NEW MEXICO: A STATE THAT GETS IT AND GROWS IT

N.M. Law Requires State to Grow Its Own

Saturday June 30, 2007 10:31 AM
By DEBORAH BAKER
Associated Press Writer

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico has a new medical marijuana law with a twist: It requires the state to grow its own.

The law, effective Sunday, not only protects medical marijuana users from prosecution - as 11 other states do - but requires New Mexico to oversee a production and distribution system for the drug.

``The long-term goal is that the patients will have a safe, secure supply that doesn't mean drug dealers, that doesn't mean growing their own,'' said Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico.

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ALLISON MARGOLIN , AT LAST TO DO A NORML INTERVIEW

After a tough, and not too pleasant day in court battling with the DA's, I craved some type of diversion to ease my anxiety. While driving back to the office I got a call on my cell informing me that the National chapter of Norml in Washington DC had called and asked if I would do a podcast interview with them for next week.

Hell yeah! I may just vent a bit...

THE ALLURE OF DRUGS - ALLISON MARGOLIN'S SUNDAY DAILY NEWS ARTICLE

This courtroom story/opinion piece was published in Sunday's Daily News - 6/24/07

Media, laws glamorize drug use
BY ALLISON MARGOLIN, Guest Columnist

I’m sitting in Glendale court, waiting for the judge to call out my client’s name, relatively bored. To pass the time, I am reading the June issue of Allure magazine. As I flip through the mag, I pass an article purporting to be an expose on drug use among celebrities. At first I don’t read it. As much as drug use is a part of my practice, and though it has been a source of interest for me as long as I can remember, sometimes it gets too much.

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PHIL SPECTOR WILL BE ACQUITTED - PREDICTS ALLISON

LA's Dopest Attorney gives us her legal opinion
on why the jury will find Phil Spector innocent.

MARIJUANA DOES NOT CAUSE CANCER !

Study Finds No Cancer-Marijuana Connection

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006; A03

The largest study of its kind has unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer.

The new findings "were against our expectations," said Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years.

"We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use," he said. "What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect."

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GO ASK ALLISON - MYSPACE FRIEND ON SEARCH AND SEIZURE

Allison Margolin takes a question from her myspace friend about search and seizure

JAIL TOM FOR DRUGS - SIZEMORE VIOLATES PROBATION

Actor Sizemore sentenced to 16 months in prison

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters Life!) -- Actor Tom Sizemore, best known for battle-hardened film roles in "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black

Hawk Down," was sentenced Monday to 16 months in prison for violating his probation in a drug possession case.

But the 45-year-old performer must return to court Tuesday for a hearing on whether he will receive credit for the time he has spent in residential drug treatment facilities.

The actor admitted in court last week to violating his probation on a previous felony drug conviction and tearfully pleaded with the Los Angeles Superior Court judge for leniency, begging her, "If you would please just give me one more chance for myself."

LARRY KING SCORES PARIS HILTON POST PRISON INTERVIEW

Larry King will give us what we most hunger for once again when he interviews Ms. Paris Hilton Wednesday about prison life on Cnn's Larry King Live

HIGH SCHOOL IDOL PAYS ALLISON A TRIBUTE

HELEN JUPITER didn't know it at the time but she was one of my idols growing up . A superb writer, Helen won a big writing contest in High School and I remember aspiring to be her equal. So I'm especially thrilled about the blog she just wrote, and also for her allowing me to get on board with Suicide Girls radio.


LA's Better Half: Allison Margolin, LA's Dopest Attorney
posted by Helen Jupiter at 2:00 PM on June 21, 2007

Los Angeles gets a lot of grief for being home to an inordinate number of celebretards, pseudo-celebretards, star fuckers, and vain VIPs. Although the city is thusly stereotyped, it's also home to a thriving population of unique and noteworthy people whose pursuits add diversity and depth to a seemingly shallow pool. Each week, LA's Better Half will profile one distinctive Angeleno doing something remarkable and original in his or her field. This week: Meet Allison Margolin, LA's Dopest Attorney.

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BRUCE WILLIS ON HOLLYWOOD AND REHAB

Liz Smith
Originally published June 22, 2007

"I'M CYNICAL about the media's point of view that rehab is all entertainment. But anybody who makes a choice to go into rehab - or go in and out of rehab, if that's what it takes - is brave. You fall down, you've got to get up!"

That's my guy, Bruce Willis, talking to Playboy and he is not making fun of young stars whose habits lead them to seek help. Willis points out that despite relentless publicity about Hollywood excess, drugs and alcohol are not some kind of "special failing" only for people in La-La Land. (After all, the methamphetamine scourge began and reigns in America's very heartland.)

Bruce says, "The big problem is the reasons people want to anesthetize themselves. We fight it the wrong way. The war on drugs is a joke. If somebody weren't making money off cocaine and drug traffic in general, it wouldn't exist."

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