Medical pot users can get relief without getting high. LA Sheriff Lee Baca issues new pursuit guidelines. Dan Neil rumbles away to the WSJ. And, Peter Hessler explores Chinese industry and agriculture in his book, Country Driving.
UC medical marijuana study shows pot relieves pain
The verdict is in: medical marijuana is effective at treating neuropathic pain. Well, that’s what a newly released report from researchers at UC San Diego’s Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research suggests anyway. It’s the first major study in two decades, looking into the efficacy of medical marijuana. The research was paid for with nearly $9 million in state funds, authorized by 1999 legislation known as the Medical Research Act. Researchers also found that lower doses can work just as well as higher doses, with less mental confusion. But do users want the high? What impact might the finding have on policy--and California's burgeoning pot business?
Guest:
Dr. Igor Grant, Professor of Psychiatry, UC San Diego; director of the state-funded research done by the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research
Dan Neil hits the road
The L.A. Times auto critic and columnist sent his farewell message to his newsroom last week…saying he'll miss the place and the people. Pulitzer Prize winner Dan Neil will move back to his home state of North Carolina where he’ll continue his writing, starting in the spring, for the Wall Street Journal.
Guest:
Dan Neil, outgoing automotive columnist for the Los Angeles Times, soon to be of the Wall Street Journal
Baca orders new pursuit tactics
The word from LA County Sheriff Lee Baca is “chase to contain, rather than chase to apprehend.” The sheriff’s new deadly force policy is intended to reduce the number of fatalities among deputies, suspects and bystanders. Sixteen people were shot and killed by LA County deputies in 2009, up from nine in 2008, including one instance in which the man shot and killed was a civilian mistaken for a robbery suspect. Is this the right response to fatalities on the rise? How will this new policy be implemented and overseen? Larry talks to LA County Sheriff Lee Baca about the new tactics and how they will lead to safer pursuits.
Guest:
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca
A journey through China from farm to factory
In 2001, Peter Hessler set off on a 7000 mile drive across China. Over the next seven years, he tracked how the country's industrial boom transformed dirt paths into paved roads and small villages into factory towns. Country Driving, the final book in Hessler's China trilogy, explores the human side of the country's economic revolution. He examines the effect that rapid development has had on the average person in China, and what has been lost or gained in the process.
Guest:
Peter Hessler, author of Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory (Harper), the final book in his China trilogy, along with River Town and Oracle Bones. Hessler is a staff writer for The New Yorker, where he served as the Beijing correspondent from 2000 to 2007.