by Associated Press

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/archive/segment/john-legend-im-a-proud-member-of-the-marijuana-community/51c37df202a760295b000558

Dr. Sue Sisley, M.D

 
In November 2010, the citizens of Arizona passed Proposition 203, thereby establishing a medical marijuana program. Despite many delays, Arizona is now in the process of awarding licenses to nearly 100 new dispensary operators. Yet as patients eagerly anticipate regulated cannabis, they find themselves in the crosshairs of a political battle they should not have to fight.
Arizona doctors seeking to utilize the program for their patients’ care must turn to the limited scientific literature on the efficacy of medical marijuana. Despite great demand for more FDA-approved research from Arizona and elsewhere, obstructive federal regulations are creating enormous barriers to new research and thwarting peer-reviewed studies of medical cannabis.
The call to open up marijuana research comes from a diverse cross-section of the medical community. Among the organizations seeking new research are the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the American Nurses Association. In June 2012, the Arizona Medical Association joined these respected organizations in requesting the elimination of barriers to research.
Full Article:
http://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2013/06/21/lets-end-barriers-to-federally-regulated-cannabis-marijuana-research/

Screengrab (YouTube)
 
There is nothing that Martha Stewart can’t do. She can make a potato chip with a decorative leaf inside it. The woman befriended inmates in jail via crochet.
And so it stands to reason that when she smokes weed, she smokes weed right. The O.G. domestic goddessdid an interview with Andy Cohen of Bravo last week, and he asked her if she knew how to roll a joint.
 
Full Article:
http://laist.com/2013/06/21/martha_stewart_of_course_i_know_how.php

Chris Goldstein, PHILLY420 COLUMNIST

 
Marijuana will not legalize itself. That’s why senior citizens, military veterans, college students and some of the most seasoned cannabis reform activists in the country gathered to speak with members of Congress on Monday, June 17^th.
The “Lobby Days” were organized by campus organizers Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) and The Silver Tour, a marijuana advocacy group comprised of seniors.
Full Article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/philly420/Philly420_Marijuana_Legalization_Lobby_Day_at_the_US_Capitol_.html

By SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press

 
CHICAGO (AP) — When a constant, “sputtering” pain grips Jim Champion‘s arms and legs, the Army veteran says only one thing brings him relief: marijuana.
Champion, who suffers from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, hopes his experience with marijuana as medicine will help bring relief to other suffering veterans in Illinois. He’s told his story to Gov. Pat Quinn, who now faces a decision whether to sign a measure legalizing medical marijuana in the state.
The veteran, who met Quinn in 2011, says his illness started with blurred vision when he was in the military 25 years ago and ultimately left him a quadriplegic reliant on his wife for care. Pills he took to control pain, which causes violent tremors and leaves him at times unable to open his fists, killed his appetite and turned him “into a zombie,” he says. At the same time, the marijuana his wife adds to baked goods relaxed him.
“My nerves kinda shut off. They quit jumping, sputtering,” Champion said. “So far I’ve found no medicine that’s capable of doing that.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Veterans-key-to-medical-marijuana-lobby-efforts-4614744.php

BY ERIC STERN

 
In March of 2011, federal agents in hazmat suits — guns brandished and sirens blaring — raided dozens of marijuana greenhouses and dispensaries in Montana, and arrested citizens who were growing pot in accordance with the state’s medical marijuana law. It all happened without warning — unlike in California and other states where fair notice, and lead time, was given to folks so they could close up shop. The timing of the raids was highly suspicious. They took place on the very day — the very hour, in fact — that the Montana legislature was holding a much-anticipated hearing on how to tweak the medical marijuana statute, so as to cut down on recreational use and sham prescriptions, and also to clarify several parts of the law that were ambiguous.
 
Full Article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/21/why_is_an_obama_appointee_launching_an_anti_marijuana_crusade/

Johnny Green

 
Research released earlier this year, conducted by the University of Illinois Department of Medicine, found cannabis to be a helpful treatment for sleep apnea,  a condition in which an individual’s breathing slows down, or sometimes stops entirely during sleep and immediately after waking from sleep.
In summary, the research found that even minimal amounts of THC – one of the prime compounds of cannabis – greatly decreased the negative effects of sleep apnea, without any noticeable adverse effects.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/research-finds-cannabis-helpful-in-treating-sleep-apnea/

By Jonathan Kaminsky

 
(Reuters) – The regulatory board overseeing marijuana legalization in Washington State is leaning toward allowing licensed growers to raise the drug outdoors, citing the much higher carbon footprint of indoor and greenhouse cultivation, board members said.
The view, which all three members of the Washington State Liquor Control Board told Reuters they shared, represents a reversal from the draft pot industry rules the body issued last month.
“If they can provide the security parameters that we require for indoor or greenhouse, if they can provide for that outdoors, then it’s OK with me,” board member Ruthann Kurose said, after a public meeting on Wednesday.
 
Full Article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/20/us-usa-marijuana-washingtonstate-idUSBRE95J10E20130620?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=76

By Pete Kasperowicz
 
The House on Thursday morning approved a bipartisan amendment to the farm bill that would allow colleges and universities to grow and cultivate hemp for agricultural or academic research.
Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) and other sponsors of the bill said hemp is used industrially around the world, and can be found in thousands of products, many of which are sold in the United States. Hemp is a variation of the cannabis plant that has far lower concentrations of the psychoactive compounds found in marijuana.
“Yet somehow, it’s caught up in a completely unrelated drug war that prevents American farmers from growing this crop and forces us to import it from other countries,” Polis said Wednesday. “Our institutions of higher education can’t even grow or cultivate hemp for research purposes.”

Polis said his amendment would only take effect in states that have authorized hemp cultivation, and stressed that “hemp is not marijuana.”
 
An opponent of his language, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), said hemp production has been limited because it is difficult to distinguish it from the marijuana plant. “Even though the gentleman says hemp is not marijuana, I don’t know if one can tell the difference when it’s planted row by row out in the field,” King said.
Late Wednesday, House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said there has been some success splicing a gene into hemp plants that allow them to emit a fluorescent glow, making it easier to differentiate between it and marijuana.
“So now the hemp that grows is fluorescent, and so you can clearly tell the difference between the hemp and the marijuana,” Peterson said. “So we have solved that problem through research.”
Full Article:
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/306785-house-approves-hemp-cultivation-in-colleges-universities