Free Republic

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. voters back legalizing marijuana, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday. Support for legalization hit 63 percent in the survey — the highest level of support recorded by a Quinnipiac poll. A third of American voters still oppose legalization, the poll found. Support for medical marijuana is even higher, at 93 percent. Only about 5 percent of respondents opposed it. The poll also found little support for Attorney General Jeff Sessions's decision earlier this year to rescind an Obama-era policy that paved the way for individual states to legalize marijuana without federal interference. Seventy percent...

It turns out Oregonians are good at growing cannabis—too good. In February, state officials announced that 1.1 million pounds of cannabis flower were logged in the state's database. If a million pounds sounds like a lot of pot, that's because it is: Last year, Oregonians smoked, vaped or otherwise consumed just under 340,000 pounds of legal bud. This month, WW spoke to two dozen people across Oregon's cannabis industry. They describe a bleak scene: Small businesses laying off employees and shrinking operations. Farms shuttering. People losing their life's savings are unable to declare bankruptcy because marijuana is still a federally...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday he doubts the accuracy of scientific research that increasingly links state-legal medical marijuana to reductions in opioid use and overdose deaths. "I think one study that suggested there’s some sort of inverse relationship between increased marijuana use and reducing of deaths, I did see that," Sessions said during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing. "I’ve asked my staff to take a look at it because science is very important, and I don't believe that will be sustained in the long run," he added, citing opposition to pot legalization by medical groups.

The governor of Colorado does our nation a grave disservice by misleading the public about the impact of marijuana on his state in the April 9 interview in Rolling Stone magazine. Neither the governor's statements, nor the smoke rising from 4/20 events, can hide the fact that drug use and addiction, especially among youths, are a growing public health concern in communities across Colorado and the nation. ... According to the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, Colorado is a national leader among 12-17-year-olds in: (1) Last year marijuana use; (2) Last month marijuana use; and (3) The...

Dear Honorable Jeff Sessions, I feel obligated to share the results of my five-year-long investigation into the medical benefits of the cannabis plant. Before I started this worldwide, in-depth investigation, I was not particularly impressed by the results of medical marijuana research, but a few years later, as I started to dedicate time with patients and scientists in various countries, I came to a different conclusion. Not only can cannabis work for a variety of conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and pain, sometimes, it is the only thing that works. I changed my mind, and I am certain you...

Cannabis is responsible for 91 per cent of cases where teenagers end up being treated for drug addiction, shocking new figures reveal...The findings also back up academic research, revealed in The Mail on Sunday over the past three years, that skunk is having a serious detrimental impact on the mental health of the young. At least two studies have shown repeated use triples the risk of psychosis, with sufferers repeatedly experiencing delusional thoughts. Some victims end up taking their own lives.

Today’s Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) Hey, let’s do that with Obamacare, too! – Chuckie Schumer announced on Friday that he’s introducing a bill that would essentially rescind federal marijuana laws because, he claims, he is such a huge believer in the concept of federalism that he thinks we should just let the states decide on whether pot should be legal or not. This marks the first issue in his long political career on which the old collectivist expressed a fealty to federalism. Talking Points Parrot for Senate! – Just minutes after Schumer had held his press conference,...

The American people should be becoming very suspicious of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, as he could be blamed for this ridiculous situation revolving around President. President Trump has begged Sessions to step in and do his job numerous times. I would love to know who encouraged Trump to appoint him as Attorney General. I know that Sessions appointed Rosenstein. Rosenstein set Trump up to fire Comey, as he put out the memo Comey should be fired. Nothing makes sense anymore, and I feel like I am being tossed around in a storm without a compass. When Sessions was appointed as...

Trey Willison, a cannabis farmer in Eugene, first started worrying last May about there being too much marijuana in Oregon. He had sold all his “clone” plants to other growers, who were using them to cultivate yet more marijuana. “You start doing the math on that and it just didn’t make sense how people could be growing that many plants,” Willison said. Fast-forward nearly a year and Oregon does indeed have a glut of marijuana; there are over 1m lb of usable but unsold marijuana, according to the state tracking system. That’s more than 128m “eighths” of weed, and almost...

About half of marijuana users in states where it's legal say they've gone to work while under the influence of the drug ... Instamotor polled 600 self-identified marijuana users in states where recreational marijuana is legal ... Almost half -- 48 percent -- of respondents said they have gone to work high, with 39 percent stating that they go to work under the influence at least once per week. ... 50 percent said they would likely be fired if their boss knew they were high at work.

