By Kwame Atoapem
 
Before marijuana prohibition began in the late 1930’s, many people,
including some of our US leaders grew cannabis for a variety of
reasons. It’s fairly well known that cannabis has thousands of industrial
uses, and has been grown for thousands of years. While simply growing
cannabis is far from proof that someone smoked it, there is still evidence
showing many would-be U.S Presidents enjoyed it for recreational and
medicinal uses.
George Washington
Washington routinely smoked marijuana to alleviate the pain from his ailing
teeth. Washington’s diary recounts his efforts to better cultivate and
enhance his crops of marijuana.
Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson grew cannabis on his plantation and smuggled Chinese hemp seeds to
America. He also is believed to have given special smoking blends out as
personal gifts which is why he makes the list.
James Madison
Madison once remarked that hemp gave him insight to create a new and
democratic nation.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.modernghana.com/news/349914/1/american-presidents-and-marijuana-use.html

Watch the full episode. See more PBS NewsHour.

\’Clearing the Smoke\’: The Benefits, Limits of Medical Marijuana

Legislation that would allow the cultivation of industrial hemp in the Central Valley counties of Kern, Kings and San Joaquin plus Imperial County in Southern California was approved by the Assembly Wednesday on a 46-19 vote.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=19299

 
 
The Wine Society’s environmental aspirations for its fourth warehouse were two-fold: the building should be highly sustainable, and it should achieve radical reductions in energy consumption compared to its predecessors.
Furthermore, wine is best stored between 13°C and 16°C and will only tolerate slow temperature variations if it is to be maintained in optimum condition.
Vincent and Gorbing’s elegant design solution took account of all these factors. The external walls are constructed of Tradical Hemcrete, framed in innovative wooden cassettes, fixed to the structural steel frame. Hemcrete absorbs energy as external temperatures fluctuate. As they rise, Hemcrete dries out by absorbing energy; as the temperature falls, the reverse happens.
This process necessitated a ‘breathing space’ between the external metal panelling and the Hemcrete cassettes but ensured that internal temperature variations were substantially smaller than those externally.
Over 18 months, the Society and its engineers, MLM, monitored the building’s energy consumption in tandem with internal and external temperatures. The results were impressive: actual energy consumption was 65% less than predicted, with internal temperatures remaining stable within the optimum range.
The savings are dramatic: £15,250 less in annual energy costs than predicted and 90.4 tonnes of CO2 less per annum. These savings arise solely from the design of the building fabric itself which should not require replacement or alteration during the whole of its expected 40-year life.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=17471

Specific to marijuana law enforcement, the measure amends cannabis penalties so that the possession of up to four ounces of pot is a criminal misdemeanor, punishable by up to one-year in jail and a $1,000 fine. For first-time offenders, the new law states, “[T]he court, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the defendant, may defer further proceedings and place the defendant on probation for a period of not less than one year.”
Under the previous law, the possession of any amount of cannabis above one ounce was a felony offense punishable by between four and ten years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.
The new law additionally reduces criminal penalties for the possession of small quantities of marijuana ‘with the intent to deliver’ from a felony offense to a misdemeanor. The law also reduces subsequent marijuana possession offenses from felonies to misdemeanors. Previously, second and third pot possession offenses were categorized as felonies.
Defendants found guilty of violating the state’s marijuana laws will still be subject to the loss of their driver’s license for six-months.
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/26654-arkansas-lawmakers-enact-sentencing-reform-measures-reduce-pot-possession-penalties.html

 
 
Colombes, France–(ENEWSPF)–September 1, 2011.  The prevalence of obesity in the general population is sharply lower among marijuana consumers than it is among nonusers, according to an analysispublished online this week in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Investigators at the Louis Moureir Hospital in Colombes, France analyzed cross-sectional data from two representative epidemiological studies of US adults age 18 and older: the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) and the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication. Combined, the surveys included over 50,000 eligible respondents. Authors controlled for respondents’ sociodemographic characteristics, including age, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, and tobacco use, but they did not factor into account subjects’ physical activity or diet.
“The prevalence of obesity was significantly lower in cannabis users than in nonusers (16.1 percent versus 22 percent in the NESARC and 17.2 percent versus 25.3 percent in the NCS-R),” researchers reported.
They added, “The proportion of obese participants decreased with the frequency of cannabis use” — noting that respondents who reported using the substance ‘three days per week or more’ were least likely to be obese compared to those who reported ‘no cannabis use in the past 12 months.’
Authors concluded, “[E]ven if cannabis consumption increases appetite, people using cannabis are less likely to be obese than people who do not use cannabis.”
 
Read complete article here:
http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/health-and-fitness/26622-frequency-of-marijuana-use-associated-with-lower-prevalence-of-obesity-study-says.html

By: Dion Markgraaff
 
 
At the July monthly meeting of San Diego ASA, Angela M. Davies of Home Bank of California came out to say that their family owned and run bank was open to the medical cannabis community. This is a significant sign of the development in the evolution of banking institutions. Over the years, many cannabis people and businesses have been discriminated against and refused service.
 
Read complete article here:
http://nugmag.com/2011/08/san-diego-bank-welcomes-medical-cannabis-community-business/

by Stephen VanDyke
A new paper released by a joint study between the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, the Medical College of Virginia Campus and the Virginia Commonwealth University has confirmed that the THC in cannabis is without a doubt stimulating healthy cells within the body to seek out and fuck up cancerous ones.
The title of the research paper is indeed a mouthful: Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol-Induced Apoptosis in Jurkat Leukemia T Cells Is Regulated by Translocation of Bad to Mitochondria. Apparently they get paid to be good scientists at universities, but are terrible at communicating this stuff very well to broad audiences.
 
Read complete article here:
http://hammeroftruth.com/2011/natures-cure-for-cancer-finally-discovered-by-scientists-thc/