Rhode Island Medical Marijuana News
Jan 30, 2012
The Brown Daily Herald, 30 Jan 2012 - The feeling is all too common -- an overwhelming sense of dizziness, compounded by an inability to place one foot in front of the other without stumbling. While this experience is typically induced by heavy drinking, students could mimic the effects of high blood alcohol content using special "beer goggles" at an event Friday sponsored by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, Health Services and the Greek Council. On a given day, the 15 to 20 members of Brown's chapter of SSDP may be found on the Main Green passing out flyers about the negative effects of government anti-drug efforts, at the Rhode Island State House protesting decisions they believe unfairly discriminate against drug users or in the basement of the Stephen Robert '62 Campus Center educating students on the dangers of alcohol abuse.
Oct 23, 2011
The Press, 20 Oct 2011 - A movement to legalize narcotics found local supporters during an Oct. 13 presentation at the Jamestown Philomenian Library. Some 30 islanders turned out to hear Jack Cole, a retired Garden State detective, deplore the failures of the U.S. war on drugs and his own role in a policy he eventually realized was disastrous. As an undercover detective, Cole devoted 14 years to throwing drug dealers and users in jail, he said, but now thinks the effort did more harm than good. With four other retired police officers, he has started a grass roots movement to change the U.S. drug policy. The nonprofit organization, dubbed Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, boasts 50,000 members, Cole said.
Oct 23, 2011
The Press, 20 Oct 2011 - A movement to legalize narcotics found local supporters during an Oct. 13 presentation at the Jamestown Philomenian Library. Some 30 islanders turned out to hear Jack Cole, a retired Garden State detective, deplore the failures of the U.S. war on drugs and his own role in a policy he eventually realized was disastrous. As an undercover detective, Cole devoted 14 years to throwing drug dealers and users in jail, he said, but now thinks the effort did more harm than good. With four other retired police officers, he has started a grass roots movement to change the U.S. drug policy. The nonprofit organization, dubbed Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, boasts 50,000 members, Cole said.
Jun 4, 2011
Journal-Inquirer, 04 Jun 2011 - Legislation to authorize the Correction Department to reduce sentences for prisoners who complete self-improvement programs is agitating minority Republicans as it gets rubber-stamping from the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. Republicans say that while the bill is dressed up as a public-safety measure, it is meant only to save money by reducing the prison population and will increase crime by parolees. Some prisoners convicted of violence, the Republicans note, might qualify for the rehabilitative programs and then earlier release. But of course it probably has been decades since anything good at the state Capitol has been done for the right reasons, and if someone's ulterior motives disqualified legislation, there might never be any law at all. Governor Malloy and prison administrators say the rehabilitative programs will do some good, and the chance of earning sentence reductions can be a valuable disciplinary tool with prisoners.
Jun 4, 2011
Journal-Inquirer, 04 Jun 2011 - Legislation to authorize the Correction Department to reduce sentences for prisoners who complete self-improvement programs is agitating minority Republicans as it gets rubber-stamping from the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. Republicans say that while the bill is dressed up as a public-safety measure, it is meant only to save money by reducing the prison population and will increase crime by parolees. Some prisoners convicted of violence, the Republicans note, might qualify for the rehabilitative programs and then earlier release. But of course it probably has been decades since anything good at the state Capitol has been done for the right reasons, and if someone's ulterior motives disqualified legislation, there might never be any law at all. Governor Malloy and prison administrators say the rehabilitative programs will do some good, and the chance of earning sentence reductions can be a valuable disciplinary tool with prisoners.
Jun 4, 2011
Journal-Inquirer, 04 Jun 2011 - Legislation to authorize the Correction Department to reduce sentences for prisoners who complete self-improvement programs is agitating minority Republicans as it gets rubber-stamping from the Democratic majority in the General Assembly. Republicans say that while the bill is dressed up as a public-safety measure, it is meant only to save money by reducing the prison population and will increase crime by parolees. Some prisoners convicted of violence, the Republicans note, might qualify for the rehabilitative programs and then earlier release. But of course it probably has been decades since anything good at the state Capitol has been done for the right reasons, and if someone's ulterior motives disqualified legislation, there might never be any law at all. Governor Malloy and prison administrators say the rehabilitative programs will do some good, and the chance of earning sentence reductions can be a valuable disciplinary tool with prisoners.
May 20, 2011
The Providence Journal, 18 May 2011 - Perhaps it is a sign of the weakness of the local economy, but businesspeople young and old are eyeing the Rhode Island marijuana business as potentially very lucrative perhaps more so than, say, liquor stores! But the rush to open these "compassion centers," at least officially to be marketed to sick people who seek the pain-relieving qualities of marijuana, has been considerably faster than federal officials' acceptance. The latest sign of their skepticism came a couple of weeks ago, when U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha said rather ominously that he considered that the three pot dispensaries so far tentatively approved by the Rhode Island Health Department would be large-scale, for-profit pot production centers in violation of federal law. One of them, Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick, plans to be serving 8,000 patients and taking in $25 million in revenue by 2013.
May 20, 2011
The Providence Journal, 18 May 2011 - Perhaps it is a sign of the weakness of the local economy, but businesspeople young and old are eyeing the Rhode Island marijuana business as potentially very lucrative perhaps more so than, say, liquor stores! But the rush to open these "compassion centers," at least officially to be marketed to sick people who seek the pain-relieving qualities of marijuana, has been considerably faster than federal officials' acceptance. The latest sign of their skepticism came a couple of weeks ago, when U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha said rather ominously that he considered that the three pot dispensaries so far tentatively approved by the Rhode Island Health Department would be large-scale, for-profit pot production centers in violation of federal law. One of them, Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick, plans to be serving 8,000 patients and taking in $25 million in revenue by 2013.
May 20, 2011
The Providence Journal, 18 May 2011 - Perhaps it is a sign of the weakness of the local economy, but businesspeople young and old are eyeing the Rhode Island marijuana business as potentially very lucrative perhaps more so than, say, liquor stores! But the rush to open these "compassion centers," at least officially to be marketed to sick people who seek the pain-relieving qualities of marijuana, has been considerably faster than federal officials' acceptance. The latest sign of their skepticism came a couple of weeks ago, when U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha said rather ominously that he considered that the three pot dispensaries so far tentatively approved by the Rhode Island Health Department would be large-scale, for-profit pot production centers in violation of federal law. One of them, Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick, plans to be serving 8,000 patients and taking in $25 million in revenue by 2013.
May 15, 2011
The Providence Journal, 16 May 2011 - PROVIDENCE - A recent Cranston case that tested the state's medical-marijuana law raises a question about whether people with the right to grow or possess marijuana to treat illnesses risk being jailed for owning a gun, even if they own it lawfully. The issue grew from Dean Derobbio's arrest in January 2010 for allegedly conspiring with his roommate to possess marijuana with the intent to sell it. He was also charged with carrying a dangerous weapon while committing a crime of violence. The crime of violence was growing marijuana, according to prosecutors and the police, and the charge carries a mandatory three years in prison for a defendant convicted of a first offense.
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