Yesterday, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper made his mark on six marijuana bills, pushing retail sale of recreational pot closer to becoming a reality and putting at least a temporary end to quandaries that occupied the legislature throughout much of the just-concluded session.
“Clearly, we are charting new territory,” Hickenlooper said at the event. “Other states haven’t been through this process in the same way we have. Recreational marijuana is really a completely new entity.” Denver Westword. has the local angle.
A new study out this week claims that marijuana edible ingestion cases among kids has skyrocketed in recent years in Colorado, implying that such problems are just the tip of what is to come with legalization.
Does it reek of pot paranoia? Yes.
| Israel Minister of Health Yael German. |
Facing increasing opposition from doctors and patients who support and depend on the use of medical marijuana, Israel’s Minister of Health, Yael German, has seen her Facebook page dominated by dissent, and a full-scale hunger protest form on her front lawn.
The protests spawned from a recent increase on the regulations that govern the country’s blooming medical marijuana program, specifically on what illnesses would be eligible for treatment with some Kosher Kush.
| Lloyd Casey. |
When Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signs a hemp-farming registry bill later this morning, no one will be happier than Lloyd Casey. The 86-year-old former state senator, who now lives in Ohio, first introduced a hemp-legalization bill in the mid-1990s, but was rebuffed not once but twice by powerful interests, including a DEA agent who still rankles him nearly twenty years later.
“I said, ‘Goddamn it, I’m going to live long enough to make this happen, and I’d love to rub your face in it,'” he recalls — and he’s scheduled to be on hand to witness today’s signing. Denver Westword has his story.
| Wikipedia commons. |
Last Friday, Seattle Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin was suspended by the NFL for a violation of their substance abuse policy, the sixth member of the squad to receive such punishment since 2010.
Since the NFL can’t disclose why, Irvin did as teammate Richard Sherman did before him: hint that the violation was for taking Adderall without disclosing it. While heavily prescribed, Adderall isn’t without risks, but it certainly can have it’s performance-enhancing advantages — same as any number of drugs that areallowed in sports. If the league is going are going to be hypocrites, then why not allow one of the best natural performance enhancers out there: marijuana?
| Sen. Ron Wyden. |
An Oregon Senator on Monday proposed amending the federal farm bill to include industrial hemp.
The Industrial Hemp Farming Act of 2013, introduced by Sen. Ron Wyden, would remove hemp from federal drug laws and allow it to be grown and regulated by the states. Read the entire bill below the jump.
Is it legal to grow hemp in Colorado? Like, right now?
That’s a complicated question — and one that the Colorado Department of Agriculture is trying to clear up in a statement issued this week: “Amendment 64 did not authorize the immediate cultivation of hemp. It instead directed the General Assembly to enact legislation governing the cultivation, processing and sale of industrial hemp. This they have now done.”
So can farmers start planting? Not yet. Melanie Asmar with the Denver Westword has more.
| New Hampshire state house. |
The New Hampshire Senate yesterday gave approval to House Bill 573, which will legalize the medical use of cannabis for patients with qualifying conditions.
But the question of whether medical marijuana patients should be allowed to grow their own medicine is still up for debate, though. The bill originally passed by the House back in March allowed for home cultivation, but thanks to pressure from Gov. Maggie Hassan, the Senate removed those provisions. The New Hampshire House and Senate will now have to iron out their differences before sending final language off to Hassan.
| Couldn’t resist. |
Springfield, Missouri City Councilman Doug Burlison believes that marijuana can be a helpful medicine and that it’s time to stop treating it like such a harmful, dangerous drug. Compared to other local elected officials, however, he is very much in the minority — so much so that his colleagues continue to reject efforts to pass a minor reform that would reduce the punishments for low-level possession cases.
The council once again voted down the initiative this week. Riverfront Times has the rest.
| Wikipedia commons. |
| Amanda Bynes. |
Actress Amanda Bynes was arrested last night for marijuana possession and reckless endangerment at her apartment in New York City.
According to police, the (very uncool) doorman in Bynes’s building called the cops complaining that the actress was puffing a joint as she walked through the lobby of the building.