Fox News Latino
 
An American flag made of industrial hemp will fly over the U.S. Capitol on Independence Day.
Democratic Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado announced Wednesday that his request for the hemp-made flag was granted.
Full Article:
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2013/07/03/hemp-flag-to-fly-over-us-capitol-on-july-4/

BY WALTER BROOKS

 

The war on pot is a bust

Suffolk University Poll: 67% say pot enforcement costs more than it is worth

A Suffolk University’s poll taken June 24 included more than just questions about Markey and Gomez. There was also a question about the drug war, and specifically the war on marijuana..
This writer believes that once our not-so-brave politicians explain the war on drugs’ true cost, the American people will scream for a cease-fire. We should then treat drugs as a health problem, not as a matter for the criminal justice system.
Even Thomas Jefferson said, “‎Some of my finest hours have been spent on my back veranda, smoking hemp and observing as far as my eye can see.”  And Conservative William F. Buckley said, “Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.capecodtoday.com/article/2013/07/02/20294-poll-war-marijuana-not-worth-cost

Jessica Catalano

 
Image yourself lounging out in the sun filled mountains by a large alpine lake drinking a cannabis fruit infused ice water. Yes, you heard right, cannabis fruit infused ice water. You have seen the delicious non-medicated counterpart in spas, salons, and resorts over the years. Now I give you medicated versions, to fit three specific types of highs to either pamper or engage you.
 
Full Article:
http://www.ladybud.com/2013/06/28/recipe-jessica-catalanos-cannabis-infused-summertime-freshies/

By Thomas H. Clarke
 
A bill introduced in Harrisburg to legalize and regulate marijuana similar to alcohol received an endorsement by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the NAACP Tuesday.
Senate Bill 528, the Regulate Marijuana Act, was  was introduced earlier this year by State Senator Daylin Leach.
The bill would allow adults 21 and over to grow up to six plants and possess the resulting harvest. It would also allow adults to transfer up to an ounce to other adults.
 
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2013/24179/naacp-endorses-pennsylvania-marijuana-legalization-bill/

by Rick Thompson

 
In July, $2 bills will be flowing into the cash registers of businesses across Michigan in an effort to show the cannabis community’s economic impact.
Community representatives are calling on the patients, caregivers and legalization supporters to unite in the symbolic effort. The idea is simple: spend one $2 bill when paying for every cash purchase made everywhere from July 10 through July 31. As restaurant and retail business owners and managers see the influx of $2 bills they will gain a respect for the purchasing power of the marijuana-friendly consumer- and so will the legislature.
“The $2 bill plan doesn’t cost anything, doesn’t require a meeting or an agreement on philosophy. It’s simple and legal,” says Donnie from the Metro Detroit Compassion Club. “Here is the opportunity to show power through numbers and economic impact. Pass it on state to state; pass it on nationwide to include all who support the cannabis community.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/the-power-of-the-cannabis-economy/

BY SHAWN CONNER, VANCOUVER SUN

John Berfelo had always been what he calls “a recreational smoker.” But after falling 8.5 metres onto concrete, he credits marijuana with not just getting him high, but saving his life.
In 2005, the then-33-year-old glazier was working on a scissor-lift when he tripped on a box of construction materials and went over the railing. He woke up in the hospital.
“My life was changed forever,” Berfelo said.
His broke his neck in four places; he shattered his left elbow. He fractured his skull. He broke teeth and he shattered an ankle. He herniated three discs. He broke his hip.
Berfelo was in the hospital for three weeks. A live-in nurse and Meals on Wheels helped him when he returned home and started recovery. He was on 32 pills a day, including muscle relaxants, antidepressants and sleeping pills.
“I was on so many pills I carried around a little box of prescription drugs,” he said.
He was “chasing pain,” Berfelo said. “I was a mess, up and down, crying my eyes out. I did pain charts and logs for over four years.”
The pain fluctuated with the amount of drugs he was taking. At the time, he was also eating pot brownies from the B.C. Compassion Club Society.
The brownies were made with pot tested by Paul Hornby, a B.C.-based medical cannabis researcher and biochemist with a doctorate in human pathology. Berfelo found that those particular brownies worked better at fighting the pain than the prescribed painkillers, and their effects lasted longer.
Full Article:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/gets+painkillers+with+marijuana/8585717/story.html

By Doug Fine

 
I missed out on an $8,000 one-day profit several weeks ago when I declined an opportunity to invest in British-based GW Pharmaceuticals, which subsequently went public as GWPH on NASDAQ. I could’ve got in at $1. The stock ended its first day of trading around $9, which is about where it’s trading today. (Pause while I absorb a feeling in my gut that I hope is pride but might be fiscal pain.) The purpose of this column is not to speak for or against GW Pharmaceuticals or its cannabis-based products, but rather to elucidate the issues that caused me to err, for now, on the side of whole plant versus concentrated cannabis prescription.
 
Full Article:
http://www.theweedblog.com/patent-the-marijuana-plant/

BY EMMA GRANEY, POSTMEDIA NEWS

It started with a burger, fries and a little conversation.
It led to an act of kindness that one Saskatchewan man with a daughter who’s facing cancer will likely never forget.
Cliff Luther was working at his restaurant in Chamberlain, Sask., when one of his customers asked for a pen to pay for his burger and fries by cheque. The amount Bob Erb wrote down was $10,000.
Erb laughs when asked about Luther’s reaction to the cheque, and says Luther was “so overwhelmed, so befuddled by it that I ended up having to flip my own burger because he was real emotional.”
Full Article:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lotto+winner+gives+again+surprising+restaurant+owner+with/8584060/story.html

Huffington Post  |  By Alexandra Schuster
 
“Imagine if Barack Obama had been busted for inhaling,” said Cooke. “In that single moment when the SWAT teams came in and raided him, he wouldn’t have been able to become president of the United States, and not only that, he couldn’t have had a good job at all.”
“He would have, as a black man, been less likely to get a good income in any job,” Cooke continued. “He would have likely been prosecuted more than any white dealer or user.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/adrian-grenier-obama-marijuana-busted-for-inhaling_n_3503295.html