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|Rediff India Abroad Home | All the sections
How to buy a dream house in the hills
Outlook Money | September 22, 2006
Astyuttarasyaam dishi devataatmaa
The hills are alive with the sounds of chipping, chiselling, clamping and all that goes into house building. A quaint cottage near Ranikhet, a bungalow in the pristine apple and pine paradise of Mashobra, a chalet among the tea leaves of the Dooars, are just a handful of dreams a few have been able to live up to. But living your dream is not a Himalayan task anymore.
Ask Rajan Sastri, head of research & advisory, indiaproperties.com, and pat comes the reply: "Many people want to acquire property in the Himalayan belt owing to rising disposable incomes. Purchasing property in the hills serves as a holiday home-cum-investment."
Consider your hill investment as a separate asset class. Over the last year, while equity funds have yielded 54 per cent return, real estate in general, about 30 per cent and gold 8 per cent, your Himalayan abode could well have appreciated 100 per cent. That is, if buying property is legal in that state. Many Himalayan states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal have laws that prevent non-domiciles from acquiring property.
Apart from the legal right to own land, you need to establish a comfort level with drinking water facilities and the sewerage systems. Sastri warns that a lot of hill properties have septic tanks, which are not connected to the civic sewage system.
Uttaranchal Unplugged
In the 'land of the Gods', the Garhwal Himalayas make up the western half of the state and the Kumaon belt laps up the rest. Since Uttaranchal became a separate state in 2000, areas in and around the capital Dehradun have witnessed steady demand. According to Dehradun-based property dealer Jaswant Singh Rana, in adjacent Rishikesh, land is available today in the range of Rs 5-20 lakh* a bigha (thats about 17,424 sq ft).
There is a problem though. A Supreme Court order has banned any new construction in Mussorie, 32 km uphill from Dehradun. Moreover, there are about 400 estates in Mussorie, of which 216 are notified forest areas. Under forest conservation laws, no new construction can take place and neither can trees be cut in these notified forest areas.
However, around Mussorie, opportunities abound. A 2,236-sq ft four-bedroom cottage on Kempty Road is going for Rs 17 lakh. Similarly, a 1,100-sq ft two-bedroom flat, with drawing and dining, near the famous Clarke Hotel in Mussorie is all yours for Rs 22 lakh.
Rana points to the Sahastradhara Road in Dehradun where he claims prices vary from Rs 8-35 lakh a bigha. And in the new growing areas at the periphery of the city, such as Saharanpur Road, Chakrata Road and Sela Qui, land can be bought for Rs 8-10 lakh a bigha.
Properties in Kumaon have also kept pace with neighbouring Garhwal. Like Mussorie, no new construction is allowed in Nainital. "But outside town, land is available for Rs 3-4 lakh a nalli (2,163 sq ft) and in areas around Kausani, Ranikhet and Almora, the cost is around Rs 2 lakh a nalli," claims Ganesh Bhatt, promoter of the Haldwani-based Rock Link Properties and Developers. Open land around Pithoragarh is cheaper at about Rs 1.5 lakh a nalli, he adds.
In the terai region of Ramnagar adjoining Corbett National Park, land values are in the range of Rs 80-300 per sq ft, says Suyash Bansal, Partner, Agrawal Colonisers, Haldwani.
But if you care for a two-bedroom flat of 1,100 sq ft carpet area over a 1-nalli plot size in Ranikhet, you may have to pay anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh.
Nainital-based lawyer Manoj Lohani explains the Additional Land Law of Uttaranchal which came into existence on September 12, 2003. "This law states that outsiders can buy property in the state up to 550 sq mt (5,914 sq ft). If property above this limit is to be acquired, one has to get the District Magistrate's permission for which one has to file an affidavit with the DM stating that land will be used only for horticulture or agriculture," says Lohani.
Anil Bisht, 34 and his wife, Pooja, 28, are a case in point. In 2002, the couple purchased 65 nallis (1.40 lakh sq ft) at Mahadev Chatti, 32 km upstream of Rishikesh, at Rs 14.3 lakh. Bisht runs an adventure camp by the Ganges, and has had to invest Rs 5 lakh for a garden with more than 300 fruit and vegetable trees. This complies with the law. Despite the property being a good 30-minute walk from the road, land prices in the vicinity have doubled in the last three years and today sit at Rs 50,000 per nalli.
