News

Iowa cancer patient recently convicted for growing herb takes vacation in pot-friendly Oregon

By William Breathes on July 23, 2014 CBD, Medical, News

Benton Mackenzie in court.

Benton Mackenzie doesn’t have much time left. The angiosarcoma eating away at his blood vessels and leaving fist-sized tumors on his skin is in the final stages. He’s in pain. It’s why he chose to grow cannabis at his parent’s Iowa home where he lives with his wife. It was worth the risk, a risk that ultimately led to his conviction for cannabis cultivation earlier this month along with his wife.
Without much strength or time left, though, Mackenzie wants to be comfortable. So he’s travelled from Iowa to Oregon where he can legally purchase cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation. It’s likely a last trip for Mackenzie, his wife and their son. And one he is already enjoying.

New York cop gets teeth knocked out by pissed-off pot head

By Mike Adams on July 23, 2014 News, Say what?

Flickr/joi Ito.

Spanish Harlem is apparently still such a rough neighborhood that even the stoners have a violent side when being harassed by nosey cops.
Just ask the 26-year-old rookie with the New York Police Department who had her teeth knocked out over the weekend after a street side shakedown over a little pot smoke turned into a full-blown Harlem scuffle.

Oregon legalization measure to be on November ballot

By William Breathes on July 23, 2014 Legalize It, News

The beaver thinks you should legalize pot.

Should the possession, cultivation and sales of limited amounts of marijuana be legal in Oregon?
We say yes, of course, but that decision will ultimately be up to Oregon voters this November as a legalization ballot measure has officially qualified for the ballot. Read more below.

From home-brewed to lab tested; cannabis extracts are on the cusp of curing cancer

By Jack Daniel on July 23, 2014 CBD, Legalize It, Medical, News

It has long been known that the various compounds (cannabinoids) found within the cannabis plant have amazing healing capabilities, particularly when it comes to fighting cancer.
The American mainstream media finally began to catch on after Dr. Sanjay Gupta went primetime on CNN with his groundbreaking documentary, simply titled WEED. Almost overnight, the acronym “CBD” had entered households and vocabularies who would otherwise never consider any form of cannabis.

Fundraising campaign started to free Missouri man serving life for marijuana

By William Breathes on July 22, 2014 News, Say what?

Show-Me-Cannabis

Efforts to free Jeff Mizanskey, Missouri’s only prisoner serving life without parole for marijuana charges, are continuing with an online fundraiser that seeks to raise money for a media blitz that would aim to persuade Gov. Jay Nixon to grant clemency.
The goal of the Indiegogo campaign is to raise $21,000 – a symbolic amount to represent the 21 years that Mizanskey has been imprisoned – for a series of ads for print, radio, TV, online, and billboards. The radio and TV ads will feature Mizanskey himself. Please visit Indiegogo for more on the campaign and to donate.
Read more on Mizanskey and the campaign to free him over at the Riverfront Times.

Coloradans want private pot clubs, don’t want toking in public according to new poll

By William Breathes on July 22, 2014 Culture, Legalize It, News

The now-closed Maryjane’s Social Club in Denver.

Though limited amounts of marijuana are legal for adults 21 and up in Colorado, there’s still not many places to actually legally use cannabis other than in a private home or in a smoking room in a hotel. And while most Coloradans don’t want people lighting weed up in bars or restaurants, they agree that tokers should have a place to congregate. Currently, such places are tolerated in some municipalities but not others, notably in Denver where police have raided pot clubs in recent weeks.
According to data from from Quinnipiac University, members-only marijuana clubs were embraced by a 66-29 percent margin of Colorado voters.Not nearly as many poll participants liked the idea of pot smoking being allowed at bars and other venues where alcohol is served. This idea got a 65-31 percent thumbs down. Likewise, a 63-33 percent negative response greeted a question about cannabis at ticketed entertainment events. And even marijuana smoking amid invitation-only entertainment events with no admission charge was rejected, albeit in closer fashion: 49-46 percent.
Read the local take over at The Latest Word.

Judge: Arizona medical marijuana patients can sell herb to other medical marijuana patients

By William Breathes on July 22, 2014 Medical, News

Arizona’s medical-marijuana law is so vague, the state can’t prosecute patients who sell pot to other patients, a Pima County Superior Court judge has ruled.
The offbeat, July 2 ruling and dismissal of a criminal case by Judge Richard Fields has the potential to open up all sorts of entrepreneurial opportunities for Arizonans to sell marijuana legally.
If it survives an appeal, that is.

When your legal medical marijuana business fails, you’re screwed

By William Breathes on July 22, 2014 News

As support for Florida’s Amendment 2, which would legalize medical cannabis in the state, picks up across the state, Floridians are eager to get their hands in the medical weed industry game. But it’s become clear recently that the Republican-controlled Legislature might cap the number of dispensaries and limit the number of people who can cash in.
Consider California. When medical pot was first legalized there, dispensaries popped up everywhere. Voters decided to limit them, and many closed down, leaving would-be entrepreneurs in the dust.

Colorado law enforcement not so quick to deem crash suspect as “stoned driver” this time around

By William Breathes on July 21, 2014 News

Does Ryan Nuanez, who allegedly crashed into a Denver optical store and critically injured the owner, demonstrate the dangers of driving under the influence of marijuana repeatedly raised by pot critics following Amendment 64’s passage? Or was he impaired by a completely different substance, or a combination of several? We don’t know yet.
But at least this time around, law enforcement has avoided turning him into a stoned-driving poster child before all the facts are in, as critics accused the Colorado State Patrol of doing in another notorious case. Read more over at the Denver Westword.

Here’s what to expect at the upcoming Minnesota medical cannabis meetings, open to the public

By William Breathes on July 21, 2014 Medical, News, Say what?

Minnesota’s new 23-person medical cannabis task force has two public meetings coming up.
The first of which, scheduled July 31, is intended mostly as a meet-and-greet for the task force members who will be tasked with evaluating the medical cannabis program. The second one on Aug. 8 is supposed give members a better glimpse into what they’ll be doing for the next six months.

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