By William Breathes
Representative Wes McKinley wants to save the earth with hemp, and not in some philosophical, hippie-dippy way either. Through a bill he has introduced this session that would study how hemp plants clean contaminated soil, McKinley is hoping to eventually revive industrial hemp production in Colorado and the rest of the country.
House Bill 1099 wouldn’t legalize hemp farming outright. If passed, it would authorize the chairs of the agriculture, livestock, and natural resources committee in both the House and the Senate to appoint a seven-member committee to study the process of phytoremediation, a fancy term for a simple process. You see, hemp plants suck up contaminants and radiation in the soil — and it’s been proven to work in places like in Russia, where they’ve been used to remove soil contaminants from the Chernobyl disaster site.
Read complete article here:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2012/02/industrial_hemp_study_bill_colorado.php
 
 

by Scott Morgan

In case you haven’t heard the news yet, it looks like police are going to win the drug war after all. Violence and corruption are bad enough, but if they’re capable of something as sickeningly devious as this, I’m not sure I see the point in dragging things out any further.

During an undercover marijuana sting at a South Florida school, a teenage boy began to fall for someone he thought was just another teenage girl.
But the boy’s crush turned out to be an undercover police officer, who would later have him arrested for selling her marijuana she asked him to obtain for her.
…
The operation resulted in a total of 31 arrests in three different Florida schools. [Huffington Post]

How many people do you think she had to flirt with to make 31 arrests? My first guess would be 31. I mean, how hard can this be? Have you ever met a bored, lovesick teenager? It’s a good thing all she asked him to do was get her some weed.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy/2012/feb/22/drug_cops_hatch_foolproof_plan_a
 

OKLAHOMA CITY — Most parents would go to great lengths to help their child, but some want to try a controversial approach.
KOCO Eyewitness News 5’s weekday morning co-anchor Anita Blanton talked to a metro couple who want to use marijuana to treat their son’s disease.Hearing that a child has autism can be a devastating experience, because there is no cure and there is no standard therapy.The Mejias family still has hope. They are confident medical marijuana could be just what their son Deacon needs.

‘Bitter Seeds’ leads a call to action against GMOs

By Blair Madole

In the fairytale Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack sells everything he owns — one cow — for a handful of magic beans. It works out for Jack. He takes on the Giant, wins, and returns home to a happy mother (though she may not send him to market again responsible for the sale of their only livestock).
The story that unfolds in the documentary Bitter Seeds, featured at the Boulder International Film Festival, is about farmers who wager it all on what are promised to be miracle seeds, but land dust and failed crops rather than a magic bean pole. Their ending is far more grim.
A quarter of a million farmers in India have committed suicide in the last 16 years, according to Bitter Seeds. This equates to one farmer killing himself every 30 minutes, all because the miracle cotton seeds they were sold with the promise they would increase yield drove them into debt and failed to produce an ample return. In this tale, the giant they faced is GMO seed producer Monsanto, and they lost.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.boulderweekly.com/article-7651-biff-2012-bitter-stories.html
 

by Alan Henry
 
Hemp Seeds. Ah, hemp. It’s good for tons of things, but on your food they add a serious nutritional punch to your salads, stews, cereals, granolas, oatmeal, and just about anything else you can add it to. For all of its nutty flavour, Andy reminds us that you also get 6.5g of protein (as much as one egg) per two-tablespoon serving, along with 2g of fibre and a good bit of your recommended daily allowance of zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese, and yes, omega 3 fatty acids.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2012/02/easy-ways-to-give-any-meal-a-powerful-nutritional-boost/
 

Using state-level data for the period 1990 through 2007, we estimate the effect of legalizing
medical marijuana on suicide rates. Our results suggest that the passage of a medical
marijuana law is associated with an almost 5 percent reduction in the total suicide rate, an 11
percent reduction in the suicide rate of 20- through 29-year-old males, and a 9 percent
reduction in the suicide rate of 30- through 39-year-old males. Estimates of the relationship
between legalization and female suicides are less precise and are sensitive to functional
form.
 
Here is the link:
http://ftp.iza.org/dp6280.pdf
 
 

Enlarge image

‘I know every one of the city council members sitting to my left and right believe as I do: it’s time for this state to legalize marijuana,’ Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said in his State of the City address.

City of Seattle

In his “State of the City” address, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn made an impassioned plea today for the legalization of marijuana saying in the illegal trade in drugs was fueling crime in the city.

“It is time we were honest about the problems we face with the drug trade. Drugs are a source of criminal profit, and that has led to shootings and even murders. Just like we learned in the 1920s with the prohibition of alcohol, prohibition of marijuana is fueling violent activity,” the mayor said in the written version of his speech.

He added that the war on drugs “fuels a biased incarceration policy. The drug war’s victims are predominantly young men of color.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://kplu.org/post/seattle-mayor-legalize-marijuana-so-we-can-stop-crime
 

 
Question: How many interagency narcotics enforcement team members does it take to screw Oregon’s taxpayers?
Answer: All of them.
This week, personnel from five agencies; the Oregon State Police, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office, both the Eugene and Springfield police departments, and the Lane County District Attorney’s Office, wrapped up a “months-long” investigation that netted one small time marijuana grow. Seized were at total of 106 plants, and three pounds of marijuana, from two houses. There was also one count of child neglect. There was one arrest
This would have been a good day’s work for a cop and a social worker.
So we ask you: How much, in tax dollars, does a five-agency, months-long marijuana investigation cost? Tens of thousands? More??
Because we just spent that.
Which would be funny, since they probably could have just bought the pot for way less. Only it’s not really funny.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.theweedblog.com/how-many-interagency-narcotics-enforcement-teams-does-it-take-to-screw-oregons-taxpayers/
 

By Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian The Oregonian
 

Joe KoshollekGary Storck of Madison, Wis., has twice come to Oregon to obtain a medical marijuana card. He’s one of about 600 people who live in other states who have Oregon cards for various reasons.
 
Twice in the past two years, Gary Storck has boarded Amtrak’s Empire Builder outside his hometown of Madison, Wis., and headed west to Oregon. The trip takes about 40 hours and costs more then $1,000 – all for something that makes the illegal legal.
He pays a visit to one of the state’s 15 or so medical marijuana clinics, fills out an application and sees a doctor. Storck walks out an hour later, the proud holder of an Oregon-issued medical marijuana card. It’s a process he’ll have to go through each year to keep the card.
Storck, 56, is one of hundreds of out-of-staters who each year make an unusual pilgrimage to Oregon – the only state in the country to issue medical marijuana cards to non-residents.
“It’s not a bad place to visit,” said Storck, who has used marijuana for four decades to treat glaucoma and other chronic ailments. “It lifts my spirits to be in a place where medical cannabis is legal and life goes on.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/02/hundreds_of_out-of-staters_fin.html
 

Janusz Palikot, head of the left-wing party Palikot’s Movement, took a few puffs from a joint under falling snow in Warsaw. (AP Photo)
 

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1627609/Polish-MP-smokes-pot-in-campaign