January 6, 2015 - Some producers think others might be falsely boosting test results by adding THC-laden substances to their samples.  "rolling it in kief, the powder made from glands that have sifted or rubbed from the buds and leaves of the marijuana plant; Australia-of 200 samples, 7% tested above 28 percent THC.  One sample hit 39.8 percent. (the Everclear alcohol of the marijuana world); Pot Stock Bubble; Pot Stock Billionaires; Muslim Oranizations support death penalty; Going to Pot:  Colorado Leads the way; Governor Walker states Alaska on schedule to implement Marijuana Regulations by February 24; The Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police is holding a conference: "Marijuana Impact on Public Health and Safety in Colorado", in conjunction with Jensen Public Affairs, a lobbying firm.  The conference costs $325 to attend-the 3 day conference in Lone Tree (suburb of Denver) Colorado starts Jan 14; Legalization Nation Index 2014; WSJ-Steep Cost of America's High Incarceration Rate.
January 13, 2015 - Federal Jurist Will Rule on Constitutionality of Classifying Marijuana As a Dangerous Drug; When we talk about weed and women we don’t talk about the single mothers who trim during the fall so they can buy school clothes for their kids. We don’t talk about the pioneers - grandmothers now - who moved here in the ‘70s and scratched a living out of the hillside, praying that the sun would shine and CAMP helicopters wouldn’t darken the skies; Planned Medical Marijuana Facility Would Bring 100 Full-Time Jobs
January 20, 2015  - Many in attendance urged them to let legitimate pot businesses thrive in a fair taxation atmosphere that replaces the borough’s humming black market; A number of people urged the local officials to make sure edible
marijuana candies or cookies carry child warning labels. Voters statewide made that choice in November when they approved a broad state initiative that also allows for the legalized but regulated sale of marijuana, marijuana products and marijuana
accessories beginning next year, following the required adoption of regulations later this year.
January 27, 2015 - DEATH A LAST RESORT; ONLINE CANNABIS CULTURE ‘A CONCERN’; ‘BIG MARIJUANA’ IS ALREADY HERE; SOMETHING OBSCENE ABOUT CIVIL ASSET FORFEITURES; WHAT’S UP, DOC?; MAJOR MYSTERY OF MARIJUANA - JUST HOW POTENT IS THAT POT?; SMUGGLING BY DRONE NEW THREAT AT BORDER; APPLE SAYS NO TO SOME POT APPS; CREATING A NATIONAL CANNABIS BRAND MIGHT BE HARDER THAN YOU THINK;
February 3, 2015 - D.C. police have written more than 250 tickets for marijuana possession in the roughly six months since the District relaxed its marijuana laws; DEA Uses License-Plate Readers to Build Database for Federal;  Jessica Billingsley and Amy oinsett turned their Web developing and IT expertise into MJ Highway, which sells software to marijuana businesses. Five years after they started, they have 25 employees and more than 1,000 clients in 18 states.  As big money moves into what for decades was underground economy, ArcView Group President Steve DeAngelo urged the investors and
entrepreneurs to heed what he considers the longstanding values of the pot world: inclusion, diversity and a respect for nature.  "Cannabis is a gift from the hippies, like yoga and personal computers,"; Why Voter Apathy Saved Reformers Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars; The mainstreaming of marijuana continues with the creation of the National Cannabis Chamber of Commerce (nationalcannabischamberofcommerce.com), a week-old organization that will both lobby Washington and host your next industry meet-and-greet; The American Academy of Pediatrics this week weighed in on the classification of marijuana, urging the federal government to reclassify the drug to facilitate research; cannabis-infused sex lube called Foria a mix of coconut oil and cannabis; Sproul Creek watershed; In flush years, farmers tend to indulge in cannabis's ability to take
as much as seven gallons of water per day, per plant. "Cannabis can take a lot of water," he says. "But when you over water, you cause the cell walls to swell. You get bigger yields, and higher weight, but the buds themselves aren't the same quality."With only three gallons or so per plant, the buds are tighter and denser, Pfrommer tells me, with "more resin content because it's not a big, spread-out bud. ... They also have a much more robust flavor."finally broken the bad habits "endemic" in outdoor cultivation: overwatering and overfeeding.; MBank's decision to pull out only a week after it had announced it would bank legal pot businesses in Colorado; Mendocino County law enforcement officials are investigating the legality of a proposed large-scale indoor medical marijuana growing
operation on tribal land outside of Ukiah, casting a cloud of doubt over the future of the unprecedented venture; DENVER - Nobody in the Colorado marijuana industry is panicking, but those involved are sweating a little over the hard line taken by Loretta Lynch, President Obama's pick to be the next attorney general, on legalization during this week's Senate confirmation hearing; President Obama's $4 trillion budget would do a lot of things, but one of the most controversial may turn out to be allowing legal sales of marijuana in the nation's capital;
February 10, 2015 - National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL); The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - no evidence that marijuana use is statistically significant in boosting wreck rates; The acting U.S. drug czar says the federal government
shouldn't interfere with the District's move to legalize possession of marijuana for recreational use; FIRST BANK OF BUD: COLORADO CANNA-BUSINESS; Marijuana Enforcement Division set new rules for edibles; BRECKENRIDGE HOTELS TRAIN EMPLOYEES ABOUT MARIJUANA EDIBLES; The federal government's war against itself over marijuana policy continues. Three new fronts have opened, involving the military, the Congress and, of all places, the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The result is an even greater mishmash of mixed signals; "Getting Doug with High"; Hydropothecary cultivates four strains of medical marijuana in highly controlled, state-of-the-art facilities and yet we can't say much about our product; US Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy, said: "We have some preliminary data that for certain medical conditions and symptoms, marijuana can be helpful."; Denver's pedestrian mall is the city's busiest shopping district, an all-American high street where crowds bustle between glass-fronted rows of popular retailers. Stores here offer shoppers a high-end array of merchandise from children's toys to cowboy boots  and since April, legal marijuana, displayed like so many strains of exotic tea in a mood-lit storefront across from the Sheraton hotel; On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to
approve President Barack Obama's recommendation to make Botticelli, 57, the nation's seventh drug czar, a big jump for a man who had various part-time jobs in the 1990s, including one as a Pottery Barn supervisor; IF SOUTH Africans are not asking President Jacob Zuma to resign, they are calling for dagga to be legalised; ZIMMERMAN'S VICTORY LAPSE Professional reformers, longtime activists, and stakeholders in the
marijuana industry attended an invitation-only meeting at the Waterfront Hotel in Oakland January 9 to discuss plans for a marijuana 'legalization' initiative to be on the ballot in California in 2016; Jamaica is proceeding with plans to decriminalize and regulate marijuana; 4/20 FEST MAY GET 3RD DAY WITH SMALLER POT EVENTS; David Neal, 61, of Middletown, Ohio, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to defraud the United States and introduction of misbranded drugs into interstate commerce. He faces up to six years in prison; America's drug abuse woes have been exacerbated by a lack of leadership from above and at the local level, four former drug czars told a gathering of some 2,500 anti-drug activists Tuesday; A federal appeals court questioned the government's move to seize and shut down the huge Harborside medical marijuana dispensary, but showed no support Tuesday for Oakland's attempt to preserve the pot supplier and its bounty of tax revenue.  Despite the Obama administration's repeated assertions that it would not target medical marijuana operations that comply with state laws, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag filed suit in July 2012 to close down the city-licensed Harborside Health Center, which supplies marijuana to 108,000 patients along the Oakland Estuary at 1840 Embarcadero. City officials sued to block the forfeiture, but a federal magistrate ruled in 2013 that Oakland had no rights of its own at stake in the case.
February 17, 2015 - THE number of students using or possessing drugs in NSW schools is at record levels; Don Briere. Or Donald Joseph Briere, as he's known inside the Canadian justice and penal systems. He was once this country's most prolific marijuana producer and distributor, with 33 illegal growing operations hidden across B. C.; Inmates cried and hugged when they learnt on Friday that Chan and Sukumaran would be executed this month for attempting to export 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Australia.; LE'OR AIMS TO PUT MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION ON THE JEWISH AGENDA; The finding suggests that about 60,000 people in Britain abuse  high-potency cannabis, known as skunk; The web enables ever quicker and easier access to these substances; Professor David Nutt claimed that banning certain drugs is depriving patients and doctors of "extremely useful" therapies for chronic pain and illnesses; Alaska-she believes that yes, state law allows for private property owners to set the rules regarding herb on their own property; she laid out for creating a state-backed bank are somewhat complex, legal herb or not, and since Alaska's path toward one is barely a glimmer of a curiosity at this point; Arizona-"It took me a long time to decide to get my card, and once I got it,  "What happened is that now I actually feel like I have a target on my back; Ukiah-An initial, 10,000-square-foot state-of-the art greenhouse is due to be erected within weeks on the land in Ukiah owned by the 250-member Pinoleville Pomo Nation, about 140 miles north of Sacramento. It's
the initial phase of a joint marijuana production and processing venture believed to be the first of its kind in the nation- (See Kansas Investors)-The Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma has no interest in the business, spokeswoman Amanda Clinton said. But Montana's Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes, and the Red Lake Band of Chippewas in Minnesota,
have begun feasibility studies.  One of the most dramatic splits is in Washington, which began sales of recreational marijuana in 2014.  Washington state's 1,200-member Suquamish tribe last year notified authorities it was considering producing and selling marijuana. The tribe "has a responsibility to explore business opportunities that
may help raise funds," Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman said in a statement.
But the state's 10,000-member Yakama tribe has outlawed marijuana on its 1.2 million acres, and wants it banned from 10.2 million acres of ancestral land it ceded to the federal government; IN WEED VERITAS Porn is not quite the right word for it. The six-minute newscasts feature a medley of young women awkwardly stripping in front of a green screen while they poorly annunciate teleprompter cues about sex positions, cannabis-related research and unoriginal but stoner-friendly "news." It's hollow and strangely hypocritical to watch a young woman unhook her bra while she badmouths Paris Hilton's career path, but the biggest question is, why does this even exis?; The ABC's of Cannabis-I will be attending the International Cannabis Business Conference in San Francisco. All the cannabis experts will be there: Rick Steves, Dr. Carl Hart, Steve DeAngelo, Amanda Reiman . I could go on. Oh, and Del tha Funkee Homosapien is performing. I wonder if he will change the name of his song from "Mistadobilina" to "Mista-dab-alina"? More info at www.internationalcbc.com; And according to Columbia University professor Carl Hart, biased research on cannabis is an institutionalized form of magical thinking that is undermining the credibility of science as well. Hart is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech on spotting bias on Sunday at the International Cannabis Business Conference (ICBC) in San Francisco; California Weed Limits-Wrapped in tinfoil, with "DO NOT EAT" scribbled in Sharpie, is a small brownie. At 447 calories and 27 grams of fat, only some people could eat this chocolate-toffee treat guilt-free. But you can forget about trying to run or work it off after digesting: A few bites, and you're in for a really weird day. If you eat the whole thing, prepare for a long, lost weekend.  This is because the brownie contains 700 milligrams of THC. That's the psychoactive punch in about an entire ounce of high-grade California medical cannabis. To put this into context: It takes about 15 to 25 milligrams of THC to get someone high. The brownie contains about 35 times that amount; DENVER - You might imagine that Colorado has become a pot-fueled cultural carnival since the state legalized recreational marijuana last year: midnight screenings of "Dude, Where's My Car?"; uninhibited jam-band concerts at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre under clouds of herbal smoke.  In fact, both here and in Washington state, residents may not toke up in public - and that includes restaurants, bars, football games nd
rock concerts - although the rules for what constitutes a public event can be murky. Advertising for pot sales, too, is problematic, as Colorado bans spots on billboards, TV and radio stations and the Internet if more than 30% of the target audience is underage.; In December, Seth Rogen tried to promote his movie "The Interview" by inviting Denver marijuana enthusiasts to a screening at a small theater. After city officials threatened to shut down the event, the actor was reduced to wandering the aisles with a bottle of tequila,
pouring shots for attendees.  Last spring, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra announced a "classically cannabis"  fundraiser, but Denver city officials shut it down, banning concertgoers from bringing and smoking pot at the event. (The CSO later held the event privately; a spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.); Legal marijuana was a $700 million dollar industry in Colorado last year, according to a Washington Post analysis of recently released tax data from the state's Department of Revenue. In 2014, Colorado retailers sold $386 million of medical marijuana and $313 million for purely recreational purposes. The two segments of the market generated $63 million in tax revenue, with an additional $13 million collected in licenses and fees.; It's not exactly a call for reclassification, but it's notable that in a Feb. 4 interview with CBS, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said, "There is some preliminary data showing that for certain
medical conditions and symptoms that marijuana can be helpful." He noted that his position is based on available data, and that he hopes to see more research on marijuana as a medicine.; It's all good, right? The budget request is called a "21st century approach to drug policy that outlines innovative policies and programs and recognizes that substance use disorders are not just a criminal justice issue, but also a major public health concern" and brags that more than $12 billion will be spent on public health, more than any previous year.; Seriously, veganic growing is growing your cannabis without using any nutrients derived from animals or chemically derived minerals. Organic growers tend to rely on things like bat guano and emulsified fish guts as a source of nutrients; veganic growers shun things like that, using only nutrients derived from plants, like fermented leaves. While some do it for philosophical reasons, most veganic growers we know are meat-eaters who just want better-quality cannabis. The idea is that the microbes in the soil break down the
vegan nutrients and deliver them to the plant more easily than they would with animal-based nutrients. According to some studies, the transfer of nutrients is three times higher in veganic gardening. Well-known grower Kyle Kushman has moved to an entirely veganic mixture and is one of the method's most vocal advocates, saying that it "elevates the cultivation of cannabis flowers to the highest level of purity possible." I don't know if I'd go that far, but I am starting to see a lot of growers making the switch and praising the
end product. To learn more, check out kylekushman.com.; At some point in Colorado's experiment with marijuana, an issue surrounding the schools and medical pot was bound to arise.  Jefferson County Public Schools is now the test case, and is using the strange defense that marijuana is federally outlawed to justify snatching the medicine from the hands of a Wheat Ridge middle school student with severe disabilities,; Three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg harped on the importance of vocational education and blasted Colorado's decision to legalize marijuana as stupid Friday evening before a sold-out crowd at the Aspen Institute.  When an audience member asked the 72-year-old Bloomberg about Colorado marijuana, he responded that it was a terrible idea, one that is
hurting the developing minds of children. Though he admitted to smoking a joint in the 1960s, he said the drug is more accessible and more damaging today.; S.D. COUPLE FIGHTING FOR $25,000 CASH SEIZED WHILE VACATIONING IN COLORADO; Between Oct. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2014, federal agents in Colorado seized $13.5 million, according to statistics from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Colorado. About $2.8 million of that filtered down to local law enforcement agencies.; Friese said students were told at the beginning of the school year that the dogs would come to the school. He said he plans to have the dogs conduct sweeps twice each school year and more if he feels the problem is increasing.; Scott Walker, drug test for everyone.  True, results from other states that have tried this strategy don't look particularly encouraging. In Tennessee, more than 16,000 applicants for public assistance were screened for drug use under a new state law; exactly 37 tested positive, or about 0.2 percent.; The D.C. Council made another wrong move Monday by discussing the pros and cons of the Prohibition of Pre-Employment Marijuana Testing Act, which would bar employers from drug testing job applicants and
prospective employees.; Alexander's book focuses on the role that the war on drugs played in the explosion of incarceration rates starting in the early 1980s, as well as the devastating burden that having a felony conviction places on the lives of the nonviolent offenders who comprise the overwhelming majority of people arrested, convicted and eventually returned to their communities after doing their time.; A report from the
Rand Corp., commissioned by Gov. Peter Shumlin - in anticipation of legislative action - addresses that question, including an assessment of the potential for the state to make some money off the weed.; Such fits are a fact of life for the Gedicks and the reason they
would eventually seek out medical marijuana. Besides having epilepsy, Rebekah, 4, was born with an abnormal hippocampus, the part of the brain that regulates memory and emotional behavior. Her issues include seizures and out-of-control tantrums that leave her red-faced and perspiring.; Johann Hari spent three years gathering material for "Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs." Most of it was traveling the world and talking to people connected with the drug trade. Through them, and through his research, he tells the story of drugs, their maladies and benefits.; To Anslinger, taking down Holiday meant taking down a culture he abhorred. He assigned his only black agent to track her every move, then a band of agents in support, following her from club to club and from hideaway to hideaway. They eventually succeeded and Holiday spent a year in prison.  But that wasn't enough for Anslinger. As she lay dying in a Manhattan hospital at 44, Anslinger's agents paid her a visit and said they found a small packet of heroin in her room, hanging on a nail in a wall six feet and out of reach from her bed. They charged her with possession but she avoided prosecution ... by dying.  If Anslinger was the nation's first drug czar and Holiday the symbolic prey, then Arnold Rothstein was the first drug lord and the third prong in the author's drug triumvirate.; Oklahoma-Earlier this year, Gov. Mary Fallin urged the state to legalize nonintoxicating medicinal cannabis oil - CBD - on a supervised basis for children suffering from severe seizure disorders.; Dr. Jane Sadler is a family medicine physician on staff at Baylor Medical Center at Garland. She blogs at health blog.dallasnews.com. THC has proven antiinflammatory effects ( Inflammatory Bowel Disease, 2013) for people with significant bowel diseases. Studies are underway to develop marijuana-infused drugs that could reduce the incidence of seizures in treatment-resistant patients ( Epilepsy Behavior, 2013). Marijuana is known to benefit people with chronic pain and under controlled prescribing and specific dosing schedules
may be safer than opioids (such as Vicodin or OxyContin) for chronic pain management.
Notably, states with legalization of marijuana have up to 25 percent fewer opioid-related deaths, according to an August article in JAMA Internal Medicine.; WASHINGTON - The number of drivers on the road with alcohol in their systems has declined by nearly one-third since 2007, but there has been a large increase in drivers using marijuana and other illegal
drugs, a government report released Friday found.  The report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the share of drivers who test positive for alcohol has declined by more than three quarters since the agency first began conducting roadside surveys in 1973.; In Washington, Michael Botticelli, who was confirmed last week as the
director of national drug control policy, told the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that an increase in cross-border trafficking of pot is now a "serious concern," and that he wants to fight it.; WASHINGTON - A new study from the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration finds that drivers who use marijuana are at a significantly lower risk for a crash than drivers who use alcohol.;
February 24, 2015 - 5 Amazing New Discoveries About the Potential of Marijuana That You Won't Hear in the; HOUSE BILL No. 2329 By Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources; TELEVISION IS ADDING MORE POT-DRIVEN SHOWS; The war on drugs has been a catastrophe that has multiplied human pain. One risks one's unincarcerated life to take illegal drugs. But people still do it. This mystery cries out to be solved.  Rather than studying worthy half-measures; The U. S. Supreme Court has given Colorado an extra month to respond to a lawsuit that claims the state is polluting its neighbors with marijuana.; The dispensary is one of many to face the fine, assessed even though the company pays its taxes in cash and on time at the Denver downtown IRS office twice each month.; "Drug tests for everyone," the hypocrisy of governors and legislators who want to test those who receive public funds and benefits. Targeting the poor and the most vulnerable for drug testing has proved that it costs more to do the testing than to pay the benefit.; Tsunamis of drugs have rolled into and around Maryland since the 1960s. As a retired detective, I worked the trenches of our drug war. Polls show 80 percent of the people recognize the total failure of policy.; The writer helped draft the legislation that established the Special Action Office for Drug Abuse Prevention under President Richard Nixon.; NORTH POLE FIRST IN BOROUGH TO APPROVE POT CONSUMPTION POLICY; Alaska- Staffers of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control division prepared the report, called "Preliminary Considerations for Implementation of AS 17.38,"; Maine's law provides provisions for adding new diseases/conditions, child custody protections, employment protections, housing protections, explicit privacy protections, protections from arrest, reciprocity (with other states), restrictions on where patients may medicate, and zoning restrictions. Maine also allows personal cultivation, the feature most responsible for the rapid collapse of the street market and its violence.; AUSTIN - Nearly 300 marijuana enthusiasts made their way to the Texas Capitol on Wednesday to persuade tough-on-crime Republicans to loosen their stance on the drug.; Colorado has been the cannabis capital of the country since passing Amendment 64, and last week, a nine-person delegation from Vermont visited Denver to get the facts while Vermonters consider legalization.; California Attorney General Kamala Harris, the state's top cop and Democratic front-runner in the race for a U.S. Senate seat next year, said Thursday she has "no moral objection" to legalizing the recreational use of marijuana, but cautioned that special care will be required to assess the impacts on children and public safety.; milder strains of marijuana, even when used heavily, don't appear to carry an increased risk of psychosis.; A Washington, D. C.- based group opposed to the legalization of marijuana has announced plans to sue the state of Colorado in federal
court, in the hopes of closing the state's pot stores.  The Safe Streets Alliance, which touts itself as "a nonprofit national organization founded over two decades ago to reduce violent; NEURONS MAY EXPLAIN WHY POT SMOKERS GET 'MUNCHIES'; Note: William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), met with the U-T Editorial Board recently to discuss INL programs, drugs and border rel; But Colorado law has a provision protecting against unnecessary new taxes. Specifically, the state constitution says a new voter-approved tax (like that on marijuana, which followed voter approval of legal weed) can only go into effect when the state needs the money. In 2014 a strong economy boosted overall tax revenue beyond state projections, meaning money from the new pot tax must be returned.; Time and USA Today, both of which seem to have become anti-marijuana mouthpieces. Media outlets greeted the Harvard study with the usual, scare-the-shit-outof-you headlines: USA Today came up with "Casual marijuana use linked to brain changes"; Colorado- we found that Euflora is indeed now scanning IDs - not because the state requires it, but because; Arizona Department of Health Services Director Will Humble announced he plans to step down on March 3.; However, the Medical Cannabis Organ Transplant Act (AB 258, Introduced by Assemblyman Marc Levine) is an important bill that would allow medical cannabis patients to receive organ transplants. As it stands now, people have been denied transplants solely because they use medical cannabis.; ON POT AND FRACKING; Sometimes you know you've lost.; Other times, you have to be dragged from the field, long after the lights are shut off and the crowd has gone home.  Intervention is needed right now in the East Bay, the only place in the United States where the federal Justice Department is trying to seize private property used for a legal enterprise.; The Two Actions, Which Name the Governor As a Defendant, Claim a Pair of Businesses Violate Anti- Racketeering Laws.Two federal lawsuits filed Thursday in Colorado aim to "end the sale of recreational marijuana in this state; Plaintiffs Turn to Federal Government to Protect Properties - DENVER - A Colorado hotel franchise and two property owners filed lawsuits Thursday to bring a halt to the state's legalization of recreational marijuana, citing violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.  The federal lawsuits, which also list the anti-crime Safe Streets Alliance as a plaintiff, are the first of their kind challenging Colorado's first-in-the-nation recreational marijuana market,; You may like technology ( who doesn't these days?) or the energy sector ( where would we be without it?) - but if you're making a longterm bet as an investor, there's a lot going for Big Tobacco.  It's not just that tobacco boasts the best historical performance of allU. S. industries. The industry's future seems especially bright. As marijuana gradually becomes a legal drug, Big Tobacco is poised to dominate the market.   According to the 2015 edition of Credit Suisse's Global Investment Returns Yearbook, a dollar invested in tobacco in 1900 would have turned into $ 6.3 million by the end of 2014, by far the best performance of all the industries that existed at the start of the 20th century.; For the second time in two years, Colorado's U. S. Rep. Jared Polis has introduced legislation that effectively would legalize and tax marijuana at the federal level. Along with a fellow Democrat, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Polis on Friday introduced two bills, the first of which would remove marijuana from the Controlled Substances Act and shift regulation from the Drug Enforcement Administration to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The ATF then would regulate marijuana like alcohol.; Politicians don't get much more conservative than Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, Ronald Reagan's speechwriter, an inspiration behind California's anti-immigration Proposition 187, a Cold War hardliner, and a man who self-deprecatingly calls himself a "Neanderthal Republican."  But now, Rohrabacher has emerged as a national leader in one not-so-conservative issue: legalizing marijuana.  "The marijuana laws have been used to expand the power of government over people's lives more than just anything else I can think of,"   Rohrabacher said recently in San Francisco,; BILL BENNETT'S ANTI-POT GOSPEL   Bill Bennett, who had been Secretary of Education under Reagan and Drug Czar under George H.W. Bush, was on the talk shows last Sunday plugging his new book, "Going to Pot: Why the Rush to Legalize Marijuana Is Harming America." Co-author Robert White is a former federal prosecutor.  An obsequious piece about the book in the Washington Times refers to "Mr. Bennett's research revealing that more Americans are admitted to treatment facilities for marijuana use than for any other illegal drug..." As Bill Bennett knows, almost everyone receiving "treatment" for marijuana is court-mandated or parent-mandated or job-mandated. In other words, forced. Very few marijuana users consider themselves in need of treatment. And nobody gives up their drug of choice until they themselves really want to, according to the 12-steppers' collective wisdom.; WHEN DOPE IS THE BOMB  Landlords, tenants and homeowners have an unexpected new worry: legalized marijuana. Already, marijuana use is an issue for D.C. landlords under decriminalization. One owner of 350 rentals in the city is about to add a no-smoking clause to his lease. He has always advertised his properties as non-smoking. But he is getting an increasing number of complaints from tenants in his buildings about the pungent odor from dope-smoking.    