Category: Marijuana

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The U.S. House Votes to Chip Away at Marijuana Prohibition

A series of votes on the Justice Department appropriations bill attempt to rein in the rogue agency. Washington is chipping away at pot prohibition. In a series of votes on Tuesday, the U.S. House ended the DEA’s controversial bulk data collection program and also passed three amendments cutting funding from the DEA and shifting it to other federal law enforcement priorities. In more votes today, it approved three amendments aimed at blocking DEA and Justice Department interference with industrial hemp, CBD cannabis oil, and medical marijuana in states where they are legal. A fourth amendment that would have barred interference in legal marijuana states was narrowly defeated. The votes came as the House considers the FY 2016 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations bill. Reps. Jared […] Read More

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Meet the Brave Doctor Still Researching Marijuana Even After Getting Fired for It

Dr. Sue Sisely is not letting bureaucratic obstacles or political retribution stop her. And veterans suffering PTSD thank her for it. Without warning last July, Sue Sisley — a physician specializing in internal medicine and psychiatry — was asked to leave her position as a member of the faculty in excellent standing at her alma mater, the University of Arizona. She was never given any semblance of due process or any reason why she was being let go. She was simply stripped of the three contracts she held with the university — the same university where she received her M.D.., was honored with the Leo B. Hart Humanitarian award and was a generous donor — and asked to leave. But the likely reasons behind Dr. […] Read More

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Feds Admit Medical Pot Works on Brain Tumors — but They’re Going After Users Anyway

“The Justice Department is ignoring the will of the voters, defying Congress, and breaking the law” In a report issued by a U.S. government-funded research group tasked with studying drug abuse and addiction, researchers are admitting that marijuana is useful in killing off specific types of brain tumors. The report — coming from a government-backed group with annual budget of over $1 billion — arrives at an awkward time for the administration following an announcement by the Department of Justice this week that it will continue to prosecute medical marjiuana cases against individuals in defiance of Congress. According to the Daily Caller, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) issued a revised report for the month of April, stating, “recent animal studies have shown that marijuana […] Read More

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The Unbearable Whiteness of the Marijuana Industry

Blacks got hit hardest under marijuana prohibition, but it’s mainly white guys dominating the legal weed scene in Colorado. Wanda James is the only black legal cannabis dispensary owner in the state of Colorado and she has held that distinction for a long time. While being black makes her the exception in the nation’s most robust legal cannabis economy, James is beyond exceptional for any industry—she is a former Navy Lieutenant who was appointed to work on President Obama’s National Finance Committee as well as Colorado Governor Hickenlooper’s Amendment 64 Task Force. She and her husband have owned popular restaurants in the Los Angeles and Denver areas for nearly two decades and she has headed a handful of successful ventures in the cannabis industry. “Unfortunately […] Read More

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Federal Judge Considers Declaring Marijuana ‘Schedule I’ Status Unconstitutional

A federal judge in Sacramento, California just heard closing arguments in a case that challenges the constitutionality of the federal government’s Schedule I classification for marijuana. The motion points out that a true schedule I substance is defined by a substance having a “high potential for abuse.” It also mandates that the substance have “no currently accepted medical use,” as well as “a lack of accepted safety… under medical supervision.” But all of that is completely untrue of marijuana. Thus, the motion argues that the status restricting the plant is unconstitutional. This marks the first time that a federal court has heard evidence like this since the early 1970s.  The case is United States v. Pickard, et. al., No. 2:11-CR-0449-KJM, and the legal briefs for it are all available online here. So what is the federal […] Read More

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Politicians Across the US Are Pushing Medical Marijuana Smoking Bans — Here’s Why They Are Dead Wrong

Another knee-jerk bad idea. State lawmakers are moving ahead with legislative efforts to allow for the limited use of medical ‘cannabis’ while simultaneously forbidding anyone from either inhaling the herb or possessing its flowers Many medical marijuana advocates cheered the news this week that members of the Utah Senate gave preliminary approval to legislation to permit the use of medical cannabis preparations for qualified patients. No doubt the vote marked a significant change in attitude for lawmakers in the heavily Mormon state. But while the vote marked a ‘first’ for Utah, lawmakers’ decision to prohibit patients from legally possessing, inhaling, or vaporizing actual cannabis is part of a growing, and problematic, national trend. While no state legislature has approved a law permitting medi-pot patients to […] Read More

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Life In Prison For $20 of Weed

  A homeless man in Louisiana has now become the prime example of the failed drug war. His case demonstrates just how the so-called “War on Drugs” is really just a “War on Us.” Fate Vincent Winslow, is a 41-year-old homeless African American man, who was down on his luck, homeless and hungry. On September 5th, 2008, Abby Haglage of The Daily Beast, reports that he, along with a man he called “Perdue,” became the targets of a police sting operation. An undercover cop approached the two, pretending to look for marijuana and a prostitute. Perdue was not arrested, but Winslow was… Why? Because he was desperate to eat and he offered a way to make a quick $5. Haglage reports the exchange as follows: […] Read More

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8 Things You Should Know About Pot Cannabidiol

Medicinal CBD cannabis oils are all the rage, but there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Let’s take a look. It doesn’t get you high, but it’s causing quite a buzz among medical scientists and patients. The past year has seen a surge of interest in cannabidiol (CBD), a non-intoxicating cannabis compound with significant therapeutic properties. Numerous commercial start-ups and internet retailers have jumped on the CBD bandwagon, touting CBD derived from industrial hemp as the next big thing, a miracle oil that can shrink tumors, quell seizures, and ease chronic pain—without making people feel “stoned.” But along with a growing awareness of cannabidiol as a potential health aide there has been a proliferation of misconceptions about CBD. 1. “CBD is medical. THC is recreational.” Project […] Read More

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Feds Threaten D.C. Officials with Prison If they Go Through with Pot Legalization on Thursday

Washington, D.C. – In a letter to D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, two Republican congressmen Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chair of the appropriations subcommittee that handles D.C.’s budget, ominously warned not to move forward with legalization in the District, claiming that to do so would be a violation of federal law. D.C. officials and federal lawmakers have sparred over whether Initiative 71, a ballot measure approved by 70 percent of voters in November, can legally take effect. The letter arrived the same day that the voter-approved legalization measure is scheduled to become law, at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday. It sets the stage for a showdown between the will of the D.C. voters […] Read More

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5 Amazing New Discoveries About the Potential of Marijuana That You Won’t Hear in the Corporate Media

Five new cannabis-centric studies warrant major attention. By Paul Armentano  February 9, 2015 Scientific discoveries are published almost daily in regard to the healing properties of the cannabis. But most of these findings appear solely in subscription-only peer-reviewed journals and, therefore, go largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and by the public. Here are five just-published cannabis-centric studies that warrant attention. Men Who Smoke Pot Possess a Reduced Risk of Bladder Cancer Is cannabis use protective against the development of certain types of cancer? The findings of a just released study in the journal Urology imply that it might be. Investigators at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, Department of Neurology assessed the association of cannabis use and tobacco smoking on the risk of bladder cancer in a […] Read More