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Doctors in Macon, Georgia, told Janea Cox that her daughter, Haleigh, might not live another three months. That was the middle of March, when Haleigh's brain was being short-circuited by hundreds of seizures a day, overrunning the array of five potent drugs meant to control them. Worse, the drugs were damaging Haleigh's organs. "She was maxed out," Cox said. "She'd quit breathing several times a day, and the doctors blamed it on the seizure medications." Cox had heard that a form of medical marijuana might help, but it wasn't available in central Georgia. So a week after hearing the ominous...

Funeral today for 9-year-old girl waiting on medical marijuana WEST SENECA, N.Y. -- Friends, family and community members crowded into a church in West Seneca Wednesday morning to say final farewells to a little girl whose story touched all of Western New York. For more than 8 months, 2 On Your Side has been following the journey of 9-year-old Anna Conte. Anna had Dravet Syndrome, which caused her to have uncontrollable seizures. Anna and her family were relentless in pressuring state leaders to pass a medical marijuana program, because a special oil-based version of cannabis worked wonders for kids in...

Marijuana legalization has a new, influential advocate: the New York Times. ................................................... We can’t always heal injury, but we can acknowledge and compensate for it. Any plan for legalization should come with a plan for reparations for those communities most damaged by our misguided war on marijuana. That doesn’t mean individual payments—the logistics are too difficult—as much as it does policies for affected communities, from job training and educational services to something like My Brother’s Keeper, all funded by a surtax on marijuana sales and distribution.

Possible new View co-host S.E. Cupp got a tryout on Monday for the token conservative slot on the morning program. Wasting no time, the conservative commentator got in a fight with Whoopi Goldberg over the New York Times's endorsement of federally legalized marijuana. After Goldberg described herself as "very, very, very happy" with the Times, Cupp shot back, "Luckily, it is not up to the New York Times, a New York City liberal paper, to decide what everyone around the country does."

A majority of Florida voters support legalization of recreational marijuana, a new poll says. According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday, 55 percent of Florida voters back legal possession of small amounts of recreational pot, compared with 41 percent who oppose it.

-snip- There are no perfect answers to people’s legitimate concerns about marijuana use. But neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol, and we believe that on every level — health effects, the impact on society and law-and-order issues — the balance falls squarely on the side of national legalization. That will put decisions on whether to allow recreational or medicinal production and use where it belongs — at the state level. We considered whether it would be best for Washington to hold back while the states continued experimenting with legalizing medicinal uses of marijuana, reducing penalties, or even...

<p>DENVER (AP) — Officials at some Denver homeless shelters say the legalization of marijuana has contributed to an increase in the number of younger people living on the city’s streets.</p> <p>One organization dealing with the increase is Urban Peak, which provides food, shelter and other services to homeless people aged 15 to 24 in Denver and Colorado Springs.</p>

On Wednesday's edition of "The Five," co-host Bob Beckel remarked on Snoop Dogg's revelation that he as smoked marijuana in the White House, by admitting to the same thing. “I can’t criticize this guy (Snoop) because I’ve done dope in the White House myself,” Beckel said. Co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle let out an exasperated, “Oh, God.” “Are you breaking news?” asked their colleague Eric Bolling. “I did, yeah,” Beckel said. (vid at link)

While record-setting wildfires engulfed Central Washington, budding marijuana businesses in the area suffered from scorched plants unfit for production, pop-up fires on farms and road closures that slowed deliveries to retailers. A 15,000-acre wildfire encroached on the Columbia River Cannabis farm in Douglas County earlier this month and burned its 5-week-old medical-marijuana plants that were eventually to be used to start growing in the recreational market. Columbia River Cannabis in Douglas County was finally close to getting a marijuana-producer license after nine months. That is, until a 15,000-acre wildfire encroached on its farm July 10 and burned its 5-week-old medical-marijuana...

Everything's in motion for what could be a stunning victory for marijuana legalization this November. Advocates in Oregon just got legalization of recreational marijuana on the ballot in the state, which means it could join Colorado and Washington as the only states to fully legalize (and tax) the drug. But beyond Oregon, an even more important battle is brewing farther northwest. Legalization is also on the ballot in Alaska. (VIDEO-AT-LINK)What makes Alaska special? There's a certain symbolic significance to passing marijuana legalization in a Republican-controlled red state. Colorado, Washington and Oregon all went for President Barack Obama in 2012, with...