The latest trend in the marijuana subculture is the smoking of "dabs" of marijuana concentrate. This highly concentrated form of marijuana is expensive but growing in popularity for recreational use. And it's explosive - literally.   Because of the expense of buying marijuana concentrate at a dispensary or pot shop, marijuana users are following Internet instructions to manufacture the most potent, concentrated form of the drug, known as BHO (butane hash oil or butane honey oil), at home. Besides dabs, street names for the drug also include 710, wax, honey oil and shatter.   Colorado saw 32 home explosions in 2014, up from 11 in 2013, triggered by attempts to make BHO. Butane is a highly volatile solvent and a flammable gas at room temperature. When cooling, or without proper ventilation, it can easily explode with a ball of fire, blowing out windows, causing property damage and putting neighbors at risk. This is particularly of concern to multilevel housing units such as motels, condominiums and apartments.    Because a large number of D.C. residents live in multi-unit housing, we must take note.; COLORADO RESIDENTS ARE FIRST TO ASK FEDS TO BLOCK LEGAL POT  Colorado already is being sued by two neighboring states for legalizing marijuana. Now, the state faces groundbreaking lawsuits from its own residents, who are asking a federal judge to order the new recreational industry to close.   The owners of a mountain hotel and a southern Colorado horse farm argue in a pair of lawsuits filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Denver that the 2012 marijuana-legalization measure has hurt their property and that the marijuana industry is stinky and attracts unsavory visitors.   The lawsuits are the first in a state that has legalized recreational or medical marijuana in which its own residents are appealing to the federal government to block pot laws.   "It is a bedrock principle of the United States Constitution that federal law is the supreme law of the land," said David Thompson, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.  The lawsuits are also the first to claim that federal racketeering laws allow them to win damages from pot businesses that f lout federal law. The plaintiffs have not specified amounts they would seek.  Experts say the racketeering approach is a new one.    "If these lawsuits are successful, it could be devastating for the industry," said Sam Kamin, a University of Denver law professor who helped craft Colorado's pot regulations. "But it will be very difficult for the plaintiffs to prove damages directly attributable to the marijuana industry."; One Grower Says Regulations, Taxes and a Volatile Market Are Making the New Marijuana "Green Economy" Just a Pipe Dream So Far.  ARLINGTON - The farm near here looks much like its rural neighbors on Highway 9. But this one is under 24-hour surveillance.   Signs outside a house and two buildings warn that guns and children are not allowed. As one approaches the locked doors of the operation,  there is a faint smell of marijuana.   Inside, about a dozen workers grow and harvest plants, package dry leaves and buds and prepare it for sale on the state's newly legal recreational marijuana market. The agricultural part of the operation is backed by a sophisticated business that is navigating a labyrinth of regulations, changing rules and nervous neighbors.   Avitas Agriculture is a state-licensed marijuana producer and processor.; use by local law enforcement of a sophisticated surveillance technology borrowed from the national security world. It shows how a gag order imposed by the FBI - on grounds that discussing the device's operation would compromise its effectiveness - has left judges, the public and criminal defendants in the dark on how the tool works. The StingRay is a box about the size of a small suitcase - there's also a handheld version - that simulates a cellphone tower. It elicits signals from all mobile phones in its vicinity. That means it collects information not just about a criminal suspect's communications but also about the communications of potentially hundreds of law-abiding citizens.; JFK OFFICIALS FILTER FECAL MATTER IN SEARCH FOR DRUGS  2014 Saw 176 'Cavity Conceals'  The federal government is looking for doctors to help monitor suspected smugglers' bowel movements at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, in a solicitation that sounds like it could be something out of the Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" program.   In reality it's all a very sanitary process and even includes a special high-tech toilet to recover the drugs or other contraband from the other waste passing from the suspected smuggler's system.; It's OK for Illinois Physicians to Get into the Medical Marijuana Business- As Long As They Don't Recommend It to Patients- three Illinois doctors are getting into the legal medical marijuana business, according to a review of records of the companies recently approved to grow and sell marijuana.  The rules say that's OK as long as they don't recommend marijuana to their patients.; Marijuana is certainly the answer for my hronic pain, which is caused by my spinal stenosis and spinal scoliosis. Marijuana is not really a drug but rather a plant and natural herb - a natural herb that has never killed anyone in the 6,000-year history of its use.
March 3, 2015 - Tuesday, adult Alaskans can not only keep and use pot, they can transport, grow it and give it away; Charlo Greene, is now CEO of the Alaska Cannabis Club, which is having its grand opening Tuesday in downtown Anchorage;  Daddy Warbucks - Sheldon Adelson - for millions to fund their effort.  Maybe that's because he lives thousands of miles away in Las Vegas. Odd that someone perfectly fine with drinking and gambling could be so offended by legalized medical marijuana to help those with debilitating illness; Several Tribes Will Discuss This Weekend Whether They Want to Get into the Cannabiz; A study released last week by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows no link between marijuana use and car accidents. U.S. drug agents as the case of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, who vanished on a busy street in Guadalajara, Mexico, in 1985 while walking to meet his wife for lunch;  CAPITAL'S POT LEGALIZATION -  The city that brought America government shutdowns and all-night filibusters is set to make pot legal on Thursday; MARASCHINO CHERRY TYCOON KILLS SELF OVER POT FIND - NEW YORK - Brooklyn's Red Hook neighborhood, Arthur Mondella's; ribed as a huge stash of marijuana, cash, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and a Harley were seized at the site;  Jamaica, Tuesday night Parliament gave final legislative approval to an act decriminalizing small amounts...a lawful medical marijuana industry; As it is, being the mecca for cannabis tourism, Amsterdam, whose mayor nearly shut down High Times' Cannabis Cup there this past fall';Feb. 28 - The first Tribal Marijuana Conference is set for Friday on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington state as Indian Country gets ready to capitalize on the nation's expanding pot industry 50 tribes in at least 20 states have registered, with total attendance expected to surpass 300; Emerald Growers Association (EGA) is pushing for the North Coast's to introduce marijuana as an "agricultural product." Emerald Grown Marketing Co-op; San Franciscan Friday medical marijuana cards were able to make high-grade, sun-grown cannabis appear on their doorsteps within an hour, Flow Kana - celebrated its new farm-to-table - or farm-to-bowl - service; Denver-based United Cannabis Corp. is proposing to create a "Ganja Cooperative" to help Jamaican farmers grow pot; Jakarta (AFP) - An Indonesian funeral home has reportedly prepared at least 10 caskets for police ahead of the planned execution of death-row convicts, including two Australian drug smugglers whose sentences have strained the country's relations with Canberra.
 The report came as Indonesia announced yesterday that it had on Friday night deported Ms Candace Sutton, a reporter for Australia's Daily Mail, as she had interviewed without a proper visa a relative of one of the Australian convicts in the coastal town of Cilacap.
 "The caskets are ready as ordered," said Mr Suhandro Putro, representative of The Javanese Christian Church funeral home. Based on the size of the casket order, 10 people would face the firing squad this time. One of the 10 caskets was noticeably larger than the rest.  Regular caskets are 2.2m long, Mr Suhandro said. "I don't know who it's for, but it's the biggest, measuring around 2.5m long.";
March 10, 2015 - Cannabis is a latitude-centric plant. You can't just take a plant from Finland and stick it in Hawaii and expect the same plant.
These wanna-be hemp orgs all get their marching orders from the lying liars paid to lie at HIA and Vote Hemp. Except two: American Hemp Association and Medicinal Hemp Association, both in Colorado; They have investments in Canada, and want slow down the expansion of hemp in the US bc we are the 900 lb elephant. Research only for two years, stuff like that. But in 10 years or less, not only is Canada going to lose their biggest customer, but that customer will now be competing with them; Prices in the ancient world. 12 hours labor: $25. Expensive wine: $4 to $6. Every day wine: $2. Horse: $30,000. Educated slave: $30,000. Child slave: $2,500. The slave trade was a major economic force in the ancient world, and conquest was often an excuse to make a fortune on slaves' Steven Hager My conversion rate is $25 equals one drachma     Ciccio Inverno How did you calculate that? 40years ago a piece of bread fried with mustard was 0,15cents- 20 groschen (penny of the schilling). I kinda wonder about that calculation- guess no farmer had that muchmoney, family of three lived comfortably on $14.5 a day, or half a drachma; CNN’s premiere of Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s documentary Weed, University of Mississippi claims to have tested a strain of cannabis that clocked in at a whopping 37 percent THC.  This is far higher than any pot we here at HIGH TIMES have encountered after 10 North American Cannabis Cups in the last three years. Our lab testing, which includes multiple labs using gas and liquid chromatography, tops out at 25.49 percent No strain we’ve had tested ever came close to 30 percent THC; Marshall McClung I remember an officer Brad Connor, Bowling Green PD, who dressed up as Santa just prior to Christmas to arrest a couple for pot possession and distribution IN FRONT OF THEIR YOUNG CHILDREN. Ohio is and will always be a police state. When "suspicion" became justification for traffic stops in Ohio, I knew it was time to leave. When laws trounce the Constitution and its amendments, the people never win.  Carl Olsen - Senator Zaun and Representative Forbes for their work on the cannabidiol act; February 26, 2015 Investors in small cannabis companies lost $23.3 billion in 2014 because shady stock promoters are capitalizing on the slow tide of legalization in the US by manipulating the penny stock market with “pump and dump” schemes; The Lord's Prayer was designed as a toast before imbibing cannabis. Jesus was a vegetarian who preached against alcohol use. I know this is not what you've heard, but it's what I am uncovering. When he says for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, he's talking about the sacred healing anointing oil;  Kathleen Chippi - "The Safe Streets Alliance.... plans to announce the lawsuit on Thursday in a news conference on the Colorado Capitol's east steps. The lawsuit will name both Colorado officials and "several prominent participants" of the marijuana industry."; "1.96 million units of medical edibles were sold.2.8 million of them were sold to recreational buyers.  That means a total of 4.8 million edible marijuana products like cookies, candy bars and drinks sold in 2014. That's equal to almost one edible to every resident of Colorado." Chris Tensen: Like flax seeds, hemp seeds have all of the essential amino acids that the body needs to resist illness. They also have the highest content of edestin, a type of globulin, in the entire plant family; In a chandeliered banquet hall not far from the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, a man with a Duke MBA and a Wall Street background offered the same sort of tips often given to aspiring entrepreneurs in places like this one: Develop a clear business plan; raise enough capital to weather setbacks; find a niche and own it. Listening were 150 or so people packed into rows of cushioned red-and-gold chairs at the District's first "Cannabis Academy," an event perfectly timed to capitalize on the rush from the city's newly legalized marijuana-growing marketplace. paid up to $299 each for instruction on how to get rich, not high, in an industry that a recent report said could generate $35 billion a year';  UNITED NATIONS, (IPS) - As the call for the decriminalisation of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a new study by a British charity concludes there has been no significant reduction in the global use of illicit drugs since the creation of three key UN anti-drug conventions; Until the Colorado Supreme Court overturns Appeals Court rulings that say cannabis is STILL ILLEGAL in CO--then cannabis is STILL ILLEGAL in CO. And how do we know cannabis is illegal? People are still losing: employment, child custody, guns rights, occupational licenses, student loans, insurance, unemployment compensation, assets, government aid, housing, banking, right to organ transplant, veterans benefits, loss of freedom etc; "During their study, Gibbons and Appendino discovered that hemp extracts were as effective in treating infection as many known antibiotics, including vancomycin. More recent studies have shown that hemp extracts are effective in treating Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis." -- Cannabis oils work better and safer than most pills, including antibiotics. They should be used as medicine of first choice whenever antibiotics are or would be required. Richard Rose: Thanks. See my work at The Hemp Nut on FB. And The Heretical Hempster. And Medicinal Hemp Association; Researchers looking at the effects of cannabis on bones have found its impact varies dramatically with age.  The study found that while the drug may reduce bone strength in the young, it could protect against osteoporosis, a weakening of the bones, in later life.The results were uncovered by a team at the University of Edinburgh who compared the drug’s effects on mice.   Osteoporosis affects up to 30% of women and about 12% of men at some point in their lives.  The group found that cannabis can activate a molecule found naturally in the body that is key to the development of osteoporosis.  When the type 1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1) comes into contact with cannabis, it has an impact on bone regeneration.  The results are published in Cell Metabolism.; FYI - Kansas KORA proposed changes
The KS Senate recently gutted bodycam bill SB18 for Subst. SB 18 which will exempt KORA (KS Open Records Act) for every audio & video record made & retained by law enforcement using a body camera or vehicle camera. Making the recordings now confidential. It would also only allow a subject or their guardian or atty to view the recordings for a fee.
March 17, 2015 - According to a 2010 National Drug Survey, about one in six had used illicit drugs in the 12 months leading up to the survey of almost 27,000; World Health Organization (WHO) says that ketamine "use in the  general population appear to be very low," it has become a relatively popular party drug in China and Hong Kong. And it is China that is pushing the UN to classify the drug as a controlled substance..to ketamine and safe surgery in developing countries," wrote Jason W. Nickerson and Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa in the journal The Lancet. "Access to controlled drugs in low-income countries is deplorably poor; the Commission should not repeat its mistakes by restricting access to yet another essential medicine."  Indeed, the UN previously listed morphine as a controlled substance, which has meant that a majority of the world's population no longer has access to a medical-grade painkiller. According to a 2012 WHO report, "If ketamine is placed under international control, it can be assumed that its availability and accessibility will fall into the same level of other controlled medications, which would result [in a] huge public crisis." In a recent paper, for example, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) - It is also true that the highest court in the land ruled that not granting the clinic an exemption to operate under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act would be a Charter violation - and the constitution must supersede any UN mandate. Indeed, the UN drug-control treaties specifically say that compliance is subject to "constitutional limitations," but that has not stopped the INCB from lashing out recently at Colorado and Washington state for approving  marijuana legalization through ballot measures and even the Netherlands, which has taken a liberal approach to cannabis use since 1976.
 Fortunately, the INCB has no real ability to do anything, beyond spouting over-hyped rhetoric.  Why are we letting a dysfunctional and ineffective body like the UN dictate drug-control policies to sovereign countries? If international drug-control treaties are hampering such efforts and going so far as to prevent doctors living in the Third World from gaining access to medicines needed to perform lifesaving surgeries, then it is high time we took drug policy out of the hands of the United Nations.; Cannabis has been documented medically for over 5,000 years still without one single death. it is biblically correct since God created all the seed bearing plants saying they're all good on literally the very first page of the Bible. Many people know of cannabis as the tree of life and the very last page of the Bible indicates the leaves of the tree of life and they are for the healing of the nations. Christ Jesus risked jail in order to heal the sick; Chet Bahadur Thokar, a local teacher said locals will become interested in cultivating vegetables and fruits if Bharta could be connected to Manahari by a roadway.;  Sativex mouth spray is the only form of medicinal cannabis currently available, but is not funded by Pharmac and costs about $1300 a month. "In Colorado compassion is flourishing because people with all different kinds of ailments are finding relief with medicinal Cannabis"; ResponsibleOhio said it had raised $36 million to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot this November to end the war on weed in Ohio. The amendment would legalize pot for adults 21 and older, and would allow medical marijuana patients to buy weed at cost. Members of the group also want to amend the Ohio constitution so that only they could grow commercial medical cannabis.  a Columbus-area investor, recently pitched investors on the business opportunities that he said are "beyond your imagination. ... Let's hop on this tsunami of money and ride the top of that wave to some enrichment for us."  "Damn," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance in February in San Francisco during remarks on the topic. "This thing sticks in my craw. Ten business interests are going to dominate this thing;  The fight for Arcata's 4/20 festival is heating up. For years, beleaguered travelers, excitable college kids and local enthusiasts would ascend the ferny trails to celebrate weed in all its glory at the city-owned public park nestled between the redwoods. "Shortly after submitting the request [in June, 2014], an Arcata Recreation Division staff member informed HumRights that the Arcata Police Department had directed city employees not to allow reservations at the park on that day," found a secret door behind steel shelves that led downstairs to a 2,500-square-foot farm (the biggest ever discovered in New York City, according to reports), 100 pounds of pot, 60 varieties of seeds and $125,000 in cash.   Mondella, 57, shot himself as investigators searched the factory. His suicide has baffled many, including investigators, according to reports. Mondella was apparently well-liked, and cared for his employees and his family; his maraschino business was successful; and, in a nation of rapidly reforming marijuana laws;  This means anywhere in San Francisco that a cigarette is not allowed, e-cigs or vapes are also not allowed. But what's really driving the push to regulate e-cigarettes ahead of the research may not be science or health, but money. Treating e-cigarettes like tobacco means e-cigarettes can be taxed like tobacco. The state currently levies a tax rate of almost 30 percent on tobacco. That's big money, but big money that's slowly getting smaller: Revenue from the state's tobacco tax dipped to $900 million last year from $1.2 billion in 2000, a trend that's destined to continue; California almonds use nearly 9 percent of the state agricultural water supply, or about 3.5 million acre-feet. Marijuana cultivation also accounts for significant water use, with 60 million gallons per day at peak growing season, or double the daily amount consumed by San Francisco. And much of the water going to pot farms is diverted illegally. 24 California streams went dry, and some rivers were reduced to a succession of ponds. In Mendocino County, pot growers were stealing water from fire hydrants in the middle of the night; The city of Denver is proposing changes that would limit unlicensed, nonresidential marijuana cultivations to 36 plants; BUZZED BUNNIES: THE LAST SPURTS OF 'REEFER MADNESS'   At this point we find out that special agent Fairbanks is a "special" agent because he is a member of the marijuana eradication unit, which he tells the committee has spent "millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours" to exterminate almost 100,000 illegal plants in Utah's outdoor spaces in the last two years. "The deforestation has left marijuana grows with rabbits that have developed a taste for the marijuana, where one of them refused to leave us. We took all the marijuana around him, but his natural instincts to run were somehow gone."  That's it. This man of science told a state legislative committee that he witnessed a rabbit that wouldn't leave an area when ordered by environmentalist DEA agents and concluded it was because the bunny was hitting the edibles a little too hard.  What Fairbanks said is certainly fodder for idiotic news of the day, but the implications aren't as funny. Those millions of dollars that Fairbanks and his merry band of DEA environmentalists spent to confiscate pot plants haven't stopped Utah citizens from using cannabis, but it does give his squad a number (150,000 plants) to pump up his pride and justify his efforts and expenditures. People will always find ways to change their consciousness, and polls continue to indicate that more and more Americans don't support the idea of millions of their tax dollars going to DEA agents who spend their time keeping the nation safe from national forest pot grows; Even if an employer wanted to keep drug testing employees for substances other than marijuana, they are unlikely to catch them. Pot stays in the body the longest of any classified drug and can show up in urine tests weeks or months after its used. Cocaine can pass through the system in as little as one to three days, and meth can leave the body in one to five days, though this varies slightly depending on age and usage;  Blackberry Maverick Attendees can essentially expect a rocking dress-up party, with digital and Polaroid photographers and marijuana edibles from Sarah Giron.  "We will outfit the area to be a woman's dream closet," Robertson says. "We will have rolling racks ... and steamer trunks full of accessories and shoes from our sponsor, Irregular Choice. The plan is to create an environment that will allow women to play dress up and let out [their] inner child;  "When these Colorado Sheriffs encounter marijuana while performing their duties ..." reads the suit, each is placed in the position of having to choose between violating his oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and violating his oath to uphold the Colorado Constitution." "Of the four [recent lawsuits], this is the one with the least merit,"; Based on the Colorado Department of Revenue data, around $36.4 million of recreational marijuana was sold this January, compared with about $14.69 million sold the same month last year; Although Fourth Corner has a Colorado charter to operate, it cannot formally open its doors until it has the master account, which in part hinges on deposit insurance by the National Credit Union Administration, which is also pending; BOCA RATON, Fla. - The interior of Irvin Rosenfeld's Toyota 4Runner reeks of marijuana. The 10-page federal protocol Rosenfeld carries with him designates that he may smoke marijuana with impunity. It says he can drive so long as he is not intoxicated; The Agriculture, Water and Wildlife Committee Wednesday unanimously approved  proposal would allow the New Mexico Department of Agriculture to set up regulations and fees for the processing of hemp for research and development, not for sale; Early last year, the broker for a 100,000-square-foot warehouse near Las Vegas called the power company to find out how much juice the building would need. That single marijuana-growing operation, he estimated, could require 5 megawatts of capacity - enough to power 1,000 homes. That's about 5 percent of the capacity of an entire substation.
March 24, 2015 - Take-home drug test kits can test for everything from marijuana to methamphetamine to heroin with nothing more than a simple urine sample. The tests are common on drugstore shelves in the United States, but they are harder to find in Canada; The weekend after marijuana became legal in the District, Capital City Hydroponics ran a sale on the indoor gardening kits needed to grow it. Business doubled. D.C. voters overwhelmingly approved in November - allows people to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and grow a maximum of six plants in their homes (with up to three mature at one time).; POT Law School Course Focuses on Policy, Marijuana Reform Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.; While our organization is neutral on the question of legalization, there is no denying that the modern three-tier beverage alcohol system delivers consumers a wide diversity of products in a manner that guarantees product integrity, works to prevent underage access, ensures tax revenue for government, and provides regulatory oversight.  Licensed and regulated suppliers can sell only to licensed and regulated wholesalers who in turn sell only to licensed and regulated establishments. Regulators and legislators should stop trying to reinvent the wheel. A solution has already proved its effectiveness: a three-tier model like that used to regulate beverage alcohol would ensure that marijuana - if legalized - is properly controlled.  Craig Wolf, president and CEO Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America; Washington, D.C.; Medma Cannabis Pharms Inc. is one step closer to becoming the first medical marijuana production facility in the District of Sechelt to operate under Health Canada's new regulations. The containers, measuring 40 feet in length, were brought in empty, but are intended to house the KM5000 hydroponic growing system designed by Archer Adler Consulting Solutions and engineered by the AME Consulting Group, Yoram Adler said Wednesday;  I hope Colorado employers are able to evaluate job performance based on employee productivity rather than the contents of bodily fluids. Drug tests are lifestyle tests designed to penalize marijuana consumers.; Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age; THE STUSSER OMNIBUS MARIJUANA BILL A modest proposal to head off the awful Senate Bill 5052. Last week, three U.S. senators introduced a bill that attempts to amend many of the outdated medical-marijuana conundrums at the federal level. The bill would end the prohibition of medical marijuana, reclassify the plant from its current designation as a Schedule 1 narcotic (a status that suggests no medical value and high potential for abuse), and allow for more cannabis study and research.; Coloraco Series:  ADDRESSING DRIVER IMPAIRMENT DIFFICULT   -   REGULATION STILL INEFFECTIVE   -   ANALYZING COLORADO'S GRAND EXPERIMENT   -   No Tax Windfall From Medical Marijuana   -   State Preventention Efforts Critized   -     Black Market Is Thriving in Colorado
March 31, 2015 - Coloraco Series:  Clearing The Haze
ADDRESSING DRIVER IMPAIRMENT DIFFICULT   -   REGULATION STILL INEFFECTIVE
ANALYZING COLORADO'S GRAND EXPERIMENT   -   No Tax Wincfall From Medical Marijuana
State Preventention Efforts Critized   -     Black Market Is Thriving in Colorado  -  THESE SIX ON MARCH 24, 2015 TRANSCRIPTS ON HTTP://WWW.HEMPFORUS.COM
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Authorities Alarmed Over Increase In Hash Oil Explosions  -  MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY STILL GROWING IN COLORADO  -  COST MAY BE BIGGEST HURDLE TO RED CARD  -  NO APPROVED 'MEDICINE' IN MARIJUANA
  -  TEEN: COLORADO VOTERS WERE DUPED INTO LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA  -  CONCERNS OVER ADOLESCENTS' USE  -  BABIES, CHILDREN AT RISK  -  PARENTS, SCHOOLS SAY MORE YOUTHS USING POT  -  DRUG USE A PROBLEM FOR EMPLOYERS  -  LEGALIZATION DIDN'T UNCLOG PRISONS  -  POTENCY CREATING PROBLEMS  -  TOUGH TASK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT  -  AUTHORITIES ALARMED OVER INCREASE IN HASH OIL EXPLOSIONS
