SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.
Trustees of the California Medical Association, which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.
Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group’s new policy, attributed the shift to growing frustration over California’s medical marijuana law, which permits cannabis use with a doctor’s recommendation. That, he said, has created an untenable situation for physicians: deciding whether to give patients a substance that is illegal under federal law.
“It’s an uncomfortable position for doctors,” he said. “It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not. That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done. Then, and only then, can we know what it is useful for.”
Mr. Magoo bandit suspected of 12 robberies in California
SAN DIEGO — The bank robber dubbed the Mr. Magoo bandit by the FBI is now suspected of a dozen bank jobs from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay Area.
His latest robbery was a bank in Thousand Oaks on Oct. 8, the FBI said. He also is suspected of striking a bank in Camarillo on Sept. 27.
The suspect in all 12 robberies is described as a white male in his 40s, with thick glasses and short dirty blond hair, the FBI said. The similarity to the famous cartoon character gave rise to the nickname.
The Mr. Magoo bandit displays a calm demeanor, uses a note to demand money and warn against getting an explosive dye-pack, the FBI said. He sometimes thanks tellers for being cooperative.
Unlike most bank robbers, he makes no attempt at a disguise. His range — six banks in San Diego, four in the San Francisco area and two in Ventura County — is also unusual, the FBI said.
Insurgents attempt to take U.S. base near Kabul
KABUL — A team of insurgent bombers and gunmen made an audacious attempt Saturday to overrun a U.S. base in what has long been considered one of Afghanistan’s safest provinces.
Afghan officials said two Afghan fuel suppliers and all four attackers were killed in the strike on the headquarters of the so-called provincial reconstruction team in Panjshir, a province northeast of Kabul, the capital, where security responsibilities were handed over in July to Afghan forces.
Panjshir, traditionally a staunch anti-Taliban stronghold in the country’s east, has been largely free of insurgent activity during the 10-year Afghan conflict. But the Taliban and other insurgent groups have recently made a point of targeting normally tranquil areas where the security transition has already taken place.
Western forces are aiming to wind down their combat mission by 2014, leaving the Afghan police and army in charge of safeguarding the country. But attacks have been on the rise in the eastern part of the country.
Afghan and coalition officials gave somewhat differing accounts of the dawn strike on the base in Panjshir’s Rakha district, which began with the detonation of an explosives-packed vehicle at the gates of the installation.
The base is staffed by a combination of troops and civilians working mainly on development projects.
A spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s International Security Assistance Force, U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt, said the attackers had not penetrated the installation or inflicted any serious damage, but the Panjshir provincial police chief, Gen. Mohammed Qasim Jangalbagh, said a guard tower was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.
The police chief also reported that an American was wounded along with two Afghan security guards, but DeWitt said there were no U.S. deaths or injuries.
Jangalbagh blamed “enemies of the people” trying to spread insecurity to peaceful parts of Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.