RMForbes

 
It’s long past the time to end the failed prohibition against the cannabis genus of plants. We could use your help to get the word out. Please help us get the California Cannabis Hemp Initiative of 2014 on the ballot for next November. We have only a little over two months left to get this done.
 
Full Article:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/11/1262038/-Will-California-be-the-next-State-to-relegalize-Cannabis

Posted by Bob Young
 
Washington state Liquor Control Board members signaled today they will recommend to lawmakers that medical-marijuana patients be allowed to continue growing pot in their homes.
Board members would allow qualified patients, or designated providers, to grow up to six plants, three flowering and three non-flowering. A formal recommendation, expected at next week’s board meeting, would reverse a proposal by staff at three state departments — Health, Revenue and the Liquor Control Board (LCB) – to outlaw home growing.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/12/liquor-board-says-keep-home-grows-for-medical-marijuana/#.Uqnls_e92E4.facebook

By Chris Roberts

Though other polls released this fall showed over 60 percent of California voters in favor of ending marijuana prohibition, Field revealed something more radical: over half of voters are in favor of letting all nonviolent marijuana offenders out of jail.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/12/latest_poll_majority_of_califo.php

A man smokes a joint during a march for the legalization of marijuana towards the Legislative Palace in Montevideo, on December 10, 2013 (AFP Photo / Pablo Porciuncula)
 
Uruguay has become the first country in the world to legalize both the sale and production of marijuana. President Jose Mujica has championed the measure as a way of combatting the illegal drugs industry that has decimated parts of Uruguay.
 
Full Article:
http://rt.com/news/uruguay-legalizes-sale-marijuana-987/

By Howard Bryant

Mark Smith for ESPN
States are legalizing it. More and more Americans approve of it. Is the NFL next?
 
This story appears in ESPN The Magazine’s Dec. 23 Interview Issue. Subscribe today!
THE TRUEST WAY to see the NFL is not before the game, when the helmets are shiny and the energy is high, but after the final whistle, when the bodies are bruised and the athletic tape is soiled with dirt and blood. Or at the practice facility the following day, when the players show up with crutches and walking casts, fingers in splints, arms in slings.
Pain is the singular constant of the NFL. Maintenance of that pain is as vital to players as mastering the read-option; whether through cortisone, painkillers or drugs and alcohol, they have always self-medicated to heal from the game that breaks their bodies. Which is why, more than any other sport, the NFL should lead the conversation on considering medicinal marijuana as a therapeutic alternative.
 
 Full Article:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10110004/is-nfl-embrace-marijuana-espn-magazine

JORDAN WEISSMANN

Patrick Moen is a 36-year-old former supervisor at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, where, until recently, he led a team based in Portland that fought methamphetamine and heroin traffickers.
Now, he is embarking on a career change. A rather dramatic one.  The Wall Street Journal reports today in a delightful article that Moen has become the in-house lawyer at Privateer Holdings Inc., “a private-equity firm that invests solely in businesses tied to the budding legal marijuana industry.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/this-former-dea-agent-is-going-to-work-in-the-marijuana-business/282197/

by Shellie Nelson
 
A woman who suffers impairment from cerebral palsy says – and shows – smoking marijuana helps ease her symptoms.
Jacqueline Patterson was featured in a documentary called, “In Pot We Trust,” which explores the politics and uses of medical marijuana.
Patterson’s cerebral palsy causes problems with some of her physical coordination and speech.
She says she moved away from Kansas City to California on the advice of a child protective service worker who was aware of her marijuana use and of her desire to keep custody of her children.
Patterson later reportedly won a court case defending her consumption as strictly for medical purposes.
Tell us in the poll below – do you think medical marijuana should be legal in all states?
 
Video and Poll:
http://wqad.com/2013/12/10/video-medical-marijuana-helps-woman-with-cerebral-palsy/

By Carl Campanile

 
Holy smoke!
Here’s a little-known fact to give sick folks high hopes — New York already has a law on the books to dispense marijuana to cancer patients.
 
Full Article:
http://nypost.com/2013/12/08/ny-approved-medical-pot-law-then-spaced-on-it/

