Pubdate: Thu, 21 May 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

BAN ON THE RUN

The Lake County town of Clearlake has backed off of its marijuana 
cultivation ban following public backlash and a lawsuit filed by one 
of the city's former mayors.

Clearlake was one of the few municipalities in the state to ban 
cultivation (several counties ban growing as well) and it had become 
a contentious topic; Lake County's struggles with marijuana 
regulation were reported in the Los Angeles Times last year.

The Press Democrat reports that the Clearlake city council had 
adopted the ban - despite the fact that it already had a law limiting 
parcels to between six and 12 plants - to combat illegal grows. 
Medical marijuana advocates said it deprived people of medicine and, 
besides, the city wasn't enforcing its current limits.

Meanwhile, in Illinois, a company is challenging a rival medical 
marijuana business that won an exclusive contract to serve a portion 
of the state.

Shiloh Agronomics LLC, which was formed by a former county board 
chairman and sheriff, is threatening to sue Shelby County Community 
Services Inc., saying that the company is ineligible to grow and sell 
marijuana because it operates as a nonprofit and must follow federal 
law, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

The son of Shiloh Agronomics' founder, a Chicago attorney, told the 
Tribune that the state shouldn't "create a monopoly for someone who 
is tax subsidized."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf came out in favor of legalization 
recently, hosting a discussion in his home with doctors and lawmakers 
and telling reporters the following day that the state breaks up 
families with criminalization.

State senators passed a medical marijuana bill 40-7 recently, but the 
bill is in a house committee headed by a Republican who opposed 
legalization without federal government approval, according to a WPXI report.

This month's National Geographic features an image that any 
Humboldter is pretty used to by now: a collection of delicate 
marijuana leaves dangling over the magazine's masthead and big red 
block letters that read, simply, "WEED."

It is apparently the magazine's first foray into the rapidly changing 
social and scientific world of marijuana, and, while it doesn't touch 
on anything particularly groundbreaking, it sums up the current state 
of affairs nicely and features fantastic pictures from photographer 
Lynn Johnson.

Among others, the magazine profiles: Raphael Mechoulam who, as a 
young chemist in 1963, identified THC as marijuana's psychoactive 
compound and calls the plant a "medicinal treasure trove waiting to 
be discovered"; Phillip Hague, a Luther Burbank-worshipping seed 
collector who runs one of Colorado's biggest grows and whose quips 
about the plant can likely be heard in many corners of our county; 
Manuel Guzman, a Spanish researcher on the forefront of cannabis' 
effects on neurology and cancer; and a Colorado community where 
hundreds of families have moved to seek cannabis treatment for kids 
with seizures and other maladies.

It's a remarkably positive piece - hopeful even - without being 
unrealistically cheerleadery, and you can read it online now, or pick 
it up at your favorite magazine rack.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom