Legalization?

Support for legalizing marijuana grows rapidly around U.S.
Approval for medical use expands alongside criticism of prohibition

By Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 23, 2009

The same day they rejected a gay marriage ballot measure, residents of Maine voted overwhelmingly to allow the sale of medical marijuana over the counter at state-licensed dispensaries.

Later in the month, the American Medical Association reversed a longtime position and urged the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act, which equates it with heroin.

A few days later, advocates for easing marijuana laws left their biannual strategy conference with plans to press ahead on all fronts -- state law, ballot measures, and court -- in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground.

"This issue is breaking out in a remarkably rapid way now," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Public opinion is changing very, very rapidly."

The shift is widely described as generational. A Gallup poll in October found 44 percent of Americans favor full legalization of marijuana -- a rise of 13 points since 2000. Gallup said that if public support continues growing at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year, "the majority of Americans could favor legalization of the drug in as little as four years."

A 53 percent majority already does so in the West, according to the survey. The finding heartens advocates collecting signatures to put the question of legalization before California voters in a 2010 initiative.

At last week's International Drug Reform Conference, activists gamed specific proposals for taxing and regulating pot along the lines of cigarettes and alcohol, as a bill pending in the California Legislature would do. The measure is not expected to pass, but in urging its serious debate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) gave credence to a potential revenue source that the state's tax chief said could raise $1.3 billion in the recession, which advocates describe as a boon.

There were also tips on lobbying state legislatures, where measures decriminalizing possession of small amounts have passed in 14 states. Activists predict half of states will have laws allowing possession for medical purposes in the near future.

Interest in medical marijuana and easing other marijuana laws picked up markedly about 18 months ago, but advocates say the biggest surge came with the election of Barack Obama, the third straight president to acknowledge having smoked marijuana, and the first to regard it with anything like nonchalance.

"As a kid, I inhaled," Barack Obama famously said on the campaign. "That was the whole point."

In office, Obama made good on a promise to halt federal prosecutions of medical marijuana use where permitted by state law. That has recalibrated the federal attitude, which had been consistently hostile to marijuana since the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon cast aside the recommendations of a presidential commission arguing against lumping pot with hard drugs.

Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he was astonished recently to be invited to contribute thoughts to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, was police chief in Seattle, where voters officially made enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority.

"I've been thrown out of the ONDCP many times," St. Pierre said. "Never invited to actually participate."

Anti-drug advocates counter with surveys showing high school students nationwide already are more likely to smoke marijuana than tobacco -- and that the five states with the highest rate of adolescent pot use permit medical marijuana.

"We are in the prevention business," said Arthur Dean, chairman of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. "Kids are getting the message tobacco's harmful, and they're not getting the message marijuana is."

In Los Angeles, city officials are dealing with elements of public backlash after more than 1,000 medical marijuana dispensaries opened, some employing in-house physicians to dispense legal permission to virtually all comers. The boom town atmosphere brought complaints from some neighbors, but little of the crime associated with underground drug-dealing.

Advocates cite the latter as evidence that, as with alcohol, violence associated with the marijuana trade flows from its prohibition.

"Seriously," said Bruce Merkin, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group based in the District, "there is a reason you don't have Mexican beer cartels planting fields of hops in the California forests."

But the controversy over the dispensaries also has put pressure on advocates who specifically champion access for ailing patients, not just those who champion easing marijuana laws.

"I don't want to say we keep arm's length from the other groups. You end up with all of us in the same room," said Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe Access, which has led the court battle for medical marijuana and is squaring off with the Los Angeles City Council. "It's a very broad-based movement."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112201986.html

River Pollution In Jamaica

The environmental movement has a long way to go in Jamaica - a country known for exquisite natural beauty but also with serious environmental problems. The rum distillery referred to in the article is one of Jamaica's leading rum producers, Appleton.


Jamaica Gleaner Online

---

River People Series - Pollution threatens Jamaica's rivers - St Elizabeth's chief waterway in peril

Published: Wednesday | December 9, 2009

Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Boats idle on the Black River. Sections of Black River are heavily polluted, water-safety officials have said. - Ian Allen/Photographer

According to the Water Resources

Authority (WRA), several of the country's 20 major rivers are choking from pollution or are at risk of drying up because of constant abuse from users.

One of the main rivers under severe pressure is the Black River in St Elizabeth, which is one of the country's longest and most important rivers. It has been recognised as a Ramsar site for its economic, cultural, scientific and recreational value.

Environmental officer at the WRA, Michelle Watts, said that despite the system's ecological significance to the area, Black River has been a "suffering river" for a number of decades, due to immense pollution.

Watts says the area which is most affected is the North Helim River, which feeds into the upper Black River.

She said the Cabarita River in Westmoreland, the Rio Cobre in St Catherine and the Hope River in St Andrew were also affected by occasional pollution.

"We are having a number of pollution problems in the Black River system and it's associated with a number of factories in the area, particularly the upper Black River section," she said.

This is mainly linked to the location of two particular factories - a rum distillery and a sugar factory - in the Ruahine and Maggotty areas.

She said both companies were being challenged to better manage waste released into the environment.

Watts told The Gleaner that for decades the factories would simply dump their waste directly into the Black River. However, since 2000, the companies have agreed to construct two ponds in which the wastewater is contained.

However, because of high levels of rainfall in the area and the large volume of waste, contaminants from the factories simply wash back into the river whenever it rains.

That section of the river is unable to sustain fish. Residents are also unable to use the water for domestic purposes.

Over the years, the WRA said it has witnessed major fish kills in the area.

"We know it supports and can support large fish populations, but it doesn't, because of the pollution.

"When it (the river) overflows, it washes into a sinkhole and comes back up into a spring, which is completely polluted," Watts explained.

That section of the Black River has been polluted for so many decades, according to Watts, that the residents no longer use the water.

