ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
Not sure what you’re point at, sir/ma’am....
Cannabis News
- Thread starter vtac
- Start date
looney2nz
Research Geek, Mad Scientist
man I'd just love to have a 20 acre hemp forest to tap into every few months...
gotta have the resources to store it, process it and bring products to market.
But at that scale, greenhouses are a bit prohibitive, so it's gonna be on the smaller boutique growers to keep things under control for the recreational/medical folks
800lb gorilla and all.
See all these other folks (Altria, Busch, etc.) sniffing around and throwing huge dollars around in Canada...
it's gonna get wild and wooly again
gotta have the resources to store it, process it and bring products to market.
But at that scale, greenhouses are a bit prohibitive, so it's gonna be on the smaller boutique growers to keep things under control for the recreational/medical folks
800lb gorilla and all.See all these other folks (Altria, Busch, etc.) sniffing around and throwing huge dollars around in Canada...
it's gonna get wild and wooly again
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
I’m really wondering how close to real legalization we are: the recent hemp bill couldn’t do any less to acknowledge the discussion: your product *must* be no more than 0.03% THC or you’re guilty of manufacturing a controlled substance, as I read it. I’m sure rich white people with the right connections will not serve time for it, but I’m reasonably certain *someone* will.man I'd just love to have a 20 acre hemp forest to tap into every few months...
gotta have the resources to store it, process it and bring products to market.
But at that scale, greenhouses are a bit prohibitive, so it's gonna be on the smaller boutique growers to keep things under control for the recreational/medical folks
See all these other folks (Altria, Busch, etc.) sniffing around and throwing huge dollars around in Canada...
it's gonna get wild and wooly again
I too dream of enough land to have multiple grow-fields: for one thing, I’d like to find out to what extent widely separated fields affect each other genetically... these absolutely no reason why open pollination shouldn’t strengthen and broaden one’s local landrace, improving vigor, potency, and fiber quality. I’m sure someone has wondered about this, but it’s been risky for anyone to intentionally setup and track something like this for the last 90 years.
There are currently growers elsewhere fighting over landraces and modern pot and genetic heritage, and between micro-scale/connoisseur/artisan growers and the big-farm guys. A lot of the big farm guys are happy with legalization as it’s rolling out, the small-fry are increasingly being squeezed out of the market due to the usual kickbacks, double-deals, and the rising cost and selectivity of compliance. To make matters worse, last year so much cannabis was produced the prices plummeted, almost everyone took a hit, but the smaller operations are still wondering how to relieve themselves of *last* year’s crop...and how to pay for this year.
Some of the big guys sound/act like their last business involved meth or coke....
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chris 71
Well-Known Member
Just curious why you say this ? I thought THC although in much smaller amounts then what we see in cultivated cannabis today , was just as original as CBD ?
From what i recolect THC was there all along and probably to the same level as CBD in the wild cannabis plant .
The plant in its natrual from usually expresses either a THC chemo or pheno or whatever type . or a CBD chemo or pheno type .
Its only once in a while that in nature you will get a plant that is either higher in THC or CBD or probably even rarer a plant that has a more even amount of both elevated THC and CBD .
Its from these rare expressions that humans have taken notice of a particularly rarly potent plant .
be it THC or CBD or even rarer high CBD abd THC plant , and then taken this or these plants and selectivly bred for potency .
If left all to its self for generations a feild of cannabis plants would probbably all get dumbed down to low quntities of both THC and CBD with the rare potent plant popping up once in a while and these are the chosen ones so to speak or the ones a smart cultivator would choose .
This is exactly why old school hash had a more even amount of THC and CBD because it was made from whole fields of plants and not just one
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
CBD is a cannabinoid, like other cannabinoids, like THC. Are you saying CBD-selecting/controlling genes are dominant or superior? That open pollination will always bring down the THC and increase CBD?
I’m not sure that would be how these things work.
For one thing, I disagree that THC is the “get you stoned” molecule. I know plenty of people who have taken pharma THC and they’ve universally said they DID NOT get high. Carleton Turner, original US federal weed farm supervisor and piss-test entrepreneur, was IIRC largely responsible for that fairy tale, because THC provided downstream metabolites that could be detected in the urine...and the piss test was born.
I’ve always been of the opinion that we get high and get medicated by virtue of the rich blend of unique chemicals cannabis provides us. I’ve been unimpressed by some high-THC weed, and I’ve gotten damn’ stoned off supposedly low-THC weed. I truly believe that our understanding of cannabis and how we work with it is still in its infancy.
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chris 71
Well-Known Member
I would wager to say your correct .
I would go so far as to think that even industrial hemp with its super low level of thc is infact selectively bred for this characteristic? I am not an expert so i do not know this for sure but makes sense.
Even if the reason for this has more to do with the selectively bred cannabis for fiber just so happens to not produce cannabinoids the way cannabis does that is selectivly bred for its flowers .
Makes me wonder how the hemp fiber growers really do keep these things in check. ? wouldnt every once in a while a more potent plant pop up in a hemp field ? even if only one out of thousands wouldnt a mutation happen by nature isnt that how all life works ?
