Sam Wood, PHILLY.COM

 
State Sens. Mike Folmer and Daylin Leach
 
“Shafer was appointed by President Nixon in 1970 to oversee a commission looking at marijuana use.  His 1972 report,  “Marihuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding” recommended that cannabis not be included under the controlled substance act and called for the decriminalization of possession by adults. Nixon ignored the recommendations.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/PA_bill_to_legalize_medical_marijuana_named_after_former_PA_governor.html

By Matthew Fleischer

David Marlow, right, helps a customer, who smells a strain of marijuana before buying it, at the crowded sales counter inside a marijuana retail store in Denver on Jan. 1. (Brennan Linsley / Associated Press / January 1, 2014)
 
The United States is one of only 22 countries that doesn’t guarantee what’s called “retroactive ameliorative relief” in sentencing. Which means that when a law such as one legalizing marijuana is passed in America, those already convicted of marijuana crimes don’t automatically have their sentences relaxed. This puts us in the company of such bastions of social justice as Pakistan, Oman and South Sudan.
If Germany were to legalize marijuana, on the other hand, those convicted of weed crimes would see their sentences commuted, according to the USF report.
 
Full Article:
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-legalize-marijuana-free-prior-offenders-20140115,0,3562757.story?fb_action_ids=10152175350395767&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B1435466400003650%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%22s%3DshowShareBarUI%3Ap%3Dfacebook-like%22%5D#axzz2qa5ACyPS

Hemp pellets produce around 2% ash and can be used in a large range of pellet burners currently on the market today. Hemp is no more corrosive to burn than wood pellets, while this is not the case with pellets made from Straw, Miscanthus and Switchgrass.
See more here:
http://www.pelheat.com/Hemp.html

By Jareen Imam, CNN

Everyone needs a hobby, right? Recreational marijuana users told us it makes them feel more relaxed and creative.
 
(CNN) — Lighting up a freshly packed pipe is just the kind of afternoon delight iReporter robcat20 likes after dealing with a stressful day at work as an insurance agent. Usually he’ll put on a movie from Netflix while enjoying a good smoke from Stella, his pipe.
There’s just one a problem: Smoking marijuana is illegal in his state of Ohio.
Robcat20, who asked not to be identified by name because he fears being “labeled as a bad person” in his small town, says it’s time that changed.
“I like weed, and I’m a good person,” he wrote on CNN iReport. “I am a successful businessman, a loving father, devoted husband, registered Republican, active in my community with charities, church and I give piano lessons in the evenings to children with disabilities.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/16/living/irpt-recreational-marijuana/

By: Isabel Teotonio

Russell Haythorn  | Email Me

 
DENVER – A one-month supply of marijuana edibles, gone in the first three days of January.
That’s what the area’s largest supplier of marijuana edibles is saying about the incredible demand for the product since recreational sales were legalized in Colorado on Jan. 1.
“We are working hard,” said Joe Hodas, chief marketing officer for Dixie Elixirs and Edibles. “We like to call ourselves the future of cannabis.”
There is so much demand for edibles right now, they limit customers to two edible products a day at recreational pot shops like LoDo Wellness at 16th St. and Wazee in downtown Denver.
“Actually demand’s been huge,” said Hodas. “And our employees have been just killing it working ’round the clock.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/edible-marijuana-sales-shattering-sales-projections-in-colorado

By Theo Keith – email

 
FRANKFORT, KY (WAVE) – A Republican senator not only gave medical marijuana supporters a voice at the state Capitol on Wednesday, she provided them advice.
Sen. Julie Denton, R-Louisville, repeatedly told advocates that focusing their efforts on legalizing cannabis oil, which supporters said could treat epilepsy and seizures without any psychotic effects, was smart politically.
“What the general public thinks about pot, marijuana, cannabis — whatever you want to call it — is that people get high and it distorts their version of reality,” Denton said. “If we get the answers to the questions on the cannabis oil, and what happens with that, and how can we make that work, it may open up to other things.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.wave3.com/story/24463785/republican-senator-tells-medical-marijuana-supporters-to-focus-on-cannabis-oil

By Daniel Denvir

 
 
The voters who packed a candidates’ forum in November — racially diverse progressive activists and union members from voter-rich Philadelphia — will have a big say in May’s Democratic gubernatorial primary. Unsurprisingly, all five candidates up on stage played to the crowd, harshly criticizing Gov. Tom Corbett’s cuts to public education and his refusal to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
But it was candidate John Hanger who electrified the activists, drawing the afternoon’s loudest and longest applause when he issued a call to reform the state’s marijuana laws.
“It’s time to legalize marijuana,” Hanger, a longtime figure in state government, told an ecstatic crowd at Temple University. “This is a question of justice. … African-Americans have been arrested at the rate of five times whites for marijuana possession. That’s why the schools-to-jails pipeline is full!”
 
Full Article:
http://citypaper.net/article.php?Can-legalizing-pot-win-the-governor-s-race-18371

AFP Photo / Andreas Solaro
 
The city council of Italian city of Turin has approved a motion in favor of legalizing cannabis on Tuesday, becoming the first major city in the country to make the proposal to allow marijuana to be prescribed for medical reasons.
 
Full Article:
http://rt.com/news/turin-cannabis-legalize-italy-613/