'My mood’s stable now,' says Ryan Begin of Jackman, who fought in Iraq

By Michael Shepherd, Maine Today

AUGUSTA -- Ryan Begin was checking a report of an improvised explosive device in Iskandariya, Iraq, on Aug. 1, 2004.

Then the U.S. Marine Corps corporal saw one. It detonated, blowing apart his right arm.

More than 30 surgeries later, Begin said he has regained some use of his arm. But the psychological damage has taken a harsher toll, including drug addiction and violence.

Begin told doctors in federal health centers high-grade medical marijuana was his only hope for tamping down the innumerable nightmares, flashbacks and fears that followed him from the battlefield.

"My mood's stable now -- no peaks and valleys, just stable ups and downs," he said.

His mother, Anna -- "a little bit apprehensive" about medical marijuana at first -- is a believer.

"When he started the marijuana, it was like having my son back," she said.

Doctors in the federal veterans' health care system aren't as convinced. The substance remains illegal under federal law, and guidelines for federal health centers don't support medical marijuana.

That ended Begin's relationship with the federal health system.

Battle scars

Today, Begin is unemployed, and one of 1,807 patients registered with the state to use marijuana medicinally.

Communist Bosses Won't Even Allow Book Inside The Country

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town/Special to Hemp News

The worldwide release of an American book on cannabis has been delayed, due to the refusal of the communist government of China to allow its binding on Chinese soil, according to the publisher.

The Little Black Book of Marijuana, by yours truly, Toke of the Town editor Steve Elliott, was scheduled for availability on August 1, but that printing schedule was thrown off after the totalitarian Chinese government decided the book was "too controversial" to even allow the printed pages inside the tightly-run dictatorship.

"Our printer is located in Hong Kong, with binderies in mainland China," production manager Ginny Reynolds of Peter Pauper Press explained to me Friday morning. "Usually it's no problem to move printed books from Hong Kong to China for binding.

"However, Chinese censorship is extremely tight," Reynolds told Toke of the Town. "Any content deemed 'sensitive' or 'controversial' by their standards is banned."

Steve Elliott: "You can always tell a totalitarian dictatorship, because they're afraid of the truth."

"We have the same problem with our books on sexuality," she told me. "The printer has to arrange for binding in Hong Kong, and facilities there are limited and overbooked in the summer season.

"Only an Independent who doesn't care who gets credit for doing what's right for the people of the state of Kentucky stand the best chance of untying the Gordian Knot and letting both parties operate in the fashion that the well intentioned membership want to work. We're asking you to vote for an Independent who wants to work with you to get the job done." Gatewood Galbraith

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

Kentucky Gubernatorial Candidate Gatewood Galbraith (Independent) recently spoke in Portland, Oregon to raise money for his current campaign. Galbraith talked about the history of hemp as a cash crop in Kentucky, his lifetime spent learning and working within the political and legal system, and also his campaign and running-mate Dea Riley.

Explaining his view of Kentucky's current "electile dysfunction," Galbraith addressed the U. S. Governments nanny-state thought-mind (whom we elected) whose goal is to protect us from ourselves, the concept of sovereign human beings and rediscovering the American Revolution with our voices and our votes. "I'm going to reconstruct Kentucky's government…and we're going to rediscover whether America still has a pulse. I believe that people will come from all over America and around the world [to Kentucky] to see what it's like to live free," said Galbraith.

Hemp manufacturing is an innovative & effective "green" industry.

By Diane Walsh, Salem-News.com

(VICTORIA, B.C.) - In British Columbia — the word is now out, thanks to Bill Finley of Hemp & Company, in Victoria, where I got this magnificent bead on the story.

Sanctioned by all three levels of government, the successful results from BC’s Caribou Region 'pilot' plantation sites has allowed for 3 impressive scientific studies to be produced which have confirmed/demonstrated the viability of en-masse industrial hemp production in 100 Mile House district-region and vicinity. Not only that — there are clear plans for a manufacturing facility.

100 Mile House is a unique name — which many may not have heard — of a district municipality in the South Cariboo Region with a population of about 2,000, a few hours out of Vancouver as you drive North up BC on Highway 97 headed toward Prince George.

May seem like a little place, but if you read the (3) aforementioned report-studies: by visiting 100milehouse.com, you'll understand the extraordinary significance of what this community has done with industrial hemp crop.

The local government, known as District of 100 Mile House, has a 10 person Industrial Hemp Steering Committee chaired by Mayor Mitch Campsall and includes the participation of community members, hemp producers, and representatives from local government, First Nations, and provincial government staff.