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
Yes, there are strains that have been bred for fiber length/quality, for seeds both for feed and oil, and for the pith, the ‘hurds’ that paper is made from. They have had other traits bred out of them, in the main, including high resin production. However, the luck of the genetic draw pretty much guarantees that a plant will be produced from a ‘hemp’ field with *superior* resin qualities, that will bring the crop over the 0.03% limit, and so the idea is a bit broken in the first place, as you say.
Time for the daily reminder that cannabis is a species, there are not multiple species of cannabis, the differences between sativa, indica, and ruderalis are as much due to habitat and cultivation as to genetics, and that we’re dealing with epigenetic switches governing gene expression as much as we’re dealing with genes?
Time for the daily reminder that cannabis is a species, there are not multiple species of cannabis, the differences between sativa, indica, and ruderalis are as much due to habitat and cultivation as to genetics, and that we’re dealing with epigenetic switches governing gene expression as much as we’re dealing with genes?
C No Ego
Well-Known Member
it has to do with the precursor traits like Geranyl-prrophosphate and olivetolic acid . I do not remember the report but CBd is much more longer evolved and established than THC... THC came along later in the plant lineage from biological pressures placed on the plant from environment ETC
when Hemp is pollinating that ancient cBD gene will take over any other type, especially some of the weaker " indoor" genetics we have bred underground... ask any grower @ IC mag or Grass city...
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
Sounds like some smart research needs to be done.
While I respect you and your contributions, I’ll need more than broscience to convince me. You may well be right, that THC is a *new* compound relative to CBD, that “hemp” qualifies as a separate genotype, that hemp pollen will *destroy* THC production in the pollinated plant, etc. I honestly don’t know,and I look forward to finding out what the truth is. I actually spend a lot of time @ICMAG, I will look for this over there.
Merry Christmas, brother, hope it was great for you and yours!
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C No Ego
Well-Known Member
yeah, reports I looked into showed after two crop turn overs from medical cannabis being pollinated with Hemp... the next years seed would pop about half and half and the third year would be completely hemp... it only takes two cycles
5 moments that show 2018 was marijuana legalization’s biggest year yet
When we look back, 2018 may be the year in which marijuana legalization really won. Canada legalized marijuana, defying international treaties (which the US is also a part of) that prohibit fully legalizing cannabis. After legalizing marijuana in 2016, California opened the world’s biggest fully legal pot market in early 2018.
Michigan became the first state to legalize pot in the Midwest.State legislatures, particularly New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, began taking legalization more seriously. And while Congress didn’t legalize pot at the federal level, it did legalize industrial hemp.
When we look back, 2018 may be the year in which marijuana legalization really won. Canada legalized marijuana, defying international treaties (which the US is also a part of) that prohibit fully legalizing cannabis. After legalizing marijuana in 2016, California opened the world’s biggest fully legal pot market in early 2018.
Michigan became the first state to legalize pot in the Midwest.State legislatures, particularly New York, New Jersey, and Vermont, began taking legalization more seriously. And while Congress didn’t legalize pot at the federal level, it did legalize industrial hemp.
blackstone
Well-Known Member
Up in smoke: Indonesia burns mountain of marijuana
By AFP - December 28, 2018 @ 12:04am
BANDA ACEH: A towering stack of marijuana that weighed a hefty 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) went up in smoke Thursday as Indonesian police lit up the pungent contraband.
"Five drug suspects in bright-orange prison garb were paraded around the ceremony.
Aceh is a deeply conservative region at the tip of Sumatra island that publicly whips criminals for a range of offences including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex or relations outside of marriage."
Fuck Combustion!
I found this slightly positive because it confirms how deranged and backward these types of behavior and attitude have become in many other places.
But still, even low to medium level enforcement can be horrible too.
Apparently in 2015 they got all the locals high by mistake doing these burnings!
By AFP - December 28, 2018 @ 12:04am
BANDA ACEH: A towering stack of marijuana that weighed a hefty 800 kilograms (1,760 pounds) went up in smoke Thursday as Indonesian police lit up the pungent contraband.
"Five drug suspects in bright-orange prison garb were paraded around the ceremony.
Aceh is a deeply conservative region at the tip of Sumatra island that publicly whips criminals for a range of offences including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex or relations outside of marriage."
Fuck Combustion!
I found this slightly positive because it confirms how deranged and backward these types of behavior and attitude have become in many other places.
But still, even low to medium level enforcement can be horrible too.
Apparently in 2015 they got all the locals high by mistake doing these burnings!
CarolKing
Singer of songs and a vapor connoisseur
Thailand to Allow Medical Marijuana, a First in Southeast Asia - The New York Times
2 days ago · BANGKOK — In a region known for its harsh penalties for illegal drugs, Thailand is set to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes
Any FCers from Thailand?
2 days ago · BANGKOK — In a region known for its harsh penalties for illegal drugs, Thailand is set to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes
Any FCers from Thailand?
Jill NYC
Portable Hoarder
I was wondering about this... wouldn’t anyone in above picture be stoned out of their mind? Police, criminals being paraded, press, and spectators?Apparently in 2015 they got all the locals high by mistake doing these burnings!
Very interesting, thanks for the info.
Tranquility
Well-Known Member
I think the shift in news coverage from marijuana being related to crime to it being related to medicine is the key one. But, for the other reasons why legalization seems to be coming on so fast at this time, see:
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/wha...for-marijuana-legalization-study-sheds-light/
https://www.marijuanamoment.net/wha...for-marijuana-legalization-study-sheds-light/
C No Ego
Well-Known Member
@blackstone They R Doing It Wrong !
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
Okay, got it now: it’s like those weird frilly chickens and pigeons; those birds are ‘built’ out of gene pools that have been mixed and remixed, and once the ‘breeding’ stops, they return to normal birds in a couple generations.
I believe that speaks to how effete and over played and attenuated the breeder can get: if one continually winnows down the genes available for selection, the plants may be dependable cuts, they may be fem seed, so I suspect the “culprit” isn’t hemp, it’s getting crossing wrong. Bird or herb, once the narrow selection stops, they stop being ‘pushed’ into fancy forms and revert to, well, cannabis....
ClearBlueLou
unbearably light in the being....
On further thought, the same could probably be said of cannabis that’s been bred for fiber and seed - they may show no THC, but once again, if the selection stops they may well revert to showing THC %.
Either case would “destroy the crop”....
Either case would “destroy the crop”....
blackstone
Well-Known Member
It had to affect pets or wildlife too or may have even been seen from satellite. It might explain why I felt quite relaxed on the other side of the globe in a somewhat dry spell!
I happened upon the 2015 headlines while searching for this story, but I have not read any yet.
Would love if there were pictures of whitey victims also!
Here's a quote from one I just read:
"While setting the weed ablaze, some of the police personnel wore masks but they forgot to alert the town people that the smoke may affect them too.
A number of residents and a few journalists in the neighbourhood reported feeling dizzy and intoxicated when the smoke filled their streets.
So instead of getting rid of the harmful intoxicating substance, the police ended up treating entire town to an exciting time. Oops!"
And I don't know if you've ever seen the video of the journalist getting giddy in maybe afghanistan, but that's a similar situation!
I agree, the burning thing like i posted is almost becoming a thing of the past. But they still did that posing in front of seizures with masks and guns crap in many other modern countries up till recently.
Last time I saw it those guys looked so ridiculous though in this day and age, and I think the images are becoming widely seen as silly considering their lack of effectiveness
It looks like there may be some conduction vaporization occurring in there somewhere!?
The horrible thing is that there are a number of car tires visible in some of the fire pictures, maybe to accelerate the fire.
Thanks guys you give me great confidence that you are doing nothing but positive things for our world and that you don't suffer from ignorance at all!
cybrguy
Putin is a War Criminal
Would recreational pot affect Illinois’ medical marijuana?
By Dean Olsen of GateHouse Media Illinois
Posted Dec 30, 2018 at 4:25 PM Updated Dec 30, 2018 at 4:28 PM
The need for a statewide medical-marijuana program won’t go away if the Illinois General Assembly and Gov.-elect JB Pritzker approve recreational use of cannabis in 2019, advocates of marijuana legalization say.
Those crafting legislation to allow production and sales of recreational marijuana plan to include provisions ensuring that patients in the medical pilot program have an adequate selection of products specifically geared for medical use, according to state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago.
It’s unknown how the startup of a recreational marijuana market in Illinois will affect enrollment in the state’s highly regulated medical-marijuana program, said Steans, a leader in the push to make recreational use legal.
But supporters of recreational use don’t want to put medical-marijuana patients in a bind, she said.
“We are going to touch the medical program as little as possible,” Steans told The State Journal-Register last week.
Advocates expect recreational sales to quickly overtake medical sales. But they say people in the medical program likely would pay less for cannabis products because excise taxes on recreational products are expected to be significantly higher than for medical-marijuana products.
“We haven’t seen huge drop-offs right in the beginning,” said Karmen Hanson, a Denver-based cannabis policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Enrollment cards that currently cost medical-marijuana patients $100 per year in Illinois also give those patients access to certain products that may not be produced for recreational users or popular among them, marijuana advocates said.
Those products include cannabis-infused suppositories, lotions, nasal sprays and transdermal patches.
Products geared toward the medical market also include marijuana with extra-high levels of THC — the chemical compound that causes the drug’s “high” — and marijuana with high levels of CBD, a compound with purported medical benefits but not causing euphoria.
“I think a lot of people will remain in the medical program,” said Chris Stone, chief executive officer of HCI Alternatives. HCI operates medical marijuana dispensaries in Springfield and Collinsville.
Stone and Dan Linn, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, both expect excise taxes on recreational pot to be substantially higher, though Steans said the levels to be proposed still are being worked out.
Because of the high tax levels envisioned, the “economic development element” of recreational marijuana “could be substantial for the state,” Stone said.
New tax revenue for state and local governments could exceed an estimated $500 million per year, and Stone said marijuana could become a $5 billion annual industry in Illinois when including taxes, product sales and employment.
As of Dec. 11, 49,366 patients — most of them adults — were enrolled in the state’s medical-marijuana pilot program, which is set to expire in 2020, and there has been about $123 million in total sales through 55 licensed dispensaries this year.
Total patients could increase by six-fold or more, to at least 300,000, after patients taking prescription opioid painkillers are allowed to buy medical marijuana in late January and beyond because of a bill signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
But even that total would be dwarfed by the total potential customer base for recreational marijuana, Linn said. An estimated 13 percent of adults 18 and older in the United States regularly or occasionally use or smoke marijuana, according to a recent Gallup poll.