"There are communities that live right around it, and clearly they would be relying on it if it were clean," she added.

Final decision

Watts said the WRA believes the situation has gone on for far too long, pointing out that the agency is working closely with the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and the factories to address the problem. She said the WRA is currently awaiting NEPA's final decision on the matter.

"The WRA's view is that containing the waste is not good enough, because the high rainfall is a challenge, as well as the volumes of waste that they have to contain."

She said the WRA has been evaluating the situation for a number of years and has found that the current situation is not acceptable and untenable.

"Actually, we were never satisfied that it would work, but it was allowed on a trial basis, and we are convinced that it is not the best solution, as pollution incidents will just keep reoccurring," said Watts.

"Our recommendation is that they be required to construct a full wastewater treatment system because they produce very strong waste, which proves to be a danger to life forms in the river."

Watts said factories that generate wastewater need to recognise that they must treat their waste.

"No longer can the environment just accept the waste. It is accumulating, so they must decide to spend the money that is required to build a treatment plant."

She said sewage is also another major threat to the country's river systems, as some dysfunctional sewage plants are leaking effluent into the natural environment. This is the case for sections of Hope River.

Sections of the Rio Cobre and Cabarita River are also under threat from similar activities by factories.

Havoc

There is, however, hardly any legislation geared at tough sanctions on companies whose operations wreak such havoc on the environment.

Watts said a new rule, with an arsenal of penalties, was in the pipeline. The Polluter Pays Principle, she said, states that companies should be hit in their bank books when guilty of pollution.

"Right now, how we operate is that we require the responsible companies to fix the problem at their expense," she said.

Watts said, on a general note, that Jamaica's rivers were generally in good shape.

"However, in the last 15-20 years, we have become more aware of some of the threats and the extent of the pollution problems, because we have been studying them a bit more."

She continued: "So we recognise that we are losing more and more groundwater, but it is still a relatively small proportion. But if we ignore it and continue how we are going, in no time we will be in trouble."

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com

A boy reverse-somersaults into the Black River in Maggotty, St Elizabeth. - Photos by Ian Allen/Photographer

Copyright Jamaica-Gleaner.com

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20091209/news/news1.html

Corporate Support Of Youth Baseball In Tysons Corner

At former theater, the hits continue
In mall's old movie house, Tysons Bullpen offers free indoor ball practice for neighboring teams

By Kafia A. Hosh
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 7, 2009

For almost two decades, a deserted basement-level movie theater at Tysons Corner Center has mostly collected dust as a storage facility.

Macerich, the company that owns the mall, didn't know what else to do with former screening rooms with 20-foot-high ceilings and sloping floors designed for auditorium-style seating.

But when Macerich executive Timothy Steffan visited the old theater early last year, he had a revelation: It was the perfect setting for a baseball bullpen, with high ceilings and an elevated floor to accommodate pitching and batting tunnels.

"It made a lot of sense," said Steffan, a former college baseball player. "I said, 'Listen -- we can't make money off it [but] it's a creative way to look at space in order to give back to the community.' "

The Tysons Bullpen opened in March in part of one of the old auditoriums. It serves as a sort of community outreach project for the mall, which donated the space for use by a nearby high school and Little League teams in McLean, Vienna and Great Falls. Tysons also enlisted the help of local contractors, who donated light fixtures, concrete and recycled rubber mats.

The bullpen consists of three mesh-enclosed tunnels for pitching and batting practice. Bursting with primary colors, it is a place remade entirely for youths. The walls and trash cans are splashed in bright blues and yellows. Even a utility box is disguised with green paint. Gray benches line the back of the room, where parents can sit and watch their kids practice.

McLean Little League coach Rick Lewis uses the facility to strengthen his players' skills during the off-season.

"This is fantastic for wintertime," he said over the clatter of a team practice one evening. "Every space you have like this gives kids an opportunity to work on their game. It's very high-quality."

The bullpen, which the designated schools use at no charge, eases the burden on some parents, who have spent as much as $150 an hour for their children to use other indoor practice facilities.

At the commercial facilities, "it's expensive and the lessons are more individualized," said David Schreiner, father of a 12-year-old McLean Little League player.

George C. Marshall High School in the Falls Church area of Fairfax County plans to use the bullpen when its baseball and softball season begins in February. Marshall is waiting for county school officials to approve its agreement with the mall.

Indoor practice space fills up quickly at the high school, which has one netted cage used mostly for batting. The bullpen could come in handy in the winter when practice moves indoors, said Joseph Swarm, Marshall's student activities director.

"That's the time it's most convenient. . . . Those first few weeks that it's cold outside, it gets dark early and your time is crunched," he said.

On a recent evening, Lewis's McLean team took turns pitching and batting in the bullpen tunnels. Two boys played catch while another practiced his swing.

In the first tunnel, Peter Stork, whose nephew plays on a McLean team, pitched the ball to Foster, Lewis's 10-year-old son.

Stork reared back and hurled the ball over the safety net. Foster lifted his bat and swung, putting all of his force into it. He missed.

"That's a strike! That was right down the middle," Stork yelled with affection.

Foster steadied his small frame and regained his balance, a sheepish grin on his face. "No, it's not!" he shouted back.

"You have three more," Stork said as he pitched again. This time, Foster connected.

"There you go! What a turnaround!" Stork said. "Good job!"

"One more?" Foster asked later. "No, you're done," Stork said, and Foster skipped off to play catch with his dad.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/06/AR2009120602193_2.html?sid=ST2009120602229

Drug War In Action 1990 - 2002

2005 Drug War Statistics - Worth Re-Posting

From 2005 and worth re-posting -

Marijuana Becomes Focus of Drug War
Less Emphasis on Heroin and Cocaine

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 4, 2005

The focus of the drug war in the United States has shifted significantly over the past decade from hard drugs to marijuana, which now accounts for nearly half of all drug arrests nationwide, according to an analysis of federal crime statistics released yesterday.

