SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Nine living marijuana plants will be displayed at the Oregon State Fair in a first of its kind event for the United States starting next Friday. The exhibit of the nonflowering, immature plants brings pot cultivation more into the agricultural mainstream less than two years after Oregon voters legalized recreational marijuana. The Oregon Cannabis Business Council, which organized the exhibit, says it's the first time live cannabis will be shown at a state fair anywhere in the U.S. [continues 421 words]
DOH Says Inspections Still To Be Completed LIHUE - The more than 1,600 registered medical marijuana patients on Kauai may not be getting their medicine at a licensed dispensary in July. Department of Health officials said facility inspections of the state eight licensees have yet to take place. That means dispensaries won't be ready to open a retail establishment by July 15, the earliest date legislators allowed them to start selling medicine to registered patients. "The Department of Health is unable to predict the progress by each licensee because there are a number of requirements that are outside of our department's control," said Janice Okubo, DOH spokeswoman. [continues 223 words]
The other day, in a seaside cafe here, veteran cannabis journalist David Bienenstock gamely fielded my attempts to catch up on a subject I have failed to appreciate for far too long: the coming end of marijuana prohibition. Earlier this month, the backers of a California initiative to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and tech kabillionaire Sean Parker, said they had gathered enough signatures to make the November ballot. In the same week, the federal government dropped its long-standing case against Oakland's Harborside Health Center, the largest medical pot dispensary in the country. [continues 843 words]
Study: No Scientific Basis for Laws on Marijuana and Driving WASHINGTON (AP) - Six states that allow marijuana use legal tests to determine driving while impaired by the drug that have no scientific basis, according to a study by the nation's largest automobile club that calls for scrapping those laws. The study commissioned by AAA's safety foundation said it's not possible to set a blood-test threshold for THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes people high, that can reliably determine impairment. Yet the laws in five of the six states automatically presume a driver guilty if that person tests higher than the limit, and not guilty if it's lower. [continues 693 words]
Most See Drugs As Big Problem Sharon Johnson calls herself an addict, although she's been sober for three years now. She started by smoking pot and eventually moved to crack cocaine. Her daughter has tried heroin and "I believe I'm going to pull her out of the gutter someday," Johnson laments. Johnson has seen firsthand the ravages of drug abuse reflected in a national Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Whether it's alcohol or illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine, a majority of Americans say it's a problem and that more needs to be done to address it. [continues 498 words]
Enclosed-Growing Rule Could Cost Kauai Dispensary Investors Millions A definition in the interim administrative rules for medical marijuana dispensaries posted this month could cost Kauai dispensary investors millions of dollars in utility and construction costs. According to the interim rules, medically-grown marijuana shall be grown "in an enclosed indoor facility," as required by HB 321, the state law creating the dispensary program. An enclosed indoor facility rules out greenhouses, which proponents say could cut utility costs by half. The structure would need a concrete floor and rigid steel sides that encloses the facility with all entry points secured, according the Department of Health. Additionally, the interior of the structure may not be visible from the outside. [continues 714 words]
Steve was guest-hosting "The Diane Rehm Show" on NPR recently, and the topic was the nationwide upsurge in heroin addiction. The first caller was Stacy from New Albany, Indiana. "It's funny," she said. "I'm listening to this show and I have a syringe of heroin in my hand." She had gotten hurt in the military, explained Stacy, and the painkillers prescribed by her doctors led to her addiction. She uses heroin now because it is far cheaper than the legal drugs that caused her dependency. [continues 711 words]
To the editor: Thank you, TGI, for bringing the discussion about the new dispensary law front and forward. I truly believe that opening up dialogue between all stakeholders and the Kauai community will be a key aspect to make sure the new program is safe and successful. As a registered nurse I have seen the medical benefits of cannabis and I realize the new law will help a large portion of individuals who have little to no reliable access to medicine. I grew up on Kauai. I have a 7-year-old daughter and another child on the way. The last thing I want to see is cannabis ending up in the wrong hands. [continues 83 words]
Kauai Stakeholders Want Locally Owned, Operated Medical Marijuana Dispensary LIHUE - A group of Kauai stakeholders plans to apply for a medical marijuana dispensary on the island, and hopes to make it 100 percent locally funded and operated. Judiah McRoberts, Kauai Dispensary Project lead director, said Gov. David Ige's approval of House Bill 321 - which establishes a licensing system for medical marijuana dispensaries in the state - will create easier access for more than 1,800 registered medical marijuana patients on Kauai. [continues 1024 words]
DENVER (AP) - Presidential candidates are talking about marijuana in ways unimaginable not long ago. White House hopefuls in both parties are taking donations from people in the new marijuana industry, which is investing heavily in political activism as a route to expanded legalization and landed its first major candidate, Rand Paul, at a trade show last month. Several Republicans, like Democrats, are saying they won't interfere with states that are legalizing a drug still forbidden under federal law. And at conservative policy gatherings, Republicans are discussing whether drug sentences should be eased. [continues 631 words]