The legislation being considered in Illinois would allow recreational use only for people 21 and older. But if 13 percent of the 9.4 million Illinoisans 21 and older began buying marijuana legally, potential customers would total 1.2 million people.
In Colorado, a state of 5.6 million people where commercial production and sales of medical marijuana was first authorized in 2010, 85,200 patients are enrolled in the medical-cannabis program.
Sales of recreational marijuana for Colorado adults 21 and older began in 2014. The number of patients in the medical program didn’t drop much at first, according to Dr. Tista Ghosh, acting chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Medical program enrollment in Colorado totaled 103,906 in 2016, 88,417 in 2017 and 85,207 so far in 2018. That’s a total drop of 18 percent from 2016 to the present day.
Colorado officials don’t know the reason for the drop, Ghosh said, noting that medical-marijuana products still are taxed less than recreational products.
Whether medical-marijuana enrollment drops in a state after recreational use is allowed can depend on the price difference for products and the state’s annual charge for a medical-marijuana card. That’s according to Karen O’Keefe, state policies director for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
Linn said he hopes Illinois lawmakers reduce the annual cost of medical marijuana cards when they consider making the medical program permanent.
Legislation dealing with recreational use is expected to allow existing medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers in Illinois to add recreational marijuana to their products, Steans said.
Additional rules would need to be developed to allow other producers and sellers to enter the market, she said.
HCI Alternatives employs a total of 45 people at its dispensaries in Springfield and Collinsville and serves a total of 2,560 patients. HCI is considering adding about 20 more employees to handle additional customers when opioid patients become eligible for medical marijuana in January, Stone said.
Approval of recreational marijuana probably would increase demand enough to allow HCI to eventually hire 20 more employees at each location, he said.
The increased capacity is expected to reduce marijuana prices for current medical-marijuana patients as producers and suppliers benefit from greater efficiencies, Steans said.
Approval of recreational use can make a safer, more-predictable supply of marijuana products available to customers who use cannabis to relieve symptoms of medical ailments but don’t have conditions that qualify them for medical-marijuana programs in their state, O’Keefe said.
Such customers also may be unable to find doctors willing to sign documents to help them get into medical-cannabis programs, O’Keefe said.
Illinois law allows patients to qualify if they have one of more than 40 medical conditions. But Illinois doesn’t allow patients into its medical-marijuana program for “severe pain,” “muscle spasms” or “severe nausea” — Colorado’s top three qualifying conditions.
Tisha Smith, a 47-year-old Springfield resident, is in Illinois’ medical marijuana program because of a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She said she supports legalization of recreational use but probably will remain in the medical program even if sales of recreational cannabis are allowed.
In addition to the price break medical patients are expected to receive, Smith said she likes that her Illinois card is honored by dispensaries in Michigan, where she has traveled in the past, and in some of the approximately 30 other states that allow medical-marijuana sales.
Smith said she believes medical-marijuana patients will be less likely than recreational users to be prosecuted by federal officials for possessing a substance that remains illegal under federal law.
However, participation in a medical program offers no additional protection from federal prosecution, according to Hanson, the NCSL analyst. But Hanson said federal officials have shown little interest in charging buyers of marijuana with crimes if the purchases are part of state-level medical or recreational marijuana programs.
Smith, who works full-time driving for a ride-sharing service but doesn’t use marijuana while she’s driving, said she spends $300 to $500 every two weeks on medical marijuana.
The marijuana she gets is more expensive than the pot available on the black market, she said, but she feels safer using marijuana from a licensed dispensary.
“I know where it’s coming from,” she said.
By Dean Olsen of GateHouse Media Illinois
Posted Dec 30, 2018 at 4:25 PM Updated Dec 30, 2018 at 4:28 PM
The need for a statewide medical-marijuana program won’t go away if the Illinois General Assembly and Gov.-elect JB Pritzker approve recreational use of cannabis in 2019, advocates of marijuana legalization say.
Those crafting legislation to allow production and sales of recreational marijuana plan to include provisions ensuring that patients in the medical pilot program have an adequate selection of products specifically geared for medical use, according to state Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago.
It’s unknown how the startup of a recreational marijuana market in Illinois will affect enrollment in the state’s highly regulated medical-marijuana program, said Steans, a leader in the push to make recreational use legal.
But supporters of recreational use don’t want to put medical-marijuana patients in a bind, she said.
“We are going to touch the medical program as little as possible,” Steans told The State Journal-Register last week.
Advocates expect recreational sales to quickly overtake medical sales. But they say people in the medical program likely would pay less for cannabis products because excise taxes on recreational products are expected to be significantly higher than for medical-marijuana products.
“We haven’t seen huge drop-offs right in the beginning,” said Karmen Hanson, a Denver-based cannabis policy analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Enrollment cards that currently cost medical-marijuana patients $100 per year in Illinois also give those patients access to certain products that may not be produced for recreational users or popular among them, marijuana advocates said.
Those products include cannabis-infused suppositories, lotions, nasal sprays and transdermal patches.
Products geared toward the medical market also include marijuana with extra-high levels of THC — the chemical compound that causes the drug’s “high” — and marijuana with high levels of CBD, a compound with purported medical benefits but not causing euphoria.
“I think a lot of people will remain in the medical program,” said Chris Stone, chief executive officer of HCI Alternatives. HCI operates medical marijuana dispensaries in Springfield and Collinsville.
