The Bee has added a new online feature: a marijuana blog called “Weed Wars.”
Go ahead and giggle (that’s been a common reaction). You can even supply your own joke.
But this blog is driven by news, not whimsy – news about California’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry and our state’s escalating debate over legalizing the drug.
“Weed Wars,” led by reporter Peter Hecht, will break news regularly with large and small items about the marijuana debate.
As with other http://www.sacbee.com/blogs/ sacbee.com blogs, some news from “Weed Wars” will be expanded or reprinted in the paper, and Hecht will continue to report in depth for print editions.
Hecht has been The Bee’s lead reporter on the marijuana story over the past six months, reporting on these and other story lines:
• The rapid expansion of medical marijuana dispensaries in California communities following the federal government’s decision not to prosecute people for medical marijuana use unless drug trafficking is suspected.
• Efforts by local elected officials to regulate the numbers and locations of dispensaries. Many have tried moratoriums or bans only to face legal challenges.
• Court actions including the California Supreme Court decision in January that threw out limits, set by the Legislature in 2003, on how many plants medical marijuana users can grow or possess.
• Ongoing disputes, both semantic and legal, over just what it is that medical marijuana dispensaries actually provide (services? products?) and how to define and tax their output.
• The blossoming of colorful commercial enterprises around medical marijuana, including a Los Angeles trade show called Hemp Con 2010 that Hecht covered last week.
• The drive to get a marijuana legalization initiative on the ballot in November.
California has been at the center of the marijuana debate since 1996, when voters passed the nation’s first statewide initiative allowing medical marijuana use.
We’ve captured the nation’s attention again, along with a few other states, as advocacy for legalization has escalated and medical marijuana dispensaries have operated ever more boldly and visibly.
Last spring, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it was time for a broad public debate on legalizing marijuana, and the statewide Field Poll showed the first majority of Californians in favor of that step.
Despite the apparent momentum, legalization is far from certain, and reporting by Hecht and many others reflects the complexity of these issues.
Marijuana use has therapeutic value, as a recent University of California, San Diego, study confirmed, yet it carries health risks.
California dispensaries operate under loose rules, as does the system by which doctors authorize patients to obtain medical marijuana.
Law enforcement officials remain vocally opposed to legalization, saying it will pose new dangers. Many consider the medical marijuana movement a cover for de facto legalization.
All this provides daily fodder for news stories. “Weed Wars” aims to provide context and connection beyond daily headlines, using the Internet’s capacity for constant updating and its linking and collecting capabilities.
The blog will link to a special topics page offering background material, video, photos, Twitter feeds and links to coverage from The Bee and other media.