Psychoactive Drugs

Drug Use is Up, Especially For Mom & Dad

Forget those rosy headlines you've seen about drug use being down among young Americans. If you actually read the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health, it says illicit toking, snorting and injecting is actually up in these here United States of America. The data shows that overall drug use ... More >>

'Bad Ecstasy' Rumors Are B.S.; Even Pure Molly Kills

Four suspected ecstasy overdose deaths on the East Coast in the last week have put the drug, long popular in rave-crazed Los Angeles, back in the headlines. One of the first reactions among ravers and even some medical professionals sympathetic to the substance also known as MDMA or molly is that w ... More >>

Marijuana: Law Would Create California Pot Police

A state law proposed this week would protect marijuana dispensaries "already operating legally under city or county laws" from local cops while creating a statewide police and regulatory agency that would oversee the pot shops. The legislation by California state Sen. Tom Ammiano mirrors a failed a ... More >>

Weed is World's Most-Popular Drug

Smoke pot? Don't lie! Look who you're talkin' to. LA Weekly. Yes, Cannabis Rules Everything Around Me. Anyway, if you do partake of the wacky tobacky, consider yourself in good company. Weed is the most popular illicit drug on the planet. So says a new study published this week. According to the r ... More >>

Marijuana: Congress About to Check Obama's Pot Crackdown

The Obama administration's crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries in places like Los Angeles has gone on fairly unimpeded. After all, the president is in many ways the law. See also: Marijuana Dispensary Crackdown by Feds in Echo Park, Westlake, Long Beach. Except that it's congress that make ... More >>

Marijuana: Federal Prison is Out For Minor Pot Crimes

The United States has five percent of the world's population but 25 percent of the people behind bars. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder today blamed the nation's draconian drug sentencing laws and guidelines on this $80 billion-a-year problem as he announced that small-time drug offenses would no ... More >>

Marijuana: Is Obama Administration Softening Stance on Pot?

It's the Obama administration Department of Justice that has been raiding and shutting down marijuana dispensaries in medical-legal places like, oh, right here in Los Angeles. That alone has produced a love-hate relationship between the cannabis nation and a president who admitted inhaling in his y ... More >>

Marijuana: Obama is Champion Spender on Medical Enforcement

President Obama has said cracking down on medical marijuana in states where it's legal, like California, wouldn't be a priority for his law enforcement agencies. But a new report by the group Americans for Safe Access not only says that Obama has been tough on weed, but that his administration's sp ... More >>

Marijuana: Most Doctors Want to be Able to Prescribe Pot

The debate about medical marijuana has come to a new conclusion in the city of Los Angeles: We have too many dispensaries, and about 9 out of 10 of them will have to be shut down. That's according to the results of the May election, which saw the victory of Measure D. It will only allow less than 1 ... More >>

Trail Blazing: Eight Great Pioneers of Pot

Tommy ChongBy Michael Goldstein Tommy Chong is perhaps the biggest celebrity on this list, as a longtime comedian, movie star and half of the still-working duo Cheech & Chong. He is both a hero, as a longtime marijuana advocate, and a martyr, as a veteran of nine months in federal prison for ru ... More >>

Blunt Talk

Marijuana Would Be Policed By Calif. Alcohol Authorities Under New Proposal

Who regulates medical marijuana in California? Well, basically, nobody. State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano wants to change that. Today he announced legislation, introduced last month, that would bring medical cannabis under the policing of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control. The pr ... More >>

Marijuana Drivers With A Trace In Their Systems Will Get DUIs Under Proposed Law

Medical marijuana states have been struggling with how to deal with drivers increasingly under the influence of cannabis. It's a tricky issue because weed is hard to detect. But as the state reported last year that nearly a third of California road crashes involved drugged drivers, one California l ... More >>

Marijuana Remains 'Schedule 1' Outlaw Under Federal Court Ruling Today

Despite growing evidence that marijuana is more than just a buzz-drug, a federal appeals court rejected an attempt to reclassify pot as a medically recognized substance. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today voted 2-1 to agree with lower courts that "adequate and well-contro ... More >>

