By: Christine VanTimmeren, Primetime Reporter

 
Oklahoma could soon become the third state in the nation, behind Colorado and Washington, to legalize recreational marijuana. A petition filed by Democratic State Senator Connie Johnson on Friday would make one ounce or less of marijuana legal.

“Here it is,” said Sen. Johnson. “It’s time for us to get up, get fired up, literally, and let’s go.” Supporters of Sen. Johnson’s Marijuana Legalization Act cheered in front of her at the State Capitol Friday afternoon.

Sen. Johnson says it’s about time Oklahoma updated its marijuana policies. She says prohibition didn’t work for alcohol and it’s not working for marijuana.
 
Full Article:
http://www.okcfox.com/story/25775024/sen-connie-johnson-unveils-recreational-marijuana-petition

By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau

 

A second marijuana petition was filed Friday with the Oklahoma Secretary of State.

Supporters hope to let voters decide whether or not marijuana should be legal in Oklahoma.

Another petition currently circulating seeks to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Both require 155,216 signatures.

Full Article:

http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepage4/petition-calls-for-legalizing-marijuana/article_a2bac6af-48ae-57fd-85cb-abafbe07444b.html

By Nathan Halverson

(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
 
U.S. casinos, including those in the Bay Area and throughout California, cannot accept bets from people working in the medical marijuana industry — unless these gamblers pass an extensive background check and have their bets regularly monitored by the federal government.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/06/12/2014/-medical-marijuana-banks-casinos-federal-regulation
 

By Marijuana Policy Project

 

New Mexico is considering rule changes that would make the medical marijuana program less transparent and less accountable.

The proposed rules would also make it harder for patients — many of whom are disabled veterans suffering from PTSD and chronic pain — to access their medicine. Thousands of seriously ill patients are worried that their medicine will be taken away.

Full Article:

http://www.thedailychronic.net/2014/33460/new-mexico-proposed-medical-marijuana-rule-changes-would-be-devastating-to-patients/

By Heather Sullivan – bio | email

 

These entrepreneurs hope to turn the Hemp Cog Cafe cart into a full restaurant at 202 West Broad Street in Richmond this fall and eventually open more cafes near college campuses.

“We will have a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. Things like hemp waffles, hemp pancakes, of course we’ll have the hemp dog, pot pies,” Sheaffer told us.

Full Article:

http://www.nbc12.com/story/25751307/hemp-dog-cafe-virginias-first-hemp-food-cart

 
Details about the initiative, ready-to-print PDF petitions, canvasser instructions, links to educational resources and info about the June 19 press conference at the state capitol are posted at http://www.gozarks.com/hemp
 
Full Article:
http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/06/13/the-grassroots-campaign-for-legal-marijuana

Reuters 

 

The Jamaican government has decided to decriminalise the possession of small amounts of marijuana, joining the trickle of countries moving to soften laws on the drug known on the Caribbean island as “ganja.”

Minister of Justice Mark Golding made the announcement at an afternoon news conference yesterday, saying that Jamaica’s Dangerous Drugs Act would be formally amended this summer.

The cabinet of Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller made the decision on June 2, he said.

“Cabinet approved certain changes to the law relating to ganja. These relate to possession of small quantities of ganja for personal use, the smoking of ganja in private places and the use of ganja for medical-medicinal purposes,” he said.

“Approval has been given also to a proposal for the decriminalisation of the use of ganja for religious purposes,” he said.

Full Article:

http://malaysiandigest.com/world/504825-jamaica-to-decriminalise-personal-marijuana-possession.html

Kaitlin Barger, KTHV

 

Rance Burger, Springfield

(Photo: Valerie Mosley/News-Leader)
 
Marijuana cost him an arrest, legal fees and his business, but Daryl Bertrand insists it saved his life. As he and his wife attempt to rebuild and provide for their family, they want to fight for the drug they say could keep Daryl’s pain at bay.
Daryl and Patricia Bertrand can be found living in Ozark raising their two teenage children. Their faces appear on an advertisement for Show-Me Cannabis, an organization seeking for a prohibition on marijuana to be lifted in Missouri.
Daryl Bertrand suffers from degenerative disc disease and stenosis of the spine. To date, he has undergone three spinal surgeries and expects to have more. He took prescription painkillers to manage the pain from his spinal disorders but says he suffered potentially deadly side effects.
“I can’t take anything; my liver shuts down,” Bertrand said. “On the second liver failure, they finally attributed it to the narcotic, the medication.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2014/06/12/ozark-couple-appears-pro-marijuana-billboard/10358823/
 

By Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun

 
If finance executives are worried about getting involved with medical marijuana clients, don’t tell Las Vegas banker John Sullivan.

First Security Bank of Nevada, led by CEO Sullivan, has signed on to manage cash and other banking transactions for would-be dispensary operatorGrowBLOX Sciences.
 
Full Article:
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/2014/6/11/this_las_vegas_bank_eager_to.htm