GENERAL CANNABIS AND MARIJUANA NEWS
#1
This is what Eric Holder recently said in regards to the 2 states legalizing marijuana.
Narrated by Bee
Holder Says Administration Will Announce Marijuana Policy Soon
By Phil Mattingly
Bloomberg
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the Justice Department will announce “relatively soon” its policy on recently passed state measures legalizing the use of marijuana.
“There is a tension between federal law and these state laws,” Holder said in response to questions after a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. “I would expect the policy pronouncement that we’re going to make will be done relatively soon.”
Voters in Washington and Colorado on Nov. 6 approved ballot proposals legalizing possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.
Source – bloomberg.com
#2
Now President Obama says something but he also said he would not go after Medical Marijuana in the past then we had a record amount of MMJ busts during his first term. So is he being honest this time?
Narrated by Bee
Obama Marijuana Comments Leave Pot Proponents Hopeful, Wary
By MANUEL VALDES and KRISTEN WYATT
Associated Press
SEATTLE — Officials and pot advocates looking for any sign of whether the Obama administration will sue to block legal pot laws in Washington state and Colorado or stand idly by as they are implemented got one from the president himself.
But it did little to clear the air.
While they welcomed President Barack Obama’s comments that catching pot users was a low priority for his administration, they said it didn’t answer a bigger question: Will federal prosecutors and drug agents also look the other way?
Pot advocates say they are leery since previous statements from the administration that it wouldn’t go after individual medical marijuana users was followed by crackdowns on dispensaries and others who grew and sold the pot.
“There’s some signal of hope,” said Alison Holcomb, who led Washington’s legalization drive, but added that it will take more than the president to clarify the issues around legal pot. “We ultimately need a legislative resolution.”
In an interview with Barbara Walters scheduled to air on ABC on Friday, Obama said that going after “recreational users” would not be a “top priority” in the two states, where voters legalized pot use in November.
In his comments, the president didn’t specifically address how the federal government would respond to state officials in Washington and Colorado, who are beginning work on regulations for commercial pot sales.
Under the laws, possession of up to an ounce of pot is legal for adults over 21.
The Justice Department has declined to say whether it would file a lawsuit to block the laws, but has said marijuana is still illegal under federal law.
Tom Angell of the group Marijuana Majority said Obama’s comment didn’t add anything new. He said the federal government rarely goes after users and the president can do more besides passing the responsibility to Congress.
Angell said Obama can use executive power to reclassify pot as a legal drug.
Federal prosecutors haven’t targeted users in the 18 states and Washington, D.C. that allow people to use marijuana for medical reasons. However, federal agents have still cracked down on dozens of dispensaries in some of those states.
U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., said Obama’s statements weren’t definitive but could be a sign that the federal government might be willing to work with the states to develop a new regulatory model for marijuana.
“I think the president’s comments are a good sign,” she said.
Legalization activists in Colorado were frustrated after they tried and failed to get the president to take a stand on the state’s marijuana measure during the presidential campaign in the battleground state.
“Here’s the president, an admitted marijuana user in his youth, who’s previously shown strong support for this, and then he didn’t want to touch it because it was such a close race,” said Joe Megyesy, a spokesman for a marijuana legalization group.
Megyesy said Obama’s comments were “good news,” but left unanswered many questions about how pot regulation will work.
Even if individual users aren’t charged with crimes, pot producers and sellers could be subject to prosecution and civil forfeiture and other legal roadblocks, he said.
Marijuana is a crop that can’t be insured, and federal drug law prevents banks from knowingly serving the industry, leaving it a cash-only business that’s difficult to regulate, Megyesy said.
Colorado’s Democratic governor, John Hickenlooper, said Obama’s statements didn’t settle questions about regulating pot.
“If the Justice Department and the president come together and together release a statement along those lines, it would certainly give us some clarity,” he said.
Other states have been closely watching the developments in Colorado and Washington and how the federal government responds.
In Delaware, where a medical marijuana program has been put on hold amid concerns over fear of federal prosecutions of pot growers and distributors, Gov. Jack Markell’s spokeswoman said his administration has the same concerns about legalization.
“If the federal government is saying it won’t pursue persons with a medical need or recreational users, but it is prosecuting persons who provide that marijuana in a safe manner, then we are forcing people to obtain marijuana from the illegal market,” Cathy Rossi said.
