By Bruce Kennedy

 
These are heady times for supporters of legalized marijuana as well as those looking to cash in on pot’s growing national acceptance. This month, voters in Washington state and Colorado agreed to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults. And medical marijuana is currently legal in 18 states and Washington D.C.
 
Of course, marijuana remains illegal by federal law. But people involved in what some are calling the “green rush” are still looking at business and investment opportunities in cannabis and its production.
 
And as with nearly all markets, some people are willing to take the risk.
 
“Think of it as another dot.com explosion,” said Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp Inc. (HEMP -4.48%), in a recentpress release.
 
And according to an investor fact sheet for Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA +25.00%), the current U.S. medical marijuana industry is estimated at $17 billion, with expectations it could grow up to about $29 billion by 2016.
 
“It was almost unthinkable 10 years ago that you would have legitimate, fully reporting to the SEC companies that were in the nature of pure plays, with positions in the medical marijuana industry,” says Sterling Scott, CEO of Los Angeles-based GrowLife Inc. (PHOT 0.00%), a consortium of companies that sells products for indoor growing.
 
Scott, a former federal regulatory attorney, estimates there are about 10 cannabis-related companies currently being traded as over-the-counter stocks. Most OTCs are relatively small and often new companies that don’t yet meet the requirements to be listed or traded on exchanges like Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
These are heady times for supporters of legalized marijuana as well as those looking to cash in on pot’s growing national acceptance. This month, voters in Washington state and Colorado agreed to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults. And medical marijuana is currently legal in 18 states and Washington D.C.
 
Of course, marijuana remains illegal by federal law. But people involved in what some are calling the “green rush” are still looking at business and investment opportunities in cannabis and its production.
 
And as with nearly all markets, some people are willing to take the risk.
 
“Think of it as another dot.com explosion,” said Bruce Perlowin, CEO of Hemp Inc. (HEMP -4.48%), in a recentpress release.
 
And according to an investor fact sheet for Medical Marijuana Inc. (MJNA +25.00%), the current U.S. medical marijuana industry is estimated at $17 billion, with expectations it could grow up to about $29 billion by 2016.
 
“It was almost unthinkable 10 years ago that you would have legitimate, fully reporting to the SEC companies that were in the nature of pure plays, with positions in the medical marijuana industry,” says Sterling Scott, CEO of Los Angeles-based GrowLife Inc. (PHOT 0.00%), a consortium of companies that sells products for indoor growing.
 
Scott, a former federal regulatory attorney, estimates there are about 10 cannabis-related companies currently being traded as over-the-counter stocks. Most OTCs are relatively small and often new companies that don’t yet meet the requirements to be listed or traded on exchanges like Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.
 
He breaks down these marijuana sector firms into four groups:

• Established companies, like GrowLife, that sell equipment and expendables for the cannabis industry.
• Companies like Medical Marijuana, whose mission, according to its website, is to become the industry’s “premier cannabis and hemp industry innovators.”
• Groups like Hemp Inc. that are looking to develop a legal market for the industrial and commercial use of hemp (which contains only trace amounts of marijuana’s active ingredient) in products such as paper, oils and cloth.
• Companies focused on the clinical, medical use of cannabis in areas such as cancer, inflammation and pain treatment.

 
Full Article:
http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/article.aspx?post=55419f1f-b43b-4c51-847f-0242c46b2a7d
 

Doug Bandow

(Photo credit: Torben Bjørn Hansen)
 
The most important vote on November 6 was not reelecting Barack Obama as president. It was legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Drug prohibition is the latest addition to the endangered species list. The fight over drug policy will go on for a long-time. But the Drug War is ending.
For decades the federal and state governments have enforced a reprise of Prohibition. The authorities have used increasing violence to suppress the age-old desire of tens of millions of Americans to alter their mental states. But the government has failed: almost half of the teen through adult population has used marijuana.
Many of society’s leaders were drug consumers in their youth. In fact, the last three presidents—the commanders-in-chief of the multi-billion dollar Drug War—used (though maybe not inhaled!) the same substances. If kids today belong in jail for smoking pot, so did Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
 
Full Article: 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dougbandow/2012/11/12/the-most-important-november-6-election-americans-voted-to-end-the-war-on-drugs/

 
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says passing hemp legislation will be his top priority in the next session of the state General Assembly.
Comer, a farmer himself, touted hemp’s potential as he presided Wednesday over the first meeting of Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission in a decade.
 
