Economic Considerations: Colorado exceeds 5 million in recreational cannabis sales in one week

Children's Deaths Prompt New York Governor's Bold Medical Marijuana Move
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Wednesday called for faster implementation of the state's medical marijuana law, which passed last month but won't take effect for another year and a half.

In a letter to the state Health Department, Cuomo cited the deaths of two children from complications of seizure disorders who could have been treated with medical cannabis. The Huffington Post reported last week that the death of 9-year-old Anna Conte prompted drug reform advocates to demand that Cuomo find a way to speed access to medical marijuana for patients with chronic conditions.

"The deaths ... were tragic reminders of the urgent help children with epilepsy desperately need," Cuomo wrote. "The children struggling with this condition deserve every consideration we can make that will potentially ease their pain and suffering."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/new-york-medical-marijuana/

Medical marijuana laws may reduce painkiller overdoses

(CNN) -- States that have legalized marijuana for managing chronic pain have significantly fewer deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses each year, according to a new study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Researchers looked at medical marijuana laws and death certificate data in all 50 states between 1999 and 2010. During that time, just 13 states had medical marijuana laws in place.

"We found there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law," lead study author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber said.

In 2010 alone, he said, states with medical marijuana laws had approximately 1,700 fewer overdose deaths than would have been expected based on the numbers before such laws were passed.

Dr Gupta Doubles Down On Medical Marijuana: (video)

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/03/06/newday-gupta-double-down-weed.cnn.html

Medical marijuana laws may reduce painkiller overdoses

(CNN) --
"We found there was about a 25% lower rate of prescription painkiller overdose deaths on average after implementation of a medical marijuana law," lead study author Dr. Marcus Bachhuber said.

In 2010 alone, he said, states with medical marijuana laws had approximately 1,700 fewer overdose deaths than would have been expected based on the numbers before such laws were passed.

Dr Gupta Doubles Down On Medical Marijuana: (video)

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2014/03/06/newday-gupta-double-down-weed.cnn.html

wow that's quite impressive.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta Reports Weed 2: Cannabis Madness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAFu-Ihwyzg

Study: Couples who smoke marijuana are less likely to engage in domestic violence

Marital marijuana?

A new study by researchers at the University of Buffalo finds a significantly lower incidence of domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot. "Couples in which both spouses used marijuana frequently reported the least frequent IPV [intimate partner violence] perpetration," the study concludes.

These findings were robust even after controlling for things like demographic variables, behavioral problems, and alcohol use. The authors studied data from 634 couples over nine years of marriage, starting in 1996. Couples were administered regular questionnaires on a variety of issues, including recent drug and alcohol use and instances of physical aggression toward their spouses.

Previous research on the relationship between marijuana use and domestic violence has largely been based on cross-sectional data (that is, data from one point in time), and those findings have been mixed: some studies found links between marijuana use and/or abuse and domestic violence, while others did not. The Buffalo study is one of the few to use data collected over the course of decades to examine the question, putting it on solid methodological ground compared to previous work.

[...]

Nonetheless the paper is a solid contribution to the marijuana literature, and we'll need a lot more like it as the country seems to move toward overall legalization. In fact, the DEA significantly bumped up the federal government's marijuana production quota this year, in order to provide the raw material for more research on marijuana use.

Hemp fibres 'better than graphene'
They "cooked" cannabis bark into carbon nanosheets and built supercapacitors "on a par with or better than graphene" - the industry gold standard.

Electric cars and power tools could harness this hemp technology, the US researchers say.

They presented their work at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco.

"People ask me: why hemp? I say, why not?" said Dr David Mitlin of Clarkson University, New York, who describes his device in the journal ACS Nano.

"We're making graphene-like materials for a thousandth of the price - and we're doing it with waste.

"The hemp we use is perfectly legal to grow. It has no THC in it at all - so there's no overlap with any recreational activities."
Secret sauce

In countries including China, Canada and the UK, hemp can be grown industrially for clothing and building materials.

But the leftover bast fibre - the inner bark - typically ends up as landfill.

Dr Mitlin's team took these fibres and recycled them into supercapacitors - energy storage devices which are transforming the way electronics are powered.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

It's a waste product looking for a value-added application. People are almost paying you to take it away”

Dr David Mitlin Clarkson University, New York

Conventional batteries store large reservoirs of energy and drip-feed it slowly, whereas supercapacitors can rapidly discharge their entire load.