Mike Cutler, a 63-year-old grandfather, allegedly killed his cancer cells with homemade cannabis oil, after receiving his second liver cancer diagnosis in five years. The cancer survivor was first diagnosed with liver cancer in 2009 after he blacked out at work, after which he then received an organ transplant in November of that year. However, last year, his health took a turn for the worst when he found out new cancerous cells were attacking his new organ. A liver transplant and a second cancer diagnosis later, Cutler decided to buy marijuana from a dealer and make his tablets from the...

An initiative seeking to legalize, tax and regulate recreational marijuana in Oregon has qualified for the November ballot, the state said on its website on Tuesday. Only two U.S. states, Washington and Colorado, currently allow recreational marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. Oregon's proposal will come before voters just two years after they rejected a similar measure. [...] If passed in November, Oregon would be the latest in a string of U.S. states to liberalize marijuana laws, either for recreational or medical use. On Sunday, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill allowing children and adults with epilepsy to...

Scientists with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are warning that streams harboring endangered salmon and steelhead could go dry because of the heavy water consumption by marijuana growers. During the growing season, California “pot farms” consume 60 million gallons of water a day. That equals 50% more than is consumed by the entire city of San Francisco. ... Two men were arrested were arrested last week at a Santa Cruz County pot farm that state authorities said used diverted stream water and threatened steelhead trout and endangered Central Coast Coho salmon. The raid netted 180 mature marijuana plants...

For the past six months, welfare beneficiaries in Colorado have repeatedly withdrawn their cash benefits at marijuana retailers and dispensaries, according to a new analysis by National Review Online. Such apparent abuses have caught the eye of Colorado’s executive and legislative powers alike, and the state has launched an effort to curb them.

GOP-led House gives marijuana businesses another boost When it comes to liberalizing marijuana policy, Congress has once again shown that it is not always the liberals taking the lead. The GOP-dominated House on Wednesday delighted cannabis advocates by voting to prohibit law enforcement from going after banks for doing business with state-licensed marijuana growers and sellers. The measure would be a boon to the marijuana business. Currently, banks fear taking on dispensaries and related companies as clients out of concern that the relationship puts them at risk of being a target for federal drug and treasury agents. The banks had...

Politicians here have not even figured out how yet to implement their new law requiring us to pay for everybody else’s health care, and already people are clamoring to legalize drugs that are, at the very least, hazardous to their health. The good people of Colorado and Washington state can now buy and smoke pot without violating state laws. The movement to do so is spreading among other states like a hot tropical virus through a detention facility on the Mexican border. I, for one, have never really cared one way or the other if people choose to smoke pot....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Politicians here have not even figured out how yet to implement their new law requiring us to pay for everybody else’s health care, and already people are clamoring to legalize drugs that are, at the very least, hazardous to their health. The good people of Colorado and Washington state can now buy and smoke pot without violating state laws. The movement to do so is spreading among other states like a hot tropical virus through a detention facility on the Mexican border. I, for one, have never really cared one way or the other if people choose to smoke pot....

In reaction to a proposed amendment to block decriminalization of marijuana in D.C., the White House Office of Management and Budget took a strong stance in favor of states’ rights. Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland introduced an amendment that would prevent the D.C. Council from using any federal funds to enact pot policy changes, calling marijuana “poison to a teenager’s brain.” The D.C. Council has also released a statement condemning interference from Congress. The current legislation adopted by the Council replaces criminal penalties for marijuana usage with fines. The marijuana amendment in the Financial Services and General Government appropriations...

*The largest ever study of the effects of the main psychoactive component of cannabis suggests that it can cause paranoia in vulnerable individuals* To discover whether cannabis really does cause paranoia in vulnerable individuals, we carried out the largest ever study of the effects of THC (∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the drug’s principal psychoactive ingredient). We recruited 121 volunteers, all of whom had taken cannabis at least once before, and all of whom reported having experienced paranoid thoughts in the previous month (which is typical of half the population). None had been diagnosed with a mental illness. The volunteers were randomly chosen to...

It's rare when any business in Clark County attracts national or even regional interest, so the media throng that greeted last Wednesday's opening of Main Street Marijuana was quite a curiosity. The clever "weed and weenies" event that accompanied the store's opening, along with the presence of Mayor Tim Leavitt at the ribbon-cutting, captured the attention of media outlets that devour eye-catching visuals. But business likely would still have been brisk at Main Street Marijuana even if it hadn't snagged the free publicity. With a state-imposed limit of just 15 retail outlets for all of Clark County, and with some...