Apart from the garden, the Bishts have built a 1,500-sq ft house, another 700 sq ft kitchen and a separate 700 sq ft dining hall cut from a rock face. The cost of the property, along with the value-addition, tots up to Rs 19.3 lakh. "Construction cost is cheap as local materials are used," says Bisht.
With no electricity yet, the Bishts have to eke out a Robinson Crusoe-like existence. "I want to put up huts with modern amenities by the river bank," he says. That's the reason Bisht has been scouting for power of late. He has even approached the state government and says he was asked to pay Rs 4 lakh just to drag a 2-km wire from one bank of the river to the other. "Despite the swift current in the river, there is little I can do to tap power, and although I have a waterfall right next to my house, laying a plastic pipe to use the latent power would cost upward of Rs 1 lakh," he says.
As Bisht hopes for a swift settlement for his power woes, he can't help but feel good about the loan he took from his family along with his savings to snap up the virgin turf four years ago.
Gaurav Bhalla, Promoter, Milan Centre Property Developers, wants to sell a three-bedroom, 4,500-sq ft, independent bungalow in Barog for Rs 60 lakh. He bought land in Solan for Rs 4.50 lakh last year, where he built a one-bedroom apartment over 800 sq ft and is now puts its price at Rs 10 lakh. Similarly, he purchased a 1,250 sq ft semi-structure in Solan last November. With development cost of Rs 300 per sq ft, his asking price today is Rs 21 lakh. Hillexicon Land measurements vary from state to state as local benchmarks vie to seize the day. Here's an attempt to square up local measurements Local Land Measurement Sq ft 1 Bigha 17,424 1 Nalli 2,163 1 Kanal 107,984 1 Cottah 720 Good Hill Hunting You Can't Touch This! * 1 lakh = 100,000
Land measurements vary from state to state as local benchmarks vie to seize the day. Here's an attempt to square up local measurements
Local Land Measurement
Sq ft
1 Bigha
1 Nalli
1 Kanal
1 Cottah
Good Hill Hunting
You Can't Touch This!
* 1 lakh = 100,000
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|Effects of exercise training on airway responsiveness and airway cells in healthy subjects.
MedLine Citation:
|PMID: 20538849 Owner: NLM Status: In-Process
|Airway responsiveness to methacholine (Mch) in the absence of deep inspirations (DIs) is lower in athletes compared with sedentary individuals. In this prospective study, we tested the hypothesis that a training exercise program reduces the bronchoconstrictive effect of Mch. Ten healthy sedentary subjects (M/F: 3/7; mean + or - SD age: 22 + or - 3 yr) entered a 10-wk indoor rowing exercise program on rowing ergometer and underwent Mch bronchoprovocation in the absence of DIs at baseline, at weeks 5 and 10, as well as 4-6 wk after the training program was completed. Exercise-induced changes on airway cells and markers of airway inflammation were also assessed by sputum induction and venous blood samples. Mean power output during the 1,000 m test was 169 + or - 49 W/stroke at baseline, 174 + or - 49 W/stroke at 5 wk, and 200 + or - 60 W/stroke at 10 wk of training (P < 0.05). The median Mch dose used at baseline was 50 mg/ml (range 25-75 mg/ml) and remained constant per study design. At the pretraining evaluation, the percent reduction in the primary outcome, the inspiratory vital capacity (IVC) after inhalation of Mch in the absence of DIs was 31 +/- 13%; at week 5, the Mch-induced reduction in IVC was 22 + or - 19%, P = 0.01, and it further decreased to 15 + or - 11% at week 10 (P = 0.0008). The percent fall in IVC 4-6 wk after the end of training was 15 + or - 11% (P = 0.87 vs. end of training). Changes in airway cells were not associated with changes in airway responsiveness. Our data show that a course of exercise training can attenuate airway responsiveness against Mch inhaled in the absence of DIs in healthy subjects and suggest that a sedentary lifestyle may favor development of airways hyperresponsiveness.
