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Unlike Bill Clinton, Barack Obama never tried to say he didn't inhale. In his 1995 memoir "Dreams of My Father," Obama writes about smoking pot almost like Dr. Seuss wrote about eating green eggs and ham. As a high school kid, Obama wrote, he would smoke "in a white classmate's sparkling new van," he would smoke "in the dorm room of some brother" and he would smoke "on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids." He would smoke it here and there. He would smoke it anywhere. Now a soon-to-be published biography by David Maraniss entitled "Barack Obama: The...

Ithaca College flies to the top of the "Reefer Madness" list in the Princeton Review. College students answered the survey question, "How widely is marijuana used at your school?" to determine the rankings. Ithaca College, home to 6,323 undergraduate students, shares the small town of Ithaca with Cornell University within the Finger Lakes region. Besides the "reefer madness" list, Ithaca College also made lists for the "Best College Newspaper," the "Most Liberal Students" and "Little Race/Class Interaction" among others.

(Snip) The middle and upper classes have been the ones out there pushing for decriminalization and legalization measures, and they have also tried to demolish the cultural taboo against smoking pot. But they themselves have chosen not to partake very much. Which is not surprising. Middle-class men and women who have jobs and families know that this is not a habit they want to take up with any regularity because it will interfere with their ability to do their jobs and take care of their families. But the poor, who already have a hard time holding down jobs and taking...

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court on Tuesday banned the Justice Department from prosecuting medical marijuana cases if no state laws were broken. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordered the federal agency to show that 10 pending cases in California and Washington state violated medical marijuana laws in those states before continuing with prosecutions.

For the first time since 1988, both major parties' nominees -- Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump -- say that they have never smoked or experimented with marijuana (without inhaling). President Obama has been open about having used marijuana and other drugs in his youth, yet his administration has taken insufficient steps to inject some sanity into the federal government's approach to marijuana policy. In 2008, the Obama campaign talked about keeping federal prosecutors from going after medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized medical use such as California. To the contrary, in his first term especially, Obama's...

<p>Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton plans to reschedule marijuana if she is elected in November, according to a statement issued by the campaign.</p>

The patients taken to the hospital ranged in age from 6 to 18.The gummy rings that sickened 19 people - including a 6-year-old - at quinceañera in the Mission District were laced with pot, the San Francisco Public Health Department announced Monday, after a dozen patients tested positive for the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Spokeswoman Rachel Kagan said that the final lab tests on the gummy rings have not yet come back yet from Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. But she said that 12 of the 19 people hospitalized after the party at the Women's Building on 18th Street...

The Democratic Party’s top donors are pouring money into Colorado political groups, drawing attention to state legislative contests and ballot fights that could affect the redrawing of key congressional districts, public records show. Billionaire hedge fund managers George Soros and Tom Steyer are steering money to Colorado state senate candidates, while the Democracy Alliance, a leading left-wing donor club created ten years ago by four wealthy Colorado Democrats, provides financing for an interconnected network of Democrat-aligned political groups. Campaign finance data reveals how the Alliance and its top donors are implementing a strategy conceived last year to retake power at...

Instead of landing and having to ask strangers where “the plug” is, you’ll find it conveniently plugged into the wall nearby. The Jamaican government is looking over a proposal to install cannabis kiosks in Jamaican airports. Only one year ago, the Jamaican House of Representatives passed a law that made possession of 2 ounces of marijuana legal. Now the proposal being looked over by the Cannabis Licensing Authority would allow a tourist to obtain 2 ounces from a kiosk before they even check into their hotel....

he rate at which Colorado children were exposed to marijuana began increasing in 2009, when the U.S. government first announced it would not prosecute residents who complied with the state's new medical marijuana laws. Dr. Genie E. Roosevelt, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Denver Health Medical Center, expected that rate to go up even more when Colorado voters decided to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in 2012, the Times reports — but she never could have predicted the rate would increase as much as it did. Since 2014 (when...

Officials have urged residents in a small Colorado town not to consume their water after several wells tested positive for THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. So far no illnesses have been linked to the water in Hugo -- a town of around 700 people located roughly 100 miles southeast of Denver -- according to officials. The announcement comes after a local company was testing its own water and got a positive result. Local law enforcement was then notified and further testing in other locations took place, which revealed additional positive results, reports ABC Denver affiliate, KMGH. "At this point...