Stone and Dan Linn, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, both expect excise taxes on recreational pot to be substantially higher, though Steans said the levels to be proposed still are being worked out.
Because of the high tax levels envisioned, the “economic development element” of recreational marijuana “could be substantial for the state,” Stone said.
New tax revenue for state and local governments could exceed an estimated $500 million per year, and Stone said marijuana could become a $5 billion annual industry in Illinois when including taxes, product sales and employment.
As of Dec. 11, 49,366 patients — most of them adults — were enrolled in the state’s medical-marijuana pilot program, which is set to expire in 2020, and there has been about $123 million in total sales through 55 licensed dispensaries this year.
Total patients could increase by six-fold or more, to at least 300,000, after patients taking prescription opioid painkillers are allowed to buy medical marijuana in late January and beyond because of a bill signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
But even that total would be dwarfed by the total potential customer base for recreational marijuana, Linn said. An estimated 13 percent of adults 18 and older in the United States regularly or occasionally use or smoke marijuana, according to a recent Gallup poll.
The legislation being considered in Illinois would allow recreational use only for people 21 and older. But if 13 percent of the 9.4 million Illinoisans 21 and older began buying marijuana legally, potential customers would total 1.2 million people.
In Colorado, a state of 5.6 million people where commercial production and sales of medical marijuana was first authorized in 2010, 85,200 patients are enrolled in the medical-cannabis program.
Sales of recreational marijuana for Colorado adults 21 and older began in 2014. The number of patients in the medical program didn’t drop much at first, according to Dr. Tista Ghosh, acting chief medical officer for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Medical program enrollment in Colorado totaled 103,906 in 2016, 88,417 in 2017 and 85,207 so far in 2018. That’s a total drop of 18 percent from 2016 to the present day.
Colorado officials don’t know the reason for the drop, Ghosh said, noting that medical-marijuana products still are taxed less than recreational products.
Whether medical-marijuana enrollment drops in a state after recreational use is allowed can depend on the price difference for products and the state’s annual charge for a medical-marijuana card. That’s according to Karen O’Keefe, state policies director for the pro-legalization Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C.
Linn said he hopes Illinois lawmakers reduce the annual cost of medical marijuana cards when they consider making the medical program permanent.
Legislation dealing with recreational use is expected to allow existing medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers in Illinois to add recreational marijuana to their products, Steans said.
Additional rules would need to be developed to allow other producers and sellers to enter the market, she said.
HCI Alternatives employs a total of 45 people at its dispensaries in Springfield and Collinsville and serves a total of 2,560 patients. HCI is considering adding about 20 more employees to handle additional customers when opioid patients become eligible for medical marijuana in January, Stone said.
Approval of recreational marijuana probably would increase demand enough to allow HCI to eventually hire 20 more employees at each location, he said.
The increased capacity is expected to reduce marijuana prices for current medical-marijuana patients as producers and suppliers benefit from greater efficiencies, Steans said.
Approval of recreational use can make a safer, more-predictable supply of marijuana products available to customers who use cannabis to relieve symptoms of medical ailments but don’t have conditions that qualify them for medical-marijuana programs in their state, O’Keefe said.
Such customers also may be unable to find doctors willing to sign documents to help them get into medical-cannabis programs, O’Keefe said.
Illinois law allows patients to qualify if they have one of more than 40 medical conditions. But Illinois doesn’t allow patients into its medical-marijuana program for “severe pain,” “muscle spasms” or “severe nausea” — Colorado’s top three qualifying conditions.
Tisha Smith, a 47-year-old Springfield resident, is in Illinois’ medical marijuana program because of a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.
She said she supports legalization of recreational use but probably will remain in the medical program even if sales of recreational cannabis are allowed.
In addition to the price break medical patients are expected to receive, Smith said she likes that her Illinois card is honored by dispensaries in Michigan, where she has traveled in the past, and in some of the approximately 30 other states that allow medical-marijuana sales.
Smith said she believes medical-marijuana patients will be less likely than recreational users to be prosecuted by federal officials for possessing a substance that remains illegal under federal law.
However, participation in a medical program offers no additional protection from federal prosecution, according to Hanson, the NCSL analyst. But Hanson said federal officials have shown little interest in charging buyers of marijuana with crimes if the purchases are part of state-level medical or recreational marijuana programs.
Smith, who works full-time driving for a ride-sharing service but doesn’t use marijuana while she’s driving, said she spends $300 to $500 every two weeks on medical marijuana.
The marijuana she gets is more expensive than the pot available on the black market, she said, but she feels safer using marijuana from a licensed dispensary.
“I know where it’s coming from,” she said.
cybrguy
Putin is a War Criminal
This is an month old article, but I don't see it posted here...
As Michigan legalizes marijuana, the race is on with Illinois for 1st commercial sales in Midwest
When Michigan legalizes possession of marijuana Thursday (Dec 6th), the drug will join craft beers, perfect summers and the Upper Peninsula as tourist attractions for out-of-staters.
But Illinoisans should know that, as of now, there is nowhere they can buy marijuana legally in “Pure Michigan,” as the state’s tourism ads put it. Until businesses are licensed — which could take more than a year — the drug remains illegal to sell to the general public, illegal to consume in public and illegal to take across state lines.
