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Marijuana use has more than doubled in the U.S. since the beginning of the century — but so have problems for users, including addiction, researchers reported Wednesday. ~snip~ "The prevalence of marijuana use more than doubled between 2001-2002 and 2012-2013, and there was a large increase in marijuana use disorders during that time," they wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association's JAMA Psychiatry. "Young adults were at highest risk for marijuana use disorder." "While not all marijuana users experience problems, nearly three of 10 marijuana users manifested a marijuana use disorder in 2012-2013." That adds up to 6.8...

A new world of weed is coming to the largest marijuana marketplace on the planet. Gov. Jerry Brown this month signed regulations he said would bring “robust controls” to govern California’s long untamed medical marijuana industry, with clear standards for “local government, law enforcement, businesses, patients and health providers.” His signature also may bring something else: a decidedly robust new era for cannabis commerce. By 2018 or sooner, marijuana businesses – from small pot farms to cannabis superstores – effectively can begin earning legal profits under the nation’s most diverse state licensing scheme for pot. Until now, California’s vast pot...

The beloved children’s show characters will return in special called “H.R. Pufnstuf Comes to Mutt & Stuff!” Nickelodeon is bringing “H.R. Pufnstuf” back for a new televised adventure for the first time in 45 years. The network announced on Tuesday that it has greenlit “H.R. Pufnstuf Comes to Mutt & Stuff!” The special will be part of the network’s order for 20 additional episodes of live-action preschool series “Mutt & Stuff” from Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of “Pufnstuf.” The beloved character that debuted on NBC in 1969 will return to TV in early 2016, along with friends Cling...

Today, marijuana is cheap and easy to get in California. But, new laws legalizing the retail production and distribution of medical cannabis will might finally DETER people from pot! Red tape, the new weapon in the drug war. If we want to destroy ISIS we should issue them licenses and impose environmental reviews on their training camps! Full article on new medical marijuana laws in CA here.

Retailers sold more than $11 million of marijuana during Oregon's first week of legal recreational sales, outpacing the early business done in other states that have legalized pot, according to the Oregon Retailers of Cannabis Association. Oregon retailers had sales of $3.5 million by the end of opening day, Casey Houlihan, executive director of the association, told the Statesman Journal ( http://is.gd/6L3fPc ). By contrast, Colorado's first week of sales reached $5 million. In Washington, sales during the first month hit $2 million....

Have you’ve noticed an influx of hitchhikers heading along 101 lately—the ones with frame backpacks, dreads and cardboard signs that say “North” or “Mendocino”? Let us put the pieces together, in case you haven’t: It’s trimming season. Between mid-October and late November, mostly 20-somethings from all over the country flock to Northern California in hopes of getting a job trimming recently-harvested marijuana plants. Most are headed into the Emerald Triangle, considered the largest marijuana-growing region in the world. Made up of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity County, it’s more than 10 thousand square miles of sparsely populated forests and hills with...

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -- An Ohio man made a strange, and not-so-wise call to police last Friday to tell them that he was "too high" on marijuana. Police arrived at the 22-year-old man's home at approximately 5:20 p.m, according to WJW. There, they found him on the floor "in a fetal position," surrounded by, "a plethora of Doritos, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and Chips Ahoy cookies." According to a police report, the man told the officer that he couldn't feel his hands because he smoked too much weed. The 22-year-old gave the officer the keys to his car, where he had smoked...

Fans are praying for Tommy Chong, of “Cheech & Chong” fame, as he faces his latest battle with cancer. The marijuana maven who created best-selling stoner comedy albums and eight movies with partner Cheech Marin could barely stand last weekend at the Las Vegas Hempfest, where he was given a lifetime achievement award. Chong, 77, announced three years ago he’d been stricken with cancer. But a month later, he tweeted that a hemp oil treatment was working and that he was “99 percent cancer-free.”

On Monday night, Ricardo Antonio Lopez-Campos, 27, of Marina, robbed a medical marijuana vendor and ordered some cannabis. Unfortunately for the robber, the vendor required that the purchaser show a copy of his identification and medical marijuana certification to them before agreeing to the transaction. Lopez-Campos then complied with the request and sent his own identification to the victim. Then, he proceeded with the armed robbery and took marijuana from the victim. Officers were able to quickly identify Lopez-Campos and were able to locate him within a very short time. He was booked into the Monterey County Jail. The stolen...