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Californiz - WOMEN CASH IN WITH POT KLATCH - 'A TUPPERWARE PARTY FOR CANNABIS'  In a Russian Hill apartment, 17 women passed around cannabis-infused gluten-free vegan blueberry almond granola and rubbed marijuana-based topical cream into their shoulders. The attendees - lawyers and chefs and nurses and tech executives among them - inhaled from vaporizers and erupted in laughter when a woman lauded the aphrodisiac wonders of "Sexx-pot," a new strain of Humboldt County -grown herb that she recently smoked with her husband.; Philadelpia  -  STIRRING THE POT AT JOINT HEARING ON MEDICAL USES It was doctors against lawmakers, science against anecdotes, at Tuesday's joint committee hearing on medical marijuana.; CELL TRACKER ACQUISITION MET WITH SCRUTINY Activists, Leaders Push to Learn About Possibly Invasive Devices   The secrecy surrounding a military-grade cellphone-tracking device that's already being used in the Bay Area - and coming soon to Santa Clara County - has come under increased scrutiny, with local governments, courts and lawmakers around the nation joining civil rights groups in demanding more information about the potentially invasive technology.  Earlier this month, a New York judge ruled that a sheriff's office in that state must pull back the curtain on the controversial "stingray" devices, which simulate cellphone towers and allow police to track suspects but also gather location information on potentially thousands of bystanders. Judge Patrick NeMoyer cited a case in which the FBI instructed the Erie County Sheriff's Office to drop charges instead of revealing any information about the stingray.; Source: Ukiah Daily Journal, The (CA)  -  $2 MILLION SECURED IN FIGHT TO STOP ILLEGAL MARIJUANA WATER DIVERSIONS  As part of Gov. Jerry Brown's recent $1 billion drought package, Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, has secured $2 million in state water and drought relief bonds in an attempt to halt illegal water diversions from trespass marijuana grows in Northern California, McGuire's office announced Wednesday.   The bond dollars, which were approved by the Senate Wednesday afternoon, are to be immediately utilized through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which will create an additional 11 positions, McGuire's office said in a news release.; MEASURE WOULD KILL 'POLICING FOR PROFIT'  Law Enforcement Seeks Veto of Legislation Ending Civil Asset Forfeiture
SANTA FE - Prompted by calls from across the political spectrum, New Mexico lawmakers took aim during this year's 60-day legislative session at civil asset forfeiture - decried by some as "policing for profit."  The measure, which was approved unanimously by the House and Senate, would prevent law enforcement from seizing money, cars or other types of property from people on civil grounds during an arrest or traffic stop on suspicion the property was connected to a crime.  The practice has funneled millions of dollars and property to state and local law enforcement agencies, which are now scrambling to ask Gov. Susana Martinez to veto the measure.; DON'T GIVE UP ON EDIBLES MANDATE
 The state Senate's Health and Human Services Committee dug in its heels Wednesday and, with a commendable 5-0 vote, gave a resounding "no" to a proposal to water down current requirements that marijuana edible products be easily identifiable - even outside their packaging.  That requirement has not yet been put in place at the manufacturing end, admittedly, for several reasons.  First, a task force charged with making recommendations regarding edible products' appearance threw up its hands in November and said it couldn't reach consensus.; Pubdate: Fri, 27 Mar 2015   Source: New York Times (NY)
END THE LOSS OF DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR DRUG CRIMES
"Job Hunting With a Criminal Record" (editorial, March 19) rightly highlights the unjust challenges ex-offenders face in the job market. I applaud ban-the-box laws, which, as you say, "require employers to consider applicants more fully before asking about their criminal history," and we have done that for Delaware state jobs. To reduce the number of people entering the criminal justice system, I'm hopeful that my state will decriminalize Possession of small amounts of marijuana.  But the editorial doesn't mention a critical issue: A valid driver's license is essential to earning and keeping a job, but wrongheaded policies too often take it away.  Nationwide, we should eliminate the arbitrary loss of driver's licenses for drug crimes that don't involve automobiles, something I'm proud that Delaware did last year. In our small state alone, nearly 800 nonviolent offenders a year will now have licenses returned after release.  Many thousands more people lose their licenses because of difficulty paying fines and fees. Everyone should work to pay back what he owes, but we must reserve automatic suspension of licenses for only the most serious of circumstances.     JACK A. MARKELL     Governor     Dover, Del.; Washington Post (DC)
SEEDING DISTRICT'S ERA OF LEGAL POT  Hundreds Turn Out for Giveaway Intended to Promote Home Growing  The District witnessed a massive, public drug deal Thursday - and for those involved, it was quite a bargain.  With D.C. police officers looking on, hundreds of city residents lined up and then walked away from an Adams Morgan restaurant carrying baggies containing marijuana seeds.  Taking advantage of a ballot measure approved last fall by voters that legalized possession of the plant, the unprecedented giveaway scattered what organizers said were thousands of pot seeds to cultivate in homes and apartments across the nation's capital.  If D.C. residents have green thumbs, a homegrown crop of pot could be ready for legal consumption by late summer.;
OKLAHOMA MAN SHOOTS SELF AFTER EATING POT CANDIES A 22-year-old Oklahoma man fatally shot himself with his gun on Saturday while on a family ski vacation in Colorado, according to reports from the Summit County sheriff's and coroner's offices.
 The family of the man, Luke Gregory Goodman, is blaming his suicide on the multiple doses of marijuana-infused edibles he ingested just hours before his selfinflicted death, according to witnesses and reports.   Goodman, a Tulsa resident and graduate of Oral Roberts University, died just after 4 a.m. Tuesday morning at St. Anthony's Hospital in Lakewood after more than two days on life support, according to Summit County Coroner Regan Wood.; WILLIE NELSON TO OPEN WEED STORES   Move over, Marley Natural - the Bob Marley estate's global cannabis brand poised to launch this year. Another famous weed-worshiping musician is throwing his hat into the retail weed arena.
 Willie Nelson, 81, let the cat out of the bag at the South by Southwest music festival: Willie's Reserve branded marijuana will be sold from branded storefronts in states where pot is legal starting next year.; A Startup Is Banking on Cannabis Consumers Caring Where Their Weed Comes From CANNABIS SUSTAINED AGRICULTURE There's a new addition to farmers' markets in San Francisco of late: At a table stacked with empty small mason jars, a few smiling young fellows are handing out free apples.   The apples are bait. These guys are marijuana salesmen. Stuck on each organic Fuji is a coupon for a free joint from FlowKana, the latest San Francisco-based, app-hailed cannabis delivery startup. FlowKana is a bit late to the "Uber for marijuana, Lyft of pot" game - there are already at least three services promising weed delivered to wherever you happen to be in under 10 minutes. So its angle is different: It'll deliver a product most people don't want.
 It sounds like a recipe for disaster. But it could work. There's precedent. It relies on convincing conscientious consumers - the kind of people who care that chickens led a happy, carefree life before they were rendered into stock - to ask a few questions.
They're simple questions, but they're ones most pot smokers don't ask:  Who grew my weed, and why does it matter?; Arcata, CA    DRAINED DRY A study published last week posits a parched forecast for several North Coast watersheds that host concentrated marijuana cultivation sites. The report, co-written by scientists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service, outlines the stream-sucking impacts of grows in the areas of Upper Redwood Creek, Salmon Creek and Redwood Creek South, located in Humboldt County, and Mendocino County's Outlet Creek.   Using satellite imagery, stream flow data and anecdotal evidence gathered by tagging along during raids, the team determined that in three out of the four watersheds, "water demands for marijuana cultivation exceed streamflow during low-flow periods."
 In other words, the researchers predict that during summertime - when growing marijuana plants require the most water and rainfall all but ceases - many stream beds will dry up.; HERBICIDE REKINDLES DEBATE ON DRUG WAR   BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - The new labeling of the world's most-popular weed killer as a likely cause of cancer is raising more questions for an aerial spraying program in Colombia that is the cornerstone of the U.S.-backed war on drugs. The International Agency for Research on Cancer, a French-based research arm of the World Health Organization, has reclassified the herbicide glyphosate as a result of what it said is convincing evidence the chemical produces cancer in lab animals and more limited findings it causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma in humans.  The ruling last week is likely to send shock waves around the globe, where the glyphosate-containing herbicide Roundup is a mainstay of industrial agriculture.; DC) Pot and the Brain   DOES MARIJUANA USE IN TEEN YEARS CAUSE MEMORY PROBLEMS IN ADULTHOOD?   THE QUESTION When a person smokes marijuana, the chemical THC goes quickly to the brain, producing a mood alteration. How might this affect memory?   THIS STUDY analyzed data on 54 people in their mid-20s. Some had smoked marijuana almost daily for about three years when they were teens but had not smoked it for about two years. The other participants had no history of heavy drug use. All were given brain scans and a battery of standardized memory tests to assess their
ability to recall information. Among those who had smoked marijuana almost daily, the scans showed an abnormally shaped hippocampus, the part of the brain that is key to longterm memory.;  The future of dabbing?! ROSIN is the result of a bud (shown here) being pressed under very high heat ( a woman's hair straightener, a flatiron, in the photo) the I had a dab of the result on an electric Dabinator electric nail in a Mothership piece. One small bud when squeezed produced one serious dab, but amazing results were produced from good hash, several dabs. So the next step after heat squeezing the ROSIN, I dabbed out on the ....ROSIN, the new thing in dabbing? Currently $100 a gram for two kinds of exquisite ROSIN at ?#?EdenMedicalSociety?, I was curious about what it was and how it gets you high. Here's what I learned from the BCBubbleman and his cronies on Monday at the Secret Cup (Hash & Extracts Competition): You use a hair straightener, they are called flatirons, you set it for 230F and squeeze tightly the bud or hash (in thin cloth) between parchment paper for ten seconds, the hash less time I would think. When we squeezed ROSIN out of good hash, it produced a very impressive amount of oil compared to bud. I mean, thats normal, since good hash is 5 - 10 times more potent by weight compared to bud, but its visually impressive when you squeeze a gram of hash under heat on to parchment paper. The parchment paper is perfect, you can very easily and completely collect all the ROSIN with a simple scraper off the parchment paper at any time, and it would produce several dabs versus one very good dab from a 1/2 gram nug (likely two dabs from a decent one gram nug). Here I am hitting a dab of bud extract I had squeezed, and then a dab of Bubbleman's hash when made into squeezed ROSIN on a Mothership Taurus.
April 7, 2015 - CANNABIS CORNER – TRANSCRIPTS SUMMARY
Fire It Up Kansas – Annual 420 party – Topeka – April 18, 19, 2015 – More information on the “Fire It Up Kansas – Facebook Fan Page.
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Global Million Man Marijuana March – May 2, 2015 – Riverside Park – 11:30 to 1:30 – Bring your own sign & Smile.  Exact location is on bridges between Keeper of the Plains & Tennis Courts.
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Response to the series of articles "Clearing The Haze", bottom of paragraph
Coloraco Series:  Clearing The Haze – See March 24 Transcripts
ADDRESSING DRIVER IMPAIRMENT DIFFICULT   -   REGULATION STILL INEFFECTIVE  -  ANALYZING COLORADO'S GRAND EXPERIMENT   -   No Tax Wincfall From Medical Marijuana - State Preventention Efforts Critized   -     Black Market Is Thriving in Colorado  -
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Colorado Series:  Clearing The Haze – See March 31 Transcripts  -  MEDICAL MARIJUANA INDUSTRY STILL GROWING IN COLORADO  -  COST MAY BE BIGGEST HURDLE TO RED CARD  -  NO APPROVED 'MEDICINE' IN MARIJUANA   -  TEEN: COLORADO VOTERS WERE DUPED INTO LEGALIZING RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA  -  CONCERNS OVER ADOLESCENTS' USE  -  BABIES, CHILDREN AT RISK  -  PARENTS, SCHOOLS SAY MORE YOUTHS USING POT  -  DRUG USE A PROBLEM FOR EMPLOYERS  -  LEGALIZATION DIDN'T UNCLOG PRISONS  -  POTENCY CREATING PROBLEMS  -  TOUGH TASK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT  -  AUTHORITIES ALARMED OVER INCREASE IN HASH OIL EXPLOSIONS
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Response to Clearing the Haze Series
The Gazette in Colorado Springs last week published a package about cannabis legalization in the state under the banner "Clearing the Haze."
 The paper has been known for its excellent journalism and its reporters honored for their work, most recently a Pulitzer last year for a news series exposing how easily veterans can lose benefits for minor offenses after their discharge. A comprehensive series on the pros and cons of marijuana legalization is something Coloradans are always seeking.
 But "Clearing the Haze" doesn't feature the work of David Philipps, whose journalism deservedly won the 2014 prize, or any other of the excellent news reporters on the staff. Rather, we get Reefer Madness repackaged in a contemporary browser wrapper. Harry Anslinger and Richard Nixon would be proud.
 That's because it was written by two members of The Gazette's editorial staff, one of which is former Boulder Weekly editor Wayne Laugesen, as well as Christine Tatum, a reporter turned prohibitionist who uses her husband, Christian Thurstone, medical director of a youth substance-abuse-treatment clinic at CU-Denver, as a primary source. Though authorship isn't hidden, it isn't promoted, either. Besides reflecting those sorts of bias, "Clearing the Haze" does no reporting, instead rehashing a lot of the things that actual reporters have uncovered in almost every other newspaper in the state and, using carefully cherry-picked data, casts legalization in the worst possible light. No pro-legalization people are quoted or mentioned.
Legalization hasn't been perfect, but one editorial's main take is that sales tax numbers didn't match the state's early projections. Well, duh. Anybody knows that "projections" are just guesses, or that in 2013 any "expert" could pull a number out of his ass and call it a projection. Marijuana has been a black-market commodity for so long that no one had a clue how much tax revenue was going to come in or how many users there might be. So there was no promised windfall, and the state "only" collected $76 million? Travesty.
 Another blames the state for not having legislated away the black market, which has been flourishing for many decades, in the first 15 months of legalization. Tell us something we don't already know.
But that's not the intent. "Addressing Driver Impairment Difficult"  never gets around to addressing the headline. The difficulty with addressing driver impairment is that marijuana doesn't interact with the body like alcohol, so it can't be tested like alcohol. Today's examinations can detect exactly how many nanograms of THC there are
in a milliliter of your blood, but they can't show impairment.
 The Gazette blames legalization for that, even though thousands of people were driving stoned long before legalization. Another takes the state regulatory system to task for not having gotten everything right from the start, as if changing bad laws into better ones shouldn't need any revisions.
 "Sunday's stories suggest the net gain from taxes and fees related to marijuana sales will not be known for a while, as costs are not known or tracked well," says one editorial, "and there are many other unknowns about pot's effects on public health and safety." Despite that caveat, the authors drone on for another 15 paragraphs speculating recklessly about health effects anyway.
In one harrowing editorial, a troubled teen in an addiction program calls cannabis a gateway drug that is being marketed to kids. But - and this is the really scary part - in his telling teen use is tolerated, often encouraged by adults and parents around him, some who use cannabis with their kids. He even says that extends to school teachers and police officers who look the other way at teens using it illegally.
 The story, of course, leans heavily on what the writers refer to as addiction and pushes hard on the theory that legalization is just big business trying to hook teens much as tobacco companies did in the 1950s-'60s. Quotes come from health officials and "addiction specialists," and Kevin Sabet, the most out spoken promoter of the Big Tobacco theory as head of the anti-legalization lobbying group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, is a source.
 The story suggests that, were it not for marijuana, the kid would be fine. Perhaps that's true, and I'm not unaware of the influence that big business could have on the cannabis biz. But there is no evidence that today's owners and operators in Colorado are advertising to or selling cannabis to minors.
 Apparently, if the teen is right, that's more than we can say about what a lot of parents, adults and authority figures are doing behind their own locked doors. But the point The Gazette misses is that the willingness of parents to tolerate and encourage teen use has nothing to do with whether it's legal or not, and blaming the state for the actions of irresponsible people undermines the editorial staff 's entire argument for continuing the Drug War.
And, of course, no mention is made of the more than 90 percent of people who use cannabis, many on a daily or weekly basis, some for medical reasons, some for fun, who go through their daily lives like anybody else, many of those who the so-called "specialists" would probably classify as "addicted."
 It's disappointing and disturbing that so-called "journalists" could fall so low. I can only imagine what responsible reporters at The Gazette who could have offered an honest, perhaps award-winning look at legalization think about a charade like this.
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STUDENT JOURNALISM IN THE WEB AGE - Censorship Case Involving VA. School Paper Illustrates Changes;
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A Yuba County Superior Court judge has denied a bid by medical marijuana growers to restore their ability to seek a voter referendum on the county's new cultivation ordinance.
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"Most doctors, first off, they're not educated enough about this to prescribe it," Mitchell said.
"Secondly they don't want to be that doc in a Hawaiian shirt who gives out a prescription to all these young guys who come in with back pain. "Nobody wants to be that doc and there's a lot of stigma attached to
it, still."
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Bloodstains were still visible in the doorway of an apartment in the quiet Miami neighbourhood of Coral Way on Wednesday, two days after an alleged plan to rip off a drug dealer left one of the sons of Canada's Consul General to Florida dead and another charged with murder.
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Senate President Stanley Rosenberg asked Lewis to take on a months-long study of marijuana policies in reaction to a bill and a widely expected 2016 ballot measure seeking to legalize its recreational use. The committee will not address whether Massachusetts should legalize recreational use of marijuana. Instead, Lewis has been charged with examining the hundreds of judgments and decisions lawmakers may need to make if full legalization of marijuana is approved.
 "Would it be a commercial market?" Lewis, of Winchester, asked. "Would it be a nonprofit market? Would it be a state-run monopoly like some states have for their liquor industry? What would the rules be in terms of licensing requirements? What kind of regulatory framework would we have in terms of what types of products are allowed?"
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Alaska House Bill 75 clarifies municipalities' processes for registering marijuana businesses; authorizes "marijuana clubs" where the substance could be consumed; gives municipalities power to establish civil and criminal penalties for businesses; defines what the term "assisting" means in terms of helping someone with their plants or marijuana; establishes provisions for communities to prohibit businesses; and establishes a 24-plant limit per household.
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California, Yuba, The action seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order follows a lawsuit filed last week by four county growers claiming the new ordinance is unconstitutional. A hearing on the restraining order and injunction, including a ruling on the urgency declaration,
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2ND TRAFFIC STOP LED TO ARREST OF DEPUTY
 Men Told State Officer Cop Took Cash, Drugs
 What are the chances of two men who say they were carrying a large amount of cash and transporting marijuana being pulled over twice by police on the same day on interstate highways in New Mexico?
 Despite the odds, that's what the drug carriers and federal investigators say happened - with widely varying results.
 The second traffic stop, for following too closely on Interstate 40 about 9:30 p.m. June 25 in Cibola County, eventually led investigators to the recent bust of a northern New Mexico deputy accused of making deals with drug carriers.
At the I-40 stop by a State Police officer, the men in the green 1995 Nissan sedan with Arizona plates claimed have to been hauling marijuana purchased legally in Colorado. They said they'd already been stopped a few hours earlier by another officer, hundreds of miles northeast, on Interstate 25 near the New Mexico/Colorado border.
 That officer, they said, confiscated their marijuana and seized more than $10,000 from them without giving them a receipt or issuing a citation. But he did give them "$600 back in order to pay for their travel expenses on their way back to Arizona," says an FBI statement filed in federal court.
 The two men described the officer who took their pot and money as driving a "new, white Ford Explorer with blue writing on the side" and that the officer "had mentioned something about a DEA (federal Drug Enforcement Administration) investigation."
 According to the court documents, eight months later, that stop culminated in the arrest in March of veteran Colfax County sheriff's deputy Vidal Sandoval, 45, who also ran for county sheriff last year.
 He's accused of demanding a cut of the drug trade that uses I-25 north from Mexico to move the product in exchange for safe passage or a police escort to Colorado.
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Philadelphia - SHAKEDOWN FROM 19TH FLOOR ALLEGED
 At Drug Officers' Trial, a Dealer Tells of Some Scary Moments on His Penthouse Balcony.
 With a burly police officer on each of his handcuffed arms and a 19-story drop below him from his penthouse apartment balcony, drug dealer Michael Cascioli was asked a troubling question.
 "You've seen the movie Training Day?" Cascioli recalled Police Officer Thomas Liciardello asking, referencing the 2001 film featuring Denzel Washington as a dirty cop. "This is Training Day for .. real."
 What followed, as Cascioli told a federal jury Wednesday, is one of the most disturbing instances in a case filled with allegations of outrageous behavior by a rogue police narcotics unit.
 Prosecutors allege Liciardello, the group's leader, ordered the two others - Philadelphia Police Officers Linwood Norman and Jeffrey Walker - to hold Cascioli out over the railing and threaten to drop him to the asphalt parking lot below. The threat was made, Cascioli testified in U.S. District Court, to scare him into giving up the password to his PalmPilot discovered during a raid on his apartment.
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Philadelphia - WITNESS: OFFICERS ROBBED ME
 Testimony Begins in Trial of Six Phila. Narcotics Cops Accused of Racketeering.
 A Main Line prep-school assistant basketball coach told a federal jury Tuesday that Philadelphia narcotics officers robbed him blind during a 2007 search of his City Avenue apartment.
 Their purported haul? A safe stuffed with $80,000 in drug proceeds, clothes, a pair of flashy sunglasses, and a DVD he had rented from Blockbuster.
 What Robert Kushner appeared less eager to discuss, as he testified at those same officers' federal corruption trial, was what brought the police to his apartment in the first place. He was selling thousands of dollars worth of marijuana every week.
 "That's what I did for business," he said. "But that's not who I am."
 Kushner, a 32-year-old assistant coach at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr, was the first government witness in the racketeering conspiracy case against six Philadelphia narcotics officers accused of shaking down drug suspects for years. In all, prosecutors allege, they made off with more than $400,000 in cash, drugs, and personal property all while fabricating police reports to downplay their takes.
 "It was a terrible experience," Kushner said of his 2007 run-in with the officers. "I felt like I got robbed. I felt like I got cheated. I thought there is no way this was how the criminal justice system was supposed to work."
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Baltimore Sun – Maryland -
TWO FEDERAL AGENTS IN SILK ROAD CASE ARE CHARGED
Complaint Says They Stole Hundreds of Thousands in Probe of Drug Website
 Attorneys for the former federal agents said they were innocent but declined further comment.
 Two former federal agents in Baltimore who led an undercover hunt for the head of an online drug marketplace called Silk Road have been charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars during the investigation.
 The agents, Carl M. Force, 46, a 15-year veteran of the Drug Enforcement Administration who resigned last year, and Shaun W. Bridges, 32, a special agent with the Secret Service who resigned this month, made their first appearances in court Monday after the unsealing of the criminal complaint in California.
 Both were members of the Baltimore Silk Road Task Force, which authorities have said was one of two concurrent federal investigations into the world's most popular - and now defunct - online drug bazaar. Their work helped lead to two indictments against alleged Silk Road founder and administrator Ross William Ulbricht.
 But authorities now allege that Force used off-the-books aliases to talk with Ulbricht, in one case offering sensitive information for money and in another trying to extort him, while Bridges allegedly wired himself $800,000 in digital currency that he had gained control of during the investigation. Authorities also believe Bridges was behind a theft from Silk Road that led Ulbricht to allegedly commission a murderfor-hire, a charge Ulbricht still faces in Maryland.
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Washington:  However, to date, no marijuana excise-tax revenues have been allocated to the state Health Department. Therefore, these educational efforts haven't begun. In essence, 29 months have passed since voters approved I-502. During that time, while the birth of this new industry and its ever-growing array of products have been extensively covered in the media, almost no attention has been given to public-health education about the drug.
 Now, three bills wending their way through the legislative process would decimate the education, prevention, treatment and research elements of I-502. In the state Senate, a bill would completely eliminate the dedicated marijuana fund and direct all I-502 revenue to the general fund for local government uses and to the education legacy trust account. Bills in the state House would pull the rug out from under the youth-based marijuana prevention efforts intended by
the initiative.
 At its first opportunity, the Legislature is poised to undermine one of the primary campaign promises of I-502. Effectively informing the public about marijuana's health and safety risks is crucial for several reasons:
 First, the voters' decision to legalize marijuana in four states and the District of Columbia is commonly interpreted to mean that using the drug doesn't risk the user's health. Indeed, many proponents argue that it ought not to be criminalized because it has no dangers. They're wrong. In truth, there are compelling arguments to support legalizing marijuana that don't require the drug to be harmless as a justification.
 Second, drug education about marijuana has often been skewed to discourage use. As an example, I can't recall ever seeing in a government publication recognition that occasional marijuana use by adults isn't harmful. The considerable distrust in any warnings about harm needs to be addressed.
 Finally, the realities of science make it easy to poke holes in research. If a possibility exists, however slight, of alternative explanations for a relationship between using marijuana and a specific danger, some readers would dismiss the findings outright. Not even a slew of similar results across a number of studies would sway them.
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COMPTON SCHOOLS SUE CITY OVER MARIJUANA SHOPS  District Officials Say State and Local Laws Against Dispensaries Aren't Being Enforced.
 Saying the city of Compton has failed to enforce its own marijuana laws, Compton school officials have sued the city for allegedly allowing pot dispensaries to set up shop near schools.
State law prohibits dispensaries from operating within 600 feet of educational institutions, but Compton's municipal ordinances go a step further. In 2007, the City Council banned marijuana shops.
 In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Compton Unified School District alleges that a dozen pot shops are now operating in city limits, three in the restricted zones of an elementary school, two middle schools and a high school.
 "We are working to get our students college- and career-ready and these dispensaries impede that progress," said Micah Ali, Compton's school board president.
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Sacramento California - If you are asking which strains have the highest amount of THC (THC is the chemical that gets you "high"), the answer is: It depends. The best way to find out is to ask your budtender. Most dispensaries these days have their cannabis tested for potency. Most strains contain between 15 to 20 percent THC, but I have seen some up to 27 percent. If you are asking which strains are the most "sativa-esque," i.e. containing the characteristics of the cannabis
sativa plant, I like Trainwreck, Durban Poison and Haze. As always, Leafly and weedmaps.com can tell you where to find good cannabis. Have a good one.
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Tell story of KC while in Nevada, had pot and pizza delivered to his camp site in the KOA park…. HIGH DESERT

