The Oregonian, 20 Aug 2010 - TIGARD - In an unassuming, mostly unmarked building space off Pacific Highway, Sarah Bennett is trying something different. Earlier this year, Bennett opened Human Collective, a nonprofit organization that aims to connect card-holding patients in the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program with licensed growers for quicker access to the medicine. The clinic also offers a program where patients can receive small amounts of donated marijuana for free.

The Bakersfield Californian, 20 Aug 2010 - Supervisors will consider Tuesday freezing the number of new medical marijuana cooperatives in Kern County for at least 45 days while they consider whether to regulate the 22 that have exploded onto the scene in the past year. In March 2009, supervisors repealed an ordinance that had limited the number of medical marijuana dispensaries allowed in Kern County to six.

Battle Creek Enquirer, 20 Aug 2010 - Proponents of medical marijuana are asking the city of Battle Creek not to be overly restrictive with any new regulations of the sometimes legal drug. The city is in the middle of a six-month freeze on new businesses related to medical marijuana.

SouthtownStar, 20 Aug 2010 - College Football: Former L-Way East Grad Admits To Smoking Marijuana CHARLESTON - A "rough period" led Colin Luczynski, he said, to marijuana. In turn, a positive test for the drug led last week to the end of his Eastern Illinois University football career.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 20 Aug 2010 - Like many debates about making marijuana legal for medical use, the one at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health on Thursday turned into a discussion of the dangers of drugs. That didn't sit well with state Rep. John Myers, D-Philadelphia, who had come to the Oakland campus at the invitation of state Rep. Jake Wheatley, D-Hill District, to conduct a public hearing on the matter.

Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug 2010 - Proposition 19, the marijuana legalization initiative, picked up the support Thursday of a national organization that represents African American police officers, as the campaign for legalization continues to seek backing in the black community and from law enforcement officials. The National Black Police Assn., with about 15,000 members, is the second African American organization to back the measure.

Wall Street Journal, 20 Aug 2010 - The U.K. is giving its law-enforcement authorities extra powers to fight a wave of new narcotics known as "legal highs." The drugs are often legal when they hit the market because authorities haven't yet seen and banned them. With names such as Meow Meow and NRG-1, the drugs have been popular in Europe. New synthetic cannabinoids that are similar to marijuana also have appeared widely in the U.S.

Wall Street Journal, 20 Aug 2010 - Few issues can be counted on to exacerbate raw feelings as reliably as illegal immigration, and, for reasons no one has to be told, never more so than now. That fact has everything to do with the power of the National Geographic Channel's "Border Wars" series, soon to begin its second season, and the source of the high tension that accompanies every action and word in these documentary close-ups of U.S. law-enforcement agents battling drug and arms traffic and, unforgettably, the smugglers with their steady flow of human cargo. The series kicks off with a special preview on Aug. 29th (9-10 p.m. ET) called "Death on the Rio Grande," then moves to its regular slot (Wednesdays, 9-10 pm) beginning Sept. 1, with an episode titled "Checkpoint Texas."

Ottawa Citizen, 20 Aug 2010 - From bears and crocodiles to booby traps and hidden staircases, there's no end to the lengths growers will go to hide their illicit operations, Douglas Quan reports. The recent discovery of several wild bears near a marijuana grow-operation in British Columbia is just one of many examples of the extraordinary lengths people will sometimes go to protect their pot, police across the country say.

National Post, 20 Aug 2010 - In this occasional feature, the National Post tells you everything you need to know about a complicated issue. Today: Terrine Friday handles questions about the use of illicit drugs for research and treatment of psychological disorders. Q Which illicit drugs are used for psychological treatment?