___
Wyatt reported from Denver. Associated Press writer Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Wash., and Randall Chase in Dover, Del., contributed to this report.
Source –Huffingtonpost.com
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#3
Now what former presidents says about legalization of cannabis. First Jimmy Carter
Narrated by Bee
Jimmy Carter says marijuana legalization is A-OK
By Evan Puschak
MSNBC
Former President Jimmy Carter expressed his approval of marijuana legalization at a forum on Tuesday.
“I’m in favor of it. I think it’s OK,” Carter said. He praised states where the drug has already been legalized–Colorado and Washington State–adding, “I don’t think it’s going to happen in Georgia yet.”
Carter’s position on marijuana should not come as a great surprise. On this issue, the former president has been relatively liberal from the start; he advocated for the decriminalization of marijuana during his tenure as president, and addressed the matter in a message to Congress in 1977 : “Marijuana continues to be an emotional and controversial issue. After four decades, efforts to discourage its use with stringent laws have still not been successful. More than 45 million Americans have tried marijuana and an estimated 11 million are regular users. Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself; and where they are, they should be changed. Nowhere is this more clear than in the laws against possession of marijuana in private for personal use.”
At the time Carter did not support legalization, and even went on in the same speech to discourage Americans from smoking marijuana. But he supported “legislation amending Federal law to eliminate all Federal criminal penalties for the possession of up to one ounce of marijuana.”
Thirty-five years later, marijuana is still federally criminalized under the Interstate Commerce Clause, and is classified as a Schedule I drug – alongside heroin and MDMA–meaning it has a high potential for abuse and no acceptable medical use.
Yet it’s Carter’s views, not those of the federal government, which are more in line with a majority of Americans today. As Lawrence O’Donnell reported on The Last Word in November, a recent Gallup poll found that 50% of Americans supported pot legalization, to 46% opposed. This is a major shift in public opinion from the 84% who opposed legalization in 1969.
“A few states in America are good to take the initiative and try something out,” Carter said Tuesday. “That’s the way our country has developed over the last two hundred years, is by a few states being kind of experiment stations.”
Source –msnbc.com
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#4
Now Former President Bill Clinton
Narrated by Bee
Does Bill Clinton Support Legalizing Marijuana?
Founder and Chairman, Marijuana Majority
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is one of several prominent people who discuss the failure of the war on drugs in the new web documentary Breaking the Taboo.
Many news outlets have covered the fact that the former president is shown on screen saying the war on drugs “hasn’t worked.” But in an interesting segment that seems to have so far gone unnoticed by the press, Clinton says, about a third of the way into the film: We could have fighting and killing over cigarettes if we made it a felony to sell a cigarette or smoke one, so we legalize them. If all you do is try to find a police or a military solution to the problem, a lot of people die and it doesn’t solve the problem.
To be sure, President Clinton isn’t seen explicitly endorsing the legalization of marijuana or any other currently illegal drug in the film, and we don’t know what he said just before or just after the above snippet. We also don’t know what question from the filmmakers prompted him to utter these words.
But he did use the L-word — legalize — in an unmistakably positive context in a documentary about the failure of drug prohibition. By giving an analogy about cigarettes, then saying “we legalize them” and following that up by talking about the violence that is caused by a law enforcement- and interdiction-focused response to drug problems, President Clinton is at the very least giving a serious head nod to the idea that “legalization” of other drugs is worth giving some consideration to.
This is very significant, coming from a former president who ramped up the war on drugs during his two terms. He elevated the office of drug czar to Cabinet-level status. He launched “Plan Colombia,” an expensive and offensive effort to eradicate drug crops that only succeeded in pushing cultivation further into precious areas of the rainforest. And, his administration reacted forcefully to the legalization of medical marijuana in California and other states in the 1990s; at the time, Clinton drug czar Barry McCaffrey tried to punish doctors who discuss medical marijuana with their patients by taking away their DEA prescribing licenses (luckily the courts put a stop to that on First Amendment grounds).
Despite this horrendous track record on drug policy during his years in office, Clinton did say in an exit interview in late 2000 with Rolling Stone magazine that “most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places, and should be.” Earlier this year he told the International AIDS Conference that we need to treat drug issues “as a public health problem as opposed to a criminal justice problem.”
