Free Republic

Not a day has gone by in the last few weeks without a mention of Ebola. Having made its way into North America, Ebola has become reached the top of the “to fear” list, making many worry that it will only be a matter of time before the disease dominates the continent. Effective vaccines and treatments for Ebola have yet to be discovered, though one may be hiding in plain sight: cannabis. Cannabinoids in marijuana have gained more and more of a reputation as a way to control and aid one’s immune systems, specifically with diseases that target a body’s...

Colorado parents are being told to be on the lookout this Halloween for marijuana-laced candy, NBC News reported. The Facebook page of the Denver Police Department is warning that mass-produced candy can by sprayed with hash oil, and once the spray dries, there is no way to tell that the candy has been infused. The station reported that the Denver PD Facebook page features Patrick Johnson, owner of marijuana shop Urban Dispensary. In the film, Johnson urges parents to inspect any candy their children bring home after trick-or-treating on Halloween to make sure it hasn’t been tampered with..

A constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana in Florida is in serious jeopardy. For more than a year, the amendment seemed to enjoy broad support, cutting across political, racial and age lines. But with opposition forces financing TV ads and sheriffs showing up at forums, support for the amendment has slipped dramatically, according to a new Tampa Bay Times/Bay News 9/UF Bob Graham Center poll. Only 48 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Amendment 2. Forty-four percent oppose it and 7 percent said they had not made up their minds. The requirement that it pass by a...

Colorado marijuana revenues hit a new high New figures from the Colorado Department of Revenue show that recreational marijuana sales continued to climb in August, the most recent month for which data are available. Recreational sales totaled approximately $34.1 million in August, up from $29.3 million the previous month. Medical marijuana also jumped sharply in August, after several months of flat or declining sales. Medical sales figures were just under the recreational total, at $33.4 million. One goal of creating Colorado's recreational marijuana market is to shift customers away from the medical market. The numbers suggest that work remains to...

Anaheim is literally pulling the plug on pot shops that keep popping up despite a law forbidding the businesses. Officials have used its operation of utilities to cut off water and power to dispensaries in the city that’s home to Disneyland, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday. …

During the former secretary of state's visit to Denver Monday, a barista at the Pigtrain Coffee shop made Clinton a latte with artwork drawn in to the foam, and boy did she get excited. "Oh my god. Oh my god," Clinton said, summoning over Sen. Mark Udall, who she was campaigning for in the state. "Look at this. Look at this." Atop Clinton's latte was an image of a smiling pig, named after the local coffee shop the two politicians stopped by, that Clinton said she liked too much to actually drink. But, it was Udall's latte, topped with one...

The colorful past of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber’s fiancee includes a phase as an aspiring marijuana farmer.

“I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from ... cigarettes.” This sentiment, expressed by Barack Obama in January and shared by millions, has once again been challenged — this time by an academic review of 20-years worth of research. The handiwork of Dr. Wayne Hall, a professor of addiction policy at King's College London and drug advisor for the World Health Organization, the review implicates cannabis in a whole host of health problems, but, in particular, in mental-health issues and addiction among habitual users — especially teenagers.

New York state lawmakers and advocates of medical marijuana gathered in New York City on Sunday to discuss the implementation of a new state law authorizing medical marijuana. The event drew potential patients, policymakers and hundreds of people interested in working in the new medical marijuana industry. State lawmakers voted this year to make New York the 23rd state to authorize pot for patients with conditions including AIDS, cancer and epilepsy....

Practically everyone expects California Attorney General Kamala Harris to win re-election handily in November. The Democrat won 53 percent of the vote in a crowded June primary. A rising star expected to ascend someday to the governorship, perhaps a U.S. Senate seat, Harris has won the endorsement of major newspapers in the state. She's such an attractive candidate that even though it was true, President Barack Obama had to apologize last year for calling her "by far the best-looking attorney general in the country." Yet Harris faces two unusual obstacles in the November runoff. One is Ron Gold, a never-elected...

Canada’s largest mental health and addiction treatment and research centre is calling for the legalization of marijuana, with strict controls that would govern who could buy weed, from where, and in what quantity. In a policy statement released Thursday, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto said cannabis should be sold through a government-controlled monopoly and with limited availability and an age limit, possibly through outlets similar to provincially operated liquor stores. “Legalization means that we remove all penalties for cannabis possession and use by adults,” said Jurgen Rehm, director of social and epidemiological research at CAMH. “Canada’s...

Tea is a highly ceremonialized substance for human consumption. It’s only mildly addictive, but like much more addictive substances—tobacco & heroin—the importance of the ceremonial attribute of human substance consumption, needs to be recognized in the abstract and applied to the cannabis issue currently under consideration.Mother Superior Jumped the Gun. Some former junkies of my acquaintance, recounted that they habitually vomited as they were being driven to their pusher—they associated the location with becoming intoxicated on heroin. Cannabis should be examined in common with consumption substances with strong cultural connotations, like a substance unfamiliar to westerners but widely used in...

<p>BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Bottles of legal marijuana-infused soda delivered to a Washington state pot shop started exploding on the store shelf.</p> <p>The manager of Top Shelf Cannabis, Zach Henifin, told KOMO (http://is.gd/CvX0bS ) that "it sounded like a shotgun going off."</p>

It's almost been two years since Colorado passed legislation legalizing the sale of marijuana to adults who are 21 and older, and many states are on similar paths to pass marijuana legislation in the upcoming election - there are more drug reform questions on this November's ballot than ever before. But a few recent reports coming out of Colorado indicate that support for the legalization efforts may be decreasing among Colorado citizens. A Sept. 17 poll conducted by Suffolk University and USA Today shows 50.2 percent of Colorado voters are not satisfied with the state's decision to legalize marijuana, while...

A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.

20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe. Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper says his state's voters were "reckless" for voting to become the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. The Democrat's statement came during a debate Monday with his Republican opponent, Bob Beauprez, just four weeks before voters head to the polls for the state's hotly contested gubernatorial election. In 2012, more than 55 percent of voters in Colorado supported Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana for recreational use. The amendment aimed to regulate marijuana in roughly the same way alcohol is regulated.

A Georgia man says drug suppression officers mistook his okra plants for marijuana.

Marijuana is fast becoming a hot political issue around the country, so is it a really good idea to encourage more people to vote?

PORTLAND — Matt Price sells 100 different kinds of edibles, tinctures, buds and other marijuana offerings to the patients who frequent Cannabliss, the medical dispensary he opened up in a historic brick building that once served as a fire station. Unlike in Washington, Price’s medical-marijuana business is licensed by the state, and all the pot he sells is subject to mandatory testing and labeling. The 28-year-old entrepreneur says he’s now ready for his next step — an expansion into recreational marijuana if Oregon voters pass a measure this fall that would legalize pot sales to anyone 21 years of age...