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By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. — Of the thousands of laws that Oregon's attorney general enforces or interprets, the one allowing medical marijuana has lit up the campaign for that office more than any other.

In a Democratic primary where the candidates agree on many things, their differences over marijuana stand out.

It's anyone's guess whether the pot vote will be enough to tip the scales. But no Republicans are seeking the job, so Democrats alone will choose the state's top lawyer in the May 15 primary.

Former federal prosecutor Dwight Holton has called Oregon's marijuana law a "train wreck," and he was the U.S. Attorney for Oregon when federal agents raided marijuana farms that were legal under state law.

His rival, retired Court of Appeals judge Ellen Rosenblum, has staked out a mellower view, saying she'll make marijuana enforcement a low priority.

She's hammered Holton over the issue with the help of a political action committee that wants to legalize the drug.

"Mr. Holton is out of step with his own party on this issue," said Bob Wolfe, director of Citizens for Sensible Law Enforcement. "He's trying to climb the career ladder on the backs of medical marijuana patients, and I don't find that acceptable."

Wolfe's committee was fined last week for allegedly violating initiative laws while gathering signatures for a ballot measure to legalize marijuana. He disputes the allegation.

By Jacob Sullum, Reason Staff

Yesterday a federal judge ruled that distributing pamphlets about jury nullification—even in front of a courthouse—is not jury tampering. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood dismissed a 2010 indictment against Julian P. Heicklen, a retired chemistry professor who was accused of violating Title 18, Section 1504, of the U.S. Code, which authorizes a jail sentence of up to six months for anyone who "attempts to influence the action or decision of any grand or petit juror of any court of the United States upon any issue or matter pending before such juror, or before the jury of which he is a member, or pertaining to his duties, by writing or sending to him any written communication, in relation to such issue or matter."

In Kentucky, lobbying effort for legalizing versatile plant rolls on

By Associated Press Staff

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Hemp isn't legal in Kentucky yet, but the eclectic mix of people at a recent seminar in Lexington was evidence that support for the versatile plant may be taking root.

One by one, elected officials stepped forward to promote the virtues of hemp production, staking out a position that once might have sown political trouble back home. They were cheered by liberals and libertarian-leaning conservatives alike.

"We've come a long way," said state Sen. Joey Pendleton, who has sponsored a string of unsuccessful bills seeking to reintroduce hemp in the Bluegrass state. "The first year I had this, it was lonely."

Kentucky once was a leading producer of industrial hemp, a tall, leafy plant with a multitude of uses that has been outlawed for decades because of its association with marijuana. Those seeking to legalize the plant argue that the change would create a new crop for farmers, replacing a hemp supply now imported from Canada and other countries.

The plant can be used to make paper, biofuels, clothing, lotions and other products.

Despite bipartisan support, the latest hemp measures failed again this year in the Kentucky General Assembly. But this time, hemp advocates think they have momentum on their side and vow to press on with their campaign to legalize the crop.

Jeffrey Head, LA Times

Woody Harrelson championed the environmental benefits of hemp. Giorgio Armani and Calvin Klein incorporated it into their collections. Now a company promoting hemp as the eco-building material of the moment said it wants to build California's first hemp house.

Hemp Technologies said it wants to use hemp-based materials to construct a 500-square-foot structure at the ruins of Knapp's Castle near Santa Barbara. The castle, completed in 1920, was built for Union Carbide founder George Owen Knapp but destroyed by wildfire in 1940. Since then, all that has remained on the property are the sandstone blocks outlining the once-grand estate.

The principal material for the project is Hempcrete, made of the woody internal stem of the Cannabis sativa plant, which is processed into chips and mixed with a lime-based binder. That concoction is then sprayed on, poured into slabs or formed into blocks like concrete to create the shell of a building. Interior surfaces are plastered, and exterior surfaces are stuccoed.

“The walls are to be framed and earthquake-braced internally with lumber,” said Greg Flavall, Hemp Technologies' co-founder, who added that “hemp is very close in cellulosic value to wood.” The material helps to keep structures warm in winter and cool in summer, he said.

By Angela Brown, Portage la Prairie News

Hemp Oil Canada Inc., which is based in Manitoba, announced this week that it is the first in the world to gain international food safety accreditation for hemp food.

"This is good news for Hemp Oil Canada and the hemp industry as a whole," said Alphonsus Utioh, product development manager with Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, "because it would allow this company to be able to access more markets for companies that require hemp suppliers with this accreditation."

The FDC makes a number of hemp products itself and encourages the promotion for the hemp industry.

