One of the participants of Atameken Startup Weekend business-projects contest suggested to use cannabis in making of uniforms for Kazakhstan army. The contest was held in Taraz,Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Soyuz Atameken.
One of the young participants Ardak Tlendiyev suggested to dress Kazakhstan army in a medical-purpose uniform tailored from cannabis fabric. “In his opinion, this disputed plant has more advantages than disadvantages if used in the industry. For example, first Levi’s jeans were made of cannabis-based fiber. First paper in China was also made of cannabis. Moreover, cannabis can also be used to make fuel: cannabis flesh can be processed into wood spirit, methane, ethanol and petrol. Cannabis seeds are edible; they are very valuable and nutritious and contain vegetable fats and proteins. And finally, cannabis contains over 60 chemicals that can be used in medicine,” the message states.
According to press-service of Atameken, the audience “exploded with applause and cheering” when their heard the idea. “The joy of the young people was understandable: they heard the word that bothering them a lot, because they are also worried about the problem of annihilation of the Chu Valley”. The Chu Valley located between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan is the home to an extremely hardy type of marijuana that is a source of cannabis.
According to the business-plan, the young inventor needs investments of $30 thousand to implement the project. According to Ardak, the annual income can reach $125 thousand, but the jury reminded him that earlier German investors wanted to build a factory to processing cannabis for production of ropes, however Kazakhstan authorities did not approve of this idea and did not let the foreigners into the Chu Valley. In the end the project did not make it to the final and was not approved.
 
Full Article:
http://en.tengrinews.kz/science/Cannabis-made-army-uniform-suggested-at-ideas-contest-in-Taraz-14417/

Daniel Robelo

 
After returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. veterans are increasingly become casualties of the country’s longest war: the war on drugs.
Last Friday, the Drug Policy Alliance released anupdated and revised edition of its seminal 2009 report, “Healing a Broken System.” The report examines the plight of veterans struggling with incarceration and psychological wounds of war, such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, and suggests reforms that could improve the health and preserve the freedom of American soldiers transitioning back to civilian life.
After a decade, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken an unimaginable toll on U.S. service personnel. Information obtained by Veterans for Common Sense reveals that, among veterans receiving care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 50 percent are diagnosed with PTSD or another mental illness. According to the VA, nearly one in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have a substance misuse condition. Left untreated, these conditions often contribute to fatal overdose, homelessness and suicide, as well as violations of the law, particularly nonviolent drug offenses.
After a thorough review of new research, our report found that these grave problems have only grown worse since 2009 — and these problems are only made worse by entrenched drug war policies at the state and federal levels.
We arrest far too many veterans for drug law violations. A criminal record makes it all but impossible to get a job, housing, education, and other services — often creating a vicious cycle of addiction and incarceration. The latest data — from 2004 — shows that more than 140,000 veterans were in state or federal prisons with another 60,000 or more in local jails. As more veterans return from combat and separate from the military, experts predict that the number of incarcerated veterans will almost certainly increase.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-robelo/new-dpa-report-highlights_b_2119755.html
 

I am writing this on behalf of Ken Unger of O’Fallon because “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”
Like Mr. Unger, I am a 100 percent disabled military veteran who uses cannabis for its medicinal qualities in treating constant, severe pain. I live in New York state and every day is lived in fear because New York isn’t one of the 17 states that allow medical cannabis.
Mr. Unger was in the Navy and part of the invasion of Grenada. While helping to offload river patrol boats from his supply ship he was struck by a large crane hook. It was the beginning of his spinal disability and a lifetime of pain. For 13 years his pain was treated with morphine class drugs, but he was not able to function because of the side effects. He found cannabis to be a better, although illegal, alternative. Because his disability payments are minimal the only way he could afford cannabis was to grow his own, and so he learned how. He grew two plants in a locked room in his basement.
On Sept. 9, 2010, police came to his front yard and arrested him in front of his 10-year-old son and his friends and their neighbors. He was a sick man with three major heart attacks and six stents in his heart. Is this how we treat our disabled veterans?
Set Mr. Unger free and let him and his family move to a state where treating illness with one of nature’s safest remedies is not a crime.
Bruce Dunn, Morris, N.Y.
 