By Rita Trichur, Globe and Mail
Photo by John Woods, Globe and Mail

Hemp is fast becoming a staple of daytime TV as Oprah, Dr. Oz and others extol the health virtues of hemp oil, protein powders and pasta. At the same time, industrial interests tout it as a potential base for products ranging from textiles to car parts. As a result, demand is surging in the United States, Germany and Japan.

But American farmers are prohibited from growing hemp. That leaves farmers in Canada – where it's been a legal crop since 1998 – free to tap the growing U.S. interest in hemp-based products.

First, though, they must navigate the shifting sands of public opinion – or, as one Alberta report called it, "the snicker factor."

According to an Alberta Agriculture Department report on industrial hemp production in Canada, the plant's cultivation evokes chuckles "largely because of its hippy-dippy image and close association with marijuana, its consciousness-altering cousin."

Nevertheless, this is serious stuff. The North American market for industrial hemp – which has only a minuscule amount of the chemical that gives marijuana its punch – is booming.

For centuries, hemp had been ubiquitous in global commerce – from paper making to the rope used on sailing vessels – until synthetic fibres usurped its naval role and global anti-drug sentiment put paid to the rest.

COVINGTON—Two of the three gubernatorial candidates debated in Covington Thursday afternoon, Republican State Senate President David Williams and independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced earlier in the week that a scheduling conflict would keep him from attending the debate at the joint conference of the Kentucky County Judge/Executives Association and the Kentucky Magistrates and Commissioners Association held at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center.

Williams criticized Beshear as having no agenda.

"My favorite Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, talks about people in the arena who have the blood and sweat and get in there and try," Williams said. "Gatewood, thank you for being here today and offering yourself for public office. You're in the arena. Two out of three candidates are here, and the other will be engaged when he chooses, but he's not here today."

Galbraith blamed partisan politics for Kentucky's woes and said as an independent, he will work with both sides of the aisle.

"I foresee that after my stint as governor, I'm going to be one of the most disliked people in the state because I'm going to have to make decisions that neither party candidate can possibly make, because they've got to answer to the party," Galbraith said. "I don't answer to anybody except God and an occasional judge or two."

One of the questions involved the state gas tax, which funds road improvements throughout Kentucky.

By KSEE News

Shampoo, shirts and milk are just several things that can be made out of hemp. Stratford farmer Charles Meyer has been an advocate for industrial hemp for years. He said, "In the early days hemp was the standard of the economy. It could be a multi-trillion dollar had it kept going from the early days had it hadn't been outlawed because of it's relationship with marijuana."

A bill that would allow the growing of industrial hemp just passed the State Assembly Ag Committee. It would permit the growing of hemp as an eight year pilot program in Kern, Kings and San Joaquin counties. A number of law enforcement agencies are against the plan. They say growers can easily hide marijuana in hemp fields. They add it would bring more crime to the area. Meyer says this isn't the case.

"You can't grow marijuana in a hemp field it would get pollinated by the male plants and would seize to produce the thc or wouldn't produce it at all," said Meyer.

By CBS 13 Staff

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – Marijuana is no medical marvel — that's according to a new federal ruling generating plenty of controversy across California.

The Drug Enforcement Administration decree states that "marijuana has no currently accepted medical use" – in other words, this bud is not for you.

Yet in California you can easily get pizza, brownies, even cannabis cookies because medical marijuana is incredibly edible and of course, smokable. And all you need is a medical marijuana card – it's easy to get – but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has ruled that “marijuana lacks accepted safety for medical use under supervision.”

"I’m here to disagree with the DEA," said Shane Randall, a medical marijuana patient at Alternative Medical Source (AMS) in Fair Oaks.

He told CBS 13, "I'm a type one diabetic. I also have auto-immune disease. I've been using medicinal marijuana for 5 years now."

By City News Service

A referendum aimed at overturning restrictions on medical marijuana in San Diego got enough voter signatures to qualify for the ballot, City Clerk Elizabeth Maland said Wednesday.

The results mean that the City Council will have to decide whether to repeal the laws, approved in April, or put the issue to a public vote — most likely on the June 5, 2012, ballot. Council members also have the option to call a special election, but the cost makes it less likely.

The ordinances, which address zoning, permitting and public safety concerns, restrict marijuana dispensaries to commercial and light industrial zones 600 feet from sensitive locations, such as residences, schools and playgrounds. Operators would also have to obtain a condition use permit that would cost thousands of dollars and take as long as two years to get.

Around 44,000 voter signatures were turned in by opponents of the laws, and because the projected number of valid names was close to the total needed
to qualify — 31,029 — petitions were hand counted by the county Registrar of
Voters, Maland said.

