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Researchers at the University of New Hampshire say pot serves as a "gateway" to other drugs mainly for young people who are poor, unemployed, and subjected to severe psychological stress.

In other words, it's not about pot but about the potholes young people encounter on the road of life.

10) MARIJUANA USE HAS NO EFFECT ON MORTALITY:
A massive study of California HMO members funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found marijuana use caused no significant increase in mortality. Tobacco use was associated with increased risk of death. Sidney, S et al. Marijuana Use and Mortality. American Journal of Public Health. Vol. 87 No. 4, April 1997. p. 585-590. Sept. 2002.

On Thursday, Washington became the first state to officially legalize marijuana, soon to be followed by Colorado as their new laws legalizing the drug for recreational use go into effect. A survey out Friday shows what Americans want the federal government to do about the states whose drug laws clash with national laws: Leave them alone. Fifty-one percent of Americans in the new HuffPost/YouGov poll said that in the two states that have legalized marijuana use for adults, the federal government should exempt any adults following state laws from federal drug law enforcement.

Michele Leonhart, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, ducked a tough line of questioning from Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) on Wednesday, refusing to answer a number of questions about the comparative health impacts of marijuana and other, harder drugs. Leonhart was testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.

A research director for Pfizer was positively buoyant after reading that an important medical conference had just featured a study claiming that the new arthritis drug Celebrex was safer on the stomach than more established drugs. “They swallowed our story, hook, line and sinker,” he wrote in an e-mail to a colleague. The truth was that Celebrex was no better at protecting the stomach from serious complications than other drugs. It appeared that way only because Pfizer and its partner, Pharmacia, presented the results from the first six months of a yearlong study rather than the whole thing.

Earl Stein's "Organic Pharmacy" is one of more than 400 medical-marijuana dispensaries the City Council aimed to shut down with an ordinance that took effect recently. But he hasn't closed up shop completely. He has merely removed his marijuana inventory for now, and hopes discrimination lawsuits filed against the city by himself and other dispensary operators will force officials to let him resume the trade....

MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WANT MARIJUANA LEGALIZED

For the first time, the majority of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, indicating a shifting public opinion in regards to the government’s criminalization of drug use.

The new survey, which was conducted by the Pew Research Center, indicates that 52 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana, which is 11 points higher than the results of the 2010 survey asking the same question.

CANNABIS CULTURE - In a case with wide-ranging implications, an Ontario Superior Court judge struck down Canada's laws prohibiting the possession and production of marijuana on Tuesday, giving the federal government 90 days to fix the country's medical marijuana program before the ruling comes into effect and effectively legalizes cannabis.

A lot of studies have shown marijuana is not good for you. It can fry the brain and contribute to psychosis. The latest one finds "convincing evidence" that marijuana smoke damages the genetic material DNA in ways that could increase the risk of cancer.