|Nicola Scichilone; Giuseppe Morici; Daniele Zangla; Laura Chimenti; Eva Davì; Simona Reitano; Alessandra Paternò; Roberta Santagata; Alkis Togias; Vincenzo Bellia; Maria Rosaria Bonsignore
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Publication Detail:
|Type: Journal Article Date: 2010-06-10
Journal Detail:
|Title: Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) Volume: 109 ISSN: 1522-1601 ISO Abbreviation: J. Appl. Physiol. Publication Date: 2010 Aug
Date Detail:
|Created Date: 2010-08-10 Completed Date: - Revised Date: -
Medline Journal Info:
|Nlm Unique ID: 8502536 Medline TA: J Appl Physiol Country: United States
Other Details:
|Languages: eng Pagination: 288-94 Citation Subset: IM
|Dept. of Internal Medicine, Div. of Pulmonology (DIBIMIS Univ. of Palermo, "Villa Sofia-Cervello" Hospital, Via Trabucco 180, 90146 Palermo, Italy. firstname.lastname@example.com
Export Citation:
|APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex
|MeSH Terms
Comment In:
|J Appl Physiol. 2010 Aug;109(2):267-8
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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subset: commoncrawl


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- Intra-agency and interagency coordination process for the CFPB's student loan initiatives relative to leading practices;
- Contracting officer's representative (COR) function in relation to CFPB's policies and the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR);
- Budget process relative to the CFPB's policies and procedures established over budget formulation, execution, and monitoring, and;
- Corrective actions taken to resolve the findings and recommendations included in CFPB's 2012 Independent Audit of Operations and Budget.
KPMG identified findings and made recommendations, including to increase the frequency of reviews of contract administration files maintained by CORs and to perform a de-obligation process more than once per year.
Read the report.


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Hi. Unfortunately I have a good friend who is an Ammachi devotee. I just checked... the "Cult of the Hugging Saint" website you mentioned is up again.Quote
For those of you who have not heard, the website cultofthehuggingsaint.com recently disappeared from the Internet without a trace. The owner of the site suspects that it was an interception of the Ammachi people. There are several ex-devotees and volunteers working to get the site and all of its content back online. The Ammachi corporation continuously tries to destroy anything that gets in the way of it's carefully crafted and maintained media image.
What worried me was what surrounded all of this niceness and how some of it wasn't really all that nice.
The set up has been psychologically and theatrically designed for the maximum build-up just before you get the big pay off..
The second floor of the hotel has been re-imagined as a spiritual wonderland, sort of a Hindu themed fairground complete with uniformed Mousekateers to guide you through. After you get your number you stand in a long line, drawing slowly ever nearer to the saint herself. "Have your ticket visible," I was told several times. Can't have any line jumpers! And you'd be amazed how many of these "spiritual seekers" will elbow the next guy out of the way to get their shaktipat first.
As you get closer you see that Amma is surrounded by concentric circles of ever more devoted disciples. There are three or four guys right next to her watching her the way a dog watches its master as she speaks what I assume are beautiful spiritual messages to them, to which they dare not reply or in any way engage in conversation with someone so divine. After that are rings of worshippers swooning just to be in the Amma's presence. When they remove Amma's chair many of these will run up to lay prostrate and kiss the ground upon which it had sat.
As you move closer to Amma you gradually surrender more and more of your own will. First your shoes come off. Then you're directed in a line by authoritative people who instruct you to move from chair to chair. Then you are pushed into a kneeling position such that you are crawling for the last ten feet or so. Then they remove your jewelry and glasses and wipe off your face like you're a three year old child. Finally you are pushed powerlessly into Amma's -- they call her "Mother" -- waiting embrace.


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WASHINGTON—America's gaze may be fixed on the Gulf of Mexico, as a tentative bid to stanch free-flowing environmental catastrophe begins to take hold.
But with one pipe poised for closure, the Obama administration now must grapple with another, as a bid to dramatically increase the flow of carbon-heavy Canadian crude to the U.S. approaches its witching hour.
By any measure, TransCanada Corp.'s proposed $7-billion Keystone XL pipeline was never going to arrive quietly. If approved, Keystone XL will become the single largest conveyor of Alberta bitumen to the U.S. — a 2,700-kilometre, metre-thick, 900,000 bbl/day behemoth running all the way to the refineries of Houston with the potential to about double stateside consumption of Canadian crude.
