AltWeeklies Wire
Junkie Town: Santa Cruz's Heroin Problemnew
In the woods just outside Santa Cruz, heroin is laying waste to a hidden population.
Good Times Santa Cruz |
Curtis Cartier |
12-02-2009 |
Drugs
L.A.'s Medical-Weed Warsnew
Today Los Angeles stands as the nation's pot capital, a mecca for buying and selling the drug under the guise of the medicinal use initiative California voters approved 13 years ago. The conditions are testament to a breakdown in basic governance unseen in any other major California city.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Christine Pelisek |
11-30-2009 |
Drugs
Recent Legal Tangles Leave Colorado's Medical Marijuana Dispensaries in a Hazenew
Owners of dispensaries around Colorado have been scrambling to expand their services -- adding everything from housekeeping to lawn-mowing -- in an effort to conform to a recent court ruling that has modified the crucial definition of the "caregiver."
Boulder Weekly |
Jeff Dodge and David Accomazzo |
11-16-2009 |
Drugs
How the Holder Memo Affects New Mexico's Groundbreaking Medical Marijuana Programnew
Doctors, growers, caregivers and patients stick their necks out under New Mexico's cannabis law. Does the AG's directive make any difference?
Weekly Alibi |
Marisa Demarco |
11-12-2009 |
Drugs
Colorado Legislator Wants University to Grow Pot for the Statenew
Al White has proposed legislation that would effectively give the state complete control over the growth, sale and distribution of medical marijuana, possibly putting an end to the gold rush of dispensaries that has emerged in Boulder and around the state.
Boulder Weekly |
Jefferson Dodge |
11-09-2009 |
Drugs
California Dopes Out Marijuana Bill as Legalization Petition Gets Passed Aroundnew
Two serious bids to legalize marijuana in California are moving forward simultaneously. And while decisions won't be made for months, both efforts have generated interest from around the world.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Rebecca Bowe |
11-04-2009 |
Drugs
The Racial Disparity of Pot Arrests in Pasadenanew
For the past five years, Pasadena police officers have arrested African Americans on marijuana charges at rates wildly disproportionate to Pasadena's demographics, according to a review by the Weekly of nearly four decades worth of arrest data.
Pasadena Weekly |
Jake Armstrong |
11-03-2009 |
Drugs
Will Medical Marijuana Regulations Turn the Wild West into the Mild West?new
Denver City Councilman Charlie Brown is getting ready to give medical marijuana speculators a good, swift kick with his cowboy boot, to get them to toe whatever line the city decides to draw. Better that, he says, than kick them out of Denver altogether -- as towns across the metro area have started to do.
San Diego Pot-Raid Search-Warrant Affidavits Reveal Dubious Undercover Opsnew
California's medical-pot organizations operate in a largely untested gray area of law. Yet, the only clear crime throughout a four-month sting in San Diego was perpetrated by the police.
San Diego CityBeat |
Dave Maass |
10-29-2009 |
Crime & Justice
Natural Seletion: A Field Guide to Portland's Legal Pharmacopeianew
While DIY mushroom hunters are pulling on rain gear and heading outdoors in search of forbidden fruit, others are staying high and dry by sampling a crop of legal psychoactive plants found right here in the city limits.
Willamette Week |
James Pitkin |
10-29-2009 |
Drugs
All Sides In L.A.'s Pot Wars Agree: City Hall is Incompetentnew
The disparate groups in the pot debate agree on one thing: Los Angeles City Hall has been almost comically inept at complying with simple state deadlines for municipalities to create rules for medicinal marijuana.
L.A. Weekly |
Patrick Range McDonald and Jill Stewart |
10-23-2009 |
Drugs
Smack Time: Is There Really a New Heroin Epidemic?new
A spate of recent media reports have claimed that America -- and especially the New York metro area -- is suffering from a terrifying new heroin epidemic. Curious, I decided to revisit a world that had once held me in its clutches for so long. This time around, I brought along a notebook and a clear head.
New York Press |
Matt Harvey |
10-22-2009 |
Drugs
A Snitch in Time: A Philly Gunshot Victim Defies the Inner-City Code of Silencenew
It's been five months since Maurice Ragland testified against the man he says shot him. In doing so, he broke the cardinal rule of the Philadelphia streets -- Do Not Snitch. That he survived his wounds is amazing enough, but that he testified is just as amazing.
Philadelphia Weekly |
Mike Newall |
10-19-2009 |
Crime & Justice
How Today's Pot Debate is Like the Fall of Prohibitionnew
Law-enforcement maverick Norm Stamper noted "striking" parallels between Prohibition of a bygone era and today's drug debate. "Major difference? It took us only 13 years to end the former" over "essentially identical" reasons: violence, overdose deaths on bad "bathtub gin," public health and revenue.
San Diego CityBeat |
John R. Lamb |
10-07-2009 |
Drugs
The Resurrection of Ted Haggardnew
The former New Life pastor talks about the scandals that led him to the brink of suicide, the disconnect between his preachings and practices, and his prospects for creating a new ministry back in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs Independent |
Bill Forman |
10-01-2009 |
Religion
