There wasn’t much talk of marijuana inside the arena at this year’s Democratic National Convention.

The industry was all over Philly.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

Marijuana wasn’t often mentioned in the Democratic National Convention’s official program.

Unofficially, it was the “star.” A trade association had a party. MPP had a fundraiser. Marchers carried a 51-foot joint.

At Marijuana.com, Tom Angell (@TomAngell) unearthed the Tim Kaine quote, “I actually kind of like this option of the states as labs and they can experiment [with legalizing]and we can see what happens.” NORML revised its rating on the vice presidential candidate from F to C. (Last week, I referred to MPP ratings for presidential candidates as NORML ratings. I regret the error.)

Marijuana Business Daily interviews former U.S. deputy attorney general James Cole, whose eight-point 2013 memo gave the industry confidence that it could grow without federal prosecution. “It wasn’t really intended to be a huge policy shift as much as reacting to the situation and trying to use some common sense,” he said.

California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wants more lawmakers to support legalization.

Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank (D) said heroin and crystal meth should be legalized. “We should outlaw a drug if it is likely to make you mistreat others. People don’t hit other people in the head because they’re on heroin; they hit other people in the head because they need to get money to buy heroin.”

The New Yorker profiles Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate and a legalization supporter. He said he would not use cannabis as president.

Quartz introduces us to Tick Segerblom (D), a dogged cannabis supporter in the Nevada State Senate.

The U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeals Board said cannabis sellers can’t receive federal trademark protection.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) decriminalized possession, making the state the third largest after New York and California to do so.

About half of the 100 Oregon communities that don’t allow REC businesses will vote on whether to lift their bans in November.

Ohio legislators knew that the provision in the state’s MED law to guarantee 15% of business licenses might be unconstitutional but they kept it in to win votes, the AP reports.

Florida billionaire Carol Jenkins Barnett, a Publix supermarket heir, donated $800,000 to oppose the state’s MED initiative.

A Los Angeles county ballot initiative that proposed a pot tax to benefit the homeless has been shelved. Canna Law Blog dives into the business climate in L.A, one of the world’s largest cannabis markets.

The DEA compared home grows to “meth houses.”

Italian lawmakers are beginning to debate legalization. Opponents include Pope Francis. The Italian military grows MED for the country.

They may have been the first weed dealers.

The following is excerpted from the newsletter WeedWeek. Get your free and confidential subscription at WeedWeek.net.

Evidence suggests that Bronze Age Yamnaya tribespeople established a cannabis trade between Europe and Asia 5,000 years ago. Native to the Caucasus Mountains (roughly), the Yamnaya were horse-riding, cattle-herding nomads who traveled along what later became the Silk Road.

While neighbors Indonesia and the Philippines escalate their wars on drugs, Thailand may reform its famously harsh laws.

Can you find weed growing in the wild? Green Rush Daily investigates.

The Cannabist interviews joint rolling artist Tony Greenhand.

Eugene Monroe, who got cut from the Baltimore Ravens this year after he became the first active NFL player to call for MED use, has retired from the league. He’s one of jocks included on the Men’s Journal list of 18 cannabis activists in sports. The only woman is mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey. Earlier this year The New Yorker discussed “ The athlete’s case for cannabis.”

Tabloid stories about the dangers of drugs appear to fuel greater drug use. Gatherings where everyone stays sober are becoming trendy.

Agneya Singh, director of “ M Cream,” a movie billed as Bollywood’s first stoner flick, says India should decriminalize.

This weekend’s Enchanted Forest Gathering, a rave in northern California, was among the first U.S. festivals to have a MED dispensary on site. Alcohol was not sold.

Clothing company Patagonia, has made a short film ”Harvesting Liberty” to support industrial hemp legalization.

Michael “Dooma” Wendschuh, the central figure in my story “ Ebbu and the rise and fall of a modern weed dealer” has a new cannabis company. According to its LinkedIn page, Toronto-based Province Brands is a “global luxury brand” creating products “which do not feel like marijuana products.”

Some schoolchildren in the U.K. are gardening with cannabis compost.

Banks in the United States love money, except marijuana money. For years state-legal marijuana operations have struggled to find banks that will take their accounts out of fear of federal action for supporting a federally illegal industry.
Those issues may now be a thing of the past in Colorado at least, as the state legislature yesterday gave approval to a Colorado pot credit union of sorts, that will give medical and recreational marijuana businesses access to otherwise normal banking services.