Can Nevada's Newest Crop Weather a Record Drought?  In late March, Sierra Wellness Connection became Nevada's first commercial medical-marijuana business to get state approval. Less than a week later, the fledgling company led by former University of Nevada, Reno president Joe Crowley also got the City Council's unanimous nod to sell the medicine. As of press time, Sierra Wellness and Certified Ag Lab of Sparks were the only two such establishments to clear the final state hurdle, said Pam Graber with the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health. More are coming, of course, as hundreds of companies received provisional certifications last year.
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KIDS, CARTELS, AND MARIJUANA DUIS
If there was an election in California today, marijuana would be legal in the state tomorrow.
 Roughly 55 percent of the state's likely voters support legalizing cannabis, according to the most recent Public Policy Institute poll. That's legalization's strongest showing yet in California - where just five years ago, 54 percent of voters said "no thanks" to legalized and taxed recreational cannabis.
 Legal weed is no longer an underground concern of the counterculture. It's 2015, and marijuana is mainstream: Money has a funny way of "legitimizing" just about anything. Four states are already years ahead of the country's innovation capital when it comes to having a successful recreational cannabis marketplace. An increasing number of
influential people realize it's well past time for California to get on board with the multibillion-dollar legal cannabis market. This leads to another, more important question than the ones posited in the poll:
 That answer will determine whether or not people such as Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will continue advocating for legalized weed, making him marijuana's highest-placed public supporter.
Love him or hate him, legalization needs the likes of Newsom, the presumptive favorite to succeed Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018. Without him, you can forget about getting richer, more famous people on board. And without them - and their bank accounts with lots and lots of zeroes - you can forget about ending California's 100-year
experiment with waging war on a plant.
 After all, there have been several very rational legalization proposals in the state since 2010. All failed from a lack of funding.
Newsom is not a legalization die-hard. He has concerns that are shared by policy experts, academics, and other wonks, as well as voters who are scared shitless of a marijuana republic. Last week, a summation of these concerns was outlined in a long-awaited report produced by a "blue ribbon commission" of experts, of which Newsom
served as chair.
 Their questions will annoy free-marketers, libertarians, and social justice warriors, who would say that legalization must happen because it's the profitable, rational, and equitable thing to do. What's right and what's profitable doesn't matter for Newsom's eggheads, who say legalization creates three serious conundrums: kids, cartels, and DUIs.
 This is not news. Moderate and conservative voters have long opposed weed over fears of stoned kids, impowered gangsters, and bong-toking school bus drivers. To succeed at the polls in 2016, a legalization initiative will have to somehow confront and soothe these fears.
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Rochester NY - DON'T CUT ANTI-DRUG FUNDS, SCHUMER AND POLICE SAY
 In July local and federal police busted a suspected drug trafficking ring alleged to have moved millions of dollars of illicit substances - and maybe even tens of millions - across the Rochester region.
 Vital to the takedown of the network, police say, was a police analyst whose job is totally funded by a federal program known as High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HITDA.
 The current federal budget proposal from the Obama administration calls for an annual reduction in HIDTA funding from $245 million to $193 million - a reduction that U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer said at a news conference Monday he will oppose.
 Flanked by police and the mothers of two women whose children have battled addiction, Schumer said in the news conference at the Public Safety Building in Rochester that he is proposing a $100 million increase in the funding.
 "When you let these drugs get tentacles into our society, it's so hard to extricate them," he said.
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NO REEFER MADNESS IN COLORADO, AS YET - The voters wanted the law changed to reflect reality. A year later,
legalizing pot doesn't seem to have ended Western civilization as we know it.
 More than a year after Colorado legalized marijuana sales, there's a pot shop just a few steps away from the Prada, Ralph Lauren, Sotheby's and Burberry stores in this toniest of tony ski towns.
 Tourists from around the world step into the Green Dragon cannabis store to buy small amounts of legal - and heavily taxed - marijuana. It goes on day after day after day with virtually no muss or fuss. Welcome to my reality. More than a year ago, the editors at USA TODAY asked me to join their team as the Rocky Mountain correspondent to tell stories from across the West, from wildfires to wild weather, politics and guns. But marijuana coverage quickly became a top priority, as the world watches the legalization experiments taking place here as well as in Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia.
 Pot, or cannabis as some of the fans prefer to call it these days, has been legal here since Jan. 1, 2014.
 More often than not, I find myself telling those editors, "No, no, it's not like that. Colorado doesn't smell like pot all of the time. No, not everyone is stoned all of the time. And no, there isn't blood running in the streets as a result of legalization." We haven't seen the explosion in crime or car crashes that critics direly predicted, or the invasion of Mexican cartels.
 In other words, legalizing pot doesn't seem to have ended Western civilization as we know it, bolstering critics who say marijuana should never have been demonized by America's War on Drugs.
 We the people chose to legalize pot. It wasn't a decision foisted upon us by a federal court or a mandate from some far-off government bureaucrat. The voters wanted the law changed to reflect reality - the reality that people were using marijuana safely and responsibly.
Your friends and neighbors smoke pot, just like mine. The only real difference is my fellow Coloradans won't get arrested or ticketed.
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WOULD A POT-GROWING COACHING BUSINESS BE AGAINST ALASKA LAW?
 When the initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana in Alaska took effect Feb. 24, personal home gardens of six plants total, up to three flowering at a time, became expressly permitted for any Alaskan 21 years or older. But what if someone has no idea where to begin?
 There are books and magazines. Cultivation message boards and web forums seem to multiply by the day, but researching all of that and turning it into action takes time. Not to mention that talk of light frequencies, growing media, "nutes," and techniques like ScrOG, FIM, and LST might overwhelm beginners.
 Brett LeMay wonders if that might present an opportunity for someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and Alaskan desire to "take tomorrow and dream." He asks Highly Informed: "Do you foresee any problems with setting up a personal-growing coach business? Not everyone has a green thumb. Of course, I could not provide plants or seeds, just set
up and maintain their personal use garden."
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PRESIDENT OBAMA'S LETTER TO 22 PRISONERS
 On Tuesday, 22 people serving sentences of decades or life for nonviolent drug crimes in federal prisons across the country received a personal letter from President Obama, commuting their sentences and ordering their release in late July.
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Washington DC - THE NEED FOR NEEDLE EXCHANGES
 With two Midwestern governors - Mike Pence (R) of Indiana and Steve Beshear (D) of Kentucky - recently supporting syringe-exchange programs in some fashion, it is a good time for Congress to repeal the federal ban that prohibits states from using federal prevention dollars to make sterile syringes available to reduce the spread of
HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.
 This ban has cost thousands of lives and millions of dollars. Repealing it would reduce federal healthcare expenditures and give states greater flexibility. Decades of peer-reviewed studies have conclusively shown that syringe-exchange programs save lives without increasing drug use.
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HOW TO KILL SOMEONE AND GET AWAY WITH IT -
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, once considered one of the most conservative in the country, has moved to the left in recent years. But if you think that means it is showing a greater regard for individual rights and civil liberties, think again. According to a ruling the court handed down on March 13, the appropriate range of punishments for possessing a small amount of marijuana includes summary execution.
 In 2005 (the wheels of justice can grind exceedingly slowly) the police in Cambridge, Md., acted on a tip and found a small amount of marijuana residue in a trash can. At 4:30 a.m. on May 6, a SWAT team executed a search warrant on the apartment of Andrew Cornish. A jury would later find the commandos failed to knock and announce
themselves properly. As they rushed through the apartment, Cornish came out of the bedroom with a sheathed knife in his hand. The police say he advanced on them. One of the officers shot Cornish twice in the head, killing him.
 Elapsed time: about 30 seconds.
 Why did the police burst into Cornish's apartment in the wee hours, instead of simply showing up in the middle of the day and knocking politely? Not because Cornish was some bigtime drug dealer. There is no evidence of that. What's more, he was on friendly terms with the officers who sometimes patrolled his neighborhood. No, that's just how things are done these days - along with handing out armored personnel carriers and other materiel of war to police departments big and small. Radley Balko writes all about it in his book, "Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America's Police Forces."
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THROWING MORE MONEY AT JAILS WON'T CURB CRIME
 The recent letters by Stephanie Taber and Helen Harberts encouraging spending more money on jails and police need to be seen as the propaganda they are. Google them and you will see they are both longtime police industry members and highly vocal shills for the police/prison unions.
We need to objectively explore ways to lower our incarceration rates, given that the U.S. locks up more people per capita than any other nation in the world. The police/prison industry screams for more of everything all the time. More jails, more prison guards, more officers, higher salaries, better benefits and it never stops. Their shills act like regular citizens as they plead for these increases without disclosing their conflicts of interests.
 What we need is to re-evaluate the drug war from top to bottom, given it accounts for nearly half of all the police/prison industrial complex's costs.
 For instance, we should convert a share of prisons to be used solely for drug rehab facilities for meth and heroin, staff most of it with drug rehab professionals instead of overpaid prison guards with high school educations so we can accomplish something meaningful. We need to address the legalization and distribution of marijuana nationwide, including licensing honey oil producers, so our society is safer and so valuable resources aren't spent on useless prohibition and can be allocated to real crime.
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WEED RIGHTS    -    As a member of the Mendocino Cannabis Policy Council, I'd like to say how heartened I was to read "Clear-eyed view of legalization" (Editorial, March 30), that The Chronicle applauds Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's panel which will address the effects of legalization of cannabis in California in 2016.
As the editorial stated, we also hope they "get it right" and that this time, at last, they remember to include the rights and regulations necessary for the future of small speciality cannabis cultivators, specifically in the Emerald Triangle region. Much skill and hard work goes into crafting quality organic sun-grown cannabis, and so the source of this product should certainly be recognized and included in the discussion. I look forward to the public hearing in San Francisco in May.      Nikki Lastreto, Laytonville,       Mendocino County
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NO MORE HALF-BAKED POT VOTES   -   Californians are almost certainly going to vote in 2016 on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana for adult recreational use. And according to the most recent polls, a majority of voters now support that goal.
 But general, theoretical support may not be enough. If legalization proponents are serious about passing a ballot initiative, they'd better be sure they put forward a comprehensive, well-thought-out proposal that addresses the complex legal, societal and safety issues involved.
 They'd do well to learn from earlier, halfbaked marijuana measures that were either wisely rejected by the voters (such as 2010's Proposition 19, which would have legalized the drug) or were passed, but were so poorly drafted as to cause years of confusion (such as Proposition 215, which allowed the use of medical marijuana).
 To its credit, the most organized and well-funded group, ReformCA, has spent more than a year talking to both the medical marijuana industry and regulators about what a responsible ballot measure should include. It's important that even critics of legalization, including representatives of law enforcement, are already part of the discussion, because it is difficult to fix unforeseen problems after a ballot measure has passed. And proponents of legalization can't rely on the Legislature to work out the details of implementation. It's been nearly 20 years since voters passed Proposition 215, and the state still hasn't adopted comprehensive rules for the cultivation, transportation and distribution of medical marijuana. In order to be effective, the next ballot initiative will need to create a sensible regulatory and taxing scheme from scratch.
 A nongovernmental commission on marijuana policy, led by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and the American Civil Liberties Union, released a report last week focused on three areas that need further analysis. Those include: how to keep children from getting marijuana and what are appropriate noncriminal penalties for youth possession; how to protect public safety, including keeping marijuana-impaired drivers off the road; and how to set an appropriate cannabis tax so the state
earns enough revenue to pay for enforcement and education, but not so high that the state encourages a black market industry. And these three issues are by no means the only outstanding ones.
The Times won't take a position on a 2016 marijuana initiative until the ballot language has been released. This page opposed both Proposition 215 and Proposition 19.
 It is important to remember that even if a legalization initiative were to pass, marijuana would still be illegal under federal law. It might be politically complicated for the next president - whether Republican or Democrat - to start enforcing prohibition laws after the Obama administration has essentially allowed states to legalize pot. But advocates shouldn't assume that it won't happen. There could be all sorts of complications as California moves forward; that's why it's important to proceed cautiously and carefully.
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DRUG POLICY CREATES LOCAL OUTCRY
 Three men arrested in recent weeks could get life in prison after being caught with small amounts of edible marijuana products, a fact that has sparked an outcry from some Amarillo residents.
 Potter County sheriff's deputies arrested Eli McCarthy Manna, 30, and Andrew Bruce George, 27, after stopping them for an unspecified traffic violation March 16.
 The men were found to be in possession of seven purple brownies weighing a total of 650 grams which, being more than 400 grams, triggered the most severe punishment range for drug possession under Texas law - 10 years to life in prison and a fine of up to $50,000…..
 "I do not believe that most taxpayers, even in the Panhandle, are in favor of this hyper-repressive approach to marijuana laws," Blackburn said. "I think the verdict in the Tim Stevens case ... is a pretty good example."
 An Amarillo jury acquitted Tim Stevens, a then-53-year-old HIV patient, in 2008 after he was charged with possession of marijuana he used to control chronic nausea and vomiting. It was the first medical-use acquittal in Texas, Blackburn said, and took the jury only 12 minutes of deliberation.
 "If you can over-charge people, you can over-convict them. And if you over-convict them, you over-punish them,"  Blackburn said. "Every single one of us has an interest in not letting the government run amok."
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April 14, 2015 - Global Million Man Marijuana March – May 2, 2015 – Riverside Park – 11:30 to 1:30 – Bring your own sign & Smile.  Exact location is on bridges between Keeper of the Plains & Tennis Courts.  Wichita, Kansas
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Aklaska - Compared to alcohol breath tests, blood tests for cannabis are expensive and something of a hassle for law enforcement because of special protocols, storage, delay of test results and extra training needs. In Alaska, drawing blood for determining impaired driving requires consent or a warrant unless there are other factors beyond suspicion of cannabis intoxication. Alaska law issues driver's licenses on the condition of implied consent for alcohol breath tests under suspicion of DUI, and for blood or urine tests for any controlled substances in the case of an accident that causes death or
serious injury.
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Arkansas - MEDICAL MARIJUANA VIEWS AIRED  - FAYETTEVILLE - A panel discussion on medical marijuana offered
Fayetteville city attorney Kit Williams a chance to describe his wife's personal story of how the drug helped her while she underwent chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
 Fayetteville city attorney Kit Williams admitted that about five years ago, before his wife's diagnosis, he thought advocacy for medical marijuana "was a bunch of smoke and mirrors."
 But the panel at the Arkansas Health Disparities Conference at the University of Arkansas also gave a Little Rock doctor, David Smith, a chance to express his concerns about the chemicals in marijuana.
 Williams said his wife, Emily, suffered greatly from nausea while being treated for lymphoma, a type of cancer....Not everybody is going to be as brave as my wife," Williams said.   Smith, a palliative care physician who treats gravely ill patients at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock, said he agreed that more research should be done on certain types of chemicals in marijuana.
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Arizona - TWO'S A CROWD - Only One Group Can Survive the Legalization Initiative Process If
Arizona Really Wants Legal Weed
 A group made up of medical marijuana dispensary stakeholders surprised the Marijuana Policy Project when they came out of the closet with a different ballot measure proposal to legalize recreational pot next year.
 Up until about two weeks ago, the official plan A was an initiative by the Washington-based group that's been in the works for months. But MPP can't seem to make all of its Arizona allies happy, and ended up pushing its former campaign chairwoman Gina Berman to abandon the group and start her own.
 This plan B group, Arizonans for Responsible Legalization, alleges MPP haven't compromised to the requests of dispensaries. Some of the disagreements include the number of dispensaries allowed to operate and the licensing structure....
 Berman, who is also the medical director of the Phoenix-area Giving Tree Wellness ...
 Rob Kampia, MPP co-founder and executive director, sent out an email on April 1 (after another arose where he threatened Berman to boycott her dispensary), saying Berman's allegations came out of left field. He summarized parts of the MPP measure, which all seem to benefit dispensaries. He said MPP and Berman had agreed on these right before
plan B emerged.
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Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 2015     Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)
E-MAIL: POT-LEGALIZATION GROUP'S LEADER TARGETS RIVAL ORGANIZATION
 The director of a group behind an initiative to legalize pot in Arizona threatened to target the business affairs of a
marijuana-dispensary medical director who joined a competing legalization effort, documents obtained by The Arizona Republic show.
 Two groups have filed paperwork with the Secretary of State's Office to pursue initiatives legalizing recreational marijuana: the influential Washington, D.C.-based Marijuana Policy Project and the newly created Arizonans for Responsible Legalization.
 The conflict focuses on Gina Berman, medical director at the Giving Tree Wellness Center marijuana dispensary and an emergency-room physician. Berman worked with the Marijuana Policy Project's campaign committee before joining Arizonans for Responsible Legalization....  Rob Kampia, co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, which has helped with legalization efforts in other states, expressed surprise at her departure.
 "Obviously, I was shocked to learn that you formed a campaign committee to compete with your own campaign committee," Kampia wrote. He later added that if she filed a competing marijuana initiative with the secretary of state, "we will specifically launch a series of actions to harm your business, in the spirit of what social-justice movements do to boycott bad companies or bad business owners."
 Kampia, who did not respond to The Republic's request to discuss the dispute, wrote in his e-mail the competing initiative would not affect his group's plans. He also said his group's retaliation would be completely legal.
 "For example, I'm already budgeting ... $10,000 (as of Friday) to pay people for 1,000 hours of time to distribute literature outside of your front door, and the literature will not portray you in a kind way," Kampia's e-mail said. "We will not target any other dispensaries; we will only target you. (There are other legal actions I have planned, so please just assume that distributing literature will be one of four or five tactics to disrupt your business; again, this will all be legal)."
 Berman, now chairwoman of the Arizonans for Responsible Legalization, responded and urged Kampia to "reconsider this path."...
 Mason Tvert, Marijuana Policy Project communications director, declined to discuss Kampia's letter. However, he said, the group was disappointed that Berman left the group, saying "it came out of nowhere."
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RULING ALLOWS PROBATIONERS TO USE MEDICAL POT - Court: Stopping Valid Use Can't Be Probation Term
 The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday issued two rulings barring courts and prosecutors from denying marijuana use as a term of probation if the convicted felons have valid medical-marijuana cards.
 In one case, a man convicted of possessing marijuana for sale in Cochise County was forbidden from using marijuana by a probation officer after he was released from prison.
In the second, a woman pleading guilty to DUI in Yavapai County refused to accept abstention from marijuana as a term of probation, prompting the prosecution to withdraw the plea agreement. Both had valid medical-marijuana cards.
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AFTER RULING, POT REFERENDUM PETITIONS ARE TURNED AWAY - California
 Opponents to Yuba County's new medical marijuana ordinance tried Thursday to file referendum petitions with county election officials, but were turned away.
 County Clerk-Recorder Terry Hansen said she had no choice but to not accept the petitions that would force the new ordinance to a public vote. Ordinance opponents also made an unsuccessful attempt to file them with the clerk to the Board of Supervisors.
 "They were polite," Hansen said. "I told them we are not trying to be obstructive and that when we have some direction from the court we will help them through the process."
 The attempt came after the 3rd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday denied an emergency writ filed by attorney Joe Elford, representing growers. That writ sought to overturn a Yuba County court ruling on Tuesday that left an "urgency" designation with the ordinance intact, effectively blocking the referendum.
 Elford said Thursday he intends to seek relief from the state Supreme Court. The attempt to file the referendum petitions would have preserved the integrity of the signatures if opponents get a favorable Supreme Court ruling, he said.
 Instead, Elford said, the petitions will be placed in a safety deposit box, with the date recorded, to ensure no signatures were collected after Thursday.
 Six growers and Yuba Patients Coalition, Inc., sued Yuba County over the new, stricter marijuana cultivation ordinance approved March 10 by county supervisors. The new ordinance bans outdoor plants and limits plants to a dozen inside a qualified accessory building.
 At issue in recent hearings was the board's decision to designate the new law an urgency ordinance. That meant it took effect immediately and eliminated a 30-day waiting period for gathering referendum signatures.
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California - SFPD Chief Greg Suhr, the former narc who received praise from liberal and libertarian media in December for supposedly "disbanding" the city's narcotics unit, is a huge fan. In a press release
announcing Safe Schools II, Suhr praised the DEA and the U.S. Attorney and offered harsh words for the drug dealers "preying on young children."
Which they aren't. Speed is accused of holding a gun during a liquor store holdup. Williams sold a rock to an undercover cop. These crimes do not involve kids. Even if Safe Schools is 100 percent successful of ridding the TL of dope dealers, school kids will still have to navigate a maze of chronic inebriates and mentally ill people while traversing the Tenderloin.
"Safe Schools" seems to serve one main purpose: It gives those cops tired of seeing the same faces a workaround to avoid local leniency and give dope fiends real punishment, with rules that favor he cops instead of the robbers.
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Author: Chris Roberts     SFPD'S FERGUSON PROBLEM
 The San Francisco Police Department worked hard to arrest Cassie Roberts.
 San Francisco cops along with Drug Enforcement Administration agents staked out Roberts and several dozen other Tenderloin denizens for weeks, recording and observing video of them from rooftops and parked cars. After a hand-to-hand-drug sale between Roberts and a confidential informant wearing a hidden body camera was caught on camera, a U.S. attorney went to a grand jury with Roberts' name. An indictment was issued, an arrest warrant was signed by a federal judge, and later, Roberts was apprehended and charged in federal court.
 Roberts is one of the 37 people SFPD arrested from August 2013 to February 2015 in a sting called "Operation Safe Schools." Lenient local and state sentencing guidelines such as Prop. 47 do not apply to federal busts; thanks to federal mandatory minimums, fewer than 1.4 grams of crack cocaine earned Roberts and 12 others about one year in federal prison.
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Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)   Column: The Week in Weed Author: Grant Scott-Goforth
GIVE IT AWAY NOW - Washington, D.C. is shaping up to be the most fascinating setting of the great American marijuana experiment.
 A series of political quirks have made the city's marijuana-friendly lawmakers and residents agitated, but the outcome - a potentially commercialism-free, socialistic utopian marijuana share society - is being cautiously heralded by some analysts.
 D.C. had been moving toward the decriminalization of weed for some time when Congress, in all its wisdom, passed a law banning the city from spending money to regulate pot. That old governmental logic: Prohibit spending money to get rid of costly-to-enforce laws. Anyway, when D.C. voters repealed the law prohibiting marijuana last year, local lawmakers were left with one choice: a marijuana share economy.
 Unlike Colorado or Washington, where the state governments carefully track the growth, preparation and trade of marijuana, D.C. - unable to fund an ABC-like marijuana oversight board - decommercialized the industry.
 So you can possess pot, grow it, smoke it and give it away. But you cannot trade or sell it.
 Mark Kleiman of the RAND Corporation thinks this is a good idea. According to a recent New York Times article, Kleiman and his fellow researchers have recommended that states find "intermediate options between prohibition and commercial legalization," like nonprofit cooperatives or government-run grows (like the system Uruguay recently adopted). Another option is a grow-your-own weed economy like D.C.
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I'm making weed butter for the first time, and I'm seeing so many recipes with totally different steps and methods.
 Do you have any advice or favorite weed butter recipes?
And what do you like to make with it when it's done?    -Guy

