An EU project has developed biodegradable composite packaging reinforced with hemp and flax fibres for poultry and meat.
 
Full Article:
http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/Packaging/Project-develops-biodegradable-packaging-using-hemp-flax

Low VOC — 100% Green

Fibre Alternatives, manufacturers of hemp based construction materials, is proud to announce the market release of Hemp Shield Wood Finish and Deck Sealer™ — The first and only penetrating wood finish containing 100% hemp oil that is produced in the United States. Hemp Shield™ is suitable for wooden decks, fences, stairs, siding, shutters, furniture — anything wooden that is exposed to the weather. In extensive tests, Hemp Shield™ outlasted all comers, including the highest priced deck finish on the national market. Hemp Shield’s finish is extremely UV resistant, and the trans-oxide pigments used in shaded varieties of Hemp Shield™ provide long lasting color to your outdoor wood that does not hide the grain. Hemp Shield’s unique hemp oil formulation represents a major advance in preservation of outdoor wood — a back-to-the-future choice that, by reviving use of an agriculture based oil feed stock, has created a sustainable, environmentally friendly finish that outlasts the most expensive petroleum based finishes. Hemp Shield™ also resists environmental attacks from mildew, algae, and fungus, yet contains 0% volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) like formaldehyde, and no other hazardous air pollutants (HAP’s). Non-toxic, environmentally friendly Hemp Shield Wood Finish and Deck Sealer™ offers superior performance in a truly ‘green’ waterproofer and protectant for outdoor wood.
http://www.hempshield.net/
 

By Austin Briggs

 
It started on the forbidding terrain of Mars and is ending in the marijuana grow rooms of Colorado.

BY DANIEL HALPER
 
A list of rappers and stars, including Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Kim Kardashian, and many more, have written an open letter to President Obama to ask that he ease the nation’s drug policy. They also ask that prison policy be changed, too.
“During your presidency you have made important steps and you now have the opportunity to leave a legacy by transforming our criminal justice system to an intervention and rehabilitation based model. Many of those impacted by the prison industrial complex are among your most loyal constituents,” they write. “Your struggles as the child of a single mother allow you to identify with millions of children who long to be with their parents. We request the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these ideas further and empower our coalition to help you achieve your goals of reducing crime, lowering drug use, preventing juvenile incarceration and lowering recidivism rates. We stand with you, ready to do what is just for America.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/rappers-stars-ask-obama-ease-drug-policy-reform-prisons_716161.html?nopager=1

By Alex Ruiz

 
Where should recreational pot sold in Colorado come from? Lawmakers debating the hotly argued marijuana question came down on the side of flexibility Monday, voting to reject the state’s current medical marijuana model, which requires dispensaries to grow most of the pot they sell.
A special House-Senate committee set up to regulate pot made the decision on their final day. The committee voted to seek a bill allowing future pot businesses to specialize in just one aspect of the business if they wish, growing or distributing or retailing.
At issue is whether future recreational marijuana shops should be like liquor stores, which don’t have to make the products they sell. Some wanted marijuana shops to act like current medical marijuana dispensaries, which are required to grow 70 percent of the marijuana they sell.
The question sharply divided Colorado’s existing pot industry. A coalition of large-scale pot businesses argued to keep Colorado’s grow-your-own requirement. They argued it would give Colorado greater control over the state’s crop of the federally illegal drug.
“It makes sure that if you’re growing it, you have a legal way of selling it,” said Mike Elliott, head of the Denver-based Medical Marijuana Industry Group.
 
Full Article:
http://www.noco5.com/story/21919958/future-colorado-pot-shops

 
On Thursday, Representative Patricia Todd filed The Alabama Cannabis and Hemp Reform Act of 2013. The bill has been issued as House Bill-550 and assigned to the Alabama House Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security.
The Bill
The Alabama Cannabis and Hemp Reform Act of 2013, when passed would create a system of reasonable regulation that would end the criminal prohibition of both marijuana and industrial hemp in the state of Alabama.

• Personal use of marijuana:  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the following acts are not unlawful and shall not be an offense under Alabama law or the law of any locality within Alabama or be a basis for seizure or forfeiture of assets under Alabama law for persons twenty-one years of age or older
• Medical use of Marijuana: In the interest of patients’ rights, this bill would establish separate guidelines in the authorization of the medical use of marijuana only for certain qualifying patients who have been diagnosed by a physician as having a serious medical condition.
• Regulation of Hemp: In the interest of enacting rational policies for the treatment of all variations of the cannabis plant, the people of Alabama further find and declare that industrial hemp should be regulated separately from strains of cannabis with higher delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (thc) concentrations.

$1 Billion reasons why we should pass this bill!!!

• Conservative estimates show that the sales taxes produced from the commercial sales of marijuana would be more than $500 million per year.
• Passage of this bill would create more than 5000 new jobs.
• Passage of this bill would reduce prison overcrowding as well as costs to the court system.
• In total, this legislation should produce more than $1 billion in taxes and spending reductions per year.
• The state general fund budget for fiscal year 2013 is $1.39 billion

Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/rep-patricia-todd-files-groundbreaking-marijuana-legislation-in-alabama/

 
Experts from the telecoms and drug control regulators have approved the new wording of the Wikipedia article on cannabis smoking and will start the procedure of removing it from the black list of prohibited websites shortly, a telecoms watchdog (Roskomnadzor) representative told RIA Novosti.
“We received the new wording of the article on cannabis and sent it to the experts, who have decided that it now meets our requirements,” said Roskomnadzor representative Vladimir Pikov.
 
Full Article:
http://rapsinews.com/news/20130409/266957373.html

 
Darlene Mayes, a 74 year old grandmother in Oklahoma, was accused of being the ringleader of a multi-state drug operation. On Friday, at the request of her defense attorneys Josh Lee and Clint Ward, a judge dismissed the charges, according to court documents (case number CF-2012-69 in District Court of Craig County).
Last year, the arrest of Mrs. Mayes made television and print headlines around the world when, according to court documents, authorities accused her of possessing several pounds of marijuana and nearly $300,000 in cash. Attorney Josh Lee had maintained that Mrs. Mayes is innocent of the charges. Law enforcement officials, however, claimed that she was responsible for a large, multi-state drug operation that was possibly responsible for 40 percent of the marijuana trade in the Grand Lakes area.
 
Full Article:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/ganja-granny/2013-04/prweb10608296.htm

Wes Woods, Staff Writer 

RIVERSIDE — Lanny Swerdlow spent a recent day at the Presto Quality Care clinic asking patients to rate their pain.
The registered nurse measured their blood pressure and checked their heartbeat.
He then determined whether to give them the OK for a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana.
Besides being the clinic manager at Presto Quality Care, Swerdlow founded the nearby Inland Empire Patients Health and Wellness Center, a medical marijuana collective at the center of a state Supreme Court case in San Francisco that could determine if cities have jurisdiction to ban such facilities.
The city of Riverside has attempted to close the center because it prohibits such facilities in its zoning ordinance.
“The Health and Wellness Center is a very unique collective,” Swerdlow said.
“We call it the most important collective in the state of California because of the current case its involved in.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_22975751/activist-swerdlow-at-center-state-supreme-court-marijuana
 

by Johnny Green
 
I was elated to find out that part of the Moms for Marijuana Cannabis Quilt had been returned. However, the search is not over, as part of the quilt is still missing. Many of the media reports I saw come across twitter stated that the entire thing was returned, but our work is not done yet. Keep spreading the word!

 
http://www.theweedblog.com/part-of-the-moms-for-marijuana-cannabis-quilt-is-still-missing/