Jacob Sullum

Office of Andy Harris
 
Seven weeks before Election Day, a new Marist poll finds that 65 percent of voters in Washington, D.C., favor Initiative 71, which would make it legal for adults 21 or older to possess up to two ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home. The survey, sponsored by The Washington Post and the local NBC station, found that just 33 percent of voters opposed the initiative, with 2 percent undecided. “Voters in the District of Columbia are poised to follow Colorado and Washington state into a closely watched experiment to legalize marijuana,” thePost concludes. “The results show an electorate unshaken—even emboldened — nine months after legal marijuana sales began in Colorado and six months after D.C. lawmakers stripped away jail time for possession, making it just a $25 offense.”
 
Full Article:
http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/19/it-looks-like-pot-will-soon-be-legal-in

By SUNNY CAI

 

While binging on Twinkies, picking up daddies at the playground and drinking up all your money may not constitute constructive life decisions, Tove Lo might be on to something in her 2014 single “Stay High,” in which she documents her experiences of, well, getting high.

Although remaining under the influence of marijuana for extended periods of time is poor medical advice for anyone, new research shows that in states where medical marijuana use for chronic pain management is legal, the annual number of deaths from prescription drug overdose is 25 percent lower than in states where medical marijuana use is still illegal.

The study, published in the Aug. 25 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests that despite the controversy over medical marijuana laws, the drug may have unexpected benefits as well. The findings of the study suggest that the wider availability of medical marijuana for people suffering from chronic or severe pain might help to decrease the rising number of deaths attributed to prescription painkiller overdose.

Full Article:

http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2014/09/18/medical-marijuana-leads-to-fewer-overdoses-96744/

 
Rome – The Italian army is aiming high with its latest weapon on the medical front: marijuana.
The ministers of defence and health signed a deal on Thursday for a joint project to produce cannabis derivative drugs for pain relief.
 
Full Article:
http://www.news24.com/World/News/Italian-army-to-grow-medical-marijuana-20140918

by Mark Hay

Building with Hempcrete. Photo by Steven Craven
 
As state after state slowly moves towards marijuana legalization, it seems like everyone is trying to cash in on the pot-farming boom. But legalization opens the door to a world of innovation and entrepreneurship that’s a lot wider than new, inventive ways to get high, like weed sodas. In “green rush” states like Colorado, farmers are taking advantage of the new legal environment to sow fields of hemp, marijuana’s THC-deficient cousin. Because of its relationship to cannabis, hemp has been illegal in America for over 60 years, despite a consistent chorus of supporters who have touted its use as a natural fiber and food supplement in Canada and Europe. Compared to the economic potential of legalized marijuana, that of pot’s fibrous cousin seems like small potatoes. Yet one use of the plant could revolutionize construction in the U.S., creating a new, lucrative industry for growers: Hempcrete.
 
Full Article:
http://magazine.good.is/articles/a-house-of-hemp

 
MARIN COUNTY (CBS SF) — A medical marijuana entrepreneur is promoting his method of developing thriving cannabis gardens amid California’s drought as a way to radically cut water waste.
In a press release cited by East Bay Express, George Bianchini says his ‘ultra water-conserving garden’ uses a wicking method that dates back to the legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
 
Full Article:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/09/15/medical-marijuana-grower-to-showcase-wicked-wicking-system-for-growing-plants-produce-amid-calfornia-drought/

By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

 
A medical marijuana dispensary applicant in Henderson will have to seek relief from the City Council to open in its chosen location in what is one of the first-known zoning appeals in the new industry.
The Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously affirmed the denial of site suitability for Wellness Connection of Nevada in a decision that was as much about having city lawmakers interpret new regulations as it was upholding city staff findings.
Commission Chairman Michael Campbell said the council should be the one to address any code regulating the new industry because the appeal is a policy matter of the new law.
“This is the very first appeal we’ve had for the medical marijuana,” said Campbell, adding that the council is best-suited to interpret the law’s intention so soon after adoption.
 
Full Article:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/pot-news/henderson-medical-pot-dispensary-fights-site-denial

BY

HANNAH WEDERQUIST-KELLER

 
Carl Hart has been called a “truth teller,” and the title could not be more fitting. As associate professor of psychology and psychiatry at Columbia, Hart studies the effects of psychoactive drug use on human subjects, aiming to debunk the myths about these substances that often create more chaos than the drugs themselves. Hart was the first tenured African-American professor in the sciences at Columbia, and won the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award in 2014 for his book High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society. Hannah Wederquist-Keller sat down with Hart to discuss his next book, his class at Columbia, and the danger of drug hysteria.
 
Full Article:
http://columbiaspectator.com/eye/2014/09/11/voice-reason

 
Extractum Cannabis.-Take of the dried flowering tops, rejecting the steins, any quantity; rectified spirit, a sufficiency; boil the tops in the spirit until all the resin is dissolved out ; distil off the spirit with the heat of a vapour bath, so as to obtain an extract of a proper consistence. Dose : Ten to twelve grains, gradually increased until a tendency to coma is produced, half a grain to a grain and a half is the dose usually given in the East, and this quantity frequently produces marked effects there. It is best given in the form of a pill.
Tinctum Cannabis (O’Shaughnessy). Extract of Indian hemp, three grains ; proof spirit, one fluid drachm; dissolve. Dose: One to two fluid drachms, frequently repeated, until the desired effect is produced. This tincture is decomposed by water, the resin being precipitated in the form of a pale yellow powder. It should, therefore, be suspended in aqueous vehicles, by means of mucilage, syrup, or yolk of egg. – Dr. Neligan.
 
Full Article:
http://dagga.info/2013/07/06/how-to-make-cannabis-oil-article-from-168-years-ago/

 
Let’s say you happen to live in a state where pot (medical or recreational) is legal. Chances are you’ve noticed that dispensary prices vary widely, or you’ve suspected there’s a better deal on the other side of town. Wikileaf’s reverse-auction model makes it easy to comparison shop. Cannabis consumers select what kind of weed they want (a nice Banana Kush, say), then name their price ($20-$350) and enter how far they’re willing to travel to get it (50 miles is the limit). In a split second, Wikileaf trawls through its database of legal cannabis vendors and spits out the best deal.
 
Full Article:
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-priceline-pot-bringing-comparison-shopping-marijuana-boom-159971

by: Paul Fassa

 
In 1955 the Tuberculosis Nutrition Study in Czechoslovakia declared that hemp seed was the only food that could cure tuberculosis. After 30 years of research, they discovered that a high protein diet was necessary for successfully treating TB.
The edestin protein found in hemp seed is considered to be the closest to human globulin, easily digested, and was considered the very best protein for treating TB.
Full Article:
http://www.naturalnews.com/046772_hemp_seeds_tuberculosis_forbidden_medicine.html#