Full Article:
http://www.wkyt.com/news/headlines/Ag-Commissioner-Passing-hemp-legislation-top-priority–179333131.html?ref=131

Mike Riggs

 
State legislators in Rhode Island and Maine will announce bills tomorrow to legalize recreationalmarijuana, a spokesperson for the Marijuana Policy Project announced today.
Rhode Island Rep. Edith Ajello and Maine Rep. Diane Russell will hold a conference call tomorrow with the Marijuana Policy Project to announce the legislation.
 
Full Article:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/11/14/state-legislators-in-rhode-island-and-ma

Laurel Dewey
I talked to a lot of older cannabis users when I researched my novel, Betty’s (Little Basement Garden). The average age of those who puffed or ingested cannabis was about 55 years old and while most of them were imbibing for medicinal purposes, there was a good percentage that enjoyed cannabis purely for recreational purposes. In fact, some of them liked it so much, they made a conscious choice to give up alcohol entirely in favor of the herb.
I found that idea quite curious and talked at length with those who made this unique lifestyle change. I wanted to know what compelled them to make their decision and each of them had a different reason. Several of the people told me that cannabis had been their “exit drug” (i.e., they used the herb to wean themselves off sleep aids, anti-depressants and, yes, booze.) One 58-year-old Conservative woman commented that she’d tried to quit both sleep aids and her nightly two glasses of red wine cold turkey but then suffered two “excruciating” nights of sleeplessness. After eating half a cannabis cookie her daughter made for her, she slept like a rock and woke up refreshed without the usual hangover and drugged feeling. She told me from that night onward, she decided that cannabis was more enjoyable, worked better than her pills or nightcap to prompt sleep and, as she put it, “produced a centered feeling” the following day.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laurel-dewey/marijuana-vs-alcohol_b_2110727.html

Dennie Quill, Columnist
When I wrote last week’s column about the growing commercial importance of marijuana in America, I sort of anticipated that Oregon, Colorado and Washington would have voted to legalise recreational use by adults. The results are in: Indeed, Colorado and Washington voted ‘yes’.
So could this vote signal a turning point in America’s 40-year war on drugs? At least four leaders of ganja-producing countries in the region believe it definitely will.
The leaders of Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Costa Rica held a press conference in Mexico City on Monday in reaction to the yes vote in Colorado and Washington. They want the Organisation of American States (OAS) to consider the implication of the vote, and also called on the UN General Assembly to convene a special session on drug prohibition by 2015.
Note, please, that Belize is a CARICOM nation, and while it has stepped up to the microphone with friends in the region, its sister nations have kept very quiet on these developments in the United States.
Then United States President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971, spending billions on the effort and creating new elite narcotics agencies to carry on the fight. But despite this, five years later, then Governor Jimmy Carter campaigned for the presidency on a platform of decriminalising marijuana and easing criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana. Of course, Carter won the election in 1976 and took office in January 1977.
 
Full Article:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20121114/cleisure/cleisure2.html
 

