House considers erasing misdemeanor marijuana convictions by Washingtonians over 21


OLYMPIA, Washington — Lawmakers on Friday considered whether adults will be able to have misdemeanor convictions for marijuana possession thrown out if they were over 21 at the time of the offense.
The House’s Public Safety Committee began weighing a bill by Democratic legislators that would allow misdemeanor convictions for possessing 40 grams or less of marijuana to be set aside and dismissed. If it passes, the process to clear records would be different from the way other misdemeanors are expunged. Unlike those cases, a marijuana offender wouldn’t have to wait three years after completing the sentence to get the conviction wiped off the record.
 
Full Article:
http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/a0e747dd38b945c98166dc92629706c6/WA–Marijuana-Convictions-1st-Ld/

When These Clothes Wear Out, You Can Throw Them In Your Compost Bin

ADELE PETERS


 
Though a lot of clothing is made from natural fibers like cotton, most of it shouldn’t be tossed in a compost heap, thanks to things like dyes, buttons, and polyester tags. But Swiss manufacturer Freitag has designed a new line of clothing that’s safe for your garden or a city’s compost bins.
“It’s really the first 100% biodegradable textile,” says Oliver Brunschwiler from Freitag. “Most companies still have polyester thread in their clothing, but our thread is 100% biodegradable, as are our shirts buttons, which are made out of a nut. On the pants, themetal button can be screwed off and used again.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3040693/when-these-clothes-wear-out-you-can-throw-them-in-your-compost-bin

The Man Who Brought Hemp to Kentucky

By
gatewood_pic
 
Since the successful cultivation of the state’s first small-but-mighty legal “research” hemp crop early last year, politicians on both sides of the aisle have been eating hemp bars, talking about hemp-powered cars andexploring how hemp oil can help ease the pain of debilitating seizure disorders. There’s a new fervor around everything that could possibly be crafted with hemp — from rope to clothes — as the crop positions itself to potentially be the tobacco-replacing cash crop dreamed about by struggling farmers.
For those who have been watching the battle unfold, it seems to be a cruel twist of fate that hemp has gained thoroughbred-like momentum in the state two short years since the death of its colorful, decades-long champion: Gatewood Galbraith.
 
Full Article:
http://modernfarmer.com/2015/01/man-brought-hemp-kentucky/

Maligned and banned: The American comeback of industrial hemp

By Brooks Mencher

 
After serving nearly 80 years on narcotics charges, hemp is back, semi-legalized in the 2014 Farm Bill.
Its new age is a chemical renaissance. Experimental medicines extracted from hemp will treat epilepsy, migraine headaches, glaucoma, and diabetic and other nerve pain; there may even be applications for multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. The plant’s rough outer bast fibers, formerly waste, can be used in super-capacitors to store energy for electronic devices; these cooked carbon nanosheets, at least as efficient as current materials including graphene, were unveiled at the annual exposition of the American Chemical Society, held last summer in San Francisco.
More, its fibers and the cellulose-rich stem core are already producing high-impact car doors, higher-efficiency housing insulation and other building materials. And then there are cosmetics, soaps, oils, high-protein food and high omega-3 dietary supplements.
 
Full Article:
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Maligned-and-banned-The-American-comeback-of-6004906.php

New Study: Cannabis Use May Lead to a Lower BMI



 
study recently published in Obesity in December 2014 presents evidence that cannabis use may lead to lower rates of obesity.
Researchers used data gathered in 2004 from 786 Inuit adults, using the Nunavik Inuit Health Survey, and found that use was very common, with 57.4% of adults being cannabis users. They also found that cannabis use was associated with:

  • a lower body mass index (BMI)- i.e. users weigh less than non-users for their given height
  • a lower percentage of fat mass
  • a lower amount of insulin in the blood when not eating, suggesting a decreased chance of having/developing prediabetes
  • a lower homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), a measure of insulin resistance, also suggesting a decreased chance of having/developing prediabetes

Full Article:
http://www.medicaljane.com/2015/01/09/new-study-cannabis-use-may-lead-to-a-lower-bmi/

Sativex Fails In Cancer Pain Study, GW Pharmaceutical Shares Plummet

by
sativex marijuana
 
Marijuana opponents always try to make it sound like all we need is cannabis derived pharmaceutical products, and that legalizing the entire plant for medical purposes is a waste of time. One product that they point to early and often is Sativex. There’s just one major problem with their argument – Sativex doesn’t work the same as using the entire cannabis plant. That was proven in a recent study, during which Sativex failed to help cancer patients deal with their pain.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/sativex-fails-in-cancer-pain-study-gw-pharmaceutical-shares-plummet/

Halifax couple constructs eco-friendly home

CTV Atlantic

 
A Halifax couple has undertaken the task of building their own home and using eco-friendly materials to do it.
Kate Varsava and Noel Taussig’s new home looks like any other house under construction, but the materials used to build these walls are far from typical.
“We seized the opportunity to build with the material we were most attracted to,” says Varsava.
That material is called hempcrete and is primarily made from hemp.
 
Full Article:
http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/halifax-couple-constructs-eco-friendly-home-1.2181609

Native American Pot Farming Imminent in California?

By David Downs

Kosher Kush (shown above) could soon be growing on tribal lands in Northern California. - DAVID DOWNS
 
Are California’s native Americans getting ready to grow Amsterdam marijuana?
That seems likely according to the Lost Coast Outpost’s Hank Sims, whowrites this week about an imminent deal to bring medical cannabis cultivation to a Northern California reservation.
A Department of Justice memo publicized in December instructs prosecutors to ignore America’s indigenous tribes that lawfully grow medical marijuana on reservations in states where it is legal.
 
Full Article:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2015/01/08/native-american-pot-farming-imminent-in-california

Neal Pollack’s Reefer Roadtrip from Texas to Free America (aka Colorado)

By , The Cannabist Staff

 
The sun had already gone down by the time we crossed the golden border from New Mexicoto Colorado. Rich and I looked at each other knowingly. For the first time in our lives, we could legally smoke marijuana in our home country. And all it took was driving a minivan through a mountain pass.
“I don’t have any weed on me,” he said. “But if I did, it would be O.K.”
I opened the window and breathed the sweet mid-December mountain air. Pueblo, the first place across the border where you could buy pot, was still nearly 100 miles away. We followed our Tom-Tom directions, getting increasingly excited as we headed toward a new and glorious future.
We had arrived in Free America.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/01/05/neal-pollacks-weed-loving-roadtrip-texas-free-america-aka-colo/26526/