Free Republic

Hillary Clinton on Saturday called for looser federal regulations governing marijuana, to boost scientific research on a drug that many tout for relieving pain, among other medical benefits, according to media reports. Speaking at a campaign event in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the Democratic presidential candidate said changing U.S. rules would acknowledge the drug's potential for medical uses and give scientists access to the drug for further investigation. "Universities, (the) National Institutes of Health can start researching what is the best way to use it, how much of a dose does somebody need, how does it interact with other medications," Clinton...

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a Senate bill today that would legalize recreational marijuana use on a federal level, The Hill reports. This is the first Senate bill ever to propose completely legalizing recreational marijuana. The Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act would remove marijuana from the Drug Enforcement Administration's list of "most dangerous drugs" and from the Controlled Substances Act, which regulates the manufacture, possession and use of certain drugs, according to The Huffington Post.

Myths about marijuana are apparent in college papers, online, and in the media. The users are eager to believe they don’t have a problem, so an entire mythology has grown up around the plant. But here are the counterarguments

Agents found a hole in the floor near a warehouse in Otay Mesa -— a city south of San Diego -- that led to a shaft descending almost 32 feet down in the ground. The shaft connected to an underground passageway, which included lighting, ventilation and a rail system, leading to the U.S.-Mexico border. We see a super tunnel open for business once every year or so,” U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy told ABC News today. “Just when they think they’re ready to move, we put it out of business.” The Tunnel Task Force conducted a six-month investigation that revealed the...

Authorities seized 12 tons of marijuana and arrested 22 people after discovering one of the longest cross-border tunnels ever dug between the U.S. and Mexico, officials said Thursday. The passage connecting warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, was about 2,400 feet long and 30 feet deep. It was lit, ventilated and equipped with a rail system—hallmarks of the most sophisticated tunnels found along the border. …

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...

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.

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...