By Greg Moran, Reporter – Federal courts & Legal Affairs

Published September 22, 2011

SAN DIEGO — A yearlong investigation into a methamphetamine ring in Chula Vista and San Diego resulted in the federal indictment of two dozen people, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego announced Thursday.

The investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Chula Vista Police Department dismantled what U.S. Attorney Laura E. Duffy said was a “significant methamphetamine distribution network” operating in the county.

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By Christopher Cadelago

Published September 21, 2011

SAN DIEGO — The City Attorney’s Office on Wednesday filed civil complaints against a dozen medical marijuana dispensaries it says are operating within 600 feet of schools, a violation of state law.

City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is seeking injunctions against the collectives for allegedly flouting city zoning laws “in a manner that puts our children at great risk.”

“We are asking the court to shut them down now,” he said.

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Parents of teens likely underestimate own teens’ substance use, while overestimating marijuana and alcohol use by teens nationally

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The latest C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health from the University of Michigan finds that few parents (10 percent) believe their own teens, ages 13 to 17 years old, have used alcohol in the last year and even fewer (5 percent) believe their own teens have used marijuana in the last year.

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Medical marijuana laws have been passed in 16 states, usually following vigorous debate about whether the benefits of medical marijuana for treating illness outweigh the risks of making the drug much easier for anyone to obtain.

Two new studies shed some light on that question. A study in the September issue of Annals of Epidemiology found that, among youths age 12 to 17, marijuana usage rates were higher in states with medical marijuana laws (8.6%) compared with those without such laws (6.9%).

A similar study of people age 18 and older, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found the odds of marijuana abuse or dependence were almost twice as high in states with medical marijuana laws compared with those without such laws.

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