California voters passed the Compassionate Use Act, which decriminalized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, 15 years ago, but the county of San Diego and area municipalities have only addressed regulation of dispensaries in the past couple of years.


Source: http://www.lajollalight.com/2011/07/13/medical-marijuana-measure-qualifi...

By Erica Warren, Columbia Crime Examiner

Two ballot initiatives were filed with the Secretary of State in the state of Missouri on July 6, 2011, two days after Independence Day, that would legalize possession of marijuana by adults, allow for medical marijuana use, and create an agricultural hemp industry for this Midwest state. This ambitious endeavor has been undertaken by a group that calls themselves “Show-Me Cannabis”, playing on Missouri’s motto as the “Show-Me State”. Their website can be found at www.show-mecannabis.com.

One of the initiatives would amend the state’s Constitution, while the other would revise the state’s statutes. Once the Secretary of State’s office approves the language of one, or both, initiatives the next step to get them on the November 2012 ballot would be signature gathering. The constitutional amendment would require the gathering of around 160,000 signatures by May of 2012 to be put on the ballot, while the initiative to revise state statutes would only need around 100,000 signatures by May of next year to make it to the ballot.

Legislation advancing to allow crop to be grown in Kings, four other counties

By Hanford Sentinel Staff

A state bill that would allow farming of industrial hemp in Kings, Kern and three other counties could hit Gov. Brown's desk in September.

Senate Bill 676, authored by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Rafael, would create an eight-year pilot program in five counties. The other three counties are San Joaquin, Imperial and Yolo.

The legislation passed the Assembly Committee on Agriculture last week and earlier was approved by various other committees in the Senate and Assembly. The bill goes before the Assembly Appropriations Committee and a potential floor vote in August. Approval there would take it back to the Senate for a concurrence vote and a potential trip to the governor's desk.

Kings County was included in the list because local farmers have expressed interest, according to Leno's office. Most if not all of that interest has come from Charles Meyer, a Stratford farmer who has for years been a vocal advocate for industrial hemp.

The Kings County Farm Bureau has declined to take a position on the bill.

"We decided to stay neutral on the situation," said Michele Costa, Kings County Farm Bureau executive director. "We didn't really think it would affect us."

By Silvia Pikal, Mobile Mag

While hemp can be used for food, textiles, paper, fabric, and fuel oil, the misunderstood crop breeds fear amongst politicians in the United States and has led to the crop being illegal to grow without a DEA permit, which is pretty hard to get. But growing hemp is legal in Canada. Canadian company Motive Industries has taken advantage of this, and have been working on an electric car made of hemp plastic. Touted as Canada’s first bio composite electric car, the Motive Kestrel’s top speed is 135 km/h, with a range of 160 km. The ultralight car is a 3 door 4 passenger electric vehicle, and packs 16 kWh of lithium battery juice to keep the car going 160 kilometers per charge.

Now Motive has announced that bio composite materials derived from hemp and flax fibre will also be used in the car’s interior. They will be used to create the headliner, door panels, door trim, floor tub and center tunnel, instrument panel and the center console panel. The prototype should be coming out sometime this year, with a production goal of 2012.

By Anne Thompson, FOX 19

INDIANA (FOX19) - Indiana lawmakers are set to begin studying whether they should amend its drug laws and decriminalize marijuana, or create a medical marijuana program.

Indiana State Representative Tom Knollman, a Republican from Union County, has gotten used to a life of prescription medications and motorized scooters since he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Now the lawmaker is weighing in on the debate over whether marijuana use should be legalized in the Hoosier state. He says the chronic pain associated with his condition, for which there is no cure, might be lessened by the use of medical marijuana.

He gets emails almost every day from others in his state who suffer from not only M.S. but other conditions which are chronic and painful, and the request is the same from them all. They want to be able to use the drug lawfully, to alleviate their pain.

Rep. Knollman has not decided if he would supporting the legalization of pot for the public.

Editor's note: Gary Johnson is a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination and served as governor of New Mexico from 1994-2003.

By Gary Johnson, Special to CNN

(CNN) -- In 2002, I became aware of a woman who had already served more than six years of a 25-year prison sentence. Her crime? She was addicted to codeine, and she had fraudulently written herself more than 100 prescriptions for Tylenol III.

It seemed to me that this woman had already served far too much time in prison -- in fact, more than a person would likely serve if convicted of second-degree murder -- so I used my authority as governor of New Mexico to release her.

High on a hill, this looks like many other examples of elegant modern architecture but it's been built from a special ingredient.


Source: http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/property/domain/high-living-in-a-house...