Once again we look outside the state’s borders for insight, this time in the form of a student editorial from the University of Iowa’s Daily Iowan. (If nothing else, scroll down to the California reference; many of our top cops think the same way.)
It’s encouraging to see good student writing these days; maybe there’s [...]

The Los Angeles city attorney Thursday escalated his bid to regain control over the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries, filing suit against three and sending letters to 18 to try to force them to stop selling the drug, the L.A. Times’ John Hoeffel reports.
City Attorney Carmen Trutanich had pledged to take aggressive action to shut down [...]

This somewhat unusual editorial hails from the Chico News & Review. We take issue with the author’s observation that, “Supply and demand is a bad idea when it comes to pot.” Marijuana is subject to the same market forces as any commodity, be it the black market or the legal market.
The only way to [...]

Though details remain sketchy, the Santa Barbara Police Department has confirmed they have raided at least three medical marijuana clubs and arrests have been made. “We did do an operation today,” Lt. Paul McCaffrey told the Santa Barbara Independent Wednesday, adding, “some parts of it are still going on so I cannot say much more [...]

Medical marijuana is a promising treatment for some specific pain-related medical conditions, researchers from the University of California’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research reported Wednesday in this Contra Costa Times story.
State-funded studies conducted over the past decade have found marijuana effective by itself or in combination with other drugs for conditions such as nerve pain [...]

From the stately Fresno Bee comes this dry but detailed story explaining how “drug recognition experts” — a.k.a. cops who attend the CHP’s training course — are used to determine whether a driver is impaired by marijuana or other drugs. The apparent news hook was a Fresno County sheriff’s deputy who got popped for a [...]

The San Francisco Chronicle offers this in-depth article about the Bay Area debut of “Cannabis Planet” following the TV show’s July launch in Los Angeles. Writer Trey Bundy adds some interesting political background to the story.
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Anyone who doubts the mainstreaming of the cannabis industry might want to skip “Letterman” and check out “Cannabis Planet.” The [...]

Sometimes it’s helpful to shift focus from California to other states, if only to see the same issues from a fresh perspective. From the Fort Collins Coloradoan comes this excellent editorial, which laments the federal government’s mixed signals about whether dispensaries risk federal prosecution. (Special kudos to the writer for using “moratoria” correctly.)
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Colorado communities face [...]

Three California men were arrested Monday on suspicion of hauling more than two tons of marijuana across eastern Illinois, the Associated Press reports in the Chicago Sun-Times.
Douglas County State’s Attorney Kevin Nolan says Illinois State Police troopers arrested the men Monday night after finding 4,400 pounds marijuana in their semitrailer truck on Interstate 57 about [...]

The medicinal marijuana flow is coming to an end in the palm-shaded “vapor room” of the Pure Life Alternative Wellness Center, begins this in-depth article from the Sacramento Bee.
Los Angeles’ restrictive new ordinance to stem the spread of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city will ban on-site pot consumption. It may force the closure of [...]