Marijuana

Your front-page story Nov. 25 states that 37,600 pounds of marijuana have been seized this year by Los Angeles police and 8,146 pounds by the Los Angeles sheriff. Rather than incinerating this amount, as is the current practice, why not make it available at reasonable prices to the many medical users of marijuana in Los Angeles? The voters of California approved the use of medical marijuana, but where we are to buy it at reasonable prices? Why not sell this unused marijuana to the Cannabis Buyer's Club at a reasonable price, put the money into the general fund (can anyone deny Los Angeles needs the money?

When Nguyen Tran emailed to tell me about an extravaganza he was setting up at an acquaintance's house, a special herb dinner in which each of the many courses would involve fresh marijuana, I did not necessarily beg to be included in the feast. The first time I met Tran, on a social-media panel somewhere, he happened to be wearing a banana suit, and he has been known to show up to food events dressed as a tauntaun from "The Empire Strikes Back. " I like his Starry Kitchen, a pan-Asian lunchroom in a downtown office-building food court, and I admire the running pop-up restaurant he mounts with chef Laurent Quenioux.

Well? Isn't anyone going to say it? You news people are very selective with the questions you ask the Presidents lately. When George Bush mentioned that he is afflicted with glaucoma, why didn't someone mention to him that one of the best treatments for the symptoms of the disease is marijuana? Is our education, environmental, drug-busting, thousand-points-of-light President going to be a closet toker? Is he going to be given some of that really good stuff grown on a U.S. government reservation, or is a DEA agent going to be sent out to more seedy areas of Washington to make a furtive buy?

The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research. The nation's largest physicians organization, with about 250,000 member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive category, which also includes heroin and LSD. In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to adopt a comprehensive medical marijuana ordinance that clamps strict controls on dispensaries, which have spread with a velocity that stunned city officials and angered some residents. Settling the last controversial issue on its list, the council decided to require the stores to locate at least 1,000 feet from so-called sensitive uses, such as schools, parks, libraries and other dispensaries. The decision to reject a 500-foot setback reflected the council's intent to write the most restrictive rules that would still allow dispensaries.

Riverside County businessman Stewart Hauptman's latest venture gives new meaning to the term "recreational drugs." Until recently, he sold marijuana for medical use from a souped-up RV he parked outside a Norco clinic. He refurbished a 1985 Pace Arrow motor home, installing display cases, a baked-goods section and other amenities. He named the operation the Lakeview Collective-on-Wheels and parked the converted RV in a lot outside the clinic, where people were being evaluated for medical marijuana use. "That way, when patients came out of the clinic, they are able to get the medicine right away," said Hauptman, a Riverside County videographer-turned-cannabis-entrepreneur.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. submitted a positive post-fight urine test for marijuana, the Nevada State Athletic Commission informed the boxer's promoter Wednesday. Carl Moretti, the vice president of promoter Top Rank, said he received a phone call, alerting him to Chavez's positive test, from Nevada commission executive officer Keith Kizer. The result could have steep consequences for Chavez Jr., who surrendered his World Boxing Council middleweight belt with a unanimous decision loss Saturday to Sergio Martinez that came despite a dramatic 12th-round rally by Chavez Jr. It was the second positive test for Chavez Jr. in Nevada.

A minor ruckus has erupted in Hollywood over the R rating assigned to the Meryl Streep romantic comedy, "It's Complicated," as reported in The Times' Dec. 10 post on the Company Town blog, "It's complicated, but 'It's Complicated' will be released with an R rating." According to The Times, those familiar with the Motion Picture Assn. of America's hearing on the movie say a scene featuring "pot smoking with no bad consequences" was key to the decision. But imagine the ratings wars that the MPAA's latest warnings will ignite: "This film is rated R for brief alcohol use portrayed in a positive light."

The parents of slain black teenager Trayvon Martin on Monday angrily lashed out at reports that their son was suspended from school because of marijuana, accusing authorities of continuing to demonize the memory of the victim in order to support George Zimmerman, the man who shot him. Speaking at a televised news conference, Martin's father, Tracy, and mother, Sybrina Fulton, said their son was again being made a victim. Martin was killed during a confrontation with George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer on Feb. 26. Zimmerman, 28, told police that he shot in self-defense, but the family has dismissed Zimmerman's version of events and has repeatedly called for his arrest.

WASHINGTON - President Obama and a key Senate Democrat said Friday they were willing to consider relaxing federal enforcement of the laws against marijuana for those who possess small amounts of the drug. They were reacting to new voter-approved laws in Washington and Colorado that permit recreational users to have an ounce of marijuana at home. In addition, California and 17 other states allow the medical use of marijuana. Despite this state-by-state move toward limited legalization, federal law still classifies marijuana as a highly dangerous drug and makes it a crime to sell or possess even tiny amounts.