His remarks in Breaking the Taboo seem to be the closest he’s come to addressing the question of legalization in recent years, albeit not directly.
Meanwhile, his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was recently asked by the Costa Rican ambassador to the U.S. about whether the war on drugs is winnable. She responded that while she “respect[s] those in the region who believe strongly that [legalization] would end the problem” of drug market violence, she is “not convinced of that, just speaking personally.”
It seems that Secretary Clinton left herself some wiggle room with respect to eventually supporting marijuana reform, likely being aware that warming up to the issue would help her appeal to Democrats and especially younger voters in a possible 2016 presidential primary race. That other possible 2016 Democratic candidate, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York, has been actively pushing to clarify and expand his state’s existing marijuana decriminalization law, going so far as to tell state legislators he wouldn’t allow a pay raise for them until they acted on marijuana.
No one knows what possible future presidential candidate Clinton might do on marijuana reform. But for now, enterprising reporters should make it a point to ask the former President Clinton to elaborate on his views about legalization. And, perhaps even more importantly, journalists should ask him how he thinks the current president, Barack Obama, should respond to the new marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington state.
Surely the 44th president could stand to learn a thing or two about how the histrionic federal overreaching of the 42nd president’s administration in the wake of the first-ever state medical marijuana laws didn’t exactly put a stop to the movement to end prohibition. All it did achieve was uncertainty and instability for medical marijuana patients and providers while sending people to prison who don’t belong there. Now that 18 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws on the books, and two have legalized marijuana for adult use outright, the chasm between federal law and state policy is increasingly untenable.
President Obama has the opportunity to lead on this issue in a way that would provide clarity, allow for states to set their own marijuana polices and be enormously politically popular. President Clinton can and should help his successor to realize this. His remarks in Breaking the Taboo are a good start, but there’s so much more that can and should be said.
Source –MarijuanaMajority.com
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#5
Now what a couple of famous people say about the legalization of Marijuana. First Tommy Chong
Narrated by Bee
Tommy Chong Speaks On Marijuana Legalization, Says He Thinks End Of DEA Is Near
By Huffington Post
“Cheech & Chong” comedian, actor and weed activist Tommy Chong is stoked that marijuana has been legalized in two states, and he says he believes this is just the beginning.
Chong appeared on Current TV’s “The Young Turks” on Wednesday, where he said he believes the pro-pot movement has finally been revitalized. Chong said he thinks the legalization of marijuana in Washington state and Colorado will have a sweeping impact across the nation.
“It’s gonna legalize hemp. It’s also going to empty the jails and we’re probably going to disband the DEA,” he told Current TV. Adding, “Washington and Colorado, they’re just the toe into the water. The whole body’s following.”
Chong is optimistic about the effects of legalization. “Marijuana enhances the creative ability of artists, that’s well known,” he told Current TV. “That goes all the way back to Rembrandt and Van Gogh, for instance… You wouldn’t have a computer if it wasn’t for pot.” Adding, “These aren’t guys that are smoking pot just to relax or to cure some medical ailment. These are guys that are smoking pot so they could get the ideas, the creative ideas, that pot creates. We wouldn’t have had the Beatles.”
The 74-year-old “Up in Smoke” star also spoke with NPR about how legalization will affect the pot subculture.
“Going to jail [as he has] and being arrested by cops and being hassled for having a plant, or smoking a plant, is never fun,” he told NPR when asked if the fun is gone from the now-legal pot. “There’s nothing glamorous … that we’re going to miss.”
In 2003, Chong was targeted in the federal investigation “Operation Pipe Dreams” for selling drug paraphernalia and was eventually sentenced to nine months in prison, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“The truth is, most potheads feel like it’s legal anyway,” he added to NPR. “That’s where there’s so many of us getting arrested everyday, because you’re not doing anything wrong. You’re smoking a flower.”
Chong gained fame in the 1970s and 1980s as part of the duo, “Cheech & Chong,” with Cheech Marin. The two became known for their marijuana-themed comedy. Chong has gone on to appear in TV series, including “That 70s Show,” “South Park” and “The Simpsons,” as well as films like “The Spirit of ’76” and “Half Baked.”
