WRITTEN BY  ZEUS @MIDDLEEASY

 
 
This morning I received an email from Keith Kizer letting me know that as of yesterday, the NSAC has officially raised the testing threshold of marijuana metabolites from 50 ng/mL to 150 ng/mL. That represents a 300% increase, which means you can have 3x more marijuana metabolites in your system before it’s a positive test. something unprecedented in the the industry. From our previous conversation we had a couple weeks ago, Kizer told me to expect this to happen sometime this month, and it seems to be in direct response to the public’s outcry of the nonsensical demonization of marijuana in MMA. Now that the threshold has been raised, fighters could literally smoke marijuana roughly up until a week before their fight — although it’s best to stay off the green, leafy stuff at least two weeks prior to a 150 ng/ML test just to err on the side of caution.
 
Full Article:
http://middleeasy.com/fighting/item/11884-good-news-nick-diaz-the-nsac-officially-raised-the-testing-threshold-of-marijuana-by-300

The Huffington Post | By Paige Lavender

 
McCain: “Maybe we should legalize. We’re certainly moving that way as far as marijuana is concerned. I respect the will of the people”
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/06/john-mccain-marijuana-legalization_n_3879907.html

by Naharnet Newsdesk

 
Legislators in Puerto Rico are preparing to debate a bill that would allow people to use marijuana for medicinal purposes in this conservative U.S. territory, officials said Thursday.
The measure would create a system to legally produce the substance and allow state health officials to regulate it, said Rep. Jose Baez, one of the bill’s two authors.
 
Full Article:
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/97029-puerto-rico-to-debate-medical-use-of-marijuana

http://vimeo.com/72522990
Phoenix Rising: The Story of Rick Simpson and RSO episode 1 from Chris on Vimeo.

By Lauren McGaughy, NOLA.com | The Times Picayune 

Posted by Bob Young
 
Revised state rules for a recreational marijuana system include the location of 334 retail pot stores, an overall cap on pot production and limits on concentrated ownership of pot stores, growing and processing facilities.
In rules approved this morning, the state Liquor Control Board capped total pot production at 40 metric tons, or roughly 25 percent of the total state market for legal recreational, medical and black market marijuana.
The cap, in turn, helped determine the number of stores and limits on the amount of pot growers could produce. Under the revised rules growing facilities could be up to 30,000 square feet.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/09/state-approves-334-retail-pot-stores-61-in-king-county/

Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

 
Thursday’s NFL season opener is about to get hit with an end-around PR play from a harsh critic that’s ultra-savvy at garnering media attention.
The Marijuana Policy Project will announce Wednesday that it has posted a giant billboard advertisement — within eye-shot of Denver’s Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium — that warns the National Football League: “Stop Driving Players to Drink.”
The 48 X 14 foot billboard, which shows a football leaning against a foaming beer glass, advises: “A safer choice is now legal here.” Colorado, after all, is one of two states (along with Washington state)that have recently legalized marijuana use by adults 21 and over.
“NFL players are being told that they can go out and get completely drunk, but face no punishment from the league,” says Mason Tvert, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy project. “But if a player gets caught using marijuana, they could be fined hundreds of thousands of dollars, forced to sit out games and deemed a troublemaker.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/09/04/national-football-league-marijuana-advertisement/2760147/

John Myers Jr, Gleaner Writer
 
A new research facility to study the scientific benefits of marijuana is to be established jointly in Jamaica by two local universities.
Paul Chang, chairman of the Ganja Law Reform Coalition made the disclosure at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last Wednesday.
Chang said the new research centre, which is to be called the Jamaica Cannabis Institute, will be jointly established by the University of the WestIndies (UWI) and the University of Technology (UTech).
 
 
Full Article:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130902/lead/lead6.html

The Bible tells us that the Garden of Eden was heaven on Earth — until Adam ate that apple. Then all Hell broke loose.
Now, Arlington, Texas, has updated this tale.
At about 7:30 in the morning of August 2, a SWAT team of armed police agents, code enforcement officers, and narcotics detectives stormed Shellie Smith’s little organic farm — which she named “Garden of Eden.”
They burst through the gate, handcuffed the terrified residents, and held them at gunpoint while the agents executed the raid’s mission.
 
Full Article:
http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/content/jim-hightower-razing-garden-eden

Ryan Grim – ryan@huffingtonpost.com

 
 
WASHINGTON — A broad coalition of law enforcement officers who have spent the past three decades waging an increasingly militarized drug war that has failed to reduce drug use doesn’t want to give up the fight.
Organizations that include sheriffs, narcotics officers and big-city police chiefs slammed Attorney General Eric Holder in a joint letter Friday, expressing “extreme disappointment” at his announcement that the Department of Justice would allow Colorado and Washington to implement state laws that legalized recreational marijuana for adults.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/30/police-eric-holder-marijuana-_n_3846518.html