Springfield, Missouri City Council Considers Reducing Marijuana Penalties

By John Payne, Show Me Cannabis
 
SPRINGFIELD, MO — As you probably recall, last summer we helped activists in Springfield gather signatures to put an initiative petition before the Springfield City Council that reduced penalties on possession of less than 35 grams of cannabis. The council was supposed to have two options: Either vote for the measure and make it law, or vote against it and send it to the city’s voters in November.
Mo_springfield
 
Instead, the council invented a third option: Vote for the measure, simply to repeal it at their next meeting for the express purpose of keeping the voters from having their say.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/17854/mo-springfield-city-council-considers-reducing-marijuana-penalties/

Critics Blast U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag for Berkeley Patients Group Harassment

David Downs

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag
 
Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates took local U.S. Attorney (and rumored Berkeley resident) Melinda Haag to task Wednesday for harassing Berkeley Patients Group. The popular, permitted medical cannabis dispensary in Berkeley faces federal forfeiture efforts from Haag yet again, leading to a press conference yesterday where town leaders defended the Better Business Bureau member and ripped on the U.S. Attorney.
 
Full Article:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2013/05/09/critics-blast-us-attorney-melinda-haag-for-berkeley-patients-group-harassment-criminal-murderous-helps-drug-cartels

Medical Marijuana Use Can’t Cost Parents Custody

By: Associated Press

 
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says parents who use medical marijuana aren’t disqualified from having custody of children or visiting them.
But Schuette says the immunity isn’t absolute. He says it’s appropriate for a judge to determine whether there are unreasonable dangers for children, similar to a parent’s approved use of other controlled substances.
 
Full Article:
http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/Medical-Marijuana-Use-Cant-Cost-Parents-Custody-207014831.html#.UZRagqLOlLo

Marijuana treated as a lost and found item on Seattle buses

Metro bus drivers in King County have been told to treat marijuana as a lost and found item when its found on a bus route. Amounts over 1 ounce are turned over to Seattle police. (Getty Images)
 
Metro bus drivers have been given new instructions for lost marijuana: turn it into the lost and found.
In Nov. 2012, a statewide ballot initiative approved adults age 21 and older to have up to one ounce of usable marijuana.
Even before that, Metro would occasionally find marijuana left on buses – typically small amounts in backpacks or film containers, sometimes with a pipe. That was turned over to police, and amounts over 1 ounce still will be, Metro spokesman Jeff Switzer said Friday.
 
Full Article:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/marijuana/2013/05/10/marijuana-treated-as-a-lost-and-found-item-on-seattle-buses/

Republic of Georgia considers legalizing marijuana, minister says

The Republic of Georgia is considering the legalization of marijuana, a government minister said Friday.
David Sergeyenko, minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, pointed out “ban-related mechanisms,” such as Georgia’s laws against marijuana, “often entail a ricochet effect, which means strengthening and development of other directions,” a reference to distinguishing marijuana from other drugs. He added the issue requires a “well-considered strategy” and said the legalization of marijuana could be a part of it.
Full Article:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/05/10/Republic-of-Georgia-considers-legalizing-marijuana-minister-says/UPI-56231368211051/

Hemp-farming registry bill passes; first plants are bound for the ground

By Melanie Asmar
hemp cover 205x205.jpg
 
A bill to register hemp farmers with the state has been approved by lawmakers. Now all it needs is the governor’s signature before a nine-member committee can begin assisting the Department of Agriculture in developing a process that will allow the good people of Colorado to engage in widespread planting.
“It feels really, really great,” says advocate Lynda Parker, who was featured in our cover story, “Green Acres,” about the the legalization of hemp in Colorado, which was made possible by Amendment 64.”My goal has been to see Colorado hemp farmers put seeds in the ground without interference from the federal government,” adds Parker, a retired Yellow Pages saleswoman who believes in the fibrous plant’s potential to serve as a healthy, environmentally-friendly source of food, fiber, fuel and more.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2013/05/hemp-farming_registry_bill_passes.php

