Weed Marihuana Florida illegal

 FL Cannabis Laws (2023 Update)

 Marihuana water drought

Jason Dearen
Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Some drought-stricken rivers and streams in Northern California's coastal forests are being polluted and sucked dry by water-guzzling medical marijuana farms, wildlife officials say -- an issue that has spurred at least one county to try to outlaw personal grows.

State fish and wildlife officials say much of the marijuana being grown in northern counties under the state's medical pot law is not being used for legal, personal use, but for sale both in California and states where pot is still illegal.

This demand is fueling backyard and larger-scale pot farming, especially in remote Lake, Humboldt and Mendocino counties on the densely forested North Coast, officials said.

"People are coming in, denuding the hillsides, damming the creeks and mixing in fertilizers that are not allowed in the U.S. into our watersheds," said Denise Rushing, a Lake County supervisor who supports an ordinance essentially banning outdoor grows in populated areas.

"When rains come, it flows downstream into the lake and our water supply," she said.

Many affected waterways also contain endangered salmon, steelhead and other creatures protected by state and federal law.

 Drugs CO marihuana

Chuck Hickey

(Photo: MGN Online)

DENVER

The state of Colorado launched a website Thursday that aims to answer numerous questions about the legalization of retail marijuana and the health impacts of the use of marijuana.

The website — colorado.gov/marijuana — includes answers to questions such as marijuana’s long-term health impacts, its effect on adolescents, whether can it be consumed in public places, if motorists be charged while driving under the influence of marijuana and how to talk to children about marijuana.

“State agencies worked together to develop this website as a reliable resource for parents, consumers, tourists and others who want the facts about marijuana’s health effects and the laws in Colorado, ” said Dr. Larry Wolk, executive director and chief medical officer at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

There is content on the site from the Colorado departments of Transportation, Education, Revenue, Human Services, and Public Health and Environment.

The Department of Public Health and Environment will have education campaigns as well as TV, radio and social media spots over the next year.

KDVR

 cartels Drugs U.S. agents

Mexican cartels dispatch agents deep inside US - spread into non-border states

ASSOCIATED PRESS

CHICAGO

Mexican drug cartels whose operatives once rarely ventured beyond the US border are dispatching some of their most trusted agents to live and work deep inside the United States — an emboldened presence that experts believe is meant to tighten their grip on the world's most lucrative narcotics market and maximize profits.

If left unchecked, authorities say, the cartels' move into the American interior could render the syndicates harder than ever to dislodge and pave the way for them to expand into other criminal enterprises such as prostitution, kidnapping-and-extortion rackets and money laundering.

AP

Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Chicago, points out local Mexican drug cartel problem areas.

Cartel activity in the US is certainly not new. Starting in the 1990s, the ruthless syndicates became the nation's No. 1 supplier of illegal drugs, using unaffiliated middlemen to smuggle cocaine, marijuana and heroin beyond the border or even to grow pot here.

But a wide-ranging Associated Press review of federal court cases and government drug-enforcement data, plus interviews with many top law enforcement officials, indicate the groups have begun deploying agents from their inner circles to the US Cartel operatives are suspected of running drug-distribution networks in at least nine non-border states, often in middle-class suburbs in the Midwest, South and Northeast.

"It's probably the most serious threat the United States has faced from organized crime," said Jack Riley, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Chicago office.