Easy and quick: Put some butter and some ground-up cannabis in a
crockpot set on low. Let it cook at least two hours or overnight.
Strain it and chill it. Boom. Done. Use it like regular butter.

Pound cake is always good, or just slather it on some toast and go
about your day. Woot!
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California – Pot case goes up in smoke:  And the government recently terminated its contract with Rice, according to the Manilla Times, which has reported all of this with great gusto.
 It reported earlier this month that one senator was trying to find out if "there was clear violation of law and a prima facie wastage of taxpayers' money."    -    Yes, a wastage.
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Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 2015     Source: East Bay Express (CA)     Author: David Downs
 REGULATING WATER USE BY POT FARMS
 Humboldt Assemblymember Jim Wood's tiny amendment to the state's water code is part of a groundbreaking new vision for marijuana agriculture.
 The California Assembly plans to hold an unprecedented hearing on April 15 to examine a proposal to regulate a controversial, billion-dollar state crop: marijuana.
 At first glance, Humboldt County Assemblymember Jim Wood's proposed regulation bill, the "Marijuana Watershed Protection Act" looks innocuous: It would add a single .... The proposed regulations are earth-shattering, said Hezekiah Allen, president of the Emerald Grower's Association. "In and of itself, [AB 243] is relatively short and sweet, but what you're seeing is absolutely" huge.
 Wood's bill would give several state agencies and regional water boards the green light to "address" pot cultivation's environmental impacts and "coordinate" on the issue. It also would make the state water board's marijuana pilot project - which has been working with pot farmers and has just released environmental best-practices guidelines - permanent and expand it throughout the state....... The water board expects to hand out a variety of permits in the coming weeks to farmers and more would come under AB 243. Cannabis agriculture districts could follow in the coming years. All of these steps provide a path for law-abiding growers to become normalized, Wood said. "The last thing we want to do is come in and say, 'We're here just like the old days to eradicate your grow,'" the Assemblymember added. "That's not what this is about. It's about educating people on best management practices and cleaning things up so we don't damage the environment."
 Second-generation cultivator Casey O'Neill of Happy Day Farms lauded the state's progress during at a tasting event in San Francisco's Potrero Hill last weekend. O'Neill said officials have learned over decades that eradication doesn't work. He's ready to integrate his farm into mainstream society.
"That's what's been so great is to be able to talk to the regulators and say, 'No, I'm not compliant, but I want to be," he said. "We finally have made it through to that point where we can have an intelligent conversation."
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Pubdate: Tue, 07 Apr 2015    Source: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA)
DISAPPROVAL NOT ENOUGH REASON TO BAN DISPENSARIES
 Prominently featured on the city of Riverside's website is discussion of a city-commissioned poll on Measure A, the medical marijuana initiative on the June 2 ballot, showing opposition from a majority of those surveyed.
 The poll, which cost more than $25,000, surveyed 400 residents on matters of medical marijuana, taxes and approval of various city officials. As valuable as public opinion polling is, it isn't a substitute for thorough, well-reasoned policy development.
"This poll demonstrates that the majority of Riverside residents strongly oppose opening marijuana dispensaries within our city and, instead, support the existing ban," read a statement from Mayor Rusty Bailey.
 The city of Riverside is well within its legal right to prohibit medical marijuana dispensaries. What matters, though, is whether the exercise of force to suppress such establishments is necessary and prudent. Majority support or opposition does not speak to either of these things.
As to whether it is necessary, issues like public safety come to mind. If permitting dispensaries causes more crime, it may be justified to prohibit them. The evidence on this, including research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, suggests that they are not, in aggregate, associated with increased crime.
 Specific public safety issues cited by the city in years past, including its ban on mobile medical marijuana delivery services, have centered on claims that marijuana dispensers xxx
NEWSOM TAKING A GAMBLE ON POT   Lieutenant Governor Is Used to Controversy, but Fallout Now Could
Affect His 2018 Hopes.
 A few weeks into his first term as mayor of San Francisco in 2004, Gavin Newsom made a bold and controversial decision, ordering the city-county clerk to violate state law and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
 Newsom was ultimately vindicated, with gay marriage gaining public acceptance and becoming legal in California and three dozen other states. But at the time, even some of his supporters thought he was committing political suicide.
 As Newsom, now lieutenant governor, prepares for a gubernatorial campaign in 2018, he finds himself at a similar crossroads. This time, his issue is the legalization of marijuana for recreational purposes.
 Newsom, a Democrat, is the highest-ranking state official to support legalization. If an expected 2016 ballot measure to legalize, regulate and tax marijuana includes safeguards that he views as crucial, Newsom will endorse it and effectively be the public face of the effort.
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ROHRABACHER TO HOLDER: STOP MEDICAL MARIJUANA PROSECUTIONS
 An Orange County Republican congressman has written Attorney General Eric Holder insisting he back off prosecution of medical marijuana dispensaries and respect a congressional budget amendment designed to protect dispensaries operating within the bounds of state law.
 Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, and Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, signed the letter to Holder. It was prompted by a Justice Department quote in the Los Angeles Times justifying the continued prosecution of dispensaries.
 Rohrabacher and Farr were co-sponsors of a landmark budget amendment last year that said funding to the Justice Department and Drug Enforcement Agency could not be used to enforce federal marijuana laws when they're at odds with state medical pot provisions. Twenty-three states have legalized use of medical marijuana.
 Nonetheless, the Justice Department is pursuing charges against three Bay Area dispensaries.
 Justice Department spokesman Patrick Rudenbush told the Los Angeles Times that his agency did not interpret the budget amendment as protecting individuals against prosecution, but rather simply stopped it from "impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws."
 Rohrabacher and Farr aren't buying it.
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Can I freely smoke marijuana in my condo? I own the condo, and the condo association has no rules about smoking. Also, can I smoke freely on my balcony?
If you're the homeowner and you say it's okay, you can smoke two joints before you smoke two joints, then smoke two more. Colorado law says you're the king of that castle, and if the king wants to puff tuff, the king can puff tuff. Your balcony is also fair game for toking, thanks to a Denver City Council decision last year. Your garage and even your front porch are pro-pot zones (we've taken a shine to puffing a doobie while working on the car, ourselves).
 But keep in mind that your HOA can still set rules banning your ability to puff in your yard, on your porch or in any other space that could fall into the definition of "common area" for the complex.
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Nationally, the federal government is taking its own look at links between treating PTSD and pot, reported military.com last week.
"The National Institute of Drug Abuse on Wednesday informed the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies that it is ready to supply researchers with marijuana needed for the study ..." Bryant Jordan wrote. "The study will mark the first federally approved study in which the subjects will be able to ingest the marijuana by smoking it, [a spokesman] said. It will also be 'the first whole-plant marijuana study,' meaning the marijuana will not simply be an extract of the cannabis in a manufactured delivery system, such as a pill."
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TO FIX MARIJUANA PROBLEMS, START BY STOPPING

