Editor's note: The author is the co-author of the book, "Marijuana Is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?"(Chelsea Green, 2009). He will be discussing his book at the John F. Kennedy Library, Joseph Room, 505 Santa Clara Street, today at noon.

Speaking privately with Richard Nixon in 1971, the late Art Linkletter offered this view on the use of marijuana versus alcohol. "When people smoke marijuana, they smoke it to get high. In every case, when most people drink, they drink to be sociable."

"That's right, that's right," Nixon agreed. "A person does not drink to get drunk ... A person drinks to have fun."

timesheraldonline.com

The Sheriff's Department eradicated more than 19,000 marijuana plants at an illegal grow site in the Angeles National Forest southwest of Lancaster, deputies said in a statement Saturday.

cbs2.com

As spiritual events go, it was an unusual request.

"If there's anybody here who's a member of law enforcement, you don't have to identify yourself, just please leave," the Rev. Timothy Tipton told a crowd at Denver's Oriental Theater. "This is a private event."

Thus went a stop on the Cannabis Church Revival Tour, a three-event swing along the Front Range last week promoting the religious use of marijuana and its potential as a legal defense against pot prosecution. The tour was organized by the Rev. Roger Christie, founder of The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, as a way to spread awareness about his church and its affiliates. But Christie said his visit to Colorado had, in part, a more specific purpose: to reach out to people disgruntled by new state medical-marijuana laws they think are too restrictive.

denverpost.com
kktv.com

The World Drug Report 2010, issued today at the National Press Club in Washington by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), shows that drug use is shifting towards new drugs and new markets. Drug cultivation is declining in Afghanistan (for opium) and the Andean countries (coca), and drug use has stabilized in the developed world. However, there are signs of an increase in drug use in developing countries, and growing abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and prescription drugs around the world.

unodc.org

Drugs such as amphetamine-type stimulants and prescription medications are more and more what people are choosing according to the United Nations Drug Report for 2010. The number using such drugs will eventually exceed those using opiates and cocaine. Drug use in developed countries has remained relatively stable says the document. But in developing countries it is increasing.

care2.com

Claudia Cowan – a “reporter” for Fox News and therefore supposedly impartial when it comes to news stories – took to the Foxnews.com blog today to spew her anti-marijuana propaganda.

Commenting on the proposal to tax and regulate marijuana on California’s ballot this fall, she had this to say:

The initiative is sponsored by Richard Lee, the founder of the Bay Area’s Oaksterdam University, a marijuana trade school. “We see this as a first step, and it does leave it open for the legislature to expand upon it, and to establish a statewide regulation system,” Lee says.

whyprohibition.ca

Back when I was working on the Nash Bridges show, Cheech Marin hired me to create these cartoons that were reflective of key events in his career. As far as I know, they were never actually used for anything other than a proof of concept for the publisher. But it was a fun project, and Cheech is one of the most fun clients I’ve ever worked with. Yes, he is funny even when he’s serious!

behance.net

Alcohol is the most popular recreational drug in the world and the most dangerous with 100,000 people dying annually in America from the direct health effects of drinking.

Alcohol use is also associated with half of all violent crime including vehicular homicide.

Marijuana is the second most popular recreational drug on our planet and the safest. No one has ever died from the effects of smoking weed. No statistics are available for marijuana-related violence because it almost never occurs.

news-press.com