The study of FBI data by a Washington-based think tank, the Sentencing Project, found that the proportion of heroin and cocaine cases plummeted from 55 percent of all drug arrests in 1992 to less than 30 percent 10 years later. During the same period, marijuana arrests rose from 28 percent of the total to 45 percent.

Coming in the wake of the focus on crack cocaine in the late 1980s, the increasing emphasis on marijuana enforcement was accompanied by a dramatic rise in overall drug arrests, from fewer than 1.1 million in 1990 to more than 1.5 million a decade later. Eighty percent of that increase came from marijuana arrests, the study found.

The rapid increase has not had a significant impact on prisons, however, because just 6 percent of the arrests resulted in felony convictions, the study found. The most widely quoted household survey on the topic has shown relatively little change in the overall rate of marijuana use over the same time period, experts said.

"In reality, the war on drugs as pursued in the 1990s was to a large degree a war on marijuana," said Ryan S. King, the study's co-author and a research associate at the Sentencing Project. "Marijuana is the most widely used illegal substance, but that doesn't explain this level of growth over time. . . . The question is, is this really where we want to be spending all our money?"

The think tank is a left-leaning group that advocates alternatives to traditional imprisonment. Criminologists and government officials confirmed the trend, which in some ways marks a return to a previous era. In 1982, marijuana arrests accounted for 72 percent of all drug arrests, according to the study.

Bush administration officials attribute the rise in marijuana arrests to a variety of factors: increased use among teenagers during parts of the 1990s; efforts by local police departments to focus more on street-level offenses; and growing concerns over the danger posed by modern, more potent versions of marijuana. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy released a study yesterday showing that youth who use marijuana are more likely to develop serious mental health problems, including depression and schizophrenia.

"This is not Cheech and Chong marijuana," said David Murray, a policy analyst for the anti-drug office. "It's a qualitatively different drug, and that's reflected in the numbers."

The new statistics come amid signs of a renewed debate in political circles over the efficacy of U.S. drug policies, which have received less attention recently amid historically low crime rates and a focus on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, for example, has formed a national committee to oversee prosecution of violent drug gangs and has vowed to focus more resources on the fight against methamphetamine manufacturers and other drug traffickers.

But increasingly, some experts have begun to argue that the U.S. drug war, which costs an estimated $35 billion a year, has had a minimal impact on consumption of illicit substances. The conservative American Enterprise Institute published a report in March titled "Are We Losing the War on Drugs?" Its authors argue that, among other things, "criminal punishment of marijuana use does not appear to be justified."

The study released yesterday by the Sentencing Project found that arrests for marijuana account for nearly all of the increase in drug arrests seen during the 1990s. The report also found that one in four people in state prisons for marijuana offenses can be classified as a "low-level offender," and it estimated that $4 billion a year is spent on arresting and prosecuting marijuana crimes.

In addition, the study showed that although African Americans make up 14 percent of marijuana users generally, they account for nearly a third of all marijuana arrests.

Among the most striking findings was the researchers' examination of arrest trends in New York City, which focused intently on "zero tolerance" policies during Rudolph W. Giuliani's mayoral administration. Marijuana arrests in the city increased tenfold from 1990 to 2002, from 5,100 to more than 50,000, the report said. Nine of 10 of arrests in 2002 were for possession rather than dealing.

The study also found a wide disparity in the growth of marijuana arrests in some of the United States' largest counties, from a 20 percent increase in San Diego to a 418 percent spike in King County, Wash. (The only decrease in the sample came in Northern Virginia's Fairfax County, where marijuana arrests declined by 37 percent.)

"There's been a major change in what's going on in drug enforcement, but it clearly isn't something that someone set out to do," said Jonathan Caulkins, a criminology professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "It's not like anyone said, 'We don't care about cocaine and heroin anymore.' . . . The simple answer may be that police are now taking opportunities to make more marijuana arrests than they were when they were focused on crack cocaine in the 1980s."

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/03/AR2005050301638_pf.html

Not Just In Oakland... Growing School In Michigan

School of pot
Michigan college's curriculum centers on medicinal marijuana

By Peter Carlson
Monday, November 30, 2009

Okay, before we delve into Med Grow Cannabis College and its myriad innovations in marijuana education, let's get all the dumb dope jokes out of the way:

Yes, Med Grow Cannabis College does give new meaning to the phrase "higher education."

No, Med Grow does not offer a seminar on "The Cinematic Art of Cheech and Chong." Nor does it serve Oreos and Doritos to students suffering from the munchies.

Go ahead and laugh at Med Grow, but the folks who run the school are totally serious about their pedagogical mission, which is to train participants in Michigan's newly legalized medical marijuana program in the finer points of growing and cooking killer weed.

"People assume it's a wild environment because of the stereotypes about marijuana," says Perry Belcher, who teaches the history of cannabis at Med Grow, "but it really is a place of education."

It certainly looks like one. Med Grow's classroom -- there's only one -- resembles any other college classroom, except for a banner advertising the "Cannabis Counsel," a Michigan defense attorney whose logo depicts the scales of justice balanced on a marijuana leaf. Right now, 16 students are sitting at wooden desks, jotting notes while Todd Alton delivers a lecture in his Horticulture 1010 class.

"You need to think of light as another kind of food," he says.

Alton presses a button and a slide flashes on the screen beside him: "The Spectrum of Light." He delivers a long, complex explanation about the different colors of light and how they affect the marijuana plant.

"In the early seedling stage, the plant really, really wants that blue light," he says. "In the flowering stage, it wants the other end of the spectrum. It wants the red light. It's extremely important to know which lights you need at which phase."