Those contradictions in the law, as well as the conflict with the ongoing federal ban on pot possession, could mean real problems for both residents and visitors, opponents warned.
But Michigan’s experiment could serve as a blueprint for Illinois’ own efforts toward legalization, though it’s possible that Illinois could actually roll out legal recreational weed first, if all falls into place.
In Michigan, commercial production and sales will be allowed only after state regulators draw up rules to determine who will be licensed and how, which is expected to take months if not more than a year, plus time for businesses to open. But as the first state in the Midwest to legalize the drug, advocates expect a wave of visitors looking to get high, despite the social conservatism of the Rust Belt.
“I bet we’ll see quite a bit of tourism,” Michigan medical marijuana grower Debra Young said. “People go to Colorado and Las Vegas. A lot of people went across the border when Canada legalized it.”
Since the state approved medical marijuana in 2008, Young said, “It’s kind of normalized in Michigan. People are not shocked.”
After years of campaigning to change the law, pot users plan to party when possession of up to 2.5 ounces of the drug becomes legal for adults 21 and older. Citizens approved the proposition by referendum in November, with 56 percent voting yes.
To mark the occasion Thursday night, a business called Elevated Yogi will host a pre-yoga smoking session at its studio in Detroit, owner Leonard Coklow said. The studio does not provide the product, but typically lets medical marijuana card holders bring their own. While patients may not share their medicine, the new law allows the drug to be shared for free, so the practice will no longer be legally limited to patients.
“Everybody will be able to participate,” Coklow said. “Stuff ends up getting passed around. It’s like a potluck, basically.”
Attorney Matt Abel of Cannabis Counsel, which specializes in marijuana law, plans to hold a party in his law office in the same building.
“It’s time for people to invite friends and share a joint with them,” he said.
Despite the celebrations, the fight over revisions to the law continues in the state legislature, possibly mirroring battles to come in Springfield as Illinois lawmakers try to hash out a legalization bill to send to J.B. Pritzker when he becomes governor.
Republican Michigan state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, who will be forced out of office by term limits at the end of the year, has proposed major changes.
He would eliminate a provision that lets people grow up to 12 plants at home. He would also lower the tax rate from 10 percent to 3 percent, and send more of the revenue to local governments and law enforcement agencies and less to roads and schools.
The president of prohibitionist group Healthy and Productive Michigan, Scott Greenlee, sees the changes as much-needed “damage control” to the new law. Activists see them as a slap in the face by lame-duck lawmakers to voters who approved the new law. Despite a Republican majority in the statehouse, it would take a three-fourths supermajority to pass the measure, so it’s not clear if it will have the votes.
As with the state’s medical marijuana law, the new law allows local governments to regulate, ban or limit the numbers of marijuana businesses, and some towns have already opted out.
Visitors should also be aware that operating a motor vehicle, boat or snowmobile while under the influence of any amount of marijuana remains illegal in Michigan. And despite the new law, employers may still fire marijuana users.
State regulators must also draw up rules governing advertising and marketing, labeling and packaging. They promise strong restrictions to prevent marketing to children, and estimate the industry will generate $738 million in tax revenue by 2023.
In Illinois, where Pritzker supports legalizing marijuana, advocates hope to pass a bill that would take effect in late 2019 or early 2020.
While 10 states have now legalized recreational cannabis, most are on the West and East coasts. That means the race is on with Michigan to become the first state in the Midwest to license commercial sales, said activist Dan Linn, of the Illinois chapter of marijuana policy reform group NORML.
“Absolutely, there is going to be that first-mover advantage for tourism dollars and buyers crossing the border,” he said. The laws and tax rates will play a role in determining market share, he said, as they do now with Illinoisans going to Indiana for cigarettes and fireworks.
As Illinois did this year, Michigan also now allows the cultivation of industrial hemp, a crop that boasts a range of uses including for paper, textiles and insulation. Legalizing hemp nationally is also a part of the proposed federal farm bill.
Greenlee, whose group opposes legalization, emphasized that all state marijuana legalization laws contradict federal law, which Congress has chosen to stand by and which still prohibits possession.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Greenlee said. “States have started picking and choosing which federal law they’re going to enforce or ignore.”
Advocates say it’s long past time to reverse a damaging, racist and futile war on drugs, to undercut the black market and to generate tax revenue by taxing and regulating cannabis like alcohol. Supporters argue that marijuana has much lower rates of addiction than alcohol or cigarettes, has medical benefits and doesn’t cause fatal overdoses, unlike legal and prescription drugs that kill tens of thousands of people every year.
“It’s taking a long time for prohibition to die,” said Abel, the attorney. “There’s still a lot of resistance and there will be, but it’s not like it was 10 years ago.”
As Michigan legalizes marijuana, the race is on with Illinois for 1st commercial sales in Midwest
When Michigan legalizes possession of marijuana Thursday (Dec 6th), the drug will join craft beers, perfect summers and the Upper Peninsula as tourist attractions for out-of-staters.
But Illinoisans should know that, as of now, there is nowhere they can buy marijuana legally in “Pure Michigan,” as the state’s tourism ads put it. Until businesses are licensed — which could take more than a year — the drug remains illegal to sell to the general public, illegal to consume in public and illegal to take across state lines.
Those contradictions in the law, as well as the conflict with the ongoing federal ban on pot possession, could mean real problems for both residents and visitors, opponents warned.
