Nation, World Briefs: U.S. signals shift in marijuana policy

Published 9:45 pm Wednesday, March 18, 2009

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law. That would be a departure from the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state’s law. Medical marijuana advocates in California welcomed the news. California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it still is against federal law.

Dems resist new gun rules

Sixty-five House Democrats said Wednesday that they would oppose any attempt by the Obama administration to revive a ban on military-style weapons that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 and President George Bush let expire. The pro-gun Democrats, led by Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder that they would “actively oppose any effort to reinstate the 1994 ban, or to pass any similar law.”

Crib makers urge drop-side ban

Crib makers have proposed a ban on drop-side cribs following infant deaths, injuries and a series of recalls. Members of a committee that sets industry standards say the proposal would end production of drop-side cribs — where one side moves up and down in order to more easily pick up and lay down a baby. Instead, it would require cribs to have four immovable sides. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says at least three children have died in drop-side cribs in the last 18 months and there have been five recalls involving more than 3 million cribs.

California: Drugs on railroad

The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against Union Pacific Railroad Co. on Wednesday seeking $37 million in damages for allegedly failing to prevent its rail cars from being used to smuggle drugs into the U.S. U.S. customs inspectors on at least 38 occasions between 2001 and 2006 discovered marijuana or cocaine in Union Pacific rail cars at border crossings at Brownsville, Texas, and Calexico, California, according to the two complaints filed Wednesday in San Diego. The lawsuit was filed after Union Pacific refused to pay several penalties, saying it has limited ability to control train operations by its corporate partner in Mexico.

New Mexico: Death penalty

Gov. Bill Richardson signed legislation Wednesday repealing New Mexico’s death penalty, making it the second state to ban executions since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976. Richardson, a Democrat who formerly supported capital punishment, said signing the bill was the “most difficult decision” of his political life but that “the potential for … execution of an innocent person stands as anathema to our very sensibilities as human beings.”

Mexico: New tariffs imposed

Mexico is imposing tariffs of 10 to 45 percent on dozens of U.S. exports ranging from toilet paper and wine to washing machines in retaliation for a U.S. decision to cancel a cross-border trucking program. The new tariffs take effect today and affect about $2.4 billion in annual trade and 89 U.S. products, according to the Mexican government. An official warned the list could grow unless there is progress toward resolving the trucking dispute.

Austria: Father admits guilt

Josef Fritzl abruptly pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him Wednesday — a surprising twist amid disclosures that the daughter he imprisoned for 24 years in a dungeon where she bore him seven children secretly sat in on the trial. Fritzl acknowledged his guilt, including to homicide, and said his change of heart came after hearing his daughter’s heart-wrenching testimony. “I declare myself guilty to the charges in the indictment,” Fritzl, 73, told a panel of judges in St. Poelten, referring to what he called “my sick behavior.”

Russia: Seal hunting banned

Russia said Wednesday it was banning the hunting of baby harp seals, weeks after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reportedly called the hunt a “bloody industry.” The Natural Resources Ministry said the Federal Fisheries Agency issued an order Wednesday protecting harp seals pups up to 1 year old. “The bloody sight of the hunting of seals, the slaughter of these defenseless animals, which you cannot even call a real hunt, is banned in our country,” Minister Yuri Trutnev said.

From Herald news services