Leslie Kramer, special to CNBC.com

by Tara Petitt

 
The push to legalize medical marijuana is intensifying at the South Carolina State house. Lawmakers heard nearly five hours of testimony Wednesday from medical experts. Currently, 24 states have full comprehensive medical cannabis laws, and several doctors are urging South Carolina lawmakers to do the same.
“Cannabis is not for everybody, but I do believe it should be a first line option and not the last resort,” said Dr. Uma Dhanabalan. She practices medicine in Massachusetts and says there’s years of science to prove benefits of cannabis.
 
Full Article: 
http://wach.com/news/local/medical-expert-marijuana-should-be-first-line-option-not-last-resort

By Asian Correspondent Staff

 
JUST a day after the Philippine House of Representatives approved the move to reinstate the death penalty for drug-related offences, the House committee on health endorsed the use of marijuana for medical reasons.
House Bill 180, according to ABS-CBN News, prescribes the rules for the proper use of medical marijuana, including the designation of a qualified medical cannabis physician, a medical cannabis patient who shall be issued an identification card, a qualified medical cannabis caregiver and a qualified medical cannabis compassionate centre.
Rep. Seth Jalosjos sponsored the Bill on behalf of its author, Isabela Rep. Rodito Albano, who was unable to attend the hearing.
Jalosjos believes that legalising marijuana for medical use “will benefit thousands of patients suffering from serious and debilitating diseases.”
 
Full Article: 
https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/03/philippines-one-day-death-penalty-vote-house-endorses-medical-marijuana/#krPlglgodB77jllK.97

BY CALEB HELLERMAN

A researcher in Dr. Sue Sisley’s lab pours out a sample of marijuana produced by the federal facility responsible for growing cannabis for clinical research. When she received marijuana for a PTSD trial last year, Sisley says the packages contained mold and weren’t as potent as she requested. Photo courtesy of MAPS.

Sue Sisley, a primary care physician in Scottsdale, Arizona, recalls the moment she picked up the carefully wrapped package fresh from the delivery truck. Nearly two years after Sisley and her colleagues were awarded a grant to study marijuana as a treatment for 76 military veterans suffering from chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, her shipment of the drug was finally in hand.
But minutes later, as she opened the packets to weigh the drug – as required by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration – her enthusiasm turned to dismay. It didn’t look like marijuana. Most of it looked like green talcum powder.
“It didn’t resemble cannabis. It didn’t smell like cannabis,” Sisley says. What’s more, laboratory testing found that some of the samples were contaminated with mold, while others didn’t match the chemical potency Sisley had requested for the study.
There’s only one source of marijuana for clinical research in the United States. And “they weren’t able to produce what we were asking for,” Sisley says.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/scientists-say-governments-pot-farm-moldy-samples-no-guidelines/

 
What if plastic could be made without using fossil fuels and toxic chemicals?

An Australian company has done just that, with a new type of plastic that can turn hemp fiber into pretty much anything.

Zeoform is a promising eco-friendly solution to traditional plastics. It’s made from a simple mixture of plant fiber (specifically cellulose) and water.
What’s more, unlike plastic, Zeoform is compostable.
Hemp, along with flax and straw, are ideal for making Zeoform because of their high cellulose content. But it can be made from recycled paper and textiles too.
 
Full Article: 
http://spasique.com/zeoform-a-new-plastic-that-turns-hemp-into-almost-anything/

By David Jenison

 
“I see a line in the Washington Post today that I remember from the ‘80s: ‘Marijuana is a cure for opiate abuse,’” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently. ”’Give me a break. This is the kind of argument that’s been made out there to just … [it’s] almost a desperate attempt to defend the harmlessness of marijuana or even its benefits. I doubt that’s true.’”
This is yet another example of why cannabis regulation should be taken out of the hands of law enforcement and put exclusively under the purview of medical professionals. Even the most cursory examination of the evidence suggests that cannabis can likely play a role in pain management and opioid addiction recovery. The same law enforcement agencies that claim cannabis has absolutely no medical value (they really say that) also severely restricts research into its medical benefits since they claim they already know it has none (and they really say that), but consider what evidence researchers have compiled already.
 
Full Article: 
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/03/cannabis-connection-a-primer-for-jeff-sessions-on.html

Russ Belville

 
On the morning of August 18 2004, DEA agents raided Eddy’s Medicinal Gardens and Multi-Denominational Chapel of Cannabis and Rastafari in Upper Lake, Calif. They arrested Charles Eddy Lepp, who had been allowing patients to cultivate cannabis for medical purposes on his property; the 24,784 plants confiscated on his 20 acres were clearly visible from State High-way 20. In 1997, he was raided, arrested, charged and acquitted by local and state authorities for doing the same thing. But then the Feds stepped in: Lepp was convicted of federal drug felonies in 2007, and sentenced in 2009 to a 10-year mandatory- minimum prison bid.
Born on May 14, 1952 in La Harpe, Ill., Lepp was raised in Reno, Nev. and served in the U.S. Army’s military intelligence unit in Vietnam from 1969–1972, where he discovered cannabis. Lepp’s epiphany on the medical use of marijuana came in 1987, when his father used it to battle cancer, and then rose in prominence as a marijuana activist in the early 1990s. He and his late wife, Linda Senti, gathered signatures for California’s Proposition 215, and soon after its passage in 1996, Lepp formed the Medicinal Gardens that earned him his first arrest. During his time in prison, Senti passed away, and eight states, including California, legalized the adult use of cannabis. On Dec. 9, Lepp was released from prison into a halfway house in San Francisco, where he began the probationary portion of his sentence. Freedom Leaf spoke with Lepp by phone in January.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.freedomleaf.com/eddy-lepp-interview/

Beverley Aldridge, centre, with son Mikael, left, and husband Owen, at Parliament today. Photo: RNZ / Chris Bramwell

A Parliamentary select committee is considering a petition from a group of Northland retirees who want cannabis legalised so they can grow it in their gardens.
The spokesperson for the group, Beverley Aldridge, said none of them currently take or grow the drug, but they do want to as they’ve seen their loved ones dying in extreme pain.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/326235/cannabis-prohibition-discriminates-‘against-elderly’

By Laura Wilson

 
CSU-Pueblo’s marijuana research efforts continue to grow.
They’re expected to receive another $900,000 from the state for the college’s Institute of Cannabis Research.
The funding was unanimously approved by the Colorado General Assembly Joint Budget Committee.
That first $900,000 came in this past June, so the institute has already been able to get started on some of its medical marijuana research.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.koaa.com/story/34702039/csu-pueblo-awarded-900k-for-cannabis-institute

Tyler Koslow

 
Most of us are aware of the growing support for cannabis across the United States and Canada, but the movement is far from confined to North America. Medical and recreationally legal marijuana has also been taking root in South America, from full-scale legalization in Uruguay to decriminalization in Chile.
Now, thanks to a group of caring mothers, medical marijuana may soon find a home in the mountainous and generally conservative country of Peru. Public support has blossomed after a police raid on a makeshift marijuana lab run by women looking to ease the symptoms of their sick children.
Unexpectedly, the “drug bust” ended up amplifying the women’s plight on national television, creating a massive boom in public support. The backlash towards the police raid has pressured President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to set aside outdated drug restriction laws and propose medical cannabis legislation.
 
Full Article: 
https://www.merryjane.com/news/mothers-in-peru-lead-fight-for-medical-marijuana