But with decision-time overlapping on what is now the worst oil disaster in history, environmentalists in Washington are working overtime to leverage public frustrations into unprecedented scrutiny of America's increasing dependence on Canadian oil.
"The disaster in the Gulf has totally primed the debate over Canadian tar sands," said Liz Barratt-Brown, senior attorney with the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council.
"The public outrage is just beginning to translate to the political side. But with the Keystone pipeline proposal providing a decision-point, the United States is approaching a debate we've never before had before — do we really want increase our reliance on the planet's dirtiest oil?"
For now, the decision on Keystone rests with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose department holds sway on transboundary pipelines based on considerations of "national interest." A deadline for public comment on the State Department's draft environmental assessment passed last week, other federal agencies are expected to weigh in by Friday.
But as letters on interest pile up on Clinton's desk, some believe the increasingly politicized issue may eventually be taken up directly by the White House.
Among the most notable submissions was that of California Congressman Henry Waxman, chair of the influential energy and commerce committee, who last week wrote Clinton denouncing the pipeline project "a step in the wrong direction." His letter followed similar objections for 49 other sitting Democrats. And it came amid an especially scathing critique from John Podesta, a prominent Clinton-era politico known to be close to the Obama administration, who described oil derived from tar sands as "polluting, destructive, expensive and energy intensive."
Canada has been pushing back, however, with lobbying on multiple fronts — including a U.S. ad campaign in which the Alberta government extols ongoing efforts to lighten its oil sands footprint. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, writing Clinton to counter Waxman's objection, stressed what many oil sands supporters view as the Canadian industry's most persuasive selling point– the fact that Canada is stable, reliable and . . . not the Middle East.
Other lobby groups, including the oil-industry backed Consumer Energy Alliance, are tub-thumping for Keystone, arguing that as many as 13,000 shovel-ready jobs will be unleashed with the stroke of Clinton's pen. The CEA calls the project a "no-brainer," pointing to significant union backing led by the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.
Clinton's State Department is two weeks into a 90-day countdown on the decision — but both sides acknowledge the deadline is elastic, with postponements likely as other government agencies weigh in.
"There is a cautious optimism that the Keystone pipeline will go through – but perhaps not until after November's midterm elections," one consultant familiar with Canadian lobbying efforts in Washington told the Toronto Star.
"At the end of the day, the energy security argument is Alberta's trump card. But with the White House already struggling to move a climate bill through Congress, it is likely they will want to punt this back so that it won't become fodder for the midterms."
Longtime Washington watchers note that question of Canadian oil sands is merely one slice — albeit a very large one — of America's larger energy and climate debate. Even if Keystone is approved, other elements of that debate — including the possibility of a future national Low Carbon Fuel Standard that potentially could discriminate against higher carbon Alberta crude — could emerge as potential points of friction between the two countries.
The environmental lobby, however, is far from ready to concede defeat on the Keystone project.
"This isn't just about one pipeline — it's about the hundreds of billions of dollars of rapid expansion the tar sands industry will undertake in Alberta in order to fill that pipeline," said the NRDC's Barratt-Brown.
"All this coming to a head in a very different way now because of the spill in the Gulf. I think back to the late 1960s, when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio became so polluted it burst into flames — and ignited a wave of environmental awareness throughout the country. The Gulf spill is the same — a disaster that brings clarity we hope will move us down a path toward clean energy."
Anti-oil sands ad urges tourist boycott of Alberta
WASHINGTON—Alberta is under fresh attack in the U.S. as climate campaigners unfurl billboards in four major cities demonizing the Western province as home to "the other oil disaster."
The campaign, which launched Wednesday in Denver, Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis, aims to divert Stateside anger over the Gulf oil spill into a broad travel boycott against Alberta.
"We felt we needed to become more aggressive because Alberta is trying hard to sell itself with images of Banff even as tar sands development destroys an area of forest twice the size of England," said Michael Marx, executive director of Corporate Ethics, the San Francisco-based organization bankrolling the campaign.
The Corporate Ethics campaign comes with an online dimension, including banner ads on popular travel sites "geo-targeted" to appear on the computers of travellers from U.S. cities in Alberta's tourist catchment area.
The anti-Alberta campaign began with an initial outlay of $50,000 for billboard rentals. But Corporate Ethics is planning for a "multi-year" campaign that will expand to Britain later this month with a similar series of messages targeting Alberta.
