Legalizing Recreational Use of Marijuana Is Likely to Be on November's Ballot Californians Will Have a Lot to Think About As They Sort Through Issues Think of California as a cannabis jungle. A year ago, 20 cannabis-related initiatives were proposed for the November 2016 ballot. Slowly but surely, they've died or been abandoned. Now only four appear to be collecting signatures in time for the Nov. 8 election. But California isn't alone. Voters in 20 states are considering some form of legalization through 66 proposals more than three per state. As expected, California has the most. There's even a possibility that more than one could pass. [continues 786 words]
Mothers Not Waiting on Further Changes in Cannabis Oil Laws Civil disobedience is as American as baseball, but the writer Henry David Thoreau could never have imagined what issues would inspire such symbolic acts come the 21st century. For example, Georgia parents who treat their children with cannabis oil to manage seizures, including several in Hall County and Northeast Georgia, are publicly stating that they are willing to break the law, if necessary, to acquire cannabis oil. It's the latest fault line in the medical marijuana fight, pitting patients and their families against law enforcement. [continues 830 words]
I'm passing this special JOINT to the Trenton Police Officers. Dear Trenton Police Officers. I am not your enemy, none of you should be mad at me for ignoring the marijuana laws. In fact I think you should ignore them as well. They do in the suburbs. You know the potheads are a peaceful bunch. You know arresting someone for marijuana ruins his/ her life more than marijuana use ever could. Some of your spouses, siblings, offspring and parents are potheads. But you continue to arrest non-family potheads here in Trenton. [continues 1255 words]
Cannabis A back room at 420 Hemp Shop on Cowrie Street was repurposed and a dispensary dubbed Coastal Meds was opened on March 9, bringing the total number of medical marijuana dispensary storefronts in Sechelt to three. Coastal Meds joins Weeds Glass and Gifts and WeeMedical, all selling various strains of marijuana and marijuana products to those who can prove their need with a doctor's note. Keith Duggan, manager at the 420 Hemp Shop, said the store decided to open a dispensary after months of prodding from their customer base. [continues 547 words]
Eleven years is a lifetime in technology, real estate, and the California cannabis industry. But to find a taste of 2005 in 2016 San Francisco, all you have to do is head south on Mission Street past Cesar Chavez - do not be afraid, Valencia Street ends, yet the city continues - and pull up on the narrow block of 29th Street that connects Mission to San Jose Avenue. Here, after you're buzzed in past a mirror-glassed door, a handful of people - some old, some crippled, some indigent - can be found lounging on well-worn couches. There are black-light posters on the walls, and New Orleans jazz wafts softly through air heavy with the sweet smell of cannabis from the counter at one end of the room. It's run-down, it's homey, it's comfortable. It's very, very chill. [continues 910 words]
Montville Girl Had Moved to Maine for Access to Drug Montville - Just last week, Susan Meehan was in Hartford telling legislators that she left Connecticut to give her daughter, Cyndimae, a better life. But Cyndimae Meehan's life ended Sunday as she napped in her father's arms in Augusta, Maine. She was 13. The former Montville resident moved to Maine with her mother two years ago, as part of the family's fight for access to medical cannabis. Medical marijuana is not approved for pediatric use in Connecticut, but Cyndimae needed it to treat her Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. "She was a happy kid, she really was," Susan Meehan said Tuesday. "In between seizures, she had a smile on her face." [continues 732 words]
An experimental drug derived from marijuana has succeeded in reducing epileptic seizures in its first major clinical trial, the product's developer announced on Monday, a finding that could lend credence to the medical marijuana movement. The developer, GW Pharmaceuticals, said the drug, Epidiolex, achieved the main goal of the trial, reducing convulsive seizures when compared with a placebo in patients with Dravet syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy. GW shares more than doubled on Monday. If Epidiolex wins regulatory approval, it would be the first prescription drug in the United States that is extracted from marijuana. The drug is a liquid containing cannabidiol, a component of marijuana that does not make people high. [continues 955 words]
(AP) - Ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon (who also spent time with the Eagles) calls himself "old school," including his use of marijuana both during and after his career. His self-medicating could be ahead of its time. Johns Hopkins researchers will test whether a compound found in hemp - and its cousin, cannabis - is as good at treating brain injuries as testimonials say. Some ex-players believe cannabidiol, or CBD, could aid millions who suffer brain injuries, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease caused by repeated concussions and found in many ex-NFL players whose brains were autopsied. "I don't think any of us regret what we did," said Jake Plummer, who retired in 2007 after 10 seasons. "But there's no question it comes at a real cost." [continues 67 words]
It was with habitual dismay I read the March 2nd comments by Member of Parliament Ed Fast regarding the recent green light given by the courts for people to grow medical marijuana in their homes. A bit of history that should not be forgotten. Marijuana probably never would have begun being grown indoors, certainly not at the scale seen in the last few decades, if paraquat had not been sprayed on outdoor grown fields of the plant. That was the beginning of the end of so-called war on drugs. The health scare faced by paraquat-tainted marijuana is what resulted in marijuana being grown in all our neighbourhoods. No one wanted outdoor grown marijuana anymore. [continues 107 words]
HIGH TIMES and their events are having a rough go of it lately. The all-things-weed publication had to withdraw from Washington and Oregon last year after failing to secure locations for their Cannabis Cup events. And amid complaints, their annual 4/20 party had to move to a new location in Colorado. You might be wondering: When will the long-running pot magazine be able to hold an event with thousands of revelers consuming cannabis openly in Oregon? They did already, nearly 20 years ago. And I was there. [continues 648 words]
Inside Oakland Museum of California's upcoming exhibit on weed - Altered State: Marijuana in California. It's one of the hottest museum exhibits of 2016. Oaklanders, cannabis fans, and museum-goers alike will get an unprecedented, massive museum exhibition on marijuana starting on April 16. Oakland Museum of California is putting the finishing touches this week on Altered State - a big budget, ten-part exhibition in the OMCA Great Hall that also includes a series of live events and pop-up shops through September. [continues 766 words]