Top 10 Marijuana News Stories For 2012, LA Weekly-Style

If you like drama and marijuana together, then 2012 was the year for you: It was jam-packed with topsy-turvy cannabis news. As the Obama administration cracked down on medical marijuana dispensaries in California, the president himself said pot users in marijuana-legal states shouldn't be prosecut ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Business Supported By Majority Of L.A. City Voters

It looks like two initiatives to regulate pot shops in L.A. are marching toward the March city ballot. (Retailers appear to be trying to regulate themselves before the L.A. City Council tries to do so ... again). The folks at Loyola Marymount University's Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the St ... More >>

Marijuana: Some Cops Actually Happy About States' Weed Legalization

Federal authorities might not be so giddy about the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington, but some city cops are. Well, some. The group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, long opposed to state and federal laws that make jail-bait of tokers in California and elsewhere, is absolute ... More >>

Aaron Sandusky, Marijuana Dispensary Operator, Faces Up To Life Behind Bars

We called him a brave man. And that he was. Aaron Sandusky, cannabis dispensary operator, is probably going to federal prison to atone for your medical marijuana sins. Over the weekend the 42-year-old was convicted by a federal jury of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana plants, possession of pot w ... More >>

Marijuana Trial: Brave SoCal Pot Shop Owner Aaron Sandusky Fights Feds

If you run a medical marijuana dispensary, what do you do when federal authorities bust down your door, arrest you, and haul you into court on drug possession and distribution charges, as they've been doing in L.A. lately? U.S. district courts have not recognized California's medical pot laws, so w ... More >>

Carmen Trutanich Blames Opponent Mike Feuer For Failure of L.A.'s Medical Marijuana Ban

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich has been pushing for a "gentle ban" on marijuana dispensaries all year. So when the L.A. City Council backed down under threat of a referendum and repealed the ban earlier this week, it came as a pretty staggering defeat.Trutanich has had a few days to think about it, ... More >>

Marijuana Crackdown by Feds Targets ALL Downtown, Eagle Rock Pot Shops

See also: *Medical Weed's Stay of Execution in L.A. *How to Grow Weed in Los Angeles If Dispensaries Go Away. Federal authorities today moved to shut down all marijuana dispensaries in the downtown area and Eagle Rock as well as one in the city of Huntington Park. The move is part of an ongoing ef ... More >>

Medical Weed's Stay of Execution in L.A.

LAPD could crack down before March ballot measure

Marijuana Dispensary Lawsuit Seeks to Stop L.A. Pot Shop Ban From Taking Effect Sept. 6

Updated at the bottom with the city's response. First posted at 1:29 p.m. A group representing 300 marijuana dispensaries in L.A. filed suit today in an attempt to stop L.A.'s pot shop ban from taking effect Sept. 6. The Patient Care Alliance-Los Angeles was filing the suit at L.A Superior Court l ... More >>

Bath Salts, Synthetic Marijuana Can Now be Drug Tested (Hallelujah)

We here in the medical marijuana capital of the nation think drug testing is, in general, invasive and, frankly, un-American. Freedom also applies to your highness. But ... we'll make an exception for synthetic marijuana and bath salts, two recently outlawed drugs that make ecstasy look like a mira ... More >>

Marijuana's Legitimacy as Medicine Heads to Federal Court

Is marijuana medicine? That's the question before a federal court this week as medical cannabis advocates celebrate a 10-year journey to overturn the government's classification of pot as an outlaw drug worse than cocaine. A challenge to a Drug Enforcement Administration denial of a petition to re ... More >>

Marijuana Users' Rights Prompt Santa Monica to Reverse Smoking Ban

The Santa Monica City Council earlier this month voted to approve a jaw-dropping ban of smoking in your own apartment. But on "second reading," when a final vote was required, the council backed down. Why? Members forgot to take into consideration the smoking rights of medical marijuana patients. ... More >>

Marijuana Law Would Give California Dispensaries a Chance Against Federal Prosecution

When feds bust down the doors of medical marijuana dispensaries in California and -- lo and behold -- find cannabis, operators can be liable for some serious time behind bars. Medical pot is legal in California, you say. True, but the federal government doesn't recognize it. To them pot shop owners ... More >>

Marijuana Has No Legit Medical Use, Feds Say; New SoCal Study Calls B.S.

