Jimmie E. Gates, The Clarion-Ledger

 
“If the ballot initiative gets the necessary signatures and is approved by voters in a referendum, it would make it legal for adults to possess cannabis in unlimited quantities, to use as they wish, just like alcohol or cigarettes. However, it would have to be kept from minors.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2015/01/06/marijuana-initiative-ballot/21331449/

By Noelle Crombie | The Oregonian/OregonLive

A photograph of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. A photograph of a cannabis plant. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
 
Oregon agriculture officials said Monday they are poised to adopt rules that would allow industrial hemp farmers to plant their crops this spring.
The Oregon Department of Agriculture, the agency charged with overseeing industrial hemp production, will hold a public hearing Tuesday onthe draft rules. The meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the agency’s offices, located at 635 Capitol Street Northeast, Salem.
 
Full Article:
http://www.oregonlive.com/marijuana/index.ssf/2015/01/public_hearing_to_be_held_tues.html#incart_river
 

(Nanowerk News)

 
Carbon and glass fibers reinforce synthetics so that they can be used for vehicle body construction. But in this regard, there is an abundance of potential found in natural fibers – obtained from hemp, cotton, or wood. If you combined bio-based textile and carbon fibers, you can obtain extremely light yet very sturdy components.
Full Article:
http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/green/newsid=38584.php

By Brandon Barrett

 

Medical marijuana users will be permitted to continue growing pot at home after the Federal Court of Appeal upheld a decision last month that would exempt patients from a massive overhaul of Canada’s cannabis laws.

Regulations introduced in 2013 shifted the production of medical marijuana to licensed commercial producers, preventing users from growing cannabis at home, a move that is being challenged by a group of patients in a case that will be heard this year.
 
Full Article:
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/medical-marijuana-users-can-continue-growing-from-home-after-feds-lose-appeal/Content?oid=2636028

by Marguerite Arnold

 
According to a report this year from the esteemed Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), fatal overdoses caused by prescription painkillers dropped dramatically in states where cannabis is legal for medical and recreational use.
Access to medical cannabis, according to the study, is responsible for an overall 25% drop in fatalities associated with prescription drugs taken for chronic pain.  The study also expects such fatalities to continue to drop as cannabis reform across the country allows more people to legally access the drug for medical purposes.
 
Full Article:
http://reset.me/story/study-painkiller-overdose-deaths-decrease-dramatically-420-friendly-states/

Matt Ferner

 
Gravel served two terms in the Senate from 1969 to 1981, and was a candidate in the 2008 presidential race. He also has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana legalization and a staunch critic of the decades-long war on drugs.
“I feel very deeply about the failure that is marijuana prohibition,” Gravel told The Huffington Post as one of the reasons why he took his new job. “Nixon is the one that put marijuana into a Schedule I. People forget that story, I lived through that. I thought it was horrible.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/30/mike-gravel-marijuana_n_6396646.html

Jeffrey Schaub

 
The Bay Area is home to magazines and periodicals about clothing, lifestyle, boating and hi-tech but now comes one about marijuana—California’s growing cash crop.
The SF Weekly, is scheduled to be available for free at San Francisco newsstands on Jan. 26.
 
Full Article:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/01/02/the-first-newspaper-for-bay-areas-pot-industry-rolling-out-this-month-sf-evergreen/

BY TOM ANGELL

 
A local elected official in Columbia, Missouri is facing a voter backlash after helping to defeat a proposal to decriminalize growing two marijuana plants.
On Tuesday, the city clerk certified that marijuana reform activists turned in more than enough signatures to force a recall vote on City Councilwoman Ginny Chadwick.
Chadwick, who was elected to the Council in April of 2014, had initially pledged to support decriminalizing cultivation during her campaign.
“After promising to support this specific marijuana ordinance, she won my support, and I recommended to other activists in the area that they should support her campaign,” Eapen Thampy, a Columbia voter who works with Mid-Missouri NORML, told Marijuana.com in an interview.
However, when the proposal came up in the Council in October, it was defeated 4 to 3, with Chadwick casting the deciding vote against.
 
Full Article:
http://marijuana.com/news/2015/01/city-councilwoman-faces-recall-over-anti-marijuana-vote/

GLENN CHEATER

 

High grain prices haven’t just strengthened the balance sheet, but brought an infusion of youth into a sector where 40-year-olds are considered young farmers.

But with prices down, will ambitious young people find dad and mom aren’t so open to new ideas?

Mike Fata hopes not.

 “Farming is no different than any other business — innovate or perish,” says the CEO of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods. “The younger generation isn’t intimidated by change and are willing to try new things and innovate. So it’s good to see farmers in their 20s and 30s being aggressive in pursuing growth opportunities.”

Full Article:

http://www.atlanticfarmfocus.ca/Opinion/Capital-Ideas/2015-01-02/article-3994144/Young-and-ambitious%3F-Heres-how-to-get-ahead/1

 
Too much energy is being spent rewriting rules for the distribution of medical marijuana in New Mexico.
The state Department of Health, rather than devising cumbersome rules that make it harder for patients to get the medicine they need, should streamline the process. While the latest version of rules is an improvement (anything would be) on the original plan, more work is needed. Compassion needs to play a role.