 
Cannabis Hemp is the only known plant that can be grown from the Equator to the Arctic Circle and to the Antarctic Circle; from the mountains to the valleys, from the oceans to the plains, including arid lands and everywhere in between.
Cannabis Hemp is the healthiest plant for the ground out of the 300,000 known species, and the millions and millions of subspecies, of plants on Earth, because it has a root system that grows 10 to 12 inches in 30 days compared to one inch for rye, barley grass, etc. The roots penetrate up to 6 feet deep, pulverizing the soil and making it arable. After harvest it leaves a root system that is mulched into the ground, revitalizing the land and making it live once again. It is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plant life.
All of my information about Cannabis Hemp has been taken from Federal and State Department of Agriculture reports, articles from Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Pulp & Paper Magazine, Scientific American, entries from encyclopedias and pharmacopoeias, and studies from all over the world during the last 200 years. This is all public information.
The United States government is hiding the fact that 125 years ago, and even as far back as 4000 BC, 80% of our economy was based on the use of Cannabis Hemp for paper, fiber and fuel.
Ten to 20% of our drug economy was based on Cannabis Hemp medicines, 125 years ago.
Cannabis Hemp was part of our everyday life. Virtually every farm and every plot of land in the cities and towns across the United States and the world, from 100-125 years ago and before, had a Cannabis Hemp patch growing.
The U.S. government’s cover-up of Cannabis Hemp outrages me and it should outrage you, too. I have been studying Cannabis Hemp for over 30 years, and I can’t believe how the U.S. government, in 90 seconds in Congress, could outlaw “Marijuana” in 1937, without the people realizing they were outlawing Cannabis Hemp, the most perfect plant for the planet!
They even got other countries to outlaw it, too, after the Second World War and beyond. From 1740 to 1940, 80% of all the world’s Cannabis Hemp was grown (mostly by Cossacks, who were indentured servants), and then imported from, Russia.
I will again reiterate a few of the facts about Cannabis Hemp, which you already know from reading my book, “The Emperor Wears No Clothes.”
Cannabis Hemp was the NUMBER ONE annually renewable natural resource for 80% of all paper, fiber, textiles and fuel, from 6,000 years ago until about 125 years ago. Furthermore, it was used for 5 to 50% of the food, light, land and soil reclamation, and even 20% or more of all medicine.
Everyone, from the educated to the uneducated, the farmer to the townsperson, the doctors and the scientists used Cannabis Hemp products and depended on them.Seventy-five to 90% of all paper used from at least 100 AD to 1883 was made of Cannabis Hemp. Books, (including Bibles), money and newspapers all over the world have been mainly printed on Cannabis Hemp for as long as these things have existed in human history.
One hundred and 25 years ago, 70 to 90% of all rope, twine, cordage, ship sails, canvas, fiber, cloth, etc., was made out of Cannabis Hemp fiber! It was replaced by DuPont’s newly discovered petrochemical fiber (nylon) beginning in 1937.
By comparison, Cannabis Hemp is 4 times softer than cotton, 4 times warmer, 4 times more water absorbent, has 3 times the strength of cotton, is many times more durable, is flame retardant, and doesn’t use pesticides. Fifty percent of all pesticides are used on cotton, yet cotton uses only 1% of the farmland in the U.S! Cannabis Hemp is the most health giving plant on Earth and it doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides. It is the healthiest plant for human consumption, and for the Earth itself.
Eighty percent of our economy depended on Cannabis Hemp for paper, fiber and fuel, 125 years ago. At that time, it took 300 man-hours to harvest an acre of Cannabis Hemp, but with the invention of the brand new Hemp decorticator in the 1930s, it only took 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This is equivalent to reducing the labor burden from $6,000 down to $40 per acre, in today’s money. Keep in mind that the cotton gin, in 1793, reduced the man-hours from 300 hours down to 2 hours to harvest and clean an acre of cotton. Cannabis Hemp would have taken over the cotton market, as it is far superior to cotton, and pesticide free.
The role of Cannabis Hemp should be determined by market supply and demand and not by undue influence of prohibition laws, federal subsidies and huge tariffs that keep the natural from replacing the synthetic. I repeat, Cannabis Hemp is the KING KONG of the King Kongs of all plants!
Of all the 300,000 species of plants on Earth, no other plant source can compare with the nutritional value of Cannabis Hemp seeds. It is the only plant on Earth that provides us with the NUMBER ONE source, and the perfect balance of essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, globulin edestin protein, and essential oils all combined in one plant, and in a form which is most naturally digestible to our bodies.
Prior to the 1800s, Cannabis Hemp oil was the NUMBER ONE source for lighting oil throughout the world. Until 1937-38, even paints and varnishes were 80% Cannabis Hemp oil. Cannabis Hemp is non-toxic and has been used to make high-grade diesel fuel, oil, aircraft and precision oil and even the NUMBER ONE vegetable oil. The U.S. Army/Navy standards purchasing specifications list Hemp oil as the NUMBER ONE preferred lubricant for their machinery. Cannabis Hemp is the best sustainable source of plant pulp for biomass fuel to make charcoal, gas, methanol, gasoline and electricity in a natural way.
In 1850, 80% of all paper, fiber, fuel, and oil were made out of Cannabis Hemp in America and the rest of the world. This was before the discovery of coal and petroleum for energy in the late 1850s…before the start of the worst permanent pollution ever experienced on Earth… fossil fuel pollution (coal and petroleum)!
