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Amidst agricultural fields of tomatoes, sunflowers, and alfalfa, a small Woodland farm is openly growing hundreds of cannabis plants. This legal medicinal marijuana grow is setting a precedent for cannabis growers in the state. Most of California’s largest crop is grown clandestinely to avoid Law Enforcement. By growing in the open, with strict adherence to legal statutes and requirements, and promoting their organic and sustainable practices to the community, this farm hopes to turn Yolo County into the Napa of Weed. FULL ARTICLE: http://www.tully-weiss.com/news/california-farmers-shine-sunlight-on-marijuana-crops

California's most valuable cash crop, marijuana, is taking a heavy toll on some of the state's most sensitive ecosystems, with the effects ranging from erosion, contamination, threats to wildlife, and heavy water use at a time of severe drought. The situation is prompting ecologists and wildlife managers to urge greater focus on bringing marijuana plots under tighter environmental scrutiny. It's a tall order, notes a research team calling for the added focus via an article in the August issue of the journal BioScience. Among the challenges: Money to beef up enforcement and to cover cleanup is scarce. And where some...

Chronic marijuana use by teenage boys does not appear to be linked to later physical or mental health issues such as depression, psychotic symptoms or asthma, according to a study published by the American Psychological Association.

PHOENIX - An Arizona man who admitted to decapitating his wife and her two dogs in a bloody incident last month in Phoenix told authorities he was attempting "to get the evil out" of her, according to court documents released on Monday. Kenneth Dale Wakefield, 43, also told police that he had smoked marijuana and the designer drug Spice about an hour before the gruesome killings in a Phoenix apartment on the morning of July 25, the documents showed. Wakefield, a transient with a history of mental illness who also maimed himself in the incident, was booked into a Maricopa...

Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, 71, still likes to wake and bake. But he's fussy about where the weed comes from. "I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian," The Independent reports the musician told Mojo magazine for its September issue. Richards, who is currently promoting his solo album "Crosseyed Heart," also remarked on the spread of marijuana legalization in the United States. "One of the most pleasant things to watch is a map of America where it goes, green ... green ... green ... green," The Independent reports he said. "Whether it’s a good thing in the long...

An initial toxicology report for Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas jail cell three days after her arrest during a traffic stop, raises the possibility that she may have used marijuana while in custody, two experts said. The amount of THC, one of the active components of marijuana, in Bland's system was 18 micrograms per liter, according to the report released Monday. That's more than three times the legal limit for drivers in Colorado and Washington, states that permit the recreational use of marijuana. "I don't think it's possible to rule out the possibility of use while in jail,"...

Robin Douglas says up to 10 people attend his cannabis-centred servicesThe self-proclaimed pastor of the Church of the Holy Smoke in White Rock, B.C., is refusing to tear down the tents where he conducts cannabis-centred services. The City of White Rock ordered the tents, erected in the backyard of a beachfront property in the city, to be removed citing bylaw contraventions, but Robin Douglas says that's just a smokescreen. "The only thing that the city is getting mad about is that we're a religious organization that uses cannabis as a sacrament and they want us gone," he told CBC News....

He was charged March 25 with one count of desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty, and one count of misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place. The Sheriff said "Bergdahl was "above politeness" as several people from the home where Bergdahl was visiting were taken into custody". Bowe Bergdahl, the Army soldier-turned-prisoner who was released by the Taliban after President Barack Obama released five terrorists from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, was unexpectedly spotted at a California marijuana farm this week. Bergdahl, who is awaiting military court martial,...

After an appearance in Sweden on Saturday night (July 25), Snoop Dogg was arrested by authorities for suspicion of use of narcotics. His vehicle was pulled over, and officers transported him to a police station where he was ordered to take a drug test. While in the back of the cop car, the rapper recorded a video message, which was posted to Instagram on Sunday (July 26). “[N-word] as got me in the back of police car right now in Sweden, cuz,” Snoop said in the clip. “Pulled a n---- over for nothing, taking us to the station where I...

Seniors Are Seeking Out States Where Marijuana is Legal The top moving destination in 2014 was Oregon, which voted to legalize marijuana last November. When choosing retirement locales, a few factors pop to mind: climate, amenities, proximity to grandchildren, access to quality healthcare. Chris Cooper had something else to consider – marijuana laws. The investment adviser from Toledo had long struggled with back pain due to a fractured vertebra and crushed disc from a fall. He hated powerful prescription drugs like Vicodin, but one thing did help ease the pain and spasms: marijuana. So when Cooper, 57, was looking for...