Alton, 36, has a botany degree from Northern Michigan University and plenty of hands-on experience growing pot, although he'd rather not get too specific about that part of his training. He's also a former chef, which comes in handy when he teaches his class on cooking with dope.

Now, Alton begins the lab portion of his class. He unlocks two heavy padlocks and swings two doors open, revealing a pair of blazingly bright rooms containing 10 marijuana plants. This is Med Grow's on-campus pot farm, and the students squeeze in to get a closer look. Alton points out a device that propels a powerful light back and forth over a couple of lush plants.

"This is a light-mover," he says. "It's not very expensive and it makes sure that light gets to every part of your plant."

He kneels down and points to the strings that hold the plant's branches in a near-horizontal position. "If you get down and look from underneath," he says, "you see that we're exposing more buds to the light."

Two students get on their knees and gaze up, their eyes ablaze with a passionate love of learning. Or a passionate love of something.

Economics 101

Nick Tennant may be the only college president in America whose office contains an aquarium decorated with a High Times magazine pinup of a marijuana plant. He may also be the only college president in America who founded his school because the recession was killing his auto-detailing business.

"As the economy started drifting down, my business started contracting," Tenant says. "I knew I wanted to get into an industry that was limitless, that was poised for growth."

That industry was medical marijuana.

In November 2008, Michigan voters passed a referendum legalizing medical marijuana by a landslide margin of 63 percent to 37 percent, making Michigan one of 13 states to permit medical marijuana. Now, a Michigan resident can become a state-certified marijuana patient if a doctor declares that pot might alleviate his or her suffering from diseases ranging from cancer to "chronic pain." Patients are permitted to possess up to 2 1/2 ounces of marijuana and 12 pot plants. And they are permitted to buy the weed from their official "caregiver" -- also state-certified -- who can legally grow marijuana for up to five patients. Thus far, the state has certified 5,463 patients and 2,247 caregivers.

When the referendum passed, Tennant filed his paperwork to become a marijuana patient -- he suffers from "chronic nausea," he says -- then he and friends pondered how to use the new law to make money.

"We said, 'How can we help people and create a viable business model?' " he recalls. "And we came up with this business."

So Tennant sold his auto-detailing operation and founded Med Grow Cannabis College, advertising for professors on medical marijuana Web sites. At 24, he doesn't look like a college president. With his blond hair, boyish face and apple cheeks, he could star in a remake of "Dennis the Menace." He touts the weed as a way to jump-start Michigan's battered economy, which has left the state with America's highest unemployment rate, 15.1 percent.

"This is a multibillion-dollar industry that can create a very viable means of economic recovery for the state," Tennant says.

It seems unlikely that Michigan can float to prosperity on a cloud of marijuana smoke. But in a state where last year's illicit dope dealer can become this year's state-certified "caregiver," many residents are eager to earn a piece of the estimated $13 billion Americans spend on marijuana every year.

"Anybody that's out of work, here's an industry that's welcoming you with open arms," says Tennant. "It's an industry that we're proudly training people for."

Med Grow isn't America's first marijuana college. That honor goes to Oaksterdam University, founded in 2007. Since then, 5,000 students have studied at Oaksterdam's three campuses in California, a state where 300,000 patients can legally buy pot from 700 dispensaries.

This year Oaksterdam sponsored two weekend seminars in Michigan, but Tennant says he's not worried about the competition. "I like to think we offer more hands-on learning than they do," he says.

Med Grow opened Sept. 14. Students pay $475 for a six-week night-school course that includes classes in marijuana history, marijuana law, the basics of business and, of course, several courses in how to grow and cook marijuana -- one taught by an anonymous professor who goes by the name "Nature." Two groups, each comprising 20 students, have graduated, and several other groups are on their way.

"The students are a mixed bag," says attorney Paul Youngs, who teaches Med Grow's law class. "We have patients who want to grow for themselves. We have people who want to be caregivers and who approach it as a business opportunity. We even had a priest who works with AIDS patients. It's a mix of races and a mix of ages from the 20s to the 60s. And I believe some of the students are not even users."

"It's pretty awesome," says Roger McDaniel, 53, who is, along with his wife, a proud member of Med Grow's first graduating class. "It's all hands-on and all the instructors are very patient. If you've got questions, they'll answer them."

McDaniel is a carpenter with a long white beard and a Christ tattoo that bears the caption "Got Jesus?" Since injuring his back in a motorcycle accident, he suffers from chronic pain and now is a state-certified marijuana patient who swears the weed works better than his pain pills.

He plans to take Med Grow's advanced horticulture class next year, but he might not get the chance. After Med Grow applied for state accreditation this fall, some Michigan bureaucrats began to wonder: Is it legal to operate a trade school to train marijuana growers?

"We have to look into the legality of it," says James McCurtis, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Community Health, which administers the medical marijuana program. "In early December, our department, along with the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth and the state attorney general's office, are going to meet to discuss the legality of operating a facility to teach people to grow marijuana."

Tennant says he isn't worried: "We're operating in accordance with state law."

Upper, upperclassmen

"Basically, we're just grandmothers," says Judith Booker.

She's sitting with her friend Jacquelyn White, waiting for class. Each has a notebook and the school's official textbook, which is a classic work by Cervantes -- "Marijuana Horticulture" by Jorge Cervantes. They are retired social workers who remain active in a Detroit community group.

"We're here to get information that we can share with our group about how to grow it," says White, 58. "In the metro Detroit area, we have a disproportionate number of HIV and hepatitis patients. They need to know how they can use this for palliative care."

"It's an up-and-coming industry," says Booker, 65. "I've been trying to push young people to get into an industry -- any industry but the car industry."

Professor Belcher begins his class with a slide announcing his course's title: "The History of Cannabis 1010." That history is long, Belcher says, but he'll try to cover it quickly. "I don't want to hold up the horticulture class," he says. "That's why everybody is here."