The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area reports 30
people were injured last year in 32 explosions involving hash oil
production. It's a dangerous dilemma that seriously undermines
well-intentioned beliefs that legalization would enhance public safety.

On this topic, people who favor and oppose legalization should agree:
Hash oil explosions must stop. Toward that end, a House committed
voted 13-0 last week to establish felony charges for anyone suspected
of using explosive gas to make hash oil in a residence. The bill would
limit hash oil production to commercial operations, which are
ostensibly easier to monitor and regulate.
TELL MARC EMERY SUGGESTION USING HAIR FLAT IRON @ 325 DEGREES & PARCHMENT PAPER.
XXX
Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2015   Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
FED OFFICIAL, POT BUSINESSES MEET   A federal banking official took the unprecedented step of meeting with marijuana business owners. But Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George gave no indication that the industry is any closer to getting more access to banking services.
 The Denver meeting was arranged by two Colorado congressmen who have tried unsuccessfully to pass laws expanding banking access for the pot industry. Also joining the closed-door meeting were Colorado bankers. It was thought to be the first meeting of a Federal Reserve president with pot businesses.
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Colorado - LAWMAKERS CONSIDER POT FOR PAROLEES
 Colorado lawmakers started work Thursday on a proposal to allow people on probation or parole to use medical marijuana.
The state has allowed medical marijuana use for 15 years-but not for people on probation or parole.
 A bill facing its first test Thursday in the state House would change that policy by saying that pot use doesn't amount to a probation violation for people with medical clearance to use the drug.
 "If it's in the constitution, you should have the right to use it on probation," said Rep. Joe Salazar, a Thornton Democrat who sponsored the bill.
The change wouldn't apply to probationers whose crime was related to marijuana.
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MARIJUANA ON STORE SHELVES CREATES CARGO-HAULING NICHE   Pot Couriers Find Another Business From Industry.
  At a farm in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, Corey Young tucks his client's marijuana into a shoe box-sized container in an unmarked white van and heads out on the road.
 "We don't want to be going through a small town and have someone see bins in the back," said Young, a founder of courier service CannaRabbit. "We do not want to stick out at all."
 Young wants to stay hidden not because pot is against the law. Colorado began legal sales of recreational marijuana last year. The secrecy is designed to ensure the safety of drivers shuttling cargo
that retails for as much as $220 an ounce.
 CannaRabbit and peers are rushing in as regional truckers and nationwide haulers United Parcel Service and FedEx steer clear on concerns over the lack of nationwide clearance of xxx
Colorado:  After a rigorous debate, House Bill 1298 passed on a voice vote, but just barely. The House of Representatives will take a roll call vote within the next few days to determine if the bill dies or advances to the state Senate.
 The legislation would require pot shops to "display in a conspicuous location a sign that warns pregnant women about the potential risks caused by marijuana." The state health department would determine the signs' language. The bill also would prohibit marketing pot products to pregnant women.
 "This bill is a fairly simple one, but it's an important one," said Rep. Jack Tate, R-Centennial, one of the bill's sponsors. "It's about providing information to consumers. It's about providing important health information to people - specifically to pregnant women - about a product that's detrimental to the health and safety of their unborn child."
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Denver - ROOM SEARCH BUZZING
The Hunt for Accomodations Around 4/20 Is Lighting Up Hotels.Com Online searches for Denver hotel rooms around the marijuana celebration date of April 20 are soaring, according to data from booking website Hotels.com.
 Search totals also spiked last April, during the first year of legal retail weed in Colorado. Hotels.com said the numbers suggest that the oft-asked question - does legal marijuana generate an increase in tourism? - has been answered affirmatively.
 Marijuana enthusiasts hold so-called 4/20 rallies each spring that attract thousands of publicly smoking participants, even though Colorado's statute prohibits public consumption.
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Pubdate: Sun, 05 Apr 2015     Source: Washington Post (DC)
IN D.C., A SHORT PATH TO POT PRESCRIPTIONS
  Twice a week at the office of Patrick Fasusi, District residents line up to ask the pain specialist to approve their use of medical marijuana. For most, the brief wait in the lobby is longer than their consultation.
 As marijuana, which became legal for recreational use in the nation's capital in February, continues to morph from contraband to commonplace, Fasusi's clinic is a window into the ease with which some residents have been buying officially sanctioned pot for more than two years.
 More than 2,700 people have registered for the city's medical marijuana program, a number that has more than tripled since summer, when the D.C. Council relaxed the rules for participation. And many observers predict that the interest spurred by legalization will lead even more people to jump through the minor hoops required to obtain an official medical marijuana card from the city's Department of Health.
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FLORIDA VOTERS SHOW STRONG SUPPORT FOR LEGALIZED MARIJUANA - for both medical and recreational use.
 Medical marijuana was supported by 84 percent and opposed by 14 percent in a Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday.
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CONTINUED DELAYS THREATEN MASS. MEDICAL MARIJUANA FIRMS
 Months of controversy and bureaucratic delays in the Massachusetts medical marijuana program have driven away some investors, stranding several of the companies awarded the first dispensary licenses and leaving them short on cash.
 The uncertainty and mounting costs have pushed back the opening of the first dispensaries - originally expected last summer - to this summer, with some owners now saying they are unlikely to be ready until late this year.
 The delay leaves thousands of patients in limbo. State figures show roughly 14,000 patients have received doctor certifications to use marijuana medicinally, and 7,100 of them have completed the state's registration process, paying their $50 annual fee to legally shop in the dispensaries.
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Pubdate: Wed, 08 Apr 2015   Source: Metro Times (Detroit, MI)   Column: Higher Ground
NOTES FROM THE HASH BASH
 Tommy Chong, half of the vintage comedy duo Cheech and Chong, made a series of appearances over the weekend for a big weekend anchored by the 44th Ann Arbor Hash Bash.
 On Friday there was a breakfast at an Ann Arbor-area hotel, along with about 50 invited guests. I managed to get in with someone who had a plus-one invite - her husband was out of town, so I got in. I figured it would be interesting to hear what Chong had to say and maybe I'd get a few laughs.
 When I got there, a bunch of folks were just standing around in the lobby chatting. There were a fair number of familiar faces in the crowd: Matt Abel, director of Michigan NORML, as well as Charmie Gholson from Michigan Moms United. Jamie Lowell from 3rd Coast Compassion Center, Heidi Parikh from Michigan Compassion, Rick Thompson of the Compassion Chronicles, and Harry Cayce from People's Choice dispensary - it was a crowd of marijuana folks all around.
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Pubdate: Thu, 09 Apr 2015     Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Author: Edward Forchion, NJWeedman.com For The Trentonian
 NJWEEDMAN VS. THE CHRISTIE
 The Christie has had a bad spell-last week he made headlines by calling marijuana legalization and herb taxes "Blood Money." It's set in stone that Gov. Chris Christie does not like marijuana and is one of those fools who really believes the Reefer Madness lies of the 1930s - no surprise there. He was confronted by a teacher and that encounter went viral, a state judge is questioning his pension plans, and his cronyism with the Wall Street bankers has been xposed as a nearly 1 billion dollar Cash Cow featured on the nationally televised show The Young Turks.
 While I personally don't like most of Republican Christie's policies, and he personally bullied me years ago-I do like his Jersey style and his take-no-shit attitude, and though his presidency would have been scary on a global scale, imaging an "old friend of mine" as president was certainly interesting to me. I think it may have created a unique national profile opportunity for me.
 Now I'm watching his presidential hopes go up in smoke, like rancid dope. And I'm having mixed feelings about it.
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BRONX TEENAGER WHO FELL FROM ROOF WHILE FLEEING THE POLICE DIES
 A Bronx teenager who fell off the roof of a six-story apartment building on Thursday while fleeing police officers died of his injuries on Saturday at St. Barnabas Hospital, the police said.
 Authorities said Hakeem Kuta, 17, was with a group of other teenagers who were smoking marijuana Thursday evening in the lobby of the apartment building at 2685 Valentine Avenue in the Bronx. A man who exited the building complained to four uniformed officers, who then entered the lobby. When Mr. Kuta and several others ran to the roof,
two officers chased them.
 All but Mr. Kuta and a 14-year-old were able to elude the police. With officers shouting, "please don't move," Mr. Kuta tried to step over a short wall at the edge of the building but stumbled, officials said. The 14-year-old grabbed for Mr. Kuta's vest as he fell, officials said, but he was not able to hang on.
 The Police Department said that the officers appeared to have acted appropriately. After Mr. Kuta fell, officers raced from the roof to give first aid, officials said. Officer Maria Imburgia applied chest compressions until paramedics arrived.
 Officers made no arrests on Thursday evening, though marijuana was found in the lobby.
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Newsday - Author: William F. B. O'Reilly
POT IS ALL THE RAGE - AND THAT'S DANGEROUS
 Think maple syrup spread across a sheet pan and hardened. Or a thin crepe made of brittle amber resin.
 Smash it into tiny shards, drop a piece in a pipe, and what have you got?
 "Shatter."
 It's the hot new smokable marijuana concentrate, and it's guaranteed to keep you high all day, so high in fact that it's sending freaked-outkids to emergency rooms across the country, mostly in Western states. But that shouldn't be for long. Drugs have an annoying habit of drifting eastward in America.
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Oregon - PROFESSOR SAYS MARIJUANA BENEFITS THE BODY
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There are positive aspects to legalization that bear repeating. New research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that states with open medical marijuana access have a 25 percent lower opioid overdose death rate than marijuana prohibition states.  This research finding has huge implications for states such as Texas
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Seattle - RUNNER'S HIGH - Spring has sprung, and it's finally time to strap on the running shoes and get stoned out of your mind!
There's no doubt that marijuana is good for all kinds of things: stimulating the appetite, creative brainstorming, giggle-fests . . . but exercise?
 Yes, apparently. According to an article in last month's Runner's World, athletes who use cannabis benefit from stress relief and reduced inflammation.
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WASHINGTON IS THE ONLY STATE WITH LEGAL MARIJUANA THAT DOESN'T ALLOW HOME GROWS
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Author: Erik Eckholm, New York Times   -   NEW FEDERAL LAW COULD HALT MEDICAL POT CASES
 BLOOMFIELD, N.M. - Charles C. Lynch seemed to be doing everything right when he opened a medical marijuana dispensary in the tidy coastal town of Morro Bay, Calif.
 The mayor, the city attorney and leaders of the local Chamber of Commerce all came for the ribbon-cutting in 2006. The conditions for his business license, including a ban on customers younger than 18 and compliance with California's medical marijuana laws, were posted on the wall.
 But two years later, Lynch was convicted of multiple felonies under federal law for selling marijuana. He is one of hundreds of defendants and prisoners caught up in the stark conflict between federal law, which puts marijuana in the same class as heroin with no exception for medical sales, and the decisions by many states to authorize medical uses.
 "I feel so left out of society," said Lynch, 52, who is out on bond and appealing his conviction, from a battered trailer behind his mother's house here in northwestern New Mexico. He is waiting to see if he must go to prison.
 Now, though, a legal wild card has been injected into his case and those of several other defendants in California and Washington state.
 In December, in a little-publicized amendment to the 2015 appropriations bill that one legal scholar called a "buried land mine," Congress barred the Justice Department from spending any money to prevent states from "implementing their own state laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of
medical marijuana."
 In the most advanced test of the law yet, Lynch's lawyers have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hawaii, to "direct the DOJ to cease spending funds on the case." In a filing late last month, they argued that federal officials continuing to work on his prosecution "would be committing criminal acts."
 But the Justice Department strongly disagrees, asserting that the amendment does not undercut its power to enforce federal drug law. It says that the amendment only bars federal agencies from interfering with state efforts to carry out medical marijuana laws, and that it does not preclude criminal prosecutions for violations of the Controlled Substances Act.
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VOTERS PREFER LEGAL WEED TO PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
In three key swing states, marijuana legalization is more popular than any potential 2016 presidential contender. That's according to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in arch. More than 80 percent of adults in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida support medical marijuana, according to the survey. Fifty-one percent of Pennsylvanians, 52 percent of Ohioans and 55 percent of Floridians also support legalizing small amounts of marijuana for personal use.
     From Herald news services
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April 21, 2015 - CANNABIS CORNER – TRANSCRIPTS:  April 21, 2015
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Global Million Man Marijuana March – May 2, 2015 – Riverside Park – 11:30 to 1:30 – Bring your own sign & Smile.  Exact location is on bridges between Keeper of the Plains & Tennis Courts.  Wichita, Kansas
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Aklaska - Compared to alcohol breath tests, blood tests for cannabis are expensive and something of a hassle for law enforcement because of special protocols, storage, delay of test results and extra training needs. In Alaska, drawing blood for determining impaired driving requires consent or a warrant unless there are other factors beyond suspicion of cannabis intoxication. Alaska law issues driver's licenses on the condition of implied consent for alcohol breath tests under suspicion of DUI, and for blood or urine tests for any controlled substances in the case of an accident that causes death or
serious injury.
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Attorneys need to agree to take a pay cut so we can restore dignity and honor to the Cannabis Plant, and those who choose to receive the plant into their bodies.  Cannabinoid receptors, nutritional values, healing properties.
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Pubdate: Thu, 16 Apr 2015   Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)   Author: Maura Dolan
POT LEGALIZATION IS DEALT A BLOW
 A Judge Upholds a 1970 Federal Law Classifying Marijuana As a Dangerous Drug.
 SAN FRANCISCO - Efforts to legalize marijuana suffered a defeat in court Wednesday when a judge upheld the constitutionality of a 1970 federal law that classifies cannabis as a dangerous drug akin to LSD and heroin.
 U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, announcing her decision at a hearing in Sacramento, said she could not lightly overturn a law passed by Congress.
 Mueller agreed last year to hold an extensive fact-finding hearing on the issue, raising the hopes of activists seeking to legalize marijuana and worrying opponents who consider the drug a threat to health and public safety. The hearing marked the first time in decades that a judge was willing to examine the classification of marijuana under the 1970 Controlled Substances Act.
 The Schedule 1 classification is for drugs that have no medicinal purpose, are unsafe even under medical supervision and contain a high potential for abuse.
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Pennsylvania - Legalizing the cultivation of industrial hemp will not transform the state into some kind of stoner's paradise.
 But it will give farmers, who have a hard enough time making a living, another source of income.
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But it's not just Colorado. When Scott Pattison, the executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, appeared on C-Span's Washington Journal call-in show to discuss state finances in December, callers repeatedly suggested that legal marijuana could fix budget gaps in other states. One asserted, incorrectly, that legal marijuana had increased Colorado's tax revenues by a billion dollars.
 Colorado's marijuana taxes are part of a broader trend in recent years: States, looking for ways to close budget shortfalls without raising broad-based taxes, have leaned on "sin" revenues: higher taxes on cigarettes, higher fees and fines and higher revenue from gambling. And as they have sought to squeeze more revenue from these sources, they have often been disappointed.
 Gambling revenue has stagnated as markets have become saturated. Nearly every state has legal gambling, including 37 states with casinos. Expansions of gambling do more to siphon revenue from existing gambling outlets than to generate new tax and lottery revenue.
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REMEMBER…..HEMP – 1 CUBIC METRE OF HEMP SEQUESTERS 110 KILOS OF CARBON…IF THIS IS IN A PRODUCT LIKE BUILDING SUPPLIES, THE SEQUESTATION COULD BE 100 YEARS OR MORE…..  PRICELESS
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Wooldridge made a name for himself as co-founder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), and is one of its more than 200 speakers available for talks on the topic of replacing current drug laws with a practical system of legal distribution and control. MCFCU - Big Box
 Most are former cops or retired from careers in law enforcement. A handful are active in their jobs, or from other countries including Brazil, Canada and Costa Rica.
 To legalize or not has been a topic of interest personally and in the newsroom. I tilt in favor of personal liberty rather than not, as the war against substances deemed illegal creates victims out of proportion to the perceived benefit of removing dealers and users from society.
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Pubdate: Sat, 11 Apr 2015   Source: Economist, The (UK)   Drug Dealing
THE NET CLOSES
The web's two largest drug markets go down, panicking dealers and buyers
 "I JUST can't bear this any longer," writes "Megan" in an anonymous internet forum. Waiting for online shopping to be delivered is frustrating. But for drug users it can be agony. Megan's vice is OxyContin, an addictive prescription painkiller. Like many users, she buys her illicit supply on the "dark web", a hidden corner of the internet accessed with anonymous browsing software. In the past month the online market for drugs has been rattled, after the two main drug-dealing sites suddenly locked buyers and sellers out. "If you know anyone...who would sort something out for me tonight or tomorrow I'll drop dead of gratitude," pleads Megan.
 The illegal-drugs trade, worth perhaps $300 billion a year, has been creeping onto the web. Like other online retailers, drug dealers can undercut the high street by spending less on maintaining a physical presence and employing salesmen. Consumers like the convenience and safety of shopping from home, and online product reviews are especially useful when buying potentially deadly substances. Bitcoin, a near-untraceable digital currency, covers their tracks. One in seven American drug users have ordered a fix online, according to one survey.  In this section
 This was all upset on March 18th when Evolution Marketplace, the Amazon of the dark web, vanished in a puff of pixels. Unlike Silk Road, shut down by the FBI in 2013, Evolution seems to have been taken down by the
people who ran it. In a brazen "exit scam", the site's anonymous administrators apparently made off with up to $15m in Bitcoin payments that they were holding in escrow.
 A few days later, users reported that Agora, the next-biggest drug-peddling site, was inaccessible. Amid rumours of another scam, its administrators reassured buyers and sellers that they were simply carrying out technical upgrades. A rush of users migrating from Evolution may have put its servers under strain. The site has also suffered "denial of service" attacks-by law enforcers or rival dealers, no one is sure. After a wobbly Easter weekend, Agora is back, for now.
 Together, Evolution and Agora were responsible for 82% of online drug listings, according to the Digital Citizens' Alliance, which monitors illicit online markets. Each was bigger than Silk Road ever was. A dozen smaller players, such as Nucleus Marketplace and Black Bank, stand to benefit from their problems.
 The recent trial of Ross Ulbricht, Silk Road's creator, showed how deeply police have infiltrated the dark web. This is bad for business: though punters don't much fear arrest, they are wary of being ripped off, and better law enforcement increases the incentive for administrators to shut up shop and run off with the loot, says James Martin, a criminologist at Macquarie University in Australia.
 Back in the online forum, another user suggests to Megan that if she can't get hold of OxyContin online, she could ask local dealers for heroin, which satisfies the same craving. What's more, he observes, "it's available in any country that has streets". It is also far deadlier. Driving drug users off the web and onto the backstreets
carries risks.
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Pubdate: Tue, 14 Apr 2015   Source: USA Today (US)   Author: Trevor Hughes
 POT INDUSTRY WARY OF BIG TOBACCO
 DENVER - While federal law makes their entire industry illegal, many marijuana store owners, growers and retailers fear something completely different: Big Tobacco.
    Today, most legal recreational marijuana operations are small, limited to a single state and barred from ever getting large by regulators who want to keep a close eye on the fast-growing industry. But those small operators struggle to get bank loans for expansion, often produce an inconsistent product and sometimes have no idea how to balance  supply and demand for their crops.
 And many fear that tobacco companies, with their deep pockets, longstanding experience dealing with heavy government regulation, and relationships with generations of farmers will jump into the burgeoning marijuana market. At marijuana business conventions
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Tucson Weekly - No Surrender
PTSD researcher Sue Sisley keeps up the fight and road to marijuana research to help U.S veterans
Set back is not in Sue Sisley's vocabulary.
 When the researcher was fired from her UA non-tenured clinical assistant professorship last summer, Sisley took center stage on news outlets across the country. While the UA denied it, Sisley claimed political pressure from a conservative and anti-marijuana state Legislature led to her contract not being renewed, derailing the marijuana PTSD research she'd be fighting for the past five years.
 Problem is Sisley's research is for U.S. military veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and she's grown really fond of them. They in turn have gone to bat for her on the steps of the state capitol, as well as before the Arizona Board of Regents, asking that she be reinstated.
 The latest round targeted ASU, hoping it could provide a new home for her research with 50 veterans she's been working with who live and work in Arizona. But she and her veterans have given up on ASU making a home, so Sisley told the Tucson Weekly she's going to do her research independently and keeping it in Arizona, having recently been approved by the private, federally regulated Institutional Review Board. Besides the private research approval, Sisley is celebrating approval and funding from Colorado's Medical Marijuana Scientific Advisory Council and Johns Hopkins University partnering with her in the study. This comes with a state grant of more than $2 million.
 The remaining study, however, is in Arizona. But why? Why not pack it all end and say good bye the crazyland?
 "I intend to keep this research in the backyard of our opponents. I've lived in Arizona for 30 years and I have no intention of moving," she says. "Just because there are a few extremists out there who oppose this work who tried to run me and my research out of town doesn't mean I am going to roll over and allow that to actually happen. I have a duty to
the veterans of this state."
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….Goforth is mistaken to equate ending cannabis (marijuana) prohibition with an experiment ("Give It Away Now," April 9). Like the original prohibition with alcohol, which historically is known as the Grand Experiment, the sequel, with cannabis, is the experiment. More like a Frankenstein experiment.
 The effort in Washington D.C. is simply a desperate attempt to end one of America's worst policy failures in history. Ending the negative consequences of cannabis prohibition requires forcing government to regulate cannabis. Unfortunately, Republican Congress chooses to force the black market to regulate the God-given plant. The proof: knowing most people in D.C. who have cannabis were not given their plant material.
Stan White, Dillon, Colorado
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April 17, 2015 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
GOVERNOR SIGNS BILL MAKING MEDICAL MARIJUANA LEGAL IN GEORGIA

6 things to know now that medical marijuana is legal in Georgia

Senate to propose new medical marijuana plan Georgia State Rep. Allen Peake, R-Macon shows a bottle of medical cannabis oil as he presents his House Bill 1 on Feb. 3, 2015.

1. House Bill 1 took effect immediately on Thursday, and makes it legal for people in Georgia who suffer from eight illnesses to possess up to 20 ounces of cannabis oil if a physician signs off.

2. The eight disorders are: cancer, Crohnas disease, Lou Gehrig disease, mitochondrial disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinsons disease, seizure disorders and sickle cell disease. The AJC in February told the story of Blair Brown, a young mother battling grand mal seizures for whom cannabis oil could be a ray of hope.

3. The administrative framework for doctors and patients should be in place within two months, Gov. Nathan Deal said.

4. The law requires the oil contain no more than 5 percent THC, the high-inducing chemical associated with recreational marijuana use. It also legalizes clinical trials sought by some senators to further
study how the drug works.

5. You can't cultivate the oil in Georgia, so interested citizens will have to obtain it in states where home cultivation is legal, such as Colorado. Legalizing home cultivation is Georgia is seen by some advocates as the next legislative step.