Editor's note: This article was co-authored by Tim Graham.The end of the Supreme Court term was depressing for conservatives. The double-whammy of a 50-state mandate for gay marriage and the upholding of Obamacare sounded the alarms for religious freedom. All that unease is measurable. Credit The Washington Post for doing precisely that. The polling team has just reported, "Liberals have won a string of victories on gay marriage and health care reform this year, but a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds a large majority of Americans are unhappy with where the nation is headed on social issues." They found...

Sandra Bland, the black woman found hanging dead in a Texas jail days after a traffic stop, smoked or possibly swallowed a large amount of marijuana while in custody, her family's attorney reported the district attorney as saying. Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis made the disclosure in a text message to attorney Cannon Lambert, who has called the state's autopsy on the Chicago-area woman defective, Lambert said. "Looking at the autopsy results and toxicology, it appears she swallowed a large quantity of marijuana or smoked it in the jail," Mathis said in a text message to Lambert that the...

In fact, it appears the growers don't appear to be very mellow at all. According to an editorial in the Fresno Bee, "Acres of ancient trees are disappearing and illegal marijuana farms are popping up in their place. Streams and rivers are being sucked dry, diverted sometimes miles away through plastic pipes into tanks. Several species of fish, along with a rare breed of wild rodent, are on the verge of extinction." Evidently this is because when you are an outlaw, it's cheaper to despoil parkland and steal water than it is to buy your own land and your own...

DE BEQUE — Most motorists cruising along Interstate 70 likely don’t realize De Beque has a downtown. To get there from the interstate, drivers follow a winding road over a broad stretch of the Colorado River and under a railroad bridge. A weathered welcome sign currently lists 501 residents, although those numbers have fluctuated over the years. Yet thanks to the 40-foot-high pillar adorned with a gigantic green cross and a yellow smiley face, Exit 62 off the interstate now is the first outpost for eastbound drivers in Colorado to purchase marijuana. The January opening of Kush Gardens, 4550 U.S....

For two months one man posted Craigslist advertisements seeking “high net worth investors to strategically partner with one of the largest MMJ chains in Colorado.” But the man, Ryan M. Quinn, was not registered to sell securities and has been ordered to stop. Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome issued a cease and desist order Thursday to Quinn stipulating that he can no longer illegally solicit investments for a marijuana business in Colorado. ... The terms of the order, which Quinn agreed to, requires him to immediately cease and desist in the offering of unregistered securities, to cease offering securities as...

Hawaii Gov. David Ige has signed a bill that outlines the state’s first licensing system for medical marijuana dispensaries, officials announced Wednesday. The governor had until midnight Tuesday to sign or veto bills passed by the state Legislature this year. “I support the establishment of dispensaries to ensure that qualified patients can legally and safely access medical marijuana,” Ige said in a statement. “We know that our challenge going forward will be to adopt rules that are fair, cost effective and easy to monitor. We will make a good faith effort to create a fair process that will help the...

DENVER (AP) A marijuana tax for schools in Colorado raised more in the first five months in 2015 than it did for all of 2014. May excise tax collections reported this week showed the recreational pot tax for school construction raised $3.5 million, bringing the 2015 total to $13.7 million The tax brought in just $13.3 million in all of 2014.

A federal law crafted to fight the mob is giving marijuana opponents a new strategy in their battle to stop the expanding industry: racketeering lawsuits. A Colorado pot shop recently closed after a Washington-based group opposed to legal marijuana sued not just the pot shop but a laundry list of firms doing business with it—from its landlord and accountant to the Iowa bonding company guaranteeing its tax payments. One by one, many of the plaintiffs agreed to stop doing business with Medical Marijuana of the Rockies, until the mountain shop closed its doors and had to sell off its pot...

The father of a 12-year-old Omaha boy charged with first-degree murder is serving a life sentence in Minnesota for killing a man in 2010. Javaris Eugene Milton, 37, was convicted of first-degree murder in what Minneapolis authorities said was a marijuana-related robbery attempt. The crime is eerily similar to accusations that the boy, Jarrell Milton, his older brother and another teenager are facing in Douglas County.

To mark the anniversary of recreational-marijuana stores opening in Washington, we look at The Seattle Times’ coverage of pot over the past 115 years.