Matthew Klickstein

 
If you thought they like their marijuana dispensaries in Boulder, Colo., Humboldt County and Washington State, wait until you hear about the techies in Silicon Valley: they can’t get enough of the green stuff.
It turns out that San Jose, the big city encompassed by the Valley and long known for tech innovation, has become the “medical marijuana capital of the Bay Area.”
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, San Jose houses 106 pot clinics, with four being “delivery-only.”
This number is four times greater than the quantity of dispensaries in the neighboring community of San Francisco.
 
Full Article:
http://www.itechpost.com/articles/6011/20130304/silicon-valley-palliative-health-center-medical-marijuana-pot-dispensaries-cisco-adobe-google-ebay.htm

 
EnviroTextiles, LLC, a Colorado based Industrial hemp and natural fiber manufacturer, is pleased to announce that it has earned approval from the USDA BioPreferred Program as the only Hemp products manufacturer to qualify for listing their products in the Federal Procurement Preferred category. To quote the USDA’s website: “The purpose of the USDA BioPreferred program is to promote the increased purchase and use of biobased products. The program is expected to promote economic development, creating new jobs and providing new markets for farm commodities.”
Barbara Filippone, President of EnviroTextiles, LLC believes, “The addition of hemp to a U.S. approved government program is a historic achievement for bio-diverse agriculture, and is blazing the path to legalizing the growth of industrial hemp in the United States. Legalization would provide our farmers with a drought resistant, pesticide-free, multipurpose, and value-added crop. Hemp has over 25,000 uses including variations of Food, Fuel, Feed, and Fiber.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=121745

Steph Sherer
 
Earlier this week, while more than 200 citizen lobbyists were meeting face-to-face with their Congressional legislators in Washington, D.C. to change federal policy on medical cannabis, a series of events occurred in Florida, making that state the next political battleground on this issue.
On Monday, a Miami Herald article cited a recent poll indicating 81 percent of Florida voters said approve of doctors recommending cannabis to patients, with only 14 percent opposed. As many as 70 percent of voters said they supported a state constitutional amendment legalizing medical cannabis, a full 10 points higher than what Florida requires to pass such amendments.
Then, tragically, later that afternoon, the home of Americans for Safe Access member and Sarasota resident Cathy Jordan and her 64-year-old husband Robert was raided by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department. With black ski masks and guns drawn in an intimidating fashion that has become all-too familiar for medical cannabis patients across the country, sheriff’s deputies came into their home and seized all 23 of Cathy’s plants, which she uses to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, also known as “Lou Gehrig’s disease”), a terminal illness.
Cathy was diagnosed in 1986 with ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of limb control, breathing, swallowing, and speech. However, after trying cannabis in 1989, she was able to better manage her symptoms and significantly improve her quality of life. Now, more than 20 years later, Cathy has outlived five of her support groups and four of her neurologists.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steph-sherer/florida-marijuana-raid_b_2784022.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

By Chris Roberts

Hand in hand
 
It was only a few years ago that spooked-out city leaders in San Jose declared that medical marijuana dispensaries had taken over their town. Today, there are still more than 100 dispensaries in the South Bay city, many more than are in San Francisco and the East Bay combined. And they’re thriving, with no small thanks to the ever-burgeoning technology industry.
Dispensaries big and small do fine business within smoking distance of some of high-tech’s biggest names, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. And while most firms have strict policies against drug use — all drug use — coders with cramped wrists make up to 40 percent of some dispensaries’ patient bases. Maybe that’s why the likes of Adobe, Cisco. and others have given up on pre-employment drug screening — it’s too hard to find someone who is clean.
 
Full Article:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2013/03/san_jose_tech_companies_marijuana.php
 

Julia Szabo

 
Christine L. of Nevada misses her Rottweiler, Sampson, who passed away on November 20, 2012 of a rare form of blood cancer. “In 2010, between the vomiting and diarrhea, he was losing two pounds a day,” she recalls. Unable to afford chemotherapy, she felt helpless watching her best friend waste away to 64 pounds, less than three quarters of his fighting weight.
 

 
Then Christine stumbled upon a controversial homemade herbal remedy that she credits with enormously improving her dog’s quality of life. She’s grateful that, in his final year, Sampson weighed in at a robust 106 pounds and lived free of the wracking pain that had haunted him. Whereas before Sampson had been too weak to walk, almost overnight he became a born-again youngster. “He was a puppy again, happy and playful,” Christine recalls. “He’d trot around the house with his toys in his mouth, wanting to play fetch!”
The name of the controversial herbal remedy Sampson took? Cannabis.
Inspired by reports of medical marijuana helping human cancer patients, Christine started digging online. The search terms? “How to administer cannabis to a dog.” Christine — who, for the record, is not a recreational cannabis user — was initially concerned about giving it to her dog because of the bad press she’d heard about the plant. But after giving Sampson cannabis flower-bud material mixed with virgin coconut oil (which the Rotti lapped up gladly), she noticed a huge difference in the dog’s attitude almost immediately.
“Cannabis saved my dog’s life,” she says. “It brought him back from the brink.”
 
Full Article:
http://www.dogster.com/lifestyle/medical-marijuana-for-dogs

http://www.nyasatimes.com/2013/02/28/malawi-must-legalise-indian-hemp-says-ras-judah-top-officials-sell-it/

By: KARK 4 News
 
Arkansans for Medical Cannabis submitted a ballot initiative with hopes of giving voters in the Natural State a second opportunity to decide whether they want medical marijuana legalized.
The group turned the ballot initiative into the Arkansas Attorney General’s office on Monday. – See more at: http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=641532#sthash.ixaQM8Vw.dpuf
 
Full Article:
http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=641532

As Black History Month is celebrated during February, it offers an opportunity to examine the parallels between Jim Crow policies from the early 20th century and current drug prohibition policies, both which have been used to oppress and restrict African Americans, according to Steve Young, co-author of The Cannabis Papers.
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) February 28, 2013
One author of the book The Cannabis Papers, which examines the necessity of cannabinoids for human life and freedom, is expressing disappointment that another February is almost over without appropriate reflection of what the drug war has done to disrupt liberty and the pursuit of happiness in the African American community.
“President Barack Obama delivered his fifth State of the Union Address a couple weeks ago in the middle of another Black History Month with lofty statements and idealistic goals, but he sadly said nothing about the ongoing plague in African American neighborhoods and individual homes that is the war on drugs,” said Steve Young, a co-author of The Cannabis Papers.
Full Article:
http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2013/02/28/obama-mia-jim-crow-during-black-history-month

Posted by Rodney Carmichael

JOEFF DAVIS
 
The homegrown fight to legalize weed is getting fired up again.
Marijuana legalization advocates have announced Georgia’s first Southern Cannabis Reform Conference, scheduled to take place March 15-16. Organized by Peachtree NORML, a local affiliate of the national organization, the conference will mix entertainment and education, with workshops and panels planned to discuss “the how’s and why’s of cannabis reform in Georgia,” according to the press release.
 
Full Article:
http://clatl.com/freshloaf/archives/2013/02/28/georgias-first-southern-cannabis-reform-conference-coming