A middle-aged woman in the pink halter top strolled into the Moorhead store and headed straight for the herbal incense. Flipping through the shiny plastic packets, she found one she hadn't tried before, a black bag labeled "Smoke XXXX." After shelling out $50 for the 3-gram pouch, she climbed into her minivan and tore open the package. Carefully, she poured the potpourri-like substance into her "Stairway to Heaven" hitter box (a small container normally used for marijuana), loaded up her cigarette-style pipe and fired it up. [continues 1782 words]
The North Dakota Department of Agriculture is accepting applications for 2009 industrial hemp production licenses. "The applications are due Jan. 1," said Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson. "Although the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration continues to prevent holders of state licenses from growing industrial hemp, NDDA remains committed to fully implementing state laws authorizing the production, processing and sale of this crop in North Dakota." Johnson cautioned prospective growers that the process involves state and federal criminal background checks including fingerprints, together with associated fees and paperwork. [continues 156 words]
It is very unfortunate that a prominent senator from such a prominent political family should be stricken with such a life-threatening brain tumor. It is more unfortunate, however, that a real cure has not been found for these types of cancers by now with all of the technology at our disposal. Fifty percent of patients with this type of tumor die within a year and most are dead within three years. It is also very unfortunate that we have suppressed research into the one plant which may be that cure. [continues 292 words]
BISMARCK - Arguments by two North Dakota farmers who say they have a right to grow industrial hemp cannot change "unambiguous" federal law prohibiting commercial cultivation of the plant, Justice Department lawyers say. Farmers Dave Monson and Wayne Hauge also have no more standing to sue than someone who wants to use drugs recreationally, the lawyers said in their response to the farmers' request that a judge rule in their favor without a trial. Unless the federal Drug Enforcement Administration takes action against the farmers, the government lawyers say, Monson and Hauge "are in the same position as any hypothetical plaintiff who seeks to change federal drug law so that he can grow, smoke and/or sell marijuana free from DEA oversight." [continues 489 words]
