By BARBARA VENEZIA

 
In honor of Mother’s Day on Sunday, Diane Goldstein ofNorth Tustinwas busy all week with media interviews to support the Moms United to End the War on Drugs movement.
Goldstein, a retiredRedondo Beachpolice lieutenant with almost 22 years of service, has also been a member of the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition , or LEAP, since 2010. She lectures across the country and throughoutOrangeCountyon behalf of the group, advocating for legislative change in drug laws and the legalization of cannabis.
LEAP was just one of several organizations to support the Moms United movement as it kicked off a press conference rally Wednesday on the steps of the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse.
Moms United  members hoped the press conference would create a Mother’s Day media blitz centered on their message about ending drug prohibition.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/moms-353805-goldstein-marijuana.html

By RYAN SABEY

SIR Richard Branson has claimedSpaincould help solve its economic woes — by legalising cannabis.

The Virgin boss, 61, said tax from sales of the drug would resolve some of the country’s problems and “help lift its head.”
Billionaire Branson also praised a Spanish town’s “great idea” to allow cannabis to be cultivated for cash to pay off debts.
The people of Rasquera agreed in a referendum to rent municipal land to a cannabis smokers’ association.
Branson was speaking inBarcelonaat the launch of the world’s largest cannabis museum. It opens today with 6,000 exhibits chronicling the drug’s history and uses.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4309868/BRANSONS-DRUGS-PLEA.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGaak18sQQA&feature=player_embedded

by Phillip Smith

 
Four US representatives introduced an amendment  to the Justice Department appropriations bill, House Resolution 5326 , which would bar the agency from spending funds to attack medical marijuana operations in states where it is legal. The bill was being considered Wednesday, before failing on a voice vote Wednesday evening.

By Sam Costanza

 
When you think about medical marijuana, or pot in any way, you typically picture Cheech and Chong, not an elderly Yiddish speaking grandfather. However, according to the Jerusalem Post , Rafael Mechoulam, a geriatric research scientist from theHebrewUniversity inJerusalem, known as the “Marijauna Maven,” is the go to guy when it comes to issues of medical pot.
As a research scientist in the 1960s, Mechoulam was tasked with cracking pot, determining its active chemical ingredients by the American National Institute of Health (NIH), after the agency received a mandate to look into the drug.
He had initially been told that theUnited Stateswas not interesting in his research into pot. However, he soon received a call back from the Feds, telling him they wanted to sponsor his research.
“I asked them what had happened,” Mechoulam told the Jerusalem Post, “and it turned out that the son of somebody who was important, a senator or somebody else [like that], had called NIH and asked, what do you know about cannabis? His son had been caught smoking pot and he wanted to know whether his brain was being damaged. They didn’t know anything about it because nobody was doing any research on cannabis in theUS.”
After discovering and synthesizing THC, the active ingredient responsible for your high when you toke up, Mechoulam continued his research, eventually becoming known as the world’s foremost expert on pot.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.inquisitr.com/233065/meet-the-worlds-biggest-marijuana-expert-an-elderly-jewish-grandfather-video/#Dv3jsFzc0DSL2oqy.99

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by Breanna Roy (KPAX News)

 
MISSOULA – The parents of a Missoula three-year-old say, if they had listened to the doctors, their son would’ve died.
Today Cash Hyde, 3, is cancer-free for a second time and his parents say marijuana is his best medicine.
“Cashy went through 30 rounds of radiation without one nausea or pain medication besides medical cannabis,” Cash’s dad, Mike Hyde said.
When Mike and Kalli Hyde learned Cash’s brain cancer returned in October, doctors told them he had a 30 percent chance of surviving five years. They said reoccurring brain tumors have a rare chance of shrinking, and at best, they could only stop it from metastasizing further.
They Hydes switched Cash to an all-vegan diet, alkaline-adjusted water and cannabis oil. The slowed the tumor’s growth by 55 percent, buying them time to wait for proton radiation.
The radiation shrunk the tumor. Now it’s gone, and Cash is returning to a normal life laughing with his older brother, Colten, and playing with Play-Doh. But it wasn’t easy for the Hydes to get back to this normalcy.
“I’ve had to break state and federal laws just to keep Cashy alive,” Mike Hyde said.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.kaj18.com/news/parents-credit-cannabis-for-toddler-s-radiation-recovery/

