Month: March 2012
Marijuana Elixir helps PTSD and Phantom Pain with War Vet
Medical Marijuana Stops Spread of Breast Cancer – NBC NEWS
House: Pot possession not a crime
By Matthew Spolar / Monitor staff
The New Hampshire House voted 162-161 yesterday to decriminalize less than a half-ounce of marijuana, with House Speaker Bill O’Brien choosing not to cast a potentially decisive vote.
Under House Bill 1526, the first two times a person is caught with up to a half-ounce of the drug, he or she would be charged with a violation and fined. The first fine would be up to $250 and the second fine up to $500.
On the third violation, the person would be charged with a misdemeanor crime, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
“This is a calculated, measured reduction in the penalties for possession,” said Rep. Kyle Tasker, a Nottingham Republican.
The House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee had recommended passage of the bill in a 9-7 vote last month. The vote yesterday on the House floor was equally close.
Read complete article here:
http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/316182/house-pot-possession-not-crime?SESSa99a1f078d878aa7c165c329ad57da3c=google
New Hampshire Hemp Farming: State House Passes Bill Protecting Industrial Hemp
DALY CITY, CA – APRIL 18: Leaves of a mature marijuana plant are seenin a display at The International Cannabis and Hemp Expo April 18, 2010 at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
CONCORD, N.H. — The New Hampshire House is giving the nod to hemp farmers after passing a bill to protect industrial hemp from being tagged as an illicit drug.
The bill, which passed the House Wednesday without debate, would forbid industrial hemp, a botanical cousin to marijuana, from being listed as a controlled substance. It would only go into effect after the Drug Enforcement Agency certifies that at least two other New England states have adopted such legislation.
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/new-hampshire-hemp-farming_n_1332027.html?ref=green
Why Can’t You Smoke Pot? Because Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of the War on Drugs
Republic Report / By Lee Fang
Why we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses.
Photo Credit: Theequinest
John Lovell is a lobbyist who makes a lot of money from making sure you can’t smoke a joint. That’s his job. He’s a lobbyist for the police unions in Sacramento, and he is a driving force behind grabbing Federal dollars to shut down the California marijuana industry. I’ll get to the evidence on this important story in a bit, but first, some context.
At some point in the distant past, the war on drugs might have been popular. But not anymore — the polling is clear, but beyond that, the last three Presidents have used illegal drugs. So why do we still put hundreds of thousands of people in steel cages for pot-related offenses? Well, there are many reasons, but one of them is, of course, money in politics. Corruption. Whatever you want to call it, it’s why you can’t smoke a joint without committing a crime, though of course you can ingest any number of pills or drinks completely within the law.
Read complete article here:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/154448/why_can%E2%80%99t_you_smoke_pot_because_lobbyists_are_getting_rich_off_of_the_war_on_drugs?page=entire
Hemp promoted as cash crop in Kentucky
FRANKFORT, KY. — Lawmakers have grown somewhat bolder in their push to allow farmers to grow hemp in Kentucky, a Bible-belt state where the issue was once considered politically taboo.
The House Agriculture and Small Business Committee held a hearing Wednesday on two bills that could put Kentucky in position to grow hemp if a federal restriction is lifted. Neither bill was called for a vote.
Most Kentucky political leaders have dismissed the issue in the past because of fears that voters might somehow conclude that they’re also pro-marijuana. But the issue was a centerpiece in last year’s race for agriculture commissioner, which was won decisively by Republican Jamie Comer, a hemp proponent.
Comer said growing industrial hemp would allow expansion of Kentucky farm markets and create jobs in rural communities.
Industrial hemp, a cousin to marijuana, is used to make fuel, cattle feed, textiles, paper, lotion, cosmetics and other products. Though it contains trace amounts of the mind-altering chemical tetrahydrocannabinol that makes marijuana intoxicating, it remains illegal in the United States.
Read complete article here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120307/NEWS01/303070089/Hemp-promoted-cash-crop-Kentucky?odyssey=nav%7Chead
The Medical Marijuana Movement May Be Getting A Senator
WASIM MUKLASHY
In what is shaping up to be another fairly significant victory for the medical marijuana movement, marijuana supporters just might be getting an extremely high-profile voice to help push their cause forward; their first Senator.
Bob Kerrey, who held a seat as a Democratic senator in Nebraska in the 90s, has openly supported legalizing marijuana on several occasions. Perhaps the most public example of his support for marijuana comes from his not-so-secret history of advising Peter Lewis, the founder of Progressive Insurance and a leading backer of pot policy reform efforts.
Kerrey now seems to be enjoying a surge in support as a replacement for retiring Senator Ben Nelson in the Nebraska race.
Read complete article here:
http://www.kushmagazine.com/news/2187-the-medical-marijuana-movement-may-be-getting-a-senator
Cannabis’ unlikely new crusader: Pat Robertson?
Praying for legalization?
File this one under #OKsure: Televangelist and all-around dubious individual Pat Robertson has come out in support of the decriminalization of marijuana.
Of course, it’s all the liberals’ fault. Robertson made the following comments on the March 1 episode of the 700 Club. (Many thanks to Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition for providing us with the link fest, lookit this hilarious retraction his network posted when Robertson made similar comments in December!)
Even though these prisoners may have been sentenced by some court for some offense, should they be behind bars? Here’s the thing, we have over 3,000 – the number must be much higher than that, but over 3,000 federal crimes.
And every time the liberals pass a bill, I don’t care what it involves! They stick criminal sanctions on it. They don’t feel that there’s any way that people are going to keep a wall unless they can put them in jail. And so we have the jails that are filled with people who are white collar criminals and I’ve became sort of a hero of the hippie culture I guess when I said I think we ought to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
Read complete article here:
http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2012/03/06/cannabis-unlikely-new-crusader-pat-robertson
Of course, it’s all the liberals’ fault. Robertson made the following comments on the March 1 episode of the 700 Club. (Many thanks to Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition for providing us with the link fest, lookit this hilarious retraction his network posted when Robertson made similar comments in December!)
Even though these prisoners may have been sentenced by some court for some offense, should they be behind bars? Here’s the thing, we have over 3,000 – the number must be much higher than that, but over 3,000 federal crimes.
And every time the liberals pass a bill, I don’t care what it involves! They stick criminal sanctions on it. They don’t feel that there’s any way that people are going to keep a wall unless they can put them in jail. And so we have the jails that are filled with people who are white collar criminals and I’ve became sort of a hero of the hippie culture I guess when I said I think we ought to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.
Read complete article here:
http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2012/03/06/cannabis-unlikely-new-crusader-pat-robertson
Substance Abuse During Pregnancy Not Linked To Poor Academic Achievements
BY SORIN PEDALANO
The on-line journal of Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies has recently published the results of a new study conducted by a team of researchers from Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health along with Boston Medical center. This study shows that intrauterine exposure to cocaine, tobacco and marijuana does not affect the children’s academic achievement test scores. On the other hand, children exposed to alcohol during their mother’s pregnancy, with no evidence of fetal alcohol syndrome, received lower test scores especially in math, reasoning and spelling.
Read complete article here:
http://www.doctortipster.com/8367-substance-abuse-during-pregnancy-not-linked-to-poor-academic-achievements.html