National News

Cannabis Smoking Not Linked To Lung Cancer, Largest Case-Controlled Study Says

Smoking cannabis, even long-term, is not positively associated with increased incidence of lung-cancer, according to the findings of the largest population-based case-control study ever conducted. "We did not observe a positive association of marijuana use -- even heavy long-term use -- with lung cancer, controlling for tobacco smoking and other potential cofounders," investigators concluded. Their data further revealed that moderate lifetime users had an inverse association between cannabis use and lung cancer. The five-year trial was sponsored by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Full text of the study appeared in the October issue of the journal Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention. Read the full story at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6912

Nearly Half Of Americans Say Pot Should Be Regulated Like Alcohol

Nearly one out of two Americans support amending federal law "to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do liquor and gambling," according to a national poll of 1,004 likely voters by Zogby International and commissioned by the NORML Foundation in March. Forty-six percent of respondents -- including a majority of those polled on the east (53 percent) and west (55 percent) coasts -- said they supported legalization. Nearly two-thirds of 18-29 year-olds (65 percent) and half of 50-64 year-olds think federal law should be amended to allow states the option to regulate marijuana. Read the full story at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=6838

Marijuana Arrests For Year 2005 Most Ever

Police arrested an estimated 786,545 persons for marijuana violations in 2005, the highest annual total ever recorded in the United States, according to statistics compiled in September by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. An American is now arrested for violating marijuana laws every 40 seconds. Read the full story at: http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=7040

Marijuana top U.S. cash crop, policy analyst says

A new report confirms what activists have been saying for years. Marijuana is the countries #1 cash crop. Read the full story at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061219/od_nm/usa_marijuana1_dc