Subject: Illegal Drugs

• America and Marijuana: “Medicinal” My Ass

  August 13, 2007

• Wonders of Cannabis Festival Somehow Different From Every Other Day In SF

  October 24, 2007

• Up in Smoke, For Real: State Bums Out Millions of Stoners

  November 15, 2007

• Medical pot can get you fired, court says

  January 24, 2008

• Dude, the City of Berkeley Is My Pot Dealer!

  February 1, 2008

• Oaksterdam University: Yes, It's For Real

  February 27, 2008

• Who Can Get Away With Selling Pot Sweets? The Candy Man Can't.

  March 28, 2008

• The Druglord Connection: From the Windy City to Your Very Neighborhood!

  August 7, 2008

• Former S.F. Supe Silver Resigns From Sheriff's Department, Cites Desire to Legalize Drugs -- ALL Drugs

  Carol Ruth Silver has sued for peace in the War on DrugsThe old commercial used to show an egg sizzling in a pan and note "This is your brain on drugs -- any questions?" We always wondered how they knew we like our brains sunny-side up. But former San Francisco Supervisor has a better question -- why are you wasting everyone's time? Silver announced her departure, as of 5 p.m. today, from her post as director of prisoner legal services in San Francisco's Sheriff's Department. In her three-page l

  February 20, 2009

• Acid House

  August 30, 1995

• Acid House

  August 30, 1995

• Groovy: Marijuana Advocates Ecstatic About Attorney General's New Pot Policy -- See Boost for Ammiano Legalization Bill

  Supporters of legal marijuana -- medical and otherwise -- will be racking their brains to find some way to celebrate a potentially groundbreaking drug policy change announced by Attorney General Eric Holder today.In short, the AG said Justice will only target those "who violate both federal and state law" regarding marijuana. Without going into specifics, this should mean an end to the ever-present worries that Drug Enforcement Agency officers will crash the party for those using medical marijua

  March 18, 2009

• Drugs, Politics, and Money

  March 20, 1996

• US Attorney Spars with Hastings Law Students Over Pot Laws

  The most compelling question from the Hastings panel on pot: How could two guys with such different opinions on marijuana think so similarly about fashion? Was this planned?Hastings law students with the munchies and a keen interest in how changes in federal priorities on marijuana enforcement would affect them the average Californian in these times of change filled a classroom Wednesday to spar with Northern California's top drug warrior. Hastings student Elizabeth Leeper grabbe

  April 8, 2009

• Mirkarimi Jumps on the Marijuana Express -- and Our Bowl Runneth Over

  Try San Francisco-brand medical marijuana!Coming on the heels of Tom Ammiano's marijuana legalization bill in the Assembly, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's Tuesday proposal that San Francisco jump into the medical pot dispensary game was a bonanza for media types and marijuana nay-sayers: Everyone got to trot out their tired puns two times for the price of one. While Ammiano's proposal has been back-burnered -- and that is not a pun -- it remains to be seen what lies ahead for Mirkarimi's plan. But

  April 15, 2009

• The Tennis Ball Diaries

  March 26, 2008

• Week of September 26-October 2, 2007

  September 26, 2007

• Stop Snitching

  Medical pot activists haze the traitors who ratted out Ed Rosenthal

  June 6, 2007

• To Each Theron

  April 26, 2006

• Bait and Snitch

  Lying under oath, threatening witnesses, revealing the names of federal agents -- it's just another day on the job for one of the DEA's paid drug informants

  November 23, 2005

• Dumb as a Potted Plant

  Why is someone as smart as Mark Leno sponsoring genuinely stupid legislation to legalize hemp cultivation?

  April 6, 2005

• Letters to the Editor

  Week of July 9, 2003

  July 9, 2003

• Hey, Man, Got Any ID?

  Why the Legislature shouldn't extend the city's medical marijuana identification system statewide

  June 11, 2003

• Letters to the Editor

  Week of January 22, 2002

  January 22, 2003

• High Quality

  If the city starts growing and selling its own dope, will it be any, uh, good?

