BY BARRY BARD

 
In honor of #TBT, Marijuana.com features a slice of hemp history on every Thursday. 
Before the Silk Road and BitCoin were around to help facilitate online drug deals, finding drugs on the world-wide web wasn’t so easy. However, online drug transactions date much further back than you’d expect.
A recent article on The Guardian points out that some smart college kids in the early 70s (over 40 years ago) at Stanford and MIT enacted what was likely the first online transaction. Oddly and hilariously enough, the exchange between the brainiacs was for a big old sack of bud.
 
Full Article:
http://marijuana.com/news/2014/12/the-internets-first-sale-ever-was-a-bag-of-marijuana/

by Oscar Pascual

 
Colorado is known for its big game hunting and legalized marijuana. Now you can experience both at the Nug Hunt — Denver’s first marijuana scavenger hunt — taking place in January.
Clothing company Hemp House has put together this event that invites everyone to scour the city’s nooks and crannies for hidden marijuana treasure.
 
Full Article:
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2014/12/17/denver-to-host-scavenger-hunt-for-pot/

 
A group advocating medical marijuana is delivering a petition to the Lac qui Parle County attorney asking him to drop charges against a woman charged after giving her son cannabis oil for his pain.
Minnesotans for Compassionate Care says it’s has collected nearly 9,000 signatures in support of Angela Brown, who has been charged with child endangerment. Her 15-year-old son suffers from a traumatic brain injury.
 
Full Article:
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/12/16/medical-marijuana-group-petitions-against-charges/#.VJByjshXJBA.facebook

“Nonna Marijuana’s Italian Feast” is the first episode of a Web series exploring pot cuisine. It features a charming 91-year-old grandmother who cooks cannabis Italian food infused with love.
 

Aurora Leveroni, 91, is also known as “Nonna Marijuana.”
 

On Sunday, my mother sent me an email: “OMG! Watch this unbelievable cooking show!”
It wasn’t spam, and my mother, who’s 65, does not use OMG lightly.
The fuss was over a 20-minute video about a 91-year-old grandmother who cooks Italian classics in marijuana-infused butter.
It’s the first episode in a new series called Bong Appetit from Munchies, Vice Media’s food channel. Vice is the media company that aspires to be “the largest network for young people in the world.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.ideastream.org/news/npr/370971706

Texas State Representative Joe Moody (D–El Paso) introduced a bill Monday that would reduce state penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Representative Moody announced the details of the bill at a news conference hosted by Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy. He was joined by retired Texas District Court Judge John Delaney and representatives from the coalition including ACLU of Texas, Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, and the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Our current marijuana policy in Texas just isn’t working,” Rep. Moody said. “We need a new approach that allows us to more effectively utilize our limited criminal justice resources. This legislation is a much-needed step in the right direction.”
The proposed law would remove the threat of arrest, jail time, and a criminal record for possession of up to one ounce of marijuana and replace them with a civil fine of $100. Under current Texas law, individuals found in possession of less than two ounces of marijuana can be arrested and given a criminal record, and they face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
 
Full Article:
http://www.bigcountryhomepage.com/story/d/story/texas-legislature-will-consider-reducing-penalties/82365/AITYqzCAhU6QEy8YUq0aMA

Anthony Papa

 
As a former prisoner who served 12 years of a 15-to-life sentence for a nonviolent drug crime in New York, I know all too well the draconian nature of the war on drugs.
I was lucky enough to be granted executive clemency in 1997. Since my release I have continued to advocate for prisoners who are stuck in prison, sentenced to tremendous amounts of time for small amounts of drugs.
This year, one case in particular stands out and cries for justice — the case of Bernard Noble who was sentenced to 13.3 years of hard time for the possession of two marijuana cigarettes.
Earlier this year the Drug Policy Alliance tried to help by filing a friend of the court brief in the Louisiana Supreme Court, calling for judicial relief for Bernard Noble.
After Noble’s appeal was denied, many are calling on Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal to grant Noble executive clemency.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-papa/13-years-for-two-joints-l_b_6328006.html

Matt Ferner

Congress dealt a historic blow to the United States’ decades-long war on drugs Saturday with the passage of the federal spending bill, which contains protections for medical marijuana and industrial hemp operations in states where they are legal.
The spending bill includes an amendment that prohibits the Department of Justice from using funds to go after state-legal medical cannabis programs. If the bill is signed into law, it will bring the federal government one step closer to ending raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, as well as stopping arrests of individuals involved with pot businesses that are complying with state law.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/14/congress-medical-marijuana_n_6317866.html
 

By Alyssa Terry
By Alia Willson

 
MP Walid Jumblatt has renewed calls to legalize the cultivation and sale of marijuana.
In a tweet late-Saturday, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party wrote that the time has come to sanction pot and end the state’s prosecution of its sellers.
“It is time to allow for the cultivation of marijuana, and to drop the right to issue arrest warrants against people who work in this field,” the prominent Druze later said.
 
Full Article:
http://www.albawaba.com/editorchoice/light-lebanon-lebanese-mp-says-its-time-legalize-pot-632404

 
December 8, 2014. The California Medical Association (CMA) voted unanimously this weekend to urge transplant clinics in the state against removing patients from organ transplant lists based on their medical marijuana status or use. The CMA House of Delegates was in San Diego this weekend for its annual meeting, and voted Saturday on Resolution 116-14 in support of patients’ ability to remain on transplant lists despite their medical marijuana use.
 
Full Article:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/57418-california-medical-association-votes-unanimously-against-denying-organ-transplants-for-medical-marijuana-patients.html