Marijuana

Santa Clara county authorities are on the lookout for a pot farmer who recycles. Workers at a San Jose recycling center found a large trash bag filled with marijuana plants last week. San Jose police say the plants could have come from anywhere in Santa Clara County. Because marijuana cultivation is illegal under federal law, the plants are evidence and won't be sent to a composting bin, authorities say.

DENVER - It was spring break, and Levy Thamba, a 19-year-old college student from Africa, had checked into a fourth-floor hotel room with three of his buddies. They had come from their small college in Wyoming looking for an adventure. No one is sure how much Thamba ate of the marijuana cookie purchased by one of his friends at a local pot shop. But soon the engineering student, who had never tried marijuana before, began acting strangely hostile, tearing around the room and pulling pictures from the wall.

A medical malpractice lawsuit filed by the family of an Orange County girl who was revived after doctors allegedly declared her dead went to trial Monday. Mackayla Jespersen was 20 months old when she fell into a swimming pool at her Fullerton home on Nov. 7, 2003. The lawsuit alleges that the girl, now 6, suffered permanent brain damage after doctors at Anaheim Memorial Medical Center wrongly pronounced her dead and disconnected her breathing tube. More than an hour later, a police detective conducting a routine investigation noticed that her chest was moving and summoned doctors, who were able to revive the child.

More than 450   medical marijuana shops have filed renewals to pay Los Angeles business taxes this year - more than three times as many as are allowed to stay open under Proposition D. The new numbers won't settle the debate over how many medical marijuana businesses are now operating in Los Angeles. Additional pot shops may be open but have fallen delinquent on their taxes. Some may have never registered to pay taxes at all. But the numbers provide the latest hint at what has happened since Los Angeles voters passed new rules attempting to restrict medical marijuana shops.

A government test has determined that a red dye used in many lipsticks is a powerful herbicide capable of killing marijuana plants, prompting some Bush Administration officials to propose using the dye in an airborne offensive against domestic marijuana cultivation.

This week, Colorado replaced mile marker 420 after it was repeatedly stolen following the state's legalization of marijuana. Why? Could be because 420 is pop-culture code for cannabis. The Colorado Department of Transportation assumed it was being lifted by “weed enthusiasts,” according to NBC News. To combat further theft, the department altered the sign to “MILE 419.99.” The reasons behind 420's association with pot are relatively unknown, short of a few theories involving 1970s California hippie kids.

For seven years, Scott Stokes conducted his own reckless inquiries into the physiological effects of pot. "I woke up to get high, and I got high to go to bed," recalled the 19-year-old from El Toro, who broke his marijuana habit only after he was arrested two years ago for burglarizing a head shop. "If I didn't have it, I would . . . start sweating, and when I'd breathe deep I'd get into these weird breathing patterns. "People say that marijuana is not addictive, but it's extremely addictive."

As a drug, marijuana has certain effects and, depending on why you're taking it, some side effects. And not everyone wants the whole package. New research finds that for patients who consider weed's buzz an unwanted side effect, the answer might be as simple as taking an ibuprofen with their tetrahydrocannibinol (or THC). A study published Thursday in the journal Cell both demonstrates and explains why common anti-inflammatory drugs, including ibuprofen and the prescription analgesics indomethacin and celecoxib (marketed as Celebrex)

WASHINGTON - The tidy Takoma Wellness Center, one of the first medical marijuana dispensaries to open in the nation's capital, has a quaint reception area furnished with black leather chairs, plants and artwork. On the front desk are a pile of business cards and a sign-in sheet. In the back, shelves are stocked with the latest marijuana accessories: pipes, cookbooks, even a machine that mixes the drug into butter or oil for cooking. All that's missing are more patients. Since opening this summer, the three Washington, D.C.-based marijuana dispensaries have served a total of 111 patients in a district with about 600,000 residents.

Drug enforcement agents raided and shut down several marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, the first move in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. About 11 a.m., agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration with the help of Los Angeles police raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...

