While the West carries on its steady course towards legalisation, piggybacking on the ever-increasing awareness of marijuana’s medicinal properties, Japan’s cannabis laws remain resolutely harsh. However, a recently discovered loophole allows for the non-psychoactive compound, CBD, to be imported and consumed within Japan. CBD, which has numerous health benefits, is extracted from the stalk of the plant, whereas Japanese law only forbids use of the plant’s leaves and flowers.
Full Article:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/vice-special/the-battle-for-medical-marijuana-in-japan
Month: May 2014
Stevia Corp.’s Subsidiary Completes Successful Extraction of Cannabidiol (CBD) From Industrial Hemp in Laboratory
INDIANAPOLIS, IN–(Marketwired – May 7, 2014) – Stevia Corp.(OTCQB: STEV) (“Stevia Corp” or the “Company”), an international farm management company focused on the economic development of products that support a healthy lifestyle, including stevia and hemp, is pleased to announce the Company’s Hong Kong subsidiary, Stevia Technew Ltd, has successfully extracted cannabidiol (CBD +0.81%,news) from industrial hemp grown in China where 70% of the world’s hemp supply is grown. Leveraging the Company’s experience extracting and refining steviol glycosides from the stevia plant, Stevia Technew intends to work with local partners to transition CBD extraction from laboratory to commercial scale production.
Full Article:
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=MW&date=20140507&id=17595380
Colorado group to offer free marijuana to veterans suffering from debilitating injuries
(Photo: MGN Online)
WOODLAND PARK, Colo. — Operation Grow4Vets has launched the program Project Better Medicine, which will provide free marijuana, edibles and homegrown equipment to veterans in hopes of reducing drug overdose and suicide deaths.
All veterans living in Colorado and under treatment at a VA facility are eligible to enroll.
Full Article:
Nevada Supreme Court delays action on rules to protect medical marijuana lawyers
Nevada Supreme Court justices said Tuesday they won’t rush into approving rules allowing attorneys to advise clients on medical marijuana issues without fear of running afoul of professional conduct standards.
Justices during a 90-minute hearing raised concerns that blanket approval of a rule amendment proposed by the Nevada State Bar could have consequences beyond the immediate intent of easing the minds of lawyers who feel constrained to provide legal advice to local governments and clients hoping to get into the medical marijuana business.
The court took the matter under submission and signaled it may issue interim guidance before making a final determination on the rule amendment.
Full Article:
5 Nobel Prize Economists Call for End to Failed War on Drugs
Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com / bikeriderlondon
The war on drugs is a global disaster, ranging from mass incarceration to violent, billion-dollar cartels. It is a public health nightmare, and a social justice embarrassment that targets communities of color and locks them up for profit. When the UN General Assembly convenes its special session on drugs in 2016, it should take heed of a groundbreaking report released May 7, which exposes the injustices of the drug war.
Five Nobel Prize economists have weighed in on the repercussions of the global war on drugs, outlining “the effects of prohibition on security, drug prices, rule of law and public health,” according to a press release. It concludes that governments would make better use of their money and resources by supporting evidence-based policies, and calls on these governments to do so.
Full Article:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/5-nobel-prize-economists-call-end-failed-war-drugs
The war on drugs is a global disaster, ranging from mass incarceration to violent, billion-dollar cartels. It is a public health nightmare, and a social justice embarrassment that targets communities of color and locks them up for profit. When the UN General Assembly convenes its special session on drugs in 2016, it should take heed of a groundbreaking report released May 7, which exposes the injustices of the drug war.
Five Nobel Prize economists have weighed in on the repercussions of the global war on drugs, outlining “the effects of prohibition on security, drug prices, rule of law and public health,” according to a press release. It concludes that governments would make better use of their money and resources by supporting evidence-based policies, and calls on these governments to do so.
Full Article:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/5-nobel-prize-economists-call-end-failed-war-drugs
Casino operators told to avoid medical pot investments
By MICHELLE RINDELS Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nevada gambling regulators issued a notice Tuesday advising casino operators against investing in the state’s nascent medical marijuana industry.
Gaming Control Board member Terry Johnson sent a memo reminding licensees that the state has legalized dispensaries but federal law still prohibits manufacturing and distributing marijuana.