Gresham Police say a driver suspected of smoking marijuana slammed his Toyota Prius into a 46-year-old Portland woman at a Gresham intersection Monday sending the woman flying 35 feet. The collision took place at 8:09 a.m. at the intersection of East Burnside Street and Northeast 181st Avenue. The woman, who Gresham Police did not identify, was attempting to cross Burnside on a marked crosswalk. The accident comes just just five days after retail recreational marijuana sales became legal in Oregon.

The patient most commonly seeking a doctor's blessing to use medical marijuana in Illinois is an older woman in Cook County with either severe fibromyalgia or cancer, according to data published Thursday in a report to the Legislature. The eight-page report is straightforward and makes no predictions about the future of the state's medical marijuana pilot program, which Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner inherited from his Democratic predecessor, Pat Quinn. The Illinois Department of Public Health compiled the data to fulfill a requirement in the medical marijuana law to report on the program annually to lawmakers. The report shows more than...

MONTREAL — Marijuana is “infinitely worse” than tobacco and its use should be widely discouraged in Canada, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says. The remarks come the morning after the federal leaders’ French-language debate, in which Harper’s clash with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau over the issue of legalization was among the evening’s more memorable exchanges.

Six men were arrested this week after local and federal authorities targeted an elaborate illegal marijuana grow that covered a full mile of federal land, adjacent to Colorado Highway 141 at the Dolores River and near the Mesa and Montrose county lines. All totaled, 153 pounds of marijuana were hauled away in recent days by federal authorities, who boated it in trash bags from one side of the Dolores River to the other. Leonel Olaguez Cabrales, 22, Angel Guzman Gutierrez, 31, Sergio Enrique Arevalo Portillo, 26, Jose Eleno Rodarte Garcia, 38, Eduardo Arias Torres, 27, and Juan Mejia-Vasquez, 41, were...

A southwest Florida woman landed herself behind bars after calling 911 to complain about being shortchanged in a drug deal. According to a Fort Myers Police Department report, 36-year-old Erin Klich called police to complain that she'd attempted to buy $75 worth of marijuana, but never got the goods from the dealer. Officers arrived outside a home to find Klich outside the reported dealer's home, still on the phone with police. Klich told the responding officers that the dealer inside took her money. Klich was arrested for misuse of 911.= Upon searching Klich, police found a clear plastic baggy, later...

DENVER – Little Spider Creations had been making scary creations in Denver for 24 years, but the owner of the company says legalizing recreational marijuana changed everything. He recently moved his company to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Eager night owls looking to score some of the first recreational pot in Oregon bought up baggies of bud at shops that opened early Thursday, some taking advantage of door-buster deals. Some of the more than 250 dispensaries that already offer medical marijuana welcomed lines of enthusiasts soon after midnight — just moments after it became legal to sell to anyone who is at least 21. There were no reports of problems from early sales, although most stores planned to open at a more reasonable hour. At Portland's Shango Premium Cannabis, co-founder Shane McKee said the...

FLANDREAU, S.D. — The Santee Sioux tribe has already proven its business acumen, running a successful casino, a 120-room hotel and a 240-head buffalo ranch on the plains of South Dakota. But those enterprises have not been immune to competition and the lingering effects of the Great Recession, so the small tribe of 400 is undertaking a new venture — opening the nation's first marijuana resort on its reservation. The experiment could offer a new money-making model for tribes nationwide seeking economic opportunities beyond casinos. Santee Sioux leaders plan to grow their own pot and sell it in a smoking...

Two Santa Rosa cannabis providers are coming to the rescue of Valley Fire victims. Care by Design and AbsoluteXtracts have teamed up to donate $20,000 worth of medical marijuana products to Lake County residents who have prescriptions but lost access to their medicine because of the fire, the Press Democrat reported. The companies issued a joint statement, saying: "This disaster happened in our own backyard. As a company that prides itself on putting patient needs first, we felt there was no better time to reach out and help our neighbors in their time of need." Through Oct. 7, each victim...

The results of a new study about the impact of Colorado’s marijuana legalization is raising troubling questions for parents. The study cites a significant increase in marijuana-related traffic deaths, hospital visits and school suspensions.

A Vancouver marijuana dispensary is offering some unusual perks in an effort to get voters to cast a ballot for the Oct. 19 federal election — a chance to see American rapper Snoop Dogg perform, and a shot at winning free pot. Danny Kresnyak said he's spearheading Eden Medicinal Society's get-out-the-vote campaign because he believes marijuana policy is a federal election issue. "We're going to have people hitting the street with hand bills; there's going to be posters up," said Kresnyak. Eden Medicinal Society is offering two prizes as a voting incentive: ■Members who can prove they voted on election...