Though Gov. Jerry Brown called federal regulation of industrial hemp plants “absurd,” potential enforcement of those regulations ultimately led to his veto of state Senate Bill 676, which would have allowed hemp cultivation in four California counties, including Kern, as part of an eight-year pilot program. Supporters of the bill said the federal categorization of industrial hemp plants as the same as marijuana plants is woefully outdated, Jill Cowan reports in the Bakersfield Californian. The fact that industrial hemp is imported for legal products means Californians are missing out on a cash crop, advocates say. [...]
It may be distantly related to pot, but industrial hemp most definitely is not, say supporters of a California Senate Bill aimed at legalizing cultivation of the cannabis cousin in four counties, including Kern. Senate Bill 676 or the California Industrial Hemp Farming Act — which is on the governor’s desk for signing by Oct. 9 — would create an eight-year pilot program permitting farmers in Imperial, Kern, Kings and San Joaquin counties to grow industrial hemp for sale of its seed, oil and fiber to manufacturers. After six years, the Attorney General would report [...]
Journalists don’t get any respect, which sucks, but that’s nothing compared with the scorn and ridicule heaped upon our public servants in Sacramento. Let’s face it: It feels good to talk smack about those stuffed suits in the Legislature, especially when it comes to cannabis. Honestly, you couldn’t find a more ignorant bunch of canna-phobes unless you went slumming to your local school board. Enter Mark Leno, the state senator from San Francisco, and a powerful exception to the rule. He was presented the 2010 Friend of Freedom award at the California NORML conference in [...]
David Bronner’s third-generation family business – Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps – imports 20 tons of hemp oil a year from Canada to make soaps, shampoos and skin lotions near San Diego. Now Bronner hopes California’s Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana for recreational use can give impetus to legalizing cultivation of hemp – pot’s cannabis cousin. Proposition 19 proponents say the initiative’s language allowing local governments to permit cannabis cultivation – by definition – includes both marijuana and hemp. But the measure variously inspires or infuriates hemp advocates, who are waging arguments over whether it will [...]
Aug 082010
There was one thing you couldn’t do at the HempCon Medical Marijuana Show in San Jose on Saturday: smoke marijuana. But you could step across the street away from the convention center’s South Hall, nestle back in the shade and light up — as dozens of devotees did. The event was one of those modern-day meetings of the minds where medical marijuana users, cannabis growers, paraphernalia peddlers and even insurance companies that specialize in coverage for the marijuana industry rubbed shoulders to help promote medical marijuana — and it was all legal. Young people mingled [...]
Apr 292010
RED BLUFF — With barely a whiff in the air of a planned marijuana celebration, Tehama County supervisors Tuesday approved an update of a 40-year-old law originally designed to regulate free outdoor rock festivals. The board adopted the amended law as an “urgency” ordinance, the Record-Searchlight’s Janet O’Neill reports, meaning Tuesday’s unanimous vote makes it effective immediately. County Counsel Arthur Wylene has said marijuana patient and grower Donna Will’s application to hold a marijuana-themed event on her 46 acres south of Red Bluff on Memorial Day weekend affected the timing of the update, but not [...]
The Sacramento Bee has added a new online feature: a marijuana blog called “Weed Wars.” Go ahead and giggle (that’s been a common reaction). You can even supply your own joke, Bee editor Melanie Sill writes here. But this blog is driven by news, not whimsy – news about California’s burgeoning medical marijuana industry and our state’s escalating debate over legalizing the drug. “Weed Wars,” led by reporter Peter Hecht, will break news regularly with large and small items about the marijuana debate. As with other Sacramento Bee blogs, some news from “Weed Wars” will [...]
LOS ANGELES – Three decades ago, Bruce Perlowin was smuggling hundreds of thousands of pounds of Colombian marijuana to California in fishing boats passing beneath the Golden Gate Bridge. His childhood friend, David Tobias, was trafficking dope across turquoise Caribbean waters to Florida and Georgia, the Sacramento Bee’s Peter Hecht writes here. On Saturday, at a Los Angeles medical marijuana trade show teeming with entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on California’s legal pot market, the two chums were reunited as business consultants marketing “solutions for an emerging industry.” Los Angeles Daily News coverage Their Medical [...]
I just stumbled across this post from the Ganja Guru, who also posts helpful “Links ‘N Shit.” While it’s a stretch to suggest hemp as an antidote to terrorism, the writing is good and the blog gets an instant bookmark in my book. Check it out. ============= Recently, President Barack Obama delivered his first State of the Union Address. In his speech, he emphasized clean energy and economic growth as our nation’s primary goals for this year. In light of his Obama’s speech, it seems high time to renew the debate about allowing the cultivation [...]
“It ain’t over!” boasts the Cannapalooza Web site, but the scheduled event at Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas has been cancelled. May we gently suggest a California venue instead? ============ A Letter From The Executive Director Dear friends and fans of Cannapalooza, The Cannapalooza team wants you to know how grateful we are for the overwhelming support and well wishes we’ve received in the last 48 hours. We are truly humbled. Please allow us to clear the air about the termination of our event. Many of our fans have called Mandalay Bay to inquire [...]
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