But Michigan’s experiment could serve as a blueprint for Illinois’ own efforts toward legalization, though it’s possible that Illinois could actually roll out legal recreational weed first, if all falls into place.
In Michigan, commercial production and sales will be allowed only after state regulators draw up rules to determine who will be licensed and how, which is expected to take months if not more than a year, plus time for businesses to open. But as the first state in the Midwest to legalize the drug, advocates expect a wave of visitors looking to get high, despite the social conservatism of the Rust Belt.
“I bet we’ll see quite a bit of tourism,” Michigan medical marijuana grower Debra Young said. “People go to Colorado and Las Vegas. A lot of people went across the border when Canada legalized it.”
Since the state approved medical marijuana in 2008, Young said, “It’s kind of normalized in Michigan. People are not shocked.”
After years of campaigning to change the law, pot users plan to party when possession of up to 2.5 ounces of the drug becomes legal for adults 21 and older. Citizens approved the proposition by referendum in November, with 56 percent voting yes.
To mark the occasion Thursday night, a business called Elevated Yogi will host a pre-yoga smoking session at its studio in Detroit, owner Leonard Coklow said. The studio does not provide the product, but typically lets medical marijuana card holders bring their own. While patients may not share their medicine, the new law allows the drug to be shared for free, so the practice will no longer be legally limited to patients.
“Everybody will be able to participate,” Coklow said. “Stuff ends up getting passed around. It’s like a potluck, basically.”
Attorney Matt Abel of Cannabis Counsel, which specializes in marijuana law, plans to hold a party in his law office in the same building.
“It’s time for people to invite friends and share a joint with them,” he said.
Despite the celebrations, the fight over revisions to the law continues in the state legislature, possibly mirroring battles to come in Springfield as Illinois lawmakers try to hash out a legalization bill to send to J.B. Pritzker when he becomes governor.
Republican Michigan state Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, who will be forced out of office by term limits at the end of the year, has proposed major changes.
He would eliminate a provision that lets people grow up to 12 plants at home. He would also lower the tax rate from 10 percent to 3 percent, and send more of the revenue to local governments and law enforcement agencies and less to roads and schools.
The president of prohibitionist group Healthy and Productive Michigan, Scott Greenlee, sees the changes as much-needed “damage control” to the new law. Activists see them as a slap in the face by lame-duck lawmakers to voters who approved the new law. Despite a Republican majority in the statehouse, it would take a three-fourths supermajority to pass the measure, so it’s not clear if it will have the votes.
As with the state’s medical marijuana law, the new law allows local governments to regulate, ban or limit the numbers of marijuana businesses, and some towns have already opted out.
Visitors should also be aware that operating a motor vehicle, boat or snowmobile while under the influence of any amount of marijuana remains illegal in Michigan. And despite the new law, employers may still fire marijuana users.
State regulators must also draw up rules governing advertising and marketing, labeling and packaging. They promise strong restrictions to prevent marketing to children, and estimate the industry will generate $738 million in tax revenue by 2023.
In Illinois, where Pritzker supports legalizing marijuana, advocates hope to pass a bill that would take effect in late 2019 or early 2020.
While 10 states have now legalized recreational cannabis, most are on the West and East coasts. That means the race is on with Michigan to become the first state in the Midwest to license commercial sales, said activist Dan Linn, of the Illinois chapter of marijuana policy reform group NORML.
“Absolutely, there is going to be that first-mover advantage for tourism dollars and buyers crossing the border,” he said. The laws and tax rates will play a role in determining market share, he said, as they do now with Illinoisans going to Indiana for cigarettes and fireworks.
As Illinois did this year, Michigan also now allows the cultivation of industrial hemp, a crop that boasts a range of uses including for paper, textiles and insulation. Legalizing hemp nationally is also a part of the proposed federal farm bill.
Greenlee, whose group opposes legalization, emphasized that all state marijuana legalization laws contradict federal law, which Congress has chosen to stand by and which still prohibits possession.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Greenlee said. “States have started picking and choosing which federal law they’re going to enforce or ignore.”
Advocates say it’s long past time to reverse a damaging, racist and futile war on drugs, to undercut the black market and to generate tax revenue by taxing and regulating cannabis like alcohol. Supporters argue that marijuana has much lower rates of addiction than alcohol or cigarettes, has medical benefits and doesn’t cause fatal overdoses, unlike legal and prescription drugs that kill tens of thousands of people every year.
“It’s taking a long time for prohibition to die,” said Abel, the attorney. “There’s still a lot of resistance and there will be, but it’s not like it was 10 years ago.”
The New Congress Just Started And There’s Already A Bipartisan Marijuana Bill
Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Don Young (R-AK) re-introduced the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act on Thursday as one of their first acts in the new session. The legislation would let states establish their own medical cannabis programs free of federal intervention and also allow physicians at the Department of Veterans Affairs to issue medical cannabis recommendations for veterans.