  January 8, 2003

• Letters to the Editor

  Letters from March 7, 2001

  March 7, 2001

• Letters to the Editor

  Letters from February 28, 2001

  February 28, 2001

• Burning Questions

  How "prescription mill" doctors and indiscriminate pot clubs threaten the well-being of legitimate medical marijuana patients

  February 21, 2001

• Smoke and Smearers

  Potheads distort the record -- and endanger the justice system -- as they try to recall the Marin DA

  February 14, 2001

• American High

  With Traffic, Steven Soderbergh takes on the unwinnable war

  January 3, 2001

• Mom & Pop Crackdown

  March 29, 2000

• Little Victories

  Tenderloin residents win a lawsuit, lose a neighborhood store

  January 12, 2000

• The Housing Authority's Dirty Dozen

  Twelve convicted drug dealers and other major felons have recently been employed by the San Francisco Housing Authority. But are there even more criminals on the public payroll?

  July 22, 1998

• Trial by Liar

  The snitches mumbled, stumbled, equivocated, and perjured themselves The jury found Bernard Temple -- the man prosecutors believed to be a bloodthirsty assassin for drug dealers -- not guilty of murder.

  January 14, 1998

• Father Knows Bud Didn't Use Heroin

  October 15, 1997

• Drug Story (Part I)

  November 29, 1995

• C.R.U.S.H. (Part I)

  Five months ago, two black homicide detectives got fed up with the Police Department's inaction on black-on-black murders. Thus was born the Crime Response Unit to Stop Homicide (CRUSH): six cops with the grit and guile to tackle the toughest cases in the

  November 22, 1995

• Chronic City: 10 Years For Medical Marijuana -- This Has Got To Stop

  HR95.orgBryan EpisWhen Californians voted to legalize medical marijuana under Proposition 215 almost 13 years ago, it's a safe bet that not many of them were expecting such prosecutions would continue well more than a decade later. But that's exactly what is happening, thanks to the Drug Enforcement Agency's war on marijuana and its users -- even the medical users who are legal under the laws of California and a dozen other states.Speaking of a decade, that's just about how long Bryan Epis will

  May 5, 2009

• Supes Condemn Raid on San Francisco Pot Club, Call For DEA to Mellow Out

  Fair enough, it was somewhat lost in the glare of our governor -- once caught on film wearing a shirt emblazoned with the sentence "Arnold Is Numero Uno" while smoking a joint and eating a massive piece of cake -- said he's open to debate on marijuana legalization. But, yesterday, a resolution passed by our very own board of supervisors fired another shot in favor of the herb. By a 9-2 vote (Carmen Chu and Sean Elsbernd were very un-Dude here), the supes blasted the March DEA raid of Emmalyn's C

  May 6, 2009

• Chronic City: An End To The War On Drugs -- Impossible Dream? Political Ploy? Or Inevitable?

  Gil KerlikowskeNew White House Drug Czar and former Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske didn't wait long before making big waves as the top drug enforcement officer in the country.  In his first public appearance since being confirmed on May 7, Kerlikowske, in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal, said he wants to end the "War On Drugs" and said he favors policies that emphasize making treatment available to drug users rather than putting them behind bars. Kerlikowske spoke with u

  May 14, 2009

• Chronic City: Yes, I'm A Medical Marijuana Patient. No, I'm Not Sorry.

  Not bad medicine...There are many among us who obviously harbor some enormous moral judgments about marijuana and about those who legally use it as medicine -- as if we should somehow feel guilty about the relief that is afforded us through using this herb.As a legal medical marijuana patient myself, I take exception to this moralistic, judgmental, and willfully ignorant tone.Such anti-marijuana zealots often assert that "statistics strongly suggest" that more Californians use marijuana as a res

  May 22, 2009

• Chronic City: Getting It Wrong -- What's The Press-Enterprise Been Smoking?

  familydocs.orgDr. Tom Bent, president, California Academy of Family PhysiciansRiverside newspaper the Press-Enterprise reported yesterday that "observers don't expect a flood of applicants for medical marijuana cards" even though challenges by San Diego and San Bernardino counties to California's medical pot law have been turned away by the U.S. Supreme Court.The P-E's Lora Hines, soberly noted that "Despite the court's decision, federal law still prohibits the use of marijuana and doctors

  May 26, 2009

• Mark Leno Introduces 'Joint Resolution' Urging End to Crackdowns On Medical Pot. We Are Not Making This Up.