[The REAL headline:] Schools left out on construction funding, dollars FAR LESS less than many expected In some circles, it's the windfall that wasn't. it has not been the cash cow thousands of Coloradans had expected.

TOKYO — Japan prides itself on having a low tolerance for guns and drugs, but a tiny political party has become the first to adopt an election plank of scrapping a research ban on medical use of marijuana. Proponents say such use could ease cancer-related pain, prevent dementia and cut soaring medical costs. But the government says its effectiveness has not been proved, and worries about the social harm weaker controls could bring. Japan outlaws owning and growing marijuana, besides the ban on clinical research, despite a trend in advanced countries, such as Canada and the United States, to free...

Prescription drug prices continue to climb, putting the pinch on consumers. Some older Americans appear to be seeking an alternative to mainstream medicines that has become easier to get legally in many parts of the country. Just ask Cheech and Chong. Research published Wednesday found that states that legalized medical marijuana — which is sometimes recommended for symptoms like chronic pain, anxiety or depression — saw declines in the number of Medicare prescriptions for drugs used to treat those conditions and a dip in spending by Medicare Part D, which covers the cost on prescription medications. Because the prescriptions for...

One of the nation’s leading experts on marijuana and criminal justice fears California’s ballot to legalize marijuana could result in plummeting prices and rising rates of marijuana disorder. Professor Mark Kleinman, an adjunct scholar at the Center for American Progress excoriates the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which qualified for a November ballot June 28. The bill allows commercial legalization of marijuana and six plants per household, with no limits on the quantity produced but a ban on sales and advertising to minors. California would impose a $9.75 tax (33 cents per gram) of flowers and a 15 percent sales...

Marijuana compound removes toxic Alzheimer's protein from the brain An active compound in marijuana called tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has been found to promote the removal of toxic clumps of amyloid beta protein in the brain, which are thought to kickstart the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The finding supports the results of previous studies that found evidence of the protective effects of cannabinoids, including THC, on patients with neurodegenerative disease. "Although other studies have offered evidence that cannabinoids might be neuroprotective against the symptoms of Alzheimer's, we believe our study is the first to demonstrate that cannabinoids affect both inflammation and amyloid...

California voters will decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana after Secretary of State Alex Padilla said Tuesday that initiative proponents turned in more than enough signatures to place the question on the November ballot. A successful vote in California would mean one in every six Americans lives in a state with legal marijuana sales, including the entire West Coast. The initiative is promoted by a well-funded and politically connected coalition spearheaded by former Facebook president Sean Parker. It asks voters to allow people 21 and older to buy an ounce of marijuana and marijuana-infused products at licensed retail outlets and...

https://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/supreme-court-weakens-protections-against-unconstitutional-p?utm_term=.bsYgvzddN#.tlERGMqqX Supreme Court Weakens Protections Against Unconstitutional Police Stops The 5-3 decision prompts a sharp rebuke from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who writes that those targeted by police “warn us that no one can breathe in this atmosphere.” Originally posted on Jun. 20, 2016, at 12:16 p.m. Updated on Jun. 20, 2016, at 1:07 p.m. BuzzFeed News Reporter Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday made it easier for police to get evidence admitted in a prosecution even if that evidence was obtained after an unconstitutional stop. In a 5-3 decision, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court that...

As state after state has legalized marijuana in one way or another, big names in corporate America have stayed away entirely. Marijuana, after all, is still illegal, according to the federal government. But Microsoft is breaking the corporate taboo on pot this week by announcing a partnership to begin offering software that tracks marijuana plants from “seed to sale,” as the pot industry puts it. The software — a new product in Microsoft’s cloud computing business — is meant to help states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana keep tabs on sales and commerce, ensuring that...

Some have messy buns and sleeve tattoos. Some have salon cuts and $2,000 suits. Some are joining blue-collar unions, getting health benefits as they grow and sell a plant they’ve long loved. Some say they never touch it, but they’re standing guard outside shops and fiercely lobbying legislators in Sacramento to ensure that others can. As public support and legalization of cannabis spreads, those who’ve quietly worked in California’s medical marijuana industry are slowly emerging from the shadows. And professionals who never would have considered joining the industry a couple of years ago are leaving behind traditional careers in law,...