Colorado Legislature Passes Sentencing Reform Bill

By Phillip Smith
Colorado State Prison
 
DENVER, CO — In the final week of Colorado’s legislative sessions, while all the attention was focused on passing marijuana commerce regulations, the state legislature quietly passed a measure designed to reduce the number of drug offenders sent to prison and save the state money.
Senate Bill 250 had passed the Senate in April, the House passed it with amendments last Friday, and the Senate concurred with the House version Monday.
The bill creates a separate sentencing system for drug offenders and allows people convicted of some felony drug charges to be sentenced to probation and community-based sentencing and see that felony charge changed to a misdemeanor conviction upon completion of probation.
It also creates an “exhaustion of remedies” requirement for some drug offenders. That means they must have already participated in several other forms of treatment and sentencing before being sentenced to prison.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/17777/colorado-legislature-passes-sentencing-reform-bill/

Kentucky Hemp Lobby Makes Inroads In Washington

 ryan@huffingtonpost.com
 lucia@huffingtonpost.com
 
WASHINGTON — A chance encounter at last weekend’s Kentucky Derby may have given the hemp industry the break it’s been looking for since the crop was banned in 1970, when the federal government classified it as a controlled substance related to marijuana.
Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer, a Republican, told The Huffington Post that he was at a private pre-derby party on Saturday when he found himself chatting with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his chief of staff Mike Sommers. Comer talked shop.
The topic at hand was the fate of the hemp industry in Kentucky, which could become the first state in the nation to successfully lobby for federal approval. Boehner and Sommers were interested enough to invite Comer and the chief supporters of the state’s legalization bill to a meeting in Washington.
On Tuesday night, Boehner sat down with Comer and the bill’s lead backers, Republican state Sen. Paul Hornback and Democrat Jonathan Miller, a former Kentucky state treasurer who currently serves on the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission (and who also moonlights as a HuffPost blogger). Sommers confirmed the meeting took place.
According to Comer, Boehner told the trio he would talk with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about how a federal bill might be moved forward to remove hemp from the list of controlled substances. On Thursday, Comer and the Kentucky legislators plan to meet with McConnell, who surprised observers back home by endorsing Hornback’s hemp bill, a move that quickly brought the state GOP in line.
The most likely path to passage for hemp legislation runs through the farm bill, as an amendment. That bill goes up for debate in the Senate Agriculture Committee next week — fortuitous timing for hemp.
“I was impressed with his knowledge of this issue,” Comer said of Boehner. “At the end he said, ‘This is funny, because this issue’s been around a long time. My daughter was talking about this 15 years ago.’ So this is something he knows a lot about. And the difference today, as opposed to 10 years ago, is the only people who were pushing this issue 10 years ago were the extreme right or left, or people who wanted to legalize marijuana.” Comer spoke with HuffPost and a Roll Call reporter in the office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), their home base while they’re in Washington, working with the group Vote Hemp, which advocates on behalf of the industry.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/kentucky-hemp-lobby-washington_n_3240178.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

Hemp Food’s prospects smokin’ with export focus

Ray Chesterton
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Hemp Food Australia managing director Paul Benhaim.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Hemp Food Australia managing director Paul Benhaim.
 
BANGALOW-BASED Hemp Foods Australia is on the verge of a potential employment boom as the company explores overseas markets.
The company is an importer and retailer of hemp-based food and nutritional products and recently invested $230,000 into a new facility at Bangalow already working near capacity.
Managing director Paul Benhaim said much of the employment projections for the business on the NSW Far North Coast rested with interest shown in the company’s products by Asia and North America.
“We should have a decision in three months or so,” he said.
“The company is going very well.
“It has its challenges but people are loving our products.
“We’re struggling to keep up with current demands.”
He said the company’s initial expectations of increased employment had jumped from a current level of five people plus contractors to around 30 in a couple of years.
“We’re confident we will become market leaders in the southern hemisphere in our specialised products,” Mr Benhaim said.
“The potential to support Australian farmers is huge.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/prospects-smokin-with-export-focus/1862681/