  Sen. Mark Leno today announced he has introduced a "joint resolution" to end the federal crackdown on medical marijuana use in California. While this is a matter of serious legislation, one can't help but notice the howler of a marijuana-related "joint" resolution. Leno's spokeswoman, Ali Bay, confirmed that this was not an attempt at a cute double-entendre by the senator; "We do not have any choice in the wording." If you're going to introduce legislation simultaneously to both houses, this is

  June 9, 2009

• Chronic City: Dispensary Operator Charlie Lynch Gets 366 Days In Federal Prison

  Reason.tvCharles Lynch In a courtroom crowded with spectators and supporters, Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary owner Charles Lynch was sentenced today in federal court to one year and one day in prison.Lynch, 47, appeared this morning in the Los Angeles federal courtroom of U.S. District Judge George Wu.Lynch was convicted of five offenses last year for running Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana store in San Luis Obispo County. (See: "Chronic City: The Sad Case of

  June 11, 2009

• Chronic City: Let's Vote On It -- Marijuana Legalization May Be On 2010 Ballot

  Photobucket.comTo put a new twist on an old saw, desperation is often the mother of invention. When a person, or a state, is in dire straits, it's often an opportunity for the kind of epochal change that, at other times, might not be considered.That's where we are right now with marijuana law reform in California, thanks to the state budget crisis and its attendant desperate search for tax revenue. Backers of the Control, Regulate and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010, the first major statewide initiativ

  June 12, 2009

• Chronic City: Medical Marijuana Group Gets $139,000 In Attorneys Fees From Garden Grove; City Spent $250K In Legal Battle over $200 Worth of Pot

  wikimedia.orgLeggo my indo.Will grass get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no grass? National medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access (ASA) may not have to find out, as it just received $139,000 for attorney fees by the City of Garden Grove in a landmark medicinal pot case.Throw in the more than $100,000 spent by the City of Garden Grove fighting the state's medical marijuana law, and the L.A. suburb spent a likely total of more tha

  June 17, 2009

• Chronic City: California, Cannabis, and Cancer -- Cause for Concern?

  norml.orgCancer cure, or cause?When the bureaucrats over at the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) classified marijuana smoke as a carcinogen last Friday, it predictably made headlines worldwide. But how much does the classification really mean, and should medical users and regular old potheads be concerned?The state of California is required by law to publish a list of chemicals "known to cause cancer" (the Proposition 65 list, which contains hundreds of chemica

  June 23, 2009

• Chronic City: Court Says Patients Can Collectively Grow Medical Marijuana

  photobucket.comOfficer, release that plantSome rural sheriff's departments still haven't really come to terms with the fact that medical marijuana is now legal in California, despite having had since 1996 to adjust to the concept. But in a landmark ruling, an appellate court today protected the right of California medical marijuana patients to collectively cultivate the herb under state law.The California Third District Court of Appeals issued the 2-1 ruling in the case of County of Butte v. Sup

  July 1, 2009

• Chronic City: After Further Review, Smoking Pot Doesn't Make You Crazy -- Blimey!

  oldies.comWhich came first, the lunatics or the grass? The time-honored notion of reefer madness, given new life recently in the British tabloid press, has taken another hit from reality. Widespread marijuana use by the public has not been followed by a proportional rise in diagnoses of schizophrenia or psychosis, according to the findings of a forthcoming study to be published in the scientific journal Schizophrenia Research.It stands to reason, after all: If marijuana really led to psychosis,

  July 2, 2009

• Chronic City: Just The Marijuana Facts, Doc. No, Wait -- The REAL Facts.

  Federal Art ProjectThe truth will set you free.Medical advice "City Bright" Doc Gurley published a column over at SFGate purporting to be the latest, bias-free, data-based information on marijuana. On the face of it, that's a great and laudable idea; we'll agree there is, indeed, a "desperate need for data-based information looking at marijuana in the less emotional context of a pharmaceutical medication." So we suppose we'll have to give an "A" on the concept. But, disappointingly, th

  July 14, 2009