Smoke That Pot Now, Chris Christie Tells Users in States That Allow It

 

 
Residents in U.S. states that have legalized marijuana should toke up while they still can, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said.
“If you’re getting high in Colorado today, enjoy it,” Christie, a Republican campaigning for the 2016 presidential nomination, said Tuesday during a town-hall meeting at the Salt Hill Pub in Newport, New Hampshire. “As of January 2017, I will enforce the federal laws.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-07-28/smoke-that-pot-now-christie-tells-users-in-states-that-allow-it

Turnaround in Health Ministry will allow sales of medical cannabis in pharmacies

 


 
The Health Ministry will make it possible for patients licensed to receive medical cannabis to get it at a pharmacy, Deputy Health Minister MK Ya’acov Litzman announced on Monday at a session of the Knesset Committee on Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
The policy shift will make it easier for tens of thousands of people with pain and other chronic symptoms to get medical marijuana.
 
Full Article:
http://www.jpost.com/Business-and-Innovation/Health-and-Science/Medical-marijuana-to-be-available-at-pharmacies-with-prescription-deputy-health-minister-announces-410289

Northwest Senators Push To Open Banking To Cannabis Businesses



 
Legal marijuana is a rapidly-growing reality. Four states, including Oregon and Washington, have legalized recreational use of the drug. Several more – including California – could well do so by the end of next year. Forty states have legalized it in some form for medicinal use.
Now, US Senators from Oregon, Washington and Colorado hope to start breaking down the federal barriers that lock many legal cannabis businesses out of routine banking and financial services.
 
Full Article:
http://ijpr.org/post/northwest-senators-push-open-banking-cannabis-businesses

Ghana asked to decriminalize cannabis


 
Mr Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong, Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board, on Monday, called for an open debate, and an all-inclusive discussion with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), to locally join in on-going global debates on the drug issue.
This, he said, would help confront the present challenges being faced globally, as far as the issues on narcotics use and trade were concerned.
He advocated for the decriminalization of Cannabis Sativa, with an argument drawn along lines, such as the consideration of the commercial benefits not only as a powerful medicinal plant, but for the production of various products, including soap and cosmetics, for export.
According to him, the immense benefits of the hemp oil, the seed and other parts of the plant for medicinal and other beneficial purposes, could be a great source of foreign exchange for African economies, if they were considered as such, because already there were various approved imported beauty products, particularly hair products, being sold on the market which contained active ingredients from cannabis, and these were being imported into the continent form the Western countries.
 
Full Article:
https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2015/07/29/ghana-asked-to-decriminalize-cannabis/

Bipartisan Bill May End Marijuana Prohibition In America

By
 

 
A bill with bipartisan support introduced in Congress this week is finally tolling the death knell for cannabis prohibition. By removing a notorious legal contradiction, the legislation would give precedence to state marijuana laws—making federal enforcement a thing of the past in states where medical and recreational weed are legal.
 
Full Article:
http://www.mintpressnews.com/bipartisan-bill-may-end-marijuana-prohibition-in-america/207983/
 

Cannabis Alleviates Peripheral Neuropathic Pain in Diabetes

 
 
 
 
Dose-dependent reduction in pain with inhaled cannabis in trial of 16 patients
 
A small trial shows a dose-dependent reduction in peripheral neuropathic pain in patients with diabetes, according to a study published in the July issue of The Journal of Pain.
Mark S. Wallace, M.D., from the University of California in San Diego, and colleagues conducted a randomized trial in 16 patients with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. They examined the short-term efficacy and tolerability of inhaled cannabis; each participant was exposed to four single dosing sessions of placebo or to low, medium, or high doses of cannabis in a crossover design. The authors performed baseline spontaneous pain, evoked pain, and cognitive testing. Subjects were administered aerosolized cannabis or placebo and the pain intensity and subjective “highness” score was measured during the first hour and for an additional three hours.
 
