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Matt Ferner
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Matt Ferner is a national reporter for the Huffington Post. He was previously the editor of HuffPost Denver. Matt is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of California, Los Angeles. For tips or comments email matt.ferner@huffingtonpost.com.

Entries by Matt Ferner

Misconduct In Jailhouse Snitch Program Letting Murder Suspects Walk Free

(0) Comments | Posted October 21, 2014 | 8:09 PM

LOS ANGELES -- Orange County prosecutors have dropped murder charges against two men after defense lawyers claimed the district attorney's office withheld evidence about a controversial jailhouse informant program.

One accused killer has been set free on parole and a convicted murderer who had been serving life for a gang-related...

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Colorado Health Officials Walk Back Proposed Weed-Edibles Ban, Hours After It Goes Public

(33) Comments | Posted October 20, 2014 | 8:47 PM

Colorado health officials on Monday backtracked on their call to ban almost all recreational marijuana edibles in the state, just hours after their recommendation for such a prohibition surfaced publicly.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment backed away from its recommendation for a ban after outraged...

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Colorado Health Officials Want To Ban Almost All Recreational Marijuana Edibles

(196) Comments | Posted October 20, 2014 | 2:11 PM

Health officials in Colorado are calling for what is nearly a full ban on retail marijuana edibles in the state, just 10 months after the first recreational sales of marijuana began.

The Associated Press' Kristen Wyatt first reported Monday on the Colorado Department of Health and Environment's request...

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Active And Retired Alaska Law Enforcement Support Marijuana Legalization In New Ads

(14) Comments | Posted October 15, 2014 | 3:54 PM

In a series of television and radio ads released in Alaska Wednesday, active and retired members of the state's law enforcement community are backing the recreational marijuana legalization measure that voters will decide on in less than three weeks.

“In all my years on the streets, it’s hard to recall...

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GOP Gubernatorial Hopeful Thinks Colorado Voters Should Consider Repeal Of Legal Weed

(199) Comments | Posted October 10, 2014 | 4:50 PM

During a gubernatorial debate Thursday in Fort Collins, Colorado, between incumbent Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) and Republican challenger Bob Beauprez, Beauprez suggested voters should consider a repeal of the state's historic legalization of recreational marijuana.

KUSA-TV's Brandon Rittiman, one of the moderators of the debate, asked the candidates...

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Key Figures In CIA-Crack Cocaine Scandal Begin To Come Forward

(484) Comments | Posted October 10, 2014 | 7:30 AM

LOS ANGELES -- With the public in the U.S. and Latin America becoming increasingly skeptical of the war on drugs, key figures in a scandal that once rocked the Central Intelligence Agency are coming forward to tell their stories in a new documentary and in a series of interviews with...

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Carl Sagan Wanted An Honest Drugs Debate 24 Years Ago, And His Questions Are Still Spot On

(33) Comments | Posted October 9, 2014 | 3:46 PM

Carl Sagan, a titan of scientific thought and communication, assumed many different roles in his life -- from science's "gatekeeper," to television star on the original "Cosmos," to marijuana user and advocate.

Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, recently posted a handful of...

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Gov. John Hickenlooper: Legalizing Marijuana In Colorado Wasn't 'Reckless,' It Was 'Risky'

(54) Comments | Posted October 7, 2014 | 8:46 PM

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) said Tuesday his state's recreational marijuana law is not "reckless," as he called it a day earlier, but "risky."

“Context is everything," Hickenlooper said in a statement, first reported by International Business Times. "I was asked if I...

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Gov. John Hickenlooper: It Was 'Reckless' For Colorado To Legalize Marijuana

(569) Comments | Posted October 6, 2014 | 9:40 PM

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D), a vocal opponent of his state's legalization of marijuana, said Monday that recreational marijuana laws are "reckless."

Hickenlooper was asked during a gubernatorial debate about other state governors who may be considering legalizing marijuana.

"I would view it as reckless...

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Justice Department Blocks Deportation Of Immigrant Beaten By California Police

(54) Comments | Posted October 6, 2014 | 6:01 PM

LOS ANGELES -- The Department of Justice has stepped in to free a man from detention by immigration authorities, telling a federal judge that the DOJ needs the man's help with an investigation.