"The Food Development Centre has worked with the hemp industry for quite some time now," said Utioh. "We have worked with the industry to produce the various products."

The Food Development Centre is currently using hemp product in the development of muesli cereal mix, which will be coming out into the market sometime in the future.

As well, the FDC has been using hemp for the development of its nutrition bars.

"Hemp is known for its Omega-3 and Omega-6 — for the Essential Fatty Acids," said Utioh. "The hemp protein also has high digestibility value."

Utioh explained with Hemp Oil Canada receiving International food safety accreditation it will encourage more companies to develop product with hemp.

By Simon Johanson, Sydney Morning Herald

TWO eco-friendly houses are rising from the ground in suburban Melbourne built from a plant normally associated with 1960s hippie heaven: hemp.

In an Australian-mainland first, the walls of the semi-detached homes in trendy inner-city Northcote will be made from the cannabis-based building product Hempcrete, pioneered by a Queensland company for its carbon-neutral properties.

The eight-star green rated homes are the inspiration of two medical practitioners, a father and daughter team who will live side by side with their three generations in the one construction.

Along with the hemp walls, the architect-designed homes will have a solid rammed-earth dividing wall, double-glazed windows, underground water tanks and grey-water recycling, as well as solar panels for electricity, hot water and hydronic heating.

Michelle Leadston and her father, Bill, bought the large block in Northcote three years ago intent on building two sustainable homes for their families to live in.

"I've always said I'm going to look after my parents when they get old," she said. "This was the most convenient option. The babysitter's next door. And it's not too close. There's a big wall in between."

Both families wanted to share a common backyard and other design features such as lower, child-friendly windows and intimate, internal courtyards, said Dorit Przyborowski of Steffen Welsch Architects.

"The Attorney General is the people's lawyer, and I have the depth and the range of experience to be a strong advocate for the people of Oregon." Ellen Rosenblum

By Michael Bachara, Hemp News Correspondent

As Oregon moves closer toward marijuana legalization in November with the Oregon Cannabis Tax Act 2012 (OCTA 2012) and the Oregon Marijuana Policy Initiative 2012 (OMPI 2012) petition drives, the race for Oregon Attorney General on May 15th between Appeals Court Judge Ellen Rosenblum and former acting U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton will be crucial to the implementation of the cannabis legalization initiatives.

Earlier this month, in a debate at the Eugene City Club, Rosenblum said she supported the state’s current medical marijuana law as one that "provides vulnerable citizens with the medicine they needed to cope with their diagnoses."

On the other hand, Holton said the law is actually "a train wreck, putting marijuana in the hands of people, kids, who are not using it for pain management purposes. Of 50,000 card holders, 30,000 got them from 10 clinics. We’ve got a broken system."

Country music legend has long been a supporter of ending cannabis prohibition.

By Bonnie King, Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act (OCTA 2012) has been gaining momentum as the time grows closer to the deadline for signatures to be submitted to the State, but nothing compares to the recent endorsement by the legendary country music star Willie Nelson.

"I am very honored that Willie has given his full endorsement for OCTA 2012," said Paul Stanford, author of the bill. "While he was prepping for his show at the new Performing Arts Center in Las Vegas, he took the time to cut a 30-second ad for the campaign which will be appearing everywhere possible in the coming days and weeks." (See Video above)

"Willie and I met back in 1990 and he has been a supporter of our efforts here in Oregon for a long time."

Willie Nelson and the late Gatewood Galbraith went on a well known historic road trip in the early 1990s. The group drove Galbraith's biodiesel–fueled red Mercedes Benz across Kentucky, spreading the word about the future of the biodiesel industry. Stanford followed them in a caravan of 20+ cars, CNN and other TV News crews in tow, from Lexington, to Frankfort, the state capitol, and on to a benefit concert Willie did for Gatewood's first gubernatorial bid in Louisville.

By Susan Mcguire, The Gazette
Photograph by William Eaves, Jr.

Hemp breakfast cereal, hemp clothing, hemp hand cream - all available in perfectly respectable stores. Is this the same hemp that is illegal to grow in Canada? No, not at all.

These products come from what is called industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L), a distant cousin of the marijuana plant. Both are part of a diverse plant species of more than 500 varieties that includes the hops used to make beer.

Farmers have been cultivating industrial hemp for 10,000 years, starting in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and in China's Yellow River Valley. For centuries, people used hemp fibre to make clothes, rope, sails and paper; they stewed, roasted and milled the grain for food; and used the oil for cosmetics, lighting, paints and varnishes.

