By Paul Schemm and Smail Bellaoualli, Associated Press

 
Kettama, Morocco – In the rugged Rif mountains, Abdelkhalek Benabdallah strode among towering marijuana plants, checking the buds for the telltale spots of white that indicate they are ready for harvest.
Much of the crop had been picked and left to dry on the roofs of stone-and-wood huts that dot the valley, the heart Morocco’s pot-growing region. Benabdallah says he openly grows the crop, while understanding the risk: “We are regularly subject to blackmail by the gendarmes,” he said as he scythed through stalks and wrapped them into a bundle.
Morocco’s marijuana farmers live in a strange limbo in which the brilliant green fields are left alone, while the growers themselves face constant police harassment. A new draft law may bring some reprieve: It aims to legalize marijuana growing for medical and industrial uses, a radical idea for a Muslim nation. It could alleviate poverty and social unrest, but the proposal faces stiff opposition in this conservative country, as well as the suspicions of farmers themselves, who think politicians can do nothing help them.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/10/07/morocco-mulls-legal-pot-growing-breaking-taboo/21038/

by WENN

 
Rocker Ryan Adams smokes cannabis to help him cope with an inner ear disorder.
The singer/songwriter suffers from Meniere’s disease, which causes debilitating dizzy spells, but he finds relief by puffing weed.
 
Full Article:
http://www.contactmusic.com/story/ryan-adams-uses-cannabis-to-cope-with-health-troubles_4399057

Frank Bouc

 
For states who have not made medical cannabis legal, they do not understand the significant pain endured by fibromyalgia patients. Many patients are shamed and labeled as hypochondriacs, but their pain is real, yet the level of medical response is not. The pain echoing in the muscles can cripple someone’s life, and yet in the nation of the free, millions of people suffer from a condition, where a viable treatment resides. More than five million Americans suffer from this condition, and more than 80 percent of those sufferers are women. Currently, only 23 states, and Washington D.C. have legalized medical marijuana.
 
Full Article:
http://www.viralglobalnews.com/health/cannabis-reduces-pain-from-fibromyalgia-studies-show/18779/

James DeHaven

 
Medical marijuana patients in much of rural Nevada will have a long drive to get their medicine, based on where applications for dispensaries were filed by groups seeking to enter the business.
Eleven of Nevada’s 17 counties, all of them rural, saw no dispensary applications at all. No applications for other related businesses, such as grow houses, were submitted either.
The counties with no applications filed with the state Division of Public and Behavioral Health Medical Marijuana Program are Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Pershing and White Pine.
Esmeralda and Humboldt county officials indicated a willingness to have a medical marijuana dispensary, while most others had rejected the idea.
State Sen. Tick Segerblom, D-Las Vegas, who authored the legislation creating the medical marijuana dispensary program during the 2013 legislative session, said geographical issues exist in Nye County as well. Pahrump and Tonopah have applications for dispensaries, but the county is allowed only one under the law, he said. It is a three-hour trip between the two cities.
 
Full Article:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/political-eye/long-pot-drive-ahead-rural-nevadans

By BEN BOTKIN
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

 
They came from near and far, converging in Las Vegas for a green-tinged celebration of hemp.
Some had green T-shirts or green socks. Images of marijuana plants were everywhere, on signs and T-shirts for sale.
One said “free my meds” above a picture of a marijuana plant. On the back it said: “We the people. Not the government.”
The occasion was the first Las Vegas HempFest, which unfolded at the Clark County Government Center’s amphitheater.
The upcoming start of the medical marijuana industry in Nevada gave attendees a reason to celebrate. Dispensaries will open, most likely in early 2015, after receiving approval from the state. Clark County and Southern Nevada cities already have approved applications for medical marijuana businesses.
 
Full Article:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/pot-news/thousands-drawn-vegas-green-hempfest