They are ideal in machines that rely on sharp bursts of power. In electric cars, for example, supercapacitors are used for regenerative braking.

Releasing this torrent requires electrodes with high surface area - one of graphene's many phenomenal properties.

Stronger than diamond, more conductive than copper and more flexible than rubber, the "miracle material" was the target of a £50m investment by UK Chancellor George Osborne.

But while this carbon monolayer is the state-of-the-art material for commercial supercapacitors, it is prohibitively expensive to produce.

Finding cheap, sustainable alternatives is the speciality of Dr Mitlin's former research group at the University of Alberta.

They have experimented with all flavours of biowaste - from peat moss to eggs. Most recently, they turned banana peel into batteries.

You can do really interesting things with bio-waste. We've pretty much figured out the secret sauce of it," said Dr Mitlin.

The trick is to tailor the right plant fibre to the right electrical device - according to their organic structure.

"With banana peels, you can turn them into a dense block of carbon - we call it pseudo-graphite - and that's great for sodium ion batteries," he explained.

"But if you look at hemp fibre its structure is the opposite - it makes sheets with high surface area - and that's very conducive to supercapacitors."

The first step, he explained, "is to cook it - almost like a pressure cooker. It's called hydrothermal synthesis.

"Once you dissolve the lignin and the semicellulose, it leaves these carbon nanosheets - a pseudo-graphene structure."

Graphene is a form of carbon that exists as a sheet, one atom thick
Atoms are arranged into a two-dimensional honeycomb structure
Discovery of graphene announced in 2004 by the journal Science
About 100 times stronger than steel; conducts electricity better than copper
Touted as possible replacement for silicon in electronics
About 1% of graphene mixed into plastics could make them conductive

By fabricating these sheets into electrodes and adding an ionic liquid as the electrolyte, his team made supercapacitors which operate at a broad range of temperatures and a high energy density.

Direct comparisons with rival devices are complicated by the variety of measures for performance.

But Mitlin's peer-reviewed journal paper ranks the device "on par with or better than commercial graphene-based devices".

"They work down to 0C and display some of the best power-energy combinations reported in the literature for any carbon.

"For example, at a very high power density of 20 kW/kg (kilowatt per kilo) and temperatures of 20, 60, and 100C, the energy densities are 19, 34, and 40 Wh/kg (watt-hours per kilo) respectively."
Fully assembled, their energy density is 12 Wh/kg, which can be achieved at a charge time less than six seconds.
Growth industry

"Obviously hemp can't do all the things graphene can," Dr Mitlin concedes.

"But for energy storage, it works just as well. And it costs a fraction of the price -$500-1,000 a tonne."

Having established a proof of principle, his start-up company Alta Supercaps is hoping to begin small-scale manufacturing.

It plans to market devices to the oil and gas industries - where high-temperature operation is a valuable asset.

His move to the US coincides with a change in regulatory attitudes - with signs that hemp could be making a comeback.

In China the crop is widely cultivated, and in Canada, the industry for textiles is growing.

"Fifty miles down the road from my house in Alberta there was an agricultural hemp processing facility. And all that bast fibre - it just sits in a high bay, and they don't know what to do with it," Dr Mitlin told BBC News.

"It's a waste product looking for a value-added application. People are almost paying you to take it away."

And if the technology really takes off - it could help economies, he argues.

"It's a robust plant - you can even grow it in Alberta, Manitoba.

"A lot of farmers would be thrilled to grow hemp."

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28770876

Cool 'ting Liquid!

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — Boulder County Sheriff’s deputies have shutdown an illegal marijuana grow facility after it was discovered by hikers in a remote area last month.

The grow operation, which also contained an irrigation system, was located on private property but without the land owner’s permission.

“I would say these were experienced people who knew what they were doing and I would believe have likely been here before,” said Scott Williams, a commander with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office Drug Task Force Unit.

Several hundred plants were seized as well as marijuana grow paraphernalia.

While deputies were unable to release an exact location of the facility, it’s described as a remote area near mile marker 23 on South St. Vrain Drive.