As a medicine, the worldwide use of Cannabis Hemp goes back at least 6,000 years. Remember, 10 to 20%t of our medicines used to be Cannabis Hemp based medicines. It has been found to be healthy and effective in the treatment of chronic pain, cancer, strokes, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, sickle cell anemia, AIDS wasting and many other illnesses, including simple nausea, appetite stimulant, anxiety and muscle pains, etc.
On September 6, 1988, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Chief Administrative Law Judge, Francis L. Young, ruled: “Marijuana, in its natural form, is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man,” and asked the Drug Enforcement Administration to reschedule it. The DEA refused, keeping it as a Schedule I drug, which they say “has no known medical use”! Thousands of studies have been done all over the world, documenting the medical use of Marijuana (England, Spain, Hungary, Holland, and the U.S., just to name a few). No one has ever died from Marijuana in over 6,000 years of recorded history… unless they were shot by a cop!
Cannabis Hemp was also used for land reclamation until 1915. Cannabis Hemp was planted or left to grow feral as ground cover and on riverbanks, and not intended for harvest. It is the NUMBER ONE plant in history used to prevent mudslides and loss of watershed, and river and soil erosion on Earth. It has been illegal to grow this NUMBER ONE plant in the United States since 1937.
What disgusts me the most is how the U.S. government, as well as the people, knew about Cannabis Hemp and praised its value and then look what happened! In literally 90 seconds, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 passed in Congress. By using the unknown name “Marijuana” instead of the familiar name “Cannabis Hemp”, Congress was able to accomplish this because no one knew what plant they were talking about.
Cannabis Hemp became illegal and was replaced by petrochemical products, coal and natural gas. They made it such a banned and forbidden plant that the words “Hemp” and “Cannabis Hemp” were not even taught in schools from the 1940s, 50s and thereafter.
The role of Cannabis Hemp was erased from America’s history (as well as most of the rest of the world’s) after 1945. To prove it, think… what did you learn about Cannabis Hemp in grade school? High school? College? From your parents and grandparents? Nothing! (Unless it was from the underground press within the last 15 to 20 years.) The continuing suppression of this information by the U.S. government places us all in mortal jeopardy. I believe that, in order to save our planet, we must use non-fossil fuel energy.
Cannabis Hemp, in conjunction with wind, solar, tidal and hydroelectric power, could save the planet by providing all of our energy, fuel, paper, fiber, and 10 to 20% of our medical needs, naturally. It would also reduce acid rain and chemical pollution, rebuild the soil, and reverse the greenhouse effect (no other plant can do this!).
Cannabis Hemp was used to make over 25,000 products before it was outlawed in 1937.Why does the U.S. government want to eradicate this seed, out of all the seeds on Earth? They want to kill the most perfect plant on the planet. We must stop this insanity and demand that the laws against Cannabis Hemp be 100% repealed!!
Federal Attorney General John Ashcroft, Drug Enforcement Administration head, Asa Hutchison, and White House Drug Czar, John Walters, have been given all of these proven facts and yet are still set against the legalization of Cannabis Hemp and recognition of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana knowledge. For whatever personal reasons, they refuse to believe the facts and are willing to sacrifice the future of our planet and the health of our people by keeping it illegal.
The ban of Cannabis Hemp is so extreme and its intention is to hide the truth. The truth is that out of the 300,000 species, and the millions and millions of subspecies, of plants on Earth, Cannabis Hemp is the NUMBER ONE plant for our survival and quality of life here on Earth.
Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government and Attorney General John Ashcroft have been calling Marijuana users “terrorists” and yet the government of the United States has been “terrorizing” Marijuana users for the last 65 years! There have been over 14 million arrests for Cannabis Hemp in the last 65 years, in the U.S. alone! 13 million were within the last 30 years!
No one has taken the $100,000 challenge to prove me wrong. Why? Because I am right. The U.S. government has been lying to us since the early 1900s. Do economic interests and the police have more to say than the people about the future of our planet? How angry are you for being lied to by the U.S. government about Cannabis Hemp? Are you willing to make a stand right now? No one can dispute this information and knowledge. YOU have to join me in this fight. Either you are on the U.S. government’s side or you are on my side.
Please help me spread this everywhere. Thank you!
Jack Herer
www.jackherer.com
2/14/07

 
Medical marijuana is legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia, but there are still use cases that are very controversial, like medical marijuana for children. Some claim it’s a wonder drug for epilepsy, severe autism, and even to quell the harsh side effects of chemotherapy, while others decry pumping marijuana into still-growing bodies. We went to the small town of Pendleton, Oregon, where medical marijuana is legal, to visit Mykayla Comstock, an eight-year-old leukemia patient who takes massive amounts of weed to treat her illness. Her family, and many people we met along the way, believe not only in the palliative aspects of the drug, but also in marijuana’s curative effect—that pot can literally shrink tumors.
 
See video here:
http://www.vice.com/weediquette-show/stoned-kids