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All Chronicle blogs, all the time
The scene turned inside art
Getting in bed with books
Come on in the kitchen
Sizing up screens big and small
Get the wax out
Your base on balls
Elements of style
Steer here, queers
Welcome to the new Chronicle blogs! Stay tuned all this week as we roll out exciting new blog features.
Reefer Madness
Kerlikowske Just Says "No"
Jordan Smith
Tue Nov 3, 9:18am
Tags: war on drugs
The National Drug Control Strategy needs to be a "balanced one" – but not one that contemplates legalization, says White House drug czar Gil Kerlikowske.
Treatment or Jail
Jordan Smith
Tue Nov 3, 7:55am
Tags: Marijuana
More than half of all people admitted to rehab for marijuana use have been sent there by the criminal justice system, reports the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Crack Busters
Jordan Smith
Mon Oct 19, 5:21pm
Tags: war on drugs
Drug-law reform advocates with Families Against Mandatory Minimums say all the pieces are now in place to finally eradicate the notorious 100-to-one crack to powder cocaine federal sentencing guidelines.
More Pot Up in Smoke
Jordan Smith
Fri Oct 16, 4:44pm
Tags: Marijuana
Another day, another pot bust for the Texas Dept. of Public Safety. Indeed, this is the third bust in as many weeks -- and the second big indoor grow bust in Austin this month.
Where Not to Hide Your Weed
Jordan Smith
Tue Oct 13, 4:53pm
Tags: Marijuana
The Department of Public Safety is having another stellar drug-seizure month with a pair of big busts kicking off the fall season.
Frustrated Farmers Jailed
Jordan Smith
Tue Oct 13, 2:48pm
Members of the Hemp Industries Association and two aspiring hemp farmers were arrested this morning for digging up the lawn at the Virginia headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration where the group was trying to plant industrial hemp seeds.
Growing Grass in the Bluegrass State
Jordan Smith
Mon Oct 12, 10:50am
Kentucky may soon be able to add its name to the list of nine states where farmers can legally grow industrial hemp -- that is, if Dem State Sen. Joey Pendelton has anything to say about it.
Smoke Local
Jordan Smith
Wed Oct 7, 3:58pm
Tags: Marijuana
If you toke here, maybe its time to...err, I can't think of a catchy rhyme...time to, you know, donate to the cause. That's right, the Fourth Annual Sixth Street Smokeout to benefit Texas NORML is just around the corner.
Drug Czar Ditches Drug Conference in El Paso
Jordan Smith
Mon Sep 21, 6:21pm
Tags: war on drugs
After confirming their attendance earlier this year, federal drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, and federal border czar Alan Bersin both ditched the University of Texas at El Paso-hosted Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs this week, reports El Paso's Newspaper Tree.
DPS Digs Dope in East Texas
Jordan Smith
Tue Sep 8, 5:40pm
Tags: Marijuana
September is already looking like a good month for drug busters with the Texas Dept. of Public Safety who since Thursday have seized approximately 15,000 marijuana plants in one bust and another 3,212 pounds of pot during a traffic stop.
Back to School...on Drugs?
Jordan Smith
Wed Sep 2, 3:48pm
Teens who have seen their parents drunk at least once are twice as likely to get drunk, and three times as likely to smoke pot or cigarettes, according to a new study from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
Baby Boomers Still Using Drugs
Jordan Smith
Tue Aug 25, 7:09am
Drug use among adults between the ages of 50 and 59 is on the rise, a factor "driven" by the "aging of the Baby Boom cohort," which has a higher lifetime drug use rate than previous generations, reports the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration -- but not, it seems, a higher percentage of lifetime users than subsequent generations.
Smoke 'Em if You Got 'Em
Jordan Smith
Fri Aug 21, 7:11pm
Mexico has finally passed a new law that decriminalizes the use and possession of small amounts of most drugs.
Death For Tokers
Jordan Smith
Fri Aug 14, 12:13pm
Crazy Alert: According to NORML, Georgia Republican state Rep. Tommy Benton really, really thinks pot stinks. So much so that in a response to a constituent, who emailed asking the rep about his stance on legalizing weed, Benton opined that he is opposed to legalization. But that's not all: "I think we should go to caning for people caught using and maybe execute dealers," he wrote in the email. "That is what they do in Singapore and they don't have a drug problem."
West Campus Murder Motivated by Drug Debt
Jordan Smith
Sun Jul 26, 3:42pm
Austin Police Lt. Mark Spangler said 19-year-old James Richard "Ricky" Thompson has told police things that only a killer would know about last week's double homicide at an apartment in West Campus.
Medi-Pot Patients Score Two Wins
Jordan Smith
Sat Jul 25, 9:36am
Tags: Marijuana
This week Oakland, Calif., voters overwhelmingly approved a new business tax on medi-pot dispensaries.
Marijuana Coast to Coast
Jordan Smith
Wed Jul 8, 4:52pm
So far it's been a hot summer for marijuana-law reformers across the country. The action has been particularly hoppin' in California where the quest to have the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis 2010 initiative placed on next year's ballot has brought out the reasoned and the loony alike.
Hemp Hemp Hoorah!
Jordan Smith
Wed Jul 1, 8:51am
Oregon is poised to join the growing number of states that have reauthorized industrial hemp farming -- the environmentally-friendly, non-narcotic cousin of marijuana. On Monday, lawmakers there overwhelmingly voted in favor of the legalization measure, which now awaits the signature of Gov. Ted Kulongoski. If signed, Oregon would become the ninth state to remove legal barriers to its production.
Pot Possession Becomes a Death Sentence in Harris County
Jordan Smith
Tue Jun 30, 2:42pm
Although former national drug czar John Walters liked to say – often with a smirk on his face – that no one in America goes to jail for marijuana possession, the truth is that they do – routinely.
Maryland Mayor Sues Cops Over Botched Drug Raid
Jordan Smith
Tue Jun 30, 7:32am
Berwyn Heights, Maryland, Mayor Cheye Calvo is suing the Prince George's Co. Sheriff's Office, hoping that the court will order the county to change the way it deploys its SWAT team -- an effort to ensure that no other families will have to endure what Calvo and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, did in August 2008, when officials killed the their two dogs during a botched drug raid at their home.
Easing Pot Penalties
Jordan Smith
Mon Jun 29, 8:04am
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., has renewed the call for more sensible federal pot policies, filing two bills: one that would ease penalties related to minor possession, and another that would ban the feds from interfering with medicinal use of the drug.
Supremes Stand for Individual Rights
Jordan Smith
Fri Jun 26, 5:04pm
On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two rulings strengthening individual rights against state power. In the first, the court redefined the right of students to be free from unreasonable searches. In the second, the court reinforced the right of defendants to confront witnesses against them.
High-Potency Poppycock
Jordan Smith
Mon Jun 22, 8:22am
Chicago-area GOP U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk says today’s pot dealers are not just out to get you high – they’re out to get you really, really, really high, and to make a crap-load of cash doing it.
Medi-Pot Roundup
Jordan Smith
Fri Jun 5, 12:39pm
So far, it's been an action packed year for medical marijuana advocates – indeed, so much has been happening that its been hard to keep up. In an effort to get current, Reefer Madness has compiled this cheat sheet of recent highlights:
Austin Coke Traffickers in Federal Pokey
Jordan Smith
Fri Jun 5, 8:39am
Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said Wednesday that an uptick in violent street crime and gang activity in neighborhoods across the city was the impetus for a more than two-year joint local-state-federal task force investigation that ended with 28 defendants sentenced to between three and 27 years in federal prison.
"It is a good day for anyone who abhors violence," Acevedo said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference.