Alberta Energy Minister Ron Liepert shrugged off the billboard campaign, telling reporters in Edmonton that the province will continue working hard to press its side of the story in the United States.
"From what I've managed to determine, most Americans want security of supply, want their sources to be developed in a responsible way and as long as that's happening they're satisfied," said Liepert.
"There's always going to be individuals or organizations who want to rid the world of fossil fuel reliance and let's be clear — that is what's behind most of these campaigns. That's simply not going to happen."
Mitch Potter
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text:
Babak Dehghani MD
504 Garden View Way
Rockville, MD 20850
Employment and education
September 2009 – Present
• Author, Kings of Medes
• Participant, Human Investigation Program, Oregon Health and Science University
August 2008 – September 2009
Completion of publications
October 2005 – August 2008
Research Associate, Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University
October 2003 – October 2005
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Neurology, Oregon Health and Science University
1997 – 2002
Resident, Nuclear Medicine, Medical School, Pécs University, Hungary
1990 – 1997
M.D. Degree, Medical School, Pécs University, Hungary
Honors and awards
Patent Technology # US2011/0124614 A1 prepared in 2009, filed in 2010, and published in 2011
• Therapeutic Use of Membrane Estrogen Receptor Ligands in Autoimmune Disease
• Methods and Compositions for Treatment of Autoimmune Disease
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Katalin Zambo, Erzsebet Schmidt, Tamas Hartman, Laszlo Kornya, Babak Dehghani, Hans Rudolf, and Jozsef Bodis; preliminary experiences with sentinal lymph node detection in cases of vulvar malignancy; September 2002, Vol. 29, No. 9
Molecular Endocrinology
Chunhe Wang, Babak Dehghani, I. Jack Magrisso, Elizabeth A. Rick, Edna Bonhomme,
David B. Cody, Laura A. Elenich, Sandhya Subramanian, Stephanie J. Murphy, Martin J. Kelly, Jan S. Rosenbaum, Arthur A. Vandenbark, and Halina Offner; GPR30 contributes to estrogen-induced thymic atrophy; 2007, 22 (3): 636-648
Babak Dehghani, Bruce F. Bebo, Jr., Scott Foster, Astrid Kurniawan, Francisco J. Lopez, and Larry S. Sherman; treatment with selective estrogen receptor modulators regulates myelin specific T-cells and suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis; November 20, 2008
The Journal of Immunology
Babak Dehghani, Chunhe Wang, Yuexin Li, Laurie J. Kaler, Thomas Proctor, Arthur Vandenbark, and Halina Offner; membrane estrogen receptor agonist regulates EAE through up regulation of programmed death-1; 2009, 182: 3294-3303
Chunhe Wang, Babak Dehghani, Laurie J. Kaler, Arthur Vandenbark, and Halina Offner; estrogen modulates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and IL-17 production via programmed death-1; March 2009, 126(3): 329-35
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THREE SMASH HITS! You show a packet of cards (saying that it contains the four Queens) and leave it aside. You also show another packet of four cards and they are seen to be the four Queens. A spectator FREELY touches any card and this is revealed to be, say, the QC.FIRST EFFECT: The QC is seen to be the only reversed card in the other packet.SECOND EFFECT: This card has a red back, while the other three are blue-backed cards.THIRD EFFECT: The three blue-backed cards are seen to have blank faces. Easy to do. Complete with all the necessary cards. At the end everything can be examined


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The Last Laugh:Did anybody see The Downer Channel on Tuesday night? Hard to tell this early if it'll keep it up for long, but so far, that show rocks! I have chosen to place it with Family guy and Futurama on my list of "shows I can't miss... or at least, if I do, I'll get rather irritated about it." Hmm. I should stop naming my lists as I go along. I think I'll also add "Fake Fourth Television Show" to the list. Man, that show rocks!
Falcon will be back tomorrow to answer your questions about falconing. The types of gloves you need, the proper way to care for your falcon if it is wounded, et cetera.
Actually, sending questions about that sort of stuff would be interesting, but I don't think either of us would be able to give a whit of knowledge, unless he really does know for some reason. Send in questions about... heck, pick anything, it doesn't have to be RPGs. Whatever type of question you want to read answers to in this column, send that type of question. (To me, anyway, I'm not making any promises on behalf of Goog and Aegis.)
