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Northumberland News, 19 Feb 2010 - Conservatives Tough On Crime: Minister Of Justice COBOURG -- It's not every day area police services and community representatives can air their concerns and hopes for Canada's criminal justice system with the country's top elected official within the justice portfolio, said Cobourg's police chief.

Slate, 19 Feb 2010 - The Little-Told Story of How the U.S. Government Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition With Deadly Consequences. It was Christmas Eve 1926, the streets aglitter with snow and lights, when the man afraid of Santa Claus stumbled into the emergency room at New York City's Bellevue Hospital. He was flushed, gasping with fear: Santa Claus, he kept telling the nurses, was just behind him, wielding a baseball bat.

Telegraph-Journal, 19 Feb 2010 - Policing: New Act Permits Confiscation Even If No Charges Laid FREDERICTON - Police and other law enforcement officers in New Brunswick are getting a new tool to fight crime. The Civil Forfeiture Act was introduced by Attorney General Kelly Lamrock Thursday and will allow authorities to apply to seize property acquired or used in illegal activity, even if no one has been charged with a crime.

Victoria News, 19 Feb 2010 - People need to know whether the house they're eying for purchase has a history as a grow-op, says a representative for the province's home inspectors. "As home inspectors, we may see properties we suspect are grow-ops but it's difficult to prove," said Owen Dicki, president of the B.C. chapter for Canadian Association of Home and Property Inspectors.

Denver Post, 19 Feb 2010 - De'vorah L. Kappers struggles with arthritis, asthma, traumatic stress disorder and anxiety attacks. She also is hard of hearing in her left ear. None of it stopped her from becoming part of the chaotic protest scene that coincided with President Barack Obama's visit to Denver on Thursday.

Cowichan Valley Citizen, 19 Feb 2010 - Crime statistics from 2008 to 2009 were relatively consistent, Inspector Kevin Hewco reported at meetings of two local councils this week. "There's nothing surprising here to us," the North Cowichan/ Duncan detachment commander told North Cowichan Council. "We do try to look for trends."

New York Times, 19 Feb 2010 - A Brooklyn judge halted deliberations Thursday in a police brutality trial after one of the jurors told the others that Officer Richard Kern, the main defendant, had previously been accused of misconduct -- allegations that were not introduced during the trial and that the judge described as "misinformation." The judge, Justice Alan D. Marrus of State Supreme Court, acted after jurors sent him a note about 4:40 p.m., as he prepared to dismiss them for the day.

Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb 2010 - City Sues Three Collectives and Moves to Evict 18 Others From Their Stores, Saying They've Violated State Laws Los Angeles city prosecutors Thursday escalated their efforts to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, suing three collectives and moving to evict 18 others from their stores.

Denver Post, 19 Feb 2010 - Probable Cause Found Against Marijuana Grower in First Court Appearance A Highlands Ranch man who until last week made his living growing marijuana in the basement of his home walked into a courtroom wearing a tan prisoner's jumpsuit Thursday, the first steps in what legal experts say could be a precedent-setting journey through the federal justice system.

Bucks County Courier Times, 18 Feb 2010 - VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Hey, man, where was this place back in the '60s college days when we needed it? A marijuana-friendly cafe right in the heart of downtown Vancouver? You must be high. Actually, no. A visit to the New Amsterdam Cafe and Cannabis Shop confirmed what we had been hearing - such a place does exist.

Mission City Record, 18 Feb 2010 - Marijuana grow ops can pop up just about anywhere in any community. No neighbourhood is immune, and Mission is no exception. Police investigate and take down these illegal grow operations from one end of town to another, and are beginning to map the progress. These maps are created by the detachment's crime analyst and presented as information to the public. They can be viewed on the Mission RCMP website at www.mission.rcmp.ca.

The Daily Iowan, 18 Feb 2010 - Officials from the Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted unanimously to recommend that the state Legislature legalize the use of medical marijuana on Wednesday. The proposal would reduce marijuana from a Schedule I controlled substance to a Schedule II, classifying the drug as presenting the potential for abuse but also having acceptable medical uses.

Iowa City Press-Citizen, 18 Feb 2010 - Area medical care givers and law enforcement are taking a wait-and-see approach to a recommendation to legalize marijuana for medical uses from a state board. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy unanimously voted Wednesday to ask the Legislature to take action to legalize the drug for medical use. It also called for lawmakers to change the classification of marijuana to a Schedule II drug, which includes substances such as Demerol, opium and morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Web site.

Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb 2010 - U.S. and Mexican Forces, Sharing Patrols for the First Time, Take on Drugs, Migration In a politically sensitive operation at the Arizona-Mexico border, U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican federal police officers are training together, sharing intelligence and coordinating patrols for the first time.

San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Feb 2010 - The first U.S. clinical trials in more than 20 years on the medical efficacy of marijuana found that pot helps relieve pain and muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and certain neurological conditions, according to a report released Wednesday by a UC research center. The results of five state-funded scientific clinical trials came 14 years after California voters passed a law approving marijuana for medical use and more than 10 years after the state Legislature passed a law that created the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego, which conducted the studies.

Los Angeles Times, 18 Feb 2010 - Cannabis Can Greatly Ease Neuropathic Pain and Muscle Spasms, Researchers Show With an innovative but little-known state program to study medical marijuana about to run out of money, researchers and political supporters said Wednesday the results show promise.

Globe-Gazette, 18 Feb 2010 - DES MOINES -- The Iowa Board of Pharmacy voted Wednesday to recommend to state lawmakers they reclassify marijuana and set up a task force to study how to administer a medical marijuana program. A total of 14 states have so far approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes, with New Jersey recently joining the list.

Medina County Gazette, 17 Feb 2010 - Wadsworth Man, Wife Receive Probation for Cultivating Weed MEDINA - A group representing the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws protested Tuesday morning outside the Medina County Courthouse with signs defending medicinal marijuana. They were there in support of a Wadsworth man and woman who were being sentenced for cultivating marijuana.

Grand Forks Gazette, 17 Feb 2010 - Coun. Joy Davies failed to find a seconder for her motion on improved access to medical marijuana at last week's city council meeting. Davies had hoped to take her motion to the Association of Kootenay Boundary Local Governments (AKBLG). The motion called for the provincial government "to assume licensing and regulation of medical marijuana to ensure safe local access."

Herald News, 17 Feb 2010 - Legal Medical Use in Illinois Not in Sight New Jersey last month became the latest state to legalize the use of marijuana by those with certain medical conditions. Although Illinois is not one of the states that allows such use of marijuana, it may be headed that way.