The Stranger, 19 Aug 2010 - How Dino Rossi's Attack on a WSU Cannabis Researcher Backfired When you're running a campaign for U.S. Senate in which you spend a lot of time attacking "out of touch" D.C. politicians, it's a no-brainer not to mimic one yourself. Yet that's exactly what Republican Dino Rossi ended up doing on August 12 when he carbon-copied an ill-founded attack on "wasteful" federal stimulus dollars that D.C. Republicans have been using for months. Rossi's target: a psychology professor at Washington State University who received $148,438 in stimulus money to do research related to cannabinoids-that is, the psychoactive compounds found in marijuana.

The Western News, 19 Aug 2010 - The State of Montana is frantically backpedaling six years after voters passed Medical Marijuana Initiative 148. One of 10 states now with medical marijuana programs, Montana has fallen into what might be called pot-plant purgatory as it struggles with blurry laws and even blurrier implementation plans, stalling what might well become a legitimate and major homegrown industry. In this economy, it's encouraging to witness any business spring up so quickly from a tiny seed. For marijuana outlet stores, business is flourishing, though some residents have become alarmed. Towns like Lewistown, Kalispell, Great Falls, Montana City, Belgrade, Havre and Billings are suffering runaway growth in dispensaries and have passed moratoria limiting new establishments.

The Province, 19 Aug 2010 - If you head out for a walk of any distance in Vancouver these days, or in many other parts of the Lower Mainland, you won't get far before having your senses assaulted by the cloying stench of marijuana. A walk around the Stanley Park seawall, or along any of our beautiful beaches, virtually guarantees numerous encounters with clouds of other people's pot smoke.

Sacramento Bee, 19 Aug 2010 - A California appeals court issued a split ruling Wednesday in a closely watched medical marijuana case but failed to decide whether cities in the state can ban pot dispensaries or be forced to accept them. Ruling in the case of an Orange County medical marijuana patients' group that sued after being denied the right to operate a dispensary in Anaheim, the 4th District Court of Appeal rejected city arguments that state legislation allowing dispensaries improperly amended California's 1996 medical marijuana law.

The Calgary Sun, 19 Aug 2010 - We all have cherished mementoes. A photo from a family holiday, a child's first school project, or a ticket stub to remind you of a memorable day in your past. We all collect things to remind us of the moments in time we never want to forget.

Wall Street Journal, 19 Aug 2010 - Business Heads Plead as Drug Gangs Terrorize Wealthy City MONTERREY, Mexico-A surge of drug violence in Mexico's business capital and richest city has prompted an outcry from business leaders who on Wednesday took out full-page ads asking President Felipe Calderon to send in more soldiers to stem the violence.

Petoskey News-Review, 19 Aug 2010 - While the Republicans are revving up their pre-convention rhetoric to select the nominee for Michigan attorney general, the Michigan Democratic Party nominee has been able to campaign free of immediate competition for the past three months. Attorney General candidate David Leyton, the Democratic prosecutor for Genessee County, sat down with the News-Review earlier this week as part of a five-day trek through Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.

Record Searchlight, 18 Aug 2010 - Redding will loosen restrictions on medicinal cannabis co-ops -- but not as much as advocates would like. The City Council voted 4-1 Tuesday night to allow the city's 18 cannabis collectives to sell nonflowering clones, permit patients to specify how much medicinal marijuana they need and lift the ban on tobacco at the co-ops.

Appeal-Democrat, 18 Aug 2010 - A vocal standing-room-only crowd at Marysville City Hall gave the public comment microphone a rare workout Tuesday night, as one by one, area residents supported a medical marijuana dispensary that has been operating in the city since late 2009. The comments varied from polite pleas that the city drop its lawsuit against Norcal Health and Wellness Collective and allow the facility to continue operating, to passionate accusations of corruption among law enforcement and the Marysville City Council.

East Valley Tribune, 18 Aug 2010 - In November, Arizona will vote on Proposition 203, the so-called medical marijuana initiative. As an anti-drug activist for 30 years, I've watched the pro-legalization lobbies. For many years, their strategy has been to legalize illicit drugs by claiming they're actually medications. Proposition 203 was designed by the Marijuana Policy Project, a group whose stated aim is to legalize marijuana, and Proposition 203 will do just that.