Uncle Sam still doesn't recognize pot as medicine. In fact, under U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rules, it's considered worse than cocaine: Cannabis is a top, "Schedule I" outlaw, which means it has "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, and there is a lack of ac ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensary Bans Overturned by California Court, Pot-Access Activists Say

Can local governments in California ban marijuana dispensaries, as the city of Los Angeles seems poised to do soon? California's 2nd District Court of Appeal appeared to have said no in what medical access proponents are interpreting as a "landmark decision" this week. In County of Los Angeles v. ... More >>

Drug War Leads to More HIV?

Updated at the bottom with some of the report's findings. First posted on June 21. In L.A. your favorite outlaw drug, marijuana, is pretty much legit and widely available (for now). But what if it wasn't? What if you had to scrounge around dirty, dark alleys, buy your fix from shady drug dealers, ... More >>

10 Raver Deaths in 5 Years: Ecstasy Often Blamed

A Canadian doctor who wants to legalize ecstasy says the drug is safe and that it's only the adulterated version of MDMA you find on the street that can kill you. But doctors at Los Angeles emergency rooms have told us that pure ecstasy can kill, including causing vital oxygen deprivation to organs ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensaries Don't Seem to Lead to Neighborhood Crime -- UCLA Study

When respected Santa Monica think tank RAND last year withdrew its controversial study suggesting marijuana dispensaries actually reduced crime in their neighborhoods, the momentum on the issue went to the cops: L.A. police have long argued -- citing anecdotal evidence including murder, robbery and ... More >>

Fast Times at L.A. City Hall: Pot-Shop Ban Pushed Forward After Shady Closed Session

What happened behind closed doors at yesterday's L.A. City Council meeting? Given the whole closed-door thing, it's hard to say. What we do know is that before L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson formed a secret huddle that lasted for over half an hour, a soft/sane proposal for pot-shop regulat ... More >>

3 Out of 4 Americans Want Obama Off Medical Marijuana's Back

Obama's flip-flop on medical marijuana last month might seem like a political ploy meant to appease Middle Americans for whom legit cannabis dispensaries aren't even an option, let alone a right. After all, if you don't like it, who are going to vote for? Mitt Romney? Yeah right. But it turns out ... More >>

Marijuana Prices in California Plummet Following Obama's Crackdowns

Thanks to President Obama and the federal crackdown on medical marijuana in California, gray-market weed prices are plummeting. That might be good for you guys who don't have your doctors' recommendations yet, but cannabis growers in the weed-cultivation capital of the nation, Humboldt County, are ... More >>

Daniel Chong's 5-Day Nightmare Behind Bars Sparks Outrage for Marijuana Nation

The case of Daniel Chong, the UCSD student who was locked up by the DEA and forgotten for nearly five days as he tried to commit suicide and drank his own urine, has fired up the marijuana nation. As news hit that Chong was filing a $20 million legal claim against the DEA, Ethan Nadelmann, executiv ... More >>

Marijuana Law That Would Protect Dispensaries Passes Public Safety Committee

At a time when medical marijuana in California is under attack both by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and cities, like L.A. and Long Beach, that want to ban dispensaries altogether, California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano has answer. It's called AB 2312, and the proposed law would regulate pot ... More >>

Rick Steves, Famed Travel Writer and Pot Advocate: 20 Questions

"I'm a travel writer, and for me, high is a place"

