Ray Hagar, RGJ

(Photo: Liz Margerum/RGJ )

 
There’s a new gold rush in Nevada, all centered around a green plant.
Sometime in the spring of 2015, Nevada’s medical marijuana industry will be open for business. Doctors say medical marijuana will help patients with cancer, chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments.
Others see the green in a different light. The marijuana business offers excellent potential for profit, so much so that it has attracted the rich and famous of Nevada.
“There are a lot of people who are savvy business people who see this as an opportunity to make money,” said Pete Krueger, president of the Nevada Medical Marijuana Association, a business group. “And God bless them, that’s the American way.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.rgj.com/story/news/2014/05/18/rgj-depth-gold-green-marijuana/9230889/
 

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

• The Associated Press

 
 
Fourteen years after Nevada made medicinal marijuana legal, the state is wrestling with a host of questions related to the emerging industry.

Nevada gambling regulators decisively declared any involvement with the medical marijuana business to be off limits to those in the casino industry. The State Bar wasn’t so sure and asked for guidance from the Nevada Supreme Court.

Now the board in charge of licensing doctors, policing medical ethics and standards of care is trying to sort through its own list of issues, including determining what role if any physicians should be allowed to play in the business of growing and supplying marijuana.

Full Article:
http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/17/nevada-board-ponders-doctor-roles-in-pot/

Skippy Massey
Humboldt Sentinel

These California Girls have character.

75-year-old Margo Bouer reflects on growing old, using marijuana, and her synchronized swim team, theAquadettes.

California is a Place, from photographers turned filmmakers Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari, profiles unique, interesting people who happen to be citizens of the Golden State.

In this film they travel  south to Leisure World, where their lens finds a lovely group of ladies who, in retirement, find fitness and friendship through synchronized swimming.

The regular aquabatics practice helps maintain their health and strength, with members suffering arthritis, joint replacements, and other health challenges.  They stay active with the Aquadettes; for Margo, marijuana has been another blessing on the side.

Full Article & Video:

http://humboldtsentinel.com/2014/05/14/swimming-aging-and-marijuana/

By Brett Miller 

 
In a statement issued Monday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said, “While businesses are not required to accommodate medical marijuana users under the Compassionate Use of Medical Marijuana Act (CUMMA), the Division is reaching out to the industry to advise the casinos to develop their own policies regarding use of medical marijuana within the casino hotel premises. A clear policy will help avoid confusion as well as customer inconvenience and dissatisfaction.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.nbc40.net/story/25495251/atlantic-city-resident-has-cannabis-conundrum-for-casinos
 

David Downs

Ninety days after adults over 21 could begin buying cannabis over the counter, taxes were up and crime was down. Above, satisfied customers in Denver January 1, 2014
 
Colorado state tax reports issued on May 8 showed that $19 million worth of cannabis was sold legally in the state in March, up almost a third from February. The state also reported $7.3 million in retail weed tax revenues, plus another $12.6 million from taxes on medical cannabis. Last week, state lawmakers moved to spend some proceeds — about $33 million — on school nurses and public education touting responsible use.
 
Full Article:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNation/archives/2014/05/12/colorado-legalization-90-days-in-crime-down-33-million-in-taxes-earmarked-for-public-health

By Chris Roberts

Wikimedia Commons

Free weed.

 
Healing can be had in today’s health system — modern drugs and the latest procedures can do wondrous things — but there are barriers to access. Usually, they are financial, in the form of high co-pays or treatments uncovered by insurance.

 Of late, more and more parents are turning to one particular cure to fix epileptic fits in their children. And this cure — marijuana rich in non-psychoactive cannabinoid CBD — is not only expensive. In many places, it’s illegal.

None of the above applies in Oakland. In Oakland, CBD-rich, marijuana-derived medicines are available free of charge at a Jack London Square marijuana dispensary. Starting today, kids suffering epilepsy can (with their parents) get free medicine from Magnolia Wellness.

Full Article:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2014/05/oakland_marijuana_club_hands_o.php

by Kristen Gwynne

A medical marijuana dispensary in Denver. (Jeffrey Beall)

Dr. Peter Fried, a psychology professor at Carleton University in Canada who has dedicated much of his career to studying the effects of prenatal marijuana exposure on infants, wrote:
Based on my 30 plus years of experience examining the newborn, infants, toddlers, children, adolescents and young adults born to women who used marihuana during pregnancy it is important to emphasize that to characterize an infant born to a woman who used marihuana during pregnancy as being ‘physically abused’ and/or ‘neglected’ is contrary to all scientific evidence (both mine and subsequent work by other researchers). The use of marijuana during pregnancy … has not been shown by any objective research to result in abuse or neglect.
 
Full Article:
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/05/12/marijuana-legalization-leaves-mothers-pregnant-women-behind/

Written by THOR BENSON

 
At the Illinois House committee meeting, Margaret Storey said her “daughter is stoned every single day” from traditional, FDA-approved medication prescribed by her doctor, the Chicago Tribune reported. “When they’re on these cocktails of pharma meds, they’re drug addicts,” said another advocate and parent, Adam Frederick.
 
Full Article:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-rise-of-medical-marijuana-for-kids

Wynnie Chan life@scmp.com