<p>DENVER (AP)- Colorado sold less recreational pot in May than in April, the first month-to-month sales decline for the newly legal drug.</p> <p>Tax collections reported by the Colorado Department of Revenue this week showed that Colorado sold about $21 million of recreational pot in May. That was down slightly from April, when the 4/20 marijuana holiday was credited in part for a boost in recreational sales to $22 million.</p>

And most is consumed by a minority of daily users. About 9% of Colorado’s population consumes marijuana, according to a market demand study conducted by the state department of revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division and the state’s Marijuana Policy Group. And those users, it’s estimated, will get through about 121.4 metric tons of pot every year. According to the report, that consumption — calculated through survey results, demographic data and source data — is “31 percent higher than a recent department of revenue assessment, 89 percent higher than a study by the Colorado Futures Center, and 111 percent higher than an...

Mike Boyer got his 15 minutes of fame when he became the first person in Spokane to buy recreational pot on Tuesday. On Wednesday Boyer posted his resume on Craigslist, saying Kodiak Security had fired him. Kodiak officials told the Spokesman-Review, though, that Boyer still had a job with the company. Boyer said two of his three part-time employers have asked him to take drug tests after seeing news reports of his pot purchase. He said he will fail them. Kym Ramey, a human resources manager for Kodiak, said employees are tested per company policy. "We're a security firm," Ramey...

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama laughed off an offer of a joint. A legal one, mind you, since this was Colorado. We’ve come a long way, baby, since five years ago when the exact same president was making cheap stoner jokes in response to serious questions about changing drug policy. These last few years have seen — and continue to see — an amazing pushback against the excesses of the drug war. Like the Berlin Wall, the war on drugs seemed like it would stand forever. The arguable “tear down this wall” moment for drug policy came in November, 2012,...

Veteran marijuana activist Douglas Hiatt, right, says Washington's Initiative 502 establishes a "Soviet style" market for marijuana and won't work. “You’re going to have people selling grams of pot for $25? What, are you kidding me?” Hiatt says. “You can get the best pot you have ever smoked for 10 bucks a gram at a [medical marijuana] dispensary or from someone else who's going to give you a better deal than the state.” There’s no way they are going to eliminate the black market with something that’s totally unresponsive to a market at all,” Hiatt says. "You're going to see...

Too young to purchase alcohol, Logan Brown, 18, and Christopher Ramos, 20, elected to pair their marijuana with the popular cereal Froot Loops on July 3 — after they broke into the Challenger K-8 School, a Hernando County Sheriff’s Office report said. The pot-puffing pair was busted after a Hernando detective posted images from the school’s surveillance video on the sheriff’s office Facebook page and distributed the images by a Community Alert Bulletin, the report said. Inside the school, Brown and Ramos wandered the halls and looked inside classrooms until they found an open room, went inside and stole the...

Someone at a Denver Bar Just Asked Obama If He ‘Wanted a Hit of Pot’ — and That Might Not Have Even Been the Most Bizarre Part of His Evening President Barack Obama was asked by an unknown individual if he wanted a “hit of pot” Tuesday night, while visiting a Denver, Colorado bar. The incident, captured on video, shows the president laughing off the suggestion. “Asked him if he wanted a hit of pot…he laughed!” the Instagram user wrote for the video’s caption. (The off camera comment was, "Do you want a hit, man?" Obama gave a big friendly...

The Real Reason Pot Is Still Illegal Opponents of marijuana-law reform insist that legalization is dangerous—but the biggest threat is to their own bottom line. USA -- Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, did several stints in rehab after crashing his car into a barricade on Capitol Hill in 2006, a headline-making event that revealed the then–US congressman for Rhode Island had been abusing prescription drugs, including the painkiller OxyContin. Kennedy went on to make mental health—including substance abuse—a cornerstone of his political agenda, and he is reportedly at work on a memoir about his struggles with...

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Washington on Tuesday became the second state to allow people to buy marijuana legally in the U.S. without a doctor's note as eager customers who lined up outside stores made their purchases and savored the moment. People began buying marijuana at 8 a.m. at Top Shelf Cannabis, one of two Bellingham stores that started selling the drug as soon as it was allowed under state regulations. Several dozen people waited outside before the doors opened at the shop in this liberal college town of about 80,000 north of Seattle. The first three customers in line were...

