“Texas Democrats urges the President, the Attorney General and the Congress to support the passage of legislation to decriminalize the possession of marijuana and regulate its use, production, and sale as is done with tobacco and alcohol.
We further urge the immediate decriminalization of possession and use of medical marijuana.”
 
Click here for PDF:   
http://www.txdemocrats.org/2012/platform.pdf

by Mary MacArthur
 
EDMONTON — A small British Columbia food company has taken its hemp breakfast cereal from farmers’ markets to the International Space Station in two years.
Holy Crap, a hemp mixture added to breakfast cereal, will be shipped into orbit in December to feed Canadian astronaut and mission commander Chris Hadfield.
“Holy Crap will be in space,” said Rob MacNeil, general manager of HapiFoods Group Inc. of Sechelt, B.C.
NASA scientists have studied the hemp cereal for more than a year to see how it would fit into the astronaut’s diet. Storage room is at a minimum in space, which means the food taken into orbit must be functional and packed with nutrition.
Two tablespoons of Holy Crap are enough to give astronauts their needed morning nutrition.
 
Full Article:
http://www.producer.com/2012/11/astronauts-scoop-up-hemp-cereal-%E2%80%A9/

by Sheila Shayon

 
Burton Snowboards and Mountain Dew are launching the 2013 Green Mountain Project (GMP), a collection using sustainable fabric made from recycled plastic bottles.
The new outerwear collection includes three eco-friendly jackets and two pants for men, and two jackets and one pant for women, made from blended materials such as GMP Hemp Fortex, 3M Thinsulate insulation with recycled fibers, DRYRIDE EcoNanoshell 2L Fabric and 3-Layer Hemp Ripstop Fabric and recycled taffeta and mesh linings, all of which have a lesser environmental impact.
 
Full Article:
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/11/16/Burton-Mountain-Dew-Green-Mountain-Project-111612.aspx
 

LANCE BENZEL

 
Call it a pot bust in reverse.
The Colorado Court of Appeals on Thursday ruled that Colorado Springs police must return more than 60 pounds of marijuana they seized from a cancer patient who was later acquitted at trial of drug charges.
Bob Crouse, 64, is scheduled to pick up his medical marijuana — some $300,000 worth — on Friday afternoon.
The marijuana has been kept at the downtown Police Operations Center since Crouse’s May 2011 arrest on charges of drug possession with the intent to distribute. Crouse uses marijuana oil in the treatment of his leukemia.
Full Article:
http://www.gazette.com/articles/marijuana-147422-court-return.html
 
 

by Debby Goldsberry

Jack Herer
 
Citizens of Colorado and Washington States voted to legalize cannabis on Nov. 6, 2012, surprising the nation and its leadership. But, for a small group of dedicated advocates, this was the culmination of 40 plus years of determined, hard work. Their ultimate goal: to end the War on Cannabis, and to legalize its use for food, fuel, fiber, and medicine.
 
Cannabis Prohibition launched in 1937, when Congress passed the Marihuana Tax Act, and the historic efforts to change this law began immediately. The American Medical Association testified in Congress to stop the loss of this important medicine, as did birdseed manufacturers, who feared that “birds would not sing” without cannabis hemp seeds in their food. The bird fans got an exception to the law, for denatured cannabis hemp products, but the doctors lost the fight to prescribe cannabis medicines, despite the fact that cocaine, morphine, and other dangerous drugs were widely available for use.
Counterculture hero Timothy Leary successfully challenged the Marihuana Tax Act in 1969, and the United States Supreme Court revoked it. But, Congress spared no time creating even worse laws, including the Controlled Substances Act, part of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, and several supplementary treaties to the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.
President Nixon declared “War on Drugs,” in 1971, and by the mid-70’s nearly half a million Americans were being arrested for cannabis each year. It was time for advocates to get organized and fight back.
People forget that in the early 70′s possession of any amount of marijuana, even just a seed in your pocket, was a felony with a minimum sentence of a year in prison. The California Marijuana Initiative of 1972 failed to pass, but we regarded 1/3 of the vote a huge victory. “It convinced the State Legislature to reduce the penalty to a citable misdemeanor in 1975,” says longtime activist Michelle Aldrich.
 
Full Article:
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2012/11/15/marijuana-legalization-seeds-planted-long-ago-finally-flower/
 

(image/Miss Libertine)
 
MONTREAL, QB — The enactment of state laws allowing for the limited legal use of cannabis by qualified patients has little to no causal effect on broader marijuana use, according to data published online in the journal Annals of Epidemiology.
Investigators at McGill University in Montreal obtained state-level estimates of marijuana use from the 2002 through 2009 US National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Researchers used difference-in-differences regression models to estimate the causal effect of medical cannabis laws on marijuana use, and simulations to account for measurement error.
Authors reported: “Difference-in-differences estimates suggested that passing MMLs (medical marijuana laws) decreased past-month use among adolescents … and had no discernible effect on the perceived riskiness of monthly use. … [These] estimates suggest that reported adolescent marijuana use may actually decrease following the passing of medical marijuana laws.”
They concluded, “We find limited evidence of causal effects of medical marijuana laws on measures of reported marijuana use.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2012/8860/medical-marijuana-laws-have-no-discernible-adverse-impact-on-adolescents-use-study-says/

By Steve Elliott

 
President Obama, you now have to make a decision with regard to how the federal government will answer the groundswell of support nationwide not only for medical use of cannabis, but also for outright legalization.

Submitted by Melissa Luck, Executive News Producer

 
His life was a battle against an evil force. For so much of his four years and five months on earth, Cash Michael Hyde fought a brain tumor that wouldn’t quit. By medical standards, Cashy probably should not have survived the initial tumor that hit when he was barely more than a year old. But, he did. And, he kept fighting. And, tonight at 10:13 pm in his hometown of Missoula, Montana, that tumor finally won.
I met Cashy in early April 2011. I had heard about his story from mutual friends in Montana and knew I had to share it. Cashy had just beat Stage 4 brain cancer – and, mid-way through his treatment, his parents began giving him cannabis oil to ease the side effects of the treatment. They called it a miracle drug and it was easy to see why. Cannabis helped give them back their son. I knew it was a good story to tell, especially in light of the medical marijuana debate that was raging in Washington at the time (the feds raided medical marijuana dispensaries the same day our story aired.) I didn’t know I would fall in love with the little boy.
 
Full Article:
http://downtownspokane.kxly.com/news/community-spirit/85432-rest-peace-little-man-fight-over

By Eric W. Dolan

 
 

Reps. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Barney Frank (D-MA) on Thursday called for the Obama administration to respect state marijuana laws, as California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) did on Sunday.
Voters in Colorado and Washington state both approved referenda legalizing the limited recreational use of marijuana. However, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration still classifies marijuana as a schedule I drug: the most restrictive classification, reserved drugs with a high potential for abuse and no accepted medicinal value.
“We urge you to respect the wishes of the voters of Colorado and Washington and refrain from federal prosecution of the inhabitants of those states who will be following their states’ laws with regard to the use of marijuana,” Paul and Frank told the President in a letter (PDF).
Full Article:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/14/ron-paul-and-barney-frank-tell-obama-respect-state-marijuana-laws/