WASHINGTON - Hoping to get pot legalized in Nevada, an investment firm specializing in the fast-growing marijuana industry invited the ballot initiative's backers to pitch 150 financiers at a Las Vegas symposium. Within 10 minutes, they raised $150,000. Political contributors are not the only ones taking notice of the new realities of the marijuana business, said San Francisco-based ArcView Chief Executive Troy Dayton, who estimated his group would pump about $500,000 into pot this year.

The more than 40,000 people currently sitting in prison for marijuana crimes in the U.S. received a sign of hope on Thursday, courtesy of a Colorado Court of Appeals ruling . The state's second highest judicial entity decided that those convicted of possessing small amounts of marijuana in Colorado can appeal their sentences under the state's marijuana legalization law -- Amendment 64. The United States is one of only 22 countries that don't...

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration handed backers of medical marijuana a significant victory Friday, opening the way for a University of Arizona researcher to examine whether pot can help veterans cope with post-traumatic stress, a move that could lead to broader studies into potential benefits of the drug. For years, scientists who have wanted to study how marijuana might be used to treat illness say they have been stymied by resistance from federal drug officials. The Arizona study had long ago been sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration, but under federal rules, such experiments can use marijuana only from a single, government-run farm in Mississippi.

Looking for a job as a bud-tender? Get in line. A marijuana-industry job fair in Colorado saw a massive turnout Thursday of job seekers who waited in line for information about employment in the expanding industry following the legalization of recreational marijuana use in the state. More than a dozen companies were looking for candidates to fill jobs as bud-tenders (those who work behind the counter and dispense pot), marketers, marijuana trimmers and even accountants. Some prospective candidates came from as far away as California and New Mexico hoping to nab a coveted job. The fair's organizers had expected a turnout of about 700 people, the Denver Post reported . But by some estimates, the number was more like 1,200.  The state is experiencing an economic boom as companies rush to meet growing demand.

A parents organization is calling on clothing retailer Tilly's to pull its youth-oriented merchandise that features images of marijuana leaves. Members of Youth Matters, a group of Parent Teacher Student Assn. members from Huntington Beach, told the national retailer that clothing it sells, such as leggings, tops and swimsuits, with marijuana imagery could desensitize children to drug use. "The more they see it, and the more it's common in their world, it's less likely that they'll be shocked by it or concerned about it or listen to their parents about it," said Kim Green, the chairwoman of the group.

Marijuana, cash and a handgun were seized in a DEA raid of several medical marijuana dispensaries in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Los Angeles police officers about 11 a.m. Tuesday raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...

Miley Cyrus celebrated her 19th birthday recently with a cake--supposedly a Bob Marley cake. When she saw it, the singer/actress said, "You know you're a stoner when your friends make you a Bob Marley cake. You know you smoke way too much [expletive] weed. " And therein lies the latest video-spawned drug-related controversy about Cyrus, who last year appeared on grainy video smoking what she later said was salvia. She has since admitted the incident was a mistake, but the latest video has people wondering if the birthday quips suggest where there's smoke, there's marijuana.

Go figure! The voters in our state have spoken and now we want to ban cigarettes and legalize marijuana. Only in California. JOE WERTZBERGER Yorba Linda

GOLDEN, Colo. - The instructions seemed simple enough: nine steps forward, heel to toe, a quick turnaround, then nine steps back. But for the guy swaying a bit as he walked, his face slack, his eyes half closed, it was all too much. He made the nine steps forward and stopped, forgetting what came next. "Wait. What?" Colorado State Trooper Jason Morales dutifully marked it down in his report, just as he had a few minutes earlier when the suspect closed his eyes and tilted his head back to guess the passage of 30 seconds.

Drug enforcement agents raided and shut down several marijuana dispensaries Tuesday, the first move in what authorities say is a case they are building against a Los Angeles man. About 11 a.m., agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration with the help of Los Angeles police raided the Black Rose dispensary in Fairfax, Downtown Medical Caregivers off Main Street, Washington and Western Medical Group in Harvard Heights, Herbman in Exposition Park...