On that note... ... c'mon, that's the cue for the xylophone to sound! Blah. Oh well. The note in question was supposed to be a Bb. Imagine it. On that note, it's time for me to head to sleep, or some reasonable facsimile thereof. Or perhaps Tetrinet.
Chimerasame "I want a Mek'leth." @rpgamer.com
Frasier rocks too, though I rarely remember to watch it. And Boston Public seems cool.
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Award-winning authors, compelling characters, amazing settings, and fascinating lives. There are millions of books and stories -- start with ours! Let's chat!
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Little Things Count
5 comments:
- John J. Lewis said...
When I write scene depicting the outdoors, I always throw in the sounds of nature, whether they are from dogs, birds, or trees. If the story takes place in a suburban area, I try to do the same, but comment on how it interacts with the city. Description in such a way gives a real sense of pause, I feel. I mean, how many times have we spent talking with someone only to watch a crow hop across a lawn, possibly carrying a french fry?
- July 10, 2013 at 12:58 AM
- marja said...
It's so easy to forget to includes sounds, and they really do help set a scene. Thanks for the reminder.
- July 10, 2013 at 9:16 AM
- Beryl Reichenberg said...
Funny, John! And thanks Marja for the post. We all need reminding sometime. Beryl
- July 10, 2013 at 2:50 PM
- Julie Luek said...
I live in the mountains of Colorado and my environment is very key to how I perceive the world, that includes all the critters. I love your description suggestions too-- really enhances the visual for the reader.
- July 10, 2013 at 4:01 PM
- marja said...
Thank you, Beryl. By the way, your name would make a great character name.
Julie, Thank you. I love a book that lets me visualize the location. If I can smell the scents or "hear" the sounds, even better.
- July 10, 2013 at 4:42 PM


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Congratulations to the Florida Medical Association for passing a resolution on July 27 to oppose Amendment 2.
The FMA overwhelmingly opposes allowinf people to buy marijuana in stores across the state based on a recommendation - not a prescription - from a doctor.
It baffles me that the news media reporting on this issue are not covering this angle. After all, Amendment 2 is a medical issue, or at least that is how it is advertised.
The American Medical Association - the nation's largest physician group - opposes marijuana to be used as medicine.
The AMA is joined by a dozen other major medical associations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Glaucoma Society and the American Psychiatric Association in opposition.
Cannabis-based products and delivery devices should receive the same Food and Drug Administration approval as other prescription drugs, and smoking as a means of drug delivery is just not safe.
Smokable marijuana has four times the amount of tar as tobacco and possesses the same carcinogenic properties.
Proponents of Amendment 2 have cast themselves as seeking to help patients suffering from the most serious illnesses, such as cancer or HIV/AIDS.
However, Colorado's marijuana patient database shows that only 3 percent of those using the drug for purported medical purposes cited cancer and only 1 percent cited HIV/AIDS.
However, 94 percent of the users said they need marijuana for "pain," which can be subjective and one that can easily mask obtaining the drug for recreational use.
In testimony before the Florida Supreme Court, lawyers for Amendment 2 proponents argued that a student stressed out over exams could be given pot if that was appropriate in the opinion of a doctor. The proponents were describing how marijuana would be available to those with undefined "debilitating conditions," but the truth came out.
Marijuana has a very negative effect on the adolescent brain. A 2013 Northwestern University study found that teens who were heavy marijuana users had abnormal changes in their brain structures related to working memory and that these teens performed poorly on memory tasks. The study also found the marijuana-related brain abnormalities look similar to schizophrenia-related brain abnormalities.
Mike Dillon, a former undercover narcotics officer and school resource officer with the Mesa County Sheriff's Department, told us that Colorado's approval of medical marijuana made it readily available to middle and high school students. They typically raided their parents' supply or obtained the drug for recreational use through someone who was authorized to receive it as a patient.
A "yes" vote on Amendment 2 is permanent; it's in the Florida Constitution; a "no" vote means not now.
Let's slow down and think this issue through. This is a medical question and the fact is most doctors have serious reservations about Amendment 2.
Laura Yard practices addiction and preventative medicine in Port Orange.