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Patriots DB Willie Andrews charged with marijuana possession
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS1 hour, 48 minutes ago
LOWELL, Mass. - New England Patriots defensive back Willie Andrews was arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday on charges of possession of marijuana and driving an unregistered motor vehicle.
The morning arrest came one day after the team returned from Arizona, where the New York Giants upset New England 17-14 in the Super Bowl to end the Patriots' perfect season.
Andrews was to be arraigned Tuesday in Lowell District Court, said Corey Welford, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney. Welford did not have further details, and a call to the Patriots was not immediately returned.
Andrews completed his second year with the Patriots, spending time on special teams return and coverage units. He scored his first NFL touchdown in October on a 77-yard kickoff return against the Miami Dolphins.
The 24-year-old player from Longview, Texas, was drafted in the seventh round out of Baylor in 2006.
Plead Guilty In Medical Marijuana Store Scandal
POSTED: 4:25 pm PST February 4, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- Two men pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges stemming from a West Hollywood medical marijuana dispensary that sold millions of dollars worth of marijuana and THC products.
James Carberry, who managed a medical marijuana store known as the "Yellow House" in a bungalow on North La Brea Avenue, and James Lawrence Ealy pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Manuel Real.
Both men were scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday, Feb. 5, but instead negotiated plea agreements with federal prosecutors.
Carberry pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maintaining drug-involved premises and faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Ealy, 41, of Tujunga, faces up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.
Each man is free on bond and scheduled to be sentenced on April 21 along with Larry Roger Kristich, the 65-year-old owner of the Oakland-based Compassionate Caregivers chain of seven California marijuana dispensaries.
Medical-marijuana ruling makes no sense
By Lanny Swerdlow
Article Created: 02/04/2008 05:48:50 PM PST
On Jan. 24, the California Supreme Court upheld the firing of a medical marijuana patient from his job because he tested positive for marijuana in a company drug test.
For patients who do not have to undergo the onerous and humiliating ritual of providing a urine specimen in a cup or you will be fired or not hired, this ruling has no direct impact.
But for the many people whose livelihoods depend on being able to pass a drug screen, this is a serious blow to their health and welfare.
Like law enforcement's successful attempt to terrorize local elected officials by threatening to arrest them if they pass laws allowing medicinal marijuana in their communities, law enforcement has now succeeded in getting business owners to carry out their prohibitionist agenda by threatening them with loss of federal contracts, police raids and lawsuits if they allow their employees to use marijuana medicinally. At least that is what lawyers representing business owners in the case claimed in their legal briefs arguing that they had no choice but to fire a legal medical marijuana patient for testing positive for marijuana.
In a 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court unfortunately bought into this absurd argument. I imagine their legal reasoning has some basis in jurisprudence, but that doesn't mean it's rational.
The total preposterousness of the decision is showcased by the fact that employees cannot be fired for having synthetic THC in their systems. Employees can take Marinol and the other synthetic THC products and go to work and be under the influence of THC, and that's legal.
But if they take natural THC, then the California Supreme Court rules it is OK to fire them.
Now what is the difference pharmacologically between synthetic THC and natural THC?
Zip, nada, nothing - there is no difference. They are biologically equivalent and are, for all intents and purposes, the exact same thing with the exact same effects on the human body. They cannot even be differentiated in standard blood and urine drug screens.
There is one significant difference, however, between synthetic THC and natural THC, but it has nothing to do with the human body.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS1 hour, 48 minutes ago
LOWELL, Mass. - New England Patriots defensive back Willie Andrews was arrested during a traffic stop Tuesday on charges of possession of marijuana and driving an unregistered motor vehicle.
The morning arrest came one day after the team returned from Arizona, where the New York Giants upset New England 17-14 in the Super Bowl to end the Patriots' perfect season.
Andrews was to be arraigned Tuesday in Lowell District Court, said Corey Welford, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney. Welford did not have further details, and a call to the Patriots was not immediately returned.
Andrews completed his second year with the Patriots, spending time on special teams return and coverage units. He scored his first NFL touchdown in October on a 77-yard kickoff return against the Miami Dolphins.
The 24-year-old player from Longview, Texas, was drafted in the seventh round out of Baylor in 2006.
Plead Guilty In Medical Marijuana Store Scandal
POSTED: 4:25 pm PST February 4, 2008
LOS ANGELES -- Two men pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges stemming from a West Hollywood medical marijuana dispensary that sold millions of dollars worth of marijuana and THC products.
James Carberry, who managed a medical marijuana store known as the "Yellow House" in a bungalow on North La Brea Avenue, and James Lawrence Ealy pleaded guilty Monday afternoon in a hearing before U.S. District Judge Manuel Real.
Both men were scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday, Feb. 5, but instead negotiated plea agreements with federal prosecutors.
Carberry pleaded guilty to a felony charge of maintaining drug-involved premises and faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Ealy, 41, of Tujunga, faces up to one year in prison and $1,000 in fines after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge.
Each man is free on bond and scheduled to be sentenced on April 21 along with Larry Roger Kristich, the 65-year-old owner of the Oakland-based Compassionate Caregivers chain of seven California marijuana dispensaries.
Medical-marijuana ruling makes no sense
By Lanny Swerdlow
Article Created: 02/04/2008 05:48:50 PM PST
On Jan. 24, the California Supreme Court upheld the firing of a medical marijuana patient from his job because he tested positive for marijuana in a company drug test.
For patients who do not have to undergo the onerous and humiliating ritual of providing a urine specimen in a cup or you will be fired or not hired, this ruling has no direct impact.
But for the many people whose livelihoods depend on being able to pass a drug screen, this is a serious blow to their health and welfare.
Like law enforcement's successful attempt to terrorize local elected officials by threatening to arrest them if they pass laws allowing medicinal marijuana in their communities, law enforcement has now succeeded in getting business owners to carry out their prohibitionist agenda by threatening them with loss of federal contracts, police raids and lawsuits if they allow their employees to use marijuana medicinally. At least that is what lawyers representing business owners in the case claimed in their legal briefs arguing that they had no choice but to fire a legal medical marijuana patient for testing positive for marijuana.
In a 5-2 decision, the California Supreme Court unfortunately bought into this absurd argument. I imagine their legal reasoning has some basis in jurisprudence, but that doesn't mean it's rational.
The total preposterousness of the decision is showcased by the fact that employees cannot be fired for having synthetic THC in their systems. Employees can take Marinol and the other synthetic THC products and go to work and be under the influence of THC, and that's legal.
But if they take natural THC, then the California Supreme Court rules it is OK to fire them.
Now what is the difference pharmacologically between synthetic THC and natural THC?
Zip, nada, nothing - there is no difference. They are biologically equivalent and are, for all intents and purposes, the exact same thing with the exact same effects on the human body. They cannot even be differentiated in standard blood and urine drug screens.
There is one significant difference, however, between synthetic THC and natural THC, but it has nothing to do with the human body.