Belcher announces that he is a certified marijuana patient. "If I fly from Flint to Detroit with my medical marijuana, can I get arrested?" he wonders aloud. "I'd like to know that."

"You can't even take tweezers or scissors on a plane," a student calls out.

"Yeah," says another student, "but you're not going to hijack a plane with a joint."

Belcher laughs. "I can just see it: 'Okay, pilot, toke on this!' "

The professor, who also works as a cameraman for televised wrestling matches, illustrates his lecture with scores of slides. The first show anti-pot movie posters: "Reefer Madness" and "Marihuana: Assassin of Youth!" Then comes a slide that asks, "Who Uses Cannabis?" It's followed by a long list of alleged pot-smokers, from George Washington and Queen Victoria to Hulk Hogan, Michael Phelps, Barack Obama and Pink Floyd.

"Pink Floyd -- they sold what? 100 million records?" says Belcher. "Marijuana didn't hurt them at all. My favorite band, by the way."

Belcher traces the history from 6000 B.C., when the Chinese began to use it as medicine, he says, to October 2009, when the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would no longer prosecute medical marijuana users obeying state laws.

Along the way, one of Belcher's slides shows an aerial photograph of a big city surrounded by suburbs. The slide is labeled: "Suberbia And The City."

"In this picture," Belcher says, "how many people do you think are smoking marijuana?"

Jacquelyn White smiles, shakes her head and whispers to Booker: "He misspelled 'suburbia.' "

Graduation day

A familiar smell pervades the air outside the nondescript suburban office building that houses Med Grow. What is that?

It's not pot. It's the aroma of Kentucky Fried Chicken wafting from the strip mall across the street, which also houses other staples of America's postindustrial economy -- a tanning salon, a waxing salon and a nail salon.

Outside Med Grow, Ted Mobley leans against his red pickup and finishes his last cigarette before his last night of class. Tonight he will graduate from Med Grow Cannabis College.

"I believe in the healing properties of marijuana," he says. He's 50, a laid-off machinist with hair down to his shoulders. He's also an official marijuana patient, using the weed to treat his glaucoma and high blood pressure. "I've pretty much destroyed myself over the last 50 years," he says, "and this helps me cope."

In class, he sits at a desk behind a woman who says her name is Chocolate.

Chocolate?

"Don't I look like chocolate?" she asks, smiling.

She says she's a retired insurance salesperson "closing in on 60." She shows Mobley the manuscript for her forthcoming self-published marijuana cookbook, titled "Chocolate's Infusion." It contains recipes for pickled mushrooms, macaroni and cheese, and something called "Hash Hash."

But there's no time to discuss cannabis cuisine right now because Alton is beginning the final class.

He discourses about the proper pH of soil used to grow marijuana, and the proper temperature of soil used to grow marijuana, and the proper manure to add to that soil -- cow manure, bad; earthworm manure, good.

Finally, he displays the final slide -- a slide that seems to contradict all the complexity that has preceded it: "Remember -- It's Just a Weed."

Now, Tennant walks to the front of the room holding a stack of diplomas, each embossed with a glittering faux-gold seal, each proclaiming the recipient to be a "Certified Caregiver" who is "entitled to all rights and privileges appertaining to that degree."

"All right, guys," Tennant says, "you've finished your six weeks and I hope you've learned a lot. If you need any information, you can always contact us. Now, without further ado, I'm going to give out the certificates."

He looks down at the first diploma. "Ted," he says.

Mobley shuffles forward. Tennant shakes his hand. "Congratulations."

Watching from her seat, Chocolate makes an announcement: "Anybody who wants my cookbook, give me your e-mail and I'll let you know when it comes out."

Tennant reads the names of more graduates -- Tyrone . . . Walter . . . Jared . . . Lindsay . . .

Chocolate is squirming in her seat. "I wanna be valedictorian," she yells.

Carlson is a freelance writer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/29/AR2009112902724.html

Rocky Mtn Medical

editorial

Clear the air on marijuana rules

Coloradans voted to legalize medical marijuana. Now the state needs to find a way to regulate the wildly growing industry.

By The Denver Post

Posted: 10/23/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT

Updated: 10/26/2009 03:36:39 PM MDT

Colorado needs to get a better handle on medical marijuana.

The burgeoning industry — created to help those with debilitating illnesses and pain — is mostly unregulated and that's becoming problematic.

The number of permits for medical marijuana use is spiraling far higher than many anticipated when voters passed a law allowing its use in 2000. The state health department told The Post's Lynn Bartels an average of 400 people apply for a permit every day.

Clearly, we're skeptical that all of the new permits are going to truly sick and deserving patients. (There seem to be a lot of 20-somethings with chronic back pain.)

However, the state lacks regulatory authority to deal with fraud — or much of anything else — under the current law.

To meet the demand of new users, businesses that sell medical pot are popping up like mushrooms. Yet the state's registry for the dispensaries, which was required under the 2000 law, doesn't license them, track them or regulate them. It even lacks a mechanism for dealing with complaints brought against a dispensary.

And if someone wants to start a dispensary? The registry has no information on how to establish or operate the facility.

Meanwhile, the rapid growth of medical pot users and businesses is clashing with local law enforcement. Though President Barack Obama this week instructed federal drug agents to respect state laws that govern medical marijuana, some Colorado sheriffs contend that illegal drug cartels are helping meet the increased demand for pot.

The result is that some cities are starting to pass laws to regulate use, and state Sen. Chris Romer says he will take up the issue with legislation during the next session of the General Assembly.

We note that a simple solution exists: Legalize marijuana for anyone 18 and older. Treat the drug like alcohol and regulate and tax its use.

But we realize the chances of passing such a law are weak. So what to do?