In a change from his previous stance on the matter, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has announced he will introduce a bill to Congress for federal decriminalization of marijuana. Earlier today, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced he is co-sponsoring Senator Cory Booker's (D-NJ) proposed "Marijuana Justice Act," which would decriminalize marijuana, impose penalties on states maintaining criminalization and open the door to forgiveness or civil suits concerning past convictions. John Boehner announced that he was joining the board of marijuana company Acreage Holdings, saying "I'm convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research." Last year, Representative...

Politics isn't always red or blue. Lately, it has been green. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., plans to introduce legislation on Friday to decriminalize marijuana on the federal level, adding a high-profile advocate in the effort to decriminalize, legalize and normalize marijuana use in America. Schumer's legislation would remove marijuana from the list of scheduled substances under a 1970 law that classifies marijuana as dangerous as heroin for legal and regulatory purposes. It would establish funding for women- and minority-owned marijuana businesses, require more research on the drug's public health impact, and maintain federal authority to regulate commercial advertising,...

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced legislation Friday that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level and establish “dedicated funding streams” for women and minority businesses to grow and distribute the drug. “The time has come to decriminalize marijuana,” Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “My thinking, as well as the general population’s views on the issue has evolved, and so I believe there’s no better time than the present to get this done. It’s simply the right thing to do.” Schumer’s legislation would maintain laws that prevent trafficking of marijuana across state lines in cases where the drug is...

Cannabis activists paraded down Pennsylvania Avenue with flags, banners, a 51-foot inflatable joint, and a plan to get high at 4:20 p.m. two years ago in a last-ditch bid to convince President Barack Obama to administratively legalize marijuana. Attendees blew smoke through a shofar, took selfies, and reveled in a communal cloud as police watched, but the rally didn't sway Obama, who left office with pot still a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning illegal for any purpose outside limited research. "I think he will go down among potheads as fitting the stereotype as someone who was...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A medicine made from the marijuana plant moved one step closer to U.S. approval Thursday after federal health advisers endorsed it for the treatment of severe seizures in children with epilepsy. If the Food and Drug Administration follows the group's recommendation, GW Pharmaceuticals' syrup would become the first drug derived from the cannabis plant to win federal approval in the U.S. The 13-member FDA panel voted unanimously in favor of the experimental medication made from a chemical found in cannabis - one that does not get users high. The panelists backed the drug based on three studies...

(CNN)Marijuana is notorious for slowing certain cognitive functions such as learning, memory and attention span (maybe that's why they call it "dope"?). But new research in young people suggests that these cognitive effects, while significant, may not persist for very long, even among chronic users. The meta-analysis, published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, combines data from 69 previous studies that look at the effects of heavy cannabis use on cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults. It found that those young people who identified as heavy marijuana users scored significantly lower than non-users in a variety of cognitive domains...

Banking heir and cryptocurrency bigwig Matthew Mellon has died, a representative for his family said in a statement. Mellon, an early backer of global settlement network Ripple, was the ex-husband of Jimmy Choo guru Tamara Mellon and of designer Nicole Hanley, his second wife. A rep said in a statement: “Billionaire Matthew Mellon, 53, died suddenly in Cancun, Mexico, where he was attending a drug rehabilitation facility. Mellon made his fortune in cryptocurrency, turning a $2 million investment into $1 billion. He is survived by his three children, Force, Olympia and Minty. The family asks that their privacy be respected...

Laura Ingraham did a segment on her show tonight. One of the guests was a pro-pot lawyer from Denver. Segment starts at the 40:18 mark, guest comes on at the 42:11 mark. Hilarity ensues.

President Trump called Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner this week to tell him there will be no crackdown on states that legalized marijuana for recreational use. Trump also said he will support legislation to allow state autonomy under federal law, which currently makes pot possession for any reason outside limited research a crime. Gardner, a Republican, won the assurances by blocking Justice Department nominations after Attorney General Jeff Sessions withdrew the so-called Cole Memo in January.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Former Mexican President Vicente Fox proposed on Wednesday the legalization of opium poppy production as a way to help end bloody turf battles fought by drug cartels in various parts of the country. Fox served as president from 2000-2006 with the center-right National Action Party but has since distanced himself from the party. In the past, he has also advocated for the legalization of marijuana. “The plants themselves are not harmful, we make them harmful, (especially) the criminals who use them for evil purposes,” Fox said at a pro-marijuana event in the capital. He also implored...