BY GRAM SLATTERY

 
Latin America’s largest medicinal marijuana farm was formally inaugurated on Tuesday, marking another step in the region’s growing acceptance of therapeutic uses for the formerly illegal plant.
The 6,900-stalk plantation, located in the small town of Colbun, some 275 kilometers (170 miles) south of Santiago, will help treat some 4,000 patients from across Chile, organizers said.
This project follows on the work of a smaller, experimental plantation at a secret location in the capital, Santiago, and comes as Chile’s Congress debates the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana for personal use and cultivation.
 
Full Article:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-chile-cannabis-idUSKCN0UX26F

BY ANTHONY PIGNATARO

 
For those of you who look over Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar’s 36,000 or so acres of Central Maui that won’t be growing sugar anymore this time next year and think that maybe we might start growing hemp on at least a portion of that land, there’s good reason to be optimistic. Really optimistic, if state Rep. Kaniela Ing, D–South Maui, gets his way.
“Hemp warrior, Rep. Cynthia Thielen (R-Kailua) and I are putting forth a bipartisan proposal to transition HC&S’s cornerstone crop from sugar to industrial hemp,” Ing posted on Facebook on Jan. 13. “Coupled with direct severance and training assistance, this could save hundreds of plantation jobs on Maui.”
 
Full Article:
http://mauitime.com/news/politics/good-news-for-those-who-want-hemp-to-replace-sugar-on-maui/

By Patrick Whittle, The Associated Press

 
After years of trying to keep marijuana out of schools, educators across the country are grappling with how to administer cannabis to students with prescriptions for it.
Medical marijuana has been legal in some states for two decades, but school districts and lawmakers are only now starting to tackle thorny issues about student use of a drug still illegal under federal law.
“School districts are trying to find their way and navigate this landscape as laws develop and social norms change,” said Francisco Negron, general counsel of the National School Boards Association. “This is a situation in which the changing social norms are ahead of the existing operational structure.”
The possibility of medical marijuana in schools raises a number of questions for school officials, such as who will administer it, how to prevent it from being redistributed by students, and even the legality of having it on campus. Only three of the 23 states where medical marijuana is legal have seen schools or state officials set up rules, according to the pro-reform Marijuana Policy Project.
This week, a school committee in Auburn, a Maine city of about 23,000, approved a policy to allow students to have medical marijuana under certain conditions. It would have to be approved by a physician and administered in school by a parent or guardian, Auburn assistant superintendent Michelle McClellan said. Nurses wouldn’t be able to administer the drug and students would not be permitted to smoke it.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/12/medical-marijuana-schools-student-policies/46224/
 

Lea Emery

 
A MAYORAL candidate is reaching high with a left-field plan to turn the land earmarked for the controversial $52 million sports precinct into an industrial hemp farm.
Jannean Dean and division nine candidate Jeanette Maynes announced their plan on Friday stating a hemp farm means an economic and jobs boost for the region.
“It will create a lot of jobs if we have the regional infrastructure in place,” Ms Dean said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/mayoral-high-stakes-plan/2894532/

By Justin Gardner

 
A new survey conducted by the Centre for Addictions Research of BC helps explain why Big Pharma is so afraid of cannabis. The pharmaceutical and alcohol industries, both powerful influences in Washington, have long lobbied against cannabis legalization in order to protect their profits.
However, the tide has turned as decriminalization of medical and recreational cannabis sweeps the nation and the continent. With legalization, more and more people are discovering how this plant can provide a safe alternative to the dangerous effects of prescription pills.
 
Full Article:
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/big-pharma-shaking-their-boots-80-cannabis-users-give-prescriptions-pills-pot

WRITER: SHARON LETTS

 
Interestingly, Las Vegas translates to “the meadows,” despite the fact that it is now a barren valley. The last watering hole after the ice age’s glaciers melted, Vegas was once a lush, green valley that formed the pools of water that would ultimately flow through the Hoover Dam.
In the late 1930s, Thomas Hull, owner of the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, had his eye on the desert and built the first casino in downtown Las Vegas. The fancy Western-themed El Cortez Hotel opened in 1941. At the time, Vegas was a weekend getaway from Los Angeles for rabble-rousers—a place to drink, gamble, and get a quick divorce.
 
Full Article:
http://www.dopemagazine.com/road-trip-the-greening-of-vegas/
 
 

 
Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says that he will consider importing opium from India and cultivating cannabis locally to promote Ayurveda medicine here.
Speaking at a ceremony to mark the opening of a new Ayurvedic hospital of the Vendol Lanka Company at Wadduwa on Saturday night, the Minister said that a severe shortage of opium and cannabis had become a major drawback in promoting ayurvedic medicine system.
 
Full Article:
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=138048

by Joe Martino

 
One thing has become very clear over the past couple of years regarding the value of cow’s milk, particularly pasteurized, in our diets. And unfortunately, it’s not good news. A very seizable study came out late last year in the British Medical Journal which revealed a truth many of us had been speculating about (and perhaps fearing) for decades:Milk does not do a body good, and in fact contributes to a greater risk of mortality in men and women as well as bone fracture in women.
The search for palatable and sustainable alternatives to milk has been going on for years now, with more people becoming conscious of how their food is produced and what effect it has on their bodies. As we learn more about the practices involved in the unnatural mass production of milk, the choice to step away from purchasing cow’s milk is increasingly becoming an ethical one. The market shows this sentiment as well, as almond milk sales have soared to $700 million in 2015, up 40% over 2014. [2]
Hemp milk is another incredibly nutritious and tasty alternative to cow’s milk which supplies the body with essential nutrients without causing harm to the body like dairy milk does. Whatever the reason you are considering abstaining from from cow’s milk, hemp milk is one option you should consider.
 
Full Article:
http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/01/02/got-hemp-milk-the-benefits-of-hemp-milk-2/