No arrests have been made but deputies stressed the investigation is just now underway.

EXTRA EXTRA!

Read all about it!

USVI Celebrates the loss of a potential $1,800,000.00 in tax revenue!

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/dea-finds-6m-worth-of-marijuana-plants-on-st-thomas-st-john-during-helicopter-sweeps-1.1752435

That would have fixed a LOT of roads......

Don't forget the cost of eradication with all the helis flying around and ground people to root up just a weed.

Senate committee OKs bill decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana

ST. THOMAS - A bill that could decriminalize the possession of marijuana in small doses received unanimous approval from senators in a legislative hearing Thursday.

The bill passed through the Committee on Homeland Security, Public Safety and Justice with a 5-0 vote.

Senators Terrence Nelson, who sponsored the bill; Kenneth Gittens, chairman of the committee; Tregenza Roach; Clarence Payne III and Craig Barshinger all voted to pass the bill on to the Rules and Judiciary Committee.

Sen. Judi Buckley, who expressed her support for the bill earlier during the meeting, had to catch a flight back to St. Croix after the discussion lasted about three hours and was absent during the vote. Sen. Alicia Hansen was absent.

"It's not 420, but it sure as heck feels like it," Nelson said, referring to a slang number nationally recognized as a symbol for marijuana.

As approved, Bill 30-0018 would turn the possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana into a civil offense punishable by a fine of between $100 and $200, with the possible forfeiture of the contraband, the bill states.

In the case that an offender is younger than 18, the offender could receive a $100 fine, the parents or guardians would have to be notified, and the offender would be required to complete an approved drug awareness program within one year of the possession, the bill states.

So it looks like the "slow creep" is the tactic here eh?

This seems like a very tentative move by some "un sure" individuals... "Testing the waters", hopefully the feedback is good on this action and more "tests" will happen.

As it is at least this action will lighten the load on the justice system, now the real question: Will this retroactively effect current incarcerated individuals?

A bill that could decriminalize the possession of marijuana in small doses

so... 1oz is considered a "small" dose? Are these people that out of touch or was this done on purpose?

This is a video of a newswoman who quit her TV job in Alaska on TV. Here she explains her motives: (may be NSFW with a lot of marijuana talk and one eff bomb dropped):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3VwtDfGajQ

(click to zoom)

Two important things, Jury nullification (Power to the people!) and Drug war undercutting (More power to the people!)

Acquitted Of Marijuana Charges Through Jury Nullification In New Hampshire

A New Hampshire Rastafarian facing felony marijuana cultivation charges was declared not guilty on Friday because a jury believed that punishing him for the offense would be unjust.

59-year-old Doug Darrell was arrested in 2009, after a National Guard helicopter flying over his home found he was growing 15 marijuana plants in his backyard, according to WNTK. At Darrell's trial, PRWEB reports, jurors nullified the case against him.

Jury nullification occurs when a jury concludes that a defendant is technically guilty, but fails to convict the defendant on the grounds that the law in question is unjust. While jury nullification is legal, judges frequently do not inform juries of this power, and may prohibit defense attorneys from doing so, according to the University of Missouri.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/17/doug-darrell-marijuana-jury-nullification_n_1890824.html

Huge majority thinks 'war on drugs' has failed, new poll finds

An overwhelming majority also believes that the so-called "war on drugs" is futile, with 84% saying that the decades-long campaign by law enforcement agencies against the global narcotics trade can never be won.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/05/war-on-drugs-failed-decriminalise-illegal-use

In 1982, Congress amended the U.S. tax code to include 280E, which says businesses selling a Schedule I or II drug — like marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine or cocaine — cannot deduct all of their regular business expenses.

The rule means that the "costs of the product," like the soil and fertilizer used to grow plants, are deductible. But the "costs of selling," like advertising, rent and utilities — even salaries for employees — are not deductible.

In 1982, Congress amended the U.S. tax code to include 280E, which says businesses selling a Schedule I or II drug — like marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine or cocaine — cannot deduct all of their regular business expenses.

The rule means that the "costs of the product," like the soil and fertilizer used to grow plants, are deductible. But the "costs of selling," like advertising, rent and utilities — even salaries for employees — are not deductible.

that was like, the peak of the drug war, what a strange amendment..

