Category: Drug’s

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Obama Commutes Non-Violent Drug Sentences To Reduce Mass Incarceration

Whether you love him or hate him, you’ve got to give credit where credit is due. In a recent effort to cut back the number of people incarcerated on non-violent drug charges, President Barack Obama said he will free dozens more federal prisoners in the next weeks, according to the New York Times. Obama is planning on starting with the sentences of around 80 individuals who have been locked up on non-violent drug offenses. But that is just the start. There are over 30,000 prisoners who have applied for clemency and there is talk emanating from the White House that these 80 are just the first wave. The Obama administration claims that this is all part of a broader move to correct for judicial abuse, discrimination and general over-sentencing. The Raw […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

Police Chief Compares Pot Smoking Church To Jim Jones Massacre

Indianapolis City County Councillor Zach Adamson is not exactly pleased with the Police Chief’s comparison of the First Church of Cannabis to the Jim Jones massacre. Adamson is also furious at what he called “police overreach” in response to the church opening their doors to the public last Wednesday. Adamson issued a statement calling out the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s response to the First Church of Cannabis on July 1st, the first day that Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act went into effect. The First Church of Cannabis argues that the new state law protects their right to smoke marijuana within a religious setting. Adamson’s full statement reads as follows: Yesterday, as Hoosiers watched as several new state laws took effect, one issue of particular local […] Read More

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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

Sugar Posted on

4 Reasons To Get Sugar Out Of Your Life

Are you eating a diet high in sugar? If so, consider two of many health costs. As you chew on that sugary snack, those empty calories could be increasing your waistline and lead to a fatty liver (one thing that could lead to permanent damage). [1] Sugar is in practically everything these days, from your peanut butter to a loaf of bread. What’s worse, high fructose corn syrup has quickly replaced pure sugar, leading to even further complications. Could cutting sugar out of your life completely be the answer to your health concerns? Well, there’s one thing–it certainly might help. Why You Should Sugar ‘Detox’ Your Life Reducing or cutting out sugar consumption could do wonders for your lifestyle. Not only could it support your […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

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

Sugar Posted on

Is Your Memory Shaky? Might Not Be Your Age, But All That Sugar Ruining Your Liver

A quarter of the U.S. population suffers from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by dietary sugar. We know foods like donuts and soda can make you fat, but the effects of sugar on the liver and brain are less well-known. Dietary sugar can fry your liver in much the same way alcohol can. This in turn can hurt your brain, leaving you with dementia-like symptoms decades too soon. Most people associate liver disease with alcohol abuse or hepatitis. But another type, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which barely existed three decades ago, has quickly become the most common liver disease in America. NAFLD isn’t caused by booze or a nasty virus, but dietary sugar, which causes a buildup of fat in your liver. Overweight people are likely […] Read More

Marijuana Posted on

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