If the Los Angeles City Council has its way, the plethora of largely unregulated medical marijuana facilities that have become [...]

Maine — 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. Maine Gov. John Baldacci convened the 14-member group to “implement the will of the people” after nearly 60 percent of voters backed Question 5 [...]

The interim Czech government, led by chief statistician-turned-Prime Minister Jan Fischer, early this week took a step towards making casual marijuana smoking a less worrisome affair. Mr.  Fischer’s cabinet defined on Monday what constitutes “small amounts” of cannabis for personal use, clarifying the country’s new penal code that from next year decriminalizes [...]

Indianapolis — Jeremy Jeffress understands the skepticism of those who expect him to start smoking marijuana again.  After all, he insisted many times in the past he’d never do it again, only to relapse. Now, facing the baseball version of the death penalty, the Milwaukee Brewers’ pitching prospect swears he’ll stay clean.  And he intends [...]

Denver, CO — Marijuana. Most people see it as a recreational drug and are skeptical of its tangible, medical benefits for patients with chronic pain, including those whose use of prescribed narcotics often leaves them vulnerable to addiction. Take, for instance, Janice Beecher. A Coloradan since 1968, she suffers from osteoarthritis and chronic back pain. [...]

In my opinion, the Nobel Peace Prize is well awarded. It may also be the strongest-ever political act of the premier peace-forwarding organization in the world. They offer the prize to President Obama not only for his achievements but also as an allotment of authority to work on the world stage, at a time when [...]

Studying 11-Year-Old Initiative D.C.  officials Wednesday said they would proceed cautiously if Congress lifts a federal roadblock to implementing a voter initiative approved more than a decade ago that called for legalizing medical marijuana. Congress is poised to pass an omnibus spending bill that will not include a rider known as the Barr [...]

There probably is little chance that the state Legislature will legalize medicinal marijuana any time soon.  A bill to do so, introduced by Rep.  Mark Cohen of Philadelphia, has just half a dozen cosponsors and it’s not at the top of the legislative agenda. Yet a recent Health and Human Services Commitee [...]

If you want to watch a trial where the defendant has no moral culpability, is prevented from testifying truthfully and where the prosecution distorts an otherwise reasonable law beyond all rationality, you can see one this month right in Somerville.  John Wilson, a multiple sclerosis patient treating himself with home-grown marijuana, is charged with operating [...]