"Violence Prompts Debate Over Medical Marijuana":  William Yardley of The New York Times reports on a recent shooting and deadly beating linked to medical marijuana in Washington.  The incidents have prompted law enforcement officials and marijuana advocates to call for changes to its regulations of the drug.  In the past week, a man in Orting, Washington, died after being beaten while confronting people stealing marijuana plants from his property.  This past Monday, a marijuana plant grower shot an armed man who is accused of breaking into his home.  Washington legalized medical marijuana in 1998, and increased violent crimes underscore the conflicts in state policy.  Washington's laws do not require the state to play a formal role in regulating and distributing the drug.  The majority of medical marijuana is distributed through private homes or small offices.  As a result, robberies have become more common in Washington, and tend to be under-reported.  State Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a Democrat from Seattle, said she and another lawmaker would introduce legislation next year to protect access to medical marijuana and protect those who grow it.  It should only protect those who obey the law.  The medical marijuana grower that was involved in the recent shooting, was not in compliance.  He and his girlfriend were entitled to have 50 plants each in the house they shared, but investigators found baked, frozen, and chocolate goods laced with marijuana along with a total of 385 plants in his home.

Off-Topic, But in Honor of St. Patty's Day:  In The New York Times, Thomas Cahill has an op-ed celebrating the Irish, in "Turning Green With Literacy."