Some cities, such as Durango, already are taking action. In Denver, City Councilman Charlie Brown is visiting dispensaries and says he plans to propose medical marijuana laws, including requiring operators of medical marijuana dispensaries, including managers and caregivers, to undergo criminal background checks.

Another idea worthy of debate is treating dispensaries like liquor stores, which are licensed by the state and must follow certain rules, such as limitations on how close they can be to schools.

We think doctors also are playing a role in the sudden rise of medical marijuana permits. Some grant so many approvals that critics question whether those physicians are just trying to legalize marijuana through a medical loophole.

But those doctors are violating the will of the people. When the amendment that legalizes medical marijuana was put to voters, the language stated it would be for those suffering from a "debilitating medical condition."

Any debate on potential regulation needs to include greater scrutiny or guidance on how permits are issued.

Coloradans voted to help those who are truly suffering, not to legalize marijuana through a back-door channel. Lawmakers should find a suitable way to honor that intent.

---

This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, this editorial incorrectly stated the average number of Coloradans who apply for medical-marijuana permits each day. The correct average is 400.

http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_13621648

Rocky Mountain high

By George F. Will
Sunday, November 29, 2009

DENVER Inside the green neon sign, which is shaped like a marijuana leaf, is a red cross. The cross serves the fiction that most transactions in the store -- which is what it really is -- involve medicine.

The Justice Department recently announced that federal laws against marijuana would not be enforced for possession of marijuana that conforms to states' laws. In 2000, Colorado legalized medical marijuana. Since Justice's decision, the average age of the 400 persons a day seeking "prescriptions" at Colorado's multiplying medical marijuana dispensaries has fallen precipitously. Many new customers are college students.

Customers -- this, not patients, is what most really are -- tell doctors at the dispensaries that they suffer from insomnia, anxiety, headaches, premenstrual syndrome, "chronic pain," whatever, and pay nominal fees for "prescriptions." Most really just want to smoke pot.

So says Colorado's attorney general, John Suthers, an honest and thoughtful man trying to save his state from institutionalizing such hypocrisy. His dilemma is becoming commonplace: Thirteen states have, and 15 more are considering, laws permitting medical use of marijuana.

Realizing they could not pass legalization of marijuana, some people who favor that campaigned to amend Colorado's Constitution to legalize sales for medicinal purposes. Marijuana has medical uses -- e.g., to control nausea caused by chemotherapy -- but the helpful ingredients can be conveyed with other medicines. Medical marijuana was legalized but, Suthers says, no serious regime was then developed to regulate who could buy -- or grow -- it. (Caregivers? For how many patients? And in what quantities, and for what "medical uses"?)

Today, Colorado communities can use zoning to restrict dispensaries or can ban them because, even if federal policy regarding medical marijuana is passivity, selling marijuana remains against federal law. But Colorado's probable future has unfolded in California, which in 1996 legalized sales of marijuana to persons with doctors' "prescriptions."

Fifty-six percent of Californians support legalization, and Roger Parloff reports ["How Marijuana Became Legal" in a September issue of Fortune] that they essentially have this. He notes that many California "patients" arrive at dispensaries "on bicycles, roller skates or skateboards." A Los Angeles city councilman estimates that there are about 600 dispensaries in the city. If so, they outnumber the Starbucks stores there.

The councilman wants to close dispensaries whose intent is profit rather than "compassionate" distribution of medicine. Good luck with that: Privacy considerations will shield doctors from investigations of their lucrative 15-minute transactions with "patients."

Colorado's medical marijuana dispensaries have hired lobbyists to seek taxation and regulation, for the same reason Nevada's brothel industry wants to be taxed and regulated by the state: The Nevada Brothel Association regards taxation as legitimation and insurance against prohibition as the booming state's frontier mentality recedes.

State governments, misunderstanding markets and ravenous for revenue, exaggerate the potential windfall from taxing legalized marijuana. California thinks it might reap $1.4 billion. But Rosalie Pacula, a Rand Corp. economist, estimates that prohibition raises marijuana production costs at least 400 percent, so legalization would cause prices to fall much more than the 50 percent assumed by the $1.4 billion estimate.

Furthermore, marijuana is a normal good in that demand for it varies with price. Legalization, by drastically lowering price, will increase marijuana's public health costs, including mental and respiratory problems, and motor vehicle accidents.

States attempting to use high taxes to keep marijuana prices artificially high would leave a large market for much cheaper illegal -- unregulated and untaxed -- marijuana. So revenue (and law enforcement savings) would depend on the price falling close to the cost of production. In the 1990s, a mere $2 per pack difference between U.S. and Canadian cigarette prices created such a smuggling problem that Canada repealed a cigarette tax increase.

Suthers has multiple drug-related worries. Colorado ranks sixth in the nation in identity theft, two-thirds of which is driven by the state's $1.4 billion annual methamphetamine addiction. He is loath to see complete legalization of marijuana at a moment when new methods of cultivation are producing plants in which the active ingredient, THC, is "seven, eight times as concentrated" as it used to be. Furthermore, he was pleasantly surprised when a survey of nonusing young people revealed that health concerns did not explain nonuse. The main explanation was the law: "We underestimate the number of people who care that something is illegal."

But they will care less as law itself loses its dignity. By mocking the idea of lawful behavior, legalization of medical marijuana may be more socially destructive than full legalization.

georgewill@washpost.com

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/27/AR2009112702326.html

Baltimore Fermentation - Sauerkraut For Thanksgiving (and other times)

The tradition that bubbles in Baltimore basements
Homemade sauerkraut for holiday tables starts now

By Martha Thomas
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

When Doug Wetzel sat down for Thanksgiving dinner soon after he moved to Petaluma, Calif., he surveyed the table. His hosts, who owned the artisanal bakery where he worked, seemed to have everything right: "turkey and stuffing and oven-roasted Brussels sprouts." But when Wetzel asked for the sauerkraut, he says, "they all looked at me like I was crazy."