Water-Guzzling Pot Plants Draining Drought-Wracked California BY HARRIET TAYLOR California cannabis growers may be making millions, but their thirsty plants are sucking up a priceless resource: water. Now scientists say that if no action is taken in the drought-wracked state, the consequences for fisheries and wildlife will be dire. "If this activity continues on the trajectory it's on, we're looking at potentially streams going dry, streams that harbor endangered fish species like salmon, steelhead," said Scott Bauer of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Studying aerial photographs of four watersheds within northern California's so-called Emerald Triangle, Bauer found that...

This is maybe somewhat misnamed, but does have an interesting collection of slideshows with commentary. Click the link above or Seattle-PI Pot Blog

With the state set to license a handful of recreational-marijuana stores Monday, retailers have been hustling to set up shop while growers and processors are racing to package pot so it’s ready to deliver Tuesday, when the first stores are expected to open. Aaron Nelson, the general manager of 2020 Solutions in Bellingham, said his store has already passed inspection by the state Liquor Control Board and hopes to open its doors Tuesday at 8 a.m., the earliest hour allowed under state law. Nelson expects to have enough marijuana for at least 1,000 people Tuesday, but said 2020 Solutions might...

The nation’s second legal recreational marijuana market is opening in Washington state Tuesday. Few Stores. Little Pot. No Edibles.

(CNN) — Some Colorado marijuana sellers are challenging Uncle Sam. They’re filing a lawsuit — saying the IRS shouldn’t be allowed to collect taxes on marijuana sales because marijuana is illegal under federal law. Attorney Rob Corry says forcing Colorado’s recreational marijuana businesses to pay violates the United States Constitution. He has filed a lawsuit in District Court on behalf of clients, some of whom say taxes could be used as evidence in any future prosecution. “They’re open records and they are admitting to a federal crime. It’s still a federal crime to sell marijuana,” Corry said.

In Southwest Arizona, where the U.S. and Mexico borders meet, the U.S. Border Patrol has made huge strides in capturing border crossers and seizing drugs from Mexican cartels, but there is one stretch of land along the border that has made life a daily hell for a tribe of Native Americans. The Tohono O'odham Nation, a Native American reservation about the size of Connecticut, is located in the Sonoran Desert, about 60 miles south of Tucson, Ariz., right on the U.S. border with Mexico. Here, there is no barbed-wire high fence, but open desert, with only a vehicle barrier meant...

A Texas man who was just hoping to graze cattle on the land he recently acquired was surprised to discover $2 million worth of marijuana plants growing in a back-woods area.

The city of Berkeley will require medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each year free to low-income patients. The City Council voted unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting to amend the city’s medical pot rules, which would also allow for a fourth dispensary in Berkeley. Under the proposal, at least two percent of all medical weed dispensed at a club would have to be provided at no cost to very low-income members — and it must be the same quality that’s dispensed to regular paying customers.

The city of Berkeley will require medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each year free to low-income patients. The City Council voted unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting to amend the city’s medical pot rules, which would also allow for a fourth dispensary in Berkeley.

If you’re a District resident planning to vacation in the Maryland havens of Ocean City or St. Michaels this summer, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and some D.C. activists would prefer you choose Rehoboth Beach, Del., or Chincoteague Island, Va., instead. A week after Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) successfully attached an amendment to a House budget bill that would overturn the city’s marijuana decriminalization law, Gray and the District’s largest voting-rights advocacy group said city residents would be better off vacationing somewhere besides Harris’s district, which includes all of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. “I don’t think we should support someone who...

$19 million in new tax revenue. Marijuana-related arrests, which make up 50% of all drug-related crimes, have plummeted in Colorado, freeing up law enforcement to focus on other criminal activity. By removing marijuana penalties, the state saved somewhere between $12 million and $40 million in 2012, according to the Colorado Center on Law and Policy. According to government data, the Denver city- and county-wide murder rate has dropped 52.9% since recreational marijuana use was legalized in January. This is compared to the same period last year, a time frame encompassing Jan. 1 through April 30.