http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/opinion/letter-free-disabled-veteran/article_b63c6af3-e75f-556d-bd52-f3c0efd12584.html
 

 
Why are millions of harmless people incarcerated for smoking marijuana? Private corporations, whose lobbyists influence lawmakers, are making a killing from the imprisonment of average citizens. This un-American activity must be ended before more lives are wrecked.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0o-j8v3xtTM

Stephen Downing,a retired deputy chief of police for the Los Angeles Police Department and Terry Nelson, retired from Department of Homeland Security on why they support treating addiction as a health problem and are for the total legalization of drugs.
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dgEunrhm4Ys

 
By Steve Elliott

 
California medical marijuana defendant and activist Joe Grumbine was put in handcuffs and hauled off to jail at what was supposed to be a short scheduling hearing in court on Tuesday.

Cannabis Cheri/Facebook

Grumbine had cannabis in his possession — an amount he is legally allowed to have as a patient — according to Cheri Sicard, above, a fellow member of advocacy/court support group The Human Solution

JOHNNY GREEN
 
OREGON–(ENEWSPF)–November 13, 2012.  It’s a great time to be living in King and Pierce Counties in Washington State. More than 220 misdemeanor marijuana possession cases are being dropped in response to the passage of I-502. Not only are current cases being dropped, but law enforcement in those counties will be treating the law as if I-502 was already implemented going forward.

“The people have spoken through this initiative,” said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “And as a practical matter, I don’t think you could sell a simple marijuana case to a jury after this initiative passed.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/police-reports/38283-seattle-police-will-no-longer-arrest-anyone-for-marijuana-possession.html

(MONTGOMERY, Ala.) The Alabama Medical Marijuana Coalition is organizing a rally Wednesday in Montgomery, in hopes of legalizing marijuana in the state.
The rally will be held from noon until 3 p.m. Wednesday outside the Statehouse. There is also a hearing planned at 1 p.m. on HB2 The Alabama Medical Marijuana Patients’ Rights Act.
 
Full Article:
http://www.local15tv.com/news/local/story/Group-Plans-Rally-to-Legalize-Medical-Marijuana/aOPCcwSDV0SSrHHrmnr7GQ.cspx

Florida CAN Release

 
Tallahassee, FL -The Florida Cannabis Action Network is a statewide group, headquartered in Melbourne, Florida. FL CAN has spent over a decade promoting the value of the cannabis plant on our health, our economy and our environment. CAN members are concerned citizens using proven political tactics to implement sensible cannabis policies in their communities, around the state and at the federal level.
Florida CAN has a press conference at 9:45 am and will end their petition to the Attorney General at 11 am just prior to the meeting with the Attorney General’s team
 
Full Article:
http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/Florida-Cannabis-Action-Network–179114431.html

by The Daily Editorial Board

 

Our View: Oklahoma should follow Colorado and Washington in legalizing recreational marijuana.

You may have missed it amidst all the giddy cheers and apocalypse woes of election night, but voters in Washington and Colorado chose to legalize recreational marijuana use within those states.

It may seem that, left toitself, Oklahoma will be the very last state to consider such a move. But that shouldn’t be the case.

Oklahomans like to say they support limited government, and it certainly seems to be true in many circumstances. So shouldn’t the Sooner state rally around an individual’s right to control his or her personal behavior — just as the state recently rallied in support of open carry?

Though the field of research is complicated and in places incomplete, it is clear that marijuana is less addictive than cigarettes and less harmful to the body than both tobacco and alcohol. Given the similarities marijuana shares with these legal and largely culturally accepted products, marijuana prohibition seems irrational.

It looks even less rational when you consider the resources involved in the marijuana segment of the drug war. In 2010, police made 853,838 arrests for marijuana-related offenses, according to the FBI’s annual report. Of those charged with marijuana violations, 88 percent were arrested for offenses involving only possession, not manufacture or sale.

 
Full Article:
http://www.oudaily.com/news/2012/nov/12/ourviewmarijuana/