By Matt Taylor

 

We Americans love to send our armed forces, often recruited from black and Hispanic neighborhoods devoid of real economic opportunity, to fight in exotic foreign conflicts while we relax at home and consume things, unconcerned about the impact all that combat has on those citizens’ lives. So it should come as little surprise that the House of Representatives last Wednesday rejected an amendment to the annual bill funding veterans’ health care that would have permitted military doctors in states with medical marijuana already on the books to discuss pot treatment options with their patients.

The vote was tantalizingly close, however, with the amendment failing 222–195. In fact, 22 Republicans crossed over to join the majority of Democrats in favor of the proposal, which, according to medical studies, could help some of the millions of vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of the protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bipartisan tide of momentum for drug legalization, it seems, is reaching the highest levels of the federal government—and even threatening to rope in our sacred troops, whom we are apparently fine with risking life and limb in the desert so long as they never, ever get high.

Full Article:

http://www.vice.com/read/why-wont-the-us-government-let-veterans-smoke-weed

By DAVID FERRARA and JAMES DEHAVEN LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

 

Sig Rogich, president of The Rogich Communications Group Bill Hughes | Business Press

At the height of the “Just Say No” campaign in the war on drugs, Sig Rogich was a senior adviser to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
Now Rogich, who runs one of the most powerful public relations firms in Nevada, is part of a team looking to snag one of Clark County’s medical marijuana licenses.
“It was 30 years ago, a lot has changed,” Rogich, 69, said of his involvement with marijuana’s staunch political opponents. “They’re legalizing it in 22 states now.”
 
Full Article:
http://m.reviewjournal.com/news/nevada-and-west/las-vegas-heavy-hitters-vie-medical-marijuana-licenses
 

The Huffington Post  | by  Chloe Fox

 
There’s a new hemp trend sweeping the nation and it has nothing to do with thosebeaded friendship bracelets from the ’90s.
Twenty-three states have now enacted pro-industrial hemp legislation (Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie signed the latest bill this past week), making the cousin crop to marijuana a national phenomenon. Since the beginning of the year, more than 70 bills related to hemp have been introduced in more than half of the country’s states. Passage of the recent Farm Bill, which legalized the crop for research purposes, further cleared the way for industrial hemp production.
Hemp, which is the same species as marijuana (Cannabis sativa) but contains little to no THC, was grown widely in America before anti-drug sentiment helped make it unpopular in the 1950s. Today, however, the nation’s turning tide on marijuana means its “sober cousin” is also making a comeback.
Hemp policy is “not just turning a corner,” Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) told The Huffington Post earlier this year. “It’s turning a corner and running downhill.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/03/hemp-sustainable-crop_n_5243351.html

By Yesenia Robles The Denver Post

Hemp farmer Ryan Loflin handles a batch of a particular kind of hemp seeds that produce vast amounts of hemp oil. (AAron Ontiveroz, Denver Post file photo)

Hemp could be growing on more than 1,000 acres of Colorado farmland later this year — among the first legal grows since the 1950s.

The state registration period to grow hemp — legalized along with recreational marijuana through Amendment 64 — closed Thursday.

Farmers applied to grow hemp on 1,273 acres. Not all applications have been approved, and a few more could trickle in by mail if they were postmarked by Thursday.

Full Article:

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25679565/colorado-hemp-farmers-ask-nearly-1-300-acres

By Caroline Bleakley, Senior Online Editor – email
 

The fair will be at Compassion Nevada Consulting, 2800 Highland Dr., Las Vegas 89109 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on May 3 and 4.

 
Full Article:
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/25417333/medical-marijuana-job-fair-this-weekend
 

By: Jon Walker

Rep. Griffith’s bill would move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule II, which is the same as Oxycodone and Hydrocodone

A conservative southern Republican congressman has begun a pushing to change federal law prohibiting the use of medical marijuana. On Tuesday Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Virginia) introducedHR 4498 the ‘Legitimate Use of Medicinal Marijuana Act’ (LUMMA).
As a Republican from a state without a functioning medical marijuana program Griffith is an unusual advocate on this issue.  What motivated Griffith to begin push for federal change, though, was personal experience. Years ago Griffith knew someone suffering from cancer who was helped significantly by medical marijuana — but only because the hospital was  willing to turn a blind eye to this treatment. When Griffith heard about a constituent in a nearly identical situation he decided need to step up.
The bill would move marijuana from Schedule I, where it is defined as having no accepted medical value, to Schedule II, which is the same as Oxycodone and Hydrocodone. It would also allow medical marijuana to be used and produced at a state level for authorized patients with a prescription.
 
Full Article:
http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2014/04/30/medical-marijuana-gets-a-push-from-a-surprising-source-in-congress/

By Lessley Anderson

(Bautistas, via Creative Commons)
 
They won’t have neon signs, drive-thru windows, or 24-hour wedding chapels attached to them. But Las Vegas marijuana dispensaries will be massively profitable tourist attractions that could deepen the entire nation’s relationship with weed. At least that’s the hope of the 109 applicants who entered the heated competition for Vegas’ first medical marijuana dispensary and grow-room licenses in time for Tuesday’s deadline.
Nevada voters legalized medical marijuana way back in 2000, but the state only recently enacted regulations to allow people to open pot businesses legally. Unincorporated Clark County — not to be confused with Clark County, which contains the city of Las Vegas proper — includes the flashy 4.2-mile gambling corridor known as the Las Vegas Strip. It’s home to mega-casinos like the Bellagio and Caesars Palace and became the first jurisdiction to draft its licensing requirements. Those requirements look a lot like the ones that control its lucrative gambling industry: they favor high rollers and are geared towards reaping massive profits.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/30/5653538/dizzyland-the-future-of-legal-weed-in-las-vegas

BY TRACY RYAN

Roger and Share Christie

 The Reverend Roger Christie of the Hilo based THC ministry was sentenced Monday, April 28, 2014, in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.  Judge Leslie Kobayashi following, the Federal minimum sentencing guidelines, sentenced him to sixty months on count one of his indictment relating to the distribution of marijuana and one year each for two separate tax related crimes.  As per the defendant’s plea agreement several other charges were dismissed.
Entering the court in handcuffs and shackle the defendant sat quietly while the attorney’s argued about his role in the case.  He was allowed to speak briefly on his own behalf and did so with dignity that impressed everyone as he read his prepared remarks.
As part of the federal sentencing rules Rev. Christie must serve a minimum of forty eight months before becoming eligible for supervised release into the community.  The court allowed for this early release to take place and counted the almost four years in jail served to date against his sentence.  The two other convictions carrying the one year sentences were allowed to be served as part of the four years as well.  With these decisions Rev. Christie should be out of jail within a few weeks.
 
Full Article:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/rev-christie-wife-sentenced-in-marijuana-distribution-case/123