The crime Edgar Arzate may have witnessed: his own savage beating at the hands...

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Brandon Coats, Fired Medical Marijuana Patient, Makes His Case In Colorado Supreme Court

(24) Comments | Posted September 30, 2014 | 2:06 PM

Employers can still fire employees for marijuana use, even in states where it's legal. But one case heard in Colorado's Supreme Court Tuesday morning could change that.

Brandon Coats, a 34-year-old quadriplegic medical marijuana patient from Colorado who was fired by Dish Network for his state-legal medical use in 2010,...

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Students Protesting Conservative Rewrite Of History Get Their Most Important Endorsement Yet

(619) Comments | Posted September 26, 2014 | 8:10 PM

The organization that oversees the Advanced Placement curriculum, whose history course is being defended by massive, ongoing student protests in a Denver suburb, has now said that it backs those protests.

"The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program supports the actions taken by students in Jefferson County, Colorado to...

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Eric Holder Signals Support For Marijuana Reform Just As He's Heading Out The Door

(43) Comments | Posted September 25, 2014 | 8:21 PM

Just as Attorney General Eric Holder prepares to step down from his post, he appears more open than ever to the argument for rescheduling marijuana as a less dangerous, more beneficial drug.

"I think it's certainly a question we need to ask ourselves, whether or not marijuana is...

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Nearly 1,000 Colorado Students Protest A Conservative Call To Change Their History Curriculum

(144) Comments | Posted September 25, 2014 | 4:30 PM

After calling for a history curriculum that downplays "social strife" and emphasizes "respect for authority," a conservative Denver-area school board has attracted the same kind of civil disobedience it had hoped to gloss over in the classroom.

Hundreds of students marched Thursday in the fifth day of demonstrations against the...

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Marijuana Tax Revenue May Top $3 Billion A Year With Legalization

(109) Comments | Posted September 22, 2014 | 7:40 PM

Money may not grow on trees, but it apparently does grow on marijuana plants. If all 50 states legalized cannabis today, they'd be collectively raking in more than $3 billion a year in taxes.

That's according to NerdWallet, a personal finance site, which forecasts a total $3.1 billion annual windfall...

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Washington, D.C., Voters Strongly Support Marijuana Legalization

(15) Comments | Posted September 18, 2014 | 7:54 PM

Washington, D.C., voters appear to be ready to legalize marijuana, according to a new poll that puts support at 65 percent.

The NBC4/Washington Post/Marist poll's finding that district voters support legalization by amost a 2-1 margin “is the highest support ever for a marijuana legalization ballot initiative,” Adam...

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Sie mögen Sex und Cannabis? Dann ist das Ihr Traumjob

(5) Comments | Posted September 18, 2014 | 7:41 AM

Habe Sie gerne Sex?

Blöde Frage.

Aber kiffen Sie auch hin und wieder mal?

Aha.

Kiffen Sie vielleicht sogar manchmal, während Sie Sex haben?

Glückwunsch - dann sind Sie der ideale Kandidat für den besten Job der Welt!

Die Marihuana-Nachrichtenseite "The Cannabist", ein Ableger der...

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Ezell Ford Wrongful Death Lawsuit Seeks $75 Million

(45) Comments | Posted September 17, 2014 | 4:08 PM

LOS ANGELES -- The family of Ezell Ford will file a wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department on Wednesday, just over a month after officers shot and killed 25-year-old Ford, who was unarmed and whose family has said had a history of mental illness.

The

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New Marijuana Ad Campaign Asks Users To Learn From Maureen Dowd And 'Consume Responsibly'

(14) Comments | Posted September 17, 2014 | 12:58 PM

The advocacy group that helped to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Colorado is reminding people to please "consume responsibly."

Wednesday marks the launch of a new public education campaign from the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that vocally backed Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure that legalized...

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Los Angeles Law Enforcement Officers Kill About One Person A Week

(73) Comments | Posted September 16, 2014 | 8:14 PM

Since 2000, nearly 600 people, many of them young black and Latino men, have been killed by Los Angeles law enforcement officers. That's according to a sobering new report from the Los Angeles Youth Justice Coalition, a youth advocacy organization, that looks into the use of lethal force...

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