6. Travel to and from such states will be tricky, as marijuana possession is still illegal in many states, including every one of Georgia's immediate neighbors.
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Pubdate: Wed, 15 Apr 2015   Source: Kimberley Daily Bulletin (CN BC)   Author: Carolyn Grant
A GROWTH INDUSTRY
 Couple wants to open medical cannabis dispensary in Kimberley
 Medical marijuana is a growth industry, says Tamara Duggan of Kimberley. Duggan and her husband, Rod, were at Kimberley City Council on Monday evening, informing Council of their plans to open Tamarack
Dispensaries, purveyors of high quality medicinal cannabis products, in Kimberley.
 Medical marijuana can be distributed through Health Canada, but that only allows for the purchase of dried plant product from authorized growers. But Duggan says there are many who could benefit from the medicinal qualities of cannabis who don't wish to inhale it.
 Their plan is to promote the use of edible cookies, butters, oils and tinctures in a storefront that is "upscale and clinical".
 "Image is everything in the dispensary business," Duggan said. "We will be as presentable and professional as any pharmacy."
 Tamarack Dispensaries will be a member of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries. The CAMCD's vice president is Dana Larsen, who headed up the decriminalization of marijuana petition last
year……
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Pubdate: Thu, 16 Apr 2015   Source: Province, The (CN BC)   Author: Gordon Clark
SELF-ENTITLEMENT CARRIED TO DANGEROUS HIGHS
 There is considerable evidence that narcissism is on the rise, particularly among the young. Many studies show that greater numbers of young people now score higher on standardized tests for narcissism than older folks or young people a generation or two ago.
 There are a variety of explanations offered up to explain the phenomenon, but the growing consensus among psychologists is that the rising levels of self-centredness, self-admiration and inflated opinions of self-worth are linked to how individualistic Western culture has become in recent decades.
 If the baby boomers, now grandparents, were the "Me Generation," author Jean Twenge has dubbed younger members of Generation X and the Millennials as "Generation Me" - folks who took the egotistical character traits of the Me Generation as the starting blocks in a race toward truly staggering levels of bloated self-importance.
 Personally, I also blame the Internet and social media, which allows everyone to be the divas of their own lives in ways never before available to humans. While the rise of selfies and the over-sharing of mundane details of our lives is probably pretty harmless, other online behaviour related to narcissism is getting people hurt.
 Take the online video that hit the news last week of Attish Kumar Kalia, the young man apparently so puffed up with his own sense of entitlement that he thought he had something to gain by the following: a) refusing to follow the instructions of a Vancouver police sergeant after being pulled over for suspected impaired driving, and; b) posting a video online of his arrest on drug charges, presuming to suggest that one officer had breached his "rights" by breaking, as a result of his non-compliance, the window of his car while arresting him.
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Pubdate: Fri, 17 Apr 2015   Source: Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ)   Author: Yvonne Wingett Sanchez
BALLOT MEASURE WILL ASK ARIZONA VOTERS TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA WHERE IS MARIJUANA LEGAL?
 Although many states have laws legalizing marijuana usage, it is still illegal under federal law; but the Justice Department said it will not challenge states' marijuana laws as long as they do not run counter to certain federal enforcement priorities, such as selling pot to minors.
 A planned 2016 ballot initiative would ask Arizona voters to legalize marijuana for recreational use and establish a network of licensed cannabis shops where sales of the drug would be taxed, in part, to fund education.
  Supporters are expected to file language of the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act with the secretary of State on Friday. The Arizona Republic obtained a copy of the proposed initiative.
 Under the initiative, adults 21 and older could possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to six plants in their homes without obtaining licenses, as long as the plants are in a secure area.
 It would also create a distribution system similar to Colorado's, where licensed businesses produce and sell marijuana.
 The initiative also creates a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to regulate the "cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana" and gives local governments the authority to regulate and ban marijuana stores. It also establishes a 15 percent tax on retail sales to be allocated to education, including
full-day kindergarten and public health.
RELATED: Could Arizona see a glut of medical marijuana?
 "In the interest of the public health and public safety, to protect and maintain individual rights and the people's freedom and to better focus state and local law enforcement resources on crimes involving violence and personal property, the people of the State of Arizona find and declare that the use of marijuana should be legal for persons
who are at least twenty-one years of age," the initiative says.
Summary of the proposed initiative
The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act: (1) allows adults twenty-one years of age and older to possess and to privately consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana; (2) creates a system in which licensed businesses can produce and sell marijuana; (3) establishes a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to regulate the cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana; (4) provides local governments with the authority to regulate
and prohibit marijuana businesses; and (5) establishes a 15% tax on retail marijuana sales, from which the revenue will be allocated to public health and education. ….      For example, some hospital officials there have said they are treating an increased number of people who got sick from eating marijuana-laced foods. Law-enforcement officials in neighboring states have complained that motorists coming from Colorado are driving through their towns
while high.
……..Under the 2016 Arizona initiative language, driving while impaired by marijuana would remain illegal, as would consuming marijuana in public and selling or giving the drug to anyone under 21.
 Taxation of the program would fund the state's cost of implementing and enforcing the initiative. Forty percent of the taxes on marijuana would be directed to the Department of Education for construction, maintenance and operation costs, including compensation of K-12 teachers. Another 40 percent would be set aside for full-day kindergarten programs. And 20 percent would go to the Department of Health Services for unspecified uses.
 Revenue from the taxes could not flow into the state's general fund, which would allow it to be spent for other purposes.
 The state health department, which oversees the medical-marijuana program, would relinquish that role to the new Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control. The governor would appoint the director of that department. And a seven-member marijuana commission would set program rules and approve and deny licenses.
 The initiative limits the number of marijuana shops to about 150 until 2021 and then the number could increase if the department determines there's a need. Existing medical marijuana dispensaries in good standing would be granted licenses to sell, manufacture and distribute marijuana for retail use.
 Initiative supporters must collect 150,642 to qualify for the 2016 ballot.
 Legalization efforts were in jeopardy of splintering weeks ago, when a group broke ranks with MPP's proposal and created a competing legalization effort. The move highlighted factions within Arizona's marijuana industry and the infighting threatened to derail the 2016 effort.
RELATED:Marijuana group executive says he will target rival group
 In recent days, the groups came together to "conceptually" agree on language, said Gina Berman, a medical director at a local medical-marijuana dispensary who recently left MPP's legalization effort to start another. She said Thursday that she is now "conceptually on the same page" with MPP.
 Ryan Hurley, a marijuana-industry attorney and chairman of the group's campaign committee, described the effort as "collaborative" among MPP, local dispensaries and local activists.
Summary of the proposed initiative
The Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act: (1) allows adults twenty-one years of age and older to possess and to privately consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana; (2) creates a system in which licensed businesses can produce and sell marijuana; (3) establishes a Department of Marijuana Licenses and Control to regulate the
cultivation, manufacturing, testing, transportation, and sale of marijuana; (4) provides local governments with the authority to regulate and prohibit marijuana businesses; and (5) establishes a 15% tax on retail marijuana sales, from which the revenue will be allocated to public health and education.
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American history - as well as examples from many parts of the world - provides ample evidence that legalization has never worked as an effective strategy to combat drug use and abuse. We must remain vigilant to pursue a well-rounded, comprehensive, global strategy that gives hope for the next generation and minimizes the threat that drug use and abuse pose to the most vulnerable in all societies. - James L. Capra is CEO of the Front Line Leadership Group and the author of "Leadership at the Front Line: Lessons Learned About Loving, Leading and Legacy from a Warrior and Public Servant." He retired from the Drug Enforcement Administration as chief of operations.
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MARIJUANA USE AMONG TEENS, YOUNG ADULTS MAY BE DOWN: SURVEY
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The "stakes are too high" to allow the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk laboratory to perform hair drug and alcohol tests for use in court, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) says.
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FORMER MP URGES LEGALIZED POT
Canadian conservatives who have launched a cheeky new billboard campaign in Ottawa are urging Tories to embrace their libertarian roots and legalize marijuana.
 A group called Canadian Conservatives for Legal Marijuana put up the billboards, which parody the familiar federal Conservative party branding but feature a few more hints of green. One is at the corner of Elgin Street and Laurier Avenue, and the second has gone up near King Edward Avenue and York Street………..
 Barth said that while ideally he'd like to see pot legalized "and sold just like tomatoes," it's much more important to clarify the situation around medical marijuana and the ability of users to grow their own pot.
 Barth and his wife both use medicinal marijuana, and said when the laws changed last year they lost their licensed distributor.
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LEGAL MARIJUANA COULD BE COMING TO OKLAHOMA - ON TRIBAL-OWNED LANDS
While the picture is still blurry, legal marijuana could be coming to Indian country in Oklahoma. Such a possibility may seem far-fetched, but recent policy pronouncements by the U.S. Department of Justice are making the once unthinkable a real possibility.
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Ohio - PORTMAN DISCUSSES MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION, FAIR TRADE
 Legalizing marijuana will not help Ohio deal with the problem of drug abuse, said Sen. Rob Portman.  The Cincinnati Republican spent April 17 in northern Ohio on multiple visits before heading to Lorain, where he was to deliver the keynote address for the Lorain County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner.   Portman discussed a number of issues as part of an afternoon visit to
The Morning Journal. If Ohioans vote to legalize marijuana, Lorain could become one of 10 cities around the state to house a growing and processing facility for the plants.  Portman said he is not in favor of legalization.
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Source: Mail on Sunday, The (UK)   -   THEY WON'T ARREST US ALL!
Astonishing claim of the arrogant cannabis campaigners who intend to light up in public…Nearly 4,000 people have pledged to attend Scotland's biggest pro-cannabis rally in front of the City  Chambers. Speakers will promote the so-called health benefits of the plant – including incredible claims it can cure cancer - as well as encouraging people to 'grow their own'….Potent cannabis 'skunk' seeds - which can be sold legally as 'souvenirs' - will also be on offer….Glasgow City Council tried to block the event last month after refusing the organisers permission to use the site. But campaigners still intend to descend on George Square tomorrow afternoon. People in England and Wales can escape with a police warning the first time they are caught with a small amount of the drug. But anyone found in possession of cannabis In Scotland will automatically be reported to the procurator fiscal and a decision on cautioning or prosecution will be made.
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Source: Cairns Post (Australia)
CANNABIS AS PAIN RELIEVER
PAIN relief for families with suffering loved ones may be just around the corner, following Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's announcement that Queensland will join NSW's medicinal trials of cannabis.
    The State Government needs to be congratulated, at the very least, for having the courage to put this controversial issue to the test - to see whether marijuana, when administered under medical supervision, does actually make a difference - for the better - to people's lives.
     Marijuana has long been outlawed in Australia but the case is building to have the drug decriminalised for those seeking an escape from chronic pain.
    Elyshia Hickey is such a person, in constant pain from Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which with she and younger sister Emily are afflicted.
    The 19-year-old - in Cairns Hospital obtaining treatment to manage the rare disease affecting her joints - wants to be among the first in Queensland to trial medical cannabis as an alternative tool for pain management.
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Wisconsin - ENDING MARIJUANA PROHIBITION IS HUMANE, SENSIBLE
    Public, religious groups, law enforcement coalition support ending marijuana prohibition.
    H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as, "The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." We may think that is something from the distant past but then we are reminded of it from time to time, even in 21st century Wisconsin.
    Legislation which would end the prohibition of the use of cannabis (a.k.a. marijuana) has been introduced in the Wisconsin Assembly. What has taken them so long to reform prohibition is a mystery. So far, 23  states and the District of Columbia permit the use of this herb with a doctor's prescription for medical use. A few states are treating cannabis more like alcohol.
    The late Peter McWilliams, author of "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do," available from the public library, would have us remember these important points: You need not personally support or take part in any activity in order to support another person's freedom to take part in it. Although, in order to exist, a society must have certain mores, rules and codes of behavior, putting these mores, rules and codes of behavior into the hands of the criminal justice system is the least effective method to bring about compliance.  Your freedom of choice is paid for by giving others their freedom of choice.
April 28, 2015 - Important reason to end cannabis prohibition, is because it is biblically correct since God (The Ecologician) created all the seed bearing plants saying they’re all good on literally the very first page.  The only biblical restriction to using cannabis is to use it with thankfulness (see 1 Tim. 4:1-5).  A sane or moral argument to continue cannabis prohibition doesn’t exist.xxxPublic, religious groups, law enforcement coalition support ending marijuana prohibition.  Mencken defined Puritanism as, “The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” We may think that is something from the distant past but then we are reminded of it from time to time, even in 21st century Kansas.xxx Monday’s event outside the Vancouver Art Gallery, which marks the 20th anniversary of the smoke-out, is expected to draw a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000.xxx The CARERS Act allows banks to handle medical cannabis money, amends the Controlled Substances Act so states can have legal medical cannabis and reschedules marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, meaning it would no longer be classified as a “dangerous narcotic.”xxx I thought about that the rest of the time I was at the Cup, which in itself encapsulates the dichotomy of the marijuana movement in loud, bright colors and bold strokes. Tens of thousands of attendees of every age, stripe and color, almost every one of them smoking joints or vaping, strolled past hundreds of display booths for products and services like Bong Beauties, Magical Butter Bus, Dope Ass Glass, Rare Dankness, Scapegoat Genetics, Gorilla Extracts, Super Smacked, Freakies Smokeshop, Vape Genies, Med Max Nutrients, Ganja Gold, Smoked Out Clothing, Weed Wipes, Fryed and Dyed and Get Shnockered.  There were booths of growers, investors, CO2 extractors, herbalists, arborists, mechanical trimmers, plant systems, branding companies, bakers, health products, ointments, lotions, salves, cleaning products, genetics, clothing, social media sites, magazines, even a company offering canine protection.  Every aspect of cannabis culture was on display. Some of the products, like stylish bags and clothes made from hemp, wouldn’t look out of place in any high-end tourist outlet.xxx vape pen and wondering what brand or type you recommend and which is the most popular.xxx We did some digging and were somewhat surprised to find that there are no state laws requiring marijuana dispensaries or grows to be insured.xxxAs president, Chris Christie told radio host Hugh Hewitt, he “would crack down and not permit it” - “it” being the retail sale of marijuana in any state.xxx DEA CHIEF MICHELE LEONHART WASN’T UP TO THE JOBxxx Since June 2014 medical marijuana has been legal in Florida thanks to the Florida Legislature’s passage of Senate Bill 1030 that year.  Unfortunately, Florida patients still wait for the law to become a reality in their medical treatment due to continuing delays in implementation of the statute.  Floridians suffering from debilitating conditions such as cancer, epilepsy, ALS, MS and Parkinson’s are left wondering what, if any, relief will come to themxxx Spice - McFadden nevertheless was convicted and sentenced to 33 months in prison under the analog drug act, which applies to compounds sold for human consumption that are “substantially similar” to forbidden substances in chemical structure and actual or intended effects. The law says such “controlled substance analogues” should be treated like the drugs they resemble.xxx WHY AFRICAN-AMERICANS ARE LARGELY ABSENT FROM THE MEDICAL MARIJUANA MOVEMENTxxx It’s coming. There is so much money to be made that even if the petition drives are unsuccessful some major corporate entity will woo enough legislators to make it happen. Marketing executives have already profiled marijuana users and everything else they like: clothes, shoes, beer, dining choices, sports activities, vacation spots. They’re ready to go. If legalization somehow doesn’t come to Michigan by next year, it could very well happen in any of several other states, including Ohio.xxx“To be honest, I’d rather have my kid on weed than alcohol, ma’am.” She was only a few years older than me, but we hadn’t been properly introduced. “I mean, alcohol kills 46,000 people a year, prescription drug ODs kill another 17,000. And let’s not forget cigarettes!” (440,000 deaths a year.) “And so when it comes to these kids drinking and driving or smoking and drivingxxx As for the digestive tract, marijuana and its derivatives have been used to improve appetite and fight nausea in cancer patientsxxx Ms. Leonhart’s time as the nation’s top drug enforcement officer saw major changes in government policy toward drugs, particularly marijuana.  Those changes left her increasingly at odds with her bosses in the Obama administration, but neither she nor the White House seemed willing to have a public confrontation on the issue.xxxThe article doesn’t mention the elephant in the courtroom: the explosion of drug cases in both federal and state court and their effect on our criminal system. Rather than debate the issue of how and where to put more courtrooms, it is time to have a serious and adult discussion about drug use and the criminal justice system
May 5, 2015 - Legislators responsible for amendments to House Bill 321, the medical marijuana bill, should be ashamed. The $20,000 application and $30,000 renewal fee for dispensaries was the give-away. It was always about the money.xxxThe story of marijuana as medicine at the state Capitol this year was a story of careful preparation, dogged grass-roots politics and compassion for those who suffer from chronic illnesses. And don’t forget the impact of money.  Bills to establish marijuana dispensaries in Hawaii have stalled in the state Legislature for years, but dispensaries suddenly emerged this year as one of the most talked-about issues for lawmakers. It was an issue so important they refused to allow it to die.xxxThe 21.5 percent combined state and Denver tax on retail products is high. For that additional expense, consumers should get peace of mind that the marijuana is clean and free of damaging pesticides.xxxThe bill has some ambitious goals - banning residential grows and requiring certified organic standards by 2022 - but it has support from a couple of notable marijuana advocates. Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the Emerald Growers Association, “We think: one gallon per pound, per day, So Bauer used the best estimate available: 22.7 liters per plant per day, what the drugs are worth. Based on a formula of $1,000 per pound and two pounds per plant, this was a $27 million operation, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux told reporters. Those figures are almost always inflated. The temptation may be too much to resist; after all, the bigger the number, the better the bust for the cops.  And the official math is rarely questioned by the public or media.  In this case, the sheriff might have underestimated. If the weed had headed out of state, it could have commanded 200 percent to 300 percent of what Boudreaux reported.
But Boudreaux had something else, something that today registers even more outrage in drought-stricken California. The grow, the sheriff said, also sucked down 61,555 gallons of water a day, almost 1.5 million gallons in April alone, enough water to supply 153 families of four.xxxBIG PhRMA SEEKS STONER CRED  Candy Bergen has just published a memoir called “A Fine Romance.” According to the New York Times, the actress “parses the nation’s infatuation with the CBS sitcom ‘Murphy Brown,xxxLike it or not, there is a massive market for drugs and many people enjoy them without coming to any harm, some even going on to become presidents and prime ministers.xxxJOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Ignoring international pressure and heart-wrenching last-minute family pleas for clemency, Indonesia executed eight men on drug charges early Wednesday, Indonesian news media reported...The first two of the prisoners, all of whom will wear special white uniforms, will be escorted to metal poles, where they will be bound at the hands and feet. They will be given the option of being blindfolded and of standing, sitting or kneeling.
Separate 12-member firing squads from a special mobile brigade of the national police - one squad for each prisoner - will stand 16 to 30 feet away.xxxStaff from UNODC Pakistan and Canadian High Commission Islamabad were also present on the occasion. The Canadian High Commissioner acknowledged the challenges of drug trafficking being faced by Pakistan as the main transit country and first line of defence.xxx(AP) - Medical marijuana patients in Maine are urging state lawmakers to allow use of smokeless forms of the drug in hospitals.xxxColorado Springs - Mayoral candidate Mary Lou Makepeace said Monday she supports the sale of recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs and suggests proceeds could be used to address persistent and widespread pothole problems.xxxAs the state’s efforts to get a noneuphoric medical-marijuana oil to severely epileptic children move forward, the University of Florida is proposing a study to answer a key question: Does it even work? Dr.  Paul Carney, professor at the UF Department of Pediatrics and Neurology, has sent a research proposal to the Florida Department of Health to start finding out.xxxSAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Lawyers and pot dealers have long intersected in criminal court, but as marijuana goes mainstream, attorneys have been working to keep sellers and growers legit.  Marijuana divisions are popping up at law firms to advise pot shops on where they can locate, what their websites can say and how to vet new clients.xxxInstead of just getting complaints from the public and investigating them, the county code enforcement and sheriffs teamed up and barged into what is estimated to be at least hundreds of properties without so much as obtaining a specific allegation of a violation of that ordinance, and in most cases, the actual complainant is the sheriffs themselves it is believed - a warrantless search.  Basically, what they did is hire an army of seven new code enforcement officers and teamed them up with carloads of sheriffs to carry on a campaign of terror and intimidation against a particular class of people. The judge issuing these erroneous “inspection” warrants, the code enforcement and sheriffs, the supervisors, the DA, and any other county staff involved seem very well guilty of conspiracy.xxx
May 12, 2015 - A BROKEN APPROACH (resolving incarceration) - Washington - The U.S. Supreme Court is asking advice from a top government lawyer on what to do about state weed policy and a smoldering fight between Colorado and two nearby states. - ODD PUSH IN DRUG-AVERSE NORWAY: LSD IS O.K. - HEMP SEED IS GREAT NON-GMO CROP FOR ALASKA FARMERS – Illinois POT FOR MIGRAINE, PTSD?  State Advisory Panel Recommends That Drug Be Available for 11 New Conditions - Phillip Leveque, a longtime marijuana legalization advocate, died Saturday in Happy Valley. He was 92.  Leveque was one of the first physicians in Oregon to sign off on patients' use of the drug after the state's medical marijuana law was passed in 1998, said Paul Stanford, another longtime advocate of marijuana legalization and a friend of Leveque's.  Leveque was a regular co-host of Stanford's weekly show, Cannabis Common Sense. Stanford said the pair hosted 350 episodes of the show between 1998 and 2006. – Australia, ONLY in Nimbin could a protest rally be celebrated with a parade full of hemp-themed floats, bong-throwing contests and a flock of green, prancing Ganja fairies down the main street.  This weekend was the 2015 Nimbin Mardi Grass cannabis law reform rally, a tradition that began as a small, peaceful protest outside the Nimbin police station in May, 1993. - Daniel Chong, a UC San Diego student, was detained in 2012 for what he was told would be five minutes after he was swept up in a drug bust at a friend's house, where he had been smoking marijuana. Instead, agents forgot about him. Chong, who was 23 at the time, drank his own urine to stave off dehydration until he was found, delirious and suffering from severe breathing problems, according to a report last summer by the Justice Department Office of the Inspector General. - All the money - $16,000 in cash - that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by Drug Enforcement Administration agents during a stop at the Amtrak train station in Albuquerque. - Minnesota is just months away from medical marijuana legalization. Between now and July 1, these plants will be culled, dried and distilled into enough pills and liquids to serve an unknown number of patients with a limited number of severe medical conditions. - PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A church that meets in a West Greenwich home and uses cannabis in its services has obtained a permit from the National Park Service to conduct a religious service at the Roger Williams National Memorial, a site chosen for its significance to the idea of religious freedom. - California's water board is making a bid to become the state's strictest marijuana regulator. - PUERTO RICO GOVERNOR APPROVES MEDICAL MARIJUANA  -  US-FUNDED AIR WAR ON DRUGS TO BE GROUNDED BY CHEMICAL FEARS For more than two decades, crop dusters have buzzed the skies of Colombia showering bright green fields of coca with chemical defoliant as part of a US-funded effort to stem the country's production of cocaine. Farmers across the country have long complained that indiscriminate spraying also destroys legal crops, and that the chemical used - glyphosate - has caused everything from skin rashes and respiratory problems to diarrhoea and miscarriages.  - In mid-March, midweek and midafternoon, I approached the security line at Portland International Airport. I was armed with a convenient "Flying out of Portland with Medical Cannabis" letter that included words from Port of Portland assistant general counsel Wendy Hain.  - Lawmakers OK a Bill That Provides for 16 Dispensaries, With Some Predicting a Look at Full Legalization Later On In its last major act of this year's session, the Legislature has sent Gov. David Ige a bill that would give thousands of medical marijuana patients access to dispensaries in Hawaii.  - "I had to write a check for $275,000," Mr. Nassau said. "Unbelievable."  The country's rapidly growing marijuana industry has a tax problem.   Even as more states embrace legal marijuana, shops say they are being forced to pay crippling federal income  taxes because of a decades-old law aimed at preventing drug dealers from claiming their smuggling costs and couriers as business expenses on their tax returns.  - Public health officials are bracing for a new wave of hepatitis C infections, one unleashed by the epidemic of prescription painkiller addiction.  -  Every police union and group, such as the California Police Chiefs Association, openly states in their bylaws that they will oppose any change to current drug policy whatsoever. Does that sound prudent? It does to them. They know over 50 percent of their budgets are due to the current drug war.  -  Virgin Islands, Beyond Legalizing Medical Use, Senator Wants to Decriminalize Growing Small Amount for Personal Use.  ST. CROIX - Sen. Terrence Nelson says he intends to move forward quickly with medical marijuana legislation - and other legislation dealing with marijuana - after returning in late April from a fact- finding trip to Washington and Colorado.  "I am convinced with conviction that we need to make cannabis available as a medicine, if nothing else," Nelson said.  He and a group from the territory visited Colorado and Washington looking into those states' experiences with legalizing marijuana, meeting with state officials and people involved in the marijuana industry.  Marijuana remains against federal law, but 23 states, the District of Columbia and Guam now allow for comprehensive medical marijuana or cannabis programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In addition, recently approved efforts in 14 states allow use of "low THC, high cannabidiol" products for medical reasons in limited situations or as a legal defense, according to the organization.  Across the United States, there is a growing trend toward some form of marijuana legalization, particularly on the medical side.  A week ago, Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla issued an executive order directing Puerto Rico's health department to authorize the use of some or all controlled substances or derivatives of the cannabis plant for medical use. It is not clear at this point how Puerto Rico's medical marijuana regulations will look. Puerto Rico's health secretary is due to submit a report on the matter in three months.  Washington and Colorado, the two states the group from the territory visited, have also implemented legalized recreational marijuana, in addition to having a medical marijuana industry.  -  One day marijuana will be fully legal and there will be no environmentally destructive wilderness grows.  Suburban basement grows with artificial lights and massive carbon footprints will be a thing of the past.  These are vestiges of marijuana prohibition. When marijuana is fully legal, legitimate farmers will produce it by the ton under natural sunlight and ideal soil conditions at a fraction of the current cost.  This is important. Financial incentives drive harmful cultivation practices. Marijuana prohibition distorts supply and demand dynamics so that big money grows on little trees. Mexican drug cartels do not sneak into national forests to grow cucumbers and tomatoes. They cannot compete with real farmers.  For the sake of the environment, the sooner the marijuana plant is treated as a legal agricultural commodity, the better. California needs to catch up with Colorado.  Robert Sharpe  Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy  -  But when a mid-sized town's worth of people convene to smoke marijuana in the heart of Vancouver, it is essentially a civic institution.  On April 20 - the world's unofficial marijuana holiday - as many as 30,000 people gathered around the Vancouver Art Gallery for the city's annual "smoke-out." By mid-afternoon, a crushing throng of people splayed for a block in every direction, all cloaked by a skunky thin haze.  When this event started in the 1990s, a defiant few roamed the event  with baskets of joints for sale. Now, it's among the largest open-air markets in the city of Vancouver: More than 300 vendors, from slickly  branded booths selling pot-infused olive oil all the way to dreadlocked men clutching hand-lettered signs reading "Dubes $5."  There are no permits, since this is technically a protest. There are no sales taxes, since these are all illegal transactions.  And there are no age limits, as evidenced by a crowd comprised largely of glassy-eyed high schoolers.  There are plenty of Vancouver police, of course, but they're only there to direct traffic and call in paramedics whenever an attendee drops from over-consumption. Most of the time, they can be seen leaning on barricades looking bored.  Just after 5 p.m., an emcee summed up the scene from the 4/20 main stage, "Nobody's this free anywhere on earth!"  -
May 19, 2015  - Cannabis Corner, May 19, 2015 Transcripts on http://www.BaconRock.com Debby Moore Host
The feeling, at least for me and everyone I know, is always euphoric, always relaxing. Steve Jobs put it best when he once told Pentagon interviewers: "The best way I would describe the effect of the marijuana and the hashish is that it would make me relaxed and creative." That certainly doesn't mean it will do the same for everyone, but then again, it doesn't take long to find out if whether you like the "high" or not since the effects of smoked marijuana happen almost immediately.xxx WASHINGTON - Chuck Rosenberg, a senior F.B.I. official and former
United States attorney, has been chosen by President Obama to be the interim director of the Drug Enforcement Administration, according to law enforcement officials.xxx MARIJUANA BECAME LEGAL IN JERSEY ON JAN. 18, 2010 - State vs Forchion, 004477-12. The court must think so too, because the arguments aren't being heard in the regular appellate courtroom, but rather in the NJ State Supreme Courtroom.xxx "The Emerald Magazine is Northern California's cannabis culture
review guide for business, medical and lifestyle trends. ... The Emerald highlights change in the industry by bridging the gap between the cannabis community and the media. The magazine intends to educate and enlighten the public on social, medical and on-going advancements, and works to establish a public tolerance and awareness as we move towards the age of legalization."xxx vaporizers are definitely easier on the lungs, and they are super convenient. Most of the new pens work by combining hash or hash oil with some sort of solvent, like glycol. The thing about some of the oil vapor pens on the market is no one really knows the long-term effects of glycol on the lungs. These pens are all relatively new and haven't really been studied. Look for a pen that burns pure hash oil. It may be a little more inconvenient (you have to load the hash oil yourself, and that stuff is goopy and kinda messy if you aren't careful), but I think the flavor and effects are superior to most of the other products. I also really like the PAX Vaporizer for cannabis flowers. It works by vaporizing the THC-containing glands of the plant without burning the plant material itself. Have a good one.xxx A licensing Fight With the State's Marijuana Enforcement Division Causes Cuts to 45 Percent of the Workforce.  Complex licensing issues have led one of Colorado's largest pot shop chains to lay off 65 people, or about 45 percent of the company's workforce, owner Shawn Phillips said ThursdayPhillips' company pays its state unemployment insurance premiums, so the laid-off workers will be eligible to file for unemployment benefits, the state Department of Labor and Employment confirmed.xxx Aging Population of Inmates Serving Long Sentences Takes a Toll on Budgetsxxx FedEx's claim it can't be prosecuted for contraband in its 4 million daily deliveries was rejected by a judge who allowed a case to go ahead over charges it conspired with "rogue" online drugstores to deliver illegal prescription drugs to dealers and addicts.xxx MEET MR. MARIJUANA, DICK EVANS, NORTHAMPTON, MAxxx Even the grandkids have begun to show behavioral differences in how they seek out rewards. "This data tells us we are passing on more things that happen during our lifetimes to our kids and grandkids," Hurd explains, though it remains unclear how those changes manifest in humans. "I wasn't expecting these results, and it's fascinating - .SIDEBAR Cause & Effect:  Prohibition has denied beings of nutritional and airborne benefits of Cannabis elimination from atmosphere"xxx DEFYING U.S., COLOMBIA ENDS A DRUG TACTIC - BOGOTA, Colombia - The government of Colombia on Thursday night rejected a major tool in the American-backed antidrug campaign -
ordering a halt to the aerial spraying of the country's vast illegal plantings of coca, the crop used to make cocaine, citing concerns that the spray causes cancer.xxxIn January, the SEC for the first time allowed a company that deals with marijuana cultivation to sell shares of stock.  The convention floor at Denver Airport's Crowne Plaza on a recent afternoon could have been the trade show for any well-established industry - gray-haired execs in conservative suits mingling with office park dads in polos and fresh-out-of-college types in brand emblazoned T-shirts. Only this is a new kind of business Conference with a special Colorado theme: legal weed xxx RAPE AND ABUSE CLAIMS IN US POLICE 'BLACK SITE' For psychological reasons, Angel Perez does not call what happened to him rape. But he vividly recalls being taken to Homan Square, a warehouse used by the Chicago police for incommunicado detentions, where police inserted something into his rectum.xxxSurging growth in jobs and legal marijuana drives high leases and low vacancies in Denver's industrial market.  Job growth and pot growth are fueling record high lease rates and low vacancies in Denver's industrial Real estate market.xxxDoctors invoke ADD as the most current reason to prescribe a chemical that, in the short term, makes anyone who takes it more alert, more methodical and more likely to complete tasks that are boring or difficult. There is no evidence in either children or adults that
taking Adderall has long term benefits.xxx From the variety of specialized products to visitors eager to learn industry tips, the Northwest Cannabis Classic in Anchorage on Saturday looked like a typical trade show.
May 26, 2015 - Cannabis Corner, May 19, 2015 Transcripts on http://www.BaconRock.com Debby Moore Host
The feeling, at least for me and everyone I know, is always euphoric, always relaxing. Steve Jobs put it best when he once told Pentagon interviewers: "The best way I would describe the effect of the marijuana and the hashish is that it would make me relaxed and creative." That certainly doesn't mean it will do the same for everyone, but then again, it doesn't take long to find out if whether you like the "high" or not since the effects of smoked marijuana happen almost immediately.xxx Author: Jack A. Cole - War on Drugs needs a new strategy after 46 failed years,xxx Imagine also the relief now felt by the tens of thousands of citizens who no longer need to fear prosecution and jail time for possessing small amounts of marijuana. It'll be a happy day when we stop our puritanical obsession of equating the "sin" of smoking pot to that of criminal conduct.xxx I'm in favor of recreational marijuana for one reason: freedom. This is America, and wherever possible we should be free. The hardcore on either side of this issue will spin their respective tales of dread and drug cartels or extol cannabis as a miracle drug that can cure all of life's woes. None of that matters.xxx Colorado's nascent hemp industry may get a boost from a grower's plan to use hemp stalks for insulation. Baca County farmer Ryan Loflin said Monday he has formed a partnership with Hollis, Okla.-based Western Fibers for combining processed hemp stalks with recycled newspapers and cardboard to create wall and ceiling insulation.xxx University of Denver's law school with a three-year, $45,000 professorship for marijuana law and policy.  The university's Sturm College of Law professor Sam Kamin will be the first Vicente Sederberg Professor of Marijuana Law and Policy. Denver-based law firm Vicente Sederberg LLC has committed $15,000 per year for three years to the professorship, which they say is the first of its kind in the world.xxx
Mr. Ulbricht's lawyers contend in a filing on Friday that "in
contrast to the government's portrayal of the Silk Road website as a
more dangerous version of a traditional drug marketplace," the
website "was in many respects the most responsible such marketplace
in history."