 
With more states opting to legalize the sale of medical marijuana, researchers are taking a closer look at the use of cannabis to treat chronic illnesses.
Dr. Manny Alvarez, senior managing health editor of FoxNews.com, recently sat down with the Medicine Hunter, Chris Kilham, to find out how it’s being studied.
Dr. Manny: Now from the medical marijuana perspective, as far as the treatment of chronic illnesses, what is it about cannabis that makes it that special?
Medicine Hunter: Well, it seems that there are primarily two things – there’s the THC, that’s what people associated with getting high. And that appears to have a saliatory effect on the eyes in case of glaucoma. For people who are suffering from chemotherapy and can’t eat, it helps to get their appetite back. And we also know that it is a potent pain reliever – and science on that goes back to the 1890s.
But there’s another agent in cannabis that is getting more attention now, and that is called cannabidiol. And this is something that you can swallow by the bucket-full, and it won’t get you high at all. But it appears to have profound nerve-protective and brain-enhancing properties. And interestingly enough, it also induces an anti-anxiety effect.
So this appears to be a very important agent, perhaps useful in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/20/researchers-study-neuroprotective-properties-in-cannabis/

Ruth Ann Monti
 

No more than 12 plants per patient, please. Credits: Getty Images

About 85 percent of card-carrying medical marijuana patients will grow their own supply until a dispensary system is in place, Will Humble , Arizona’s Director of Human Services told KJZZ in an interview that aired Tuesday March 20.
Patients who live more than 25 miles from a dispensary are permitted to grow up to 12 plants for their personal use, Humble says, but they will be required to re-apply for permission each year when they renew their cards . As more dispensaries open, more patients will be denied permission to grow their own plants.
About 75 percent medical marijuana patients are men, Humble says, which seems to be the case in all states that permit marijuana to be grown, sold, and used for medical purposes. “Our demographic is a little bit older” than other states’, he added. Most patients requested  marijuana to relieve chronic pain caused by illness or injury.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.examiner.com/health-news-in-phoenix/most-of-arizona-s-medical-marijuana-patients-will-grow-their-own

by Ethan Gaebel
The petroleum industry is booming. The world thrives on plastic and is powered by gas. But oil is a finite resource — America will run out of it and will need to have something to replace it with before it is depleted. The country needs oil for more than powering cars. Petroleum is essential to creating plastic items, such as computer keys and plastic outlet covers. And there is a renewable way for the country to get all of the plastic society demands — while cleaning the air petroleum has dirtied with hemp.
Hemp is a species of cannabis that does not contain any of the psychoactive chemicals that illicit species of cannabis contain, but its production was made illegal at the same time as marijuana.
But how is cannabis going to replace petroleum? It can be processed to make plastics. The Canadian company Motive Industries is testing a car that has a body made out of a bio-composite plastic made mostly from hemp. The car should be available for sale near the end of this year.
Motive’s president even addressed the fact that the company is getting a leg up on America by telling the CBC, “it’s illegal to grow it in the United States, so it actually gives Canada a bit of a market advantage,” which is very true. While the Canadians get to perfect this bio-composite that can be grown in massive amounts, American engineers are left to work with petroleum plastic, which will eventually no longer be available.
The best part about hemp plastic is, unlike petroleum, its bio-composite materials are biodegradable. BMW has is taking advantage of this by trying to find a way to make more recyclable cars using hemp plastic. In 2006, researchers found that 11.7 percent of total waste is plastic, meaning more than 10 percent of garbage in the world will never decompose. Sure, people can collect bottles and recycle them into benches, pretending they are solving the problem. But they can also just use hemp to make plastic and let the Earth recycle it.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/19451/us-could-use-hemp-as-sustainable-resource