558,681 (54.3%) Yes
471,082 (45.7%) No
70.5% est. votes in.

Looks like it's a wrap. Marijuana will be legalized in Oregon

Looks like DC also...

Washington (CNN) -- Voters in Oregon and Washington, D.C., have voted to approve sweeping pro-marijuana legalization, according to a CNN projection.

In Oregon, the law legalizes personal possession, manufacture and sale of marijuana for people 21 years of age and older. Mimicking similar plans in Washington State and Colorado, the Oregon law will also create a commercial regulatory system for the production, distribution and sale of marijuana.

Washington, D.C.'s proposal, while scaled back compared to the Oregon proposal, allows for a person over 21 years old to posses up to two ounces of marijuana for personal use and grow up to six cannabis plants in their home. It also allows people to transfer up to one ounce of marijuana to another person, but not sell it.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/04/politics/marijuana-2014/index.html

Alaska Becomes Fourth State To Legalize Recreational Marijuana
Alaska legalized recreational marijuana for adult use on Tuesday, becoming the fourth state in the nation to do so.

The state joined Oregon and Washington, D.C., both of which also voted Tuesday to legalize the drug for recreational use. Colorado and Washington state legalized recreational cannabis use in 2012.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/05/alaska-marijuana-legalization_n_5947516.html

Marijuana Slims? Why Pot Smokers Are Less Obese
If cannabis causes the munchies, how is it possible that pot smokers are thinner than nonsmokers?

A new study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology finds an intriguing connection between marijuana use and body weight, showing that rates of obesity are lower by roughly a third in people who smoke pot at least three times a week, compared with those who don’t use marijuana at all.

Researchers analyzed data from two large national surveys of the American population, which together included some 52,000 participants. In the first survey, they found that 22% of those who did not smoke marijuana were obese, compared with just 14% of the regular marijuana smokers. The second survey found that 25% of nonsmokers were obese, compared with 17% of regular cannabis users.

The association between pot smoking and lower risk of obesity remained strong even after adjusting for other factors that could influence body fat and health, such as cigarette smoking, age and gender. But the correlation between weed and weight doesn’t mean that marijuana smoking actually causes weight loss.

MORE: Cheers, Ladies! A Drink a Day May Mean Good Health in Older Age

Many other factors could account for the connection. For example, some research finds that highly religious people are less likely to take drugs, but more likely to be obese — perhaps because they’re substituting one compulsive behavior (overeating) for the other (smoking marijuana). So, some of the obese people in the national surveys may be religious folk, who might otherwise be heavy marijuana smokers, but are eating too much instead. That could make it look like marijuana is slimming.

Also consider that one of the most popular uses of medical marijuana is to stimulate appetite in people with cancer, AIDS or other diseases. Such patients are significantly less likely to be obese than the general population — so in this case, weight loss would precede or prompt the marijuana smoking.

Whatever the explanation for the link between marijuana and less obesity, it’s unlikely that cannabis could serve as an effective diet aid. For one, smoking pot has been shown to increase appetite in multiple studies, at least in the short-term, so it likely wouldn’t help dieters resist temptation.

Secondly, a drug that has the opposite effect of THC, marijuana’s main psychoactive ingredient, has itself been shown to aid dieting. Called rimonabant, at high doses the drug nearly tripled the weight loss achieved by people taking placebo. It also frequently caused severe depression and suicidal thoughts, however, so while it was briefly approved by European authorities, it was ultimately pulled from the market.

MORE: Reverse Engineering the Marijuana ‘Munchies’: What Causes Binge Eating?

Of course, none of this explains why marijuana smokers in the national survey samples didn’t get fatter by taking a drug that can clearly stimulate appetite. One factor may be tolerance: many of marijuana’s effects are reduced in frequent users, as the body adjusts to it.

Another may be substitution — the smokers could be seeking comfort by smoking more marijuana, rather than eating more. Or, perhaps other ingredients in cannabis like cannabidiol (CBD) could reduce the appetite-increasing effects of THC in the same way that they reduce its paranoia-inducing properties.

Whatever the case, marijuana research never lacks for surprises!

http://healthland.time.com/2011/09/08/marijuana-slims-pot-smoking-linked-to-lower-body-weight/