Rebecca Brown

 
Every Friday in March, all the special needs kids in our local school district go bowling. It’s a special event for the kids, and they all really look forward to it. But my son has never been able to participate until today.
Cooper is 16, and his life has been difficult.
When he was 5 months old, he started having seizures. We tried a combination of approximately 27 different medications. We didn’t know at first that he had Dravet Syndrome, so we tried Lamictal (which is contraindicated for Dravet), and that was a year of increased seizures – it was awful. And then there were side effects…He had a kidney stone the size of a dime when he was 3, and proceeded to have them many more times after that, and had to have them removed with laser surgery. At 7, he had pancreatitis for the second time and it was so bad that he had to be hospitalized for 5 days on an IV, he couldn’t eat or drink.
But those were the good years.
 
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2014/03/24/cannabis-makes-my-kid-feel-normal-coopers-bowling-trip/

by: Paul Fassa

 
On November 18, 2013, an article reporting an amazing cannabis cure on a Californian approaching 80 years of age was published. The older gentleman’s name is Stan Rutner. It was an amazing story because of Stan’s condition.
The chemo and radiation were killing him and not doing much for his lung and brain cancers. He was wasting away, near death, and had to use bottled oxygen 24/7. Then, his son-in-law and daughter got Stan to try cannabis. The results were amazing.
 
Full Article:
http://www.naturalnews.com/044411_cannabis_cancer_cure_Stan_Rutner.html#

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uJsHcJ6pFk

Tim Worstall

 
There’s an interesting piece over at Fast Company ruminating on what the cost of a pack of legal cannabis joints would be. The answer they come up with is around $50, with perhaps the top end premium products at the $120 of the current marketplace. There’s a problem with this calculation though for in a properly and fully legal market the cost of a pack of joints will end up somewhere around 50 cents, not that $50 figure. The reason is that while consumption is newly legal in a couple of States production is not legal under Federal law anywhere. And we most certainly don’t yet have anyone (legally of course, the illegal stuff flows over the borders all the time) able to tap into the global market to source production. When it’s possible for that to happen then prices will very swiftly fall to that much lower level of only a few cents per spliff.
 
Full Article:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2014/03/22/global-capitalism-would-make-a-pack-of-fully-legal-cannabis-joints-cost-50-cents-not-50/

Samantha Chang

 
The Paleo diet is the most popular diet around today, with a huge celebrity following. Most people think it’s impossible to be vegan on the meat-heavy Paleo diet, but the authors of Paleo Vegan: Plant-Based Primal Recipes have proven otherwise.
 
Full Article:
http://www.examiner.com/article/paleo-vegan-cookbook-authors-say-you-can-eat-paleo-on-a-plant-based-diet

PBS Holdings announced a line of cannabis infused seasonings geared towards the Hispanic consumer.
In a release on March 18, the Company said that this will be the third addition to its cannabis edibles product line.
 
Full Article:
http://www.4-traders.com/PBS-HLDG-164208/news/PBS–to-Release-Cannabis-Infused-Seasonings-for-the-Hispanic-Market-18134736/

by: Joe Deshotel

 
 
On Thursday morning Kinky Friedman, Democratic candidate for Agriculture Commissioner, sat down for an interview with the Texas Tribune’s Evan Smith. Kinky is a well-known but polarizing figure finding himself in a run off with the unknown and plain named Jim Hogan who openly views himself as a protest vote after the party favorite failed to make it out of the first round. Kinky, who gained fame as a Texas outlaw, comedian, and entertainer, is finding that the most difficult part of landing his next big gig is having others take him seriously.
For all the right reasons Friedman wants to legalize pot and hemp which he has made the focus of his campaign but unfortunately doing so is not in the purview of the Texas Agricultural Commissioner. When pressed on this by Smith, he touted the economic and environmental benefits of farming hemp vs. Cotton, our state’s current largest cash crop. He said he spoke to many small farmers who were enthusiastic about the potential for a crop that used 50% less water without any of the pesticides.
He then went on the offensive asking why this Smith seem to be dismissing his policy position as if the “whole world wasn’t talking about this…Lots of candidates are talking about education, but I’m talking about how to fund It,” he said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14989/kinky-friedman-where-theres-a-weed-theres-a-way

By John Sajo
 
Last November I wrote an op-ed in the Oregonian where I seconded that newpaper’s call for the Oregon Legislature to refer a marijuana legalization measure to Oregon voters. The Oregonian, and other commentators, have argued that the legislature could write a better law than marijuana activists. Unfortunately, the Oregon Legislature has proved that idea completely wrong.
Last year the Legislature passed HB 3460 which would allow dispensaries and ordered OHA to create rules for the program. OHA began accepting dispensary license applications on March 3. Less than a week after 289 people paid a $4000 application fee, the Legislature partially reversed itself and passed SB 1531 which allows cities or counties to ban dispensaries for one year. SB 1531 also forbids medical marijuana products “packaged in a manner attractive to children” and now OHA has proposed rules that would effectively ban almost all medibles.
Way to go Oregon Legislature. First allow dispensaries. Then, right after people invest their life savings in new businesses, allow cities to ban them. Then make sure that no patients can obtain medibles in any form that is appealing. I guess they want to make sure that patients can only smoke marijuana, and not eat it. God forbid we let patients and their doctors decide what is the best way to use medical marijuana.
Thank god we have the initiative process. And the ability to vote out incompetent politicians.

Posted by David Hoppe

• COURTESY OF VOTEHEMP.COM

 
State legislators didn’t just write in an allowance for beer and wine at the State Fair during their most recent session. They also passed Indiana Senate Bill 357, legalizing the production of industrial hemp. Hemp, of course, is marijuana, albeit with an inconsequential ration of THC. Hemp is good for making all kinds of stuff, from clothing to soap. It was once a significant cash crop in Indiana, until, that is, the state caught reefer madness along with the rest of the country and drove it underground.
 
Full Article:
http://www.nuvo.net/Hoppe/archives/2014/03/21/pot-at-the-state-fair