Wetzel, 26, grew up in Baltimore, where fermented cabbage is as commonplace as cranberry sauce for the November holiday, even for those without German names. "I knew better than to ask for candied yams with marshmallows" at such a spread, says Wetzel, now pastry chef for Gertrude's restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art. "But the fact that there was no sauerkraut was kind of a shock."

Richard Kissling, chief officer of A.C. Kissling Sauerkraut in Philadelphia, says his Charm City sales surge each year in early November to five or six times the usual volume. "In Baltimore, it's just one of those traditions," he says. "I don't understand it."

The city's German immigrants accounted for about a quarter of its residents in 1863, when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. They brought their everyday dish of sauerkraut to the New World. "Whenever people would get together for a special occasion, sauerkraut would be involved," says William Woys Weaver, Pennsylvania food historian and author of the book "Sauerkraut Yankees."

Sauerkraut-based dishes on Baltimore's Thanksgiving sideboards might include a bowl of the stuff straight from a bag or jar, braised sauerkraut with apples and bacon, or sauerkraut with ground pork, rolled in cabbage leaves. Sauerkraut can even be used for stuffing the bird.

Plenty of Baltimore natives with Baltic roots remember a mother or grandmother brewing sauerkraut in a container in the basement. When Marc Attman of Attman's Deli was 9 years old, he was given the job of chopping cabbage for the sauerkraut served there. The finished product would sit in a barrel in front of the store, Attman says, "and if someone wanted to try it, they'd just stick in their fingers and take a little bit." Now the deli gets its kraut from Pennsylvania, and if someone wants a taste, "we get out the rubber gloves and the tongs," he says.

Much has changed in the world; sauerkraut, it seems, has not. Weaver says fermented cabbage can be traced to the Byzantine Empire. It shows up in cultures all over the world, with close relatives in dishes such as Korean kimchi. High in vitamin C, the fermented cabbage is a breeding ground for lactobacillus, which helps with human digestion. It's a more earthy source of the probiotic than, say, the Activia yogurt hawked in television commercials by Jamie Lee Curtis. Generally available for less than $1 per pound, sauerkraut is relatively cheap nutrition.

Though it involves only cabbage and salt, preparing sauerkraut at home requires a lot of planning. The process can take anywhere from three to eight weeks, depending on the temperature and a willingness to put up with the beery smell of fermenting leaves.

Bonnie North, leader of the Baltimore chapter of Slow Food USA, has been dubbed "Kraut Mother" by the staff at Gertrude's for her willingness to monitor four large, new plastic garbage cans of fermenting kraut in her basement. The finished product is served at the restaurant's annual Kraut Fest, held in early January.

In a week or so, staff members at Gertrude's will start their annual process: shredding about 200 pounds of cabbage, tossing it with sea salt, then placing it in the 30-gallon containers a few inches at a time, mashing each layer to crush the membrane of the leaf until juice oozes out. The containers are then hauled to North's basement.

"There's no water involved," North says. But as the lactobacillus eats away at the cabbage, natural liquids are released and bubble to the top. Every few days, North ventures down to her smelly cellar and dismantles the setup of each can: the heavy pail of water acting as a compressing weight on the large container, the clean plastic bag that keeps air out, the soaked napkins directly on the cabbage itself (which she either replaces or rinses). She then skims off any liquid and foam from the mixture beneath, checking that everything is the way it should be: moist but not soupy. "I taste it to make sure it isn't rancid and then close it up again," she says.

Gertrude's Kraut Fest started about six years ago, when the restaurant's chef, John Shields, hired a sous-chef from Croatia. Shields, who delights in talking about his German grandmother, Gertie (for whom the restaurant is named), found a comrade in Tomislav Niksic. Niksic's own grandmother, Maria, had helped her village after it lost most of its men in World War II by taking on the strenuous task of pounding cabbage to make sauerkraut. "She also went around the village helping people butcher the pigs," Niksic says.

While sharing Granny stories, the two found that, though their kraut-prep methods differed slightly, the outcome was the same. They decided to have a sauerkraut cook-off of sorts, each contributing recipes. What began as a couple of chafing dishes in Gertrude's bar area has evolved into a two-night party, with the restaurant closed for regular business to clear a space for dancing to live polka music. The menu of sauerkraut dishes includes vegan pasta, bratwurst and sauerkraut ice cream, with German beer to wash it all down.

Niksic, now the chef at Le Meridien Hotel near Split, Croatia, says the main difference between the sauerkraut made in his grandmother's mountain village and the American version is that in his country, heads of cabbage are packed whole between layers of shredded cabbage. There's also a variation he calls "winter salad," in which pickled carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers are part of the mix.

In Croatia, the barrels are stored in the cellar. Some dirt-floored cellars were dug deeper than usual to ensure a cool, dark fermenting spot. Late-harvest cabbage with tight leaves was best for the job, so kraut generally was started in late autumn, at the time hogs were slaughtered. "People also started making their brandy then," Niksic says. "November was a time of hard work." By late December, the meat was cured, the brandy was ready and the sauerkraut had reached its peak, just in time for Christmas. "Like everywhere in the world, a celebration means a full table," says Niksic.

And in some places, a holiday table isn't really full without sauerkraut.

Martha Thomas is a Baltimore-based freelance writer who previously had encountered sauerkraut only on her hot dogs at Fenway Park.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110300596.html

Gertie's Sauerkraut and Apples

The Washington Post, November 4, 2009

• • Course: Side Dish

Summary:

For an uptown version of this dish, substitute 2 cups dry champagne for the beer and add 1 teaspoon minced ginger to the onion and apples as they cook.