Full Article:
http://www.doctorslounge.com/index.php/news/pb/56845

Marijuana Is a Wonder Drug When It Comes to the Horrors of Chemo

BY

Canisters of medical marijuana and a price list for the marijuana products is seen inside Highland Health medical dispensary and wellness center in Denver, Colorado, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. A growing number of cancer patients and oncologists view marijuana as a viable alternative for managing the negative effects, such as nausea, bone pain, anxiety, and depression, of both chemotherapy and cancer itself. MATTHEW STAVER/BLOOMBERG/GETTY
 
After a successful surgery to remove a cancer-ridden section of Jeff Moroso’s large intestine in the spring of 2013, the oncologist sat down with his patient to prepare him for what would come next: 12 rounds of punishing chemotherapy, once every two weeks for six months—standard practice for the treatment of colon cancer.
Moroso’s oncologist spent most of that appointment writing prescriptions for medications he said would minimize the debilitating side effects of chemotherapy. He gave Moroso scripts for ondansetron (Zofran) and prochlorperazine (Compazine) for nausea, and lorazepam (Ativan) for anxiety and insomnia. Because the nausea drugs are known to cause gastrointestinal problems and headaches, he also recommended three over-the-counter medications for constipation and one for diarrhea, as well as ibuprofen for pain. In total, he instructed Moroso to take more than a dozen prescription and nonprescription drugs and supplements.
Moroso says the first three rounds of treatment were more awful than he could have ever imagined. After chemotherapy, he felt so ill and weak that he could barely stand up, and it took him days to rebound. And the prescription drugs just made him feel worse. “I felt real sick, incapable of doing anything except for lying there and trying to hang on,” says Moroso, who is 70 and now cancer-free.
Moroso couldn’t afford to lose days of work while he was doing his chemo. He’d heard from friends and read in the paper that cannabis can help a patient through chemotherapy, so he got a letter from his oncologist that allowed him to obtain medical marijuana. (He chose coffee beans infused with 5 milligrams of cannabis, a low dose that he took when he felt he had to.) By the seventh round of chemotherapy, Moroso had dumped his prescription pills. “I would get blasted on the stuff and be happy as a clam, no problems,” he says.
 
Full Article:
http://www.newsweek.com/2015/07/31/keep-toke-alive-356032.html

Seniors Are Seeking Out States Where Marijuana is Legal

Chris Taylor / Reuters

Norma Jean Gargasz—Alamy
 

The top moving destination in 2014 was Oregon, which voted to legalize marijuana last November.

When choosing retirement locales, a few factors pop to mind: climate, amenities, proximity to grandchildren, access to quality healthcare.
Chris Cooper had something else to consider – marijuana laws.
The investment adviser from Toledo had long struggled with back pain due to a fractured vertebra and crushed disc from a fall. He hated powerful prescription drugs like Vicodin, but one thing did help ease the pain and spasms: marijuana.
So when Cooper, 57, was looking for a place to retire, he ended up in San Diego, since California allows medical marijuana. A growing number of retirees are also factoring in the legalization of pot when choosing where to spend their golden years.
“Stores are packed with every type of person you can imagine,” said Cooper who takes marijuana once or twice a week, often orally. “There are old men in wheelchairs, or women whose hair is falling out from chemotherapy. You see literally everybody.”
Cooper, who figures he spends about $150 on the drug each month, is not alone in retiring to a marijuana-friendly state.
 
Full Article:
http://time.com/money/3967757/seniors-retire-marijuana-legal-states/
 

Hempcrete is the newest green building material


Hempcrete is made from hemp. lime and water.
 
Add hemp fiber to lime and you get a lightweight building material that can be shaped like a cinder block. When fully cured, it floats in water. Buildings up to 10 stories tall have been built from hempcrete in Europe according to Philly.com.
Hempcrete is made using the woody, balsa-like interior of the Cannabis sativa plant (the fiber for textiles comes from the outer portion of the stalk) combined with lime and water. Though it lacks the structural stability its name might suggest, hempcrete does provide natural insulation that is airtight yet breathable and flexible. It is free from toxins, impervious to mold and pests, and virtually fireproof.
Best of all, hempcrete is a sustainable building material because hemp can be grown and replenished relatively quickly. Hemp based building materials could usher in a new era of “green” building products, according to the New York Times.
 
Full Article:
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2015/07/19/hempcrete-is-the-newest-green-building-material/
 

Senators Tell DEA to Stop Messing With State Hemp Crops


American Hemp/Facebook
 
American-grown hemp may get another boost from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Last Friday, the Kentucky Republican added a provision to the agriculture appropriations bill to help hemp farmers transport crops across state lines sans federal interference. “Kentucky’s industrial hemp pilot programs continue to prosper,” said McConnell, “and I want to make sure our legal hemp producers can safely transport their crops between states, including to states that maintain processing facilities, so they can fully capitalize on the commercial potential for this commodity.”
 
Full Article:
http://reason.com/blog/2015/07/20/senators-tell-dea-stop-messing-with-hemp