In the 1660s and 1670s, Jean Talon encouraged the farmers of New France to grow hemp by giving them free seed, which they had to plant immediately and replace with seed from their next year's crop. So important was hemp that he confiscated all the thread in the colony and gave it back only in return for hemp. Women needed thread, and he knew that would put pressure on their husbands to grow the crop. However, production collapsed when Talon went back to France.

By BBC News

A storage facility made of hemp is being erected at the Science Museum at Wroughton in Wiltshire.

The former airfield near Swindon is the large objects storage facility for the London Science Museum, housing more than 16,000 objects in 11 hangars.

As part of an £800,000 project, the hemp building is being installed inside one of the hangars to reduce humidity.

Matt Moore, from the museum, said: "Essentially it will be deep storage - preserving objects for evermore."

He said: "The environment in the hangars for the majority of objects is pretty good, pretty constant, but some items with wood and leather would do better with not quite so much humidity to preserve them for even longer.

"So we've gone back to basics and have decided to use hemp to stabilise the environment."

Lime Technology is supplying the pre-fabricated hemp building.

Ian Pritchett, the company's technical director, said: "We build lots of hemp buildings but this is a building within a building which is far more challenging.

"The hangar is fairly enormous - about an acre of space."

Construction began in January and is due to be completed by the end of April.

"It's a bit like that child's tile game," said Mr Moore.

"As we refurbish a hangar, we can get more stuff into it and so we're moving objects when there's a space free to move them.

"We originally wanted to do all the hangars at once but we've got a more moderate approach now."

Compiled by Hemp News

"A society has to make a choice: tolerate alternative lifestyles or build more prisons." Rick Steves

"I believe, very strongly, that it is the responsible, adult, recreational, no apologies necessary, 'it just makes my music more fun,' recreational use of marijuana is a civil liberty." Rick Steves

"I’m a spokesperson for the legalization of marijuana. I'm not in favor of smoking marijuana. I don't think it's for kids. I don't think you should drive while intoxicated. I think the law is causing more problems than the drug problem itself and I think, bottom-line – the adult, responsible, recreational use of marijuana is a civil liberty," Rick Steves

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the responsible use of marijuana by adults and it should be of no interest or concern to the government. They have no business knowing whether we smoke or why we smoke." Keith Stroup, NORML Founder

By Gary Storck, Madison NORML/Special to Hemp News

MADISON - Wisconsin medical cannabis patients and advocates will have something extra to celebrate this holiday season with news that State Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) has scheduled a press conference to announce a new attempt to pass a state medical cannabis law. The press conference is set for the State Capitol's Assembly Parlor (2nd Floor West) on Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 1:00 pm.

Rep. Pocan's office has confirmed that he and State Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Waunakee) will again be the lead sponsors of the legislation, LRB-2466/1, again dubbed the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuana Act (JRMMA). They will also be sending a letter to their colleagues asking if they would like to cosponsor the legislation.

In the 2009-2010 session, the JRMMA received an 8-plus hour combined Senate/Assembly Health Committee public hearing that drew hundreds of patients. State organizations including the Wisconsin Nurses Association (WNA), Hospice Organization and Palliative Experts (HOPE) and the WI ACLU testified in support along with representatives of national groups including Patients Out of Time (POT), the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) and the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP). Opposition testimony was limited to a handful of groups who support the status quo of arresting and jailing medical users including the Wisconsin Medical Society (SMS), and the Wisconsin Narcotics Officers Association (WNOA).

By Troy Kinsey and Margaret Kavanagh, 13 News Team Coverage

MELBOURNE -- A movement in Florida could put the question of medical marijuana in the hands of voters.

State Senator Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, filed a bill recently that would put legalizing medical marijuana on the 2012 ballot.

It's something hundreds of people who attended a festival in Melbourne would agree to.

They attended the Cannabis Freedom Festival at Wickham Park near Brevard Community College.

Jodi James, executive director of the Florida Cannabis Network says responsible adults and their doctors should be able to decide whether to use medical marijuana.

"We should take tax it, we should control it," James said. "If someone is growing it, it should be there responsibility alone. We believe by regulating it and controlling it we are going to be keeping it out of the hands of children as opposed to an unregulated market."

James also says making it legal would also make it a valuable cash crop. "This is a multi billion dollar worldwide industry that Florida farmers have no access to it."

But many believe marijuana is a dangerous gateway drug and want it to remain illegal.

Bullard's bill creates an amendment that allows people with a debilitating medical condition be able to use marijuana as a form of treatment on the advice of a doctor. The legislation would also allow medical marijuana farms and dispensaries to operate in Florida.