Issues Proposed for Ballot; Legislative Study Underway. The push to legalize marijuana isn't going away in Ohio. Two medical-marijuana issues are proposed for the fall ballot, and the legislature is looking into legislation regarding potential medical uses for pot. While no one is pitching a for-profit plan for recreational marijuana, as ResponsibleOhio did before Ohio voters dumped it last fall, there might be openings in the new proposals to turn marijuana into cash. The Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C., group that has been instrumental in the passage of marijuana initiatives in other states, appears to have the proposal with the best organization and funding behind it. If approved, the initiative would allow about 215,000 patients with qualifying medical conditions to use marijuana as prescribed by a doctor; permit patients to grow marijuana for their own use, or buy it from retail dispensaries; restrict the use of marijuana in public places or while driving; and create a state Medical Marijuana Control Division to oversee the system. Ohio would join 23 other states with medical marijuana laws or amendments in place. [continues 494 words]
There are now two medical marijuana dispensary storefronts in Sechelt that are selling cannabis products to the public - and a third set to start selling product this month - despite the fact RCMP say it's illegal. WeeMedical Dispensary Society, a dispensary chain started in Nanaimo, set up shop on the corner of Teredo Street and Inlet Avenue and opened its doors to the public on Feb. 22. Meanwhile, Weeds Glass and Gifts has been open for more than a year on Wharf Avenue and has been operating as a dispensary for a little over six months, according to manager Robin Kehler. [continues 972 words]
The bill, which clarifies several aspects of hemp cultivation in Oregon, now goes to Gov. Kate Brown The Oregon Legislature has approved a bill to aid the state's fledgling hemp industry, including a local operation near Murphy. The measure now goes to Gov. Kate Brown for her signature. Among provisions in the bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Carl Wilson, R-Grants Pass, is one that addresses a concern that male hemp plants might cross-pollinate and harm the potency of nearby female marijuana plants. [continues 558 words]
WASILLA -- Marijuana entrepreneurs in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the state's reputed pot-growing capital, will have little time to get up and running before voters decide whether or not to back a commercial ban. The borough assembly on Tuesday night delayed a decision on a new permitting system for marijuana businesses. But it's the combination of the state's licensing schedule and a pending ballot initiative to be decided in early October that's causing the time crunch. Pot-related companies will probably be selling products for a few weeks at best before Mat-Su residents vote Oct. 4 on a proposal to outlaw commercial marijuana operations -- grows, testing labs, retail dispensaries -- throughout the borough except for those involving industrial hemp. The vote applies to all areas outside the cities of Palmer, Wasilla and Houston; Palmer and Wasilla already have bans in place. [continues 698 words]
Feasibility Study Suggests Crop Will 'Grow Like Gangbusters' Bills that would allow the state Department of Agriculture to create pilot research programs for industrial hemp are moving through both chambers of the state Legislature. "I'm very happy that the bill is alive at this point," state Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, said of SB 2659, the Senate measure he co-introduced. SB 2659 and its House counterpart, HB 2555, are not companion bills, but have the same aim of establishing the DOA research program. [continues 574 words]
Considered dangerous drugs by the federal government, marijuana and industrial hemp are still listed in the Controlled Substances Act as Schedule I drugs. While the federal government has issued legislative promises to not spend money in prosecution of cannabis activity in states in which it is legal, it has been firm in withholding any actions of endorsement by federal departments, leading many to assume that an organic certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is precluded by federal law. But on Jan. 27, 2016, CBDRx, a Colorado-based hemp company, announced that it received two USDA organic certifications for its more than 130 acres of industrial hemp, giving it two of only seven in the country and the only two in Colorado. [continues 741 words]
Though Mendocino County is noted for its primacy as one of the original counties comprising the Emerald Triangle, stories about how and why this occurred are more intriguing than one might imagine. Economic and societal conditions converged to create the emergence and eminence of not one but two parallel industries-the solar industry and commercial cannabis farming. John Schaeffer, founder and owner of Real Goods and the Solar Living Center has an interesting story to tell. In 2014, when John and his wife Nantzy bought back Real Goods and the Solar Living Center from its parent corporation, the couple attempted to foresee the next wave of emerging culture. "We'd pioneered solar, sold the first photovoltaics in America, and continued to forge new ground with natural building, alternative fuels, electric vehicle consciousness, hemp clothing and permaculture. We determined the logical next step was CBD medical cannabis," says Schaeffer. [continues 1616 words]
Andrew Follett Introduces 'Cannagenix' Line of Hemp Foods With Plans to Grow His Own "My end goal in this journey is to have large acreage of a variety of hemp strains tailored to specific industry, and a processing plant capable of a broad spectrum of product-specific processing." - Andrew Follett, owner of Follett Health Solutions LLC Andrew Follett is like many entrepreneurs in the area: young, energetic, with a burning desire to talk about his newest venture. But unlike those who have created the latest app or video game, Follett has a public relations hurdle to clear before his startup can become a success. [continues 712 words]
Voters heading to the polls today will be asked to sign petitions on marijuana and term limits. Of the 12 ballot measures -- initiated acts and constitutional amendments -- approved for the 2016 ballot by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and her predecessor, Dustin McDaniel, five are active, according to an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette survey. Of those five, petitioners will collect signatures for at least three ballot measures during the primary: The Arkansas Medical Cannabis Act, The Arkansas Hemp and Cannabis Amendment, and the Arkansas Term Limits Amendment of 2016. [continues 983 words]
