BY JON MITCHELL SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

Workers harvest cannabis at a licensed farm in Tochigi Prefecture. | JUNICHI TAKAYASU
 

When Junichi Takayasu was 3 years old, a picture book about ninjas changed his life forever. What fascinated him most, however, wasn’t the assassins’ stealthy skills or secret gadgets but their usage of a very special plant.

“The book showed how ninjas trained by jumping over cannabis plants,” Takayasu says. “Every day they had to leap higher and higher because cannabis grows very quickly. I was so amazed that I told my mom I wanted to grow cannabis when I was older.”

Full Article:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/04/19/lifestyle/cannabis-the-fiber-of-japan/#.U1KrZ1VdXa5

BY JON MITCHELL SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES

Police find cannabis plants in Nara Prefecture in September 2012. | KYODO
 

Every summer in Hokkaido and northern Honshu, platoons of police and public servants scour the countryside for cannabis.

For a nation well-known for its strict drug laws, the plants are remarkably easy to find. In an average year, patrols discover between 1 million and 2 million of them — some sown by illicit smokers but the majority are the feral progeny of cannabis legally cultivated prior to its prohibition under the 1948 Cannabis Control Act.

Regardless of the plants’ origins, they’re pulled out by their roots, loaded into vans and incinerated in bonfires upwind from inhabited areas.

For a long time, few people questioned these annual eradication campaigns. Now, however, a vocal minority is challenging their efficacy — and Japan’s overall approach to cannabis.

Full Article:

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2014/04/19/lifestyle/cannabis-the-healing-of-the-nation/#.U1KqyFVdXa5

BY JIM MILLER jmiller@sacbee.com

Gov. Jerry Brown announced 63 pardons Friday, with the vast majority of the recipients convicted of long-ago drug crimes.

The people pardoned, Brown wrote in the pardon messages, have “lived an honest and upright life, exhibited good moral character” and conducted themselves as law-abiding citizens.

Of the 63 pardons, more than two-thirds were for people convicted of crimes for selling, transporting or manufacturing controlled substances, including marijuana. Other pardoned convictions included burglary, stolen property, vehicle theft, and evading a police officer.

by Ray Hagar

Various strains of medical marijuana are shown at a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif. (Ray Hagar photo)

“Perhaps in the next couple of years, the federal government will change it to a Schedule Two,” Segerblom said. “It is amazing how the public perception is changing. When Reno get a unanimous vote, you know things are different.”
Segerblom was referring to the Reno City Council.
On Wednesday, it first voted unanimously in favor of the concept of the medical marijuana industry within city limits.

Full Article:

http://blogs.rgj.com/politics/2014/04/17/gaming-control-board-wants-no-part-in-investigating-people-who-want-to-get-into-nevadas-medical-marijuana-business/

By Samantha Jeffreys – email

 

Language barring legal gun owners from using cannabis has been dropped from the proposed rules governing medical marijuana in Illinois.

A person close to the rule-writing process released the information, but spoke on the condition of anonymity. The regulations are expected to be published Friday.

Full Article:

http://www.wrex.com/story/25273225/2014/04/17/gun-language-dropped-from-illinois-medical-marijuana-rules

by Troy Brynelson

 
 
The first thing you notice about Elvy Musikka are her eyes. Behind a pair of leopard-print glasses, they are as thin as crescent moons. They’re dark and slanted, like she’s permanently squinting, which is a result of her glaucoma, born from congenital cataracts.
One afternoon, she sits on her couch and draws a long breath from her purple glass bong. That’s likely the second thing you notice: the wall-to-wall scent of weed around her. Musikka, 74, smokes a lot. What separates her from other pot users, even other medical marijuana recipients, is that her supplier is the federal government.
 
Full Article:
http://dailyemerald.com/2014/04/16/eugenes-elvy-musikka-is-one-of-only-four-recipients-of-federal-medical-marijuna-for-glaucoma/

By Nick Schou

Joe Grumbine (center) and Joe Byron (right) outside the courtroom
 
More than a year after Joe Byron and Joe Grumbine–who were featured in this Weekly cover story–were convicted of selling marijuana in Long Beach Superior Court, a has judge dismissed all charges against the two men. A courtroom observer tells the Weeklythat the courtroom hearing was just a routine scheduling meeting. But while Grumbine’s defense attorney was trying to negotiate a reduced plea for his client, Judge Arthur Jean called both sides to the bench. He then astonished the court by suddenly announcing that he was dismissing the case in the “interest of justice.”
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/04/all_charges_dropped_against_jo.php

by Dan Yates
 
A proposal from a Regina entrepreneur adds to the growing list of plans to process hemp in Western Canada for industrial purposes.
After two years of research and development, Thomas Chevalier said he hopes to set up a plant by the end of this year in Gilbert Plains, Man., producing biomass briquettes from hemp straw.
 
Full Article:
http://www.producer.com/2014/04/hemp-processing-plan-turns-straw-into-briquettes/

By Leslie Nash – email

 
 
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has signed a bill to legalize a marijuana extract to be used as medicine under tightly controlled circumstances.
 
Full Article:
http://www.wjtv.com/story/25276187/marijuana-extract-legalized-in-mississippi