by TheJointBlog

 
The Argentina federal government, with support from President Cristina Kirchner, has begun work on two proposals aimed at legalizing  the personal possession of all drugs, and to legalize the private cultivation of cannabis. The plan is to have the proposals finished, and in front of Congress, by the year’s end, according to Argentine newspaper La Nacion.
 
Full Article:
http://thejointblog.com/argentina-president-endorses-proposals-legalize-drug-possession-cannabis-cultivation/
 
 

Conor Friedersdorf

 
The most eclectic gathering spot in Boulder, Colorado, is the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian thoroughfare at the heart of downtown. Alongside its relatively pricey stores and restaurants, there is an outdoor concert venue, a children’s play area, and the seat of county government. Activists stand on Pearl Street seeking signatures; street performers treat its sidewalks as a stage; drunk collegians spill from bars to sit drunk on its planters; homeless people sleep nearby. Amid it all I spotted Texas Fred, a 68-year-old on a late-night stroll. A thin man with aviator eyeglasses and shoulder-length gray hair, he wore a floral-print shirt and held a guitar case like it was his most valued possession. It was almost 11 p.m. when I approached asking if I could talk with him about cannabis. Fred wasn’t surprised. “Everything about me screams, ‘He smokes marijuana!’” he said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/08/life-with-legal-weed/375966/

Susan Chenery theguardian.com

Elspeth Jones and Michael Balderstone, partners in the destroyed Nimbin Museum. ‘Maybe we can get a normal museum now.’ Photograph: Susan Chenery
 
The facades are faded now, but no less optimistic. The murals of the rainbow serpent dreaming and marijuana bliss, gleefully painted across the shops in the main street of Nimbin in the heady days of the early 1970s, remain.
The faces are weathered, the long hair and beards grey, the idealism tempered by time – but not entirely lost. The dream of living an alternative life in harmony with the earth never died in Nimbin. Dreadlocks and beads wander down the main street in a time warp so perfectly preserved that it feels like an acid trip flashback.
“Soup and hugs”, says a blackboard outside the neighbourhood centre as down the street the heart of the town smoulders in ruins, a mass of twisted metal and charred wood.
The ruins of the Rainbow Cafe and Nimbin Museum, engulfed in flames early on Wednesday morning, are a crime scene screened off as police sift through the ashes.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/14/peace-and-love-still-blossoms-among-the-ashes-of-nimbin

By NJ Weedman, For The Trentonian

Photo illustration from NJWeedman.com 
 
During my 30+ years of smoking marijuana, I’ve often said: If I were rich, I’d invest in marijuana-legalization efforts. Many celebrities have likely said it too, but when they get rich and find themselves above the law, they forget. But while they get great legal defenses and continue on with life, their poor childhood friends still go to jail and have their lives ruined. You want to give something back to the hoods? Support a Cannabis Candidate, support legalization.
 
Full Article:
http://www.trentonian.com/opinion/20140813/nj-weedmans-passing-the-joint-there-is-a-reefer-revolution-going-on-where-are-the-weed-smoking-celebrities

NewsOn6.com – email

 
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has announced she will ask lawmakers to work with her in the next legislative session to support legalization of medicinal cannabidiol oil (CBD) on a limited, medically supervised, trial-only basis, according to a news release.
 
Full Article:
http://www.newson6.com/story/26269561/oklahoma-governor-announces-support-for-medical-marijuana

 
Industrial hemp, the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana, can play a role in manufacturing super-powerful supercapacitors for energy storage at a cost that’s far cheaper than graphene, researchers report. The hemp-based technology took center stage Tuesday at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Francisco. A team led by David Mitlin, an engineering professor at Clarkson University, heated up hemp fibers to create carbon nanosheets that can be used as electrodes for supercapacitors. Compared with graphene, the hemp-derived carbon is “a little bit better, but it’s 1,000 times cheaper,” Mitlin told NBC News.
 
Full Article:
http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/far-out-hemp-could-power-better-super-batteries-n178741
 

By Mary Beth Quirk

(sonyaseattle)

After the Seattle Police Department announced at the end of July that a police officer had been reassigned and was under investigation for issuing 88% of the city’s marijuana citations, the city attorney is telling anyone who got a ticket to contest it.
Even if residents cited for various marijuana violations — like smoking in public — weren’t one of the 66 ticketed by the officer in question, City Attorney Pete Holmes says they should request a hearing to contest the ticket.
 
Full Article:
http://consumerist.com/2014/08/11/seattle-city-attorney-anyone-whos-gotten-a-ticket-for-marijuana-should-fight-it/

AARP The Magazine

 
“I’ll probably take a couple of hits before or after the show tonight. It relaxes me, and the medicinal form of pot can cure everything from stress to cancer. It’s a shame that it was thrown in with the other hard drugs. Now that the legalization has proven successful in Colorado and in Washington state, it’s just a matter of time before it’s legal everywhere. There’s a lot of money to be made from it, number one.”
 
Full Article:

http://www.aarp.org/entertainment/music/info-2014/willie-nelson-country-music-legend.html

By Susan McIver

The two-year-old Summerland, B.C., girl whose family is feeding her illegal cannabis oil has had a dramatic improvement in her seizure disorder.

Kyla Williams’ family says in the past five months the oil given to the girl has greatly reduced the hundreds of seizures she was suffering from daily.

“We were astonished and so thankful when Kyla no longer had any seizures or only a very few each day. Her overall condition continues to improve both physically and mentally. Kyla is alert, increasingly socially interactive and loves sucking her thumb,” Kyla’s mother, Courtney Williams said.

Full Article:

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4754121-epileptic-girl-makes-dramatic-recovery-family-pushes-for-pot-oil-research/

Ishi Khosla 

 

The value of hemp seeds lies in their exceptionally high levels (30 per cent) quality of protein, second to soybean. Interestingly, unlike soybean, hemp seeds do not contain phytic acid (an anti-nutrient that prevents us from absorbing essential minerals like iron). The protein quality is high with all essential amino acids. Globulin and albumin — proteins that can be easily digested — are the chief constituents.

Hemp seeds are high in Arginine, an essential amino acid known to improve heart health and protect from heart disease.

Full Article:

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/hemp-is-the-new-health-superfood-on-the-block/1277852/0