Headlines: 24 July 2008

• Guns ruling spawns legal challenges by felons: What? You don't like that you lost your right to bear arms after being convicted of a felony? What about losing your right to vote? You don't care? Hmm, lemme think...NO.
• Is Afghanistan a Narco-State?: POPPIES! The Taliban has been using the opium/heroin trade to finance their insurgency, but President Hamid Karzai has avoided eradicating poppies in the south for his own short-term political gains.
• Turkey makes 'coup plot' arrests: Worrying.
• Congress Revisits Military's Policy on Gays: 75% of Americans think gays should be able to serve openly in the military.
• How Sudan Was Brought to Court: Sudanese leaders are being charged with genocide after three years of diplomatic filibustering.
• Iraqi teams banned from Beijing Olympic games for accusations of political interference.
• Poll: Latinos favor Obama by big margin: "'Hispanics seem to have seamlessly shifted from Clinton to Obama,' said Susan Minushkin."

Pass on the Grass

So, according to yet another new study, this time of seized marijuana from 48 states, THC levels are almost double what they were in 1983. This translates into "increased potency of marijuana, including the risk of mental impairment, respiratory problems, addiction, the correlation between pot use and teen depression, and its status as a gateway drug," according to the press release from the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. The press release also states, "Baby boomer parents who still think marijuana is a harmless substance need to look at the facts."

However, for many, this is not new information. The real concerns are first, what took so long for the White House to pick up on this dangerous new trend and secondly, what effective policies are being developed and implemented to combat the damaging effects?

If anyone has any good suggestions, aside from reinstating Reagan's War on "Drugs," feel free to post them as comments and let's hope the White House gets a whiff of this.



For the full report in PDF format, click here.

For the full press release, click here.