ASPEN, Colo. — Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is refusing to call the state's legalization of marijuana a success — mostly because he says that would send a bad message to kids. "Talk about bad branding," Hickenlooper said during an interview with Yahoo News' Global Anchor Katie Couric at the Aspen Ideas Festival on Tuesday, six months after recreational pot use in the state was legalized. "We don't want kids slipping off the rails." But the governor, who previously opposed legalization because he saw "so many risks," now readily admits that many of his fears surrounding the topic have gone unrealized:...

A Nevada-based startup that plans on selling medical and recreational marijuana products named former New Mexico governor and U.S. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson as its CEO and president, the company announced Tuesday. The announcement came as Cannabis Sativa Inc. said it had acquired marijuana research business Kush while company officials work to navigate changing state laws on marijuana and potential challenges from the federal government, which still views marijuana as a controlled substance. Johnson said he hoped to expand Cannabis Sativa into a major marijuana business and intends to work out of New Mexico to help develop products that...

Greenshields and Sewell envision their product selling for roughly $3,000 per pound. They believe their pot will be as good as anybody’s. But they want to be in the business long-term and establish a well-regarded brand. They don’t want to be seen as gouging the first customers just because they can. After retailer markup and before sales tax, Sewell hopes consumers can buy an eighth of an ounce of AuricAG weed for $60. Top-shelf eighths sell in medical marijuana dispensaries for roughly $40. But dispensaries don’t pay the stiff state excise taxes that the recreational system will — 25 percent...

Advocates have submitted more than 145,000 signatures for a ballot measure to regulate and tax marijuana for recreational use in Oregon. If it qualifies for a statewide vote Nov. 4 -- 87,213 valid signatures are required -- Oregon would join Colorado and Washington in legalizing the drug for recreational use. "Treating marijuana use as a crime has failed, and it's time for a new approach," said Peter Zuckerman, spokesman for New Approach Oregon, the political committee promoting the measure. "Our measure regulates marijuana in a manner substantial to how beer and wine are regulated." Like the measures passed in the...

Insert your favorite marijuana-related pun here: The Florida governor's race is blazing right along, the candidates are burning up the trail, the contest is really getting in the weeds, etc. However you put it, a ballot initiative on medical marijuana could have a major effect on the re-election campaign of Republican Gov. Rick Scott. A businessman who made millions in the health care industry, Scott faces Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor now running as a Democrat after a failed Senate bid. The Florida Right to Medical Marijuana Initiative, also known as Amendment 2, would legalize medical marijuana for patients...

A Maryland woman who ordered a meal at a Sonic Corp fast-food restaurant got something extra with her French fries - a bag of marijuana. Carla McFarland, 35, of Frederick, Maryland, and her children, ages 6 and 8, were about to eat a chicken strips lunch on Thursday when she discovered a small, green plastic bag of marijuana in her fries, according to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. Spokeswoman Lieutenant Jennifer Bailey said on Friday no arrests had been made and the incident is under investigation. McFarland said a Sonic employee claimed ownership of the marijuana and was promptly fired....

Woman finds pot while taking children to Sonic franchise A trip to Sonic intended as a treat ended with a surprise twist for a Frederick woman. Carla McFarland said she went to Sonic on Guilford Drive on Wednesday with her 6-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son after a trip to the library and a morning spent packing boxes. After passing chicken strips and fries to her children, McFarland, 35, reached into the bag for her own food and found a small plastic bag containing what appeared to be marijuana in a third container holding her own fries. “I just kind of...

More than 10% of the U.S. population uses cannabis.

Scratch-and-sniff cards loaded with the scent of cannabis are being handed out by police to help residents identify dope farms in their area. Today’s drive, the second phase of a campaign launched last year, aims to educate the public about how growing plants smell so they can alert police. It is hoped to have a knock-on effect on other crimes, such as human trafficking and possession of weapons. Det Supt Kath Barnes, of Hampshire Police – one of 17 forces across England and Wales taking part in the initiative – said: ‘Cannabis is often seen as harmless and somehow acceptable....

NEW YORK (MainStreet) — In another sign that the 2014 is turning out to be a watershed year for marijuana drug reform, the federal Department of Drug Enforcement (DEA) has sent up the first of what undoubtedly will be the first of many white flags. After a historic House vote to defund the DEA's operating budget for marijuana enforcement in the states earlier in the month passed (with a similar one now in the Senate), the government agency has now asked the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to consider removing marijuana from the list of Schedule I drugs as...