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Cannabis is joining the ranks of the financial, advertising, real estate and alcohol industries with the formation of its first self-regulatory organization. The National Association of Cannabis Businesses (NACB) launched Thursday with a powerhouse leadership team and an ambitious plan: Develop and enforce national standards that will increase compliance and transparency, spur growth, and shape future federal regulations. The NACB’s slogan is “Be ready,” in anticipation of federal legalization of cannabis. The cannabis industry is on a historic growth trajectory even as its businesses operate in a fractured regulatory environment and in the face of uncertain federal policy, NACB president...

Miley Cyrus stopped smoking weed to speak more coherently — and because she was convinced the habit would eventually end her life. “I kept having this nightmare — I had a dream that I would die during my monologue on ‘SNL’ for some reason, that I would just get so stoned that I just died,” she admitted to Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show” on Wednesday. “I Googled and that’s never happened … no one’s ever died from weed, but no one’s ever smoked as much as I did.” In early May, the 24-year-old boasted, “I haven’t smoked weed in...

Hodgkinson had a history of violence that did not rise to the level to prohibit him from legally owning a firearm. He was the foster father of at least two girls. The first, Wanda Ashley Stock, 17, committed suicide in 1996 by pouring gasoline on herself and setting herself on fire after a few months of living with the Hodgkinsons, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. The Hodgkinsons gave an interview to the paper after her suicide, calling her a “very practical, level-headed girl.”

CARSON CITY — A Carson City district court judge on Tuesday refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by liquor distributors against the Department of Taxation over the distribution of recreational marijuana to pot dispensaries. Judge James Wilson said in rejecting the motion that factual disputes need to be heard in an all-day hearing set for Monday. One of those disputes involves the Tax Department’s intervention in a licensing process by liquor distributors in Clark County who were seeking to participate in the distribution process. The decision could delay the start of recreational marijuana sales originally set for July 1 via...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is asking congressional leaders to undo federal medical marijuana protections that have been in place since 2014, according to a May letter that became public Monday. The protections, known as the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment, prohibit the Justice Department from using federal funds to prevent certain states "from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession or cultivation of medical marijuana." In his letter, first obtained by Tom Angell of Massroots.com and verified independently by The Washington Post, Sessions argued that the amendment would "inhibit [the Justice Department's] authority to enforce the Controlled Substances Act."...

Recently, a crafting friend took a trip to Oregon to attend a show selling her products. She hadn’t been to the Beaver State in several years and was looking forward to the show. Afterward, she came back shaking her head. “They’ve all become lotus-eaters,” she remarked in wonder. Oregon, in case you didn’t know, recently legalized recreational marijuana. It seems a tremendous number of people at the craft show – both visitors and vendors – were stoned. Mellow. Still capable of rational thought, but not inclined to make it a priority. Laid back, man. I wonder if the ancient Greeks...

Led by an outspoken legalization opponent, Jeff Sessions' Justice Department is reviewing federal marijuana policy, with significant changes possible soon. Almost nothing about the review process is publicly known and key players in the policy debate have not been contacted. The outcome of the review could devastate a multibillion-dollar industry and countermand the will of voters in eight states if the Obama administration's permissive stance on non-medical sales is reversed.

Let's talk about marijuana. Specifically, let's talk about how and why I came to be one of the countless parents across America (and around the world) who have let their chronically ill children try it. A groundbreaking new study published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine reported on the health benefits of cannabidiol for children with epilepsy. The randomized, double-blind, controlled study found that among children with Dravet syndrome taking cannabidiol, the decrease in the frequency of convulsive seizures was 23 percentage points greater than the decrease in seizures among children taking a placebo. Cannabidiol is one...

town into homeless magnet By Joseph J. Kolb Published May 17, 2017 Fox News NOW PLAYING New poll shows shift on marijuana legalization From his sidewalk vantage point in front of an outdoor equipment store in downtown Durango, Colo., Matthew Marinseck has seen a transformation in this mountain resort town. The picturesque town near the New Mexico border, once a vibrant, upscale community dotted with luxury hotels, is being overrun by panhandlers – thanks, in part, to the legalization of marijuana. The town suddenly became a haven for recreational pot users, drawing in transients, panhandlers and a large number of...

Workers at McLane drive forklifts and load hefty boxes into trucks. The grocery supplier, which runs a warehouse in Colorado, needs people who will stay alert — but prospective hires keep failing drug screens. “Some weeks this year, 90 percent of applicants would test positive for something,” ruling them out for the job, said Laura Stephens, a human resources manager for the company in Denver. The state’s unemployment rate is already low — 3 percent, compared to 4.7 percent for the entire nation. Failed drug tests, which are rising locally and nationally, further drain the pool of eligible job candidates....