8 generous servings

Ingredients:

• • 12 ounces beer
• • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick) or olive oil
• • 4 slices uncooked bacon, cut into 1/2-inch-wide pieces (optional)
• • 1 small onion, cut into thin slices (3/4 cup)
• • 3 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds) tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices
• • 32 ounces homemade or store-bought sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
• • 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• • Salt
• • Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Pour the beer into a liquid measuring cup and allow it to go flat.

Meanwhile, melt the butter or heat the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. If using bacon, add it now and cook for a few minutes to render its fat, then add the onion and apples; mix to coat evenly. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until the onion and apples have softened slightly.

Add the sauerkraut; use tongs to incorporate with the onion and apples, then add the beer and caraway seeds. Mix well; season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bring to a boil, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to medium or medium-low so the liquid barely bubbles at the edges. Cook for 45 minutes; use tongs to move the sauerkraut around occasionally, until the apples are quite soft and the sauerkraut has mellowed. Taste, and adjust the seasoning as needed. Serve warm.

Recipe Source:

Adapted from John Shields, chef at Gertrude’s in Baltimore.

224 calories, 15g fat, 3g saturated fat, 8mg cholesterol, 796mg sodium, 17g carbohydrates, 5g dietary fiber, 9g sugar, 2g protein.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Per serving (using olive oil)
Calories: 224
% Daily Values*
Total Fat: 15g	23
Saturated Fat: 3g	15
Cholesterol: 8mg	3
Sodium: 796mg	33
Total Carbohydrates: 17g	6
Dietary Fiber: 5g	20
Sugar: 9g
Protein: 2g

*Percent Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Total Fat:	Less than	65g
Saturated Fat:	Less than	20g
Cholesterol:	Less than	300mg
Sodium:	Less than	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrates:		300g
Dietary Fiber:		25g

Tested by Bonnie S. Benwick for The Washington Post.
E-mail the Food Section at food@washpost.com with recipe questions.

Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake

The Washington Post, November 4, 2009

• • Course: Dessert

Summary:

This cake is rich and dense; the sauerkraut gives it a slight bite. Serve it unfrosted, or spread it with a simple buttercream frosting.

MAKE AHEAD: The cake can be cooled completely, then wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month.

Makes two 8-inch, single-layer cakes (16 servings)

Ingredients:

• • 10 2/3 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pans
• • 2 1/4 cups flour, plus more for the pans
• • 1 1/2 cups sugar
• • 3 large eggs
• • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• • 1 teaspoon baking powder
• • 1/2 teaspoon salt
• • 1 teaspoon baking soda
• • 1 cup water
• • 2/3 cup homemade or store-bought sauerkraut, rinsed, drained and finely chopped

Directions:

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Use a little butter to grease two 8-inch cake pans; then flour them, shaking out any excess flour. If desired, place 8-inch circles of parchment paper or wax paper in the bottom of each pan.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer; beat on medium speed for 5 minutes, until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition, and the vanilla extract.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and baking soda on a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper.

Reduce the speed to low; add the flour mixture alternately with the water, beating until smooth.

Use a spatula to fold in the drained, chopped sauerkraut until well incorporated. Divide the thick batter evenly between the 2 prepared pans, leveling the surfaces.

Place both pans on the middle rack and bake for about 30 minutes or until the cakes spring back lightly when touched. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Source:

Adapted from a recipe by John Shields of Gertrude's in Baltimore.

226 calories, 9g fat, 6g saturated fat, 60mg cholesterol, 221mg sodium, 34g carbohydrates, 2g dietary fiber, 19g sugar, 4g protein.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: Per serving
Calories: 226
% Daily Values*
Total Fat: 9g	14
Saturated Fat: 6g	30
Cholesterol: 60mg	20
Sodium: 221mg	9
Total Carbohydrates: 34g	11
Dietary Fiber: 2g	8
Sugar: 19g
Protein: 4g

*Percent Daily Value based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Total Fat:	Less than	65g
Saturated Fat:	Less than	20g
Cholesterol:	Less than	300mg
Sodium:	Less than	2,400mg
Total Carbohydrates:		300g
Dietary Fiber:		25g

Tested by Martha Thomas for The Washington Post.
E-mail the Food Section at food@washpost.com with recipe questions.

All sauerkraut, all the time

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

-- Saveur magazine includes a simple sauerkraut recipe in its current issue. The basic recipe found online at the National Center for Home Food Preservation calls for 25 pounds of cabbage with 3/4 cup salt and yields nine quarts of sauerkraut. Chef John Shields of Gertrude's in Baltimore says that, following the same directions, 10 pounds of cabbage with 6 tablespoons of salt should yield four to five quarts.

-- To prevent scurvy in the 1700s, British explorer Capt. James Cook's provisions included "40 bushels of malt, 1000 lb of portable soup, vinegar, mustard, wheat, together with 'proper Quantities of sauer Kraut."

-- In the introduction to his 1996 book, "Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom," Sidney Mintz writes evocatively about his Belarus-born father's cabbage and sauerkraut soup. Mintz, a professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, recalls his father's stories about digging deep trenches to line with wood for curing kraut when he was serving in the czar's army. "Once a soldier fell in and drowned in the sauerkraut," Mintz says.

-- During World War I, sauerkraut was rebranded as "liberty cabbage" to counter anti-German sentiment. Years later, Baltimore native H.L. Mencken wrote about it in his column called Table Words, published in the New York American and Los Angeles Examiner, Dec. 24, 1934: "When, during the World War, certain super-patriots went about the country seeking to extirpate every vestige of the German Kultur, they quickly collided with sauerkraut and were bested by it. Unable to induce Americans to stop eating it, they tried to change its name to liberty cabbage, but the only reply was a laugh, and it went on under its original colors."

-- The next Kraut Fest will take place Jan. 9-10 at Gertrude's at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr., 410-889-3399. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door; there will be a cash bar.

-- Martha Thomas