Skip to main content

Pharmacy board bans K2 synthetic marijuana

In a move that will likely drive the sale of it underground into the black market, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted Tuesday to ban the sale of K2, a synthetic version of marijuana that is sold as incense. The pharmacy board's move is temporary; it would take legislative action to make it permanent. Iowa House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, predicted legislators from both parties would be "friendly" toward any proposal to make the ban permanent.
Steve Deangelo and James Anthony, Oakland City Council Meeting
Steve Deangelo and James Anthony, Oakland City Council Meeting

Oakland Okays Indoor Medical Marijuana Mega-Farms (FEATURE)

The city of Oakland is about to take medical marijuana production to a new level. It just passed an ordinance that will allow for four city-permitted industrial-scale cultivation operations. Small- and medium-scale growers have not been included in the scheme yet, and while council members have said they will address that, the community is concerned and speaking out about it.
Phil Smith
Phil Smith

Oakland Okays Mega-Pot Farms

At about 11:15 Pacific time Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council passed an ordinance that would allow for four permitted industrial-scale medical marijuana cultivation facilities. In response to widespread concerns among the medical marijuana community, it also vowed to work on permitting medium-sized grows in the fall and to defer any crackdown on medium-sized grows until after the first large-scale permits are issued in January. Patients can still grow up to 32 square feet and to three-person collectives can still grow up to 96 square feet without permits. Look for a Chronicle feature story on this historic vote to be posted in the morning.

marijuana-plants_0.jpg
marijuana-plants_0.jpg

The New Politics of Marijuana Reform

MPP's Mike Meno nails it in this piece at Huffington Post. It's almost as if he's been reading my mind (or my blog). He's got some more great examples of how the surging marijuana policy debate is shaking up party politics this election season. Anyone who still doesn't understand that marijuana is no longer a third-rail political issue is in for some big surprises in the coming years, and possibly as soon as November.

Former Pain Prisoner Appearing on Penn & Teller "Bullshit" This Week

We are told that Richard Paey, the disabled Florida pain patient pardoned by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2007 after prosecutors twisted his attempts to obtain adequate opiate pain medication into drug dealing charges incurring a 25-year mandatory sentence, was interviewed for the upcoming Penn & Teller "Bullshit!" episode, "Criminal Justice." Showtime describes the "Criminal Justice" episode as follows:
Is America's criminal justice system weighed down with bad science, ineffective methods, incompetence and corruption? Penn & Teller set out to reveal that the only thing scarier than crime is America's war on crime.
"Criminal Justice" will start airing this Thursday at 10:00pm. In the meanwhile, you can read more about Richard Paey in our archive, at the Pain Relief Network or in the 2006 Sixty Minutes episode, "Prisoner of Pain."

Ecstasy Effective As PTSD Treatment

Drug prohibition stiffles legitimate research, and research into MDMA's (Ecstasy) was long overdue. Clinical trial results just out suggest that MDMA can be administered to subjects with PTSD without evidence of harm and could offer sufferers a vital window with reduced fear responses where psychotherapy can take effect. Participants treated with a combination of MDMA and psychotherapy saw clinically and statistically significant improvements in their PTSD – over 80% of the trial group no longer met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

Large pot farms on verge of approval in Oakland

Oakland, CA is on the verge of giving the city's blessing to large-scale marijuana farms, a plan that has provoked a backlash from bud pickers for dispensaries, small-time growers and connoisseurs of cannabis who fear being pushed out of the booming pot business.

Brazil's Drug Problem Shaping Foreign Policy

Two years ago, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso led the call for a "paradigm shift" in the country's drug policy. Instead of squelching supply through policing, Cardoso advocated for reducing demand by treating drug abuse as a public health issue. But deeply entrenched prohibitionist policies are hard to repeal, and it appears that Brazil not only remains committed to treating drugs as a problem for the police, it is also in the process of becoming the first country in Latin America whose drug use is pushing it to adopt a more aggressive foreign policy towards its neighbors.
Subscribe to