April 1, 2014 could mark the end of home cultivation for Canadian medical marijuana patients, as new regulations that force MMJ users into a state-run dispensary system are set to begin that day.
But patients upset over having to destroy their gardens have petitioned to have the rule blocked and potentially overturned, arguing that they have the right to freely cultivate their medicine instead of being priced out of a consumer market.
| DopeCoin.com |
Medical and recreational cannabis is big business in several states, but dispensaries and customers are increasingly only able to accept and use cold, hard cash as banks refuse credit accounts for fear of federal prosecution.
But two software developers say they are working around that problem by creating the first digital currency targeted specifically for state-legal pot businesses.
Poll numbers about how many Floridians support legalizing medical marijuana seem to be all over the place — well, except below the 60 percent necessary it would need to pass. A new University of North Florida poll shows that 74 percent of Floridians intend to vote to legalize medicinal pot in November. That’s down from 82 percent in a poll from November, but again, unless there’s some dramatic shift, all signs continue to point to this thing passing.
People needlessly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder in Michigan now have an alternative, effective way to help manage their condition as the state’s medical cannabis program was expanded this week to include the condition.
Not that the powers-that-be wanted it to happen, mind you. Steve Arwood, director of the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, signed the order into law, but says it’s starting the state down a slippery slope to outright legalization.
Last week, Fox News shared a piece suggesting that a jump in admissions at colleges across Colorado may be related to the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized retail pot sales.
Of course, eighteen-year-old college freshmen couldn’t take advantage of this law anyhow, since it only pertains to adults ages 21 and over. But even if this fact isn’t widely understood, one University of Colorado official has a very different explanation for his school’s admissions application jump — and it has nothing to do with weed.
Denver Westword has more.
| Big photos and more below. |
It was a Happy Halloween at Lightshade Labs, judging by this photo from the store’s Facebook page. But it’s probably an even happier March, since two Lightshade branches are among the latest shops licensed by the City of Denver to sell recreational marijuana. In the two-plus weeks since our last update, Denver has okayed seven more stores, bringing the official total to 54. All of them are included here in this list compiled by Westword’s Michael Roberts, along with photos, videos, links and excerpts from reviews of the ones visited by Westword marijuana critic William Breathes. Count them down below.
There’s an old High Times video of legendary pot grower Jorge Cervantes that opens with “the Ganja Guy” behind the wheel of an old rusty tractor. Cervantes — wearing his iconic disguise of black sunglasses and black dreadlocks — tells viewers he’s taking them on a tour of marijuana gardens throughout his native Spain. “Well, enough talk,” Cervantes says. “I have a field to plant.”
That video intro alone is enough to make anyone say, “Hell yeah! Let’s grow marijuana!”
It’s the same feeling many entrepreneurial Floridians are experiencing as the days count down for the historic November vote to legalize medical marijuana. Almost 150 of them packed into a hotel conference room this weekend to learn about how to make money off the coming weed revolution.
Read the rest over at the Miami New Times.
| Claire McCaskill. |
Senator Claire McCaskill might be Missourians’ “liberal” voice in Washington D.C., but when it comes to reforming marijuana laws, the Democrat lawmaker is quite the conservative.
On Monday, McCaskill attended a town hall in Columbia where she fielded questions on a wide array of issues, including jobs, the economy, Ukraine, and of course there was some guy asking about Benghazi. But among the main concerns of McCaskill’s constituents was the cannabis question.
Medical marijuana in Maryland has been a mess ever since they passed their highly restrictive “pilot program” last year. See, the program would only allow state university medical programs to dole out the ganja, and even then it had to be part of a larger clinical trial. In theory, that might have worked. But the reality is that none of the universities want anything to do with it. Basically, medical marijuana didn’t exist in Maryland.
But a new bill approved by the state House yesterday would allow physicians to recommend medical cannabis to patients with certain conditions. Patients would get their herb from a licensed grower.
Since the beginning of Arizona’s medical marijuana program, people have petitioned the state health department to add post-traumatic stress disorder as a qualifying condition for medical pot. However, PTSD and other conditions aren’t added to the list, due to a lack of scientific research on the risks and benefits of using marijuana to treat those conditions. But that might change.