At the onset, I believe marijuana has a place in the treatment of disease. However, for-profit growing and selling of marijuana, even for medical use, would be a bad untested social experiment on Hawaii's people. Hawaii's citizens are not laboratory rats. Not-for-profit or co-operatives or limited imports are better aligned with Hawaii's values. First, legalizing for-profit selling of marijuana is a new idea in the world. The USA and Uruguay and not the Netherlands or Jamaica, are the only places that allow for legal production and sales. Interestingly, in the US only 11 of 23 medical marijuana states or less than half have any actual operating experience. Furthermore, the average retail store experience is about two years. Consequently, 24 months of social-science evidence at best may justify a pilot project but not a permanent laissez-faire policy built on such skimpy evidence. [continues 471 words]
Survey Finds DUI Rate Down but 22 Percent of Drivers on Drugs That Can Affect Safety WASHINGTON (AP) - The number of drivers on the road with alcohol in their systems has declined by nearly one-third since 2007, but there has been a large increase in drivers using marijuana and other illegal drugs, a government report released Friday found. The report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the share of drivers who test positive for alcohol has declined by more than three-quarters since the agency first began conducting roadside surveys in 1973. [continues 541 words]
The most aloha way for the state of Hawaii to earn lots money would be simple: Legalize it! How about cannabis and viewing the hot live lava? Let people take guided tours or something, entrepreneurs will solve the liability issue. Let that blimp go up and take tourists to see the lava, hang up there and have a drink and snack and love Hawaii! Let the tourists come and sample good Hawaii buds; the medical healing cannabis centers would be world class. This would add to the healing properties of Hawaii. Since cannabis is a respected commodity, let's be cutting edge. Sara Steiner Pahoa [end]
State Trying to Determine How to Provide Licensed Cannabis Patients With Their Medicine Nearly 14 years after the use of medical marijuana was legalized in Hawaii, medical marijuana patients may have a legal way to purchase it, rather than just grow it themselves, within the next few years. The 21-member group tasked with crafting guidelines for a state-monitored medical marijuana dispensary system is recommending that at least one dispensary be opened in four of the state's five counties by the start of 2017. [continues 962 words]
Nearly 14 years after the use of medical marijuana was legalized in Hawaii, medical marijuana patients may have a legal way to purchase it, rather than just grow it themselves, within the next few years. The 21-member group tasked with crafting guidelines for a state-monitored medical marijuana dispensary system is recommending that at least one dispensary be opened in four of the state's five counties by the start of 2017. Members of the Hawaii Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force, which was created during the last legislative session and convened shortly afterward, also agreed that state Department of Health officials should offer at least 30 licenses for medical marijuana producers beginning on June 1, 2016. [continues 994 words]
KAILUA-KONA (AP) - Hawaii's Medical Marijuana Dispensary Task Force will recommend that licenses for marijuana production centers and dispensaries be offered in 2017, according to the state representative overseeing the group. Rep. Della Au Belatti said the task force finished its work this week. She is working on a bill for the House to consider when the Legislature convenes Jan. 21, West Hawaii Today reported. "The recommendations are really just a starting point," she said. "Some of the recommendations will be taken up, and some of them won't." [continues 199 words]
DENVER (AP) - Despite growing public support for legalizing marijuana, a lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma shows that at least two segments of American society are prepared to fight the idea before the nation's highest court - social conservatives and law enforcement. The lawsuit seeks to overturn Colorado's experiment in legalized recreational pot, alleging that the two conservative states are being overrun with Colorado marijuana that is making it harder for them to enforce their own drug laws. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning framed it as a public-safety issue, though the complaint provides little data to support its claim that Colorado pot is pouring into neighboring states. [continues 543 words]
HONOLULU (AP) - Fourteen years after Hawaii legalized medical marijuana, there is still no legal way for patients to obtain pot without growing it themselves. The 2000 law also is silent on how the state's 13,000 patients can get the seeds for plants they are allowed to grow. Even as four states have legalized recreational use of marijuana through voter initiatives, Hawaii legislators remain focused on creating a statewide medical marijuana dispensary system, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported "I do expect that bills will be introduced on decriminalization and legalization, as always," said Democratic state Sen. Will Espero, chairman of the Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee. "But Hawaii's not ready for legalization. The public is not clamoring for it. My colleagues are not knocking on my door saying, 'We have to have it. It is now on the radar and it is gaining momentum.' People are still waiting to see how things are handled in Colorado and Washington and other states." [continues 281 words]
Aloha. I'm fresh out of 50 months in federal prison for operating The Hawaii Cannabis Ministry where we helped to prevent and treat pain, disease and spiritual disconnection. Just reporting, not complaining. What a great and unexpected education I received in prison. Now, it's time for me to make some lemonade. Please know that there are now multiple U.S. Patents for cannabinoids in the prevention and treatment of pain and disease including for cancer. Also, the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2012 was given to the study of the two main cannabinoid 'receptors' CB1 and CB2. [continues 147 words]
Legal Medically, but Difficult to Obtain, Lawmakers to See If Loophole Can Be Fixed This is the first in a two-part series looking at a loophole in the medical marijuana industry that allows patients to possess and use the substance, but not obtain it unless they grow it themselves. Part two will be published in Monday's TGI. LIHUE - It has been just over 14 years since Hawaii made history. At the time, the 50th state became the first in the nation to establish a medical marijuana program through legislation rather than ballot initiative. [continues 1020 words]