Source –huffingtonpost.com
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#6
Now Chris Rock
Narrated by Bee
Chris Rock says cannabis should be legalized
By Bang Showbiz
Chris Rock thinks it’s time for cannabis to be legalised in the US, because he believes it is a relatively harmless drug.
The 47-year-old comedian – who has daughters Lola Simone, 10, and eight-year-old Zahra Savannah with his wife Malaak Compton-Rock – is in favour of making marijuana legal in the US because he believes it is ultimately a harmless drug.
Chris insists comic star Seth Rogen – a prolific weed smoker who was named Stoner of the Year in February – is proof you can be a cannabis user and have a successful life.
In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, he said: “I’m all for the legalisation of weed. I have two daughters, but we all know that alcohol is worse and legal. Seth Rogen is a productive member of society. Mel Gibson has a problem.”
The ‘2 Days in New York’ star also spoke about how his life as a stand-up comedian isn’t as fun as it used to be now he has achieved many of goals.
Chris – who has starred in numerous films including the ‘Madagascar’ animated movie series – says he now has to work a lot harder to keep up his career momentum.
When asked whether his outlook on his career had changed over time, he said: “It was more fun. First of all, you had three goals: to get good at comedy, to make money from comedy, and to get laid from comedy. What do we do now?
“Well, people seem to think we’re good. We have money. We’re married, so the whole working to get laid thing is over. Sad to say, but we work now to maintain our lifestyles, to not suck, and to avoid ‘Celebrity Apprentice’.”
Source – www.sowetanlive.co.za
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA NEWS
#7
Medical Marijuana Moving in Czech Republic
Narrated by Bee
Medical Marijuana Moving in Czech Republic
By The Daily Chronic
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic took a big step last week toward becoming the next European country to approve the use of medical marijuana. Last Friday, the lower house of Parliament passed a government-sponsored medical marijuana bill.
he measure must still be approved by the upper house. There is no word yet on when that vote may take place.
Under the legislation, marijuana would first be imported, but would later be grown locally by companies registered with the government and licensed to do so. Patients would not be allowed to grow their own medicine.
The drug would be sold by prescription in pharmacies. Medical marijuana would not be covered by health insurance.
Medical marijuana is legal in a number of European countries, as well as Canada and Israel. It is also legal in 18 US states and the District of Columbia.
Source – thedailychronic.net
#8
Here is a story about medical marijuana and being a parent.
Narrated by Bee
Child Services Can’t Remove Kids for Parental Medical Marijuana Use, Court Says
A toddler is back in the unsupervised care of his Southern California father after an appeals court ruled that the state cannot remove a child from their home because the parent uses medical marijuana.
The boy, who was 14 months old at the time, became a ward of the court in 2011 after the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services — acting on an anonymous tip — discovered his father is a medical marijuana user.
Despite testifying that the boy, Drake M. (last names in family law cases are redacted) was fed and well-cared for and the father, Paul M., was gainfully employed, the local DFCS argued that Paul’s medical marijuana use meant he was caring for his child while stoned and that Drake was at serious risk of harm. A lower court agreed. Only after appealing his case — in which no record of drug abuse or neglect to the child was presented — to a higher court did Paul M. get his son back.
Drake, who turned 2 in August 2010, was referred to DFCS in May 2011 by someone who disliked his dad’s marijuana habits. It should be noted that only Drake’s mother had a history of drug abuse and run-ins with DFCS, not his father.
However, that initially did not work in his favor. Social workers who visited the home noted that Paul M. used marijuana to alleviate knee pain, which helped him work as a concrete mason. He did not smoke in front of his child, and waited at least four hours after using marijuana to pick Drake up from day care.
Paul had a valid recommendation from a physician for his marijuana, and submitted to DFCS drug testing. Not surprisingly, the testing came up positive for marijuana.
Although there was no evidence of harm or wrongdoing to Drake, a trial court ruled in October 2011 that Paul needed to undergo substance abuse and parental classes in addition to drug testing. He would also have to submit to further DFCS supervision to determine if he’d be able to keep his child.
Had DCFS been able to prove that Drake was at risk of harm or had suffered any harm, or that Paul “abused” — not “used” — drugs, the ruling would have stood. But on appeal, the lower court’s findings on Paul’s parental ability were tossed.