“Unless the federal law is changed, the board does not believe investment or any other involvement in a medical marijuana facility or establishment by a person who has received a gaming approval or has applied for a gaming approval is consistent with the effective regulation of gaming,” the memo said.
The involvement of casino operators in the medical marijuana industry “would tend to reflect discredit upon gaming in the state of Nevada,” the memo said.
Full Article:
Why Won’t the US Government Let Veterans Smoke Weed?
By Matt Taylor
We Americans love to send our armed forces, often recruited from black and Hispanic neighborhoods devoid of real economic opportunity, to fight in exotic foreign conflicts while we relax at home and consume things, unconcerned about the impact all that combat has on those citizens’ lives. So it should come as little surprise that the House of Representatives last Wednesday rejected an amendment to the annual bill funding veterans’ health care that would have permitted military doctors in states with medical marijuana already on the books to discuss pot treatment options with their patients.
The vote was tantalizingly close, however, with the amendment failing 222–195. In fact, 22 Republicans crossed over to join the majority of Democrats in favor of the proposal, which, according to medical studies, could help some of the millions of vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bipartisan tide of momentum for drug legalization, it seems, is reaching the highest levels of the federal government—and even threatening to rope in our sacred troops, whom we are apparently fine with risking life and limb in the desert so long as they never, ever get high.
Full Article:
http://www.vice.com/read/why-wont-the-us-government-let-veterans-smoke-weed
Las Vegas heavy hitters vie for medical marijuana licenses
By DAVID FERRARA and JAMES DEHAVEN LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Sig Rogich, president of The Rogich Communications Group Bill Hughes | Business Press
At the height of the “Just Say No” campaign in the war on drugs, Sig Rogich was a senior adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Now Rogich, who runs one of the most powerful public relations firms in Nevada, is part of a team looking to snag one of Clark County’s medical marijuana licenses.
“It was 30 years ago, a lot has changed,” Rogich, 69, said of his involvement with marijuana’s staunch political opponents. “They’re legalizing it in 22 states now.”
Full Article:
http://m.reviewjournal.com/news/nevada-and-west/las-vegas-heavy-hitters-vie-medical-marijuana-licenses
New York – Cops turn blind eye to pot smokers at Cannabis Parade
The city’s annual Cannabis Parade wafted pungently down Broadway on Saturday — with cops helpfully ignoring the billowing clouds of acrid pot smoke.
Some 400 marijuana fans, many openly smoking joints, gathered at high noon to march from 32nd Street to Union Square, where a legalization rally turned into an afternoon-long, music-filled smoke-in.
Their buzz was decidedly un-harshed by The Man.
“If they see anyone breaking the law, they’ll arrest them,” an NYPD spokesman said from Police Headquarters.
But at the rally itself — where participants waved “Legalize It” posters and a few more exuberant stoners cavorted in giant joint costumes — the cops adopted for a tacit all-toke, no-action policy.
“We have zero arrests, and we don’t plan on having any,” one sergeant told a Post reporter.
Full Article:
http://nypost.com/2014/05/04/cops-turn-blind-eye-to-pot-smokers-at-cannabis-parade/
Why Hemp, The Sustainable Wonder Crop, Is Sweeping The Nation
The Huffington Post | by Chloe Fox
There’s a new hemp trend sweeping the nation and it has nothing to do with thosebeaded friendship bracelets from the ’90s.
Twenty-three states have now enacted pro-industrial hemp legislation (Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the latest bill this past week), making the cousin crop to marijuana a national phenomenon. Since the beginning of the year, more than 70 bills related to hemp have been introduced in more than half of the country’s states. Passage of the recent Farm Bill, which legalized the crop for research purposes, further cleared the way for industrial hemp production.
Hemp, which is the same species as marijuana (Cannabis sativa) but contains little to no THC, was grown widely in America before anti-drug sentiment helped make it unpopular in the 1950s. Today, however, the nation’s turning tide on marijuana means its “sober cousin” is also making a comeback.
Hemp policy is “not just turning a corner,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told The Huffington Post earlier this year. “It’s turning a corner and running downhill.”
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/03/hemp-sustainable-crop_n_5243351.html