Ben Deci, FOX40 News

It's the next big salvo in the push to legalize pot; petition takers are out now, getting signatures for an initiative to appear on next November's ballot.

The people who wrote this initiative say they are against minors and motorists using pot, and people at work too. But they also say you have to make one type of marijuana legal for everyone.

"The fact is if you smoked a bail there just isn't any possibility of a psycho-active effect," said Steve Kubby, one of those who drafted the ballot initiative.

The Michigan Industrial Hemp Education and Marketing project, also known as MIHEMP is a Michigan nonprofit corporation working to expand Industrial Hemp as a natural resource for industrial and private enterprise in the State of Michigan.



The Michigan Industrial Hemp Education and Marketing Project (MIHEMP) has started a fund raising campaign in order to raise money to apply for a permit from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to grow industrial hemp. The Michigan Industrial Hemp Education and Marketing Project (MIHEMP), led by Executive Director Everett Swift announced that they have started a fund raising campaign in order to raise money to apply for a permit from the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to grow industrial hemp. "It will take a lot of money," says Swift, "the permit fee is $3,000 and we will need additional funds for the project." Swift goes on to say, "Any Michigan farmer wanting to grow this crop is burdened with a hefty fee and our goal is to help this needed industry to get underway."

(CBS News) - Never before have more Americans believed legalizing marijuana was the right course for the country.

In a new Gallup poll, 50 percent of respondents in a nationwide survey said they believed it was time to make pot legal. About 46 percent came out against it.

Support for legalizing marijuana tended to be stronger among younger, more liberal groups, according to Gallup. Legalization received 62 approval among those aged 18 to 29, but got only 31 percent approval among those 65 and older. Liberals were twice as likely as conservatives to favor legalizing marijuana.

In a release, Gallup writes: "When Gallup first asked about legalizing marijuana, in 1969, 12 percent of Americans favored it, while 84 percent were opposed. Support remained in the mid-20s in Gallup measures from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, but has crept up since, passing 30 percent in 2000 and 40 percent in 2009 before reaching the 50 percent level in this year's Oct. 6-9 annual Crime survey."

If the steady climb in public support for marijuana legalization continues at its current pace, politicians will soon have to address the laws that fly in the face of that movement in opinion.

The doctor group questions the medical value of pot and acknowledges some health risk from its use but urges it be regulated like alcohol. A law enforcement official harshly criticizes the new stance.

By Anthony York, Los Angeles Times

The state's largest doctor group is calling for legalization of marijuana, even as it pronounces cannabis to be of questionable medical value.

Trustees of the California Medical Assn., which represents more than 35,000 physicians statewide, adopted the position at their annual meeting in Anaheim late Friday. It is the first major medical association in the nation to urge legalization of the drug, according to a group spokeswoman, who said the larger membership was notified Saturday.

Dr. Donald Lyman, the Sacramento physician who wrote the group's new policy, attributed the shift to growing frustration over California's medical marijuana law, which permits cannabis use with a doctor's recommendation. That, he said, has created an untenable situation for physicians: deciding whether to give patients a substance that is illegal under federal law.

"It's an uncomfortable position for doctors," he said. "It is an open question whether cannabis is useful or not. That question can only be answered once it is legalized and more research is done. Then, and only then, can we know what it is useful for."

Biomass Fuels From Hemp (PDF)

By Agua Das1 and Thomas B. Reed2

Historically Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) has been a very high yielding plant (Haney 1975). Assuming that hemp produces up to 4 tons/acre seed plus 10 tons/acre stalks. Table 1 shows how many gallons of liquid fuel import could be saved by each of the following proven conversion routes.

Recent hemp yield data is largely unavailable, due to restrictions on the growth of hemp. Cultivation of hemp currently requires permits under Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) form 225. Patented hemp seed varieties are now available in the EC and Eastern Europe which are effectively denatured and drug free. The hemp plant is a promising high yield biomass fuel crop cultivar and both production and utilization should be included in the DOE/TVA and regional biomass screening programs. One would hope that DOE regional biomass program contractors should not have difficulty qualifying for the necessary permits.

By Steve Elliott, Toke of the Town/Special to The Silver Tour

Almost every time a poll is taken on public levels of support for medical marijuana, one of the groups most resistant to the idea is one that stands to gain the most from it: senior citizens. If we, as a community, can find a way to educate seniors on the health benefits and palliative qualities of medicinal cannabis, it will be a huge step towards achieving the numbers it will take to legalize medical marijuana on the federal level. Seniors are known as the most powerful voting bloc in the nation, and they always show up at the polls.