First, the difference between “use” and “abuse.” Simply put, drug abuse is use that interferes with life or work or causes harm to others, like a child. A bad hangover that causes someone to miss work? That’s drug abuse that’s not illegal — and possibly not quite enough for DFCS to get involved.
“DCFS needed only to provide sufficient evidence that father was a substance abuser in order for dependency jurisdiction to be properly found,” the court wrote. “DCFS failed to do so.”
Second, Paul testified that he never used marijuana in front of Drake, and that while he was smoking in his garage, Drake was in care of another parent or sibling or at day care. The appeals court also noted that there’s no impairment limit for marijuana in the Vehicle Code; ergo, merely having used marijuana sometime in the day is not proof of impairment (in contrast to states like Washington, which thanks to legalization measure I-502 now has a controversial impairment statute on the books). Therefore, last week the court ruled Paul does not need DFCS supervision and does not need drug and parental counseling.
What may prove most worrisome to medical marijuana users and advocates was that a complaint was initiated at all — and that a lower court took DFCS’s claims, which were not supported by data or fact, that Drake was at risk solely because his father had a recommendation to use cannabis.
That Paul stood up and fought back is the only reason why DFCS is not looking over his shoulder.
Source – blogs.sfweekly.com
HEMP NEWS
#9
I don’t have much on Hemp this week but check out the Special Report I uploaded a few days ago
Narrated by Bee
4 Reasons To Legalize Hemp
Here are just a few of it’s practical applications:
1. Hemp can be used as a biofuel. Instead of depending on oil forever, we can start using hemp to run our cars. It grows nearly everywhere, so land used to grow food would not be impinged upon, and it grows quickly.
2. Hemp fibers can be compressed so that they can be used in making building materials like two-by-fours. We would not have to worry so much about destroying trees and the consequences that follow.
3. Hemp can be used for clothing. And, no, it doesn’t always like you are wearing a burlap sack. Some hemp textiles are very stylish.
4. Hemp can also be used to make paper, and by this, I do not mean rolling papers for weed. Although, I guess that would make sense, especially in Colorado and Washington. The point is, however, that this product can be used for a wide range of commodities that would have inherent economic value. So if it is legal in Colorado and Washington to smoke marijuana and grow up to six plants, why not hemp?
#10
Here is a hemp recipe.
If you don’t want to stay this is the last story of this episode.
Narrated by Bee
Black Bean-Hemp Protein Patties Recipe
These patties are packed with premium protein, essential fatty acids, iron, calcium, fiber, and trace minerals, and won’t contribute one bit to heart disease or diabetes, like animal-derived burgers do. Perfectly aligned spices celebrate three plant-based protein sources: black beans, hemp seeds, and quinoa.
Ingredients: coconut oil, for cooking 1 cup finely diced sweet yellow onion (about 1/2 medium onion) 4 large cloves garlic, minced 1 cup finely diced red bell pepper (about 1 pepper) 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans (unsalted) 1 cup hemp seeds 10 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water until soft, finely minced 1/2 tspn sea salt 2 tspn paprika powder 1/4 tspn chipotle powder 1/4 tspn cayenne pepper 2 tspn miso paste 1 cup cooked brown rice 1/3 cup quinoa flakes
Preparation:
- Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook until onion begins to turn translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the bell pepper, and continue to cook until vegetables are softened-about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the black beans, hemp seeds, sun-dried tomatoes, sea salt, paprika, chipotle, and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the miso paste into the mixture. Use the back of a fork to mix the beans and miso together, partially mashing the beans. Mix in the cooked brown rice and quinoa flakes. When cool enough to handle, use clean hands to knead the mixture together to form a dense base. Place in the refrigerator, covered, for 30 minutes to allow quinoa flakes to swell and absorb the excess moisture.
- Form the mixture into 6-8 patties, squeezing and packing the mixture together. (If necessary, a spoonful or two of water may be added to make the patties stick together easier). Warm a small amount of coconut oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the patties. Cook for about 4 – 5 minutes on each side, or until browned.
Serving Suggestions: Pair with spouted grain hamburger buns, avocado, tomatoes, onions, and sprouts. Or, try it “high protein-style” – tucked inside a collard leaf wrap or on top of a salad.
Recipe courtesy of Superfoods Kitchen by Julie Morris
Until Next Week – Go Out and Help Pollinate The World!
Joe Jameson
&
MR. Bee
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