Seminar homes in on benefits of hemp

By JOCE DeWITT Corvallis Gazette-TimesSeminar hones in  on benefits of hemp
Anndrea Hermann gives a presentation Oregon State University on Tuesday about the online course about industrial hemp that she will be offering spring term. (Andy Cripe | Corvallis Gazette-Times)
 
Industrial hemp expert Anndrea Hermann gave Oregon State University faculty members and students a sneak peek Tuesday at a class she’ll offer through OSU’s Ecampus about the benefits of uses of the plant.
The preview came in the form of a seminar titled “Industrial Hemp Today, Where We Are, Where We’re Going,” and it offered context for the online class, which will be offered this spring through the College of Forestry. It will focus on the botany and biology of hemp, as well as the implications of legal and social issues surrounding its use.
 
Full Article:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/education/seminar-homes-in-on-benefits-of-hemp/article_3a9b568e-337e-11e2-8779-001a4bcf887a.html?comment_form=true
 

Federal Pot Prisoners Will Not Be Home for the Holidays

by Debby Goldsberry

Eddy Lepp
 
After victories in Colorado, Washington, and Massachusetts, cannabis reform advocates have a lot to celebrate. But, with an annual estimate of 850,000 cannabis arrests, the fight to end the War on Cannabis is far from over. After all, 36 states and the federal government still incarcerate people for simple possession of cannabis. Last year, in a policy no longer supported by the voters, the feds locked up more than 100 people for simple possession alone.
“Thanksgiving is upon us and X-MASS right behind. Hard to believe but its my 4th set of holidays in prison. Sure hope Santa brings good news and I get out soon,” says federal pot prisoner Eddy Lepp, in his weekly letter to supporters.
Lepp is part of a smaller subgroup of arrestee’s, the more than 6200 people sentenced to mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana cultivation and sales each year. Lepp is a well-known medical cannabis advocate, and some would say, a boundary pushing dreamer. Back in 2004, he was arrested by the feds for openly cultivating several acres of medical cannabis for patients in Lake County, California. Now, he will spend ten years locked up in a federal penitentiary, unless advocates can change the laws faster.
Green Aid, an Oakland, California, based nonprofit group, helps cannabis arrestees and prisoners, like Lepp, who are caught between state laws that legalize cannabis and the “zero-tolerance” federal laws. A former pot prisoner himself, Rosenthal was arrested for cannabis cultivation in 2002, and fought back against a 20-year mandatory sentence. Ultimately spending only one day in jail, he is branded a federal felon for life. Green Aid coordinates regular fundraisers and runs on a volunteer staff. But, Rosenthal is noticeably disappointed with the efforts to raise funds for people like Lepp, saying less than 1% of the groups 11,000 facebook members donate. He says supporters think “the next person will do it. They will raise all the money. It’s too much bother. I can’t afford it.” This leaves pot prisoners and their families to fend for themselves at the holidays.
 
Full Article:
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2012/11/21/federal-pot-prisoners-will-not-be-home-for-the-holidays/

The Photography Project Helping America Learn To Love Cannabis: ‘Medicine’ By Robyn Twomey

By 
jordan
 
While in Britain, the medicinal qualities of cannabis is still treated with scepticism by a society fond of imagining pallid teenage boys crouched behind wheelie bins sucking yellow smoke through a modified Vimto bottle, in America, acceptance of the drug’s benefits is growing.
In the shadow of the Obama/Romney battle for America’s soul, two pieces of legislation were quietly passed legalising marijuana in Washington and Colorado, pathing the way for all kinds of sufferers to treat their pain with the naturally occurring weed.
Rewind three years, and one photographer had already set out to challenge the kinds of misconceptions about cannabis and its users that typically impinge rational discussion about its uses.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11/21/cannabis-photography-project-robyn-twomey_n_2170904.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

Fox Developing Pot Legalization Movement Comedy From ‘Entourage’ Producers

By NELLIE ANDREEVA

 
The marijuana legalization movement gained major momentum in the recent November elections as measures to regulate the drug made it to the ballot in three Western states and passed in two — Colorado and Washington — with several others working on similar legislation. Now the grass-roots campaign will serve as the backdrop for a comedy in development at FoxThe Happy Tree, from former Entourage executive producers Rob Weiss, Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson, centers on a brilliant young corporate attorney who, after a nervous breakdown, quits his job and seeks a life of peace and serenity on Venice Beach only to find himself the unlikely voice for the marijuana “legalize it” movement.
 
Full Article:
http://www.deadline.com/2012/11/marijuana-legalization-comedy-series-development-fox-entrourage-producers/

Cops puzzled by ‘free dope’ left on roadside


 
Police are puzzled by the discovery of three garbage bags full of freshly-cut marijuana with a sign reading “Free dope. Mull up” dumped by a road on the New South Wales south coast.
A local man made the discovery on Bolong Road, near Nowra, on Saturday morning while on his way to go fishing.
Police say the bags contain around 16 kilograms of marijuana with a street value of around $90,000.
 
Full Article:
http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2012-11-20/cops-puzzled-by-free-dope-left-on-roadside/1048842

Let’s make an honest woman out of Mary Jane

By John-Ross Boyce

 
A cloud of smoke is swirling lazily over the states of Washington and Colorado right now. Midnight burrito sales in Denver are poised to go through the roof this month. Seattle just spent the whole weekend watching “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” reruns. Walla Walla finally understands why “Dark Side of the Moon” is the biggest headtrip of the 20th Century. Grand Junction just bought an old Spiral-Graph on eBay and when it arrives in the mail, man, it’s going to be epic. It’s official. Recreational marijuana, for the first time since the 19th century, is legal, if only in 2 states.
Meanwhile, America’s officially registered wet blankets are wringing their hands, terrified at some antiquated vision of reefer madness wreaking pungent havoc all over the countryside. Perhaps you count yourself among their ranks. You think that making an honest woman out of Mary Jane is going to incite violence and destruction in the streets. You think that legalizing weed will make it more accessible to children, whose futures will be snuffed out like so many roaches. You think that the evening news will be clogged with the names of unfortunate fools who met the Grim Reaper at the business end of a water pipe.
You’re wrong. That’s not what marijuana does. You’re thinking of alcohol, which is legal.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there are approximately 80,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol each year in the United States alone. Search the CDC’s website for deaths attributed to marijuana and you will find zilch. Because no one dies from smoking too much pot. They fall asleep in front of a b-grade Kung fu movie. In some extreme cases, they’ll throw up a little. Do you know that withdrawals from alcohol addiction can actually kill you? Because they can. Do you know what happens when you “withdraw” from marijuana? Taco Bell tastes less delicious.
 
Full Article:
http://www.uvureview.com/2012/11/19/lets-make-an-honest-woman-out-of-mary-jane/

Backyard pot grown for health – survey

Backyard pot grown for health - survey
 
The interim findings of a survey of backyard cannabis growers shows most grow it for medicinal purposes.
In the first study of its size in Australia, the National Drug Research Institute is conducting an anonymous online survey to find out more about people who grow small amounts of cannabis in their backyards, cupboards and sheds.
A research fellow at the institute, Monica Barratt, said about 250 people had taken part so far and it was hoped the responses would double in coming months before the information was collated and compared with similar studies in the US, Canada, the UK and across Europe.
‘The majority grow for personal use and also to avoid contact with criminals,’ Dr Barratt told AAP on Sunday, ahead of her presentation at a major alcohol and drug conference in Melbourne this week.
 
Full Article:
http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=817758