That's where the legendary Robert Platshorn, the Black Tuna himself, comes in. Platshorn -- who started as a pitchman, became one of the biggest marijuana smugglers of the 1970s, and then spent almost 30 years in federal prison -- has taken on the job of informing his fellow senior citizens about the health benefits of cannabis.

The Silver Tour is the only organization reaching out to seniors about medical marijuana, according to Platshorn, and its work consists of informing them on ways to organize, petition and contact their local politicians to demand legal, safe access to medicinal cannabis.

7th Annual Portland Hempstalk - September 10-11, 2011 - Kelley Point Park, Portland, Oregon

A compelling mix of upbeat music, a cannabis law reform message and a focus on industrial hemp as the answer to many of our practical needs, the seventh annual Portland Hempstalk is set for 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. September 10th and 11th at Kelley Point Park, located at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

Co-sponsored by The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation (THCF), Green Leaf Lab and John Lucy, Attorney at law, the event is free to attendees of all ages. With more than 40,000 people expected to attend, it will wrap up the summer festival season with a bang.

This year's Hempstalk will also feature over one hundred vendor booths offering delicious food and irresistible merchandise, and a Hemposium, which will feature informational panels on a variety of cannabis and hemp-related topics. Speakers include THCF director Paul Stanford, NORML outreach coordinator and radio host Russ Belville and many others. Headlining musical acts include Hempstalk 2011 Talent Search Winner, The Sindicate, iconic Las
Vegas rappers Los Marijuanos, and a plethora of bands committed to end the war on cannabis.

Seattle Hempfest history book hits the streets

By Seattle Hempfest Staff

SEATTLE – How did a humble a group of community activists build the world’s largest pot rally? Protestival: A Twenty Year Retrospective of Seattle Hempfest, tells how the Hempfest was built from the ground up with little more than a vision and the conviction necessary to take that dream to fruition. Protestival details the long, hard struggle to build the world’s largest all volunteer annual free-speech rally.

To note this year's 20th anniversary milestone, Seattle Hempfest Executive Director Vivian McPeak has written a book about the two decades that the flagship annual event of America's cannabis culture has been advancing the cause of reform. The world's largest marijuana law reform gathering, the Seattle Hempfest draws hundreds of thousands of attendees down to the Seattle waterfront each year. This year's event is Aug. 19 - 21.

By Chris Henry, Kitsap Sun

BREMERTON — Legislation passed revising Washington state's medical marijuana laws this year turned the focus from dispensaries to collective gardens.

But Kitsap County's cities have been slow to shift gears.

Legislators last spring debated a revision of Washington State's medical marijuana law dealing with cannabis dispensaries. Proponents of the bill (ESSB 5073) sought regulation of dispensaries to clarify their legitimacy. After Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed the bill, however, the only substantive new option for authorized patients was a provision for collective gardens.But Kitsap County officials have not moved as swiftly on regulations of gardens as their peers around the Puget Sound region did. And local opinions are all over the board.

The new state law, effective July 22, allows up to 10 authorized patients to cultivate up to 45 cannabis plants in a single location, but no individual can own more than 15 plants. Not clear in the law is how many gardens can be on one tax parcel, how many gardens a patient can belong to or the minimum length of time a patient must be a collective garden member.

The lack of clarity has unsettled cities and counties around the state, many of which recently enacted moratoriums or interim zoning ordinances on the gardens, essentially buying time to weigh the law's ramifications.

Kettering woman supports Constitutional amendment.

By Lynn Hulsey, Dayton Daily News
Photo by Teesha McClam, Dayton Daily News

DAYTON – A group supporting legalization of medical marijuana in Ohio has taken the first steps to place a Constitutional amendment on the November 2012 ballot.

Supporters turned in 2,143 signatures on petitions containing summary language of the proposed amendment to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, who has sent the signatures out to local boards of election to verify.

The group needs 1,000 signatures before DeWine will determine if the summary is a fair and truthful statement. After that, it is forwarded for review by the Ohio Ballot Board and to Ohio secretary of State Jon Husted. The group would then need to gather at least 385,245 valid signatures on petitions to place the amendment on the ballot, said Matt McClellan, press secretary for Husted.

"I'm totally opposed to that amendment," said Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer. "I think it would make too much marijuana available to kids in the community."

He said it would create traffic problems because people high on marijuana could be driving and causing accidents and it would be an issue for employers, including him, who want drug-free employees.

'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.