Marijuana

Re "Cannabis conundrum: As alcohol and tobacco prove, the ultimate cost of legalizing pot is too high," Opinion, June 7 Really? If Kevin A. Sabet thinks that people want to try pot but haven't done so merely because it's illegal, he really needs to get out more. People who want to try marijuana will do so. Legality has little bearing on it. I have never tried pot and never will unless I need it to get through chemotherapy -- legal or not. I hope that in 10 years, we can look back at the "war on drugs" and see it for what it is: a ridiculously archaic way of thinking.

A casket minus a cadaver yielded nearly 100 pounds of marijuana after a traffic stop in Dallas. William Dale Crock of Cave City, Ark., was in jail on a marijuana possession charge, plus traffic and seat belt violations. Dallas police say Crock was arrested Wednesday when bundles of marijuana were discovered inside a casket. Police stopped a van in Mesquite after noticing Crock not wearing a seat belt. A drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to the casket in the van.

Three teenagers have been arrested after a drug-sniffing dog uncovered more than half a ton of marijuana beneath the deck of their 22-foot boat when it docked at San Diego's Shelter Island, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The three were returning Saturday from Mexico when agents made a routine inspection. The three told agents they had been on a fishing trip off Ensenada. Beneath the deck, agents found 277 packages of pot weighing 1,060 pounds and worth about $636,000, officials said.

An advocate for Latino rights says she was appalled to learn that the U.S. Forest Service is warning the public that campers who eat tortillas, drink Tecate beer and play Spanish music could be armed marijuana growers. Polly Baca, co-chairwoman of the Colorado Latino Forum, said the warning is profiling and discriminatory, and could put Latino campers in danger. The agency quickly retracted the warning, issued Wednesday amid an investigation into how much marijuana was being cultivated in Colorado's national forests.

Pot culture: An article in Sunday's Image section about marijuana in the mainstream referred to "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle" as a 2001 movie. It was released in 2004.

Re "A stop at the med pot doc," Column, Oct. 28, and "Can he get to first base?" Column, Nov. 1 On Wednesday, Steve Lopez related his experiences of visiting a medical marijuana doctor, describing receiving a recommendation to purchase marijuana from a legal dispensary. At the end of the article, he indicated that he was on his way to visit some such legal dispensary, telling readers to "check back here Sunday." Well, on Sunday I checked back -- only to find that Steve had written a long, rambling, open love letter to Jamie McCourt.

More than 500 protesters marched through the city Monday night to protest the closing of a club that openly sold marijuana to patients with AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses. Marchers blew whistles and carried candles and signs with such slogans as "Marijuana Is Medicine" and "Defend Your Right to Smoke Weed." No arrests were reported. Kevin Deffenbaugh, an AIDS patient and member of the Cannabis Buyers Club, attended the march in his wheelchair.

Chocaholics take note: There may be a pharmacological basis for your cravings. A chemical analysis by researchers at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego shows that chocolate contains chemicals that may mimic the psychoactive effects of cannabis. In research made public in a letter in the Aug.

State narcotics agents raided the Cannabis Buyers' Club on Sunday, shutting down the group that sells marijuana to terminally ill patients suffering from AIDS, cancer and other diseases. Armed with a search warrant, agents burst into the club's headquarters and spent four hours hauling away computers, a cabinet full of client records and an unspecified amount of marijuana.

Three new initiatives dealing with HMOs, injured criminals and drunk drivers, and the medical use of marijuana have qualified for the increasingly crowded November ballot. The initiatives certified this week by the secretary of state bring the number on the ballot to nine. Election officials are counting signatures for five more measures not yet qualified for the ballot. These are the latest that will go before voters Nov.