Re: ' Marijuana Is Infinitely Worse' Than Tobacco, Harper Says As He Encourages Pot Debate To Go Up In Smoke, nationalpost.com, Oct. 3. I don't smoke marijuana, but I know some of the facts. Marijuana isn't addictive. Cigarettes are. By monopolizing marijuana sales, the Canadian government could make enough money to solve the Greek debt crisis (that may not be true, but it would generate a lot of revenue). Julia Przygocki, Mississauga, Ont. [end]
Two Coloradans Sue Over Pesticide, Saying a Grower Is Acting Like Corporate America. DENVER - For years, Brandan Flores has treated his chronic back pain with marijuana, a remedy he champions as a natural alternative to traditional medication. But recently he heard rumblings that his drug of choice might be less wholesome than he had imagined. "There was talk about Eagle 20," he said, "and it concerned me right away." Eagle 20 is a fungicide used to kill mites, mildew and assorted pests that flock to plants like hops and grapes. It also contains a chemical called myclobutanil, which produces hydrogen cyanide gas when burned. [continues 719 words]
A judge ordered the Yuba County Board of Supervisors to revoke a $16,000 nuisance abatement penalty imposed on the landlords of an Olivehurst property where a marijuana garden was found. Yuba County Superior Court Judge Stephen W. Berrier filed the order on Friday in response to Jon and Amy Messick's legal challenge filed in May. Jon Messick is a former county planning commissioner. A marijuana garden violated a county nuisance ordinance on the Messicks' property in the 4600 block of Ardmore Avenue. The Messicks were informed of the violation on Sept. 22, 2014, and the violation was corrected by Sept. 26, 2014. [continues 222 words]
Mayor Richard Berry's veto of a marijuana decriminalization bill withstood a challenge from Albuquerque city councilors on Wednesday. Democrats on the City Council failed to persuade one of their Republican colleagues to change positions and join them in favor of a veto override. But no one changed positions. The override attempt failed on a 5-4 vote along party lines. It takes six of nine councilors to override a mayoral veto. About a half-dozen speakers urged councilors to override the veto and enact the legislation - which called for making it a civil offense, not a criminal violation, under city law to possess an ounce or less of marijuana. [continues 318 words]
California Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Healdsburg, held a support gathering Tuesday at Humboldt County Superior Court in Eureka to urge California Gov. Jerry Brown to sign the Medical Marijuana Safety and Regulation Act, with Sunday's deadline looming. Joining Wood were Assembly members Rob Bonta, D-Oakland, and Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, all of whom authored a bill that was used to complement Sen. Mike McGuire's Senate Bill 643, or the Medical Marijuana Safety and Regulation Act. The package together creates a framework for the cultivation, transportation, distribution and sale of medical marijuana within the state. [continues 186 words]
With legal sales of medical cannabis in California approaching $2 billion, it's hard to understand how and why nobody in the marijuana legalization movement has any money. But it's true. Legalization's money troubles were evident earlier this week when Reform CA - a coalition of NORML and Americans for Safe Access, the state's marijuana activist groups; industry lobbyists representing dispensaries and growers; and the state NAACP - filed with the Attorney General its proposed language for a Nov. 2016 cannabis legalization voter initiative. [continues 709 words]
Dear Stoner: I recently found some edibles I'd forgotten I had - a candy bar that had been opened but was kept in the freezer, and a package of pot-infused mints, never opened. Does time affect potency? Can these spoil? Missing Marn Dear Marn: Treat any marijuana-infused food product as you would its regular counterpart. If there are ingredients in your food that spoil - - such as the dairy in cheesecake - then, yes, your edibles will go bad. Brownies and cookies will last longer, though they're likely to turn into the equivalent of a stale hockey puck. Fruitless candies like lollipops and mints are basically pure sugar before the pot is infused, so you can keep those for the apocalypse if you want (even if they taste like ass, they won't hurt you). As with any other food you want to preserve, edibles should be refrigerated or frozen and kept away from oxygen and light to prolong their shelf lives. [continues 290 words]
Got your legal cannabis now? Good. Roll one up or fire up the vaporizer as we look at what's going on outside our state. SOUTH DAKOTA is opening a canna resort-and while I have been vaping, that's not a typo. That liberal bastion of progressive activism, South Dakota, has plans to open the nation's first resort for cannabis consumption. The Santee Sioux tribe, all 400 of them, have had success operating a hotel and casino, along with a 240-head bison ranch, according to the AP. Now they plan to open what they're calling an "adult playground," where the tribe will grow and sell more than 30 strains of cannabis in a complex that will include a smoking lounge, nightclub, restaurant, and, eventually, slot machines and an outdoor music venue. Based on 5,000 acres of tribal land located 45 miles north of Sioux Falls, the Santee Sioux will have their first joints available December 31 at a New Year's Eve event. [continues 339 words]
It's been nearly a month since California's yearly legislative session closed, and the tenor then was all backslaps and high-fives for the state lawmakers who had spent months crafting medical marijuana laws. Three bills, one each from State Sen. Mike McGuire and assemblymen Jim Wood and Rob Bonta, had been torn apart and pasted back together in a marathon, 11th-hour drafting session with the governor's office. The language of the bills was mostly agreed upon. They would finally set up regulations for the state's multibillion-dollar medical marijuana industry, which has operated for nearly 20 years without a hint of direction. For Wood and McGuire, whose districts contain the Emerald Triangle, regulation was both long overdue and of utmost concern to their constituents. [continues 417 words]
I greatly grate under the fact that cannabis is considered a nuisance in Butte County. There is no more reason to persecute cannabis consumers than there was to burn witches, gas Jews or lynch blacks. The foundations of this drug war are set in the quicksand of racism and xenophobia-not the sturdiest of footings. This drug war doesn't fight crime; it fuels it by making flowers into gold. It is doublethink beyond Orwellian to hold the concepts of cannabis prohibition and legal alcohol in one's head at the same time, and have it make sense. Americans have been doing this for many decades now. It is time to end the prohibition. It will help the national psyche by allowing us to live with one less lie. Jay Bergstrom Forest Ranch [end]
Boulder City Council is considering broad changes to its marijuana rules and regulations. The first reading was Sept. 30, with a second reading scheduled for later this month or early November. And this time around, it appears that Council wants to help rather than hinder cannabis businesses. The reconsideration began at the urging of Councilman Macon Cowles, who listed at least 40 "stress points" for cannabis businesses in a Hotline memo last month. He asked city staff to scrap Boulder's current rules, conform to state regulations for operations and compliance and limit the City's involvement to processing of applications and inspections. He also asked staff to provide a schedule of fines and an administrative review process for challenges to fines and citations. The reasoning is that Boulder voted overwhelmingly for legal cannabis, and though the City took a hard approach at the outset, it needs to let these mom-and-pop businesses succeed by making regulations strict, clearly understood and fair. [continues 635 words]