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – A South Florida university awarded an honorary degree to Trayvon Martin, Saturday. Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, took the stage at Florida Memorial University’s commencement in Miami Gardens to receive a posthumous bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science on their son’s behalf. Fulton and Martin said the ceremony was bittersweet, and now they’re passing on an inspirational message to Trayvon’s fellow graduates.

The grapevines that line rolling hillsides and sweeping valleys in Northern California’s wine country have become iconic – a symbol of the region’s rustic charm that helped California earn its reputation as a world-class wine and food destination. But winegrapes have new competition: weed. California’s legalization of recreational marijuana has led to the beginning of a major transformation of wine country. It’s been just seven months, but already investors are snapping up property where wine was once produced. Vineyard operators are developing expertise in cannabis cultivation. New, specialty marijuana businesses are sprouting up in Sonoma and Mendocino counties. And farmers...

Colorado marijuana sales top $131M, set record in March 2017 The Colorado cannabis industry’s unbridled growth hasn’t waned — in fact, it’s still setting records. The state’s licensed marijuana shops captured nearly $132 million of recreational and medical cannabis sales in March, according to The Cannabist’s extrapolations of state sales tax data made public Tuesday. The monthly sales haul of $131.7 million sets a new record for Colorado’s relatively young legal marijuana industry, besting the previous high of $127.8 million set last September, The Cannabist’s calculations show. It’s the tenth consecutive month that sales have topped $100 million. Sales tax...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Border Patrol agents in the Tucson Sector made an immigration stop on a suspicious vehicle near Elgin, which led to a pursuit and the discovery of over 2,000 pounds of marijuana worth over $1 million. As the agents attempted to stop the pickup truck on Lower Elgin Road, northeast of State Route 83, officials say the suspect vehicle sped up.

When it comes to spreading unfounded rumors, urban legends, and outright lies, the Internet is definitely the “Ignorance Superhighway.�  Obvious fallacies are allowed to breed and spread exponentially with just a click of a mouse.  As such, it’s fertile ground for the pro-marijuana crowd to disseminate their lies to gullible people who can’t seem to run a simple Google search in order to verify a claim. Recently, I read a ridiculous meme that claimed 1) marijuana cured cancer, and 2) the government was keeping it from us.  Of course, it had several “likes� and affirming comments about the alleged...

Mexico's Lower House of Congress passed a bill on Friday to legalize the use of marijuana and cannabis for medical and scientific needs, a step closer to outright legalization in a country long scarred by warring drug cartels. The bill sailed through the Senate in December and will now be sent to President Enrique Pena Nieto, who is expected to sign it. "The ruling eliminates the prohibition and criminalization of acts related to the medicinal use of marijuana and its scientific research, and those relating to the production and distribution of the plant for these purposes," the Lower House said...

WILLCOX – Willcox Border Patrol Agents, from the State Route (SR) 80 Immigration Checkpoint near Tombstone, stopped a hearse and found more than 67 pounds of marijuana concealed in a casket. Early Saturday evening, agents working near the immigration checkpoint noticed a white hearse travelling north of Tombstone. Upon further investigation of the hearse, agents conducted an immigration vehicle stop at the intersection of Highway 90 and Highway 82. After several inconsistencies and based on the totality of the circumstances, a Border Patrol canine unit was requested and alerted to an odor it was trained to detect emitting from the...

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week in Washington, says that he doesn’t believe a federal crackdown on legal marijuana is on the way, adding that Sessions called the Obama administration’s guidance on marijuana “not too far from good policy.” “The meeting was very productive, and overall it was very good,” Jacque Montgomery, press secretary for the Democratic governor, told HuffPost. Montgomery said that Sessions spent about an hour with Hickenlooper, and they discussed the state’s successful marijuana regulation, its collection of data on usage, what the state has learned since the first legal...

Four marijuana legalization activists were arrested near the U.S. Capitol on Monday after smoking the drug in public, just a few days after eight members of the same group were arrested while offering free joints to congressional staff. The activists were arrested by U.S. Capitol Police during a second annual “Reschedule 420” rally urging federal cannabis legalization. Police moved in immediately after what was described as a religious ceremony. Activists offered Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Rastafarian and non-religious invocations, in their opinion extending First Amendment protection to cannabis consumption. Police officers appeared to adhere to a common court finding that the...

As legalisation spreads across the US, the web is lighting up with advice on how to mix marijuana and motherhood. She looks like a model suburban housewife, beaming into the camera as she sifts through a pink leather handbag, explaining to her youtube viewers that she carries her children's inhalers with her at all times because "you gotta be prepared". Inside Kathryn VahEaton's own "medicine bag", though, is a pink pipe and a set of dainty purple pots-where she stores her stash. To her fans she is the Stoner Mom, a 34-year-old mother of four from Colorado whose blogs, videos...