Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Synthetic marijuana

Synthetic marijuana such as Spice and K2, sold as incense, is legal in Ohio and probably elsewhere.

ttp://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/ohio-rep-seeks-ban-on-synthetic-weed-product-1004526.html

In California, marijuana possession no more serious than a speeding ticket

In California, marijuana possession has been reduced from a misdemeanor to an infraction that does not require arrest or create a criminal record.  It is the equivalent of a speeding ticket that require paying a fine.  For details, see http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/02/us/politics/02pot.html?hp

Beer vs pot in California

According to Ryan Grim at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/this-buds-not-for-you-bee_n_732901.html, the California beer distribution lobby is spending money to fight a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana.  Apparently beer and pot are competitors for the same dollars at least some of the time.

LA marijuana competes with Emerald Triangle

Traditionally most of the country's pot comes from Northern California's Emerald Triangle.  Drug enforcement officials are puzzled by a new competitor: marijuana from Southern California, especially Los Angeles County.  For more, see the Wall Street Journal article here.

Concern over K2 persuades eight states to ban synthetic marijuana

The New York Times reports the growing controversy over K2, a blend of herbs with synthetic marijuana. For more, see here.

Legalizing marijuana (and alcohol) as a panacea for the taxpayer

Daniel Okrent puts into historical perspective the argument that legalizing marijuana would provide vast revenue that could save the taxpayer from the alternative of government deficits or new taxes.  He looks at the false hope of DuPont and other conservatives who imagined that the repeal of alcohol prohibition would provide enough tax revenue to permit the repeal of the federal income tax.  For more, see here.

"The new marijuana": where do we blow from here?

In 1996 California legalized medical marijuana.  Since anybody can find a physician who will write a prescription for pot, Los Angeles now has more marijuana shops than it does Starbucks coffee shops.  NPR asks what is the next step for marijuana in California and elsewhere in the USA.  For more, see here.

Where marijuana is in fashion (book)

Bill Weinberg, Cannabis Trips: A Global Guide that Leaves Not Turn Unstoned (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2010).  The British publisher is Crombie Jardine.

Where marijuana is in fashion (book)

Bill Weinberg, Cannabis Trips: A Global Guide that Leaves Not Turn Unstoned (Running Press, 2010).

The joint? it's all in the name of research (and Amsterdam's Cannabis Cup)

Novelist Mark Haskell Smith discusses his forthcoming novel, Baked, and his research in Amsterdam's marijuana culture.  For more, see here.