Silk Road operated on a hidden part of the Internet, made deals with
the virtual currency Bitcoin and offered anonymity to buyers and
sellers, the defense noted.

As a result, Silk Road was "a peaceable alternative to the often deadly violence so commonly associated with the global drug war, and street drug transactions, in particular," wrote Meghan Ralston, a former "harm reduction manager".xxx But very soon, perhaps within a year, the poppy will no longer be the only way to produce heroin's raw ingredient. It will be possible for
drug companies, or drug traffickers, to brew it in yeast genetically modified to turn sugar into morphine.xxxOakland - a community wracked both by illegal drugs and the government's effort to control them - believe legalization is better than an unacceptable status quo. They argued that "just say no" programs haven't stemmed drug use by youth - and that suspending or expelling users from school and shunting them into the juvenile justice system often dooms their futures.xxx "It's unstudied. Marijuana has more than 400 constituents. Most available drugs have one or two," said D'Souza. "The cannabis you get in Middletown may be different than what you get in New Haven."  Plants now are engineered to produce more or less of certain components that are believed to help people suffering from chronic ailments and diseases. No one can compare the safety of marijuana fromthe 1960s to today, D'Souza said.
"The THC content is rising, from ditch weed to skunk and sensimilla,"
said D'Souza, adding that higher numbers of serious adverse events
occur today from pot use, and related visits to the emergency room are up, too.  Why use something that has not been tested, D'Souza asked. Since any existing studies are not well-documented, "What are the risks?"
It's been determined that tolerance, dependence and withdrawal symptoms are all connected to long-term marijuana use, he said. Though marijuana's effect may "reduce anxiety and distress," it may not actually affect the disease process.  "We need to establish clear, transparent, scientific studies to validate why one condition gets approved and another is not approved."  Voting no to use it for Tourette syndrome and yes to ulcerative colitis shows an inconsistent response, according to D'Souza. Doctors need to be educated, he said.  "I'd argue there's a lot of money to be made here by growers, the state and doctors that prescribe," D'Souza said. "I wish it  weren't about money." xxx was at the event.   From Friday to Sunday, officers shut down five booths, arrested 10 people and cited three others on charges including drug possession, possession with intent to sell and transporting a controlled substance, said officer Laura Meltzer, a Metro spokeswoman. She said officers seized marijuana, hashish, marijuana seeds, edible products containing THC and psilocybin mushrooms.

Meltzer said Metro narcotics detectives and Hempcon organizers had
spoken before the event, and organizers told attendees they had to
follow the law.  Nevada allows medical use of marijuana by patients with state-issued cards. But it's illegal to sell the drug without a state dispensary
license, and it's illegal for anyone to use it in public.   Asked about the criticism of the arrests, Meltzer said, "It is incumbent upon the people who are attending this and who are conducting this to be aware of Nevada state law."   Mark Saint, an activist who was at the convention Friday, said the
police stance was hypocritical since officers have looked the other way at similar events while people used marijuana.   The arrests were made by a task force called Southern Nevada Cannabis  Operation and Regional Enforcement, which includes Metro, Henderson  police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. DEA spokeswoman  Sarah Pullen said a federal agent is on the task force but that Las  Vegas police led the operation. "They were running dogs through there."   Inside, Duchac said, officers were "trashing" booths and ripping open boxes looking for drugs. People gathered around to watch, with some filming police and yelling at them. "It was ugly," …Hempcon, which holds conventions around the country, is meant to be an educational event where vendors can meet customers and patients can find information. Its website says attendees are not allowed to bring drugs or drug paraphernalia.xxx Ban Boot Camp fitness classes on public land, Tai Chi types, and
yoginis too! And nix non-sharing birthday-cake partiers! I also loathe those skateboard punks, who you know are violating the smoking ban when no one's looking! Hell, if I was calling the shots, we'd ban screaming KIDS from all city parks-talk about a buzz-kill! And while we're at it, let's forbid digital devices: I'm sick of seeing people more engaged with their iPhones than with the incredible views smack-dab in front of them. Maybe a giant waft of stinky smoke is just what the doctor ordered to get them to look up from their screens and into the bright light of day! xxx Van Patten was born in Ontario, Oregon in 1953, and as a child, he loved growing corn and radishes. He was a paperboy, a school newspaper reporter, and a printing press operator in a small town who got turned on to pot by the film Easy Rider and by Mexican ditch weed. After high school, Van Patten became radicalized in 1976 while attending college in Mexico, where he first grew cannabis. After realizing that authoring pot books was his true calling, he got a degree in general studies from the University of Portland, and under the pen name Jorge Cervantes, started publishing pot botany guides at  a time when doing so was analogous to writing The Anarchist's Cookbook.xxx "American Sniper" was ranked the No. 1 movie in United States for the week of Dec. 17 through Dec. 23, 2014, when competition for this top
listing is intense.   This is an excerpt from the magazine, Salon:   "In his best-selling memoir, 'American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History,' Navy SEAL Chris Kyle writes that he was only two weeks into his first of four tours of duty in Iraq when he was confronted with a difficult choice. Through the scope of his .300 Winchester Magnum rifle, he saw a woman with a child pull a grenade from under her clothes as several Marines approached. Kyle's job was to provide 'overwatch,' meaning that he was perched in or on top of bombed-out apartment buildings and was responsible for preventing enemy fighters from ambushing U.S. troops."xxx Sonoma County Fairgrounds officials have scaled back the marijuana trade show events to be held at the Santa Rosa event center in 2015, bringing back an event with North Coast origins but passing over the Cannabis Cup run by international event powerhouse High Times magazine.   The homegrown Emerald Cup will return to the fairgrounds event center in December for its third run in Santa Rosa as a fair celebrating organic marijuana grown outdoors. Organizers are expecting bigger
crowds but are also restricting it to adults for the first time.xxx After he sold his cable-television firm for $18 million in 1999, Bruce Nassau was a wealthy man looking for a new industry.  He wanted to invest in a product with broad consumer appeal.  Eventually, he settled on marijuana. "I'm an old guy in this business," says Nassau, 62, the chief executive of Tru Cannabis, a company with five marijuana dispensaries in the Denver area and plans  to expand within Colorado and to four other states.  Last year, the company's sales reached $10 million.  Nassau started smoking joints as a teenager in Chicago, and he figured he knew the ins and outs of weed consumption. But joints, it
turned out, were a bit old--fashioned - the meatloaf of marijuana - and young people had all sorts of newfangled ways to ingest the stuff. Chief among them are "dabbing" (a means of inhaling smoke from resinous hash oil) and "vaping" (heating marijuana and breathing in vapor rather than smoke, often done with so--called vape pens). When more youthful smokers did roll joints, they tended to roll
unfamiliarly large ones, often in cigar wrappers, and call them blunts. "I had to learn a whole new vocabulary," Nassau says.  While he understands the appeal of these methods ("They get you real
stoned real quick"), Nassau, like many of his baby--boomer customers,  prefers an old--school joint.
Making one is "ritualistic and relaxing," and you don't need  specialized gear. He also likes handling plant material, rather than  resinous concentrate. Tru Cannabis sells individual joints for $6, $8
or $9 in its shops, but Nassau says rolling is an easy skill to acquire.   "Go back to basics," he says. Crush your marijuana buds into uniform bits with your fingers or in a grinder device, which Nassau says works "like a pepper mill." Take one sheet of rolling paper and fold it in half with the gum strip facing up. Sprinkle the marijuana evenly into the paper's crease, avoiding the edges.   Begin rolling back and forth with your thumbs and index fingers until you have a cylindrical shape.   Wet the sugar gum with your tongue, and seal it tight. "Don't overdo it with the licking," warns Nassau, as too much saliva dissolves the paper.   At first, your joints will be lumpy and crude. Nassau says to keep
practicing until you can roll one effortlessly in about a minute. xxx It's no secret that hemp is one of the most misunderstood plants in history. For centuries, it has been used by all kinds of people for
all kinds of things - clothing to car construction, bioplastics to building supplies, food to fuel.    Though it was grown by the Founding Fathers, was a major crop in the U.S. for many years and doesn't contain enough THC to get people "high," it was blacklisted along with marijuana in 1937 and later
listed as a Schedule One drug under the Controlled Substances Act in 1970, at least in part because the federal government couldn't tell the difference between the two plants.    As a result of our folly, makers of hemp products here - hemp, hemp oil and hemp seeds are utilized in lotions and salves, carpets and beer, paper and jeans - have to import it. Today, China produces  almost 80 percent of all the hemp in the world. About $600 million worth of hemp products were sold in 2013 in the U.S., a number that should continue to grow once domestic production begins anew in states that are allowing it again. Its uses seem almost infinite.    But I think we found the most original use for hemp yet. Billie and I were wandering the Dinosaur Garden outside the Field House of Natural History in Vernal, Utah. The museum is a dinosaur-lover's dream, and the outside garden is stocked with colorful, life-sized reproductions of various plant- and meat-eating dinos, with one exception: A wooly
mammoth, the large, extinct elephant ancestor.   Looming over us with its huge tusks, friendly eyes and thick, dark  coat, the only warm-blooded representative in the garden immediately got our full attention. Most impressive was the coat, which was thick and shaggy and black and spread over and around the body and huge curved tusks.    Wooly mammoths' thick outer hair was called the "guard coat." And this mammoth's guard-coat hair piece was made from hemp.xxx This month's National Geographic features an image that any Humboldter is pretty used to by now: a collection of delicate
marijuana leaves dangling over the magazine's masthead and big red block letters that read, simply, "WEED." xxx Resin tech is a new way to make solventless dabs with a small amount  of cannabis. It's done by folding parchment paper over a nug and  pressing it firmly in a flat iron for three seconds. Resin will be  squeezed from the bud, leaving little globs of oil on the paper for dabbing. You can press each nug two or three times and save the flat remains for edibles. Be sure to research this online if you're thinking about trying it, though: Flat irons aren't to be played with. And wear an oven mitt! xxx CITY ATTORNEY DECLARES WAR ON MCDRUGS IN THE HAIGHT xxx MARIJUANA AND SCHOOL FAILURE  The dose makes the poison. – Paracelsus     Millennials are the strongest advocates for legalizing marijuana, but  they may be paving their own pathway to a problematic educational  future through their political support. xxx James Reynolds II used the Mesa-based Breast Cancer Society to raise and misappropriate (steal) millions of dollars, in the name of  charity. He gets to settle a $65.6 million judgment and have his  record wiped clean for a $75,000 cash payment and no time served.  I have also noticed that if you happen to have the wrong color skin and sell an ounce or more of drugs you can expect five to 10 years or  more in jail/prison and a felony conviction that follows/haunts you  for the rest of your life. xxx more than a year after the legalization of marijuana, we are finally seeing multiple reflections on the cannabis revolution in formal exhibitions. David B. Smith Gallery is showing realistic portraits of pot plants by talented painter Paul Jacobsen. The Colorado Photographic Arts Center has a trio of artists in an exhibit that looks at the intersection of
marijuana culture and commerce. xxx It also explains why rioters targeted certain stores and products. They entered drugstores, not to get antacids or toothpaste, but to get narcotics. They also aimed for high-value, small, non-traceable items suitable for easy resale, like tennis shoes, jackets and liquor. A $150 pair of sneakers can be fenced for $50 to $75, a leather jacket retailing at $200 might fetch $100 on the street, and a bottle of alcohol might bring 50 percent of retail.  xxx Leading Expert in Charlottetown to Address Canadian Pain Society's Annual Scientific Conference
One of North America's leading experts on pain management is in Charlottetown.  Dr. Mary Lynch will be speaking at the Canadian Pain Society's annual scientific meeting about alternative therapies - everything from art therapy to cannabinoids. xxx In what largely looks like a PR stunt to correspond with World No Tobacco Day, Whistler Blackcomb, the company that owns the ski resort, announced last Friday it will be banning all forms of smoking on its property as of the end of the month employees will be given a one-year grace period, provided they use designated smoking areas).
The ban covers all property owned by the company, in or out of doors,including lifts, runs, bike trails, parking lots and patios. xxx Cassandra Farrington couldn't find a venue in the US
that would host her plan for a conference on the business of marijuana. Last week, she hired the Hilton Chicago, one of the city's most famous hotels and one that has accommodated every US president since it opened in 1927.   "When we first started looking for venues, people ran screaming in the other direction when we said 'hey, we want to have this marijuana business conference'. They were like 'no way, get out of here.'"  Farrington eventually staged the inaugural conference at a masonic lodge in downtown Denver because it was the only place that would have her.   Last week, however, was altogether different, with 2,103 attendees eating lunch from tables with white cloths at the 2015 Marijuana Business Conference & Expo. "Being here [in the Hilton Chicago] is mind boggling," said Farrington, the co-founder and chief executive of Marijuana Business Media, which organised the three-day conference. "It just shows how far the industry has come. I don't  think you can come to this event and then think this isn't a real industry." xxx  The Senate Appropriations Committee did something last week the Senate has never done - it passed a marijuana reform measure.   It was the narrowest of proposals, an amendment co-authored by Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., to a military spending bill that would prohibit the Department of Veterans Affairs from using federal money to prosecute doctors who recommend medical marijuana to veterans in states where the drug is legal. xxx Today, nearly everyone acknowledges that our criminal justice system needs fixing, and politicians across the spectrum call for reducing prison sentences for low-level drug crimes and other nonviolent offenses. But this consensus glosses over the real challenges to ending mass incarceration. Even if we released everyone imprisoned for drugs tomorrow, the United States would still have 1.7 million people behind bars, and an incarceration rate four times that of many Western European nations. xxx Scenario 2: In 2006, the Toronto International Film Festival played host to the documentary a/k/a Tommy Chong, a chronicle of the U.S. justice system's $12-million campaign to put Chong in jail for using the mail to distribute "Chong bongs" to fans (an amount in the same neighbourhood as the bounty on Saddam Hussein). Reportedly the
prosecution was being overseen all the way to Washington, where then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was drooling over the idea of refighting the Culture Wars and finally putting Cheech &Chong (or half of them, anyway) behind bars.  xxx
June 2, 2015 -