Alison Griswold , Forbes Staff

 
Newly proposed legislation would legalize the cultivation of cannabis, in the form of industrial hemp, at the federal level.
Hemp is a variety ofCannabis sativa, the same plant species that yields marijuana, and is illegal to grow in the United States under federal law. But that legislation has long drawn contention from hemp advocates, who point to the health and sustainability advantages of the industrial plant, and note that its genetic and chemical traits differ from those of the Cannabis sativa drug varieties. Their case gained additional footing Thursday when U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon proposed an amendment to the Farm Bill that would exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana, allowing American farmers to grow the plant legally for the first time since 1957. The introduction of the proposed amendment comes as activists nationwide have already rallied to generate support for hemp and educate the public about its properties as part of the third annual Hemp History Week.
 

The 2010 U.S. retail market for hemp products was estimated at $419 million, and was on track to increase to roughly $450 million for 2011, said Tom Murphy, national outreach coordinator of Vote Hemp and spokesperson for the Hemp Industries Association. Some estimates put the global market for hemp at more than 25,000 products – including fabrics, paper, insulation materials, foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, according to a Congressional Research Service report released in January. In Canada, where farmers can legally cultivate hemp, acreage devoted to the crop roughly doubled between 2011 and 2012.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alisongriswold/2012/06/08/senator-moves-to-legalize-cannabis-production-for-hemp/

 
On the heels of the announcement by New York Governor Cuomo, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly of their support for ending the practice of arresting individuals for possessing small amounts of marijuana in public view, a major coalition of local and national organizations is launching a massive effort in the final weeks of the legislative session to win reform.
Today, the coalition, which includes ColorOfChange, released an online advocacy campaign featuring powerful video testimonials from people who have been illegally searched and falsely charged for marijuana possession in New York City. Through email and social media outreach, the campaign is expected to reach an audience of hundreds of thousands in New York and beyond. At the conclusion of the video will be a petition to members of the New York State Legislature – including state senators and Senate President Dean Skelos — demanding that they support bi-partisan legislation, S.5187 (Grisanti) / A.7620 (Jeffries), that would standardize penalties for marijuana possession, ending tens of thousands of racially biased and unlawful arrests for marijuana possession every year.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.eurweb.com/2012/06/nypds-costly-marijuana-possession-arrests-must-come-to-a-stop/

Scott Morgan

 
As the debate over marijuana legalization continues to heat up, those who’d rather duck the discussion are increasingly incapable of concealing their discomfort. We recently saw Mitt Romney snap at a reporter for asking about marijuana in Colorado, and in a recent segment, CNN contributor LZ Granderson went further still:

CNN’s Carol Costello asked contributor LZ Granderson to respond to any of the Colorado voters who might be less likely to back President Barack Obama because he does not support marijuana legalization.
“Well, they’re idiots,” Granderson explained. “If you’re voting for a president, any president, on one single issue — especially one issue that is so peripheral such as marijuana usage — you’re a idiot. I don’t want to mince any words here. We have way too many more important things to talk about as Mitt Romney said earlier, as the president has said earlier.” [Raw Story]

 
One scarcely knows where to begin unraveling such an arrogant and self-righteous statement about what other people should and shouldn’t care about. To call it a “peripheral” issue makes a mockery of the millions of Americans who’ve had their lives turned upside down by a marijuana arrest. It’s an insult to innocent victims of rampant racial profiling brought on biased and brutal drug enforcement practices. It dishonors the memory of the tens of thousands who’ve lost their lives at the hands of violent cartels to whom we’ve handed a huge stake in the lucrative American marijuana trade.
On a daily basis, the war on marijuana destroys families, ends lives, destabilizes communities and diverts limited resources away from the people who need them and into an endless cycle of drug war devastation. Either that, or it prevents all these horrible things, as its defenders continue to claim. In either case, the question of how we as a society choose to deal with marijuana is more than just a serious issue, it’s a matter of life and death. Of course it is. There’s no such thing as a multi-billion dollar question that isn’t worth asking.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-morgan/obama-marijuana-drug-policy_b_1576479.html

By Tom Eames

 
Tommy Chong has revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The pot-loving Cheech & Chong star explained that he first noticed symptoms several years ago but was only diagnosed recently.
Chong announced his condition during an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon about his support for decriminalising marijuana.
“I’ve got prostate cancer, and I’m treating it with hemp oil, with cannabis,” he said. “So [legalizing marijuana] means a lot more to me than just being able to smoke a joint without being arrested.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.digitalspy.com/celebrity/news/a386344/tommy-chong-diagnosed-with-prostate-cancer-cannabis-will-cure-it.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu5VNQHxKkU&feature=share

See videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL07C190C9C8AEAAF9

JOANNE MCCARTHY

 
In April a group of prominent Australians including Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr, former NSW director of public prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery, former West Australian premier Geoff Gallop and former federal police commissioner Mick Palmer released a report saying the ‘‘war on drugs’’ had failed, and calling for a fundamental rethink of drug policies and the ‘‘tough on drugs’’ approach.
The Australian Policy on Illicit Drugs report follows the release last June of a Global Commission on Drug Policy War on Drugs report, headed by former United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan, which concluded the 40-year ‘‘war on drugs’’ had failed with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.theherald.com.au/news/local/news/news-features/drugs-should-some-be-decriminalised/2584900.aspx?storypage=0

BY SHARON LETTS

 
“Mary Jane” plays three weekends at the Rooney Amphitheatre, 131 H Street, located in the idyllic and historic town of Blue Lake, in Northern California. Tickets are available by phone or online via its Web site, www.dellarte.com/show.aspx.
SHOW DATES: June 21 – July 8, 2012.
Tickets: $18/$15/$12
DAI Box Office: (707) 668-5663 x20
Tickets Online: dellarte.com/show.aspx  A $2 service charge per order is added to credit card sales.
 
Read complete article here:
http://nugmag.com/mary-jane-the-musical-illuminates-the-emerald-triangle-june-21-july-8-at-the-mad-river-festival/

By Katherine Poythress

 

IMPERIAL BEACH — Early results indicate more than 15 percent of registered voters in Imperial Beach have signed a petition that would allow residents to vote on whether to repeal the city’s ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.

The Safe Access Ordinance of Imperial Beach proposes overturning the City Council’s decision last year to ban the facilities. Local supporters of medical marijuana dispensaries say that Imperial Beach’s ban is the most restrictive of all cities in San Diego County, because it prohibits even those with medical licenses from keeping their own plants.

The six-page ordinance is crafted to ensure “that seriously ill Californians and residents of the city of Imperial Beach can obtain and use cannabis for medical purposes where that medical use has been deemed appropriate by a physician in accordance with California law,” according to the document.

The measure would allow patients to smoke inside a dispensary if certain requirements are met, and allow the shops to operate from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The ordinance would also not allow the stores to be within 600 feet of a school or 300 feet of another dispensary. It does not include any special fees to help offset the cost of regulation and enforcement.

“Strong regulations like the ones we’re proposing would keep medical cannabis away from children and schools, and create a safe means for those who are qualified, to have safe, reliable, local access to that medicine,” said Eugene Davidovich, a local member of Americans for Safe Access, which co-sponsored the initiative with Canvass for a Cause. “At the same time, we’re taking into strong consideration the concerns of the neighborhood.”

The initiative garnered more than 2,600 signatures, 1,555 of which appear to qualify under petition regulations requiring them to belong to registered voters, Davidovich said. He turned the signatures in to the city clerk Friday.

“It was truly a community effort,” he said of the signature drive, which cost about $4,000. “We didn’t hire an outside signature-gathering firm. This was volunteer activists, along with a few paid folks. A lot of the folks that went out there to just about every street in I.B. were patients, some of whom are terminal patients.”

 
Read complete article here:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jun/08/marijuana-initiative-appears-headed-to-ballot/
 

By Deborah Young/Staten Island Advance 

Bill LyonsStaten Island NAACP Branch President Edward Josey protests the stop-and frisk policy during a press conference on the steps of Borough Hall in St. George.
 
Imagine standing in front of a deli with friends, chatting about the goings-on in the neighborhood, when a police car pulls up and an officer steps out. He asks you why you’re loitering and not at school or work. Your friend mouths off with a sarcastic comment, and all of you get patted down. The officer discovers a marijuana cigarette in your friend’s pocket.
That sort of scenario has been the topic of heated debate in recent months, as the New York City Police Department’s stop-question-and-frisk policy has come under fire for what critics say is its unfair targeting of African American and Hispanic young men.
Nearly a dozen leaders of Staten Island’s African American community gathered yesterday on the steps of Borough Hall — in the shadow of the North Shore’s 120th Precinct stationhouse — to add their voices to a growing chorus decrying stop-and-frisk and to urge Islanders to join a “Silent March” on Father’s Day, June 17 in Manhattan, in protest against what they perceive as regressive policing.
The march will begin on 110th Street and continue to the Upper East Side, ending on 79th St. between Madison and Fifth avenues.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/staten_island_rally_promotes_s.html