News & Views
‘People are voting without knowledge’
There is no debate: marijuana is addictive and harmful to brain development, and current trends showing increased use among adolescents are profoundly troubling, Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told thousands of people gathered last...
Obama’s ‘dangerous’ comparison
The United States need look no further than its profound problems with alcohol and tobacco to understand why marijuana legalization is a very bad idea for the country and the world, Sven-Olov Carlsson, international president of IOGT International, writes in this open...
Obama on marijuana: where’s the full story?
News coverage about marijuana legalization is fairly predictable. If there's even a toehold to support driving this addictive substance into the country, count on splashy headlines. Today's breathless summaries of President Barack Obama's remarks on the subject to The...
When journalists hide marijuana use
I'm just adding this internal memo, sent to The Denver Post's staff Dec. 31 by Linda Shapley, director of newsroom operations, to our files. Earlier the same day, The New York Daily News called, asking if I could file a story about the opening of Colorado's new head...
We need ‘health-first’ approach to pot
When it comes to marijuana policy, we have better choices than status quo or legalization.
Monitoring the Future suggests danger ahead
Monitoring the Future, the only nationally representative survey of American students that examines their drug-use patterns and attitudes, is reporting today: Marijuana is the most popular illicit drug, with one-third of high school seniors...
AMA opposes marijuana legalization
Today, I applaud the American Medical Association, the United States’ largest professional organization for physicians, for rejecting marijuana legalization — and the launch of another tobacco-like industry — despite heavy lobbying that it become neutral on the subject.
Number of THC+ drivers spikes in Washington
The number of traffic cases involving drivers who tested positive for marijuana use is projected to increase this year by more than 50 percent over 2012. Here's a look at the numbers, analyzed and reported by Washington state toxicologist Fiona Couper. We'll follow up...
And the beat goes on
A long time ago, Dr. T and I stopped caring about criticism leveled at us -- which explains why it's November, and I'm just now seeing this breathless report by Michael Roberts published June 19 in Westword. That would be the Denver alt-weekly with a business model...
Pot plagues Colorado schools
Though the hard numbers for the 2013-14 academic year aren't in, officials with the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) say the state's schools
Read the book
Clearing the Haze is a guide designed to help parents determine whether their child may have a substance problem and, if so, how to begin to address it. This book includes the voices and insight of experts in substance abuse counseling, young people in recovery, and parents who have lived the nightmare of adolescent addiction.