Denver to host scavenger hunt for pot

by Oscar Pascual

 
Colorado is known for its big game hunting and legalized marijuana. Now you can experience both at the Nug Hunt — Denver’s first marijuana scavenger hunt — taking place in January.
Clothing company Hemp House has put together this event that invites everyone to scour the city’s nooks and crannies for hidden marijuana treasure.
 
Full Article:
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2014/12/17/denver-to-host-scavenger-hunt-for-pot/

Minnesota – Medical Marijuana Group Petitions Against Charges

(credit: CBS)
 
A group advocating medical marijuana is delivering a petition to the Lac qui Parle County attorney asking him to drop charges against a woman charged after giving her son cannabis oil for his pain.
Minnesotans for Compassionate Care says it’s has collected nearly 9,000 signatures in support of Angela Brown, who has been charged with child endangerment. Her 15-year-old son suffers from a traumatic brain injury.
 
Full Article:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/12/16/medical-marijuana-group-petitions-against-charges/#.VJByjshXJBA.facebook

Way Beyond Brownies: Vice Launches A Marijuana Cooking Show

“Nonna Marijuana’s Italian Feast” is the first episode of a Web series exploring pot cuisine. It features a charming 91-year-old grandmother who cooks cannabis Italian food infused with love.
 

Aurora Leveroni, 91, is also known as Aurora Leveroni, 91, is also known as “Nonna Marijuana.”
 

On Sunday, my mother sent me an email: “OMG! Watch this unbelievable cooking show!”
It wasn’t spam, and my mother, who’s 65, does not use OMG lightly.
The fuss was over a 20-minute video about a 91-year-old grandmother who cooks Italian classics in marijuana-infused butter.
It’s the first episode in a new series called Bong Appetit from Munchies, Vice Media’s food channel. Vice is the media company that aspires to be “the largest network for young people in the world.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/370971706

Texas Legislature Will Consider Reducing Penalties for Marijuana Possession


Texas State Representative Joe Moody (D–El Paso) introduced a bill Monday that would reduce state penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Representative Moody announced the details of the bill at a news conference hosted by Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy. He was joined by retired Texas District Court Judge John Delaney and representatives from the coalition including ACLU of Texas, Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, and the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Our current marijuana policy in Texas just isn’t working,” Rep. Moody said. “We need a new approach that allows us to more effectively utilize our limited criminal justice resources. This legislation is a much-needed step in the right direction.”
The proposed law would remove the threat of arrest, jail time, and a criminal record for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of $100. Under current Texas law, individuals found in possession of less than two ounces of marijuana can be arrested and given a criminal record, and they face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
 
Full Article:
http://www.bigcountryhomepage.com/story/d/story/texas-legislature-will-consider-reducing-penalties/82365/AITYqzCAhU6QEy8YUq0aMA

13 Years for Two Joints? Louisiana Gov. Jindal Needs to Correct Injustice With Clemency


JINDAL
 
As a former prisoner who served 12 years of a 15-to-life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime in New York, I know all too well the draconian nature of the war on drugs.
I was lucky enough to be granted executive clemency in 1997. Since my release I have continued to advocate for prisoners who are stuck in prison, sentenced to tremendous amounts of time for small amounts of drugs.
This year, one case in particular stands out and cries for justice — the case of Bernard Noble who was sentenced to 13.3 years of hard time for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes.
Earlier this year the Drug Policy Alliance tried to help by filing a friend of the court brief in the Louisiana Supreme Court, calling for judicial relief for Bernard Noble.
After Noble’s appeal was denied, many are calling on Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal to grant Noble executive clemency.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-papa/13-years-for-two-joints-l_b_6328006.html

Congress Passes Historic Medical Marijuana Protections In Spending Bill



Congress dealt a historic blow to the United States’ decades-long war on drugs Saturday with the passage of the federal spending bill, which contains protections for medical marijuana and industrial hemp operations in states where they are legal.
The spending bill includes an amendment that prohibits the Department of Justice from using funds to go after state-legal medical cannabis programs. If the bill is signed into law, it will bring the federal government one step closer to ending raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, as well as stopping arrests of individuals involved with pot businesses that are complying with state law.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/14/congress-medical-marijuana_n_6317866.html
 

Reservations Can Grow and Sell Marijuana

By Alyssa Terry
By Alia Willson


 

The federal government gives the okay for tribes to grow and sell marijuana on reservations – even in states that have not legalized the drug.
But tribes in the Dakotas don’t seem interested in getting a jump on it. Just this year, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council rejected a proposal to allow marijuana on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault says the tribe might consider marijuana’s cousin, hemp, but the federal government would have to allow interstate transport for it to be a profitable venture.
Full Article:

Light up Lebanon! Lebanese MP says it’s time to legalize pot

Jumblatt argues the legal cultivation and sale of cannabis could help struggling farmers, who he says were making profits off the cultivation before international authorities cracked down. (AFP/Pablo Porciuncula)
 
MP Walid Jumblatt has renewed calls to legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
In a tweet late-Saturday, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party wrote that the time has come to sanction pot and end the state’s prosecution of its sellers.
“It is time to allow for the cultivation of marijuana, and to drop the right to issue arrest warrants against people who work in this field,” the prominent Druze later said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/light-lebanon-lebanese-mp-says-its-time-legalize-pot-632404

California Medical Association Votes Unanimously Against Denying Organ Transplants for Medical Marijuana Patients

California-Medical-Association-CMA-logo
 
December 8, 2014. The California Medical Association (CMA) voted unanimously this weekend to urge transplant clinics in the state against removing patients from organ transplant lists based on their medical marijuana status or use. The CMA House of Delegates was in San Diego this weekend for its annual meeting, and voted Saturday on Resolution 116-14 in support of patients’ ability to remain on transplant lists despite their medical marijuana use.
 
Full Article:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/57418-california-medical-association-votes-unanimously-against-denying-organ-transplants-for-medical-marijuana-patients.html

The Secret History of Cannabis in Japan

Jon Mitchell

Today Japan has some of the strictest anti-cannabis laws in the world.
Punishment for possession is a maximum 5 years behind bars and illicit growers face 7-year sentences. Annually around 2000 people fall foul of these laws – their names splashed on the nightly news and their careers ruined forever. The same prohibition that dishes out these punishments also bans research into medical marijuana, forcing Japanese scientists overseas to conduct their studies.
For decades, these laws have stood unchallenged. But now increasing numbers of Japanese people are speaking out against prohibition – and at the heart of their campaign is an attempt to teach the public about Japan’s long-forgotten history of cannabis.
 
Full Article:
http://japanfocus.org/-Jon-Mitchell/4231