Reps. Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Don Young (R-AK) re-introduced the Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States (CARERS) Act on Thursday as one of their first acts in the new session. The legislation would let states establish their own medical cannabis programs free of federal intervention and also allow physicians at the Department of Veterans Affairs to issue medical cannabis recommendations for veterans.
blackstone
Well-Known Member
Luxembourg to become first European country to legalise cannabis for recreational use
- Coalition parties have confirmed that cannabis will be legal for recreational use in Luxembourg
- Only residents will be able to legally purchase
- Decision comes after a petition gained enough names to be discussed in Parliament
==================================
New Zealand passes laws to make medical marijuana widely available
Legislation comes ahead of a referendum on recreational marijuana use in next two years
Tue 11 Dec 2018 06.53 GMT
"New Zealand’s government has passed a law that will make medical marijuana widely available for thousands of patients over time, after years of campaigning by chronically ill New Zealanders who say the drug is the only thing that eases their pain.
The legislation will also allow terminally ill patients to begin smoking illegal pot immediately without facing the possibility of prosecution.
The health minister, David Clarke, said thousands of New Zealanders were living with chronic and end-of-life pain and the evidence that marijuana could safely help ease their suffering was sound.
The law would also pave the way for New Zealand companies to manufacture medicinal cannabis products for both the local and international market, an industry which is being touted as a potential game-changer for deprived Māori communities on the east coast of the North Island, who hope to turn the thriving illegal industry into a thriving legal one."
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Legal marijuana industry had banner year in 2018
Dec 27, 2018, 3:45 PM ET
The last year was a 12-month champagne toast for the legal marijuana industry as the global market exploded and cannabis pushed its way further into the financial and cultural mainstream.
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cybrguy
Putin is a War Criminal
"How Legalizing Marijuana Is Securing the Border: The Border Wall, Drug Smuggling, and Lessons for Immigration Policy"
By Douglas A. Berman
The title of this post is the title of this interesting and timely new Cato Institute policy analysis authored by David J. Bier. Here is its executive summary:
By Douglas A. Berman
The title of this post is the title of this interesting and timely new Cato Institute policy analysis authored by David J. Bier. Here is its executive summary:
President Trump has repeatedly cited drug smuggling to justify a border wall. Because it is difficult to conceal, marijuana is the main drug transported between ports of entry where a border wall would matter. However, Border Patrol seizure figures demonstrate that marijuana flows have fallen continuously since 2014, when states began to legalize marijuana. After decades of no progress in reducing marijuana smuggling, the average Border Patrol agent between ports of entry confiscated 78 percent less marijuana in fiscal year (FY) 2018 than in FY 2013.
As a result, the value of all drugs seized by the average agent has fallen by 70 percent since FY 2013. Without marijuana coming in between ports of entry, drug smuggling activity now primarily occurs at ports of entry, where a border wall would have no effect. In FY 2018, the average inspector at ports of entry made drug seizures that were three times more valuable overall than those made by Border Patrol agents between ports of entry — a radical change from 2013 when Border Patrol agents averaged more valuable seizures. This is because smugglers bring mainly hard drugs through ports. By weight, the average port inspector seized 8 times more cocaine, 17 times more fentanyl, 23 times more methamphetamine, and 36 times more heroin than the average Border Patrol agent seized at the physical border in early 2018.
Given these trends, a border wall or more Border Patrol agents to stop drugs between ports of entry makes little sense. State marijuana legalization starting in 2014 did more to reduce marijuana smuggling than the doubling of Border Patrol agents or the construction of hundreds of miles of border fencing did from 2003 to 2009. As more states — particularly on the East Coast — legalize marijuana in 2019, these trends will only accelerate. The administration should avoid endangering this success and not prosecute state-legal sellers of marijuana. This success also provides a model for addressing illegal immigration. Just as legalization has reduced the incentives to smuggle marijuana illegally, greater legal migration opportunities undercut the incentive to enter illegally. Congress should recognize marijuana legalization’s success and replicate it for immigration.
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I gotta say, this is by far the best quote I have read this year so far...
"Perhaps the best thing that can be said of the Trump Administration is that its incompetence often undermines its malevolence."
As a result, the value of all drugs seized by the average agent has fallen by 70 percent since FY 2013. Without marijuana coming in between ports of entry, drug smuggling activity now primarily occurs at ports of entry, where a border wall would have no effect. In FY 2018, the average inspector at ports of entry made drug seizures that were three times more valuable overall than those made by Border Patrol agents between ports of entry — a radical change from 2013 when Border Patrol agents averaged more valuable seizures. This is because smugglers bring mainly hard drugs through ports. By weight, the average port inspector seized 8 times more cocaine, 17 times more fentanyl, 23 times more methamphetamine, and 36 times more heroin than the average Border Patrol agent seized at the physical border in early 2018.
Given these trends, a border wall or more Border Patrol agents to stop drugs between ports of entry makes little sense. State marijuana legalization starting in 2014 did more to reduce marijuana smuggling than the doubling of Border Patrol agents or the construction of hundreds of miles of border fencing did from 2003 to 2009. As more states — particularly on the East Coast — legalize marijuana in 2019, these trends will only accelerate. The administration should avoid endangering this success and not prosecute state-legal sellers of marijuana. This success also provides a model for addressing illegal immigration. Just as legalization has reduced the incentives to smuggle marijuana illegally, greater legal migration opportunities undercut the incentive to enter illegally. Congress should recognize marijuana legalization’s success and replicate it for immigration.
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I gotta say, this is by far the best quote I have read this year so far...
"Perhaps the best thing that can be said of the Trump Administration is that its incompetence often undermines its malevolence."