 
One of the participants of Atameken Startup Weekend business-projects contest suggested to use cannabis in making of uniforms for Kazakhstan army. The contest was held in Taraz,Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of Soyuz Atameken.
One of the young participants Ardak Tlendiyev suggested to dress Kazakhstan army in a medical-purpose uniform tailored from cannabis fabric. “In his opinion, this disputed plant has more advantages than disadvantages if used in the industry. For example, first Levi’s jeans were made of cannabis-based fiber. First paper in China was also made of cannabis. Moreover, cannabis can also be used to make fuel: cannabis flesh can be processed into wood spirit, methane, ethanol and petrol. Cannabis seeds are edible; they are very valuable and nutritious and contain vegetable fats and proteins. And finally, cannabis contains over 60 chemicals that can be used in medicine,” the message states.
According to press-service of Atameken, the audience “exploded with applause and cheering” when their heard the idea. “The joy of the young people was understandable: they heard the word that bothering them a lot, because they are also worried about the problem of annihilation of the Chu Valley”. The Chu Valley located between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan is the home to an extremely hardy type of marijuana that is a source of cannabis.
According to the business-plan, the young inventor needs investments of $30 thousand to implement the project. According to Ardak, the annual income can reach $125 thousand, but the jury reminded him that earlier German investors wanted to build a factory to processing cannabis for production of ropes, however Kazakhstan authorities did not approve of this idea and did not let the foreigners into the Chu Valley. In the end the project did not make it to the final and was not approved.
 
Full Article:
http://en.tengrinews.kz/science/Cannabis-made-army-uniform-suggested-at-ideas-contest-in-Taraz-14417/

Daniel Robelo

 
After returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. veterans are increasingly become casualties of the country’s longest war: the war on drugs.
Last Friday, the Drug Policy Alliance released anupdated and revised edition of its seminal 2009 report, “Healing a Broken System.” The report examines the plight of veterans struggling with incarceration and psychological wounds of war, such as addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, and suggests reforms that could improve the health and preserve the freedom of American soldiers transitioning back to civilian life.
After a decade, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken an unimaginable toll on U.S. service personnel. Information obtained by Veterans for Common Sense reveals that, among veterans receiving care through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), 50 percent are diagnosed with PTSD or another mental illness. According to the VA, nearly one in five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have a substance misuse condition. Left untreated, these conditions often contribute to fatal overdose, homelessness and suicide, as well as violations of the law, particularly nonviolent drug offenses.
After a thorough review of new research, our report found that these grave problems have only grown worse since 2009 — and these problems are only made worse by entrenched drug war policies at the state and federal levels.
We arrest far too many veterans for drug law violations. A criminal record makes it all but impossible to get a job, housing, education, and other services — often creating a vicious cycle of addiction and incarceration. The latest data — from 2004 — shows that more than 140,000 veterans were in state or federal prisons with another 60,000 or more in local jails. As more veterans return from combat and separate from the military, experts predict that the number of incarcerated veterans will almost certainly increase.
 
Full Article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-robelo/new-dpa-report-highlights_b_2119755.html
 

I am writing this on behalf of Ken Unger of O’Fallon because “there, but for the grace of God, go I.”
Like Mr. Unger, I am a 100 percent disabled military veteran who uses cannabis for its medicinal qualities in treating constant, severe pain. I live in New York state and every day is lived in fear because New York isn’t one of the 17 states that allow medical cannabis.
Mr. Unger was in the Navy and part of the invasion of Grenada. While helping to offload river patrol boats from his supply ship he was struck by a large crane hook. It was the beginning of his spinal disability and a lifetime of pain. For 13 years his pain was treated with morphine class drugs, but he was not able to function because of the side effects. He found cannabis to be a better, although illegal, alternative. Because his disability payments are minimal the only way he could afford cannabis was to grow his own, and so he learned how. He grew two plants in a locked room in his basement.
On Sept. 9, 2010, police came to his front yard and arrested him in front of his 10-year-old son and his friends and their neighbors. He was a sick man with three major heart attacks and six stents in his heart. Is this how we treat our disabled veterans?
Set Mr. Unger free and let him and his family move to a state where treating illness with one of nature’s safest remedies is not a crime.
Bruce Dunn, Morris, N.Y.
 
http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/opinion/letter-free-disabled-veteran/article_b63c6af3-e75f-556d-bd52-f3c0efd12584.html
 

 
Why are millions of harmless people incarcerated for smoking marijuana? Private corporations, whose lobbyists influence lawmakers, are making a killing from the imprisonment of average citizens. This un-American activity must be ended before more lives are wrecked.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0o-j8v3xtTM