Smoking Marijuana a Month Ago Could Get You a DUI Today Under Proposed Law

Updated at the bottom: A group of current and former law enforcement officers has urged the lawmaker to withdraw this bill. First posted at 7:03 a.m. The problem with lawmakers is that they feel the need to make laws, even when they're unneeded or unfair. The pro-marijuana group NORML is up in arm ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensary Workers Taken in by Powerful Labor Union UFCW

It's going to be a lot tougher for L.A. politicians to wage their war on pot shops when dispensary workers belong to the same unions that City Hall is in bed with. United Food and Commercial Workers -- and UFCW Local 770, in particular -- has decided to take medical-marijuana dispensary workers und ... More >>

Ecstasy Use Can Increase Your Chance of Having a Baby Boy (And Other Bad Things)

Ah, yes, ecstasy: The drug that makes you feel good before you feel really bad. Turns out there's another reason for E users in this rave capital of the nation to consider sticking with marijuana: A recent Case Western Reserve University study found that a pregnant mom's ecstasy use could be bad ... More >>

Marijuana Supporters, Cypress Hill, Tommy Chong to Hit Downtown Streets for 'SmokeOut' Protest Today

Downtown L.A. will be smelling quite skunky this afternoon. That's because the "Smokeout For Safe Access Rally" featuring Cypress Hill, Tommy Chong, Kottonmouth Kings and more is set to hit the area (and we do mean "hit") starting at 4 p.m. The event aims to protest both a proposed L.A. city ban o ... More >>

Marijuana Can Help Prevent Suicide, Study Suggests

Marijuana does many magical things, not the least of which is make dubstep listenable. In Los Angeles, we use it pretty much legally for back pain, nausea and hot tubbing. But a new study from Germany says that, in U.S. states like California where marijuana has become medically legit, rates of sui ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Ban in L.A.? City Officials Botched Regulation, Now Want Prohibition

Medical weed ban heads to City Council

Marijuana Sold For Profit at California Dispensaries? Guy Who Wrote The Law on This, John Vasconcellos, Says it's Legit

Troy Holden​One of the rallying cries of those opposed to the proliferation of pot shops in places like Los Angeles is that medical marijuana was never meant to be for-profit in the state of California. Yet, in L.A., the weed game has clearly become about money and entrepreneurship, so much s ... More >>

Jimmy Luong, L.A. Ecstasy Kingpin, Gets 22 Years Behind Bars

And then there was agony. Jimmy Luong, a 30-year-old from Monterey Park, was somewhat of an Ecstasy kingpin in these parts, responsible for the distribution of at least 1 million pills in just a few months' time, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A. Now he'll be living in a cell ...

Marijuana Legalization Pioneer Is Against Proposed Ballot Initiative to Regulate and Tax Pot Shops in California

Strange bedfellows in the world of medical marijuana now that the dispensary business might start to unravel in Southern California. Some pro-medical marijuana folks actually want the state to regulate the industry better: It might save dispensaries from cities that want to ban them outright. So th ... More >>

America Wants Marijuana Reform, Former LAPD Leader Tells Obama Via YouTube: Will He Respond?

Updated at the bottom with Obama's response. First posted at 7:01 a.m. The people who want to decriminalize marijuana are bringing the issue to President Obama this morning. A retired LAPD deputy chief, Stephen Downing, submitted a video to the White House in which he asks what the president would ... More >>

Marijuana Dispensaries Could See New Law Enforcement 'Bureau' Under Proposed California Initiative

Mikey Wally​Updated at the bottom with the exact language of the proposal. First posted at 7:05 a.m. today Some of the staunchest advocates of the retail marijuana trade want to create a new statewide police department strictly to keep an eye on pot shops -- and they want you to vote yes on i ... More >>

Rave Drug Ecstasy Causes 'Lasting Changes in Brain' Says New Research

Ceasar SebastianRavers.​The stereotype of the e-tard, the raver who uses so much ecstasy he becomes mentally defective, might have some basis in fact. A Vanderbilt University psychiatry professor concludes in recent research that MDMA, the drug favored at parties here in the rave capital of t ... More >>